GB769936A - Method and means for opening crimped continuous filament tow - Google Patents

Abstract

769,936. Opening crimped filament tow. EASTMAN KODAK CO. March 14, 1955 [March 15, 1954], No. 7374/55. Class 120 (3). A method of opening crimped continuous filament tow comprises the steps of subjecting the tow to a first amount of tension, which is sufficient substantially to straighten out the crimps in the tow, intermittently applying an additional increment of tension to the tensioned tow and thereafter releasing the tow from the first amount of tension. Apparatus for carrying out the above method comprises means for pulling the tow under tension through a tensioned zone and a striker which is intermittently reciprocated so as to strike the tow in a direction normal to the path of movement of the tensioned tow. In the arrangement shown diagrammatically a continuous filament tow 10 is moved from right to left under the influence of a pair of co-operating driven tension rollers 11 and 12 and is retarded in its movement by means of a pair of co-operating retarding rollers 13 and 14 so that the tow is tensioned between these two pairs of rollers so as to remove, substantially, the crimp from the tow. While the tow is under tension in this way an additional increment of tension is intermittently applied to it in rapid cycles of sudden application and release by means of a striker 19 which is reciprocated under the action of some mechanism 17. The tow emerges from the driven rollers 11 and 12 into a zone of relaxation i.e. relatively little or no tension and as a result of inherent forces in the filament of the tow an opening or blooming action takes place. Specification 765,961 is referred to.