Patent GB-572607-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in apparatus for drying a travelling web
IPC: B41F17/00
Filed: 1943-08-11
Abstract: 572,607. Drying fabrics &c. ABBEY, A. (Dewev & Almy Chemical Co.). Aug. 11, 1943, No. 12991. [Class 34 (i)] An apparatus for drying a travelling web, particularly the endless blanket of a rotary printing machine for textiles &c., comprises a chamber through which a web material, e.g., the endless blanket, is guided, twisted rods extending across the chamber perpendicular to the direction of movement of the material and spaced from it, and means for causing a gas to flow through the chamber past the rods and in contact with the material. Figs. 2 and 6 show the two ends of a drying chamber D for the endless blanket of a rotary printing machine. The blanket B, after leaving the rotary press and passing through a wetting device and a washing and wringing machine, enters the lower limb 40 of the elongated U-shaped drying chamber, passes over a roller 83 at the closed end of the U, and returns through the upper limb 41 to a roller 24, from which it passes over the rolls 25, 26 of a tensioning device, back to the rotary press. Warm air is supplied to the upper limb 41 from an air heater through a passage 100, and passes through the drying chamber to a return passage 101. The sides of the two limbs of the U-shaped chamber are composed of beams 55 attached to the webs of Z-section horizontal bars 43, 44, 45, 46 carried by uprights. Panels 47, 48 forming the bottom of the lower limb and top of the upper limb, together with T-section cross-pieces 50 between the panels, and bars of L-section to which the twisted rods 102, 103 are attached, are held in place by the beams 55. The upper walls of the lower limb and the lower wall of the upper limb are composed of detachable panels 60,61, which are normally held in position against cross-bars 62, 66 of T-section by the U-shaped ends of the screw-jacks 70. The cross-bars are detachably mounted on the Z-section bars by pivoted bolts 63, 67 which engage in slots in those bars. The rods 102, 103 are arranged at varying distances from the blanket, and successive rods are twisted in opposite directions to increase turbulence. The blanket is prevented from touching the rods 102, 103 by semi-cylindrical cross-bars 36 carried by brackets 8. The roller 83 is mounted in a U-shaped carrier 84 with wheels 90 running on rails carried by the lower Z-section bars, and upper guide wheels 92 engage the upper Z-section bars, so that, after the jacks 70, panels 60, 61, and T-section cross-bars 62, 66 have been removed, the roller 83 and 'its carrier can be withdrawn beyond the other end of the U-shaped chamber so as to facilitate the removal of the blanket. The panels 60, 61 are formed with longitudinal channels 58 connected by conduits not shown to the return passage 101. The blanket is held against the panels 60, 61 by the pressure difference between the air in the drying chamber D and that in the channels 58. To prevent leakage at the ends of the drying chamber, there are pads 201, 210, carried by plates 202, 205 which are slotted to be adjustable. In the tensioning device, the roller 26 is mounted in carriers 107 slidable on rails 108. The carriers are connected through compressible springs 124 and cables 120 to drums 115 with associated pawls and ratchets so that, by rotation of the drums, the tension on the blanket can be adjusted. A stop 110 is provided.