GB221521A - Process of washing materials particularly wool, silk, soiled fabrics and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

Wools, silk, soiled fabrics, and other fibrous materials are washed and cleaned by any suitable detersive agent in a plurality of vats containing different baths or in a single vat traversed by successively cleaner scouring liquors, the washing power of the detersive agent being increased and its adsorption being diminished by reducing the duration of its contact with the impurities, the reduction of the duration of contact and the recovery for re-use of a part of the detersive agent being effected by centrifuging continuously the liquors of one vat. The liquors of the other vats may if desired be centrifuged continuously or intermittently. The efficiency of the process may be increased by the action of an electric current to modify the charges of the suspended particles, and by the introduction of air while the material is propelled by fork conveyers through the bath. To increase the rate of circulation of the liquors, the vats are made as small as possible, the spaces below their false bottoms having inclined walls. The mud settling in the false bottoms is removed by flushing. Before centrifuging, the liquors may be passed through a fibre-collecting device, and the centrifuging may be effected in two stages, a centrifugal mud remover removing the dense sludge, the grease then being removed by a high-speed centrifugal grease separator, and the purified liquor being returned to its respective vat. The invention may be applied to the process described in Specification 240,482 in which the material is treated with a suint bath followed by a soap bath. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 (3) (a) comprises also a process for treating fibrous materials with suint obtained from raw wools, the suint being purified for re-use by centrifuging the liquors. The concentration of the suint liquor is maintained at about 4 DEG B<\>ae, and if it becomes too strong, the wools containing most suint may be freed partially therefrom before entering the vat, and their suint may be kept in reserve for treating wool having no suint, the reserve liquor being treated with an anti-putrifactive agent such as thymol, chloroform, potassium cyanide &c. in the proportion of 1.10000. A process for washing is also described in which the material is treated with soap solutions, liquor from the last vat or pure water being added to the first vat to maintain its level. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.