US2792615A

US2792615A - Method and apparatus for handling textile fabric

Info

Publication number: US2792615A
Application number: US314907A
Authority: US
Inventors: Cohn Joseph; Jules G Walter; Cohn Eugene
Original assignee: Samcoe Holding Corp
Current assignee: Samcoe Holding Corp
Priority date: 1952-10-15
Filing date: 1952-10-15
Publication date: 1957-05-21
Anticipated expiration: 1974-05-21

Description

May 21, 1957 J. COHN ETAL 2, 9 5

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING TEXTILE FABRI C Filed Oct. l5, 1952 INVENTO S 11a: BY 1721 6:617

{wi h METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR r TEXTILE FABRIC Application October 15, 1952, Serial No. 314,907

7 Claims. (Cl. 26-185) LING This invention relates to a method and apparatus for handling textile fabric, and more particularly is concerned with a method and apparatus for passing continuous lengths of textile fabric through treating zones in such a manner that the fabric is continually, substantially completely relaxed during such passage through the treating zone.

As heretofore carried out, most treating operations performed on continuous lengths of textile fabrics, whether steaming, drying, finishing or the like, have resulted in the introduction of certain stresses in the fabric which it has not been possible to completely relieve prior to delivery of the fabric to the user. Consequently, when the fabric has been subsequently cut into garments and these garments laundered, substantial shrinkage has resulted because at this time the residual stresses in the fabric, which up until this time have not been relieved, are relieved.

It has been one of the primary aims of the textile industry to avoid such shrinkage in a finished garment by avoiding to as great a degree as possible the presence of residual stresses in the continuous lengths of fabric delivered to the garment maker. While substantial success in this direction has been achieved, there has never to our knowledge been developed, until our invention, any reasonably economical method or apparatus for handling continuous lengths of textile fabrics during treatments thereof which results in a substantially complete removal of all stresses previously introduced therein, or which prevents the initial introduction into the fabric of such stresses during certain necessary treatment. One of the chief difficulties involved has been the problem of how to control the rate at which a continuous length of fabric is fed through a treating zone by successive feeding means therein in order to compensate for change in length thereof due to the treatment, without imposing a tension upon the fabric which will, of course, oppose any desire of the fabric to shrink or shorten.

It is the primary object of our invention to provide a method of handling continuous lengths of textile fabric during treatment thereof in such a manner that the fabric is continuously substantially completely relaxed, whereby the tendency of such treatment to introduce stresses into the fabric is counteracted and whereby the fabric is permitted freely to shrink and shorten without consequently requiring the imposition of any tension thereon in order that the rate of feed of any portion thereof may be adjusted to compensate therefor.

Another object of our invention is to provide an apparatus by which the above-set-forth method can be carried out and by which continuous lengths of fabric may be continuously advanced through a treating zone in substantially completely relaxed condition.

A further object of our invention resides in the provision of a method and apparatus for handling continuous lengths of textile fabric wherein the fabric, in addition to being continuously maintained in substantially relaxed atent condition, is further tumbled to a certain extent, whereby stresses already residing therein are given an opportunity to be relieved.

Broadly, the method of our invention comprises advancing a continuous length of fabric longitudinally through a treating zone in successive loops and supporting the loops at their upper and lower portions. During such advance the fabric in each loop is continuously changed. More specifically, the fabric is substantially continuously withdrawn from each loop at its upper forward portion and is fed to the upper rearward portion of the succeeding loop, and the rate of withdrawal of fabric from each loop is controlled in accordance with the rate at which the fabric is fed to the loop, or in accordance with the amount of fabric in the loop. Advantageously, there is maintained in each loop suificient fabric to form a plurality of folds in the lower portion thereof tumbled one upon another, whereby the fabric is not only substantially continuously and completely relaxed but is also subjected to stress-relieving or stress-preventing agitation.

Our apparatus for carrying out the above method comprises broadly a plurality of feeding means for advancing the fabric longitudinally through the treating zone and means within the treating zone including the feeding means for forming successive loops of fabric spaced lengthwise of the treating zone. The plurality of feeding means aid in the support of the successive loops of fabric and effect a continual changing of the fabric in each loop by withdrawing fabric from each loop and feeding it to the succeeding loop. More specifically, we contemplate the inclusion in the apparatus of a plurality of J-boxes, each spaced between a pair of feeding means and adapted to receive fabric from one and to have the fabric withdrawn therefrom by the other. Suitable driving means are employed for operating the feeding means, the speed of each feeding means being controlled most advantageously in accordance with the amount of fabric contained in the J-box from which it withdraws fabric or in accordance with the rate at which fabric is fed to such J-box. In this respect, reference is made to our copending application Serial No. 313,182, filed October 4, 1952 in which such a control apparatus is fully disclosed and claimed.

For a more detailed understanding of our invention, reference is made to the following specific description of one type of apparatus coming within the scope of our invention and by which the method of our invention may be carried out. This specific apparatus is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a'fabric dryer in which is incorporated our novel means for handling fabric which is to be dried thereby;

Fig. 2 is an elevation in section of the apparatus taken on line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the fabrichandling apparatus itself; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the handling apparatus illustrated in Fig. 3.

According to the invention, a continuous length of fabric is first fed into the upper end of a J-box. A certain amount of the fabric is permitted to accumulate in the J-box before removal from the bottom end thereof by a feeding means which feeds it into the upper end of a subsequent J-box. In this manner the fabric is ad vanced completely through a treating zone, being continuously deposited is subsequent J-boxes and withdrawn therefrom by the feeding means therebetween.

Each J-box is operatively connected to the feeding means which withdraws fabric therefrom and deposits it in the subsequent J-box in such a manner that the speed of the feeding means is controlled by the amount of fabric in such J-box. Furthermore each control for each 3 feeding means is so adjustable that by proper adjustment thereof the amount of fabric permitted to accumulate in a J-box can be varied.

Referring now to the drawing, the drying apparatus there illustrated comprises a housing 19 having a central longitudinal partition 11 which contains

openings

12 and 13 in the upper and lower portions respectively therein, whereby the two compartments of the housing formed by partition 11 are placed in communication. A heater 13' may, if desirable, be located in opening 13 whereby air passing therethrough may be heated. The compartment of housing which appears to the left in Fig. 2 is adapted to receive and have passed therethrough continuous lengths of fabric which it is desired to dry. The apparatus by which the fabric is passed through this chamber of housing 10 will be described subsequently below.

Within the other compartment of housing 10, that is, the compartment to the right, as seen in Fig. 2, there is mounted a fan or fans 14 adapted to establisha current of drying air directed upwardly inthe compartment to pass through opening 12 into the fabric-drying compartment. The fan or fans 14 draw air from the lower portion of the right-hand compartment, which air may be heated, if desirable, by any suitable heating means such as heater 13'- Drying air, which is passed into the upper section of the fabric-drying compartment through opening 12 and partition 11, is directed downwardly both by the curvature of the roof of this compartment as well as by reason of the suction created in the lower portion of the compartment by the fan drawing air therefrom through lower opening 13 in partition 11. The dry air itself is drawn both through and around the fabric which is being advanced through the drying compartment, whereby moisture is withdrawn from the, fabric. Provision may of course also be made for either removing the moisture withdrawn from the fabric from the air in the fan compartment of the housing or for expelling moistureladen air from the housing and drawing thereinto a new supply of air. As these latter features do not form a part of our invention, it is not believed necessary to illustrate them.

The fabric-handling apparatus which advances the fabric through the drying compartment of the dryer will now be described. It comprises a plurality of J-boxes as made of an open mesh material such as large mesh screen or an expanded metal lattice-work. Each J-box 2%) has a lower curved section 21 having an open mouth 22 through which fabric may be withdrawn from the J-box that has been fed thereto through an open upper end 23. The J-boxes are spaced longitudinally of the drying chamber, each extending transversely thereof. interposed between each pair of successive J-boxes is a feed roll 26 mounted on a shaft 27, the opposite ends of which are journaled in partition 11 and the side wall of the housing 10.

A length of fabric 29 fed into the drying compartment initially by a feed roll 30 (Fig. 1) is deposited in the first J-box 2t permitted to accumulate to a certain extent therein and withdrawn therefrom through mouth 22 by a feed roll 26, whence it is deposited into the second J-box 20. In this manner the fabric is continuously advanced through the drying compartment of dryer 1 Each of the J-boxes 2% is supported by a pair of lever arms 44 (only one being shown in connection with each J-box) connected to the opposite upper ends thereof. Each pair of lever arms 4!) is supported by a shaft 41 journallcd at its opposite ends in partition 11 and a side wall of housing in. The pairs of lever arms ifi are fixedly secured to the shafts 41 so that pivotal movement thereof about the axes of the shafts effects rotary movement of the shafts. This rotary movement of shafts all by the J-bcxes through lever arms 4%, as a result of the accumulation of fabric in the J-boxes, is employed to control the rate of rotation of the feed rolls 26, as will behereinafter described.

Mounted on and fixedly secured to the end of each feed roll supporting shaft 27, which extends through and outwardly of the side wall of housing 10, is a drive wheel 42 which is adapted to be engaged by a continuously driven drive belt 43, whereby driving power may be supplied to the shaft to rotate the feed roll 26. The driving connection between drive belt 43 and drive wheels 42 is a frictional connection. When the drive belt 43 is pressed tightly against the drive wheel 42, the corresponding feed roll 26 is driven at its maximum speed, whereas when the drive belt 43 is out of contact with the drive wheel 42, the corresponding feed roll 26 is stationary. During intermediate conditions of contact between the drive belt and a drive wheel, varying speeds of rotation of the corresponding feed roll 26 will be achieved.

A plurality of pressure rolls 44 are provided to press the drive belt against the various drive wheels 42 and for this purpose are located on the opposite side of belt 43 from the respective drive wheels 42. Each is mounted on a shaft 25,,one end of which is fixedly secured to a lever arm 46, which in turn is fixedly supported by a shaft 41 and is therefore adapted to be pivoted about the axis of shaft 41 in accordance with the amount of fabric contained or accumulated in the J-box 2i) supported thereby. The other end of shaft 45 has fixedly secured to it a counterweight supporting arm 47, a portion 48 of which is threaded and adjustably supports a counterweight 49.

Each pressure roll 44 is thus urged toward its corresponding drive wheel 42 to press continuously driven feed belt '13 thereagainst by the weight of J-box 20 and the accumulated fabric therein, whereas it is urged away from its corresponding drive wheel 42 by the action of its corresponding counterweight 49. Hence the adjustments of counterweights 49 determine the amount of fabric that must accumulate in the J-boxes before the corresponding feed rolls 26 will be rotated to remove fabric therefrom.

In Fig. 3 it will be noted that the outer J-boxes have a substantial amount of fabric therein, whereas the center J-box has substantially little in it. This results from an adjustment of the counterweight 49 for this Jbox such that the feed roll 26 which withdraws fabric from it is travelling at substantially the same rate as is the feed roll 26 which is depositing fabric into it. 'It will be clear that the counterweight for each of the J-boxes may be adjusted to maintain a considerable amount of fabric in the corresponding J-boxes or may be adjusted to maintain a very small accumulation of fabric therein.

To avoid having the fabric carried beneath feed rolls 26 and thus possibly fall behind the back walls of the J-boxes 20, we provide a small diameter roll 52 located immediately beneath the point of discharge of the fabric from each feed roll 26 and journalled in partition 11 and housing side wall 10. One end of roll 52 extends beyond housing side wall 10 and is adapted to engage continuously and be driven by drive belt 43. The surfaces of rolls 52 are preferably smooth so as to exert a minimum driving eifect on the fabric, their function as indicated being not to positively advance the fabric but primarily to prevent its being carried beneath feed rolls 26. As fabric is deposited in a J-box, it forms folds, as illustrated in Fig. 3. New folds are continually added at the top of the pile of fabric in the J-box and are substantially continuously removed from the pile as the fabric is drawn from the discharge mouth 22 of the J-box by the succeeding feed roll 26. This accumulation of folds of fabric evidences a complete relaxation of die fabric as it passes through the apparatus, and further evidences, in fact, a certain compressing of the fabric. As the folds continually move downwardly in a J-box, and if sufiicient folds are contained therein, sometimes tumbled one over the other, the fabric is substantially always continuously agitated, whereby stresses previously introduced thereinto are permitted to remove themselves. Further more, the usual stresses that result in subsequent shrinkage, some of which are usually introduced into a fabric during drying, are not permitted to be introduced in the fabric because the fabric is always completely relaxed. As a result of this conditioning or handling of the fabric there is generally a shortening of the length of fabric. However, it will be clear from the foregoing description of the control means for the feed rolls that this change in length can be readily compensated for without the imposition on the fabric of any tensioning whatever.

The tumbling action of the above-described handling apparatus does, we believe, approach as closely as pos sible, with a continuous length of fabric, the tumbling action to which garments subsequently made of the fabric will be subjected in laundering and which wou d normally result in considerable shrinkage. Therefore it is believeo that all shrinkage will be permitted to take place during passage of the fabric through this handling ap is, at least all shrinkage mat might otherwise normally result from the treatment to which the fabric is being subjected when handled by this apparatus.

It will be clear, of course, that the handling apparatus will be satisfactory for handling continuous lengths of fabric during treating operations other than drying, i. e., steaming, etc., and the invention should not therefore be limited in any way to a drying operation it will also be clear that various changes and modifications may be made in the above-described apparatus without departing from the scope of our invention or the method thereof, and therefore our invention should be limited only to the extent set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. The method of treating continuous lengths of textile fabric which comprises advancing the fabric longitudinally through a treating zone in successive loops, supporting the loops at their upper and lower portions, continuously changing the fabric in each loop, maintaining in each loop suflicient fabric to form a plurality of folds in the lower portion thereof tumbled one upon another whereby the fabric is not only substantiahy continuously and completely relaxed but is also subjected to stress-relieving agitation, and continuously passing a treating agent about and through the loops of fabric.

2. The method of treating continuous lengths of textile fabric which comprises advancing the fabric longitudinally through a treating zone in successive loops, supporting each loop at its upper portion, supporting the bottom portion of each loop so that the fabric therein is completely relaxed and at least one loose fold is maintained therein, substantially continuously drawing fabric from each loop at its upper forward portion and feeding it to the upper rearward portion of the succeeding loop, continuously passing drying air about and through the loops of fabric, and controlling the rate of withdrawal of fabric from each loop in accordance with the rate at which it is fed to said loop so that a substantially constant amount of fabric is maintained in said loop.

3. Apparatus for drying continuous lengths of textile fabric which comprises a drying chamber, a plurality of feed rolls spaced longitudinally of and within said chamher, means for driving each feeding roll at different speeds, a J-box interposed between each two successive feed rolls and adapted to receive fabric fed thereto by one of said feed rolls and to have fabric withdrawn therefrom by the succeeding feed roll, and means operatively connecthig each J-box to the driving means for the feed roll" which withdraws fabric therefrom for changing the speed of said last-mentioned feed roll in accordance with the amount of fabric in said J-bOX.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 in which the means operatively connecting each J-box to the drive means for the succeeding feed roll completely supports the J-box and includes an adjustably mounted counterweight which tends to counteract the efiect on said means of the weight of the J-box and the fabric contained therein whereby said means may be adjusted to maintain varying amounts of fabric in the J-box.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in which each .l-box is made of a coarse mesh material and which includes means for passing drying air about and through said fabric as it is advanced through the treating zone.

6. The method of treating textile fabric to minimize subsequent shrinkage thereof which comprises arranging, supporting and advancing the fabric in successive relaxed loops so as to provide folds within each loop, continuous- 1y changing the fabric in each loop by continuously adding folds thereto, withdrawing folds therefrom whereby the folds are worked by the advance of the fabric to compress the constitutent fibers of the fabric, and applying a treating agent to the successive relaxed loops of the fabric.

7. A method of treating moistened textile fabric to minimize subsequent shrinkage thereof which comprises arranging, supporting and advancing the moistened fabric so as to relax the fabric and to effect rippling of the fabric in a succession of loops, maintaining a variable predetermined amount, by weight, of fabric in each loop, repeatedly changing the fabric in each loop, and applying a drying medium to the fabric.

References ited in the file of this patent UNETED STATES FATENTS 1,033,925 Palmer July 30, 1912 1,534,500 Braemer et a1 Apr. 21, 1925 1,844,658 fiolcom'o Feb. 9, 1932 1,854,526 Rowley Apr. 19, 1932 1,854,604 Steinmann Apr. 19, 1932 2,210,880 Capstaff Aug. 13, 1940 2,248,333 Burbank July 8, 1941 2,431,372 Cook et a1. Nov. 25, 1947 2,482,497 Miller Sept. 20, 1949 2,521,440 Bannon Sept. 5, 1950 2,584,753 Spooner Feb. 5, 1952 2,597,529 Redman May 20, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 613,471 Great Britain May 7, 1946