US1411598A - Production of pattern effects in cotton and other vegetable fiber fabrics, also including silk - Google Patents

Description

quent treatment with water is capable ofa, UNITED v STATES *EICHAEE SMITH WILLOWS, 70F mANC IIEsTEE; FREDERICK TOMLINSON POLI1ITT,,OF.

PATENT OFFICE.

W'QEB'S LE'Y, ANID THOMAS LEAGH, OF MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

rEonuCTIoN-oF FATTEEN EFFECTS IN COTTON AND OTHER FABRICS, ALSO INCLUDING SILK.

NoDrawing. I

To all whom it"ma'y concern:

Be it known that we, RICHARD SMITH WILLows, FREDERICK TOMLINSON POLLITT,

and THOMAS LEACH, subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing at Manchester,Worsley, and Manchester, 'all in the county of Lancaster and Kingdom of England, have inventedcertain new and useful Improve 'ments in the Production of Pattern Effects in Cotton and other Vegetable Fiber Fabrics, also Including Silk, of Whichthe following is a specification;

' The ments in the production of pattern effects on cotton and other vegetable fiber fabrics and also including silk hereafter termed textile organic fabrics.

The object of the invention is to obtain certain delicate yet' clearly defined effects.

It is of course common to produce pattern effects by embossing fabrics either in the dyed or undyed or mercerized or unmercerized condition by subjecting the fabric to the action of suitable embossing means, usually a heated roller upon which there isa pattern in relief. In view of the fact that subse-- partially or completely nullifying the effect of the embossing which appears to be'either in the direction of compression of the fiber or change of its state of hydration, it was to be expected that the delicacy of such. patterns would be seriously impaired if not destroyedby subjecting embossed fabrics to the action of dyeing solutions.

It has in fact been proposed to mercerlze a fabric and to emboss this fabric While in the wet state and thereupon to dye the em-' the desired delicate and sharply defined pat v tern cannot be obtained'in-this Way; it may be noticed that this proposal only extended to mercerized materials and not to unmercerized materials. 7

It is the object of the present invention to overcome this disadvantage and this result has been successfully achieved by employing the following steps in combination, viz:

1) Conditioning the fabric so that it contains from about 5 to 15% of Water, i. e. fabric containing the. amount of water common to air-dry orslightly moist condition.

presentinvention relates to improvedamp fabric or by selecting the fabric at the right stage of dryness. (This amount of moisture 1s cr1t1ca1 since if wet fabrics are used, blurred effects areobtained.)

. (2) Embossing a pattern on the conditioned fabric by suitable embossing means.

(3) subjecting the embossed fabric to treatment by a dyeing or a mercerizing or parchmentlzing agent, either single or' in combination.

These three steps areessential and if they are all applied it will be found that a delicate yet well-defined pattern will be obtained on the 'dyed' or mercerized orparchmentized fabr1c.. If uniform compression is used, a

uniform sheen is imparted to the fabric 4 after step 3.

Thus a fabric of cotton or other'vegetable fiber, flax, jute, ramie or nettle, or also a fabric of silk may or may not be treated with any of the usual processes preparatory to dyeing such as scouring, bleaching, mordant-- ng, crping or mercerlzing or parchmentizmg and is then dampedor dried until it contains 745% of water as determinedby Patented pr. 4, 1922. Application filed J'anuary ll, (1922. Serial No. 528,578.v I I VEGETABLE FIBER I dryingfor one hour at a temperature of The conditioned fabric is then pressed, e. g. under a heated embossing roller or plate pezrmg the desired pattern or design in re- The embossed fabric isthen dyed and may be finished by any ofthe usual processes incidental to this operation for instance calendering, printing, embossing, mercerizing, schreinering or raising. In some cases the dying may be replaced by operation such as mercerizing or parchmentizing. The essential point of this third step is that the fabric is treated with some reagent whereby a differential effect is produced so that a pattern results. In other words, we can cause fixation of the pattern by the use of a suitable chemical reagent such as the dye or parchmentizing agent or other agents. By parchmentizing after embossing, plain cotton fabrics may be caused to resemble brocade. The designs or patterns so produced are not only clearly defined when made but remain clearly defined through all processes to which the fabrics are likely to be submitted in laundering, or other cleaning I processesto which the fabric or articles made therefrom are likely to be submitted in or after use. 7 p p The fabrics prepared as described are characterized by the feature that although:

the relief caused by embossing has disappeared, i. e. the pattern is m one plane, yet

the moisture content er unit area isdifferent in the parts the fabric forming the pattern and the'background. This difference is due to the apphcation of premure 'and then subjectin and heat during embossingand it persists after the further treatment described."

We declare that what we claimv.is

1. The process of treating textile organic fabrics which comprises compressing a fabric containing from 5% to 15% of moisture the compressed fabric to the action of a c emical reagent.

2. The process of treating a textile organic fabric which comprises conditioning the fabric till it contains 5% to 15% of moisture,.

' compressing the fabric and then subjecting and uncompressed fabric.

' of a chemical reagent.

the fabric to theaction of a chemical reagent which has a' different action on'com pressed 31 The process of treating. cotton fabric which consists in compressmg fabric con- 'taining 5% to 15%. of. moisture and sub-' mitting the compressed fabric to the action 4. The rocess of treatin a tegtile organic fabric WhlOh comprises em ssing. the fabric containing 5% to 15% of moisture to probossed attern, and then treating the emabric' with a chemicalreagent to make the pattern permanent.

6. The process of treating ;unmereerized duce a cotton fabric which comprises compressing the fabric and then submittingthe com- I pressed fabric to the 6.'Theprocess of treating unmercerized cotton fabric which comprises embossing a pattern thereon and then treating'the, fabric with a chemical reagent toinake the pattern permanent.

action of a chemical 7. The process-of t'reatinga cotton fabric a .which comprises embossing a fabric contain ing 5% to 15% of moisture, and then treat ing the embossed fabric with a parchment-h.

* izing reagent.

8. Textile organic fabrics havin a deli cate yet clearly definedpattern produced-by embossing the fabric containing 5% to 15% of moisture and made of a chemical reagent.

permanent by action 9. A cotton fabric ,havin a delicate yet In witness whereof, we have hereunto "i signed our namesthis 23rd dayof December 1921, in thefpresence' of twofsubscribing witnesses. a r

' mcam sum! WILLOWS, I

some: TOIILINSDI PouJT'L;

. "moms mcu.

' .Witnesses:

JonN Wmmnr Tnorus, ERNALD S. Mosnmr.