US2173998A - Method of treating thread - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 26, 1939.

cAMP Er AL '2,173,998

METHOD OF TREATING THREAD Filed Oct. 18. 1958 AINVENTO s M 'ATTORNEYS CII Patented Sept. 26, 1939 UNITED STATES METHOD F TREATING THREAD.'`

William M. Camp, East Orange, and

Glen Ridge, vAlfred Burgeni, Frederick W. Thomas, Englewood, N. J., assignors to The Clark Thread Company, Newark, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 18, 1938, Serial No. 235,586

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a novel and improved method of treating thread. The novel features will be best understood from the following description and the annexed drawing, in which we have shown selected by which the method drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical view ratus which may be used;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic vertical view of -another piece of 'apparatus which may be used.

The invention may be practiced in connection with the treatment of thread or yarn of various kinds, but it has been found to be particularly useful in the treatment of sewing thread made of staple fibers, either natural or artificial. Again, the method has been found to be particularly valuable in the treatment of sewing thread made of cotton bers.

In Figs. 1 and 2 we have shown a creel I having a multiplicity of spools or packages 2 mountembodiments of apparatus may be practiced. In those of one piece of appaed thereon. Creels of the type illustrated are well known in the art and need no further description. The thread or yarn wound on any one spool or package is termed an "end and that expression will be used sometimes herein, the word thread being used in a general sense to dene the material of which the ends are formed. The number of ends may vary and'no attempt has been made in Figs. 1 and 2 to show any exact number of ends, since to do so would tend to confusion of the drawing. However, the number of ends is large and will be referred to herein as a multiplicity of ends.

The ends 3 from the creel are shown as being led through a plurality of treatment baths in tanks 4, 5, and 6 and ultimately as being wound upon a beam I. At various points the ends pass over or between rollers, as indicated, and some or all of these rollers may conveniently be driven from a motor 8 through a line shaft 9 connected by suitable gearing to the rollers and also to the beam.

In Fig. 3 we have shown a single bath in a tank I0 through which the ends may pass and then they are shown as passing over drying drums II to the beam 'I.

In either one of the above arrangements, it will be seen ,that the ends are assembled from a multiplicity of packages or spools in the creel on to a single beam where they will be wound in substantially parallel relation to each other. While being wound on the beam, the ends may conveniently be treatedkas desired. During the treatment, suitable devicesknown in the art may be used to keep the ends separated from each other, such devices being indicated, for example, at I2 in Fig. 3.

The tank 4 may and preferably does contain a bath consisting of an alkaline solution of a cellulose-ether or one or more derivatives thereof. The materials preferably used in this bath are methyl-cellulose, ethyl-cellulose or glycol-cellulose, or a. combination of two or more thereof. It is important that the cellulose derivative or derivatives selected for this bath should be insoluble in water; and, for purpose of denition in the claims, I shall refer to these materials as water-insoluble cellulose derivatives. For example, the material used may be of the kind disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent 1,722,927, granted July 30, 1929.

'Ihe thread is preferably run through this bath, being immersed therein for a long enough time to be thoroughly soaked inthe solution, after which the thread is then passed through the tank E which preferablyA contains a suitable acid solution` which will coagulate the alkaline solution. Then the thread may be passed through the tank 6 which contains a washing material to neutralize the treated thread.

After leaving the tank 6, the thread is preferably stretched, which may be done by apparatus comprising two sets oi rollers I3 and I4. The rollers I4 are preferably driven at a slightly greater speed than the rollers I3 so as to stretch the thread therebetween at I5. For this purpose one of the rollers I3 may be driven from the line shaft 9 by bevel gearingindicated at I6, Whereas one of the rollers II may be driven from the line shaft through intermediate gearing which may comprise a gear II mounted on a shaft whichis driven from the line shaft by bevel gearing I8. The gear I'I meshes with a pinion I9 which in turn meshes with a gear 29 on the shaft of one of the rollers I4. This shaft may in turn drive the shaft of the beam I through the shaft 2| by some such gearing arrangement as indicated.

After the thread leaves the stretching rollers, it will be understood that the stretching tension is released, although the thread of course is under the usual windin-g tension as it is wound on the beam I. The thread may then be dried or subjected to other treatment, as more fully described and claimed in the copending application of Alfred Burgeni, Ser. No. 257,566, led February 2l, 1939. In that application there is described and claimed a method of wet stretching a thread and the thread resulting therefrom and we have found that by wetting the thread with the material described and claimed herein, the resulting thread is greatly improved, particularly for sewing purposes. It has an increased tensile strength and improved smoothness, slipperiness and compactness,as well as freedom from kinkiness, all of which qualities are valuable, particularly in sewing thread.

For the sake of convenience, it will be assumed that the ends in the creel are in what are technically known as packages, that expression being used in the claims for convenience only and not in a limiting sense. For'example, it may be assumed that the ends are in what are usually known as Franklin packages. The ends are preferably bleached or dyed before the described treatment is given.

By leading the ends from the multiplicity of packages through the various treatment steps and then winding the ends together upon a beam, a substantial saving is achieved, in that the beam takes much less space than would be required for any other take-off arrangement, for example one wherein each end was led to a separate winding mechanism. Moreover, by the arrangement illustrated, it is possible to subject the thread to subsequent treatment of any desired kind, for example the kind described and claimed in said copending application of Alfred Burgeni, Ser. No. 257,566, before the ends are again wound in separate packages. Furthermore, the treatment described above usually is considerably slower than a winding-oil operation and therefore by the use of the beam to Wind the ends it is possible to run several pieces of treatment apparatus of the kind illustrated, while Vone winding-oil apparatus can be used to take care of the beams wound by all such pieces of treatment apparatus. A suitable apparatus for winding-off from a beam is disclosed and claimed in the copending application of Frederick W. Thomas, Ser. No. 233,588, filed October 6, 1938.

We claim:

l. The method of treating sewing thread of cotton fibers which comprises thoroughly wetting the thread with an alkaline solution of one or more water-insoluble cellulose derivatives without substantially changing the chemical composition of the bers, and then stretching the wet thread beyond its elastic limit and short of its breaking point, and releasing thc tension on the thread.

2. A sewing thread containing cotton bers and made in accordance with the method of claim 1.

WILLIAM M. CAIWP. ALFRED BURGENI. FREDERICK W. THOMAS.

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