US3371509A

US3371509A - Apparatus for the fluid treatment of web material

Info

Publication number: US3371509A
Application number: US475157A
Authority: US
Inventors: Dungler Julien
Original assignee: Scholl AG
Current assignee: Scholl AG
Priority date: 1965-07-27
Filing date: 1965-07-27
Publication date: 1968-03-05
Anticipated expiration: 1985-03-05

Description

March 5, 196.8 J. DUNGLER APPARATUS FOR THE FLUID TREATMENT OF WEB MATERIAL Filed July 27, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H muH mn INVENTOR JULIEN 'DUNGLER ATTORNEY J. DUNGLER 3,371,509

APPARATUS FOR THE FLUID TREATMENT OF WEB MATERIAL March 5, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 27, 1965 INVENTOR JULlEN DUNGLER United States Patent ()fitice 3,371,509 Patented Mar. 1968 3,371,509 APPARATUS FOR THE FLUID TREATMENT OF WEB MATERIAL Julien Dungler, Basel, Switzerland, assignor to Scholl AG., Zofingen, Switzerland, a joint-stock company of Switzerland Filed July 27, 1965, Ser. No. 475,157 5 Claims. (Cl. 68-5) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sealing device allowing the advance of sheet material through an elongated opening in a wall and yet ensuring an air-tight separation of the spaces on either side of said wall; said sealing device comprises a pair of flat, flexible members which at one end are secured to said wall by rail means at either side of said opening and, at the other end, lie flat against opposed faces of said advanced sheet; said rail means include a transverse groove to receive a rib integral with said flexible members.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for the treatment of web or sheet material produced from, for example, natural or synthetic fibres for the purpose of bleaching, steaming, drying, dyefixing or the like and in particular concerns seal means allowing passage of said sheet material through spaces held under diflerent pressure and yet ensuring an air-tight insulation between said spaces.

An apparatus in which the present invention may find application is characterised in that there is provided an autoclave having at least an inlet chamber and a high pressure chamber the said chambers having guide means for the continuous conveyance of said web of material, the high pressure chamber having an inlet and outlet aperture and the inlet chamber at least an inlet and outlet aperture for the material which apertures are provided with air-tight seals which permit the continuous feed of the material through the apertures.

The invention will be described further, by way of example only With reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an apparatus made in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the novel seal means; and

FIG. 3 is a modification of the same embodiment.

As can be seen from FIG. 1 there is provided an autoclave 1, which is cylindrical in form and is provided with three compartments which are separated from each other by dividing walls 11 and 19.

A first compartment 2 is constructed as an inlet chamber 2 and is provided internally with insulation 3. The inlet chamber 2 has a slot shaped inlet 4 which is closed by a lip seal 5. The lip seal allows the passage of a web of material 6 to be treated, from a guide roller 7 located outside the autoclave 1. An air atmosphere at a pressure slightly above atmospheric pressure is present in the inlet chamber 2. vThe temperature in the inlet chamber 2 is somewhat lower than in the adjacent chamber 8 which is a high pressure chamber. The high pressure chamber 8 is provided externally with insulation 9 and internally with heating members 10..

The wall 11 divides the inlet chamber 2 from the high pressure chamber 8. The wall 11 is provided with a central slot-shaped aperture 12 having a lip seal 13. A pair of draw rollers 14 is arranged in the high pressure cham- A steam or damp atmosphere is conveniently present in the high pressure chamber 8, the pressure being higher than in the inlet chamber 2. The actual treatment of the material 6 takes place in this high pressure atmosphere.

The autoclave 1 also has an after treatment chamber 18 which is separated from the high pressure chamber 8 by the wall 19. The wall 19 has a slot shaped aperture 20, and a lip seal 21. The interior of the after treatment chamber 18 is provided with insulation 22. A temperature slightly lower than that in the high pressure chamber 8 is present in the after treatment chamber 18. The pressure in chamber 18 corresponds substantially to that in the inlet chamber 2. A guide roller 23 is provided in the chamber 18 to guide the material entering through the aperture 20. The after treatment chamber 18 has an outlet 23a with lip seal 24. A pair of draw rollers 25 is provided outside the chamber which serve to forward the web of material from the autoclave after treatment.

The construction of the lip seals is shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3. In FIG. 2 one wall 57 of the autoclave is provided with a slot shaped inlet aperture 58 for the web of material 59 to be treated. The seal itself has two symmetrically constructed and arranged lip-shaped seal pieces 60, 61 which consist of flexible material, for example, plastics material such as that known by the trade mark Teflon. The seal pieces 60 and 61 are of curved form. One end of the piece 61 is secured on the wall 57, metal rails 62 are provided for this purpose. The rails 62 are held on the wall 57 by means of bolts 63. The wall 57 is provided with threaded holes into which the bolts 63 engage. The rails 62 each have a transverse groove 64 in which a rib 65 of the seal piece 61 is located. A small clearance space is present between the rail and the seal piece 61 so that the seal piece 61 can freely expand and retract whereby only slight friction exists between the rib 65 and the surface of the transverse groove. The piece 60 is held in a similar manner to that just described. The lip shaped seal members consequently lie each with one end held by the metal rails 62 against the wall 57 whilst the free end of each seal member 60, 61 describes a curve so that the two seal members lie in abutment in their end regions and define, over their curved areas a wedge shaped space 81. The seal members are found to provide an efficient seal and at the same time the web of material 59 can be easily moved between them.

The seal of the outlet 23a is shown in more detail in FIG. 3. Once again two lip shaped seal pieces 66, 67 are secured to a wall 70 by means of metal rails 68, 69 located in the vicinity of the said outlet 23. The free ends of the seal pieces each describe a curve and their free end regions abut. As in the just described seal arrangement a Wedge shaped space is defined by the curved portions of the seal pieces. In this case the movement of the web of material 71 takes place in the direction of the arrow 72. As can be seen the wedge shaped mouth 73 defined by the seal pieces 76, 77 tapers in the opposite direction to the forwarding movement. In order to obtain an accurate and practically frictionless feed of the web of material additional guide lips 74, 75 of pliable material are provided and these are each secured by one end to a sleeve 76, 77 and engage with their other ends between the lip shaped seals. The sleeves 76 and 77 are mounted for free rotation on

transverse bolts

78 and 79. In this way a wedge shaped reception mouth 86 for the material 71 is formed with tapers in the forwarding direction.

In this case also an efiicient seal of the outlet 23a is formed and consequently the web of material is fed through the seal with only moderate friction. The high pressure method described affords the great advantage that the time used for the treatment of the web of material can be considerably decreased. The high pressure method for continuous treatment has up to now foundered on the impossibility of sealing the inlet and outlet positions. In the manner as proposed, the material is exposed in the through put method first of all only to moderate pressure and subsequently to the high pressure treatment whereafter the further treatment of the material takes place in the after treatment chamber so that no pronounced differences in pressure arise.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus having a Wall separating two spaces, an elongated aperture in said Wall through which sheet material is adapted to be advanced, seal means aflixed to said wall adjacent said aperture and adapted to engage said sheet material, the improvement in said seal means comprising, at least one pair of flat, flexible seal pieces, one end of each of said pieces being aflixed to said wall by securing means at either side of said aperture, the other end of each of said seal pieces being bent to lie flat against opposed faces of said sheet material, said seal pieces together defining a wedge-shaped space, said securing means include rail means clamping said one end of each seal piece against said wall, said rail means including a transverse groove receiving a rib formed on each of said seal pieces.

2. The improvement according to claim 1 wherein a small clearance is provided between said rail means and the surface of said seal piece lying therebeneath so that said seal piece may freely expand and contract whereby only a slight friction arises between said rib and the surface of said transverse groove.

3. The improvement according to claim 1 wherein said wedge shaped space tapers opposite to the direction of advance of said sheet material, additional guide lips each having one end extending between each of said seal pieces and said sheet material, said additional guide lips define a further Wedge shaped space.

4. The improvement according to claim 3 wherein said further wedge shaped space tapers in the direction of advance of said sheet material.

5. The improvement according according to claim 3 wherein said additional guide lips are each secured to a freely rotatable sleeve.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 890,252 6/ 1908 Thompson. 2,220,522 11/1940 Ives. 2,522,071 9/1950 Tait 685 X 2,606,046 8/1952 Bonner et a1. 2,873,597 2/1959 Fahringei- 685 3,067,602 12/1962 Brunt 685 3,098,260 7/1963 Richeson. 3,213,4'70 10/1965 Yasawa et al. 685 X 3,214,945 11/ 1965 Fukuda 68--5 3,242,702 3/1966 Fleissner 685 FOREIGN PATENTS 178,206 4/ 1922 Great Britain. 153,714 4/1962 U.S.S.R.

IRVING BUNEVICH, Primary Examiner.