CONTINUOUS TENSIONLESS TREATMENT FOR CLOTH

Abstract: In a continuous tensionless treatment device for cloth (12), comprising a treatment liquid bath, a feed device (13, 16) for feeding a cloth being wavily curved, an upper cradle (4), a lower cradle (11) and drive means of these cradles, each of horizontal beams arranged in the upper cradle for performing cloth crumpling action and washing action is composed of a first horizontal beam having V-like slant surfaces, a second horizontal beam hanging a member having many small through holes, and a partition plate arranged between both beams. These three members are arranged in prescribed relation so that in a space (stirring chamber) between the first horizontal beam and the second horizontal beam the treatment liquid is subjected to the rapid stirring flow.

Description: The invention relates to a continuous tensionless treatment device for cloth, which is suitable for washing, relax of cloth and creping of the strong twisted threads fabrics. A continuous tensionless treatment device for cloth in the prior art as disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. 5701/1984, comprises a number of horizontal beams with triangular cross-section arranged in parallel to each other and between lower portions of opposite sides of a board frame at regular intervals and having the lower surface formed into V-like slant surfaces, a porous board for closing top end portions of downward widening spaces enclosed by the adjacent horizontal beams and the opposite sides of the board frame, an upper cradle including a reservoir formed with­ -in the board frame on upper side of the porous board, a treatment bath with a device for advancing a continuous wavy-curved cloth being close to the liquid surface in the perpendicular direction to the horizontal beam, and a device for providing the downward speed to spout the liquid upward from the small through holes of the porous board during downward motion of the upper cradle and moving the horizontal beam member of the upper cradle repeatedly into or out of the liquid within the treatment bath. In the prior art, the cloth crumpling action is performed only when the horizontal beam of the upper cradle in downward motion gets in the liquid and the liquid is spouted upward from the small through holes of the porous board and the wavily curved cloth accompanying the spouted liquid collides on the porous board, and when the liquid in the reservoir separates the wavily curved cloth from the porous board and rapidly flows down by the acceleration during upward motion of the upper cradle. Consequently, the crumpling efficiency becomes lower in this constitution. If the waving of the liquid surface of the treatment bath is prevented so that the cloth crumpling action can be attained, the number of the up-and-down motion per minute is suppressed to 120 times or less. When a thick cotton or wollen cloth is relaxed, the cloth treatment speed cannot be raised and request of increasing the treatment speed by the subsequent cloth treatment device cannot be met. The invention provides appartaus for treating cloth (12) comprising a bath of liquid (5) means (13,16) for feeding a web of cloth through said bath of liquid, a cradle (4) carrying an array of spaced-apart members (1) and drive means (24,27,28,30,31,32,34) arranged to drive said cradle such that said members repeatedly strike said web of cloth in said liquid bath to cause the cloth to be forced into the spaces (8) between said members, characterised in that said members (1) are so shaped that said spaces (8) open out in the direction opposite to the direction of striking to form cavities (7) into which folds of cloth are forced by said liquid. Preferably, the apparatus of the invention further comprises means (9) installed in the liquid bath defining a perforated corrugated supporting surface of said cloth close to the liquid surface. An advantage of the invention is that crumpling action and washing action is performed more efficiently than in the prior art. A further advantage of the invention is that cloth can be treated at a speed of 2 - 2.5 times that achieved by a continuous tensionless treatment device for cloth of conventional type. An embodiment of the invention is described below by way of, example only, with reference to Figures 1 to 7 of the drawings, of which: Fig. 1 is a front view in longitudinal section of a continuous tensionless treatment device for cloth as an embodiment of the invention (sectional view taken in line I-I of Fig. 4); Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of principal part of an upper cradle of the embodiment; Fig. 3 is a front view of the embodiment; Fig. 4 is a plan view in lateral section of the embodiment; and Figs. 5-7 are longitudinal sectional views of principal part of the embodiment illustrating the operating process. Referring to the drawings an embodiment will now be described. A wave-shaped porous board 9 waving in the cloth sending direction is installed within a board frame 10 of rectangular plane form, and a lower cradle 11 including the porous board 9 and the board frame 10 is arranged under a wavily curved cloth 12. An upper cradle drive device 103 turns round an upper cradle 4 in circular or elliptical form within the vertical plane in the cloth sending direction while the upper cradle 4 remains at the horizontal state, and a lower cradle drive 105 in interlocking with the upper cradle drive 103 turns round the lower cradle 11 in circular or elliptical form in the reverse direction to the upper cradle 4 while the lower cradle 11 remains at the horizontal state. The upper cradle drive device 103 and the lower cradle drive device 105 are installed in a treatment liquid bath 5, so that when the upper cradle 4 is moved up and down the lower cradle 11 is moved up and down in synchronization with the upper cradle 4 by the up - and - down displacement amount less than that of the upper cradle 4 thereby the wave-shaped porous plate 9 of the lower cradle 11 is engaged with or separated from the wavily curved cloth 12. Lower half of the motion locus of the upper cradle and upper half of the motion locus of the lower cradle turn round in the cloth sending direction, and utilizing the downward speed difference between the upper cradle 4 and the lower cradle 11 the lower portion of the upper cradle 4 gets in the liquid surface L of the treatment liquid bath furiously. The treatment liquid bath 5 is provided at cloth inlet side with a feed roller 13, and a scree 15 for curving a spread cloth 12a passing through shower of a treatment liquid shower pipe 14 into wavy form. The treatment liquid bath 5 is also provided at cloth outlet side opposite to the inlet side with a continuous cloth drawing - out device including a drawing - out roller 16. Numeral 17 designates a steam heat pipe for liquid in the bath, which is installed on the bottom of the treatment liquid bath. The buoyancy of air bubbles generated at the liquid heating state by the pipe 17 acts beneath the upper parts of the wavily curved cloth 12 and floats the wavily curved cloth in the position close to the liquid surface L in the treatment liquid bath. Although not shown in the figure, a suitable overflow device to enable adjustmet of the height of the liquid surface L is, of course, equipped in the treatment liquid bath 5. The feed roller 13, the scree 15, a support plate 22 heareinafter described and the drawing - out roller 16 constitute a feed device 101 of the cloth 12a. A first horizontal beam 1 with V-like cross-section and a second horizontal beam 2 of flat plane form on upper side thereof are welded integrally over the whole length by a partition plate 6, and both ends are welded with lower portion of opposite sides of a rectangular board frame 18 of the upper cradle 4 being less than the lower cradle 11 in width and length. A member 19 forming many small through holes between the adjacent second horizontal beams 2, 2 is made of wire netting, and the wire netting, and the wire netting being spread on the whole second horizontal beams is held down by flat sheets 21 each plug-welded 20 on each second horizontal beam, and a reservoir 3 is formed within the board frame 18 on upper side of the wire netting. Angle between V-like slant surfaces 1a, 1a of the first horizontal beam 1 is formed in acute angle, and water removing holes 1b are formed at lower side of both ends of the first horizontal beam. If the opening width between the adjacent second horizontal beams 2, 2 is nearly equal to width of the shrinkage flow portion C, distance between upper end of the first horizontal beam 1 and the wire netting 19 is preferably made equal to the upper end opening width B of the downward widening space or more. If the opening width between the adjacent second horizontal beams is made smaller, the distance between upper end of the first horizontal beam and the wire netting may be made 1/2B or more. A support board 22 for the wavily curved cloth 12 is pivotally mounted on the terminal at cloth outlet side of the lower cradle 11 with the wave - shaped porous board 9 having hole rate of 35 - 50% in the way that is can be rocked up and down in a definite range. Consequently, even when the lower cradle is at the upper dead point, the wavily curved cloth can be stored on the support board 22 to some extent. Numeral 23 designates horizontal shafts in parallel to each other being rotatable installed laterally above the treatment liquid bath at front and rear sides. The lower cradle 11 is hung horizontally through vertical links 25 to both lower cradle hanging first arms 24 which are in parallel to each other and fixed on both sides of the horizontal shafts 21. The upper cradle 4 is hung horizontally through vertical links 28 to the top end of both side arms 27, 27 which are fixed to both side arms 24 and can be adjusted rotatable up and down about a pivotal shaft 26 of each link 25 installed between both side arms 24, 24. Numeral 29 designates a pivotal shaft of each link 28 installed between both side arms 27, 27. The horizontal shafts 23, 23 at front and rear sides are interconnected by parallel arms 30 fixed to projections of both horizontal shafts outside the treatment liquid bath and a connecting rod 31 of both arms 30, 30. One horizontal shaft 23 is linked with an output shaft (driving shaft) 33 of a non-stage transmission 32 through a first crank mechanism 34 so as to move all of the arms 24 up and down in synchronization. The first crank mechanism 34 couples between an expandable arm 35 fixed to projection of the horizontal shaft 23 outside the treament liquid bath and a disc-shaped crank arm 36 fixed to the output shaft 33 using a connecting rod 37. The expandable arm 35 can freely adjust the arm length by the screw mechanism. Numeral 38 designates a horizontal shaft installed laterally to the cloth outlet end of the treatment bath 5 in rotatable state. Upper ends of levers 39 fixed respectively on both sides of the horizontal shaft 38 are connected to the upper cradle 4 with nearly horizontal links 40, and also lower ends of the levers 39 are connected to the lower cradle 11 with nearly horizontal links 41. The levers 39 are linked with the output shaft 33 of the non-stage transmission 32 through a second crank mechanism 46 and a chain wheel transmission 47. The second crank mechanism 46 couples between an expandable are 42 fixed to the horizontal shaft 38 outside the treatment liquid bath and a disc-shaped crank arm 44 pivotally supported 43 to side of the treatment liquid bath using a connecting rod 45. The second crank mechanism 46 is different from the first crank mechanism 34 in the dead - point phase by nearly 90 degrees as shown in Fig. 3. Both arms 24, 27, the link 28, both arms 30, the connecting rod 31, the first crank mechanism 34, the non-stage transmission 32 hereinafter described and a motor (not shown) constitute the drive device 103 of the upper cradle 4. Also both arms 24, the link 25, both arms 30, the connecting rod 31, the second crank mechanism 46, the non-stage transmission 32, a motor (not shown) and the chain wheel transmission 47 constitute the device 105 of the lower cradle 11. Thus when the output shaft 33 is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 3 through the non-­ stage transmission 32 by a motor (not shown), the upper cradle 4 and the lower cradle 11 move circularly or elliptically in the reverse direction to each other as shown in Fig. 5-7, with the result that a lower half of the motion locus E of the upper cradle and an upper half of the motion locus F of the lower cradle turn round alternately in the cloth sending direction. The up-and-down stroke of the upper and lower cradles 4, 11, i.e., the cloth crumpling force can be adjusted by adjusting the length of the expandable arm 35, or the longitudinal stroke of the upper and lower cradles, i.e., the cloth sending speed can be adjusted by adjusting the length of the expandable arm 42. Corresponding to that textile fabrics are woven by either of natural fibers, synthetic fibers or mixed fibers, or are mixed-woven or mixed-knitted by these fibers, the motion loci E, F of the upper and lower cradles can be made elliptical form being long in the vertical direction as shown in Fig. 5 or made approximately circular form as shown by dashed line in Fig. 5 or made elliptical form being long in the longitudinal direction. When the cloth amount to be stored in the treatment liquid bath is increased or decreased corresponding to the thi:kness of the cloth, the arm 27 may be adjusted in the up and down or rotation with respect to the arm 24 thereby the distance between the upper and lower cradles 10, 11 is increased or decreased. In either case, the height of the liquid surface in the treatment bath may be preferably adjusted so that the wire netting 19 of the upper cradle at the lower dead point as shown in Fig. 7 is placed slightly lower than the liquid surface L of the treatment bath at the stationary state. This is because, if the liquid surface in the treatment bath is too high, the waving on the liquid surface becomes bigger, which prevents the cloth from being supplied and transferred smoothly or may cause the zigzag travelling of the cloth. On the contrary, if the liquid surface is too low, not only the effect of crumpling the cloth is significantly dimished but also the transferring of cloth becomes unstable. When a thick cotton or woolen cloth is relaxed, arm lengths of the expandable arms 35, 42 are adjusted respectively so that the motion loci E, F of the upper and lower cradles becomes elliptical form being long in the vertical direction as shown in Figs. 5 - 7. In the situation shown in Fig. 5 corresponding to Fig. 1, the upper cradle 4 at the upper dead point turns round above the liquid surface L in the direction of the arrow, and the wave - formed porous board 9 of the lower cradle 11 at the upper dead point turns round reversely in the direction of the arrow as linking with the lower part of the wavily curved cloth 12, resulting in crumpling the cloth slightly while sending the waving curved cloth in the cloth sending iirection (right side in the figure). When the upper and lower cradles turn round in 90 degrees from this situation, the first horizontal beam 1 of the upper cradle begins to get rapidly into the liquid surface L and the wave-formed porous board 9 of the lower cradle is nearly left from the waving curved cloth 12 and stops the cloth sending motion as shown in Fig. 6. When the upper and lower cradles turn round further in 90 degrees and attain to the lower dead point, the first and second horizontal beams 1,2 of the upper cradle sinks rapidly into the liquid as shown in Fig. 7, and the strong crumpling motion is performed as above described and the wavily curved cloth 12 is advanced in the cloth sending direction. While the upper and lower cradles turn round further in 90 degrees from this situation, the liquid falling down from the reservoir 3 of the upper cradle recovers the situation that wavily curved cloth is floated and held by the liquid. And then the situation similar to Fig. 5 is recovered where the wave-shaped porous plate 9 is engaged with the wavily curved cloth. Although the embodiment has been described where the device for advancing the wavily curved cloth close to the liquid surface in the perpendicular direction to the first and second horizontal beams 1, 2 and other device for moving the first and second horizontal beam portions of the upper cradle into or out of the liquid in the treatment bath repeatedly cooperate with each other, the invention includes the case that both devices are constituted separately in similar manner to the prior art disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. 5701/1984. Action of the continuous tensionless treatment device for cloth in the embodiment will be described. Liquid near the liquid surface of the treatment bath includes many air bubbles as the upper cradle is moved in and out. When the upper cradle is moved down, the adjacent first horizontal beams 1, 1 get into the liquid surface L of the treatment bath furiously at first, and the liquid of width A (Fig. 2) removed by both first horizontal beams is compressed and accelerated while it is going up relatively through the downward widening space 8. Next, as the upper cradle is moved down, the liquid is spouted through the upper end opening of the downward widening space 8 into the stirring chamber 7 in sequence, and the spouted flow along the opposite slant surfaces 1a, 1a of the space 8 products the shrinkage flow portion C. According to the collision action between both spouted flows D, D and the center spouted flow E and the expansion action of the contained air bubbles, the whole spouted flows (D, E) spread over the cloth sending direction and the upward speed is decreased and many air bubbles are produced in the stirring chamber, thereby the wavily curved cloth accompanying the spouted flow and forced into the stirring chamber is stirred by the bubbles and subjected to the sufficient crumpling operation and the washing operation. Since the shrinkage flow portion C is produced above the upper end of the downward widening space 8 by about 1/2 of its opening width B, the vertical distance of the first and second horizontal beams 1, 2 may be made larger than 1/2B. When the upper cradle attains near the lower dead point and the liquid passing through the stirring chamber passes through the many small through holes provided between the adjacent second horizontal beams 2, 2, since the total area of the through holes is smaller than the upper end opening area of the downward widening space 8, the liquid passing through the small through holes is accelerated again and spouted into the reservoir 3 as shown in Fig. 7, thereby upper portion of the wavily curved cloth accompanying the spouted liquid is bundled and engaged with the small through hole boring member 19 and subjected again to the crumpling action and the washing action. Next, when the upper cradle begins to rise, its acceleration makes the liquid in the reservoir 3 flow down rapidly from the small through holes while pushing the wavily curved cloth apart from the small through hole boring member 19, thereby the cloth is subjected to the crumpling action and the washing action similarly to conventional method. Accordingly, the wavily curved cloth advanced close to the liquid surface in sequence is subjected to the sufficient crumpling action and the washing action uniformly when the first and second horizontal beam parts of the upper cradle are moved into and out of the liquid repeatedly varying the curved positions of the cloth, irrespective of the waving state of the liquid surface of the treatment bath, thereby the tangle between the wavily curved cloth in the adjacent stirring chambers 7, 7 can be prevented by the partition plate 6 therebetween.

Claims: 1) Apparatus for treating cloth (12) comprising a bath of liquid (5) means (13, 16) for feeding a web of cloth through said bath of liquid, a cradle (4) carrying an array of spaced-apart members (1) and drive means (24,27,28,30,31,32,34) arranged to drive said cradle such that said members repeatedly strike said web of cloth in said liquid bath to cause the cloth to be forced into the spaces (8) between said members, characterised in that said members (1) are to shaped that said spaces (8) open out in the direction opposite to the direction of the striking to form cavities (7) into which folds of cloth are forced by said liquid. 2) A continuous tensionless treatment device for cloth as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means (9) installed in the liquid bath defining a perforated corrugated supporting surface for said cloth close to the liquid surface. 3) Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said members (1) are parallel beams arranged transverse to the cloth sending direction, said beams having V-­ portions with slant surfaces which slope towards said spaces (8) to define constricted neck portions near the mouths of said spaces (8). 4) Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 comprising a sheet (19) incorporated in said array (4) and defining a wall of said cavities, said sheet being perforated by a multiplicity of small apertures through which said liquid can escape from said cavities. 5) Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4 wherein said V-portions are mounted at their apices on partition plates (6) which define said spaces (8), said partition plates extending in the striking direction by a distance greater than minimum width (B) of said spaces, as measured in the cloth sending direction, said partition plates being separated from each other by distance (A) wider than said width (B). 6) Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1,3,4 and 5, further comprising a further cradle (11) facing said first mentioned cradle 4 and installed under the treatment liquid surface on the opposite side of said cloth to said first mentioned cradle (4) and means (24,25,30,31,32,46,47) for reciprocating said further cradle towards and away from said cloth. 7) Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein in use, said first-mentioned cradle (4) and further cradle (11) are each translated in circular or elliptical loci (E,F) whilst being maintained generally parallel to each other, said loci lying in a common plane which includes said cloth sending direction, said cradles moving in said loci with opposite senses of otation.

Inventors: HIKOSAKA, HIROSHI
Applicants: HIKOSAKA, HIROSHI
Application year: 1986
Main classification: D06B3
IPC codes: D06B5, D06C19, D06B3, D06C23