Continuous dyeing method for thick textile materials

A method for continuously dyeing a thick textile material such as a blanket or carpet material or the like. The thick textile material is arranged to be continuously pulled upward and guided over a slanting plate from a lower position to a higher position. A nozzle tube is arranged to spray a dye solution at the thick textile material in an atomized state while the textile material is on the move being guided upward along the slanting plate. The spraying quantity of the dye solution discharged out of the nozzle tube is set to have all of the sprayed quantity of the dye solution absorbed by the thick textile material without having any superfluous portion of the solution flowing down and yet to ensure sufficient impregnation of the textile material with the dye solution. The textile material impregnated with the dye solution is further continuously fowarded and passed through a hygro-thermic treatment chamber and a water washing device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a method for continuously dyeing a thick textile 
material usable as carpet or the like. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
In order to continuously dye a thick textile material that is broad and 
long for use, for example, as carpet or blanket, a dye solution must be 
first applied to the thick textile material. Heretofore, a dye solution 
has been applied to such a thick textile material by dipping the textile 
material in a dye solution contained in a container to cause the material 
to be impregnated with the solution and then by squeezing the material 
through a wringer roll arrangement to adjust the impregnating quantity of 
the solution. Following this, the material impregnated with the dye 
solution has been subjected to a heating treatment. However, the 
conventional dye solution applying process has a serious shortcoming. 
After a broad, long and thick textile material is impregnated with a dye 
solution as described in the foregoing, when the dye solution is squeezed 
out by the wringer roll arrangement, the impregnating quantity 
distribution tends to become uneven because the broad textile material 
necessitates the use of long wringer rolls. The long rolls tend to have 
flexures, which result in a relatively strong nipping pressure on two edge 
portions of the textile material and a relatively weak nipping pressure on 
the middle part of the material. The wringing process is thus unevenly 
carried out. Further, since the textile material is thick, the wringing 
degree on the surface portion of the material differs from that of the 
core portion. Then, excessive wringing effected on the surface portion 
makes it impossible to dye the surface of the textile material in a dense 
color. Conversely, a correct degree of wringing on the surface portion 
makes the dye solution impregnating degree in the core portion of the 
textile material excessive and thus results in waste of the dye solution. 
On the other hand, a batch type dyeing process which has been 
conventionally employed in wasteful of heat energy, dye, water, etc. and 
hardly meets requirement for saving resources and energy. In addition to 
this problem, the results of batch dyeing process are uneven and 
inconstant and tends to include unacceptable products. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is directed to the solution of such problems of the 
conventional processes. 
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a method in which a dye 
solution applying mechanism is arranged to apply always a predetermined 
quantity of a dye solution uniformly to a moving thick textile material; 
and then the textile material impregnated with the dye solution is 
arranged to continuously pass through a hydro-thermic treatment chamber 
and a washing device to carry out continuous dyeing. 
The above and further objects, advantages and features of the present 
invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of 
a preferred embodiment taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the accompanying drawings, a reference numeral 1 indicates a 
thick textile material to be used for carpets, blankets or the like, such 
as a wool planted thick textile material. The thick material 1 is arranged 
to move upward over a slanting plate 2. A nozzle tube 3 extends in the 
direction of width of the thick textile material 1 and is arranged to 
spray a dye solution at the thick textile material 1 while it is on the 
move over the slanting plate 2. The nozzle tube 3 is provided with spray 
nozzles 4 arranged in the direction of a bus line of the nozzle tube 3 as 
shown in FIG. 2. The dye solution is supplied to the inside of the nozzle 
tube with pressure and is discharged in an atomized state. The quantity of 
the dye solution to be discharged from the spray nozzles 4 and the 
travelling speed of the thick textile material are set in such a manner as 
to have the whole discharged dye solution absorbed by the thick textile 
material. Thus, the dye solution discharged from the nozzle tube is 
sprayed at the textile material and the whole discharged quantity of the 
dye solution is absorbed by the thick textile material 1 before the 
material is forwarded to the inside of a hygro-thermic treatment chamber 
5. The dye solution is then fixed to the thick textile material through 
the action of humid heat while the latter is conveyed within the 
hygro-thermic treatment chamber in a zigzag manner. After the 
hygro-thermic treatment, the textile material is guided out of the 
hygro-thermic treatment chamber 5 and is washed within a washing device 6 
to complete a series of steps of the dyeing process. 
A reference numeral 7 indicates textile material guide rolls arranged 
within the hygro-thermic treatment chamber 5; 8 indicates steam supply 
tubes; 9 indicates a water tank constituting the bottom part of the 
washing device 6. Inside the water tank 9, there are provided endless net 
conveyers 10 and 10', which are arranged in the upper and lower parts of 
the tank with a space between them. While the textile material 1 is 
conveyed through the space between the upper and lower net conveyors 10 
and 10', air is discharged from air tubes 11 to shake the textile material 
in water contained inside the water tank, so that a higher effect of 
washing with the water can be attained. The textile material which has 
undergone a primary washing treatment in this manner is caused to further 
travel zigzag by guide rolls 12 arranged above the water tank 9. Then, 
during its zigzag travel, the textile material 1 is subjected to a 
secondary washing treatment through water contained in water washing trays 
13 which are arranged to confront these guide rolls. 
The hygro-thermic treatment chamber 5 and the water washing device 6 in the 
above described embodiment example are covered by another patent 
application which has already been filed. Besides, they do not constitute 
the subject matter of the present invention. Therefore, the details of the 
structural arrangement of the hygro-thermic treatment chamber 5 and water 
washing device 6 and the effect attainable therefrom are omitted from the 
description herein. 
The foregoing is an embodiment example of the dyeing process of the present 
invention. The embodiment includes: To spray the dye solution gradually at 
a textile material 1 by means of the spraying nozzles 4 while the textile 
material is on the move; and the spraying amount of the dyeing solution is 
set to allow the moving textile to absorb the dye solution in sufficient 
quantity and yet not to have any superfluous portion of the solution 
dripped down therefrom. The atomized dye solution is sprayed at the 
textile material 1. The spraying pressure forces the dye solution to come 
into the core portion of the thick textile material, so that the inside of 
the textile material also can be dyed. The dye solution is set to be 
sprayed in such quantity that can be absorbed sufficiently and not 
superfluously. Thus, the invented method obviates the necessity of a 
wringing process and ensures homogeneous impregnation of the whole moving 
thick textile material with the dye solution without the use of wringer 
rolls, so that the dye can be prevented from being wasted. 
Further, in accordance with the invention, the thick textile material is 
continuously dyed by passing it through the hygro-thermic treatment 
chamber 5 and the washing device 6 after it has been impregnated with the 
dye solution. As compared with the conventional batch process, the 
invented method not only permits saving energy, resources and lavor but 
also permits uniform dyeing. Besides, since no wringer roll arrangement is 
required, shifting the dye solution from one color to another for dyeing 
into different colors can be effected with a much greater ease.