IMPROVED SEALING DEVICE FOR FEEDING FABRICS INTO A CONTINUOUSLY DECATIZING AUTOCLAVE

Abstract: A device is described for feeding a fabric in a continuously decatizing autoclave, which is provided with improved steam tightness characteristics and formed of a rotating cylinder (5) suitable to close the slot (1) through which the fabric (4) and associate back cloth (3) are passing, both at the inlet and at the outlet of autoclave, while ensuring the feed and respective withdrawal thereof at the same speed as a consequence of the friction between the cylinder and two opposite resilient elements (7, 7') preferably inflatable tubes acting as a gasket with an anti-friction material (9, 9') possibly interposed to reduce wear. Preferably said cylinder is formed in two parts, with two end resilient rings and two disks of anti-friction material at the ends for a seal against fixed side walls or a portion thereof resiliently biased against the rotating cylinder.

Description: IMPROVED SEALING DEVICE FOR FEEDING FABRICS INTO A CONTINUOUSLY DECATIZING AUTOCLAVE The present invention relates to an improved sealing device for feeding fabrics into a continuously decatizing autoclave, as well as the sealing devices to this aim. It is ' known to submit the fabrics, for a better finish thereof, to a so-called decatizing operation wherein the fabric, coupled with a support element, called "back cloth", is subjected to the steam action in association with a determined mechanical behaviour. There are various types of decatizing, above all according to the mechanical action exerted, e.g. of either compression or drawing, or depending on the fact that decatizing is made freely or in autoclave. It is also known that the best results of deca¬ tizing are obtained in autoclave at the inside of which the fabric piece is fed in subsequent batches, being wound on a perforated cylinder. The decatizing operation in autoclave has been tentatively made conti¬ nuous, what affords remarkable advatanges by elimi¬ nating the need of opening the autoclave, taking off the treated fabric roll therefrom and introducing the subsequent roll with consequent dead times and reduc¬ tion of productivity, as well as the generation of transient periods at each cycle before reaching the value of normal working pressure within the autoclave. With the Italian Patent No. 1.202.577 in the name of the same applicant has been proposed an auto¬ clave continuously decatizing apparatus which solved most of difficulties that in the past had prevented from an adequate development of this technology. Howe¬ ver there still remained certain unsolved problems relating mainly to the steam tightness in the zone where the fabric with the back cloth is fed and the so-called "sandwich" gets off from the autoclave. As a matter of fact in the continuos autoclave decatizing a zone of ' communication with the outside cannot be avoided which, even if reduced to a slot only, provides for a leakage of the pressurized steam. Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for feeding a fabric into an autoclave and for the withdrawal therefrom such as to show an efficient seal action against steam under pressure in spite of having a particularly simple structure. The device according to the invention comprises a cylinder which substantially occupies the whole space of the autoclave inlet and outlet slot, as it is rotatably mounted about its longitudinal axis positioned at a transverse direction to the fabric forward movement, there being provided first resilient sealing means at two opposite generatrices of the cylinder, suitabLe to improve adherence between feed¬ ing cylinder and fabric, as well as to avoid steam leakages, second lateral sealing means being aLso provided, of resilient character too, at both ends of the cylinder with respect to the side walls of said slot. According to a preferred embodiment said first sealing means comprises inflatable tubes under pressu- re and in an even more preferred way between said sealing means and the fabric there is placed an anti-friction material sheet to reduce wear. According to another preferred embodiment said second lateral sealing means comprises resilient disk components of the cylinder being suitable to press the end elements of the cylinder, formed of anti-fri¬ ction disks / towards the side walls of the slot, these latter being possibly movable and in this case there being provided means for elastically biasing in turn said movable walls from opposite sides against the ends of said cylinder. These and additional objects, advantages and charac¬ teristics of the device according to the present invention will become clearer from the following description given by way of example with reference to the drawings in which: J_i2-_I . _i.__l shows a cross-section view of a conti¬ nuous decatizing autoclave provided with the improved seal feeding device according to the invention; and £lS_.£_._.l shows a view, in an enlarged scale, of only the detail relating to the feeding device as viewed n the direction of arrow A in figure 1. With reference to figure 1 there is shown an autoclave 6 for continuous decatizing, provided with a device according to the invention in the area of slot 1 of inlet and outlet of fabric 4 (designated 4 ' when proceeds to be discharged ) being coupled to an endless web of back cloth 3 winding for the most part of its 360° the perforated cylinder 2 within the autoclave. As is known, the pressurized steam passes throughout the holes of the perforated cylinder 2 and impinges the assembly formed of supporting back cloth 3 and fabric 4 while an almost complete turn is made about the lateral surface of cylinder 2. Therefore the fabric undergoes a mechanical-thermal action of the steam, as is peculiar of decatizing operation. According to the present invention, the unavoida¬ ble passage" 1 putting into communication autoclave 6 to the outside is sealed off by a device 5 formed of a rotatable cylinder having also the very important purpose of feeding into the autoclave and at the same time withdrawing therefrom the back cloth 3 and fabric 4 by rotating in the direction of arrows shown in the drawing toward the length of already treated fabric 4'. Motor means will be provided to rotate cylinder 5 at the desired speed or as an alternative the latter, having its axis cross-wise to the forward direction of the fabric, can be driven by the assembly of mate¬ rials 3 and 4. The friction generated, at two diametrally oppo¬ site generatrices by cylinder 5 against the fabric 4 at the inlet and 4' at the outlet from autoclave 6 causes the fabric to be continuously fed and withdrawn from the autoclave exactly at the same speed, as is single one the feed and a withdrawal means which also provides, according to the invention, the sealing device against the steam which otherwise would reach the outside throughout the slot 1. In order to avoid slipping and at the same time to improve sealing, on opposite sides of cylinder 5 at the generatrices of contact with the fabric there are provided two gaskets 7, 7', preferably of resilient material such as rubber, which when inflated by compressed air like tyre inner tubes, rest on the cylinder 5 from oppo¬ site sides while exerting thereon a stong pressure. It will be appreciated that, instead of this solution the gasket 7, 7' whenever of resilient character could be provided otherwise, differently shaped and the thrust against the cylinder could be obtained with different means such as springs, resilient elements, rotations of an elliptical gasket etc. without anyhow modifying the inventive concept. In any case it will be necessary that the bias exerted onto gaskets 7, 7* is greater than the thrust due to the steam leakage, in particular the pressure of compressed air in both inflatable tubes, when this solution is adopted, will be higher than the vapour pressure within autoclave. This strong pressure has the tendency to squeeze the fabric against the feeding cylinder 5 to prevent from any Leakage, thus involving a remarkable friction which on one hand is useful to avo d slipp ng between cylinder and fabric, whereby the correct feeding and withdrawal speed from autoclave is ensured, but on the other side gives rise to some wear of the gasket, if made stationary, owing to the rubbing with the back cloth 3. To avoid this inconvenience there may be placed, as shown in Figure 1, an intermediate web or film of anti-friction material 9, being very smooth-running and heat resistant, such as teflon, preventing the inflatable tube gasket 7 from a contact with the endless web 3. At the other side there will be simi¬ larly, arranged an anti-friction material 9' to prevent the gasket 7* from wearing. At each side said anti¬ friction sheets 9, 9' may be wound about rolls 8, 8' whereby they have a slight feed (e.g. 1-2 cm/day) in a continuous or periodic way (such as sometimes a week) according to the requirements, thus varying the point of contact and friction with the consequence of having a reduced wear of the gasket and a very longer duration thereof. An operator or an automatic means of known type will cause a slight rotation of rolls 8, 8' on which the sheets of teflon 9, 9' are wound, once or more times every day, or sometimes a week, so that said sheets have a slight movement thus showing each time a new zone of contact. It will be appreciated that all the above assumes that an autoclave is used being fed from the outside with steam, such as through a conduit coaxial with cylinder 2. However it is clear that the same invention can be validly adopted also with an- autoclave filled with boiling water at a temperature higher than or lower than 100°C for a wet-decatizing of fabrics. This type of decatizing, usually called "Potting" is carried out as a rule on fabrics immediately before or after the washing step. It will be also noted that boiling water could be kept at a low level whereby in the autoclave there could be at the same time hot water and steam. In any case it is clear that the sealing system as described so far would not be sufficient to prevent steam from escaping the autoclave, unless in the longi- tudinal direction only, i.e. parallel to the direction of fabric feed and withdrawal. However also the side leakages should not be neglected, in other words those which unavoidably would occur between the rotating cylinder 5 and side walls of slot 1. With reference to Figure 2, showing an enlarged view of cylinder 5, with respect to Figure 1, taken in the direction of arrow A and with the plane of Figure 2 being perpendicular to the fabric feed forward direction, there is seen that the feeding cylinder 5 is preferably formed, according to the invention, in a number of parts. In particular, as shown in Figure 2, at the outer sides of a central body 5a, where this is mounted on a support shaft 5b, two resilient rings 10, 10' are simmetricaLly provided and, at an outer position, two disks of anti-friction material 11, 11', such as teflon. The side walls of slot 1 are schematically rappresented in the drawing by elements 12, 12'. Therefore, of the portions forming cylinder 5 - a t Least one on each side (10, 10') is of elastic material which, previously compressed during assembly, biases against the walls 12 and 12' the two anti-fric¬ tion disks 11, 11'. This way the steam cannot escape any longer not only along its lateral surface, but also from the heads of cylinder 5. With side walLs 12, 12' made stationary, the tightness will depend only on the elasticity of mate¬ rial 10, 10'. However these walls may be also provided movable and urged to the inside of cylinder by a resilient means, respectively 13, 13' pro ided for example by compressed air, oil in pressure, springs, self-controllable outer motor, etc. In this case the Lateral tightness will be due partially to the resilient means 12, 12' forming the side walls of slot 1. Practical tests have shown that a sealing of this type is preferable.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. An improved sealing device for feeding fabrics into a continuously decatizing autoclave, wherein said autoclave (6), within which there is mounted a perforated cylinder ( 2), is in communication with the outside through a slot (1 ) defined by two side walls (12, 12'), characterized by the fact of comprising a cylinder (55 occupying the space of said slot (1) as it is rotatably mounted about its Longitudinal axis (5b) positioned transversely with respect to the forward feeding direction of fabric (4) and of a back cloth (3) coupled therewith forming the other two sides, having a greater size, of the slot (1) whereby the rotation in a prefixed direction of said cylinder (5) determines, by contact friction, the fabric (4) and associate back cloth (3) to be fed into the auto¬ clave (6) and contemporaneously withdrawn therefrom in the opposite side at the same speed. 2. A device according to claim 1, characterized by comprising first sealing resilient means (7, 7') at the opposite generatrices of cylinder (5) for adding to the adherence between cylinder (5) and clothes (3, 4) and preventing the steam from leakage. 3. A device according to claim 2, characterized in that said first sealing resilient means (7, 7') is formed as elastic elements infLatable with compre¬ ssed air, similar to tyre inner tubes. 4. A device according to claim 3, characterized by comprising anti-friction sheets (9, 9') interme¬ diate between said sealings (7, 7') and clothes (3, 4). 5. A device according to claim 4, characterized by the fact that said anti-friction material sheets (9, 9*5 are wound on pairs of rollers (8, 8') for a slight continuous or periodic forward movement, upon manual or automatic control for varying the zone of contact with the said sealiπgs (7, 7') being subjected to wear. 6. A device according to claim 2, characterized by the fact that the said first sealing means (7, 7') is formed as gaskets elastically biased against said cylinder (5). 7. A device according to claim 1 or 2, characte¬ rized by comprising second means of lateral sealing provided by at least one resilient disk (10) at the sides of a central body (5a) .of said cylinder (5), suitable to urge end disks ( 11, 11') of cylinder (5), made of anti-fr ction material, against the side walls (12, 12*) of said sLot ( 1 ) . 8. A device according to claim 7, characterized by the fact that said side walls ( 12, 12') are movable and there are provided biasing elastic means (13, 13') for thrusting said movable walls (12, 12'). to the inside of cylinder (5).

Inventors: ALBERTO PIETRO, ALBERTO, PIETRO
Applicants: ALBERTO PIETRO, ALBERTO, PIETRO
Application year: 1992
Main classification: D06B23
IPC codes: D06B23