US3430466A - Wet processing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

March 4, 1969 Filed Aug. 1, 1967 F. PETER WET PROCES S ING APPARATUS Sheet of 5 March 4, 1969 Fv PETER 3,430,466

WET PROCESSING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 1, 1967 Sheet 2 March 4, 1969 F. PETER WET PROCESSING APPARATUS Sheet 3 of Filed Aug. 1, 1967 12212822302 Fgiiz P33422 6AM f fliioz zzqys E b 6 w 0 w m 9 9 .5 A 6 f 7 8 a MM. m w .i \8 4% r l IV IV W I w -a K 4 8 a w E a m m March 4, 1969 I F. PETER 3,430,466

WET PROCESS ING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 1, 1967 Sheet 4 of 5 0 ea 7 v 9o rear 1/ f l T rugs:

March 4, 1969 Filed Aug. 1, 1967 F. PETER WET PROCESS ING APPARATUS Sheet 5 015 United States Patent 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus for subjecting a continuous length of material such as for example a textile web to a fluid treatment. The apparatus includes a treatment zone defined in part by two spaced opposed walls. Both the material to be treated and a high velocity stream of processing fluid are passed between the opposed walls, with either a reed member or a plurality of appropriately positioned control jets being employed to alternately direct the fluid stream first towards one wall and then towards the opposite wall, thereby imparting both corresponding lateral movement and a gentle beating action to the material passing through the treatment zone.

Background of the invention In describing the invention, reference will hereinafter be made to the treatment of web material in the textile industry. It is to be understood, however, that this reference to a particular industrial application is for illustrative purposes only and is not to be considered as a limitation upon the scope of the claims appended hereto.

In the textile industry, continuous lengths of fabric (often in web form) are subjected to various wet finishing processes such as for example dyeing, bleaching, washing, etc. Experience has indicated that many if not all of these Wet finishing processes are aided materially by imparting a certain degree of turbulence to the processing liquid through which the Web material is being passed. A number of devices have been developed in the past with this objective in mind, and it is believed that to some extent these devices have improved the efficiency of the processes in which they have been employed. The present invention represents a still further and significant improvement in this particular field.

Summary of the invention In the present invention, the material to be treated is passed between two spaced opposed walls of a treatment zone, the width of the treatment zone preferably being at least equal to the material width. While moving through the zone, the material is exposed to a pressurized stream of processing fluid, also flowing between the walls. The stream may flow in the same and/or opposite direction relative to the movement of the material. Control means are provided for cyclically directing the fluid first towards one wall and then towards the opposite wall. In one embodiment of the invention to be hereinafter described in greater detail, the control means is comprised basically of a reed member located between the walls directly in the path of the fluid stream. The reed, which extends across the width of the material being processed is flexed or vibrated by the fluid flowing through the treatment zone. This reed vibration imparts a gentle beating action to the material passing through the zone and in addition, alternately exposes the material to conditions of vacuum and pressure. Both effects when taken in conjunction with the inherent turbulence of the processing fluid .passing between the opposed walls and around the reed, greatly improve the etficiency of the wet finishing process. For example, when washing a cloth web, this lateral flexing 3,430,466 Patented Mar. 4, 1969 and gentle beating action will aid in dislodging partially dissolved soluble impurities as well as insoluble impurities from between the fibers making up the fabric. In addi tion, liquor exchange through fibrous material is considerably enhanced as a result of this mechanical fluidinduced lateral flexing. An alternate embodiment of the invention will also be described wherein laterally directed control jets are employed in place of a reed to cyclically direct the stream of processing fluid alternately towards each of the opposed walls of the treatment zone.

In light of the foregoing, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved and more efficient wet finishing apparatus for processing continuous lengths of material.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a wet finishing apparatus which subjects the material being treated to a gentle beating action.

Another object of the present invention is to cause the material being processed to be continuously laterally flexed.

A further object of the present invention is to provide means for cyclically subjecting the material being processed to alternate conditions of pressure and vacuum.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 with a portion of the web material broken away;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken through the treatment chamber along line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4 showing the reed flexed to the opposite extreme;

FIG. 6 is :a plan view similar to FIG. 1 showing an alternate embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along lines 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a view in perspective of the treatment chamber shown in FIGS. 6 and 7; and,

FIGS. 9-11 are sectional views on an enlarged scale showing the treatment chamber illustrated in FIGS. 6-8 at different operational stages.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1-3 wherein are best shown general features of one embodiment of the invention, a generally rectangular tank 10 is shown comprised of side walls 12a and 12b, end walls 14a and 14b and a bottom 15. The tank is filled with processing fluid 13 to a level indicated at 16 in FIGS. 2 and 3. The level of fluid in tank 10 can of course be adjusted by either feeding more fluid in or draining excess fluid out.

A treatment chamber generally indicated by the reference numeral 18 is mounted on support brackets 20 within the tank 10 between side walls 12a and 12b. As can best be seen by further reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the treatment chamber 18 is comprised basically of two mating housing sections 22a and 22b held together by any convenient means such as end plates 24 (see FIGS. 1 and 3) and a plurality of retaining bolts indicated typically by the reference numeral 26, which bolts extend through upstanding dogs 27 on each section. The two housing sections 22a and 22b cooperate to define an inner cylindrical cavity 28 which extends along the entire width of treatment chamber 18. A passageway which will hereinafter be referred to as the treatment zone 30 leads downwardly from cavity 28 to the exterior of the treatment chamber. A portion of zone 30 is defined in part by the two spaced parallel side walls 31a and 31b. The side walls descend vertically to shoulders 29, at which point they diverge outwardly to form a gradually diverging area 33 at the lower end of treatment zone 30.

As herein illustrated, two upper rollers 32a and 32b and two lower rollers 34a and 34b are shown rotatably mounted within cavity 28. As will hereinafter be explained in more detail these rollers serve as means for guiding material through the treatment chamber.

A reed 40 extends upwardly through the diverging area 33 of treatment zone 30 preferably above the level of shoulders 29 to a point between parallel side walls 31A and 31b. As herein shown, reed 40 is fixed along its lowermost edge as at 42 to a support member 44, the latter extending across tank 10 with its ends attached to side walls 12:: and 1212. It should be understood that the reed may if desired be pivotally attached to the support member 44. Also, the reed might pivot about a knife edge or alternately about an axis extending transverse to the direction of material movement.

The material to be processed, herein shown for illustrative purposes as a continuous cloth web 46 is directed into the tank 10 over a first idler roll 48. The web then travels downwardly beneath the surface of processing liquid 13 and around a second idler roll 49. From this point, the web travels upwardly to treatment chamber 18 where it passes through treatment zone 30 and around roller 34a. The material then continues upwardly and then laterally over both upper rollers 32a and 32b be fore again passing downwardly past lower roller 34b to again exit from the chamber through treatment zone 30. After leaving the treatment chamber, the material continues downwardly around submerged idler roller 50 and then upwardly over a fourth idler roll 51. From this point, the material may be gripped by driven rolls 52 and carried on to the next processing step.

Processing fluid is pumped from tank 10 by means of a pump 54, feed pipe 56 and lateral branch outlets 56a into the cavity 28 of chamber 18. From here, the liquid flows around and through the web material moving through the chamber before passing downwardly in the form of a high velocity stream through treatment zone 30 and back into the tank 10.

As the processing fluid flows through treatment zone 30, some turbulence is experienced, particularly in the area adjacent the upper end of divergent area 33. This turbulence initially causes the upper end of reed 40 to begin vibrating laterally between the opposed wall portions 31a and 31b. FIG. 4 illustrates the extent to which reed 40 will deflect in one direction (to the left as viewed in the drawings). At this point, the upper end of the reed strikes the upwardly moving web material 46, resulting in the web being pressed momentarily against the lower end of wall portion 31a. When deflected to this position, the reed also momentarily cuts oil the flow of processing fluid to the side 33a of divergent area 33, while simultaneously directing the entire flow of fluids toward wall 31b and into the opposite side 33b of area 33. Although flow of processing fluid to side 33a is momentarily cut off when the reed 40 is flexed to this position, the fluid already in side 33a continues to move downwardly due to its own inertia, thus producing a cavitational effect which results in the upwardly moving web material to the left of reed 40 being momentarily exposed to a condition of vacuum. At the same time the downwardly moving web material to the right side 33b of reed 40 is exposed to the full force, turbulence and pressure of the processing fluid exiting from cavity 28.

As the upper end of reed 40 vibrates to the opposite wall 31b of treatment zone 30, the reverse conditions occur. More particularly as shown in FIG. 5, reed 40 has now deflected t the opposite extreme, resulting in the downwardly traveling web being stricken and pressed momentarily against the lower portion of wall 31b. With the flow of processing liquid now momentarily out oif on the side 33b of diverging area 33, the downwardly traveling web in this vicinity is exposed to a condition of vacuum. Simultaneously, the upwardly traveling web at the left side 33a is exposed to the full force and pressure of the processing fluid.

In view of the foregoing, it can be seen that the flow of processing fluid exiting from cavity 28 through treatment zone 30 causes the upper end of reed 40 to vibrate between wall portions 31a and 31b. At one extreme, the reed strikes the web and presses it momentarily against wall 310. At the other extreme, the reed strikes and presses the web against wall portion 31b. This in effect produces a gentle beating action which constantly flexes the web laterally, promotes flow of the processing fluid through the web fibers and at the same time aids materially in dislodging impurities embedded between the fibers. Reed vibration also alternately exposes each web portion to conditions of vacuum and pressure. This further induces fluid penetration through the fibers of the web.

An alternate embodiment of the invention will now be described with further references to FIGS. 6-11. Referring specifically to FIGS. 6 and 7, a modified treatment chamber 68 is shown supported on horizontally aligned shelves 69 within a processing tank 66 again filled with processing fluid to a level indicated at 70. Chamber 68 is comprised basically of two housing sections 72a and 72b (FIGS. 8-11) held in spaced relationship by means of end plates 74a and 74b. The housing sections cooperate to define an inner cavity 76 in communication at its upper and lower ends respectively with exit and entrance passageways 78 and 80. Entrance passageway 80 extends downwardly to a diverging treatment zone 82, the latter being defined by two outwardly sloping wall portions 84a and =84b. For purposes of discussion, the area 83 at the upper end of treatment zone 82 will hereinafter be referred to as the interaction area.

The material to be treated, again illustrated as a continuous web 86, travels over an idler roll 87 and then downwardly and around a second idler roll 88 submerged in the tank beneath the processing liquid 70. Thereafter, the web travels upwardly toward the treatment chamber 68 where it passes through divergent treatment zone 82, entrance passageway 80 and cavity 76 before exiting through passageway 78. From here, the material continues upwardly over a third idler roller 89 to be thereafter gripped by two driven rolls 90 and carried on to the next processing step.

Processing fluid is pumped from tank 66 through the end plate 74a and 74b of treatment chamber 68 and into cavity 76. This is accomplished by means of a pump 92 and its associated suction and delivery lines 93a and 93b. The processing fluid is prevented from escaping from cavity 76 through exit passageway 78 by means of a suitable seal 94. With this arrangement, a jet stream of the processing fluid is thus forced downwardly through passageway 80 and treatment zone 82.

Housing section 72b is provided with a series of vertically spaced pairs of control canals 96 and 98. The upper control canals have outlets in wall 84b adjacent interaction area 83 and inlets 97 open to the surrounding atmosphere. Housing section 72a is further provided with another series of upper control canals 100 oppositely disposed to the upper control canals 96 in wall section 72b. As herein illustrated, treatment chamber 68 is provided with seven sets of control canals, each set being comprised of two oppositely disposed upper control canals 96 and 100, and one lower control canal 98, the canals in each set all being located in a common vertical plane. With regard to each set of control canals, the upper canal 100 in housing section 72a is connected to the lower control canal 98 in housing section 72b by means of a tube 102 running around the outside of the treatment chamber. The arrangement of tubes 102 ex terior of the treatment chamber is best illustrated by reference to FIG. 8.

As the jet stream of processing liquid emerges from entrance passageway 80 and passes through interaction area 83, the following action takes place: initially, the stream has a tendency to simply pass downwardly in a vertical direction. This downward flow creates a suction action in the upper control canals 96 and 100. In the present preferred embodiment, control canals 98 and 100 have purposely been provided with larger cross sections (exaggerated for illustrative purposes) than canals 96. Thus, this initial suction action, although effective in both canals 96 and 100, will result in more air being drawn from the lower end of treatment zone 82 through canals 98 and the tubes 102 to which they are connected. Consequently more air will initially be delivered to interaction area 83 from the left as viewed in the drawings through upper canals 180, This condition is illustrated in FIG. 9 wherein the liquid flow is shown diagrammatically by solid arrows and the air flow through the control canals by dotted arrows. The interaction of the various liquid and air streams takes place in interaction area 83, and because of the greater lateral force exerted by the larger Volume of air being delivered through upper control canals 100, the jet stream of processing liquid is deviated initially towards wall 84b (see FIG. 10). As the stream of processing liquid is pushed towards wall 84b, the upwardly moving fabric web 86 is carried along with it, thus causing the fabric to be gently slapped against wall 84b. At this point, any further entry of air from divergent treatment zone 82 into control canal 98 is effectively cut off by the flow of processing fluid and/ or the fabric web 86, both being momentarily against Wall 84b. Thus, the stream of control air being delivered through the upper canals 100 is also cut ofl. At the same time air continues to be drawn from the surrounding atmosphere through the control canals 96, with the result that the jet stream of processing fluid is now pushed in the opposite direction towards wall 84a (see FIG. 11). This in turn results in the web material being correspondingly laterally shifted and gently slapped against wall 84a.

The condition illustrated in FIG. ll is only momentary, for the flow of processing liquid will immediately create a suction in the upper control canal 100, which suction will again result in a flow of air now that the lower control canals 98 are free. Thus, the laterally directed force exerted by air exiting from control canals 100 Will override the opposite force exerted by air flowing from the smaller canals 96, the net effect being a force tending to push the jet stream of processing fluid and the fabric web 86 back against wall 84b.

In view of the foregoing, it can be seen that the web material 86 passing upwardly through chamber 68 will be subjected to a high velocity counterflow of treatment fluid. The arrangement of control canals 96, 98 and 100 will result in laterally directed air streams being applied to the stream of processing fluids in a manner causing both the stream and fabric to be alternately pushed first against one wall 84b and then against the opposite wall 84a. This continuous flexing of the web when taken in conjunction with the gentle beating action resulting from the web being slapped against the walls 84a and 84b, greatly assists penetration of the processing liquid into the fibers of the material being processed and thus materially increases process efficiency,

It is my intention to cover all changes and modifications of the embodiments herein chosen for purposes of disclosure which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for subjecting a continuous length of material to a fluid treatment, said apparatus comprising: a pair of spaced opposed wall members; means for passing a stream of processing fluid between said wall members; means for moving and guiding the material to be treated between said wall members; and control means for alternately directing said fluid stream laterally first towards one of said wall members and then towards the opposite wall member so as to laterally flex the material passing therebetween.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said control means is comprised of a reed member attached along one edge to a fixed support, the opposite edge of said reed member being located between said wall members in a position such that the stream of processing fluid will cause said reed member to be laterally flexed between said wall members.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said control means is comprised of a plurality of canals extending through said wall members, the said canals be ing arranged to direct control streams of air laterally against said stream of processing fluid in a manner which causes the staid stream of processing fluid to be alternately directed first towards one of said wall members and then towards the other of said wall members, thus imparting a corresponding lateral movement to the material passing therebetween.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the said material is passed between said Wall members in at least one direction opposite to the flow of said processing fluid.

5. The apparatus 'as set forth in claim 1 further characterized by said wall members having opposed faces which extend in parallel relationship for a limited distance prior to diverging outwardly in opposite directions.

6. Apparatus for subjecting a continuous length of material to a wet treatment, said apparatus comprising: a pair of spaced opposed wall members defining a treatment zone therebetween; means for passing a stream of processing fluid through said zone; means for moving the material to be processed through said zone in at least one direction opposite to that of the said stream of processing fluid; and a reed member positioned in said zone bet-ween said wall members, the location of said reed relative to said wall members being such that the flow of processing fluid will cause the reed to vibrate laterally between said W'all members.

7. Apparatus for subjecting a continuous length of material to a fluid treatment, said apparatus comprising: a housing defining aninner cavity; a passageway leading from said cavity to the exterior of said housing, said passageway defined in part by a pair of spaced opposed housing walls; means for pumping processing fluid into said cavity, from whence the fluid escapes through said passageway in the form of a high velocity jet stream; means for guiding the material to be processed into and out of said cavity through said passageway; and control means for cyclically directing the escaping jet stream of processing fluid laterally first against one housing wall and then against the other opposed wall so as to impart corresponding lateral movement to the material being processed.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein said control means is comprised of a reed member extending into said passageway from a fixed support exterior of said housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,152,464 10/1964 Faraguna 68--184 FOREIGN PATENTS 677,561 1/1964 Canada.

WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 68-3, 62

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