Dyeing apparatus

A low-liquor-ratio dyeing apparatus comprising a perforated cylindrical beam rotatably supported within a horizontal vessel for supporting on its periphery materials to be dyed, a liquid flow circulation system for forcing dying liquid through the materials radially outwardly of the beam, a sprinkler chamber mounted on the ceiling of the vessel for spraying the liquid over the upper portion of the beam, the ceiling of the vessel, and inner side walls of the vessel, and a liquid supply bypass pipe branched from the supply side of the circulation system and connected to the sprinkler chamber.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an apparatus for dyeing elongate textile 
materials under high pressure at high temperature, the textile materials 
being wound on a perforated cylindrical beam, and more particularly to 
such apparatus suitable for the dyeing treatment at low liquor ratio. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
There are known a variety of dyeing apparatus for forcing dyeing liquid 
into and through elongate textile materials, such as yarns, tapes and 
fabrics, under high pressure at high temperature as the textile materials 
is wound on a rotating perforated cylindrical tube commonly known as 
"beam". The beam is supported concentrically within a cylindrical vessel. 
The dyeing liquid is forced, under high pressure and at high temperature, 
to penetrate layers of the textile materials radially outwardly from the 
inside of the beam on which the textile materials are wound. Difficulty 
has been experienced with many of the conventional apparatus in securing 
uniformity of dyeing treatment in all portions of the materials often 
resulting in different shades or hues both radially and axially of the 
roll of materials. 
To eliminate this treatment defects, an improved apparatus has been 
proposed in Japanese Patent Post-Examination Publication No. 58-5301, 
Japanese Patent Post-Examination Publication No. 60-39786 and Japanese 
Utility Model Post-Examination Publication No. 59-9034, for example. In 
the prior apparatus, the dyeing liquid surface under which a lower portion 
of the roll of the materials is soaked is maintained so that the 
occurrence of different shades and hues due to the non-uniform amount of 
the dyeing liquid passing through the layers of the materials via the 
peirpheral holes of the beam, can be prevented. 
However, in the case where the amount of textile materials wound on the 
beam is reduced, namely, the diameter of the roll of the materials is 
reduced, it is necessary to increase the amount of dyeing liquid, thus 
causing a remarkable change of the low liquor ratio. Consequently, dyeing 
conditions, compositions of the dyeing liquid for example, must be 
adjusted, which is scrupulous. Yet this scrupulous adjustment could not 
recover the low liquor ratio. 
Further, if the dyeing liquid level in the treatment vessel is lowered, a 
large portion of the layers of the textile materials wound on the beam is 
necessarily exposed to air in the vessel. Partly because of this large 
exposed portion of the textile materials to air, and partly because of the 
non-uniformity of the amount of the dyeing liquid penetrating the 
materials from the inside thereof, the textile materials can be 
insufficiently wetted locally. Even though the textile materials is soaked 
at the lower portion of the beam, non-uniform dyeing is inevitable. 
In addition, partly because a small amount of dyeing liquid is jetted out 
along the inner surfaces of opposite side rims of the beam and is struck 
thereagainst to scatter, and partly because bubbles are developed on the 
liquid surface due to the surface active agent as an additive, the dyeing 
liquid is attached to the wall surface of the vessel which wall surface is 
exposed to air, so that dyes and assistants contained in the liquid become 
cohered. Also, the low-molecular-weight materials eluted from the textile 
materials containing synthetic resin and synthetic fibers are attached to 
the wall surface of the vessel to become cohered. This cohesion of the 
dyes and assistants as well as the low-molecular-weight materials makes 
the wall surface of the vessel dirty. Further, these cohered materials 
easily fall on the textile materials to stick thereto, thus impairing the 
dyeing of the textile materials. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a 
low-liquor-ratio dyeing apparatus which materials can be dyed efficiently 
and neatly without causing any problem during the treatment at high 
temperature. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a low-liquor-ratio dyeing 
apparatus in which a varying amount of materials can be dyed at a required 
low liquor ratio without difficulty. Therefore this apparatus is 
particularly suitable for dyeing many kinds of materials each in small 
quantity. 
According to the present invention, a low-liquor-ratio dyeing apparatus 
comprises a perforated cylindrical beam rotatably supported within a 
horizontal vessel for supporting on its periphery materials to be dyed, a 
liquid flow circulation system connected to the vessel for forcing dyeing 
liquid through the materials ratially outwardly of the beam, a sprinkler 
mounted on the ceiling of the vessel and having many openings for spraying 
the liquid over the top of the beam, the ceiling of the vessel, and the 
inner side walls of the vessel, and a liquid supply bypass pipe branched 
from the supply side of the circulation system. 
Many other advantages, features and additional objects of the present 
invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making 
reference to the detailed description and the accompanying drawings in 
which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of 
the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
FIG. 1 shows a low-liquor-ratio dyeing apparatus for dyeing textile 
materials S. The apparatus includes a cylindrical vessel 1 having a 
generally circular cross section (FIGS. 2 and 3) and extending along a 
generally horizontal axis. The vessel 1 is covered at one or front end 
tightly by an openable front lid plate 20 and at the other or rear end by 
an annular rear lid plate 10 to which a heat-exchanger-type heater 11 is 
attached. 
A perforated cylindrical beam 2 having a substantially circular cross 
section (FIGS. 2 and 3) is supported within the vessel 1 cocentrally 
thereof. The beam 2 is adapted to support the materials S to be dyed, the 
materials S being wound on the periphery of the beam 2. The beam 2 has a 
multiplicity of holes formed in the periphery of the beam and distributed 
uniformly therearound, allowing the liquid to flow into and through the 
layers of the materials S wound on the beam 2. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the beam 2 is supported at each end by a truck 31 
movable on and along a pair of parallel spaced rails 32, 32 secured to and 
extending longitudinally of the vessel 1, the truck 31 having a pair of 
rollers 30, 30. The beam 5 rests on the two pairs of rollers 30, 30; 30, 
30 so that the beam 2 is rotatable about a shaft 4 extending axially 
thereof. As the beam 2 is rotated clockwise, i.e. in the direction of an 
allow by a motor 5 via a reducer 6, the rollers 30, 30 roll on the 
periphery of the beam 2, during which time each roller 30 is rotated 
counterclockwise. 
As shown in FIG. 1, a pusher disk 21 is rotatably mounted on centrally the 
front lid plate 20 and is axially movable toward and away from the beam 2 
by an air cylinder 22, thus closing and opening the front end opening of 
the beam 2. The peripheral edge of the front lid plate 20 is fluidtightly 
fastened to the front peripheral edge of the vessel 1 by means of an 
annular clasp 13. 
The apparatus also includes a liquid flow circulation system 9 composed of 
a pump 13, a main supply pipe 14 communicating with the pump 13 and 
connected to the heater 11, and a pair of return pipes 12, 12 connected to 
the bottom portion of the vessel 1 and communicating with the pump 13. 
Most important, a liquid supply bypass pipe 16 is branched from the main 
supply pipe 14 and opens to a sprinkler chamber 17 mounted on the ceiling 
of the vessel 1 and extending longitudinally thereof. A valve 15 is 
mounted in the supply bybass pipe 16 for regulating the amount of liquid 
flowing to the sprinkler chamber 17. A heat-exchanger-type heater may be 
connected to the supply bypass pipe 14 as desired. 
As better shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the sprinkler chamber 17 has a 
multiplicity of openings 18 distributed thereover for spraying the liquid 
over the upper portion of the beam 2, the ceiling of the vessel 1, and the 
front and rear lid plates 20, 10 of the vessel 1, as indicated by arrows. 
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a drive arm 7 is fixedly mounted on the distal 
front end of the shaft 4 and extends radially outwardly and terminates 
short of the inner surface of the beam 2. The beam 2 has a projection 8 
mounted on the inner surface of the beam 2 for engagement with the free 
end of the drive arm 7. Thus the rotation of the shaft 4 is transmitted to 
the beam 2. 
Designated by the numeral 25 is an elongate dummy cylinder supported within 
the vessel 1 concentrically thereof in order to reduce the volume within 
the vessel 1 and communicating with the air at the upper portion of the 
vessel 1 via a pressure equalizing pipe 26. 27 designates a safety valve, 
28 a pressure gage and 29 a deaerator, respectively connected to the top 
of the vessel 1. 
The pum 13 of the liquid flow circulation system 9 is operatively connected 
to a motor (not shown) via a suitable reducer (not shown) such as a 
frequency converter for regulating the amount of the liquid flow. 
Connected to the return pipes 12, 12 are a water-suction and 
medical-liquid-injection pipe 23, and a drainage pipe 24. 
The heater 11 may be connected to the return pipes 12, 12 instead of the 
inlet side of the vessel 1. 
In operation, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, with the liquid surface maintained 
at a level L.sub.1 where only a limited portion of the layers of the 
textile materials S is soaked in the liquid, or even at a level L.sub.2 
where most of the layers of the textile materials S are remote from the 
liquid surface and hence are not soaked in the liquid, the liquid is 
forced into and through the layers of th textile materials S radially 
outwardly, while the outer surface of the textile materials S which 
surface is exposed to the air within the vessel 1 is covered with a thin 
layer of the liquid as sprayed from the sprinkler chamber 17. Thus the 
textile materials S can be adequately wetted throughout the layers, 
irrespective of the level of the liquid surface. At the same time, the 
ceiling of the vessel 1, and the inner side walls of the vessel 1 are also 
covered with a layer of the liquid as sprayed from the sprinkler chamber 
17, so that the lowering of the temperature of the materials and parts can 
be prevented. During that time by the jetted liquid, the foreign matter is 
prevented from being struck to the materials and parts to cohesion. 
Consequently with the apparatus, low-liquor-ratio dyeing can take place 
efficiently and neatly. 
Following are the results of experiments conducted under the direction of 
the inventor: 
In the prior dyeing apparatus, for dyeing 40 kg of slide fastener chain 
(including tapes of polyester fibers and fastener elements of polyester or 
nylon) on the beam with 850 l of dye liquid, the amount of circulated 
liquid must be 30 l/s, while the rotation of the pump must be 3,500 r.p.m. 
On the other hand, in the present apparatus, the same amount of slide 
fastener chain was dyed with 400 l of dyeing liquid, where the amount of 
circulated liquid was 18 l/s as the rate of rotation of the pump was 
reduced to 2,000 r.p.m., where of 18 l/s, 2 l/s (about a tenth) of the 
liquid were sprayed from the sprinkler chamber, where the liquid surface 
in the vessel were kept at the level L.sub.2 of FIGS. 1 and 2, and where 
the rate of rotation of the beam was 3 to 4 r.p.m. As a result, the amount 
of dye and assistants, the amount of vapor, and the amount of operating 
power were saved or reduced by about 20%, about 50% and about 50% 
respectively. And good dyeing was achieved. 
Secondly, in the same apparatus of the present invention, 25 kg of fastener 
chain were dyed with 300 l of dyeing liquid, where the rate of rotation of 
the pump was reduced 15,000 r.p.m., where the amount of circulated liquid 
were 10 l/s, where of 10 l/s, 1.7 l/s of liquid were sprayed from the 
sprinkler chamber, and where the liquid surface were kept at the level 
L.sub.1 of FIGS. 1 and 2. As a result, like in the first experiment, good 
dyeing was achieved. 
Although various minor modifications may be suggested by those versed in 
the art, it should be understood that I wish to embody within the scope of 
the patent warranted hereon, all such embodiments as reasonably and 
properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.