US2189914A - Application of liquids to materials - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 13, 1940. MELLOR r L 2,189,914

APPLICATION OF LIQUIDS TO MATERIALS Filed Jan. 30, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 13, 1940. A. MELLOR ET AL APPLICATION OF LIQUIDS TO MATERIALS Fil-ed Jan; 30, 1957 2 She'ets Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 13, 1940.

umrso STATES srruoarron or mourns TO MATERIALS Albert Mellor and William Pool, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application January 30, 1937, Serial No. 123,102

In Great Britain February 6, 1936 2 Claims.

According to the invention, liquid is applied to a web or sheet of material by means'of a pad mangle comprising a pair of rollers arranged side by side so that each depends into atrough for the reception of the liquid to be applied, the roll- 16 ers forming a nip at or only slightly above the level of the liquid in the trough. The web or sheet is passed through the trough and upwards through the nip, the material being impregnated by its passage through the liquid, and the rollers 20 expressing surplus liquid from the material without there being an opportunity for the liquid to run in streams over the material. The material leaves the nip with a substantially uniform content of liquid. Further, the rotation of the rollers in the liquid prevents any substance dissolved in the liquid from being left by evaporation in solid or concentrated form on the rollers and subsequently printed on to the impregnated fabric.

One or both rollers may be rubberor fabriccovered to assist in uniform impregnation of the material. As an alternative, the rollers may serve as a means for supporting endless bands which are carried repeatedly through the liquid, and through the nip of the rollers. Such bands may, if desired, be, so mounted as to have the effect of'extending the nip for some distance upwardly above the rollers so as to maintain the' rialsbeing afterwards subjected to the action of y vapours of an organic solvent. Thus, the impregnated material 'may be dried in any convenient manner, means being provided if necessary for recovery of solvent expelled from the material. For this purpose thedrying may be accomplished with great advantage in the apparatus described in U. S. application S. No. 124,139 filed February 4, I937, corresponding to British application No, 3630/36 by means of which solvent removal is effected by means of superheated vapours of the solvent during part of 5 the travel of the material, while during the remainder of its travel the drying of the material is completed with the aid of a gas, e. g. warm air operating in conjunction with suitable recovery means, e. g. a carbon recovery plant.

With the arrangement described above, impregnation, and if desired, vapour treatment, and drying are carried out rapidly in a continuous manner.

By way of example a form of apparatus acl6 cording to the invention will now be described in greater detail withreference to .the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, of which Fig. 1 is a part cross-sectional side elevation of a machine for applying liquid to sheet material;

Fig. 2 is a part cross-sectional front elevation taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a part cross-sectional elevation of a detail of Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring to Fig. l, fabric 4 unwinding from a roll 5 which is rotatably supported by brackets 6 outstanding from the machine frame 1 (shown in dotted line) passes upwardly to and around a roller 8. From the roller 8 the fabric passes 80 around guide rollers 9 operating in a trough Ill and is directed upwardly from the last of these rollers to the nip of a pad mangle comprising a pair of rubber-covered rollers ii. The trough I0 is filled with liquid (e. g. a dye liquor) to a 85 level (indicated at l2) slightly below the nip of the mangle rollersv ll.

In its passage round the submerged guide rollers 9, the fabric becomes thoroughly impregnated and remains so up to the point at which expres- 40 sion of the liquid by the mangle rollers ll begins with the result that there is no opportunity for liquid to run down the fabric in streams. The rotation of the rollers H in the liquid, moreover, keeps the rollers thoroughly wetted and provides no opportunity for the concentration on the sur-' faces of the rollers of any substance dissolved in the liquid by evaporation of the liquid.

Thus, the fabric is not subjected to streams of liquid or other concentrations of substance dis- 5 solved in the liquid that might tend to produce uneven effects on the fabric, but leaves the nip rollers with a substantially uniform content of liquid. A uniform treatment of the fabric results. For example, if the liquid contains a dis- I solved dyestufi, subsequent drying leaves the fabric substantially uniformly treated with the dyestuff.

In order to facilitate the starting of the liquidapplying operation and to allow of the fabric 4 being passed over the guide rollers 9 without difficulty the trough II! can be lowered from operative position. Thus, the trough is supported by vertical standards M which are pivotally supported both from the machine frame by links I5 and from a rotatable shaft l6 by links l1. The links l1, which are fixed to the shaft l6, extend beyond the shaft and form levers, and are provided near their outer ends with balance weights 3 the moment of which about the shaft I6 is suflicient to maintain the trough ID in the raised or operative, position.

A worm wheel 20 is fixed to the shaft l6 and is engaged by a worm (not shown) housed in a casing 2 I, the worm being secured to a shaft 22 which is rotatable by a hand-wheel 23. In order to lower the trough ID from the operative position (i. e. from the position shown in the drawings) the hand-wheel 23 is rotated in the appropriate direction, the resulting rotation of the shaft l6 by the worm wheel 20 causing the links l5, H to rotate about their pivots to lower the trough. After the fabric 4 has been passed over the guide rollers 9 and it is desired to start the liquid-applying operation, the hand-wheel 23 is rotated in the reverse direction to raise the trough I0 into opera.- tive position.

The left-hand mangle roller II is supported in movable bearings 25 (one shown in Fig. 1) which are slidably mounted on blocks 26 formed on the machine frame. Each bearing 25 is urged to the right by a pressure bar 21 so as to set up pressure between the two rollers II, the bar itself being pressed by a lever 30 to which the bar is connected by a pivotally mounted threaded block 3|. The lever 30 is urged to rotate clockwise about its pivot 32 by a bell-crank lever 33 which is weightedat 34 and connected to the lever 30 by a link 35. The pressure between the mangle rollers H can quickly be released (e. g. when it is desired to pass the leading end of a piece of fabric between the rollers) by a hand lever 36, anticlockwise rotation of which brings about similar rotation of the bell-crank lever 33 by means of a lifting cam 31 which is connected to the handlever and disposed beneath the bell-crank lever. The degree of pressure between the mangle rollers may be adjusted by suitably varying the weights 34. The pressure bars 21 can be rotated within the blocks 3| by means of a hand wheel 40 fixed to each bar.

Liquid is fed to the trough 0 from a closed container 4 I, (see Figs. 2 and 3), the container being suspended in inverted position over a covered extension 42 of the trough and provided with a feed-pipe 43. As the liquid in the trough is consumed, the fall in its level permits air to pass through an-opening 44 in the cover of the exsion 42. When, however, the liquid in the trough reaches the desired level a floatand needle device 50 in the extension 42 rises and closes the valve 45. The closing of the valve stops the flow of air into the container 4| and the flow of liquid from the container consequently ceases. The action of the float and needle device 50 is fully automatic and the device maintains a substantially constant level of liquid in the trough Ill. The pipe 46 is flexible in order to allow of the lowering and raising of the trough I0 (and extension 42) without disturbing the liquid feeding apparatus.

After recharging the container 4| any liquid in the air pipe 41 can be drained from the pipe by a three-way cock 5| and drain pipe 52 which connects the cock with the pipe 43. Thus, to ensure that the pipe 41 is freed from liquid at the commencement of the liquid-applying operation the cock 5| is turned to connect the pipe 41 with the drain 52. When the pipe 41 is drained the cock is turned to connect the flexible pipe 46 with pipe 41 (as shown in Fig. 3) and a cook 53 in the pipe 43 is opened to allow the feed of liquid to the trough to commence. During the recharging of the container, the cock 5| is turned into the third position to disconnect the pipe 41 from the flexible pipe 46, thus preventing any liquid which may be poured into the pipe 41 from passing down the pipe 46.

Having described our invention, what we sire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for applying liquid to a web or sheet of material, comprising a pair of mangle rollers, means for rotatably mounting said rollers trough, and means controlling the flow of liquid from the supply to the trough and adapted to maintain a substantially constant level of liquid in the trough.

2. Apparatus for applying liquid to a web or sheet of material, comprising a pair of rubbercovered mangle rollers, means for rotatably mounting said rollers side-by-side to form a nip, a trough for the reception of the liquid, means for mounting said trough beneath the rollers in a position such that the rollers depend into the trough and form the nip close to the level of the liquid in the trough, a guide roller positioned in the trough and adapted to direct the web or sheet of material to the nip of the rollers, a liquid supply, a feed pipe connecting said supply to said trough, and means controlling the feed of liquid from the supply to the trough and adapted to maintain a substantially constant level of liquid in the trough.

ALBERT MELLOR. WILLIAM POOL.

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