US3050976A - Apparatus for continuously wet treating yarns and fabrics in rope form - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 28, 1962 R. R. LAUPMAN 3,050,976

APPARATUS FoR CONTINUOUSLY WET TREATING YARNs AND FABRICS IN ROPE FORM INVENTOR. ROBERT RONALD LAUPMAN ATTORNEYS R. R. LAUPMAN 3,050,976 APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY WET TREATING YARNS AND FABRICS IN ROPE FORM Original Filed July 21, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 28, 1962 INVENTOR. ROBERT RONALD LAUPMAN ATTORN EYS Hired @attent aan 3,050,97 6 APPARATUS FOR CUNTNUGUSLY WET TREAT- ING YARNS AND FABRICS IN RPE FQRM Robert Ronald Laupman, Wijchen, Netherlands, assiglnor to Gebr. Stork 8; Cos Apparatenfabrieh N .V., Amsterdam, Netherlands, a corporation of the Netherlands Original application July 21, 1958, Ser. No. 749,981. Divided and this application Jan. 12, i961, Ser. No. 82,192 Claims priority, application Netherlands July 20, 1957 4 Claims. (Cl. 68-l76) This is a division of application Serial No. 749,981, tiled July 21, 1958.

It is known that in washing and like wet treating yarns and fabrics in the form of ropes in winch machines, it is advantageous to pass the ropes over Winches mounted above the liquid level in the treating bath. During its passage through the machine the yarns and fabrics in rope form to be treated leaves the liquid, runs over a `winch and subsequently falls back into the liquid again. The winch may be in the form of a roller against which another roller presses, the rope of material passing thereover being squeezed out between said rollers. The action of such winch machines thus resides in the combination of wetting (the movement of the rope of material in the treating liquid) and soaking.

In the various constructions the accent in the one machine is placed on an intensive wetting and a brief soaking treatment, while in another machine the soaking treatment is longer and the wetting treatment briefer. In actual practice it is found that for both components of the treatment there is a minimum period which will be effective. In substantially all cases the treating liquid together with the agents contained therein must be brought into contact with all parts of the rope of material during the wetting treatment, so that the wetting liquid will constantly act on the rope of material. During this contact the composition of the treating liquid changes, as a rule, so that after a certain period the liquid in the rope of material must be renewed. if, therefore, the wetting treatment is too brief or not intensive enough this renewal is insufficient or irregular.

If the wetting is intensive but if the period during which.

the treating liquid acts on the rope of material between the wetting passages is too brief, the maximum useful effect of the machine is not reached. The action of the treating liquid on the rope of material is then insufficient. In some types of machines this is compensated by an excessively intensive and frequent wetting. The drawback of the latter method, however, is the possibility that the rope of material will be mechanically damaged or will undergo a change in structure.

Moreover the frequent squeezing carried out in such machines is undesirable in some cases. This is especially so during the after-treatment of printed fabrics in rope form, which are to be rinsed and fixed in such machines. Thus, on the one hand it is necessary for the rinsing (or fixing) liquid to be brought into intimate contact with the ropes of material to be treated, but on the other hand exposure of the rope of material to too large a pressure should be avoided during the rinsing treatment because, apart from mechanical damage, this may lead to smudging of the printed areas. This is the reason why vats provided with Winches are frequently used. The printed webs are either treated with their beginning and end knotted together (discontinuous process) or are passed through the machine helically as a continuous web with the ends of the successive webs sewed together. Due to the desirability of avoiding squeezing, a large number of passages over the winch is desired @fue in order to ensure a proper treatment. Besides the rate of the passage of the rope of material through the bath must be relatively large in order to obtain a sufricient rinsing action when the skein leaves the liquid and falls back into it again. Also during the passage over an auxiliary winch a good rinsing action is obtained when the rate of passage is sufficiently high, because the rinsing liquid still contained in the rope of material when it is drawn upwardly is partly driven out of the rope of material by said auxiliary winch and flows back along the rope of material. The use of a round (closed) auxiliary winch may promote this action.

If certain rinsing treatments, such as the after-treatment of printed fabrics in rope form, are in addition dependent on a certain reaction of ingredients from the rinsing bath with the dyes used, so that the total rinsing time must be of a certain duration, the dimensions of the rinsing machine meeting the demands made may become unattractively large.

For example, in most cases an average peripheral speed yfor the winch of 8O meters per minute is desired for obtaining a good rinsing action. lf the fabric in rope form should at the same time cover a corresponding distance through the vat and alternately over a winch for completing a reaction between the rinsing liquid and, for example, the dyes present on the fiber, for which a specific reaction time is necessary, the machine must be quite large.

If for economical reasons the apparatus should always be fully occupied, it appears that such a rinsing machine can only be fully untilized by those concerns that have a need for an after-treatment that corresponds with the output capacity of a product or series of products which require one and the same kind of treatment.

Now it has been found in actual practice that there is a great demand for a continuous wet treating machine which has a much smaller capacity and which at the same time operates continuously.

According to the invention this demand can be met by periodically reversing the direction of movement of a material in rope form during its passage through a rinsing bath or a bath for another treatment.

crates to continuously wet treat yarns and fabrics in rope form by passing the rope of material to be treated.

at a constant velocity downwardly into and upwardly out of a plurality of baths in succession. The driving means for the rope of material superimposes on the movement thereof at the constant velocity a reciprocal motion in the direction of the length of the rope of material, the velocity of which reciprocal motion is sinusoidal.

Although this operation can be mechanically carried out in la great many ways, a preferred embodiment of a winch machine .for carrying out this method will be described with reference -to the accompanying drawings. In said drawing: t

FIGURE l is a schematic side elevation view of the winch machine;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-section on line 1II-iI in FIG- URE l; and

FIGURE 3 is a schematic plan view showing the mauner in which a Irope of material runs over the Winches.

According to the drawing the machine comprises a frame l for the driving mechanism for a `plurality of Winches 3 located above a rinsing vat 2, over which Winches the rope of material 25 to be ltreated is passed.

Each winch 3 is fixed on a shaft 5, each of which shafts is rotatably supported in :bearings 6 mounted on the pulleys 7, the 'guiding pulleys 8 and the driving pulley 9.

The driving pulley 9 forms part of the driving mechanism yfor the Winches 3. Said driving mechanism, including pulley 9, is mounted on a carriage 11 which has guiding rolle-rs 12 rolling a guiding rail 13 secured to the frame 1 so that the carriage 11 `can rnove back and yforth on rail 13. The driving mechanism comprises a driving motor having a reduction Agearing 14, ia shaft 16 having thereon a large pulley 17, a driving belt 15 around pulley 17 and gearing 1d, a small pulley 18 on shaft 1e, and a pulley 20 which is keyed on the same shaft as driving pulley 9, land a'belt 19 around pulleys 18 and 2%. On the shaft 16 of the driving mechanism is secured an arm 21, the free end of which arm is provided With a plurality of coupling holes 22 for adjustably and pivotally coupling the arm 21 to the one end of a rod 23 which has its other end pivoted to the frame 1 at 24.

When -the driving motor 14 is in operation the Winches 3 will be driven in the direction of the arrow P. At the same time, however, the carriage 11 and the driving mechanism mounted thereon will :be reciprocated along the guiding rail 13 because during the rotation of pulley 17 the arm 21 is rotated by the shaft 16, which arm 21 cooperates with the rod 23. In consequence the Winches 3 .and the rope of material 25 passed thereover in the manner shown in FGURES l and 3 Will not be continuously moved in the direction of the arrow P, but each time the direction of movement of the carriage 11 reverses, the direction of movement of the rope of material will likewise reverse. rlhe rope of material 25, therefore, Will behave as if a movement having a sinusoidal velocity is superimposed on its continuous advance, lwith the result that each time the rope of material advances a certain distance, it will be given a return movement for a smaller distance. The position of the coupling between the arm 21 and the rod 23 will determine the measure of said advance and return lmovement as well as the rate of discharge ofthe rope of material 25 from the machine.

The machine Will thus insure that each winch 3 causes the rope of material 25 to be repeatedly pulled out of the liquid in the rinsing vat 2 and to be immersed therein again, `so that notwithstanding theV small rate of discharge of the rope of material 25 trom the machine a perfect rinsing action on every point of the rope of material is achieved.

Although the embodiment of the winch machine as described is structurally very simple and as a result attractive, it will be clear 4that for effecting yt-he reciprocatory movement of the rope of material to be treated as required by the method according to the invention a great many other mechanical arrangements may be chosen. Furthermore it will be clear that wherever in the foregoing description rinsing is mentioned this should also be understood to comprise any other treatment of a rope of material in which the reciprocation of said rope of material has the same purpose or effect as in the rinsing treatment. Furthermore it will be clear that the arm 21 may be rotated by a separate driving mechanism so that not only the stroke of the `carriage may be varied but also, independently thereof, the lfrequency of said stroke may be varied. By mounting said separate driving mechanism for the arm 21 on `the frame 1 and by pivoting ithe connecting rod 23 to the carriage 11 it is possible tto vary the frequency of the stroke of the carriage during the operation of the machine.

It is thought 4that the invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it is apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing `from thev spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawings being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for continuously wet treating fabrics in rope form by a method in which the rope is passed at a constant velocity downwardly into and upwardly out of at least one treating liquid and there is superimposed on the movement of the rope of material a reciprocating motion in the direction of the length of the material with a sinusoidal velocity, said apparatus comprising a frame, a plurality of Winches rotatably mounted on s-aid frame, at least one vat beneath said iframe,y a `constant speed driving means on said frame, and a transmission means connected :between said driving means and said Winches for driving said Winches rotatably iirst in one direction and then in the other direction, the amount of rotation in said other direction being less than the amount of rotation in said one direction.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said transmission means comprises a belt connecting all'of said Winches, a driving pulley means engaged with said belt, and a driving mechanism connected between said driving pulley means and said driving means for rot-ating said driving pulley means first in one direction relative to said Winches and then in the opposite direction rela- Itive to said Winches.

`3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which said driving mechanism comprises a carriage on Which said driving means is mounted, said carriage being movable back and forth on said frame, said driving pulley means being mounted on said carriage, an intermediate pulley means mounted .on said carriage, and belts connected between said driving means, intermediate pulley means, and said driving pulley means for driving said driving pulley means, a crank arm on said intermediate pulley means rotatable with said intermediate pulley means, and a rod pivotally connected between said crank arm and said frame, whereby when said crank arm rotates said car- -riage is moved back and forth along said frame causing said driving pulley mean-s to rotate rst in one direction relative to said Winches and then in the opposite direction relative to said Winches.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which said crank arm and said rod are adjustably connected to each other for varying the relative lengths of the crank arm.

and the rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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