US1574056A

US1574056A - Method of drying hosiery

Info

Publication number: US1574056A
Application number: US552013A
Authority: US
Inventors: Earle C Powers
Original assignee: BF Sturtevant Co
Current assignee: BF Sturtevant Co
Priority date: 1922-04-12
Filing date: 1922-04-12
Publication date: 1926-02-23
Anticipated expiration: 1943-02-23

Description

'Feb. 23' 1926.

E. c. POWERS METHOD OF DRYING HOSIERY Fil ed April 12, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 E. C. POWERS METHOD OF DARYIING HOSI Eeb. 23 1926.

BRY-

Filed A ril 12.

1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l ire)? Z07:

. da/u, a 74 Patented Feb. 23, 1926.

UNITED STATES 1,574,056 PATENT OFFICE.

EAIBLE C. POWERS, OE STRATEORD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO B. F. STURTEVANT COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF IVI'ASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF DRYING HOSIERY.

To all whom it M ay 007706771.

Be it known that I, EAnLr; C. Pownns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stratford, in the county of Camden and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Drying Hosiery; and I do hereby declare the following to be a lull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it ap pertains to makeand use the same.' 7

This invention relates to a method of drying hosiery and more particularly to a method of dryingsilk hosiery.

During the.manufa'cture of'hosiery, the excess orsurplusmoisture is removed from the wet stockings as they come from the dyeing or bleaching operations by a centrifugal extractorso that the stockings'as they arrive at'the dryrooni are in a condition which may be regarded as damp. At the present time it is thepracticc to remove the remaining moisture -'1n the stockings by subjecting them to the action of highly heated air within drying apparatus of-either of two general types.

The type of drying apparatus most commonly employed at the present time romprises the so-called cabinet drier which con sists of 'a relatively large chamber within which air heated well above the boiling point of Water is circulated at a slow rate, being passed vertically through a'series of superposed racks or trays of stockings. The damp stockings which have been first boarded, i. e.

drawn oversuitable forms, usually of thin wood, are supported on their edges side-byside on trays within the drying chamber. With the ordinary grades ofstockings, the drying of each tray of stockings which usually consists of one dozen stockings, is .completed in a period of approximately six to eight minutes, and the temperature employed within the drying apparatus is purposely maintained sufliciently high so that the drying operation may be completed within this period of time. I .The other type of drying apparatus comprises the so-called automatic drier in which the stockings aredrawn by the operator over a series of continuously moving forms. The forms-and stockings are caused to traverse a high temperature drying chamber, thelength of time that the stocking is within the chamher and the temperature of the air itself be- In both types of finish are imparted to the dried stockings.

.may be im arted to the dried stockings.

Application filed April 12, 1922. Serial No. 552,013.

' ing controlled to dry the stocking.by the time it has completed its journey through the apparatus driers, the drying efiect is secured almost entirely by the high temperature employed, the air being heated well above the boiling point of water, usually to approximately 220 to 300 degrees F., and the circulation of the air beingat relatively low velocity. l

The individual fibres of-the stockings, and particularly of silk stockings, contain volatile constituents and natural oils which impart to the fibres and to the stockings themselves desirable qualities of flexibility, soft- 7 ness and durability. With the methods at thepresent time employed for removingthe moisture from the stockings, these volatile constituents, oils and even the fibres themselves, are changed from their natural state due to the baking efi'ect resulting from the extremely high temperatures employed in drying the stockings in commercial quantity and at the rate necessary for commercial production. As a; result, the wearing qualities of-the finished stockings are impaired and the loss of the oils and'other volatile constituents imparts harshness and brittleness to the fibres. In addition, the various organic dyes which are employed for im parting desired shades and colors to the stockings are themselves altered or changed in constitution during the high temperature drying operation, so that inferior lustre and The object of the present invention is to provide a method of drying hosiery in a 'novel and superior manner by which superior wearing qualities, finish and lustre With this object in view. one feature of the present process contemplates the utilization of a rapidly moving current of low temperature air to accomplish the drying operationin contradistinction to the high temperature, slow moving air currents heretofore employed. In this manner the disastrous effects of the high temperatures here- 'tofore employed are successfully avoided without in any way interfering with the 0 economical drying of the stockings on a commercial scale.

Further features of the process reside in the'methods of handling the stockings dur- -ing the drying operation and of the manwardly over the dampers 62 into the supply chambers 65 for the fansand again caused to traverse the foregoing cycle.

\Vhen the doors 60 are opened. the dampers (32 are closed. thus cutting off the circulation of air by the fansv and permitting moist air from the drying compartments to be drawn up the exhaust duct and fresh air to be drawn into the compartments through the open door. -Partitions 63 are provided in the forward-part of the heating chamber 34 to prevent the fresh air incoming through one door from mixing directly with the cir; culating air in the next compartment.

In order to direct the air from the fans onto the heel and toe portions of the stockings so that the maximum drying ctfect may be obtained at these points which are in practice the most difficult to dry, each-fan and drying compartment is provided with a deflector arranged. to cooperate with the periphery of the fan and to converge the air currentfronr the fan and to direct it di rectly upon the toe and heel portions of the stockings. The deflectors 70' are preferably ormed of sheet metal'in the shape of a frustruni of a pyramid the smaller ends thereof being secured to the rear end of the walls of the drying compartment. The rear or enlarged ends of the deflectors are bent over a plate '13 extended across the entire width of the drier. being riveted or otherwise secured to the side walls of the chamber 10 and having circular openings therein with which the periphery of the fans co operate. The trays upon which the-stockings ar supported each comprise rectangular framework 74 arranged to slide in longitudinal supporting bars 7 5 and having a series of guides 76 upstanding therefrom at their forward ends and a combined heel and toe rest 7 8 at the rearward end. The combined heel and toe rest may be adjustedwith respect to theframe, being retained in adjusted position by a series of notches 80 in the frame. one or another of which is engaged by a lug depending from the rest.

Each trayisadapted to support a dozen boarded stockings within each compartment. In assembling the boarded stockings in the trays within each compartment, a door- 60 of one compartment is opened intoa horizontal position and the tray drawn part way out, being supported in its extended position upon the horizontal door 60 which, in turn, is supported in open position by connections with the dampers 62, the latteralso serving to cause operation of the damper in synchronism with the door. For this purpose each damper 62 is connected through a link 84 to one arm 85 of a bell crank 86 pivoted at 88 to one of the longitudinal supporting bars 7 5 for the trays- The'second arm of the bell crank 86 is connected by a longer link 89 to the door 60 of the drying compartment. With this arrangement, when the door is open, the damper 62 is swung into a closed position illustrated in full lines. Fig. 1. and when the door is closed. again permitted to drop into its open position illustrated in dotted lines. Fig. l. \Vith this arrangement. whenever the door is opened, the damper immediatclv cuts off the supply of air to the suction side of the fan from the common heating chamber 3%. so that cireulationof the air by the fan in that particular compartment is cut off. At the same time the suction in the exhaust duct operates to draw'into the heating chamber through the open door a fresh supply of air from the dry room. so that not only is an out blast of moist air from the drying compartment through the open door avoided. but at the same time suliicient fresh air is automatically introduced into the (lllClIO maintain the air within the same in a condition mostfarorable to drying a fresh supply of stockings. The operation of theillustrated drier according" to my improved method is as followszThe operator boards the stockings one dozen at a time, using the top of the drier as a boarding table. As each dozen is boarded the operator opens the door to one of the drying compartments. therehv closing the damper to cut off the supply of air to the fan of that particular compartment and permitting the withdrawal of air from the drier through the exhaust tlue and the admission of a fresh supply of air through the open door. He draws out the tray. replaces the dried stockings by the dozen just boarded and then closes the door, re-establishing the circulation through the compartment... The operator then removes the dried stockings from the boards and places undried stockings thereon, and substitutes them forthe dried stockings of another compartment. and continues in thismanner using the three compartments in rotation. Each dozen stockings are then dried for the period of time required by the operator for boarding, placing: removing and stripping two dozen stockings, which is ordinarilv from ten to fifteen minutes and sutlicient for the proper drying of. the stockings. Owing to the fact that the air is of relatively low temperature, all liability of damage to the stockings is avoided and a very superior product is obtained. The relatively high velocity of the circulating air breaks up the surface film of moisture in the hosie v and enables the air to penetrate the inteirtic'ei of the knitted material so that the moisture is removed from both the surface and interior of the fabric. This results in a rapid drying of the hosiery. At the present time, after the stockings are dried they are usually subjected to paper pressing to remove wrinkles and improve the fini h. By.

the presentfmethod of drying in which the stockings aresnbjected to the action of the p ting off the flow of eachstream successive- -the topf the stocking, the wrinkles are airfio-wingin a direction from the foot to eliminated-andsuch a'finish imparted to the *stoeking thatpresting can be dispensed with.

v No" clainis ar niadein thisapplication lustrated in theflaccom pa-nying drawings as such apparatus formsthe subjwt-matterfof, andis claimed injm-y mending application filed. April -12, Serial-No. 552,013, for hosiery drier. 1 "*"Havingfthusdescribed. the "nature of my,

tingbtftheflflow-of eachstream successively Y i mole a ii-rams m p improved method and an apparatus for car ryin'g it out, What is claimed is: b 1. The method of drying hosieryv and the like which consists in directing a, stream of air at high velocit-y on to the foot. portion' of stockingsand then longitudinally of-the,

stockings tothetop' thereof. 2. The method otdrying hosiery 'and'jth'e like vh'ichconsistsin. providing a ci'rcul'ating-flow of "drying air, 'dividing'. such' flow for aportionof its circu-la-tion-intoa plu--. rality'; of separated streams-,sub-jecting lotsot'hosiery,-each' to one of the streams, and replacing" eagch 10i successively. Ew'hile the. other lots are being subjected to the other; streams and without interference therewith. 3. The method of dryinghosiery and the like which consists in providing-a 'circulat ing flow ofdrying, air, dividing such flow for a portion of its circulation into-a plurality-of separated streams. subjecting lots of hosiery,-each to' 'one of the streams, cutand replacing each lot suc ces ivelv Wliile the other lots are lbeing subjected to the other streams and Without interference therewith.

4. Tlie methodiof dryinghosiery and the like which consists in providinga circulat mg flow of dryingrair, dividing suchflow vrality of separated streams, subjecting lots of'hosie'ry-each to one of the Streams, cutly and replacing each lot successively while theother lots are being subjected to the lother streams, and introducing fresh air into the separated streams.

likeiwhifch consists in pro'i iding a circulatof hosiery one to each of the'streams, cutting oif the .fior-v of each stream successively and replacing each lot successively ,While the other lots are being-subjected to the other streams; and simultaneously withdrawing a portion bf-the air and introducing fresh air into eachseparatedstream while the lot of-hosiery-forisuch separated stream is be- --6. The method of drying hosiery and the 5. Themethod of drying hosiery and the like-which consists in heatingia streamof air, dividing the stream into aplurality of separate streams, applying each stream to a single lotof ho: iery,.and combining the streamsagain preparatory to re-heating. 7 The method of drying hosiery and the like which consists -in subjecting the boarded hosiery to a circulation of airat low temperature and high velocity, the air being directed onto the foot of the stocking and then longitudinally of the stocking to the top thereof and thereafter being reheated and again directed ontoithe stocking.

8. The method of drying hosiery and the like which consists in'heating a stream of air, directing, the heated air against hosiery in a closed chamber, introducing fresh air int-othe chamber and heating the fresh air 5 before it-is directed against the hosiery.

1 EaRLn-o. POWERS.-