Apparatus for continuous liquid treatment of a cloth

An apparatus for continuous liquid treatment of a cloth comprising a treating solution soaking tank (A) provided at a position adjacent to a cloth inlet of a steamer body (B), through which a cloth 2 to be treated is continuously transported for wet-heat treatment, said treating solution soaking tank (A) including: PA0 a fixed tank 5 fitted with a cloth guide roll 7; PA0 a movable tank 4 having a wall surface adjacent to the wall surface of the fixed tank 5 for forming a cloth passage 6 of a cloth to be treated therebetween; PA0 a cylinder 13 for turning the movable tank 4; PA0 treating solution supply pipes 8 for supplying a treating solution successively to the cloth passage 6; and PA0 washing showers 12 for jetting washing water to the cloth passage 6. The exchange of a treating solution in the treating solution soaking tank can be done speedily and effectively with no need of interrupting the transportation of the cloth prior to the wet-heat treatment of the cloth in the steamer body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an apparatus for continuous liquid 
treatment of a long cloth soaked with a prescribed treating solution for a 
continuous wet-heat treatment comprising a treating solution soaking tank 
for facilitating exchange of the treating solution to be applied to the 
cloth. 
2. Description of the Prior Arts 
In subjecting a long cloth produced commercially to continuous treatments 
such as pretreatment and dyeing, it has been a common practice to soak the 
cloth with a treating solution (for instance, in a caustic alkali solution 
in pretreatment and a dye solution in dyeing) in a continuous manner with 
the use of a treating solution soaking tank in a treating solution soaking 
step and to subject the resultant cloth to continuous wet-heat treatment 
with the use of a steamer in a wet-heat treating step. 
In such a continuous treatment of a long cloth, it is frequently required 
to exchange the treating solution for achieving different kinds of 
treatment or different colors in the course of the treatment of a 
prescribed length of the cloth. To speak practically, for instance, it is 
often required to change color for every prescribed length of the cloth 
during the dyeing treatment of a long cloth. However, for dyeing with 
different colors, it has been necessary for the conventional processes to 
interrupt the transportation of the cloth through the treating solution 
soaking tank and the steamer as well as the supply of wet-heat in the 
steamer for cleansing the interior of the treating solution soaking tank 
every time in changing the dye solution in the treating solution soaking 
tank and to resume the transportation of the cloth again after the dye 
solution is exchanged. Accordingly, there occur such drawbacks that the 
productivity is decreased due to the interruption of the treatment and 
further that no uniform dyeing can be achieved all over the cloth due to 
the fluctuation of the wet-heat treating condition in the steamer. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Under such circumstances, the object of the present invention is to offer 
an apparatus for continuous liquid treatment of a cloth, which comprises a 
new treating solution soaking tank for facilitating the exchange of the 
treating solution in the treating solution soaking tank speedily and 
effectively with no need of interrupting the transportation of the cloth 
prior to the wet-heat treatment of the cloth in a steamer body. 
The treating solution soaking tank according to the present invention 
comprises a fixed tank fitted with a cloth guide roll, a movable tank 
having a cloth passage between the movable tank and the fixed tank, a 
cylinder for turning the movable tank, treating solution supply pipes to 
the cloth passage and washing showers for jetting washing water to the 
cloth passage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention will be described in detail in the following with 
reference to the drawings showing an example of the inventive apparatus. 
The construction of a treating solution soaking tank (A) will be described 
in the first place. In FIG. 1, 1 is an outer wall of the treating solution 
soaking tank (A) through which a cloth 2 to be soaked with a treating 
solution is transported continuously. In the interior of the outer wall 1, 
a movable tank 4, which is supported by a rotatable support shaft 3, and a 
fixed tank 5 corresponding to the movable tank 4 are provided for forming 
a nearly V-shaped cloth passage 6 therebetween. 7 is a cloth guide roll 
provided rotatably at the lower end of the fixed tank 5. 8 represents 
treating solution supply pipes for supplying a prescribed amount of the 
treating solution constantly to the cloth passage 6, and 9 represents foam 
extinguishing plates provided near the inlet and the outlet of the cloth 
passage 6. 10 represents cloth guide rolls for taking in and out of the 
cloth to and from the cloth passage 6, and 11 is a pair of squeeze rolls 
for squeezing the treating liquid from the cloth. 12 represents a 
plurality of washing showers provided at suitable positions in the 
interior of the outer wall 1 so as to effectively wash the surface of 
parts such as the fixed tank 5, movable tank 4, treating solution supply 
pipes 8, cloth guide rolls 10 and squeeze rolls. 13 is a cylinder for 
turning the movable tank 4. 
The construction of the treating solution soaking tank (A) in this example 
is as described above. As shown in FIG. 2, such a treating solution 
soaking tank (A) is provided adjacent to the cloth inlet of a steamer body 
(B) for wet-heat treating the cloth by transporting the cloth 2 soaked 
with a sufficient amount of the treating solution continuously 
therethrough, and thus the treatment of a cloth in object can be 
completed. While the steamer body (B) shown in this drawing is of a high 
pressure type, the steamer body is not limited thereto. Any steamer body 
which can transport a cloth continuously therethrough for wet-heat 
treatment of the cloth can sufficiently be employed, and both a high 
pressure steamer and an ordinary pressure steamer may selectively be used. 
The construction of the apparatus for continuous liquid treatment of a 
cloth this example is as described in above. Now, continuous liquid 
treatment of a long cloth by using the apparatus in this example will be 
described in the following. 
At first, in the treating solution soaking tank (A), by pushing out the 
piston of the cylinder 13, the movable tank 4 is transferred to the 
position as shown with a solid line in the drawing for forming the 
V-shaped cloth passage 6 between the movable tank 4 and the fixed tank 5. 
Then, a cloth 2 to be treated is continuously transported through the 
cloth passage 6 while pouring a treating solution from the treating 
solution supply pipes 8 successively to the cloth in the cloth passage 6. 
The treating solution is sufficiently supplied as the cloth is transported 
through the cloth passage 6, and the treated cloth is successively 
supplied into the steamer body (B) for satisfactory wet-heat treatment 
therein. 
For exchanging the treating solution in the treating solution soaking tank 
(A), the cylinder 13 is operated for moving the movable tank 4 to a 
position as shown with a chain line in the drawing without stopping the 
transportation of the cloth. Then the V-shaped cloth passage 6 is opened, 
and the treating solution remaining in the interior of the movable tank 4 
or the cloth passage 6 can be discharged. By reducing the inner volume of 
the cloth passage 6 to an amount as small as possible in the range where 
the transportation of the cloth is not hindered, the amount of residual 
solution to be discharged can be reduced to minimum. Then washing water is 
jetted from each of the washing showers 12 for blowing the washing water 
onto the surface of parts such as the fixed tank 5, movable tank 4, cloth 
guide roll 7 and squeeze rolls 11 for effectively washing thereof in a 
short time. When the cleansing of the treating solution soaking tank (A) 
is completed in this way, the movable tank 4 is closed for regenerating 
the cloth passage 6, and a new treating solution is supplied from the 
treating solution supply pipes 8 into the cloth passage 6. Thus, 
continuous liquid treatment of a long cloth can effectively be done 
varying the kinds of treating solution. 
In applying the present inventive apparatus to liquid treatment of a cloth, 
the cleansing of the interior of the treating solution soaking tank (A) 
and the exchange of the treating solution therein can effectively and 
speedily be done due to the effect of the opening of the movable tank 4 by 
the operation of the cylinder 13 and the jetting of the cleansing water 
with no need of stopping continuous transportation of the cloth. 
Accordingly, there is also no need of stopping the operation of the 
steamer body (B), and it is possible to maintain the wet-heat condition in 
the steamer body constant for producing a product of uniform quality 
speedily and efficiently.