US3605454A

US3605454A - Method and apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of textile fabrics

Info

Publication number: US3605454A
Application number: US780631A
Authority: US
Inventors: Peter Schroeder
Original assignee: Weber Paul AG
Current assignee: Weber Paul AG; PAUL WEBER AG
Priority date: 1968-01-08
Filing date: 1968-12-03
Publication date: 1971-09-20
Anticipated expiration: 1988-09-20
Also published as: CH23268A4; AT297644B; GB1256366A; FR1596294A; NL6817141A; CH504241A; DE1809707A1; CH501437A

Abstract

A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS WET TREATMENT OF FABRICS INVOLVES LEADING THE FABRICS THROUGH A WET TREATMENT ZONE EXTENDING OVER THE ENTIRE WIDTH OF THE FABRICS. IN THE WET TREATMENT LIQUID, THE JETS BEING SUBJECTED TO JETS OF THE TREATMENT LIQUID, THE JETS BEING WIDE AND JETS WHICH ARE LAMINAR, DIMENSIONALLY STABLE,

AND FIXED AS TO TIME AND LOCATION. THESE JETS ARE DIRECTED AGAINST THE TEXTILE MATERIALS UNDER PRESSURE AND AT AN ANGLE OF BETWEEN 45 AND 135* TO THE SURFACE OF THE FABRICS, THE PRESSURE BEING SUCH THAT THE JETS PRESS THROUGH THE TEXTILE MATERIAL.

Description

Sept- 20, 1971 P. SCHROEDER HETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS WET TREATMENT. OF TEXTILE FABRICS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 3, 1968 INVENTOR. BY fife? I'd/(M Afraid!- Sept. 20, 1971 p, SCHRQEDER 3,605,454

METHOD AND AIPARATUS FOR THE counnuous WET TREATMENT OF TEXTILE FABRICS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 3, 1968 INVENTOR. Perm JCHRoenevz BY hwwfiw United States Patent 3,605,454 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINU- OUS WET TREATMENT OF TEXTILE FABRICS Peter Schroeder, Arni, Switzerland, assignor to Paul Weber AG, Rothrist, Switzerland Filed Dec. 3, 1968, Ser. No. 780,631 Claims priority, applicatior; ggvitzerland, Jan. 8, 1968,

Int. Cl. B05c 3/12, 8/04 US. CI. 68-62 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method and apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of fabrics involves leading the fabrics through a wet treatment zone extending over the entire Width of the fabrics. In the wet treatment zone, the fabrics are subjected to jets of the treatment liquid, the jets being wide band jets which are laminar, dimensionally stable, and fixed as to time and location. These jets are directed against the textile materials under pressure and at an angle of between 45 and 135 to the surface of the fabrics, the pressure being such that the jets press through the textile material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Continuous wet treatment of textile fabrics includes washing, bleaching, steaming, dyeing, impregnating, shrinking, creping, or mercerizing textiles such as woven or knit goods, fleeces of natural or synthetic fiber or filaments, and the like. Difiiculty has hitherto been encountered in developing a method and apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of textile fabrics capable of providing an intensive and, at the same time, absolutely uniform treatment, of a textile material at a high throughput rate, and which is adaptable to all variables of the textile material, such as areal density, thickness, resistance to deformation, stiffness, permeability and wettability, as well as being adaptable to variables of the treatment liquid, such as temperature and viscosity. Such adaptability is necessary to provide the best conditions for each textile material and for each type of treatment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the continuous wet treatment of textile fabrics and, more particularly, to a novel and improved method and apparatus for continuous wet treatment of textile fabrics and capable of providing the best treatment conditions for each textile material or fabric and each type of treatment.

In accordance with the method of the invention, the treatment liquid, in the form of a dimensionally and physically constant laminar jet, which is stationary or fixed with respect to time and place, is directed against successive lengths of the textile material under pressure and at an angle between 45 and 135 to the surface of the material and thus pressured through the textile material.

By changing the tension and the travelling speed of the textile material through the treatment zone, by moving the textile material into a treatment liquid volume, such as in a tank, and by selecting the thickness of the wide band jet as well as its inclination toward the textile surface to be within the stated angular range, and finally by adjusting the pressure, temperature and quantity of the liquid in the wide band jet, it is possible to obtain optimum values for any treatment.

The apparatus of the invention includes devices to lead the textile material through the Wet treatment zone at a uniform speed, and includes a revolving supporting 3,505,454 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 body of circular cross section so disposed, in the path of the textile material through the treatment zone, that the textile material engages against the periphery of this body at least in the treatment zone. The apparatus further includes at least one wide band jet nozzle which provides for treatment liquid supplied to it to be discharged through its discharge opening in the form of a constant wide band jet oriented in a direction toward the supporting body. The relative position of the wide band jet nozzle discharge mouth and the supporting body is so selected that the wide band jet impacts on the tangential plane of the material at its line of contact with the supporting body and at an angle between 45 and An object of the invention is to provide an improved method for the continuous wet treatment of textile fabrics.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of textile fabrics.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a method in which the treatment liquid is directed against the travelling textile material in the form of a dimensionally constant laminar, physically stable wide band jet which is stationary with respect to time and location.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a method and apparatus in which the jet is directed against the textile material under pressure and at an angle of betwen 45 and 135 to the surface of the material for pressing of the treatment liquid through the textile material.

For an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference is made to the following description of typical embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic vertical sectional view through one form of treatment apparatus embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a somewhat schematic vertical sectional view through a second form of treatment apparatus embodying the invention;

FIG. 3 is a somewhat schematic vertical sectional view through a third form of apparatus embodying the invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the discharge mouth of a wide band jet nozzle used in the apparatus of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view through a modified form of wide band jet nozzle having an adjustable jet thickness or width.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. 1, an open tank 1 contains treatment liquid 2 for the wet treatment of textile material 3. Textile material 3 is pulled through the treatment liquid 2 in a known manner, consequently not shown in detail, over lightly tensioned rollers or over rollers which have a definite adjustable tension. The textile material is moved through the treatment liquid at a uniform and adjustable rate of speed. In the treatment liquid 2, textile material 3 runs around a supporting body 4 designed as a cylindrical perforated drum and preferably rotated at a peripheral speed harmonizing with the linear speed of the textile material. In the area in which the textile material 3 engages the peripheral surface of the drum shell, there are disposed two wide

band jet nozzles

5 and 6, the details of which are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

The characteristic of wide

band jet nozzles

5 and 6 is such that treatment liquid supplied thereto is discharged through their discharge mouths 7 in the form of a steady, dimensionally and physically stable wide band jet which is stationary or fixed with respect to time and place. For this purpose, the discharge mouth of each jet is formed by two strips 9 which extend parallel to each other over the greatest part of their length, but which are bent toward each other at their ends to form bent points 8. The curvaure at points 8 is so chosen as to develop the fewest possible eddy separations at the two ends of the liquid jet discharged from the gap between the strips 9. As to the ratio of the distance b between the two strips, e.g. the gap width, to the width h of the strips 9, e.g. the gap height or extent of the strips in the flow direction, tests have shown that h:b=3:1 to 7:1

results in optimal conditions. These dimensions are shown in FIG. 5.

It has also been proven advantageous to have the upstream edges of the two strips 9 bent away from each other, as shown in FIG. 5, so that there will be no constriction in the thickness of the wide band jet. In this case, the radius r of the curvature of the upstream ends is so selected as to be at least equal to the gap width b.

The gap width of the discharge mouth of a wide band jet nozzle, of the type shown in FIG. 4, is not adjustable. The wide band jet nozzle becomes more universal when the thickness of the wide band jet leaving its discharge mouth can be varied or adjusted. For this purpose, a nozzle design, such as shown in FIG. 5, has a variable gap width in that the mutual spacing of the two strips 9 is made adjustable.

As previously stated, two such wide band jet nozzles and 6 are provided in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. These jets are so positioned, below the level of treatment liquid 2 in tank 1, and outside of supporting body 4, that their discharge mouths 7 extend parallel to the axis of supporting body 4. Furthermore, the jet nozzles are so oriented toward the outer surface of drum 4 that the tangential plane of a wide band jet discharged from each nozzle forms a right angle at its line of contact with sup porting body 4 or textile material 3 extending around the supporting body.

It is advantageous when, in a manner not shown, the distance of the discharge mouth of each wide band jet nozzle from the opposing surface of supporting body 4 is adjustable.

It is also advantageous, for certain applications and treatments, when the wide band jet discharged from the wide

band jet nozzles

5 and 6 is oriented so as not to form a right angle at its line of contact with the drum 4 or the material 3, but rather to form an acute angle with respect to the contacted surface of the textile material. Preferably the arrangement is such that, in a manner not shown, not only the spacing but also the orientation of each wide band jet nozzle is adjustable with respect to supporting body 4 and through a range sufiicient for the angle, included between the discharge wide band jet and the tangential plane at its line of contact with the supporting body shell 4, to be adjustable between 45 and 135 In FIG. 1, treatment liquid is supplied, by a pump 12, to

nozzles

5 and 6 through

respective lines

10 and 11 connected to respective flow decelerating bodies or chambers each mounting a

nozzle

5 or 6. Rotary valves 13 in

lines

10 and 11 provide for individual adjustment of the quantity of liquid supplied through these lines and, accordingly, through the associated

nozzles

5 and 6 downstream of the respective valve 13. In the illustrated example, treatment liquid pumped by pump 12 is taken from tank 1 per se through a line 14.

The embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 2 differs from that shown in FIG. 1 in that the wide

band jet nozzles

15 and 16 are disposed in the interior of supporting body 4, which is again designed as a perforated drum. In the same manner as for the nozzles in FIG. 1, the dis charge mouths of the

nozzles

15 and 16 of FIG. 2 extend parallel to the drum axis or center line, and the nozzles are so disposed that the wide band jets discharged therefrom are radial to the drum. While two wide

band jet nozzles

15 and 16 are shown in FIG. 2, having discharge mouths oriented toward respectively difierent parts of the drum shell, one nozzle or more than two nozzles can be disposed in a suitable manner to discharge radially toward the shell of drum 4.

In order that treatment liquid directed by the nozzle or nozzles against supporting body 4 and, through its perforations, against textile web 3, cannot push textile web 3 away from the peripheral wall of drum 4, web 3 is guided, in the effective range of the nozzle or nozzles, between supporting body 4 and a supporting belt 17. Belt 17 is designed as an endless permeable belt, such as being in the form of a net which exceeds in width, as does also supporting body 4 as to axial width, the width of the textile material. Belt 17 runs over tensioning rollers 19 and is preferably driven by one of these rollers at the same linear speed as the textile material and the same peripheral speed of supporting body 4 at the points of contact.

It is important to note, in the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 2, that pump 12, which feeds the treatment liquid through a line 20 and a liquid channel located in the shaft of drum 4, takes this liquid from tank 1 outside of supporting body 4 at a point which is on that side of the textile material opposite to the wide band jet nozzles. Also to be noted is that the jet nozzles are arranged in a common flow declerating body or chamber 18 within the shell of drum 4. In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 2, it is also advantageous when the arrangement is such that the spacing and orientation of the nozzles, with respect to the shell of body 4, are adjustable.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 3 differs from that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that tank 1, for treatment liquid 2, is divided into two

chambers

21 and 22, of which chamber 21 is open and chamber 22 is designed as a closed, pressurized flow decelerating chamber. Supporting body 4, again in the form of a perforated drum, is accommodated in open chamber 21. Wide

band jet nozzles

24, 25 and 26 are built into the separating wall 23 between the two

chambers

21 and 22, and these wide band jet nozzles correspond to the

nozzles

5 and 6 of FIG. 1 and the

nozzles

15 and 16 of FIGS. 1 and 2. Their discharge mouths open into the open chamber 21, and the nozzles are oriented radially of supporting body 4.

The operation of the apparatus embodying the invention will now be described. Textile material 3, to be treated, is led continuously and at a uniform rate of speed over supporting body 4. Pump 12 supplies the wide band jet nozzles with liquid drawn from tank 1. It is also possible to place several identical pieces of apparatus in series for certain applications, and then to draw the liquid for the wide band jet nozzles of one tank from a succeeding tank. This arrangement is known, in textile treating, under the designation cascade arrangement with counter current principle.

Due to the wide band jet nozzles, the treatment liquid is directed in the form of a steady, physically and dimensionally constant wide band jet or jets which are stationary with respect to time and location, the treatment liquid being directed under pressure over the entire width of successive part lengths of the textile material and pressed through the textile material. This pressing of the treatment liquid is augmented, in the apparatus of FIG. 2, by the suction effect on that side of the textile material opposite to the side directly contacted by the wide band jets, the suction being effected by pump 12.

A steady, dimensionally and physically constant stationary wide band jet, which. is stationary with respect to time and place, is here understood to mean a wide band jet whose lines of flow run parallel to each other and whose flow is uniform over the entire treatment zone of the textile material contacted by the wide band jet, thus meaning that the total energy supplied to the textile material is momentarily constant at every point of the treatment zone and each infinitesimal part of the entire textile material is supplied with exactly the same momentarily constant energy required for the material exchange between the textile and the treatment liquid. The thickness of the flat liquid jet discharged from the nozzles can be adapted to carrying out any desired process by altering the gap widths of the nozzles.

The treatment liquid pressed through the textile widths in this manner flows, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, into the interior of supporting body 4 through the perfora tions and its shell, and there mixes again with the rest of the treatment liquid 2 in tank 1.

However, if the textile material is led through a treatment process with various phases, where each phase works with a different concentration (such as in washing), it is advantageous to use the apparatus shown in FIG. 2. In the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, no intermixing, at the discharge mouths of the nozzles and between these discharge mouths and the textile material, can take place with respect to treatment liquid 2 already present in tank 1, because the liquid which has already participated in the treatment is being drawn off on that side of the textile material which is opposite to the side contacted by the wide band jets.

A treatment in which the liquid circulates in one direction and in a predeterminable manner can be carried out even more effectively with the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, where an intermixing of the liquid volume on opposite side of the textile web is made impossible by the dilferent pressures prevailing in the

chambers

21 and 22. The liquid under pressure in chamber 22 is directed against the textile material by the

nozzles

24, 25 and 26, is forced through the textile web and is then drawn out of chamber 21. Since a part of the liquid discharged from the nozzles is deflected by the textile surface, there is developed, in the channel 28, a liquid layer having the concentration of the supplied fresh liquid and not the concentration of the used liquid in chamber 21. In addition, the liquid discharged from

nozzles

24, 25 and 26 over the entire width of the tank prevents liquid of one concentration, from chamber 21, being transported into channel 28 by the motion of the textile material. Therefore, the textile material leaving the apparatus has ab sorbed substantially exclusively liquid discharged from chamber 22, which is a matter of importance, especially in washing.

Instead of textile material in the form of webs, textile fibers can also be treated in the described manner in the invention apparatus, in that the textile fibers are inserted with a certain thickness between, for instance, too permeable, such as net-like, supporting webs, and the assembly is then lead through the equipment as though it were one textile web. 7

An important advantage of the apparatus embodying the invention is that the apparatus is capable of high temperature treatment of the textile material, for instance in dyeing, bleaching, etc., in that the treatment liquid introduced is brought by the pump to, for example, 4 at-m. abs. or more, thus making it possible to bring the liquid onto and into the material to be treated at a temperature of more than 140 C. That the applied treatment liquid later evaporates until the thermodynamic equilibrium is attained in the processing tank is of no significance, because it is very much better intermixed with the material to be treated, in the treatment zone, than is the case of conventional methods.

Instead of being completely immersed in the treatment liquid in the tank, as illustrated in the drawings, the wide band jet nozzle or nozzles could, for certain applications, advantageously be placed outside of the treatment liquid. In such case, the liquid level in the tank would have to be so selected that the supporting body opposite the wide band jet nozzle or nozzles is above the liquid level in the tank.

What is claimed is:

1. In apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of areal textile fabrics, including means guiding the textile material through a wet treatment zone at a uniform rate of speed, a supporting body which is circular in cross section so positioned in the path of movement of the textile material that the textile material, in at least the treatment zone, engages against the circular periphery of said body, and at least one jet nozzle discharging treatment liquid supplied thereto in a direction toward the supporting body, the improvement comprising, in combination, each jet nozzle being a wide band jet nozzle discharging treatment liquid through which discharge mouth in the form of a steady wide band jet; the discharge mouth of each wide band jet nozzle being formed by two strips which, for the major portion of their lengths are parallel, and which are bent toward each other and joined at their ends to form rounded joints; the ratio of the lateral spacing of said strips to the extent of said strips in the flow direction being between 1:3 and 1:7; the discharge mouth of each wide band jet nozzle being so arranged, with respect to said supporting body, that the treatment liquid discharged from each wide band jet nozzle strikes the textile material as a band-shaped laminar wide band jet which is homogenous over the entire width of the textile material in so far as the concentration, viscosity, the temperature, output and pressure of the treat-ment medium are concerned.

2. In apparatus for continuous wet treatment of areal textile fabrics, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which the upstream entry edges of said strips are bent away from each other with the radius of curvature being at least equal to the spacing between said strips at the discharge mouth of each nozzle.

3. In apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of areal textile fabrics, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which the lateral spacing between said strips is adjustable.

4. In apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of areal textile fabrics, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which the distance between the discharge end of each nozzle and said supporting body is adjustable.

5. In apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of areal textile fabrics, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which the entry end of each jet nozzle communicates with an expansion chamber decelerating the flow of treatment medium fed to the nozzle and positioned between each nozzle and the source of treatment medium.

6. In apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of areal textile fabrics, the improvement claimed in claim 5, in which a single said expansion chamber communicates with plural jet nozzles.

7. In apparatus for the continuous wet treatment of textile material, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said supporting body is a perforated rotatable drum; each wide band jet nozzle being disposed in the lnterior of said drum and having a relatively elongated discharge mouth extending parallel to the axis of the drum; each wide band jet nozzle discharging against the inner surface of the peripheral wall of said drum; there bemg at least two wide band jet nozzles disposed within said drum with each having its discharge mouth directed against a respective different part of the inner surface of the peripheral wall of said drum.

'8. In appaartus for the continuous wet treatment of textile material, the improvement claimed in claim 7, in which said tank is divided into one open chamber and one closed and pressurized chamber; said supporting body being positioned in said open chamber; a separating wall dividing said chambers from each other; each wide band jet nozzle extending through said separating wall between 7 8 said chambers and discharging in the direction of said FOREIGN PATENTS Pe11chamben 3 164 10 62 s- 84 References Cited ,7 93 /19 Japan 6 1 UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM 1. PRICE, Primary Examiner 1,175,538 3/1916 Matos 6862 2,590,407 3/1952 Haas 68184 CL 3,270,532 9/1966 Chaikin etal. 68184X 68184