US3758378A - Method and apparatus for manufacturing non woven fabrics - Google Patents

Method and apparatus for manufacturing non woven fabrics Download PDF

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Publication number
US3758378A
US3758378A US00205955A US3758378DA US3758378A US 3758378 A US3758378 A US 3758378A US 00205955 A US00205955 A US 00205955A US 3758378D A US3758378D A US 3758378DA US 3758378 A US3758378 A US 3758378A
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United States
Prior art keywords
drum
fibers
bundles
slots
stock
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
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US00205955A
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English (en)
Inventor
H Seeliger
D Berger
E Hahnlein
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Feldmuehle Anlagen und Produktion GmbH
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Feldmuehle Anlagen und Produktion GmbH
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Application filed by Feldmuehle Anlagen und Produktion GmbH filed Critical Feldmuehle Anlagen und Produktion GmbH
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Publication of US3758378A publication Critical patent/US3758378A/en
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Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D21—PAPER-MAKING; PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE
    • D21F—PAPER-MAKING MACHINES; METHODS OF PRODUCING PAPER THEREON
    • D21F1/00—Wet end of machines for making continuous webs of paper
    • D21F1/0018—Devices for dispensing fibres in a fluid

Definitions

  • Nonwoven fabrics are prepared on a paper machine from aqueous dispersions of relatively long synthetic fibers which are separated from each other in an axially slotted, cylindrical drum by means of a rotary agitator carrying airfoil sections on arms radially extending from a drive shaft.
  • the airfoil sections sweeping the apertured, stationary wall of the drum produce cyclic pressure changes in the liquid within the drum which loosen any fiber bundles present.
  • the dwell time in the drum can be held to a minimum to avoid the formation of new bundles by the agitator.
  • This invention relates to the manufacture of non-woven fabrics on a paper-making type of machine, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for dispersing synthetic fibers in an aqueous liquid prior to application of the fiber dispersion or stock to a screen.
  • a non-woven fabric is obtained on the screen of a paper making machine in an analogous manner.
  • the mechanical strength of the fabric is closely related to the fiber length under otherwise comparable con ditions, and it is desirable that the synthetic fibers employed have a length of at least 10 mm., and preferably greater.
  • Non-woven fabrics can be prepared from fibers 20 mm. long or longer by the so-called Japan paper method which requires hand dipping, and such fabrics have been found to have superior strength and other characteristics comparable with those of woven or knitted fabrics, such as hand, softness, and drape. Manual production of nonwoven fabrics, however, is economically unsound.
  • the primary object of this invention is a method for uniformly dispersing long fibers in water or an aqueous liquid essentially consisting of water to form a stock suitable for processing on a paper-making or paper-making type of machine.
  • Another object is the provision of apparatus for performing the method.
  • fibers longer than 10 mm., and preferably longer than 20 mm. are dispersed in water to form a slurry of relatively high consistency.
  • the slurry is confined by a Wall formed with a multiplicity of slots and subjected to alternating pressure and suction Waves until any fiber bundles present in the slurry are loosened.
  • the resulting mixture of water, individual fibers, and loosened fiber bundles is passed in respective streams through the slots.
  • Each slot is of elongated cross section transverse to the direction of flow of the mixture, and the width of the cross section increases in that direction.
  • the mixture discharged from the slots is transferred to the screen of a paper-making type of machine for conversion to non-woven fabric in the usual manner.
  • the mixture discharged from the conduit is found to be substantially free from fiber bundles and other fiber agglomerates, and the non-woven fabric ultimately produced on the paper-making type of equipment is found to have the desirable properties of fabric prepared manually from fibers of equal length.
  • the apparatus employed for performing the method may include a drum whose circumferential wall is formed with apertures flaring in a direction outward of the drum.
  • An axially elongated airfoil member having a leading axial edge and a trailing axial edge is moved along the inner face of the wall in a circular path by a rotor.
  • the aqueous fiber stock containing fiber bundles is introduced into the drum, and the material discharged outwardly from the apertures is removed toward the paper-making machine.
  • FIG. 1 shows a stock run-on line of a paper-making type of machine equipped with apparatus of the instant invention in elevational section;
  • FIG. 2 shows a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1 on a larger scale
  • FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a drum in the apparatus of FIG. 1, as viewed in the direction of the arrows 3, 3- in FIG. 2.
  • FIG. 1 there is shown a cylindrical drum 2 arranged in stock run-on 4 in a fixed position.
  • a slurry of fibers and water enters the run-on as indicated by an arrow, passes the drum 2, and is discharged from an orifice 6 on the wire or screen 8 of a paper-making or paper-making type of machine, which may be conventional in itself and has not been shown otherwise.
  • each slots 10 forms an aperture or conduit of elongated cross section narrowing from the exterior to the interior of the drum as the stock is drawn into the drum 2, and widening outwardly as the stock is forced out of the drum, as hereinafter described.
  • a rotor 14 having four radial spokes, is mounted coaxially in the drum 2 on a drive shaft 12 which is actuated by means not shown.
  • An air foil section, elongated axially of the drum 2 is mounted on the end of each spoke radially remote from the shaft 12.
  • the rounded edge 18 of the airfoil section is the leading edge as the section is moved by the shaft 13 in a circular path closely adjacent the inner face of the circumferential drum wall.
  • the sharp edge of the section trails.
  • the shaft 12 and the airfoil sections 16 mounted thereon may be rotated at a speed of 1000 rpm. while a stock or slurry of water and fibers is introduced into the run-on 4 at a pressure sufficient to produce the desired non-woven fabric on the screen 8.
  • the trailing edges 20 of the air foils cause suction waves as they pass the inner orifices of the slots 10 whereby the stock of water and fibers is drawn into the drum 2. Simi larly, pressure waves are generated by the leading edges 18 and cause discharge of fiber-bearing liquid streams through the slots 10 outward of the drum 2.
  • the cyclic pressure and suction waves are transmitted by the liquid to the fibrous material confined in the drum 2, and causes fiber aggregates initially present or generated in the drum by the agitating effect of the rotor 14 to be loosened and partly separated into individual fibers.
  • the material entering the slots 10 under the pressure action of the airfoil sections 16 is a mixture of water, individual fibers, and loosened fiber bundles.
  • the slots 10 are dimensioned so that they are about 2 to 6 times as long as the fibers to be dispersed, and have a width, at their narrow end, which is 20 to 30 times the diameter of the fibers.
  • the dwell time of the fibers in the drum is very short because the slots do not seriously interfere with outward flow of the stock in the form of streams whose principal dimensions are in the direction of radial outward flow and in the direction of elongation of the slots.
  • the acute angle at which the longitudinal slot walls diverge outward of the drum 2 must be chosen carefully for the greatest disrupting effect of the flowing liquid on the fiber bundles. At the high flow rates practical for industrial applications, it should be very small, and not greater than 7 to avoid turbulence in the slots 10 which would produce the opposite of the desired eifect. For the same reason, the slots must be narrow as compared to their length.
  • Apparatus of this invention has been operated successfully to disperse synthetic staple fibers 20 mm. long and longer in relatively little water to produce stock of a consistency much higher than permissible heretofore with fibers only 12 mm. long or shorter which were to be converted to a non-woven fabric on a paper-making machine or paper-making type of machine.
  • drum 2 and rotor 14 may also be mounted in the stock make-up tank. They may also be utilized on a stock system in which the stock or slurry of fibers and water is fed directly into the drum 2 and discharged from the drum 2 through the slots 10 into the run-on 4.
  • a slurry or mixture of water, fibers, and fiber bundles may be fed to the modified drum through the inwardly flaring slots, whereby fiber bundles are disintegrated in the slots under the forces partly generated by the airfoil sections, and discharged from the drum directly into the run-on without again passing through the slots.
  • the formation of nodules and other agglomerations by the rotor 14 is unavoidable, and such agglomerations are not broken up by subsequent passage through conduits of elongated cross section which widen in the direction of flow.
  • the length of the slots must not be smaller than the length of the fibers to be processed, that is, not less than 20 mm. for fibers 20 mm. long, but it preferably is at least twice the fiber length or not less than 20 mm. for fibers 10 mm. long or longer, and not less than 40 mm. for fibers having a length of 20 mm. to which this invention is uniquely applicable.
  • slots 10 of a uniform cross section which is elongated in the direction of the drum axis
  • the slots may be elongated circumferentiall'y or at any desired angle to a plane through the drum axis. They may be arranged in a uniform pattern, as shown in FIG. 2, or they may be distributed at random over the drum wall.
  • a method of dispersing fibers longer than 10 mm. in stock water prior to converting said fibers to non woven fabric on a screen of a paper-making type of machine which comprises:
  • said slots being shaped to cause each passing stream to expand in said slots transversely to the direction of flow
  • each slot is of elongated cross section transverse to said direction, the length of said cross section being twice to six times the length of said fibers.
  • An apparatus for separating fibers of fiber bundles in an aqueous fiber stock comprising:
  • said wall being of circular cross section at right angles to said axis, and (2) being formed with a multiplicity of apertures extending therethrough in a radial direction, said apertures flaring radially outward of said drum;
  • apertures are slots elongated at right angles to said radial direction and having a length of not less than 20 mm.
  • ROBERT L. LINDSAY 1a., Primary Examiner A. DANDREA, JR., Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 162343

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  • Paper (AREA)
  • Nonwoven Fabrics (AREA)
US00205955A 1968-07-15 1971-12-08 Method and apparatus for manufacturing non woven fabrics Expired - Lifetime US3758378A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE19681761853 DE1761853A1 (de) 1968-07-15 1968-07-15 Verfahren zum Herstellen flaechiger Vliesstoffe

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3758378A true US3758378A (en) 1973-09-11

Family

ID=5696743

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US00205955A Expired - Lifetime US3758378A (en) 1968-07-15 1971-12-08 Method and apparatus for manufacturing non woven fabrics

Country Status (6)

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US (1) US3758378A (de)
AT (1) AT295988B (de)
CA (1) CA921301A (de)
DE (1) DE1761853A1 (de)
FR (1) FR2012988A1 (de)
GB (1) GB1281832A (de)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5100513A (en) * 1990-12-17 1992-03-31 Crawford Robert R Defloccing and distribution rolls for papermachine headbox
US5104489A (en) * 1989-04-22 1992-04-14 J.M. Voith Gmbh Cylinder for the guiding of endless webs of material
US5160584A (en) * 1989-10-12 1992-11-03 Beloit Technologies, Inc. High consistency sheet former
US20060144540A1 (en) * 2004-12-30 2006-07-06 Schwonke Paul A Method of using a high consistency slurry containing high levels of crosslinked cellulosic fibers

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4234379A (en) * 1978-06-02 1980-11-18 The Dexter Corporation Process for producing a uniform fiber dispersion and machine made light weight glass fiber web material
DE29515338U1 (de) * 1995-09-25 1995-11-23 Heinrich Fiedler GmbH & Co. KG, 93057 Regensburg Flügel für Sortiervorrichtungen

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5104489A (en) * 1989-04-22 1992-04-14 J.M. Voith Gmbh Cylinder for the guiding of endless webs of material
US5160584A (en) * 1989-10-12 1992-11-03 Beloit Technologies, Inc. High consistency sheet former
US5100513A (en) * 1990-12-17 1992-03-31 Crawford Robert R Defloccing and distribution rolls for papermachine headbox
US20060144540A1 (en) * 2004-12-30 2006-07-06 Schwonke Paul A Method of using a high consistency slurry containing high levels of crosslinked cellulosic fibers

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE1761853A1 (de) 1971-09-02
FR2012988A1 (de) 1970-03-27
GB1281832A (en) 1972-07-19
AT295988B (de) 1972-01-25
CA921301A (en) 1973-02-20

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