US3837801A - Method and apparatus for processing fabrics in rope-like form - Google Patents

Method and apparatus for processing fabrics in rope-like form Download PDF

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US3837801A
US3837801A US00236662A US23666272A US3837801A US 3837801 A US3837801 A US 3837801A US 00236662 A US00236662 A US 00236662A US 23666272 A US23666272 A US 23666272A US 3837801 A US3837801 A US 3837801A
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fabric
vat
processing liquid
rear drive
drive roller
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US00236662A
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D Shmuel
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WOODSIDE CONSTR CORP
WOODSIDE CONSTR CORP US
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WOODSIDE CONSTR CORP
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    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06B—TREATING TEXTILE MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS, GASES OR VAPOURS
    • D06B3/00—Passing of textile materials through liquids, gases or vapours to effect treatment, e.g. washing, dyeing, bleaching, sizing, impregnating
    • D06B3/24—Passing of textile materials through liquids, gases or vapours to effect treatment, e.g. washing, dyeing, bleaching, sizing, impregnating of fabrics in roped form
    • D06B3/26—Passing of textile materials through liquids, gases or vapours to effect treatment, e.g. washing, dyeing, bleaching, sizing, impregnating of fabrics in roped form in superimposed, i.e. stack-packed, form

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  • ABSTRACT An apparatus and method for processing a fabric in a vat, which vat is at least partially filled with a processing liquid.
  • the fabric is in rope-like form and has a leading and a trailing end.
  • Means is provided for forming vertically pleated adjacent piles of the fabric at the back of the vat wherein the fabric at the top of each pile is, in the same vertical plane as the fabric at the bottom of the same pile.
  • Means for winding the fabric into helical convolutions, each of which contains one such pile, wherein the fabric unwinds at the trailing end and rewinds at the leading end as suc cessive convolutions advance in a direction toward the trailing end of the fabric and for intermittently moving the convolutions in a direction perpendicular to the vertically pleated piles of fabric.
  • the vat has a doubly insulated frame to reduce radiation loss therefrom so that the temperature in the vat above the surface of the processing liquid is approximately equal to the temperature in the vat below the surface of the processing liquid whereby chilling of the fabric is avoided after the fabric has been pulled through and lifted above the surface of the processing liquid.
  • SHEET B (If B I METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING FABRICS IN ROPE-LIKE FORM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1.
  • This invention relates to an apparatus and method for treating fabrics and more particularly for dyeing fabrics which are in rope-like form.
  • Fabric is continuously pulled from the bottoms of the piles to retraverse the winch roller.
  • the overlapping, in combination with the bottom pulling, buoyancy of the fabric, and movement of the processing liquid causes the piles to tumble and become disoriented, thereby tangling, knotting and twisting the fabric.
  • time is lost reordering the fabric and the fabric is unevenly dyed.
  • the elliptical shape of the winch roller pulls the fabric unevenly, i.e. at a varying speed, from the helical guide so as to create uneven stresses in the rope-like material, and an unevenness of dying.
  • the uneven loads caused by the elliptically shaped winch roller unevenly load the drive motors thereby requiring the use of larger and more expensive drive motors to prevent frequent breakdowns.
  • prior art dyeing apparatus especially open vat type apparatus, as described in the above referred to patent, result in unwanted temperature gradients existing within the vats and also above and below the liquid levels. These temperature gradients cause chilling of the fabric and produce uneven dyeing.
  • a further problem resulting in the uneven dyeing of material can be caused by uneven concentrations and flow of the dye material within the liquid bath, which uneven concentrations especially results when dye material is poured into an open vat.
  • Another source of uneven dyeing results from having creases formed in the material as it is pulled along the surface of the drive or winch rollers. Still further, the penetration of dye into the fabric, and the time it takes to complete the dyeing cycle, can be favorably improved by operating the apparatus at a higher temperature than is practicable when using open vat type apparatus such as described in the above referred to prior art patent.
  • a dye cycle begins using a dye color which is lighter than the dye color used to previously treat other fabric, the fabric may tend to have dark stains formed therein after contacting the drive rollers, if the driver rollers are not adequately cleaned beforehand.
  • .It is a further ojbect of this invention to prevent tangling of pleated piles of fabric as the fabric is pulled through a processing liquid.
  • Still another object of this invention is to reduce the radiation loss from the processing vat.
  • Still a further object of this invention is to make the constitution of the processing liquid more uniform throughout the dye vat.
  • Still another additional object of this invention is to reduce the tension in the fabric as it is pulled over the rear drive roller so that the fabric enters the processing liquid in a relaxed state.
  • an apparatus and method for processing a fabric in a vat said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in rope like form and having a leading and a trailing end
  • said apparatus comprising means for forming vertically pleated piles of said fabric at the back of said vat, said fabric at the top of each pile being in the same vertical plane as said fabric at the bottom of each said pile, and means for winding said fabric into helical convolutions and for intermittently moving said fabric in a direction perpendicular to the vertically pleated piles of fabric, whereby said fabric unwinds at the trailing end and rewinds at the leading end as successive convolutions advance in a direction towards the trailing end of said fabric.
  • a feature of the invention provides that said pleat forming means is comprised of a horizontally extending front drive roller, said rollers and bar being mutually parallel, means for driving said front and rear drive rollers so as to pull said fabric through said vertical guide means, over said front drive roller, then over said rear drive roller and past said pleating bar towards the back of said vat, and means for rotating said pleating bar so that said bar moves towards and beyond a horizontal position past the back edge of said rear drive roller, so as to push said material towards the back of said vat, and then said bar moves in front of the back edge of said rear drive roller so as to permit said fabric to swing under its own weight toward the front of said vat whereby the pleats are formed in a vertical pile.
  • said winding and moving means further includes a closed loop carrier, the leading end of said rope-like fabric being attached to said carrier, a mutilated spiral including parallel straight reaches perpendicular to the length of the spiral, which reaches constitute said vertical guide'means and are located at the front of the spiral when the spiral is stationary, said spiral further including inclined reaches connecting the ends of said perpendicular reaches, said inclined reaches being at the rear of the spiral when the spiral is stationary, means for intermittently rotating said carrier 360 to wind the leading end of said fabric past the rollers and bar, and means for substantially concurrently intermittently rotating said spiral 360 to advance the convolutions lengthwise of the rollers and bar, and then idle the spiral in a stationary position with the perpendicular reaches at the front of the spiral to serve as vertical guides for the fabric.
  • a vat for processing a fabric in a vat said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid and having fabric processing means included therein, said vat forming an enclosed pressurized chamber, end sides of said vat being rounded so as to increase the volume of said chamber and to allow for use of a thinner gauge material for the end sides of said vat.
  • an apparatus and method for process ing a fabric in a vat said vat being at least partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in ropelike form and having a leading and a trailing end
  • said apparatus comprising a horizontally extending substantially circular front drive roller, a horizontally extending substantially circular rear drive roller, and means for driving said front and rear drive rollers at the same tangential velocity so as to eliminate imposition of changing strain on said fabric as said fabric is driven by said front and rear drive rollers.
  • the tangential velocity of the front drive roller is made greater than that of the rear drive roller so as to overfeed the fabric as it approaches the rear drive roller.
  • Power jets are placed between the front and rear drive rollers and adjacent the front drive roller so as to propel the fabric towards the rear drive roller.
  • a shoot or guide channel concentrates the stream of liquid onto the fabric in a turbulant manner so as to cause strands of the fabric to telescope inward before the fabric reaches the rear drive roller, thereby allowing the fabric to enter the processing liquid in a relaxed manner, so that the relaxed fabric is more effectively treated.
  • an apparatus and method for processing a tubular fabric in a vat said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in rope-like form and having a leading and a trailing end
  • said apparatus comprising means for pulling said fabric through a 360 loop, the loop extending above and below the surface of said processing liquid, said pulling means including front and rear drive rollers, means for blowing air into said tubular fabric so as to inflate the same and thereby reduce the creasing of said fabric as said fabric is pulled by said front and rear drive rollers.
  • Another aspect of the invention comprises the provision of means for streaming said processing liquid onto said fabric before and after air is blown into said fabric.
  • a vat for processing fabric said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in rope-like form, said vat including means for processing said fabric therein, said vat having doubly insulated frame portions to reduce radiation loss from said vat so that the temperature in said vat above the surface of said processing liquid is approximately equal to the temperature in said vat below the surface of said processing liquid thereby avoiding chilling of said fab ric after the fabric has been pulled through said processing liquid and is above the surface of said processing liquid.
  • vat and method for processing fabric said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in rope-like form, said vat including means for processing said fabric, means for introducing said processing liquid from a tank into the bottom of said vat, and means for circulating said processing liquid between the rear and the front of said vat so as to provide for uniform constitutions of said processing liquid and more even processing of said fabric.
  • FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vat for processing a rope of fabric in accordance with the present invention
  • FIG. 2 is a sectional view of FIG. 1 taken substantially along the line 2-2, said view showing the drive rollers, mutilated spiral, carrier chain, pleater bar and one convolution of the fabric vertically piled at the rear of the vat;
  • FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-section of a door seal shown in FIG. 2 before the door is closed;
  • FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 after the door is closed;
  • FIG. 5 is an end view of the processing vat, showing the means for driving the drive rollers, the carrier chain, the mutilated spiral and the pleater bar, and also the means for circulating the processing liquid;
  • FIG. 6 is an internal perspective view of the processing apparatus showing the fabric as loading is started
  • FIG. 7 is an internal perspective view of the fully loaded processing apparatus
  • FIG. 8 is a schematic view of one convolution of the fabric loaded onto the apparatus and showing the location of means for streaming processing liquid onto the fabric in a fashion such as to assist movement of the fabric in the apparatus;
  • FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the insulating frame of the vat.
  • FIG. 10 is a front view of the mutilated spiral
  • FIG. 11 is a front view of a processing vat providing a high pressure chamber
  • FIG. 12 is an end view of the vat shown in FIG. 11;
  • FIG. 13 is a cross-section of the vat shown in FIG. 11 the same being taken substantially along the line 1313 and showing the same handling apparatus as is shown in FIG. 1;
  • FIG. 14 is an enlarged partial schematic view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 8 showing the stream of liquid placed between the front and rear drive rollers and adjacent the front drive roller, and guide shoots for concentrating the liquid onto the fabric.
  • FIG. 1 A processing vat l0 embodying the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1.
  • a supply tank 12 is shown filled with a processing liquid 14, which liquid can be a dye, bleach or cleaning agent.
  • Processing liquid 14 is drawn out of the bottom of tank 12 by a pump 16, which pump in turn is driven by a motor 18.
  • Liquid 14 then passes through a pipe 20 and into a rear manifold 22 (shown in FIG. 2) that extends from end to end of vat 10. Processing liquid 14 flows through holes 24 in the front of rear manifold 22 so that the bottom of vat fills up to a liquid level or surface 26.
  • processing liquid is passed through a wire mesh screen or baffle 27, through an overflow opening 28 into a front mainfold 30, out of vat 10 through a pipe 32 and a pump 34, which forces the liquid back through pipe into rear manifold 22.
  • pump 34 is driven by a motor 36.
  • processing liquid 14 in vat 10 is continuously circulated between the respective rear and front manifolds 22 and 30, while fresh processing liquid from tank 12 can be added thereto through a pipe 37 which leads into pipe 20.
  • a uniform concentration of processing liquid is maintained within the bottom of vat 10 so as to provide for a more even processing and treating of fabric therein.
  • Processing liquid 14 can be drained from vat 10 via a pipe 38 leading from a bottom wall 40 as shown in FIG. 1.
  • pipe 38 has a valve (not shown) connected therein so as to prevent processing liquid 14 from continuously draining from the bottom of the vat.
  • an overflow pipe 41 is connected to an upper front manifold so as to insure that the surface of processing liquid 14 never exceeds a specified level.
  • Radient steam coils 42 are placed below surface 26 of processing liquid 14, and between wire mesh screen 27 and front manifold 30 so as to heat processing liquid 14 to a suitable temperature.
  • FIG. 9 shows an enlarged sectional view of the top 43 of vat 10 (the same structure is employed for the ends and back of the vat and for the rear door), wherein a glass wool layer 44 is placed beneath an outer plate 46 and is held by strips 48.
  • An air space 50 of, for example, approximately one-half inch depth, is formed between a lining 52 and the glass wool layer. Strips 48 are held away from lining 52 via a plurality of spacers 54.
  • Heat loss from within vat 10 can also be reduced by providing an improved seal assembly 56, shown it FIG. 2 for a front door 58.
  • the door seal assembly 56 consists of a frame which holds glass door 58 and a flexible tubular sealing member 62, e.g. a rubber hose, which member runs along the side and bottom edges of door 58.
  • a flexible tubular sealing member 62 e.g. a rubber hose
  • tubular member 62 when door seal assembly 56 engages track 64 when door 58 is slid to closed position, tubular member 62 is internally pressurized by opening a valve 66 so that a pressurized gas from a source 68 can be supplied thereto, whereby to force the door against the vat. In this manner, a more effective door seal is provided so as to reduce the heat loss from within vat 10.
  • tubular member 62 can be depressurized. The pressurizing and depressurizing of tubular member 62 can be accomplished either manually or automatically.
  • Door 58 is shown closed in FIG. 1 and a counterweight 70, which is attached thereto, is shown in a raised position.
  • Door 58 can be slid to a higher vertical position 72, shown in dotted lines in FIG. 5, as counterweight 70 is lowered as shown in dotted lines, while a pivoting arm 74 which is attached to the top of door 58, swings to a higher position 76, also shown indotted lines.
  • a horizontally extending rear or primary drive roller 78 As shown in FIG. 2, there is provided a horizontally extending rear or primary drive roller 78, a horizontally extending front or secondary drive roller 80, a horizontally extending mutilated spiral 82, a horizontallly extending pleater bar 84 and a closed loop carrier 86.
  • Carrier 86 is in a verticle plane adjacent one end of and perpendicular to the axis of rotation of rear drive roller 78, front drive roller 80, and pleater bar 84, wherein the drive rollers and bar are mutually parallel thereto.
  • Rear drive roller 78 and front drive roller have a cylindrical shape and are repsectively formed by a parallel series of transverse rods attached to circular discs.
  • Spiral 82 is comprised of a bar 88 attached to a wire section 90.
  • Wire section 90 which forms a series of convolutions, is comprised of vertical guide means having vertically adjacent parallel straight reaches 92 perpendicular to the length of the spiral which are always located at the front of the spiral when the spiral is stationary so as to provide for an improved guide for the fabric which passes therethrough while the apparatus is being loaded or operated.
  • the ends of adjacent reaches 92 are connected by inclined reaches 93, which inclined reaches are always at the rear of the spiral when the spiral is stationary.
  • Such vertical guide means also assist in the formation of vertically pleated piles to be explained later.
  • Pleater bar 84 rotates upon its axis and when it is in the horizontal position, one portion 94 extends past a rear edge 96 of rear drive roller 78 and when pleater bar 84 is in the vertical position, it is aligned below rear drive roller 78 and does not extend beyond rear edge 96 of rear drive roller 78.
  • Safety limit bars 98 and 100 serve to activate a power cut-off switch so as to turn the apparatus off in the event that fabric 102 somehow becomes tangled and falls against either of the safety limit bars.
  • Rear drive roller 78 is driven by a rear drive shaft 104, (shown in FIG. 1) which shaft is in turn driven by a motor 106 via a gear linkage arrangement 108.
  • Front drive roller 80 is driven by a front drive shaft 110, which in turn is coupled to rear drive shaft 104 by a suitable gear linkage arrangement 112, which linkage arrangement provides that the surface speed or tangential velocity of rear drive roller 78 is the same as that of front drive roller 80 so that fabric 102, which is pulled over both front and rear drive rollers, is not unnecessarily stressed as would be the case if the surface speed of the drive rollers were different.
  • drive rollers 78 and 80 are cylindrically shaped, rather than elliptically shaped as in the prior art, they provide a more even loading for motor 106.
  • pleater bar 84 is driven by a pleater shaft 114, which shaft in turn is driven by rear drive shaft 104 via a gear linkage arrangement 116.
  • Carrier 86 is driven by a carrier drive shaft 118 which in turn is also driven by rear drive shaft 104 via a gear linkage arrangement 120.
  • Carrier 86 rotates in a closed path determined by sprockets 122.
  • carrier 86 and spiral 82 move only intermittently so that in the course of time necessary for one convolution of fabric 102 to complete one full revolution (cycle) through the apparatus, carrier 86 and spiral 82 both make one complete revolution within a fraction of that time and remain stationary through the remainder of the same fabric cycle.
  • Such intermittent operation of spiral 82 and carrier 86 is provided by respective clutches 1 24 and 126, which serves to disengage respective spiral and carrier drive shafts.
  • Standard manual or automatic means can be used to properly engage and disengage clutches 124 and 126.
  • the spiral and carrier drive shafts are respectively coupled to braking mechanisms 128 and 129 so as to prevent any prolonged movement in the respective spiral and carrier after their drive shafts have been disengaged.
  • carrier 86 has a hook 130 attached thereto at a point slightly below spiral 82.
  • a leading end 132 of fabric 102 is attached to hook 130 via a leader material 134.
  • Fabric 102 which in this example has a tubular form of the type that is generally woven by cylindrical winding machines, is led from a storage bin 136 through a loadng poteye 138 over the front portion of front drive roller 80 to leader material 134.
  • Loading poteye 138 is a stationary member which is supported by the frame of vat 10.
  • Carrier 86 makes one quick and complete revolution pulling fabric 102 out of storage bin 136 and into engagement with respective front and rear drive rollers 80 and 78.
  • carrier 86 can make a little less than one complete revolution and then inch up until the revolution is complete.
  • Front and rear drive rollers 80 and 78 move fabric 102 towards the back of vat 10, while pleater bar 84, (shown in FIG. 2) which is revolving at an angular velocity in excess of the angular velocity of the revolving fabric, pushes fabric 102 further towards the back of vat 10 as it (pleater bar) moves towards the horizontal position and lets the fabric move under its own weight towards the front of the vat as it (pleater bar) moves towards the vertical position so as to form a vertically pleated pile in the rear of vat 10.
  • Carrier 86 then makes a quick revolution and stops so as to feed fabric from the bottom of vertically pleated pile 140 through a first vertical guide means provided by adjacent pairs of vertical reaches 92 at that end of the spiral which is adjacent carrier chain 86, over front drive roller 80, rear drive roller 78 and towards the back of vat 10, while forming a vertically pleated pile at the back of the vat.
  • Carrier 86 substantially concurrently with the movement of spiral 82, makes another quick revolution and stops so as to advance the first formed convolution of fabric to the adjacent vertical guide means 142 of spiral 82, whereafter two convolutions with two vertically pleated piles are formed. The process is continued until successive convolutions of fabric are formed and the machine is completely loaded as shown in FIG. 7, whereupon a trailing end 144 of fabric 102 hangs freely.
  • carrier 86 makes one complete revolution, and trailing end 144 of fabric 102 unwinds.
  • Leading end 132 of fabric 102 rewinds through first vertical guide means 139 as fabric 102 is pulled through processing liquid 14, and vertically pleated piles 140 are formed towards the back of vat 10.
  • spiral 82 revolves to advance the material in the axial direction perpendicular to the vertical plane of the vertically formed pleated piles towards trailing end 144 of fabric 102, so that, in effect, fabric 102 is being rewound as it is being unwound on the apparatus so as to remain stationary thereon during the processing fabric 102.
  • the pleated piles are so vertically formed because the pleating operation is mainly carried out while spiral 82 is stationary, and fabric 102 is thus being pulled through the vertical guide means of spiral 82 so as to avoid any movement of the fabric in the direction perpendicular to the vertical plain of the vertically formed pleated piles.
  • poteye 138 is provided with holes 146 along the inner circumferential portion thereof, while processing liquid is pumped from the bottom of vat 10 through these holes so as to sufficiently wet fabric 102 before fabric 102 initially contacts drive rollers 80 and 78.
  • circular spray bars 146 and 148 can be located respectively before front drive roller 80 and rear drive roller 78 so as to again supply a stream of processing liquid 14 from the bottom of vat 10, which liquid has a substantial component that hits fabric 102 parallel to the direction of movement of the fabric.
  • the fibers of fabric 102 are thus spread apart, thereby resulting in an increase in the penetration of the processing liquid within the fabric and an improvement in the overall processing of fabric 102.
  • circular spray bars 150 and 152 could also be added for the same reason described above or any combination of circular spray bars 146, 148 and 150 and 152 could be used.
  • air injection bar 154 (shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 6 and 7) so as to form a blown-up portion 156 in fabric 102, which tends to remove some of the creases which have been formed within the fabric.
  • Injection bar 154 has suitable holes therein for allowing the air to escape into the fabric.
  • the air, or as a matter of fact, any suitable gas, can be pumped from outside of vat 10 but should pass through processing liquid 14 so that the temperature of the pumped air is approximately the same as the temperature within vat 10, thereby avoiding chilling of fabric 102 during this operation.
  • a stream of processing liquid 14 can be applied to fabric 102 from a circular spray bar 158 located between air injection bar 154 and front drive roller 80, and additionally processing liquid 14 can be applied to fabric 102 from circulator spray bar 160 located between air injection bar 154 and rear drive roller 78.
  • An additional circulating spray bar 162 is so located as to apply a stream of processing liquid 14 onto fabric 102 when fabric 102 is in contact with rear drive roller 78 so as to improve the adherence of fabric 102 to rear drive roller 78, thus resulting in a lessoning of the straining of fabric 102 during the processing cycle.
  • Circular spray bar 162 and an additional circular spray bar 164 can be provided so that a stream of liquid from the bottom of vat 10 is applied over the respective rear and front drive rollers in order to clean the rollers before another processing operation on another fabric begins.
  • fabric 102 can be so loaded as to have only one convolution by eliminating spiral 82 and replacing it with a single vertical guide means previously described.
  • fabric 102 could be similarly processed within a vat 166 (shown in FIGS. 11, 12 and 13), which vat has a high pressure sealed chamber 167 (shown in FIG. 13) and rounded external sides 168 (shown in FIG. 11). Rounded external sides 168 increase the inner volume of sealed chamber 167 and also allow the use of a thinner gauge material for the frame of vat 166.
  • vat 166 can have a quick locking pressure door 170.
  • the pressure within sealed chamber 167 of vat 166 can range typically from 5 to I PSIG.
  • the actual fabric processing apparatus is the same as that used in vat 10.
  • the tangential velocity of front drive roller 80 is greater than the tangential velocity of rear drive roller 78 so that the front drive roller tends to over-feed the fabric as it moves towards the rear drive roller.
  • a set of power jets 172 is placed between front and rear drive rollers and adjacent the front drive roller so as to propel the fabric toward the rear drive roller.
  • a set of shoots or guide channels 174 concentrate the stream of processing liquid from the power jets onto the fabric.
  • Turbulator blades 176 extend from shoots 174 in such a manner as to cause the streaming processing liquid to form a turbulance so as to cause the strands of fabric to telescope inward before the fabric reaches the rear drive roller.
  • the fabric does not creep down between the drive rollers, but instead moves over the rear drive roller and enters the vat of processing liquid in a relaxed manner. Th relaxed fabric is thus free from physical deformations, such as creases, since it is not under tension as it moves over the rear drive roller, and is thus more effectively dyed. The fabric is then, of course, pulled over the front drive roller under tension and is stretched back to its nontelescoped form.
  • the above described embodiment can, of course, be applied to apparatus for treating only one convolution of fabric and also to apparatus for treating a plurality of convolutions of fabric.
  • drive means is provided to rotate the front and rear drive rollers at the same tangential velocity so as to reduce the strain on the fabric as it is advanced by said rollers.
  • a combination as set forth in claim 3 further comprising means for applying a stream of said processing liquid onto said fabric in the direction of movement of said fabric after said fabric passes over said front drive roller and before said fabric passes over said rear drive roller so as to reduce the straining of said fabric as said fabric passes over said front and rear drive rollers and to increase the penetration of the processing liquid into said fabric so as to improve the overall processing of said fabric.
  • a combination as set forth in claim 6 further comprising a set of guide plates positioned between said front and rear drive rollers and on opposite sides of said fabric so as to concentrate the stream of processing liquid onto said fabric, said guide plates including turbulator blades extending towards said fabric whereby said stream of processing liquid forms a turbulence and causes strands of said fabric to telescope inward so that said fabric passes over said rear drive roller and into the processing liquid in a relaxed fashion, so as to provide more effective treating of said fabric.
  • the further improvement comprising moving the convolutions of the fabric from the front to the rear of the vat by engaging the same with front and rear circular drive rollers and pleating the fabric as it descends from the rear roller to the pleated section of each convolution by passing said fabric over a pleating bar which moves toward and beyond and then back from a horizontal position in back of the rear drive roller so as to push the fabric toward the back of the vat and when the bar moves forwardly in front of the back edge of the rear drive roller to permit the fabric to swing under its own weight toward the front of the vat, such operation being practiced repeatedly to provide pleats.
  • a method according to claim 9 further comprising the step of applying a stream of said processing liquid onto said fabric in the direction of movement of said fabric after said fabric passes over said front drive roller and before said fabric passes over said rear drive roller so as to reduce the straining of said fabric as said fabric passes over said front and rear drive rollers and to increase the penetration of the processing liquid into said fabric whereby to improve the overall processing of said fabric.
  • a method according to claim I 1 further comprising the step of telescoping strands of said fabric inward before the fabric passes over said rear drive roller so that said fabric passes over said rear drive roller and into the processing liquid in a relaxed state, whereby to increase the penetration of processing liquid into said fabric while reducing creasing of said fabric as it passes over said rear drive roller.

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  • Textile Engineering (AREA)
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Abstract

An apparatus and method for processing a fabric in a vat, which vat is at least partially filled with a processing liquid. The fabric is in rope-like form and has a leading and a trailing end. Means is provided for forming vertically pleated adjacent piles of the fabric at the back of the vat wherein the fabric at the top of each pile is in the same vertical plane as the fabric at the bottom of the same pile. Means is provided for winding the fabric into helical convolutions, each of which contains one such pile, wherein the fabric unwinds at the trailing end and rewinds at the leading end as successive convolutions advance in a direction toward the trailing end of the fabric and for intermittently moving the convolutions in a direction perpendicular to the vertically pleated piles of fabric. The vat has a doubly insulated frame to reduce radiation loss therefrom so that the temperature in the vat above the surface of the processing liquid is approximately equal to the temperature in the vat below the surface of the processing liquid whereby chilling of the fabric is avoided after the fabric has been pulled through and lifted above the surface of the processing liquid.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Shmuel 1 Sept. 24, 1974 [75] Inventor: Dan Ben Shmuel, Johnsville, NY.
[73] Assignee: Woodside Construction Corp.,
Johnsville, NY.
22 Filed: Mar. 21, 1972 211 Appl. No.: 236,662
[52] US. Cl 8/151.1, 8/152, 68/62,
68/176, 68/177 [51] Int. Cl. B05c 3/134 [58] Field of Search 8/151.1, 152; 68/176, 177,
[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,243,978 4/1966 Gowin 68/177 3,457,740 7/1969 Korsch.. 68/205 R X 3,479,846 11/1969 Walsom 68/62 3,545,236 12/1970 Ziegler et a1 68/176 3,659,438 5/1972 Chiba et a1. 68/177 3,686,905 8/1972 Stanway 68/177 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 671,970 5/1952 Great Britain 68/177 649,451 1/1951 Great Britain 68/205 R Primary Examinerl-Iarvey C. Hornsby Assistant Examiner-Philip R. Coe
Attorney, Agent, or FirmKirschstein, Kirschstein, Ottinger & Frank [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus and method for processing a fabric in a vat, which vat is at least partially filled with a processing liquid. The fabric is in rope-like form and has a leading and a trailing end. Means is provided for forming vertically pleated adjacent piles of the fabric at the back of the vat wherein the fabric at the top of each pile is, in the same vertical plane as the fabric at the bottom of the same pile. Means is provided for winding the fabric into helical convolutions, each of which contains one such pile, wherein the fabric unwinds at the trailing end and rewinds at the leading end as suc cessive convolutions advance in a direction toward the trailing end of the fabric and for intermittently moving the convolutions in a direction perpendicular to the vertically pleated piles of fabric. The vat has a doubly insulated frame to reduce radiation loss therefrom so that the temperature in the vat above the surface of the processing liquid is approximately equal to the temperature in the vat below the surface of the processing liquid whereby chilling of the fabric is avoided after the fabric has been pulled through and lifted above the surface of the processing liquid.
12 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures PATENTEI] SEP 24 19M SNEE! 1 PAIENIE 8EF2419Z4 Maw a PATENIEDSEPZMQN 3.837; 801
SHEET B (If B I METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING FABRICS IN ROPE-LIKE FORM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to an apparatus and method for treating fabrics and more particularly for dyeing fabrics which are in rope-like form.
2. Description of the Prior Art Previous fabric dyeing machines, such as the apparatus described in US. Pat. No. 3,308,639, show ropelike fabric fed from a helical guide to an elliptical winch roller in such a manner that the fabric forms continuous helical convolutions. After each convolution of the fabric leaves the winch roller, it forms a pleat which falls to the back of the dye vat. The pleating is caused by the elliptical shape of the winch roller. However, since the continuous movement of the helical guide causes the fabric on each convolution to leave the winch roller at a point which varies along the length of the roller, the pleats form a leaning pile (stack). Adjacent piles overlap, like shingles. Fabric is continuously pulled from the bottoms of the piles to retraverse the winch roller. The overlapping, in combination with the bottom pulling, buoyancy of the fabric, and movement of the processing liquid causes the piles to tumble and become disoriented, thereby tangling, knotting and twisting the fabric. As a result, time is lost reordering the fabric and the fabric is unevenly dyed. Furthermore, the elliptical shape of the winch roller pulls the fabric unevenly, i.e. at a varying speed, from the helical guide so as to create uneven stresses in the rope-like material, and an unevenness of dying. Still further, the uneven loads caused by the elliptically shaped winch roller unevenly load the drive motors thereby requiring the use of larger and more expensive drive motors to prevent frequent breakdowns.
Still further, prior art dyeing apparatus, especially open vat type apparatus, as described in the above referred to patent, result in unwanted temperature gradients existing within the vats and also above and below the liquid levels. These temperature gradients cause chilling of the fabric and produce uneven dyeing.
A further problem resulting in the uneven dyeing of material can be caused by uneven concentrations and flow of the dye material within the liquid bath, which uneven concentrations especially results when dye material is poured into an open vat.
Another source of uneven dyeing results from having creases formed in the material as it is pulled along the surface of the drive or winch rollers. Still further, the penetration of dye into the fabric, and the time it takes to complete the dyeing cycle, can be favorably improved by operating the apparatus at a higher temperature than is practicable when using open vat type apparatus such as described in the above referred to prior art patent.
If a dye cycle begins using a dye color which is lighter than the dye color used to previously treat other fabric, the fabric may tend to have dark stains formed therein after contacting the drive rollers, if the driver rollers are not adequately cleaned beforehand.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 1. Purposes of the Invention It is an object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for processing fabric in rope-like form.
.It is a further ojbect of this invention to prevent tangling of pleated piles of fabric as the fabric is pulled through a processing liquid.
It is anoher object of this invention to reduce stressing of the fabric as it is pulled over drive rollers.
It is a further object of this invention to reduce creasing of the fabric as it is pulled over the drive rollers.
It is an additional object of this invention to prevent chilling of the fabric as it passes through and above the surface of the processing liquid.
Still another object of this invention is to reduce the radiation loss from the processing vat.
Still a further object of this invention is to make the constitution of the processing liquid more uniform throughout the dye vat.
Still another additional object of this invention is to reduce the tension in the fabric as it is pulled over the rear drive roller so that the fabric enters the processing liquid in a relaxed state.
Other ojbects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.
2. Brief Description of the Invention According to a broad aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus and method for processing a fabric in a vat, said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in rope like form and having a leading and a trailing end, said apparatus comprising means for forming vertically pleated piles of said fabric at the back of said vat, said fabric at the top of each pile being in the same vertical plane as said fabric at the bottom of each said pile, and means for winding said fabric into helical convolutions and for intermittently moving said fabric in a direction perpendicular to the vertically pleated piles of fabric, whereby said fabric unwinds at the trailing end and rewinds at the leading end as successive convolutions advance in a direction towards the trailing end of said fabric.
A feature of the invention provides that said pleat forming means is comprised of a horizontally extending front drive roller, said rollers and bar being mutually parallel, means for driving said front and rear drive rollers so as to pull said fabric through said vertical guide means, over said front drive roller, then over said rear drive roller and past said pleating bar towards the back of said vat, and means for rotating said pleating bar so that said bar moves towards and beyond a horizontal position past the back edge of said rear drive roller, so as to push said material towards the back of said vat, and then said bar moves in front of the back edge of said rear drive roller so as to permit said fabric to swing under its own weight toward the front of said vat whereby the pleats are formed in a vertical pile.
Another feature of the invention provides that said winding and moving means further includes a closed loop carrier, the leading end of said rope-like fabric being attached to said carrier, a mutilated spiral including parallel straight reaches perpendicular to the length of the spiral, which reaches constitute said vertical guide'means and are located at the front of the spiral when the spiral is stationary, said spiral further including inclined reaches connecting the ends of said perpendicular reaches, said inclined reaches being at the rear of the spiral when the spiral is stationary, means for intermittently rotating said carrier 360 to wind the leading end of said fabric past the rollers and bar, and means for substantially concurrently intermittently rotating said spiral 360 to advance the convolutions lengthwise of the rollers and bar, and then idle the spiral in a stationary position with the perpendicular reaches at the front of the spiral to serve as vertical guides for the fabric.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a vat for processing a fabric in a vat, said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid and having fabric processing means included therein, said vat forming an enclosed pressurized chamber, end sides of said vat being rounded so as to increase the volume of said chamber and to allow for use of a thinner gauge material for the end sides of said vat.
According to still another aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus and method for process ing a fabric in a vat, said vat being at least partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in ropelike form and having a leading and a trailing end, said apparatus comprising a horizontally extending substantially circular front drive roller, a horizontally extending substantially circular rear drive roller, and means for driving said front and rear drive rollers at the same tangential velocity so as to eliminate imposition of changing strain on said fabric as said fabric is driven by said front and rear drive rollers.
According to an alternate aspect of the invention, the tangential velocity of the front drive roller is made greater than that of the rear drive roller so as to overfeed the fabric as it approaches the rear drive roller. Power jets are placed between the front and rear drive rollers and adjacent the front drive roller so as to propel the fabric towards the rear drive roller. A shoot or guide channel concentrates the stream of liquid onto the fabric in a turbulant manner so as to cause strands of the fabric to telescope inward before the fabric reaches the rear drive roller, thereby allowing the fabric to enter the processing liquid in a relaxed manner, so that the relaxed fabric is more effectively treated.
According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus and method for processing a tubular fabric in a vat, said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in rope-like form and having a leading and a trailing end, said apparatus comprising means for pulling said fabric through a 360 loop, the loop extending above and below the surface of said processing liquid, said pulling means including front and rear drive rollers, means for blowing air into said tubular fabric so as to inflate the same and thereby reduce the creasing of said fabric as said fabric is pulled by said front and rear drive rollers. Another aspect of the invention comprises the provision of means for streaming said processing liquid onto said fabric before and after air is blown into said fabric.
According to a still further aspect of the invention,
A there is provided an apparatus and method for processing fabric in a vat, said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in rope-like form and having a leading and a trailing end, said apparatus comprising means for pulling said fabric in a 360 loop, the loop being formed above and below the surface of said processing liquid, said pulling means including parallel horizontally extending front and rear drive rollers in contact with said fabric, and means for streaming said processing liquid onto said fabric in the direction having a substantial component parallel to the direction of movement of said fabric before said fabric passes over said front and rear drive rollers so as to reduce the strain imposed on said fabric as said fabric is driven by said front and rear drive rollers and to increase the penetration of said processing liquid into said fabric so as to improve the overall processing of said fabric.
According to an additional aspect of the invention there is provided a vat for processing fabric, said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in rope-like form, said vat including means for processing said fabric therein, said vat having doubly insulated frame portions to reduce radiation loss from said vat so that the temperature in said vat above the surface of said processing liquid is approximately equal to the temperature in said vat below the surface of said processing liquid thereby avoiding chilling of said fab ric after the fabric has been pulled through said processing liquid and is above the surface of said processing liquid.
According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a vat and method for processing fabric, said vat being partially filled with a processing liquid, said fabric being in rope-like form, said vat including means for processing said fabric, means for introducing said processing liquid from a tank into the bottom of said vat, and means for circulating said processing liquid between the rear and the front of said vat so as to provide for uniform constitutions of said processing liquid and more even processing of said fabric.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings, in which are shown various possible embodiments of my invention:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vat for processing a rope of fabric in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of FIG. 1 taken substantially along the line 2-2, said view showing the drive rollers, mutilated spiral, carrier chain, pleater bar and one convolution of the fabric vertically piled at the rear of the vat;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-section of a door seal shown in FIG. 2 before the door is closed;
FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 after the door is closed;
FIG. 5 is an end view of the processing vat, showing the means for driving the drive rollers, the carrier chain, the mutilated spiral and the pleater bar, and also the means for circulating the processing liquid;
FIG. 6 is an internal perspective view of the processing apparatus showing the fabric as loading is started;
FIG. 7 is an internal perspective view of the fully loaded processing apparatus;
FIG. 8 is a schematic view of one convolution of the fabric loaded onto the apparatus and showing the location of means for streaming processing liquid onto the fabric in a fashion such as to assist movement of the fabric in the apparatus;
FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the insulating frame of the vat;
FIG. 10 is a front view of the mutilated spiral;
FIG. 11 is a front view of a processing vat providing a high pressure chamber;
FIG. 12 is an end view of the vat shown in FIG. 11;
FIG. 13 is a cross-section of the vat shown in FIG. 11 the same being taken substantially along the line 1313 and showing the same handling apparatus as is shown in FIG. 1; and
FIG. 14 is an enlarged partial schematic view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 8 showing the stream of liquid placed between the front and rear drive rollers and adjacent the front drive roller, and guide shoots for concentrating the liquid onto the fabric.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A processing vat l0 embodying the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. A supply tank 12 is shown filled with a processing liquid 14, which liquid can be a dye, bleach or cleaning agent. Processing liquid 14 is drawn out of the bottom of tank 12 by a pump 16, which pump in turn is driven by a motor 18. Liquid 14 then passes through a pipe 20 and into a rear manifold 22 (shown in FIG. 2) that extends from end to end of vat 10. Processing liquid 14 flows through holes 24 in the front of rear manifold 22 so that the bottom of vat fills up to a liquid level or surface 26. The processing liquid is passed through a wire mesh screen or baffle 27, through an overflow opening 28 into a front mainfold 30, out of vat 10 through a pipe 32 and a pump 34, which forces the liquid back through pipe into rear manifold 22. As showin FIG. 1, pump 34 is driven by a motor 36. In this manner, processing liquid 14 in vat 10 is continuously circulated between the respective rear and front manifolds 22 and 30, while fresh processing liquid from tank 12 can be added thereto through a pipe 37 which leads into pipe 20. Thus, a uniform concentration of processing liquid is maintained within the bottom of vat 10 so as to provide for a more even processing and treating of fabric therein.
Processing liquid 14 can be drained from vat 10 via a pipe 38 leading from a bottom wall 40 as shown in FIG. 1. Of course, pipe 38 has a valve (not shown) connected therein so as to prevent processing liquid 14 from continuously draining from the bottom of the vat. As shown in FIG. 5, an overflow pipe 41 is connected to an upper front manifold so as to insure that the surface of processing liquid 14 never exceeds a specified level. Radient steam coils 42 (shown in FIG. 2) are placed below surface 26 of processing liquid 14, and between wire mesh screen 27 and front manifold 30 so as to heat processing liquid 14 to a suitable temperature.
In order to avoid chilling of the fabric after it leaves surface 26 of liquid 14, which chilling would deleteriously affect even processing of the fabric, it is necessary to try to maintain the temperature within the vat and above surface 26 of processing liquid 14 at approximately the same temperature as the processing liquid. In order to do this, it is necessary to keep the heat loss from vat 10 to a minimum. The heat loss can be reduced by insuring that the top, sides and doors of vat 10 are doubly insulated. FIG. 9 shows an enlarged sectional view of the top 43 of vat 10 (the same structure is employed for the ends and back of the vat and for the rear door), wherein a glass wool layer 44 is placed beneath an outer plate 46 and is held by strips 48. An air space 50 of, for example, approximately one-half inch depth, is formed between a lining 52 and the glass wool layer. Strips 48 are held away from lining 52 via a plurality of spacers 54.
Heat loss from within vat 10 can also be reduced by providing an improved seal assembly 56, shown it FIG. 2 for a front door 58. As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 3, the door seal assembly 56 consists of a frame which holds glass door 58 and a flexible tubular sealing member 62, e.g. a rubber hose, which member runs along the side and bottom edges of door 58. When the door seal assembly 56 is disengaged, as shown in FIG. 3, from a U-shaped track 64 in which the bottom and sides of frame 60 are slidably receivable, tubular member 62 is not inflated. However, as shown in FIG. 4, when door seal assembly 56 engages track 64 when door 58 is slid to closed position, tubular member 62 is internally pressurized by opening a valve 66 so that a pressurized gas from a source 68 can be supplied thereto, whereby to force the door against the vat. In this manner, a more effective door seal is provided so as to reduce the heat loss from within vat 10. Of course, when door 58 is again opened, tubular member 62 can be depressurized. The pressurizing and depressurizing of tubular member 62 can be accomplished either manually or automatically.
Door 58 is shown closed in FIG. 1 and a counterweight 70, which is attached thereto, is shown in a raised position. Door 58 can be slid to a higher vertical position 72, shown in dotted lines in FIG. 5, as counterweight 70 is lowered as shown in dotted lines, while a pivoting arm 74 which is attached to the top of door 58, swings to a higher position 76, also shown indotted lines.
As shown in FIG. 2, there is provided a horizontally extending rear or primary drive roller 78, a horizontally extending front or secondary drive roller 80, a horizontally extending mutilated spiral 82, a horizontallly extending pleater bar 84 and a closed loop carrier 86. Carrier 86 is in a verticle plane adjacent one end of and perpendicular to the axis of rotation of rear drive roller 78, front drive roller 80, and pleater bar 84, wherein the drive rollers and bar are mutually parallel thereto. Rear drive roller 78 and front drive roller have a cylindrical shape and are repsectively formed by a parallel series of transverse rods attached to circular discs.
Spiral 82, as shown in front view in FIG. 10, is comprised of a bar 88 attached to a wire section 90. Wire section 90, which forms a series of convolutions, is comprised of vertical guide means having vertically adjacent parallel straight reaches 92 perpendicular to the length of the spiral which are always located at the front of the spiral when the spiral is stationary so as to provide for an improved guide for the fabric which passes therethrough while the apparatus is being loaded or operated. The ends of adjacent reaches 92 are connected by inclined reaches 93, which inclined reaches are always at the rear of the spiral when the spiral is stationary. Such vertical guide means also assist in the formation of vertically pleated piles to be explained later.
Pleater bar 84 rotates upon its axis and when it is in the horizontal position, one portion 94 extends past a rear edge 96 of rear drive roller 78 and when pleater bar 84 is in the vertical position, it is aligned below rear drive roller 78 and does not extend beyond rear edge 96 of rear drive roller 78.
Also shown in FIG. 2 are a front safety limit bar 98 and a rear safety limit bar 100. Safety limit bars 98 and 100 serve to activate a power cut-off switch so as to turn the apparatus off in the event that fabric 102 somehow becomes tangled and falls against either of the safety limit bars.
Rear drive roller 78 is driven by a rear drive shaft 104, (shown in FIG. 1) which shaft is in turn driven by a motor 106 via a gear linkage arrangement 108. Front drive roller 80 is driven by a front drive shaft 110, which in turn is coupled to rear drive shaft 104 by a suitable gear linkage arrangement 112, which linkage arrangement provides that the surface speed or tangential velocity of rear drive roller 78 is the same as that of front drive roller 80 so that fabric 102, which is pulled over both front and rear drive rollers, is not unnecessarily stressed as would be the case if the surface speed of the drive rollers were different. Furthermore, since drive rollers 78 and 80 are cylindrically shaped, rather than elliptically shaped as in the prior art, they provide a more even loading for motor 106. As shown in FIG. 5, pleater bar 84 is driven by a pleater shaft 114, which shaft in turn is driven by rear drive shaft 104 via a gear linkage arrangement 116. Carrier 86 is driven by a carrier drive shaft 118 which in turn is also driven by rear drive shaft 104 via a gear linkage arrangement 120. Carrier 86 rotates in a closed path determined by sprockets 122.
While front and rear drive rollers continuously move at a constant speed during loading and operation of the apparatus, carrier 86 and spiral 82 move only intermittently so that in the course of time necessary for one convolution of fabric 102 to complete one full revolution (cycle) through the apparatus, carrier 86 and spiral 82 both make one complete revolution within a fraction of that time and remain stationary through the remainder of the same fabric cycle. Such intermittent operation of spiral 82 and carrier 86 is provided by respective clutches 1 24 and 126, which serves to disengage respective spiral and carrier drive shafts. Standard manual or automatic means can be used to properly engage and disengage clutches 124 and 126. The spiral and carrier drive shafts are respectively coupled to braking mechanisms 128 and 129 so as to prevent any prolonged movement in the respective spiral and carrier after their drive shafts have been disengaged.
The loading of the apparatus is illustrated in FIG. 6 wherein carrier 86 has a hook 130 attached thereto at a point slightly below spiral 82. A leading end 132 of fabric 102 is attached to hook 130 via a leader material 134. Fabric 102, which in this example has a tubular form of the type that is generally woven by cylindrical winding machines, is led from a storage bin 136 through a loadng poteye 138 over the front portion of front drive roller 80 to leader material 134. Loading poteye 138 is a stationary member which is supported by the frame of vat 10. Carrier 86 makes one quick and complete revolution pulling fabric 102 out of storage bin 136 and into engagement with respective front and rear drive rollers 80 and 78. Alternatively, when so desired, carrier 86 can make a little less than one complete revolution and then inch up until the revolution is complete. Front and rear drive rollers 80 and 78 move fabric 102 towards the back of vat 10, while pleater bar 84, (shown in FIG. 2) which is revolving at an angular velocity in excess of the angular velocity of the revolving fabric, pushes fabric 102 further towards the back of vat 10 as it (pleater bar) moves towards the horizontal position and lets the fabric move under its own weight towards the front of the vat as it (pleater bar) moves towards the vertical position so as to form a vertically pleated pile in the rear of vat 10. Carrier 86 then makes a quick revolution and stops so as to feed fabric from the bottom of vertically pleated pile 140 through a first vertical guide means provided by adjacent pairs of vertical reaches 92 at that end of the spiral which is adjacent carrier chain 86, over front drive roller 80, rear drive roller 78 and towards the back of vat 10, while forming a vertically pleated pile at the back of the vat. Carrier 86, substantially concurrently with the movement of spiral 82, makes another quick revolution and stops so as to advance the first formed convolution of fabric to the adjacent vertical guide means 142 of spiral 82, whereafter two convolutions with two vertically pleated piles are formed. The process is continued until successive convolutions of fabric are formed and the machine is completely loaded as shown in FIG. 7, whereupon a trailing end 144 of fabric 102 hangs freely.
When the loaded apparatus is in operation, carrier 86 makes one complete revolution, and trailing end 144 of fabric 102 unwinds. Leading end 132 of fabric 102 rewinds through first vertical guide means 139 as fabric 102 is pulled through processing liquid 14, and vertically pleated piles 140 are formed towards the back of vat 10. Substantially concurrently with the movement of carrier 86, spiral 82 revolves to advance the material in the axial direction perpendicular to the vertical plane of the vertically formed pleated piles towards trailing end 144 of fabric 102, so that, in effect, fabric 102 is being rewound as it is being unwound on the apparatus so as to remain stationary thereon during the processing fabric 102. It should be noted that the pleated piles are so vertically formed because the pleating operation is mainly carried out while spiral 82 is stationary, and fabric 102 is thus being pulled through the vertical guide means of spiral 82 so as to avoid any movement of the fabric in the direction perpendicular to the vertical plain of the vertically formed pleated piles.
In order to avoid any unnecessary stressing of the fabric as it first contacts drive rollers 80 and 78 during the loading operation, poteye 138 is provided with holes 146 along the inner circumferential portion thereof, while processing liquid is pumped from the bottom of vat 10 through these holes so as to sufficiently wet fabric 102 before fabric 102 initially contacts drive rollers 80 and 78.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, circular spray bars 146 and 148 can be located respectively before front drive roller 80 and rear drive roller 78 so as to again supply a stream of processing liquid 14 from the bottom of vat 10, which liquid has a substantial component that hits fabric 102 parallel to the direction of movement of the fabric. The fibers of fabric 102 are thus spread apart, thereby resulting in an increase in the penetration of the processing liquid within the fabric and an improvement in the overall processing of fabric 102. Alternatively, circular spray bars 150 and 152 could also be added for the same reason described above or any combination of circular spray bars 146, 148 and 150 and 152 could be used.
Still further, in order to avoid creasing of fabric 102 as it passes over front and rear drive rollers 80 and 78, respectively, air is blown into the fabric from an air injection bar 154, (shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 6 and 7) so as to form a blown-up portion 156 in fabric 102, which tends to remove some of the creases which have been formed within the fabric. Injection bar 154 has suitable holes therein for allowing the air to escape into the fabric. The air, or as a matter of fact, any suitable gas, can be pumped from outside of vat 10 but should pass through processing liquid 14 so that the temperature of the pumped air is approximately the same as the temperature within vat 10, thereby avoiding chilling of fabric 102 during this operation.
In order to improve the effect of the air blowing operation, a stream of processing liquid 14 can be applied to fabric 102 from a circular spray bar 158 located between air injection bar 154 and front drive roller 80, and additionally processing liquid 14 can be applied to fabric 102 from circulator spray bar 160 located between air injection bar 154 and rear drive roller 78. An additional circulating spray bar 162 is so located as to apply a stream of processing liquid 14 onto fabric 102 when fabric 102 is in contact with rear drive roller 78 so as to improve the adherence of fabric 102 to rear drive roller 78, thus resulting in a lessoning of the straining of fabric 102 during the processing cycle. Circular spray bar 162 and an additional circular spray bar 164 can be provided so that a stream of liquid from the bottom of vat 10 is applied over the respective rear and front drive rollers in order to clean the rollers before another processing operation on another fabric begins.
It should also be noted that instead of loading the apparatus in such a manner that fabric 102 forms successive convolutions, fabric 102 can be so loaded as to have only one convolution by eliminating spiral 82 and replacing it with a single vertical guide means previously described.
It should be further noted that fabric 102 could be similarly processed within a vat 166 (shown in FIGS. 11, 12 and 13), which vat has a high pressure sealed chamber 167 (shown in FIG. 13) and rounded external sides 168 (shown in FIG. 11). Rounded external sides 168 increase the inner volume of sealed chamber 167 and also allow the use of a thinner gauge material for the frame of vat 166. As shown in FIG. 12, vat 166 can have a quick locking pressure door 170. The pressure within sealed chamber 167 of vat 166 can range typically from 5 to I PSIG. As shown in FIG. 13, the actual fabric processing apparatus is the same as that used in vat 10.
In an alternate embodiment, which is illustrated in FIG. 14, the tangential velocity of front drive roller 80 is greater than the tangential velocity of rear drive roller 78 so that the front drive roller tends to over-feed the fabric as it moves towards the rear drive roller. A set of power jets 172 is placed between front and rear drive rollers and adjacent the front drive roller so as to propel the fabric toward the rear drive roller. A set of shoots or guide channels 174 concentrate the stream of processing liquid from the power jets onto the fabric. Turbulator blades 176 extend from shoots 174 in such a manner as to cause the streaming processing liquid to form a turbulance so as to cause the strands of fabric to telescope inward before the fabric reaches the rear drive roller. Due to the telescoping of the fabric caused by the turbulant processing liquid, the fabric does not creep down between the drive rollers, but instead moves over the rear drive roller and enters the vat of processing liquid in a relaxed manner. Th relaxed fabric is thus free from physical deformations, such as creases, since it is not under tension as it moves over the rear drive roller, and is thus more effectively dyed. The fabric is then, of course, pulled over the front drive roller under tension and is stretched back to its nontelescoped form. The above described embodiment can, of course, be applied to apparatus for treating only one convolution of fabric and also to apparatus for treating a plurality of convolutions of fabric.
It thus is seen that there is provided an apparatus for processing fabrics in rope-like form which achieves the several objects of the invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.
As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described, or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
Having now described the invention, there is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent:
1. In an apparatus for processing a fabric in a vat having a front and rear and which vat is partially filled with a processing liquid having an upper surface, the fabric being in rope-like form having a leading and a trailing end, and which apparatus includes means to wind the fabric into helical convolutions of which each includes a pleated section in the liquid, each pleated section having a leading portion and a trailing portion, first means to revolve the leading end of the fabric in a closed path around the axis of a helix formed by the helical convolutions, seconds means at the front of the vat to draw the fabric from the leading portion of each pleated convolution section out of the liquid, third means at the rear of the vat receiving the fabric of each convolution from the second means and depositing the same at the trailing portion of each previous pleated convolution section adjacent the upper surface of the processing liquid, said third means advancing the fabric at a rate per convolution faster than the first means so that the fabric is formed into pleated sections one for each convolution at the rear of the vat in the liquid, and fourth means to advance the convolutions toward the trailing end of the fabric: that improvement comprising a. means actuating the first means intermittently to revolve the leading end of the fabric once through said closed path more speedily than the second and third means revolve the convolutions once around said axis of the helix, said first means being actuated once for ach single revolution of the helical convolutions around the axis, and
b. means for intermittently actuating the fourth means once more speedily than the second and third means revolve each convolution once around the longitudinal axis of the helix, said fourth means being actuated once for each single revolution of the several convolutions of the helix around said axis,
c. whereby the fabric as deposited at the trailing portion of each pleated convolution section remains substantially constant axially while the fourth means is deactuated so that the deposited fabric of each convolution remains in a common plane perpendicular to the axis of the helix while the fourth means is deactuated.
2. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein means is included to pleat the fabric as it is deposited adjacent the surface of the liquid.
3. A combination as set forth in claim 2 wherein the second and third means are horizontally extending substantially circular drive rollers, and wherein the pleating means is a horizontally extending pleating bar below and in back of the rear drive roller, and wherein means is included for rotating the pleating bar so that the bar moves toward and beyond and then back from a horizontal position in back of the back edge of the rear drive roller so as to push the fabric toward the back of the vat and when the bar moves forwardly in front of the back edge of said rear drive roller to permit the fabric to swing under its own weight toward the front of the vat to form the pleated sections.
4. A combination as set forth in claim 3 wherein drive means is provided to rotate the front and rear drive rollers at the same tangential velocity so as to reduce the strain on the fabric as it is advanced by said rollers.
5. A combination as set forth in claim 3 further comprising means for applying a stream of said processing liquid onto said fabric in the direction of movement of said fabric after said fabric passes over said front drive roller and before said fabric passes over said rear drive roller so as to reduce the straining of said fabric as said fabric passes over said front and rear drive rollers and to increase the penetration of the processing liquid into said fabric so as to improve the overall processing of said fabric.
6. A combination as set forth in claim 5 wherein the tangential velocity of the front drive roller is greater than the tangential velocity of the rear drive roller.
7. A combination as set forth in claim 6 further comprising a set of guide plates positioned between said front and rear drive rollers and on opposite sides of said fabric so as to concentrate the stream of processing liquid onto said fabric, said guide plates including turbulator blades extending towards said fabric whereby said stream of processing liquid forms a turbulence and causes strands of said fabric to telescope inward so that said fabric passes over said rear drive roller and into the processing liquid in a relaxed fashion, so as to provide more effective treating of said fabric.
8. In a method for processing a fabric in a vat having a front and rear and which vat is partially filled with a processing liquid having an upper surface, the fabric being in rope-like form and having a leading and a trailing end, and in which method the fabric is wound into helical convolutions of which each includes a pleated section in the liquid, each pleated section having a leading portion and a trailing portion, and further in which method the leading end of the fabric is revolved in a closed path around the axis of the helix formed by the helical convolutions, the fabric from the leading portion of each previous pleated convolution section being drawn out of the processing liquid at the front of the vat and being deposited at the trailing portion of each previous pleated convolution section adjacent the upper surface of the processing liquid, said fabric being drawn out of the processing liquid at the front of the vat and being deposited back to the surface of the processing liquid at a rate per convolution faster than the fabric is wound into helical convolutions so that the fabric is formed into said pleated sections one for each convolution at the rear of the vat in the liquid and still further in which the convolutions are advanced toward the trailing end of the fabric, that improvement comprismg:
a. revolving the leading end of the fabric once through said closed path more speedily than the convolutions are rotated around said axis of the helix and then stopping such revolving of the leading end until the several helical convolutions have completed a single revolution around said axis, and
b. advancing the convolutions toward the trailing end intermittently more speedily than the several convolutions are turned a single revolution around the helix and then stopping the advance of said convolutions towardthe trailing end until the convolutions have completed a single revolution around the said axis,
c. so that the fabric as desposited at the leading portion of each pleated convolution section remains substantially constant axially while advancement of the convolutions toward the trailing end stops so that the deposited fabric of each convolution remains in a common plane perpendicular to the axis of the helix while advancement of the convolutions toward the trailing end is stopped.
9. In a method as set forth in claim 8 the further improvement comprising moving the convolutions of the fabric from the front to the rear of the vat by engaging the same with front and rear circular drive rollers and pleating the fabric as it descends from the rear roller to the pleated section of each convolution by passing said fabric over a pleating bar which moves toward and beyond and then back from a horizontal position in back of the rear drive roller so as to push the fabric toward the back of the vat and when the bar moves forwardly in front of the back edge of the rear drive roller to permit the fabric to swing under its own weight toward the front of the vat, such operation being practiced repeatedly to provide pleats.
10. A method according to claim 9 wherein said front and rear drive rollers are rotated at the same tangential velocity so as to reduce the strain on said fabric as said fabric is pulled over said front and rear drive rollers,
11. A method according to claim 9 further comprising the step of applying a stream of said processing liquid onto said fabric in the direction of movement of said fabric after said fabric passes over said front drive roller and before said fabric passes over said rear drive roller so as to reduce the straining of said fabric as said fabric passes over said front and rear drive rollers and to increase the penetration of the processing liquid into said fabric whereby to improve the overall processing of said fabric.
12. A method according to claim I 1 further comprising the step of telescoping strands of said fabric inward before the fabric passes over said rear drive roller so that said fabric passes over said rear drive roller and into the processing liquid in a relaxed state, whereby to increase the penetration of processing liquid into said fabric while reducing creasing of said fabric as it passes over said rear drive roller.

Claims (11)

  1. 2. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein means is included to pleat the fabric as it is deposited adjacent the surface of the liquid.
  2. 3. A combination as set forth in claim 2 wherein the second and third means are horizontally extending substantially circular drive rollers, and wherein the pleating means is a horizontally extending pleating bar below and in back of the rear drive roller, and wherein means is included for rotating the pleating bar so that the bar moves toward and beyond and then back from a horizontal position in back of the back edge of the rear drive roller so as to push the fabric toward the back of the vat and when the bar moves forwardly in front of the back edge of said rear drive roller to permit the fabric to swing under its own weight toward the front of the vat to form the pleated sections.
  3. 4. A combination as set forth in claim 3 wherein drive means is provided to rotate the front and rear drive rollers at the same tangential velocity so as to reduce the strain on the fabric as it is advanced by said rollers.
  4. 5. A combination as set forth in claim 3 further comprising means for applying a stream of said processing liquid onto said fabric in the direction of movement of said fabric after said fabric passes over said front drive roller and before said fabric passes over said rear drive roller so as to reduce the straining of said fabric as said fabric passes over said front and rear drive rollers and to increase the penetration of the processing liquid into said fabric so as to improve the overall processing of said fabric.
  5. 6. A combination as set forth in claim 5 wherein the tangential velocity of the front drive roller is greater than the tangential velocity of the rear drive roller.
  6. 7. A combination as set forth in claim 6 further comprising a set of guide plates positioned between said front and rear drive rollers and on opposite sides of said fabric so as to concentrate the stream of processing liquid onto said fabric, said guide plates including turbulator blades extending towards said fabric whereby said stream of processing liquid forms a turbulence and causes strands of said fabric to telescope inward so that said fabric passes over said rear drive roller and into the processing liquid in a relaxed fashion, so as to provide more effective treating of said fabric.
  7. 8. In a method for processing a fabric in a vat having a front and rear and which vat is partially filled with a processing liquid having an upper surface, the fabric being in rope-like form and having a leading and a trailing end, and in which method the fabric is wound into helical convolutions of which each includes a pleated section in the liquid, each pleated section having a leading portion and a trailing portion, and further in which method the leading end of the fabric is revolved in a closed path around the axis of the helix formed by the helical convolutions, the fabric from the leading portion of each previous pleated convolution section being drawn out of the processing liquid at the front of the vat and being deposited at the trailing portion of each previous pleated convolution section adjacent the upper surface of the processing liquid, said fabric being drawn out of the processing liquid at the front of the vat and being deposited back to the surface of the processing liquid at a rate per convolution faster than the fabric is wound into helical convolutions so that the fabric is formed into said pleated sections one for each convolution at the rear of the vat in the liquid and still further in which the convolutions are advanced toward the trailing end of the fabric, that improvement comprising: a. revolving the leading end of the fabric oNce through said closed path more speedily than the convolutions are rotated around said axis of the helix and then stopping such revolving of the leading end until the several helical convolutions have completed a single revolution around said axis, and b. advancing the convolutions toward the trailing end intermittently more speedily than the several convolutions are turned a single revolution around the helix and then stopping the advance of said convolutions towardthe trailing end until the convolutions have completed a single revolution around the said axis, c. so that the fabric as desposited at the leading portion of each pleated convolution section remains substantially constant axially while advancement of the convolutions toward the trailing end stops so that the deposited fabric of each convolution remains in a common plane perpendicular to the axis of the helix while advancement of the convolutions toward the trailing end is stopped.
  8. 9. In a method as set forth in claim 8 the further improvement comprising moving the convolutions of the fabric from the front to the rear of the vat by engaging the same with front and rear circular drive rollers and pleating the fabric as it descends from the rear roller to the pleated section of each convolution by passing said fabric over a pleating bar which moves toward and beyond and then back from a horizontal position in back of the rear drive roller so as to push the fabric toward the back of the vat and when the bar moves forwardly in front of the back edge of the rear drive roller to permit the fabric to swing under its own weight toward the front of the vat, such operation being practiced repeatedly to provide pleats.
  9. 10. A method according to claim 9 wherein said front and rear drive rollers are rotated at the same tangential velocity so as to reduce the strain on said fabric as said fabric is pulled over said front and rear drive rollers.
  10. 11. A method according to claim 9 further comprising the step of applying a stream of said processing liquid onto said fabric in the direction of movement of said fabric after said fabric passes over said front drive roller and before said fabric passes over said rear drive roller so as to reduce the straining of said fabric as said fabric passes over said front and rear drive rollers and to increase the penetration of the processing liquid into said fabric whereby to improve the overall processing of said fabric.
  11. 12. A method according to claim 11 further comprising the step of telescoping strands of said fabric inward before the fabric passes over said rear drive roller so that said fabric passes over said rear drive roller and into the processing liquid in a relaxed state, whereby to increase the penetration of processing liquid into said fabric while reducing creasing of said fabric as it passes over said rear drive roller.
US00236662A 1972-03-21 1972-03-21 Method and apparatus for processing fabrics in rope-like form Expired - Lifetime US3837801A (en)

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Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4077766A (en) * 1975-09-04 1978-03-07 Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft Process for the continuous dyeing of cellulose fibers or mixtures thereof with synthetic fibers with water-in-soluble azo dyestuffs developing on the fiber
EP0019101A1 (en) * 1979-05-09 1980-11-26 Brückner Apparatebau GmbH Apparatus for the wet-treatment of textile material in rope form
EP0075073A1 (en) * 1981-09-22 1983-03-30 Brückner Apparatebau GmbH Method and apparatus for the wet treatment of textile materials
US5349711A (en) * 1991-07-29 1994-09-27 Naigai Special Dying Co., Ltd. Cloth treatment method

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GB649451A (en) * 1947-07-26 1951-01-24 Johnson & Johnson Improvement in and apparatus for treating textile fibres
GB671970A (en) * 1949-10-04 1952-05-14 Leemetals Ltd Improvements in dyeing machines for dyeing fabrics in rope form
US3243978A (en) * 1965-01-29 1966-04-05 Singer Co Apparatus for spreading and guiding a fabric web
US3457740A (en) * 1967-12-19 1969-07-29 Gerber & Co Gmbh Continuous washing machine
US3479846A (en) * 1966-11-08 1969-11-25 Pegg S & Son Ltd Winch and like dyeing machines
US3545236A (en) * 1969-06-25 1970-12-08 United Merchants & Mfg Apparatus for treating fabrics in rope form
US3659438A (en) * 1970-08-10 1972-05-02 Nippon Dyeing Machine Mfg Co Apparatus for treatment of a fabric
US3686905A (en) * 1968-11-20 1972-08-29 Leemetals Ltd Method and machines for dyeing textile piece goods

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB649451A (en) * 1947-07-26 1951-01-24 Johnson & Johnson Improvement in and apparatus for treating textile fibres
GB671970A (en) * 1949-10-04 1952-05-14 Leemetals Ltd Improvements in dyeing machines for dyeing fabrics in rope form
US3243978A (en) * 1965-01-29 1966-04-05 Singer Co Apparatus for spreading and guiding a fabric web
US3479846A (en) * 1966-11-08 1969-11-25 Pegg S & Son Ltd Winch and like dyeing machines
US3457740A (en) * 1967-12-19 1969-07-29 Gerber & Co Gmbh Continuous washing machine
US3686905A (en) * 1968-11-20 1972-08-29 Leemetals Ltd Method and machines for dyeing textile piece goods
US3545236A (en) * 1969-06-25 1970-12-08 United Merchants & Mfg Apparatus for treating fabrics in rope form
US3659438A (en) * 1970-08-10 1972-05-02 Nippon Dyeing Machine Mfg Co Apparatus for treatment of a fabric

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4077766A (en) * 1975-09-04 1978-03-07 Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft Process for the continuous dyeing of cellulose fibers or mixtures thereof with synthetic fibers with water-in-soluble azo dyestuffs developing on the fiber
EP0019101A1 (en) * 1979-05-09 1980-11-26 Brückner Apparatebau GmbH Apparatus for the wet-treatment of textile material in rope form
US4318209A (en) * 1979-05-09 1982-03-09 Bruckner Apparatebau Gmbh Apparatus for the wet treatment of tubular knitted textile material
EP0075073A1 (en) * 1981-09-22 1983-03-30 Brückner Apparatebau GmbH Method and apparatus for the wet treatment of textile materials
US5349711A (en) * 1991-07-29 1994-09-27 Naigai Special Dying Co., Ltd. Cloth treatment method

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