GB2154907A - Finishing pile fabric - Google Patents

Abstract

A continuously moving carpet pile fabric (12) is treated to bulk the pile fabric and thereafter to dye the pile and fix the dye without the use of steam. The bulking occurs by passing an electrical current through carpet wetted with an electrically conductive liquid to explode or bloom the carpet pile fibers, the bulking being performed in station (20) including an electrode arrangement (30). The dyeing process employs a dye applicator (22) to which a heated dye solution is supplied. The dye is pumped through a heat exchanger (120) (Fig. 2) prior to entering the dye applicator and thereafter dispensed onto the carpet (12) at a temperature sufficient to fix the dye instantly, the temperature being below the boiling temperature of the dye. Manifolds (80,81) and piping (136,138,144) associated with the dye applicator permit the dye to be recirculated back to the supply side and provide consistent coloration across the carpet by stabilizing the dye solution. Additional piping (136,138,140,142) permits by-passing some or all of the dye around the dye applicator. The process permits the elimination of dye fixing steamers now universally used in dyeing continually moving textile webs. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Method and apparatus for finishing pile fabric BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the finish treatment of pile fabric for such as carpet, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for treating a pile fabric to enchance the appearance of the fabric, the fabric first being bulked and thereafter dyed, the dye being fixed in a continuous process without the use of steam.

Until some time in the late nineteen sixties the textile industry and particularly the carpet industry in order to dye and finish the textile utilized a large vat through which a fixed length of carpet was dipped and oscillated a number of times. The dye in the vat was heated and the dye was fixed on the carpet pile while in the vat. The carpet was thereafter washed and dried before continuing the production process. This process, known as vat, beck or batch dyeing, resulted in an inefficient arresting of, for example, the carpet production process since the dyeing process was not practiced on a continuous length of carpet. Carpet which was produced continuously in a tufting process had to be cut to length, joined at the ends and dipped or sloshed about in the dye vats.At about that time processes were developed which permitted continuous lengths of carpet to be passed through dyeing or printing apparatus. However, because the temperature of the dye was below that required for dye fixation extremely large size steamers had to be inserted in the process after the dye station. Within the steamer the carpet and dye are heated to a sufficient temperature in the presence of sufficient moisture to cause fixation of the dye material to the carpet pile. Because of the enormous steamers required, e.g. a typical steamer could be 1 50 feet in length, additional physical structures had to be constructed to accomodate the steamers which also require enormous amounts of energy.

Initially the increased productivity overshadowed these factors, but as the cost of energy rose, so did the cost of carpet.

Over the past few years some major developments have occurred in the carpet industry relating to dyeing not the least of which includes jet printing and foam dyeing. The iatter process has attained great popularity for a number of reasons including a savings in energy required since the process requires less water to be heated in the steamer. In the Otting foam dyeing system, rather than being generated as a separate step, foam is produced at spray nozzles supported above the carpet. The dye solution and air are mixed at the spray nozzles and sprayed directly onto the carpet where the foam penetrates the pile quickly and dissipates. However, despite the success of these recent developments the known dyeing systems still have the major disadvantage of requiring the use of a steamer for fixation.

Thus, alternatives to large steamers have been proposed in the past including Otting et al copending United States patent application serial number 521,390 filed August 8, 1983, and assigned to Otting International, Inc. the common assignee as the present invention. In that proposal the dye is fixed by passing on electrical current of sufficient magnitude through the carpet to heat the carpet and the dye and to fix the dye. A very recent proposal is to utilize the Otting foam dye technique but use steam rather than air for foaming the dye.

It was anticipated that the steam when impinging upon the carpet with the dye would also fix the dye in the nap. However, since steam is difficult to control, difficulties have resulted in accurately controlling the mixing of the dye and pulsations at the nozzles occur.

Consequently, color variations across the width of the carpet have resulted with this proposal.

Another disadvantage of the known continuous dyeing processes relative to that of vat dyeing is that the "hand" of the carpet nap or pile, i.e., the look which includes the bulking of the nap due to fiber separation and blooming etc. is not as desirable. The reason for this different look is not quite known, but it appears the bulking or fiber separation provided by steam has a different effect than fixing of the dye by other means.

From the above brief description of the prior art it is quite obvious that the most desirable carpet dyeing system would be one which continuously dyes the carpet yet provides the carpet with a "hand" similar to that of vat dyeing, and eliminates the necessity for utilizing large steamers with their inherent disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Consequently, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for dyeing and fixing a continuous moving web of pile fabric without the use of a steamer.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for dyeing and fixing a continuous moving web of carpet as the carpet is being dyed.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for passing a moving web of textile material through a dyeing apparatus and dispensing heated liquid dye onto the material, the temperature of the dye being sufficient to fix the dye in the material. It is a still further object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for dyeing and fixing a moving web of carpet without the use of apparatus additional to the dyeing apparatus, the dyeing being provided by heating the dye prior to dispensing it onto the moving carpet, the heating being by a heat interchange and the dye being recirculated to a reservoir.

It is a still yet further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for providing bulk to the tufts of a moving carpet web prior to dyeing and fixing the dye in the web, the process providing the carpet with a "hand" comparable with that produced by that dyeing.

It is yet still a further object of the present invention to provide in a dyeing process, apparatus for wetting the carpet, applying an electrical current through the carpet to provide bulk thereto, and thereafter dyeing the carpet by spraying hot dyes onto the carpet, the process being continuous and not requiring additional dye fixation apparatus.

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is the provision of a dye applicator to which a heated dye solution is supplied, the dye being sprayed onto a moving web of textile material through distribution orifices across the applicator at a temperature sufficient to provide instant fixation of the dye, this temperature appearing to be slightly below the boiling point of the dye solution. An important feature of this aspect of the invention is the provision of continuously recirculating the dye through each manifold feeding the distribution orifices and back to a dye tank, such recirculation acting to stabilize the pressure across each manifold and thus the orifices, thereby functioning to maintain consistent coloration across the width of the textile.

In the preferred form of the invention the dye is pumped through a heat exchanger where it is heated to desired temperatures, preferably the dye will be maintained below boiling by maintaining the system at a pressure above ambient conditions. To control the dye temperature and pressure accurately, the dye may be by-passed selectively about the dye applicator and may be selectively returned to the storage tank or pumped directly back through the heat exchange system and thereafter to the dye applicator. Such control of the dye temperature ensures that the dye exiting onto the textile fabric across the length thereof is consistently within a range such that substantially instant fixation results.In fact it has been found that in the subsequent washing step in the process of finishing carpet, little color is removed with the wash and rinse water thereby indicating that dye fixation is complete during the dyeing princess. Since large steamers are not necessary for fixing the dye as required by the prior art, the consumption of energy is reduced substantially by the present process Consequently, the present invention provides substantial cost reduction and is a generational jump in the process of drying a continuous moving textile web, particularly carpet.

Another aspect of the present invention is the inclusion of a prebulking step in the carpet finishing process prior to dyeing the carpet pile by the aforesaid dyeing process.

The prebulker may take the form of the electrical dye fixing apparatus as disclosed in the aforesaid Otting et al U.S. patent application serial number 521,390. It has been found that by passing an electrical current through carpet having an electrical conductivity, e.g., carpet wetted with an electrically conductive liquid such as water to which an electrolyte has been added to increase the conductivity, the fibers of the yarn in the carpet pile tend to explode or bloom outwardly to such an extent that the "hand" of the carpet is exceptionally attractive.In fact, although asthetics may be subjective and personal, tests have shown that the "hand" of carpet electrically bulked in this manner prior to dyeing with the heated dye process of the present invention provides a better "hand" than even the "hand" provided by vat dyeing.

Consequently, the present invention provides a process whereby not only is a continuously moving textile web dyed by a process resulting in instant fixation of the dye, but when such textile fabric is carpet, the utilization of a prebulking step in the process results in a carpet having a surface appearance substantially more attractive than that heretofore known. The step of prebulking by the utilization of passing an electrical current through the carpet to bloom the yarn fibers of the pile and thereafter dye the pile and fix the dye substantially simultaneously with the dyeing thereof such that additional fixation equipment is not required results in substantial economies to the carpet industry and a product having exceptional attractiveness.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The particular features and advantages of the invention as well as other objects will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention for continuous treatment of a web of carpet; Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the dye applicator station of the apparatus of Fig. 1 illustrating the hot dye system; Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the hot dye applicator taken substantially along line 4-4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view of the bulking station of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1; and Fig. 6 is an end elevational view of the bulking apparatus as seen from the rear thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODI MENT Referring now to the drawings Fig. 1 illustrates apparatus in that portion of a carpet finishing process including such apparatus 10 constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention for providing continu ous bulking and dyeing of a moving web of carpet 1 2. The carpet is conventially fed by means of feed rollers 14 and 1 6 in the direction as illustrated by the arrows, first passing through a conventional wet-out station 18 and thereafter sequentially through a bulking station 20 and a dyeing station 22 as hereinafter described carried by a frame 24 in the process. The carpet feeding apparatus may include one or more idle rollers such as rollers 26 and 28 for supporting and guiding the carpet as it travels through the various stations.

In the wet-out station 1 8 the carpet passes through a trough-like tank guided about the idle roller 28. The carpet web may then be squeezed between the nip of the rollers 14 to wring out excess liquid. The liquid solution within the wet-out tank 28 is an aqueous solution including suitable disolved wet-out agents as is known in the art. In the practice of the present invention, it is also important to control the conductivity of the wet-out solution in order that the wet carpet passing through the bulking station 20 has sufficient electrical conductivity. In some cases, a conventional wet-out solution may be sufficient, while in others it may be necessary to add an electrolyte to the wet-out solution to enhance the electrical conductivity. For example a chemically classified salt may be utilized in the solution to increase the conductivity.

After the wet-out station the carpet passes to the bulking station 20 which comprises an electrode arrangement generally designated 30, and it is described in greater detail hereinafter with reference to Figs. 5 and 6. The bulking station preferably comprises apparatus similar to that disclosed as the dye fixing apparatus of the aforesaid Otting copending United States patent application serial No.

521,390, which unexpectedly has been found to be exceptionally valuable for bulking the carpet and in fact is of more value as a prebulker than as a dye fixer where the dye adheres to the electrodes. Thus, although the disclosure of the aforesaid Otting application serial No. 521,390 is incorporated here by reference, the preferred form of this apparatus will be hereinafter briefly described. For safety, in view of the electric current and voltage employed, the bulking station 20 is suitably enclosed, as by an insulative acrylic plastic hood 32.Additionally, safety grounding bars 34 and 36 traversing the width of the carpet 1 2 are provided at the entrance and exit of the bulking station 20 to electrically contact the backside of the carpet to ensure that the carpet 1 2 is at electric ground potential when it is outside the bulking station 20. The bulking station 20 acts to bulk up the pile of the carpet by exploding the yarn fibers of the carpet by passing through the wet carpet an electric current of sufficient magnitude to effect a blooming of the fiber stands.

Referring now to Figs. 5 and 6, a pair of electrodes 38 and 40 disposed for electrically contacting opposite surfaces of the carpet 1 2 as the carpet is conveyed therebetween so as to pass the electric current in a direction through the thickness of the carpet. For smooth entry of the carpet between the electrodes, the entry between the electrodes 38 and 40 have respective curved edges 42 and 44. The electrodes 38 and 40 are supported by a plurality of insulators, preferably plastic bars such as bars 46 and 48 supporting the upper electrode 30, and bars 50 and 52 supporting the lower electrode 40.These bars 46, 48, 50 and 52 in the illustrated embodiment extend in the same direction as the path in which the carpet travels, the dimension of the electrodes in this direction being in the order of approximately 30 inches, while the width of the carpet usually is in the range of 4 meters. The electrodes 38 and 40 are secured to the insulating bars 46, 48, 50 and 52 by conventional means such as machine screws 54 suitably drilled and tapped into the bars.

The lower insulating support bars 50 and 52 may be carried by suitable U-shaped channel beams 56, as illustrated in Fig. 1, fixed to the frame 24 of the apparatus 10, while the upper insulating support bars 46 and 48 are connected by means of threaded rods 58 in a floating support structure arrangement. A pair of U-channel beams 60 are fixed to the frame 24 of the apparatus 10, and the threaded rods 58 loosely pass through apertures 62 in the U-channels 60 for free vertical movement.

Compression springs 64 bear at their lower end 66 against the U-channels 60. At the upper end 68 of the springs 64, washers 70 and nuts 72 are threaded to the rods 58 for supporting the weight of the upper electrode 38 and provide a means by which the spacing between the electrodes may be adjusted. The nuts 72 are adjustably positioned on the threaded rods so as to limit downward movement of the upper electrode 38 in the absence of carpet so as to prevent electrical contact between the upper and lower electrodes, and to permit freely floating vertical movement of the upper electrode in the presence of carpet so as to maintain electrical contact of the upper electrode 38 with the carpet 1 2. Depending upon the stiffness of the springs 64, the entire weight of the upper electrode and a portion of the supporting structure comprising the insulating bars 46 and 48 and the threaded rods 58 can bear on the carpet 1 2. Alternatively, the springs 64 can support some of this weight, thereby decreasing pressure on the carpet, the desired pressure being selected according to the characteristics of the carpet being treated. As a guide, a suitable pressure has been found simply by the weight of the upper electrode itself, where the upper electrode comprises a one-half inch thick aluminum plate, thereby providing approximately a seven pound per square foot pressure.

The electrode arrangement depicted in Figs.

5 and 6 are suitable for single-phase connection to a power source, but where three-phase supply is preferred, connection can be made as disclosed in the aforesaid Otting United States patent application by dividing one of the electrodes into at least three sections for connection to a four-wire, three phase Y connected alternating current power source, the single electrode being connected to the neutral conductor while the sectional electrodes are connected to the three-phase conductors.

Moreover, a controller may be utilized for controlling the energization of the electrodes from the power source, but such control need not be complex.

The fiat-plate electrode arrangement when used as a bulker within a dye fixer is utilized before the dyeing station 22, and although other electrical dye fixing apparatus disclosed in the aforesaid Otting application 521,390 may be used if desired, the flat plate electrode construction provides excellent results and is preferred to the other constructions illustrated in the aforesaid patent application from an economical standpoint.

Following the pre-bulking station 20 the carpet is transported to the dyeing station 22.

The details of the dye applicator itself forms no part of the present invention as the dye applicator disclosed in the Otting jet foam dyeing systems may be utilized, such jet foam applicator being illustrated in Otting United States patent application serial No. 469,643, filed February 25, 1983, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Although the dye applicator can operate either as a pattern applicator wherein individual nozzles are controlled to produce a pattern effect, or as a solid color applicator wherein all nozzles uniformly apply a single color dye to the carpet 12, for purposes of the present invention the solid color applicator is presented and a portion thereof is illustrated in Fig. 4 and described herein. It should however, be understood that a foam unit need not be utilized since foaming action is not involved in the invention. Thus, for a solid dye applicator the apparatus need only incorporate at least one manifold 80 feeding dye to a plurality of nozzles 82 through a like number of conduits 84.As illustrated, preferably two sets of such manifolds 80, 81, nozzles 82, 83 and conduits 84, 85 are preferred to be utilized, but again it must be emphasized that patterning may be accomplished by valving the dyes as disclosed in Otting United States patent application serial No. 391,468 filed June 23, 1 982. Thus, as illustrated, the dye applicator may comprise a head 86 in the form of a rectangular box like structure having opposed upper and lower walls 88, 90 respectively and a pair of opposed front and rear walls 92, 94 respectively. Corner blocks 96 as shown and screw means 98 may be used to securely hold the walls together and provide additional rigidity to the structure.

Additionally lower walls 100, 102 as illustrated in Fig. 2 only, are disposed to define a substantially enclosed space between the carpet 1 2 and the dye applicator for enclosing the area over the carpet below the head. A support plate 104 may be secured to the walls, 92, 94 for supporting the manifolds 80, 81 which may be secured thereto by conventional securing members (not shown).

A respective nozzle support block 106, 107 extends the width of the dye applicator, which is the width of the carpet web, and may be mounted to the underside of the lower wall 90 for supporting the nozzles 82, 83 transversely across the dye applicator or as illustrated in Fig. 4 the nozzles 82, 83 may be mounted as in the aforesaid Otting United States patent application 469,643 for reciprocation transverse to the direction in which the carpet is moving and in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of carpet movement. In the latter case the front and rear rows of nozzles 82 and 83 respectively are mounted on front and rear reciprocating members 108, 109 which carry the respective support block 106, 107 and may slide between a pair of spaced bearing plates 11 0, 11 2 and 111, 11 3 respectively.However, such construction is merely disclosed herein in the preferred embodiment' and should be understood as not to be a limiting factor in the present invention.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention dye is fed to the manifolds 80, 81 from a dye supply tank 114 where the dye is maintained at substantially ambient temperatures. The dye is fed from the tank through a supply pipe 11 6 and enters the inlet of a pump 117 at a pumping station 11 8 from whence the dye is pumped to a heat exchanger 1 20. The heat exchanger may be of any convenient design, but one which provides satisfactory results is a plate and frame type heat exchanger consisting of corrugated heat transfer plates sold by Texas Division of Tranter, Inc. of Wichita Falls, Texas under the trademark SUPERCHANGER. The dye is heated by a heating fluid medium entering the heat exchanger through an inlet pipe 1 22. Preferably the heating fluid medium is steam which enters the heat exchanger in superheated condition at, for example, approximately 60 pounds per square inch gauge and 340OF., the outlet heating fluid medium leaving the heat exchanger as a condensate through the pipe 1 24. The dye entering the heat exchanger is heated to a temperature such that in the manifolds 80, 81 the temperature is approximately 208OF.

to 220OF. The pressure of the dye in the manifolds is approximately 60 pounds per square inch gauge so the dye remains in a liquid state. Ideally, the temperature leaving the nozzles 80, 81 is approximately 205OF.

The conduits 85, 85 which extend between each nozzle and the respective manifold carries dye in a temperature range between these temperatures and preferably comprises hose having a substantially high temperature capacity such as the heat stable plymer dipolyflurosthylene sold under the trademark TEFLON.

The nozzles 82, 83 are merely distribution orifices rather than true nozzles, i.e., the openings in the nozzles are substantially constant for permitting the dye to exit as streams while minimizing the probability of the dye flashing into steam. Of course, if found desirable, the dye may be flashed into steam by increasing the temperature drop between the manifolds and the nozzles. For example, if the temperature in the manifold is raised to approximately 265OF., then the drop in temperature across the nozzles would be such as to flash the dye into steam at the relevant pressure drop across the nozzles. By such flashing some bulking of the carpet would occur, but this bulking is minimal in comparison to the bulking provided by the prebulker apparatus 20 as described above.With the temperature exiting the nozzles in the range of approximately 190OF. and above, the dye is sufficiently hot to provide instant fixation as the dye flows onto the carpet. The hot dye provides a consistency in appearance across the width of the carpet similar to that provided by the aforementioned jet foam dyeing process, but does not require the use of a steamer to fix the dye in the carpet yarn. This advantage cannot be over emphasized. Steamers not only are themselves expensive, but require large amounts of plant space and enormous amounts of energy to operate. Deletion of such a piece of equipment is an extraordinarily valuable breakthrough in the art of dyeing continuously moving textile webs.

In accordance with the present invention the dye flows continuously through the manifolds 80, 81 and is recirculated back to the pumping station 11 8. The continuous recirculation of the dye provides a substantially constant pressure across the manifolds 80, 81 and maintains consistency in the coloration of the dye across the carpet.

The dye entering the pumping station 11 8 is pumped into the heat exchanger 1 20 through conduits 126, and exits from the heat exchanger in a pipe 1 28 from whence it passes through a filter 1 30 enroute to the dye applicator station 22. The outlet of the filter is connected to a T-connector 1 32 for spliting the dye into paths for flowing to their respective manifolds 80, 81. A by-pass is provided for each manifold in the form of a three-way valve 1 34. The dye may thus be diverted around one or both of the manifolds 80, 81 through a respective conduit 136, 1 38 and to the respective T-connectors 140, 142 at the exit side of the dye applicator.This permits the dye to by-pass the dye applicator at startup until the dye temperature is at the desired level, and to control the flow of dye through the applicator. The manifolds 80, 81 also are connected to the respective T-connectors 1 36, 1 38 so that the dye, whether flowing through the manifolds or by-passed thereabout may be returned through a common return pipe 144 back to the pumping station 118. For obvious reasons pressure gauges 146, check valves 148, and gate valves 1 50 may be placed in the flow path of the dye exiting from the heat exchanger manifolds and entering the T-connectors 140, 142. The dye returning to the pumping station enters a three-way valve 1 52 which may permit the dye to flow back to the dye tank 114 or by-pass the dye directly back to the pump 118, thereby to control the temperature of the dye exiting from the pump.

Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the present disclosure relates to the preferred embodiment of the invention which is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention.

All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended

Claims (24)

claims. CLAIMS

1. Apparatus for dyeing a continuously moving textile web comprising, a dye applicator including at least one supply manifold, a plurality of dye dispensing members operatively connected in flow communication with said manifold and disposed transversely across the web relative to the direction of movement thereof, dye supply means, means for feeding dye from said supply means to said manifold, and a heat exchanger disposed in flow communication with said manifold and said supply means for heating dye entering said manifold.

2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein superheated steam is supplied to said heat exchanger for heating said dye.

3. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 or 2, including means for recirculating dye from said manifold back to said dye supply means.

4. Apparatus as recited in any one of the preceeding claims, including conduit means for selectively by-passing dye around said dye applicator.

5. Apparatus as recited in any one of the preceeding claims, including means for controlling the temperature of said dye delivered from said dispensing members.

6. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 or 2, wherein said dye applicator comprises a housing including a head, means for mounting said manifold in said head, said manifold having a dye inlet end and a dye outlet end, means for connecting said dye dispensing members to said manifold intermediate the inlet and outlet ends, and pipe means for returning dye from the outlet end of said manifold to said supply means.

7. Apparatus as recited in claim 6, including conduit means disposed in parallel flow relationship with said manifold, and means for by-passing dye around said manifold.

8. Apparatus as recited in claim 6 or 7, wherein said dye is heated to a temperature such that the the temperature of the dye delivered from said dispensing members provides instant fixation of the dye on the textile.

9. Apparatus as recited in any one of the preceeding claims, including bulking apparatus disposed before or after said dye applicator relative to the direction of carpet movement, said bulking apparatus comprising means for wetting said carpet, and a pair of electrodes spaced at opposite surfaces of said carpet for passing an electrical current through said carpet.

10. A method of treating a continuously moving carpet web, comprising wetting the carpet, bulking the wet carpet fibers by passing an electrical current through the carpet as it moves, and dyeing the carpet and fixing the dye in the absence of steam.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein said step of dyeing comprises applying a heated liquid dye to the carpet.

1 2. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein said dye is sprayed onto the carpet.

1 3. The method as recited in any one of claims 10 through 12, wherein said wetting includes wetting the carpet with an aqueous solution to increase the electrical conductivity prior to passing said electrical current therethrough.

1 4. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein said aqueous solution includes an electrolytic material to increase the electrical conductivity.

1 5. The method as recited in claim 1 3 or 14, which comprises heating said dye to a temperature sufficiently high to provide instant fixation of said dye in said carpet fibers.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said electrical current is passed through the thickness of the carpet.

1 7. The method as recited in any one of claims 10 through 16, wherein said temperature of the dye contacting said carpet is approximately 205OF.

1 8. The method as recited in claim 11, comprising receiving a supply of said dye at a pumping station, pumping said dye through a heat exchanger to heat said dye, feeding said heated dye through a dye applictor for dispensing of said dye onto said carpet, and recirculating a portion of said dye through said dye applicator without applying said portion to said carpet and returning the unapplied dye to said pumping station.

1 9. The method as recited in claim 18, including selectively by-passing dye about said dye applicator.

20. A method as recited in claim 18 or 19, wherein dye is sprayed by said dye applicator onto said carpet.

21. A method as recited in claim 20, which comprises heating said dye to a temperature sufficiently high to provide instant fixation of said dye upon said carpet.

22. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein said temperature of the dye contacing said carpet is approximately 205OF.

23. Apparatus for dyeing a continuously moving textile web substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

24. The method of treating a continuously moving carpet web as herein before described with reference to and as illustrated in the various figures of the accompanying drawings.