US2417916A

US2417916A - Method of mothproofing pile fabrics

Info

Publication number: US2417916A
Authority: US
Inventors: James N Dow
Original assignee: Bigelow Sanford Carpet Co Inc
Current assignee: Bigelow Sanford Carpet Co Inc
Priority date: 1941-10-31
Filing date: 1941-10-31
Publication date: 1947-03-25
Anticipated expiration: 1964-03-25

Description

.March 25, 1947. J, N 'DOW METHOD 0F MoTHPRooFING PIL-E FABRICS XMMS Patented Mar. 25, 1947 METHOD OF Mo'rHPRooFING PILE FABRICS James N. Dow, Longmeadow, Mass., assigner to Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Co., Inc., Thompsonville, Conn., a corporation of Massachusetts Application October 31, 1941, Serial No. 417,277

Y (C1. 11i- 111) 7 Claims.

This invention relates to the mothproong of pile fabrics and its object is to provide an economical treatment for impregnating all of the pile yarn, including the tuft and base portions thereof, of a continuously advancing web of fabric with mothproofng agents of the substantive type which chemically combine with the wool molecule. My treatment is substantially uniform from end to end of the web.

The preferred embodiment of my invention includes the consecutive steps of impregnating the pile yarn with a substantive mothprociing agent in aqueous solution, steaming the impregnated fabric to eiect exhaustion of the agent onto the pile yarn, followed by drying. As will be described, the liquor application is effected in such a way, preferably by pressing and wiping the solution into the pile, as to force the liquor into the base as Well as the tuft portions of the pile yarn without causing any substantial absorption of the liquor by the threads of thebacking fabric. Impregnation of the bases of the pile yarn is necessary for effective mothproong, since the moth larvae tend to hide in the bases away from the light, yet by avoiding excessive impregnation of the backing threads I minimize waste, since those threads are of cellulosic material not attacked by moth larvae.

My method of application obviates any material exhaustion of mothproofing agent to the pile yarn until after the fabric leaves the liquor supply so that I insure maintenance of the liquor at a substantially unvarying concentration and I thereby insure that a long web of fabric receives a substantially unvarying amount of agent from end to end of the web. A

By treating the pile yarn of a woven fabric, as contrasted with treating the raw wool stock, I effect substantial economies by avoiding the waste of expensive mothproofing chemicals as the result of lost raw stock ber during the picking, carding, spinning, winding and weaving operations necessary to convert the raw stock into woven pile. As contrasted with mothprcoiing the spun yarn prior to weaving, I not only reduce waste but also obviate the loss of bloom 0r tuft flare in the finished fabric which would result from adhesion together of the tuft fibers when they are cut off during the weaving.

My treatment is therefore not only effective but inexpensive and I have achieved this result even in Jacquard fabrics where the base of the yarn is buried between upper and lower layers of cellulosic weft.

In the drawing:

Fig, 1 represents diagrammatically apparatus which may effectively be employed to carry out the treatment embodying my invention; and

Fig. 2 is a detail warpwise section of my novel mothprooed fabric.

The pile fabric 2, having pile 2a and a backing 2b, enters the machine around idlers 4 and t,

being drawn in succession over a mothprooiing liquor application device l, through a steamer l2 and a drier ll. The fabric is advanced in the direction indicated by arrows by means of the rolls l5, 20 and 2t, having respectively spikes I8, 22 and 2'8 protruding from their peripheries and adapted to engage and grip the backing 2b of the fabric. The spike rolls IE and 20 are driven from a power source Silwhose speed can be varied to change the speed of advance of the fabric and which is connected by chain 32 to a sprocket 3ft fixed to the shaft 3S to which roll 2i) is securedl. A chain 38 passes aro-und sprocket lill also secured to shaft 35 and around another sprocket 42 iXed to shaft fifi, to which roll I6 is secured, to drive roll it from r-oll 2t. Spike rolls It and 2! have the same peripheral speed. Spike roll 24 is driven from an independent variable speed power source Eii'by means of chain 52 passing around sprocket lill iixed to shaft 56 tc which roll 2B is secured.

The applicator it consists of an application roll t@ immersed in a tank S2 containing' mothpro-ofing liquor 64 heated in any suitable manner, such as is indicated diagrammatically by the steam pipes t5. The application roll 8&3 is secured to a shaft 'it to which is xed a sprocket 'i2 driven by chain lil from a variable speed power source lt.

To press the pile 2a. of the fabric against the application roll Sil, the fabric passes around iders Si? and Si! which are so positioned with relation to the uppermost portion of the periphery of the roll il@ as to cause the fabric to be deflected, as indicated, during its travel over the roll. To increase such pressure I provide a tension device which consists of a roll having spikes adapted to engage the fabric and mounted coaxially with a brake drum il having a brake band I3 secured at l5 to the frame of the machine and connected at Il to the lever arm lil pivoted at 2l and having a weight 23 which may be adjusted lengthwise of the lever arm to vary the drag on the fabric and thereby increase or decrease the pressure between the fabric and the periphery of the applicaticn roll B3.

The application roll Si) is preferably rotated, as indicated by the arrow, in a direction contrary to the direction of advance of the fabric.

After the fabric leaves the application roll its pile rubs over a presser bar 9G, effective to press the liquor carried by the pile into the pile and effect better penetration.

The fabric, while its pile yarn is wet with the inothproong liquor, immediately passes into steamer l2 filled with steam from a suitable source, as indicated by the steam pipes itil. rEhe steamer may be of any desired construction provided it is of sufficient length to effect adequate steamingcf lthe fabric as required to exhaust onto its pile yarn the mothproong agent carried in solution by it. I have shown diagrammatically a festoon steamer with festcon rods H32 advanced in conventional manner to convey a brake band 122 whose tension is made adjust-y able by the weighted lever |24 just as described above in connection with the tension roll 8.

From the tension roll |28 the fabric passes through drier I4 which may be of any desired construction and into which hot drying air is suitably admitted, as indicated by the conventional hot air inlet I3!) and outlet |32. The length of the drier lil should, of course, be sufficient to effect complete drying of the fabric before it emerges and passes around the drive cylinder 2B to the next succeeding step in the manufacture, as indicated at |50.

The liquor in tank l0 comprises a solution of a mothproong agent of the type which is substantive to wool. I may use any of the known types of such agents but I prefer to employ pentachloro dihydroxy triphenyl-methane-sulphonic-acid of the nature available to the trade under the name Eulan CN. Another suitable material is an organic silicoiluoride of high Inolecular weight available as Amuno. Still other suitable materials ofV the substantive type may be used. Taking Eulan CN as typical, I shall describe my invention with respect to its use.

'The formula for a bath which I have used successfully in practice comprises i ounce Eulan CN per gallon of hot water (180 F.) to which is added .25% by weight, based on the combined Weight of Eulan CN and water, of 56% acetic acid.

As the fabric 2 advances pile downwardly over the application roll Sli in the direction shown by arrows, the roll rotates in a reverse or clockwise direction. The pile tufts are wiped and somewhat iiattened by the surface of the roll and the vigor of this wiping action is accentuated by the pressure of the fabric against the roll resulting from its deflection, as indicated, going over the roll and the drag exerted by the tension device 8. My experiments have shown that between approximately 11/2 and 2% of Eulan CN to the weight of wool exhausted onto the pile yarn will effect good mothproong if distributed substantially uniformly over the tuft and base portions thereof, and in practice 1 have employed approximately 11/2%. The quantity of mothproong liquor entrained by the yarn at the application roll, and so distributed, is sufficient at the concentration 0f l ounce mothproong agent per gallon of hot water to effect, when subsequently steamed, the exhaustion of that required amount of agent onto the tufts.

To effect such entrainment requires not only that the fabric press firmly against the roll Gil but also that the fabric and roll rotate at the proper speeds with relation to the construction of fabric being processed. Thus, if the fabric to be treated consists, for example, of l2 foot wide carpeting weighing 2.63 pounds persquare yard, of which 1.18 pounds per square yard represents pile yarn, and assuming that the carpet advances at a speed of 48 inches per minute so that i4.03 pounds of carpeting or 6.29 pounds of pile yarn per minute pass over the application roll, a reverse peripheral speed of advance of that roll of 1270 inches per minute will deposit on the yarn approximately 1.65 gallons of solution per minute which, when exhausted to the yarn, will increase its weight by about 1l/2% allowing for slight absorption by the backing threads. These values may, of course, be varied considerably and, generally speaking, the faster the speed of rotation of the roll relative to a given speed of advance of the fabric the more solution will be entrained by the tufts, and the faster the fabric is advanced the greater must be the peripheral speed of the application roll to deposit a given amount of solution.

By so forcing the pile yarn to entrain a sufficient quantity of the solution to eect the mothproong desired, I am able to remove the fabric from the supply of mothproong liquor before any material exhaustion of the agent on the yarn takes place. Thereby I insure that the mothproong liquor is not weakened materially during the mothprooi'lng of a continuous web so thatv the quantity of agent exhausted to the pile yarn is substantially unvarying from end to end of the ness of impregnation of the mothproofing liquor throughout the fibers of the pile yarn, including both tuft and base portions thereof.

While the pile yarn is still wet with the mothproong liquor the fabric passes through the steamer i2 to exhaust the mothproofing agent onto the yarn, such exhaustion being enhanced by the elevated temperature resulting from the steam and by the acidity imparted to the liquor by the acetic acid. In practice I have found that subjecting the fabric to saturated steam at atmosnheric pressure or slightly above for approximately 20 minutes will suffice to complete the exhaustion of the agent onto the wool yarn. The

steamer must, of course, be of sufficient length to satisfy, the necessary requirements as to steaming time relative tothe speed of advance of the fabric.

After steaming, the fabric is immediately dried in the hot air drier i4 where all of the moisture is removed. I prefer to keep the fabric under tension in the drier to obviate shrinkage. v

The completely dried fabric is then ready for the final steps in manufacture, such as finish shearing and backing sizing. As shown in Fig. 2,

`the fabric backing` 2b may conventionally be.

constructed of wefts 266 and 258. stuffer warps 282 and chain warps 20d. The pile yarn is composed of tufts 2a extending from the backing and bases 2b extending around the wefts Zim. Both the tuft portions 2a and the bases 2b extending around the Wefts 293 are thoroughly impregnated with exhausted mothprooiing agent as indicated at Zeile and 2Mb respectively. The drawing represents ideal conditions, and in practice there would inevitably be some mothproofing agent in. the backing threads as a result of capillarity. But a feature of my invention which has contributed largely to its success is that a large portion of the mothproong agent is concentrated in the base portions of the pile yarn Where the larvae hide, and this result has been attained by me in practice even with Jacquard fabrics where theA bases of the yarn extend between layers of back-V plying the mothproong agent may serve for some needs, such as by the use of an application -roll rotating in the direction of -advance of the fabric. However, I greatly prefer to employ the method above described because it effects .'the;

base penetration required without excessive waste in the backing threads. Furthermore, the concentration of agent in the liquor may be increased above that which I have specified, employing for the purpose organic solvents such as alcohols, ketones, ethers, esters and glycol derivatives. But in practice I have found that a normal concentration such as that above described is entirely adequate.

I claim:

1. The method of applying a mothprooiing liquor to a pile fabric to impregnato the pile in and through the base portions of said pile without substantial impregnation of the threads of the backing fabric, which comprises feeding the fabric continuously and in said feeding compressing the pile to form a fiat layer of pile covering the threads of said backing fabric, squeezing restricted quantities of a solution of a substantive mothproong agent into said layer of pile and close to the base portions of said pile, whereby said solution impregnates said base portions, restricting the quantity of solution so applied so that no substantial amount penetrates through said layer of pile to enter the threads l of the backing fabric, steaming said fabric while wet with said solution to exhaust said agent onto said pile and drying said fabric.

2. The method of applying a mothproong liquor to a pile fabric to impregnate the pile in and through the base portions of said pile without substantial impregnation of the threads of the backing fabric, which comprises feeding the fabric continuously and in said feeding flattening the pile to form a fiat layer with the ends of the pile pointed in the direction opposite to the direction of the feed of the fabric, applying restricted quantities of a solution of a substantive mothproong agent to said fiat pile layer and close to the base portions of Said pile whereby said solution impregnates said base portions, while restricting the quantity of solution so applied to such limited amounts that no substantial impregnation of the threads of the backing fabric takes place, steaming said fabric while wet with said solution to exhaust said agent onto said pile and drying said fabric.

3. The method of applying a mothproong liquor to a pile fabric to impregnate the pile in and through the base portions of said pile without substantial impregnation of the threads of the backing fabric, which comprises feeding the fabric continuously and in said feeding compressing the pile to form a fiat surface against an applicator roll, squeezing restricted quantities of a solution of a substantive mothprooing agent carried `by said applicator roll into said fiat surface and close to the base portions of said pile, whereby said solution impregnates said base portions, while restricting the quantity of solution so applied to such limited amounts that no substantial impregnation of the threads of t'ne backing fabric takes place, steaming said fabric while Wet With said solution to exhaust said agent onto said pile and drying said fabric.

4. The method of impregnating the pile only of a pile fabric, including the roots of the pile, with a mothproong liquor which comprises continuously feeding the fabric, rolling down the pile and resiliently squeezing it to a flattened condition on the backing fabric and simultaneously applying the liquor to the flattened pile and absorbing substantially all of the applied liquor into said pile.

5. The method of impregnating the pile only of a pile fabric, including the roots of the pile, with a mothproong liquor which comprises continuously feeding the fabric, rolling down the pile and resiliently squeezing it to a flattened condition and simultaneously applying the liquor to the flattened pile in an amount approximately 11/2 to 2% of the weight of the pile yarn whereby substantially all of the applied liquor is absorbed by saidpile.

6. The method of applying a inothproong liquor to a pile fabric to impregnato the pile in and through the base portions of said pile without substantial impregnation of the threads of the backing fabric, which comprises feeding the fabric continuously and in said feeding compressing the pile to form substantiaily a flat surface against applicator, applying restricted quantities of a solution of a inoothproofing agent carried 'by said applicator onto said flat surface and close to the base portions of said pile, whereby said solution impregnates said base portions, and regulating i quantity of moothprooiing agent applied by applicator in proportion to the compression el the pile as determined by the tension of the web and its rate of travelto insure application of a predetermined maximum quantity of mothproong agent essential to saturation of the pile structure but insufficient to saturate the backing fabric.

7. The method of applying a mothproong liquor to a travelling pile fabric to impregnate the pile in and through the base portions of said pile without substantial impregnation of the threads of the backing fabric, which comprises feeding the fabric continuously and in said feeding compressing the pile to form substantially a at surface against an applicator roll, applying a solution of a mothproong agent carried by said applicator roll onto said flat surface and close to the base portions of said pile, and regulating the speed of rotation of said roll and its direction of travel in proportion to the tension and relative speed of travel of the fabric to insure a constant rapid application of a predetermined o1uantit57 of mothproong agent essential to saturation of the pile structure and its base but insufficient to permit saturation of the backing fabric.

JAMES N. DOW.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,234,666 Bulford Mar. 11, 1941 2,184,147 Lowe Dec. 19, 1939 1,771,341 McCollum July 22, 1930 676,375 Whipple June 11, 1901 545,420 Bamford Aug. 27, 1895 1,850,413 Porte Mar. 22, 1932 2,163,104 Salzberg June 20, 1939 1,659,598 Funk Feb. 21, 1928 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 484,991 British 1936 477,196 British Dec. 23, 1937 OTHER REFERENCES American Dyestuff Reporter, vol. XIV, No. 8, pages S22-323.

Textile Colorist, vol. 47, pages 229-231.

Chem. & Ind., Dec. 3, 1938, pages 1143-1146.