GB2058862A

GB2058862A - Steam-felting Woollen Cloth

Info

Publication number: GB2058862A
Application number: GB8028005A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Sando Iron Works Co Ltd
Current assignee: Sando Iron Works Co Ltd
Priority date: 1979-08-30
Filing date: 1980-08-29
Publication date: 1981-04-15
Also published as: DE3032395A1; GB2058862B; JPS5637366A

Abstract

Woollen cloth is continuously steam-felted by applying water (42) in an amount of not less than 100% of the cloth, whereafter the cloth is passed through chamber (1) the atmosphere within which is maintained at a wet-heat, being saturated or nearly saturated water vapour at a temp. of from 100 DEG to 130 DEG C. During this, the cloth passed over guide rolls (12) defining a zig-zag path. The cloth is then passed along a cloth passage defined between the adjacent runs of a pair of endless conveyers (61, 62) whilst liquid jets (7) are directed at the cloth to subject the cloth to vibration, beating and crumpling forces. Finally, the cloth is cooled down to 50 DEG C in tank (52) before being taken out of the chamber. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A Process for Steam-Felting a Woolen Cloth This invention relates to a continuous process for steam-felting a cloth comprising or containing wool (i.e. a woolen cloth).

The object of steam-felting (or boiiing-felting a woolen cloth is to utilise the thermo-plasticity of the wool fibres to give size stability to the woven or knitted cloth, to increase the durability of the cloth, and to improve the surface smoothness of the cloth after drying. The steam-felting process also can remove creases formed in previous processing as well as strains formed during weaving or knitting, and can improve the restoration of folds formed in rope washing and winch dyeing. The process thus improves the 'touch', 'feel' and drapeness of the cloth, and improves the ease of tailoring the cloth.

Although woven and knitted cloths apparently can show a stable shape due to the friction between the fibres, such cloths have potential stress formed in the course of processing, and there can occur so-called release-shrinkage in the weft and warp directions due to the potential stress when the apparent stability is released by subjecting the cloth to wet treatment processes, such as pretreatments and dyeing.

Steam-felting of a cloth can be performed to remove the strain due to release-shrinkage. In conventional steam-felting processes, a hemp cloth or other cloth is wound to form a thin layer around a hollow cylinder having numerous fine holes therein, or a woolen cloth is wound flat and in tight layers on the cylinder such that no creases are formed. An old woolen cloth or a blanket is then wound round the cloth on the cylinder and steam is blown into the interior of the cylinder to issue through the cloth wound therearound. The cloth is thus subjected to a steam-felting (or boiling felting) treatment.

The known steam-felting processes described above have, however, the disadvantages that the cloth is apt to be subjected to an uneven tension and thus to form creases because the cloth is wound tightly in layers on the cylinder and that the cloth is unevenly felted because the amount of steam blown through the fine holes cannot be completely even. Moreover, the 'touch', 'feel' and bulkiness of the cloth is deteriorated because the cloth is wound tightly on the cylinder in layers, to press the cloth. Furthermore, since the conventional steam-felting process is a batch process, it is not very rapid to perform, the treatment between batches may be irregular, and a large amount of steam must be consumed for each batch.

It is a principal object of the present invention to offer a continuous process for steam-felting a cloth comprising wool or containing wool (i.e. a woolen cloth), which process at least reduces some of the disadvantages mentioned above of the known processes.

According to this invention, there is provided a continuous process for steam-felting a cloth comprising or containing wool, which process comprises applying water to the cloth uniformly and in an amount of not less than 100% of the cloth, steam-felting the cloth under conditions of wet heat in a steam felting chamber with an atmosphere of saturated or substantially saturated water vapour at a temperature of from 1000 to 1 300C, slowly cooling the cloth, and finally taking the cloth out of the steam-felting chamber at a temperature of about 500C.

Preferably, the steam-felting treatment is carried out at a temperature within the range of 1200 to 13000. The steam-felting chamber should be provided with appropriate seal mechanisms allowing the continuous transfer of the cloth therethrough, and the cloth preferably is transported within the chamber along a zig-zag path defined by guide rolls, whilst the cloth is subjected to a predetermined tension.

In order to improve further the 'feel' of the cloth and to effect crimping thereof, it is advantageous for the cloth to be subjected to a further treatment within the steam-felting chamber after leaving the zig-zag path, which further treatment comprises passing the cloth along a cloth passage defined by the gap between the upper and lower runs respectively of a pair of endless conveyors arranged generally horizontally within the chamber, liquid being jetted at the cloth as the cloth is advanced along the cloth passage. Appropriate positioning of the liquid jets subjects the cloth to vibration, beating and crumpling forces, thereby effecting crimping of the cloth fibres and enhancing the bulkiness of the cloth.

This invention extends to woolen cloth whenever subjected to a process of this invention as described above.

By way of illustration of this invention, an example thereof will now be described referring to the accompanying drawing which shows the construction of an apparatus adapted for the steam-felting of a cloth.

In the drawing, there is shown a steamer body 1 in which a cloth 14 is subjected to a steamfelting treatment under conditions of wet heat at elevated pressures. The steamer body 1 has a cloth inlet 2 and a cloth outlet 3, and the cloth inlet 2 and the cloth outlet 3 are fitted respectively with an inlet seal mechanism 4 and an outlet seal mechanism 5. These seal mechanisms allow the continuous passage of a cloth therethrough, whilst maintaining the wet heat atmosphere under high pressure in the interior of the steamer body 1. The inlet seal mechanism 4 comprises a pair of rubber seal rolls 41 urged together to define a nip through which the cloth passes, a liquid seal tank 42 positioned in succession to the rubber seal rolls, and squeeze bars 43.The outlet seal mechanism 5 comprises a pair of rubber seal rolls 5, and a slow cooling tank 52 positioned nearer the outlet 3 than the rubber seal rolls 5,.

A pair of endless net conveyers 6, and 62 are provided in the steamer body 1 with their runs parallel and substantially horizontal, the upper run of the lower conveyor 62 and the lower run of the upper conveyor 6, defining a gap a therebetween which serves as a cloth passage. A plurality of liquid nozzles 7 are provided alternately along the length of the adjacent runs of the net conveyors 6, and 62 as shown in the drawing, to allow high pressure hot treatment liquid (in this example, water) into the cloth passage alternately from above and below. A catch tank 8 is provided below the conveyors 6, and 62, the tank 8 being fitted with a steam jet pipe 10 for heating the treatment liquid 9 therein and a temperature regulator 11 to control the temperature of the liquid 9.Suitable pipes and a pump (not shown in the drawing) are provided to circulate the liquid 9 to the liquid nozzles 7 under high pressure.

In the upper part of the steamer body 1 a plurality of cloth guide rolls 12 are arranged to define a zig-zag path for the cloth to be treated in the cloth passage between the conveyors, the runs of the path being generally vertical whereby the cloth can be transferred through the upper part of the steamer under a predetermined tension maintained by tension rolls 13. The rolls 12 have a barrel-shaped profile, for a purpose to be described below.

The steam-felting of a cloth 14, for instance of 100% wool or containing wool, by the abovedescribed apparatus is performed as follows.

The atmosphere of the interior of the steamer body 1 is maintained at a temperature of between 1000 and 1300 C, but preferably between 1200 and 1 300 C, with saturated or nearly saturated water vapour by blowing super-heated steam therein. The liquid seal tank 42 and the slowcooling tank 52 are filled with water, and the slow-cooling tank 52 is maintained at a temperature of about 500C by feeding cooling water therethrough. Then the woolen cloth 14 to be treated is supplied to the steamer body through the liquid tank 42 where the cloth is sufficiently soaked with water in an amount of not less than 100% of the cloth, and from there the cloth is transferred along the zig-zag path defined by the rolls 12.While the cloth 14 is passed over the guide rolls 12, the cloth is suitably expanded in the lengthwise direction by means of the tension rolls 13, and the cloth also is expanded across its width by virtue of the barrel-shape of the guide rolls 12. Thus the cloth is subjected to predetermined tension to control the expansion and contraction thereof and is wet-heat treated to felt the cloth by passing continuously over the cloth guide rolls 12.

It is preferable to pass the cloth 14 further through the cloth passage defined between the pair of net conveyers 61 and 62 as the conveyors are driven in the direction of the arrows and whilst hot water is jetted at the cloth alternately from both sides thereof. Due to the jet force of hot water issuing from the nozzles 7, the cloth follows an undulating or snake-like path whilst passing continuously along the cloth passage. This subjects the cloth to a further wet-heat treatment as well as vibration, beating and crumpling forces, so that the cloth is further felted to cause crimping and also the 'touch' or 'feel' of the cloth is suitably improved.

Once the cloth 1 4 has been steam-felted sufficiently in the steamer body 1, the cloth is slowly cooled in the slow-cooling tank 52 by the water held at a temperature of about 5O0C, so that there is no danger of destroying the steamfelting effect of the cloth when the cloth passes through the nip defined by the rubber seal rolls 5 on passing out of the outlet seal mechanism 5.

Once removed from the steamer body 1, the cloth can be transferred to any required further processing operation.

As has been explained above, the example of the present invention serves to steam-felt a cloth comprising or containing wool, by applying water to the cloth uniformly in an amount not less than 100% of the cloth and then steam-felting the cloth under conditions of wet heat with a saturated or nearly saturated water vapour atmosphere at a temperature from 1 000C to 1 300C but preferably from 1200 to 1 3O0C.

During this, the cloth is subjected to a predetermined tension. After the treatment in the steamer body, the cloth is slowly cooled to a temperature of about 50 C and then is taken out of the steamer body. Because the cloth to be steam-felted uniformly contains a large amount of water applied prior to the treatment commencing, the cloth can be steam-felted uniformly and effectively, resulting in such merits as size stability of the cloth and the removal of folds in the cloth formed during processing, due to the effect of wet heat. Furthermore, since the steamfelting can be done continuously productivity is increased and the amount of heat energy is minimised as compared to batch processes. Since the cloth after steam-felting is taken out of the steam-felting chamber after the cloth has been cooled down to about 500C, the setting of the cloth is not destroyed and the resultant product is a stable steam-felted cloth. Still further, since the steam-felting can be done at a temperature as high as above 1 2O0C, the treatment can be rapid -for instance, of 30 to 60 minutes duration whereby the productivity is enhanced.

Claims

1. A continuous process for steam-felting a cloth comprising or containing wool, which process comprises applying water to the cloth uniformly and in an amount of not less than 100% of the cloth, steam-felting the cloth under conditions of wet heat in a steam-felting chamber with an atmosphere of saturated or substantially saturated water vapour at a temperature of from 1000 to 1300C, slowly cooling the cloth, and finally taking the cloth out of the steam-felting chamber at a temperature of about 500C.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1, in which the steam-felting is performed at a temperature within the range of from 1200 to 1300C.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, in which the steam-felting is performed by transporting the cloth along a zig-zag path defined by guide rolls disposed within the steamfelting chamber, whilst the cloth is subjected to a predetermined tension.

4. A process as claimed in claim 3, wherein the runs of the zig-zag path are generally vertical.

5. A process as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4, in which the cloth is subjected to a further treatment within the steam-felting chamber after leaving the zig-zag path, which further treatment comprises passing the cloth along a cloth passage defined by the gap between the upper and lower runs respectively of a pair of endless conveyors arranged generally horizontally within the chamber, liquid being jetted at the cloth as the cloth is advanced along the cloth passage.

6. A process as claimed in claim 5, in which the liquid is jetted at the cloth alternately from the two sides thereof such that the cloth follows an undulating or snake-like path along the cloth passage.

7. A process as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6, in which the endless conveyors have an open construction and the jets of liquid are directed at the cloth through the adjacent run of the respective conveyer.

8. A continuous process for the steam-felting of a woolen cloth substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

9. Woolen cloth wherever steam-felted by a process as claimed in any of the preceding claims.