Patent GB-190614918-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to Bleaching Kiers.
Inventor: SPENLE JOHN
Filed: 1906-06-30
Granted: 1907-06-13
Abstract: 14,918. Spenle, J. June 30. Bleaching; washing.-Kiers for treating textile fabrics in full width are constructed so that the fabric travels through continuously and is acted upon for a considerable time with boiling alkaline liquid and with steam under slight pressure. The pressure is obtained by means of a liquid-seal divided into two channels d, e by a suitable partition c, which also extends into a liquor tank f at the top of the column. The cloth a to be treated enters through one portion h of the tank, where it is subjected to the action of impure and spent liquor which is continuously discharged by an overflow pipe or otherwise. It then passes down one channel d to a steaming-chamber b. Suitable guideplates 17 are employed to assist in the threading of the cloth over the rollers of the machine. After treatment in the kier, the cloth passes up the other channel e of the seal and through the second portion g of the tank where, by means of rollers or baffle-plates, it is caused to take a circuitous course against a current of incoming water from a pipe i, which is placed just before the nip of squeezing-rollers j at the delivery end of the apparatus. All or nearly all the alkali is thus removed, and the material is delivered in a condition which renders necessary but little, if any, subsequent washing. The seal is extended to form a sump below the bottom of the chamber b, giving a fair head of liquid without high extension of the apparatus. The tank f also allows variation of pressure in the steaming-chamber without considerable rise or fall in the top level of the seal column. Within a rectangular or other shaped casing k, in which the steaming &c. takes place, is arranged an accumulator, or its equivalent, consisting preferably of an endless lattice web supported at each side on the rims or flanges of a drum n, the distance between the web and the drum n joining the accumulator space. The weight of the drum n and the material which collects in the accumulator space is borne by pulleys n', n<2>. The lattice consists, preferably, of a net made like a wire mattress, which is secured at intervals to two or more endless sprocket chains o, but may consist of steel bars or tubes secured to these chains. The incoming cloth a is guided by suitable rollers to a pair of delivery rollers l, from which it drops and accumulates on the upper surface of the drum n until it attains a certain thickness. Plaiting-rollers, swinging arms, or other devices may be employed to fold the material a evenly upon the drum n and also to prevent it from lapping on the delivery rollers l, but preferably there is used a pair of spurt pipes p having downwardly-directed jets which tension the material as it passes between them. These pipes p project through stuffing- boxes in the casing k and are fitted externally with a mechanism which oscillates them together and so directs the jets at varying angles. A kind of plaiting action is thus effected. Or the jets may be shut off alternately by means of valves actuated by a rocking motion. A second pair of jets p<3> at the delivery side of the accumulator simply tension the cloth so as to keep it free of the web and deliver it without folds or creases. The drum n slowly revolves, as the material accumulates, under the action of the web driven by sprocket-wheels t which gear with the chains o and are themselves driven by a worm-wheel from a worm w. To prevent slipping and tangling of the material when starting, there is employed, preferably, a flap x hinged to the drum n which can be thrown into a radial position by means of an external lever which can engage with a trip piece x<1>. The initial folds are formed on the flap which, after the drum has once revolved completely, falls into an inoperative position as shown. A regulator, to ensure uniformity in thickness and density of the layer of material in the accumulator, consists of a roller 1 which rests on the accumulated material and is mounted on levers 2 pivotally connected, through a stuffing-box, with an arm 3 adapted to act on the driving-meshanism so as to increase or decrease the speed of the lattice and drum according to the thickness of the material. Thus, the arm 3 may be connected with a belt-shifting lever 4. When the layer of material is too thick or too thin, the corresponding raising or lowering of the roller 1 causes the shifting-lever 4 to move an open belt 5 or a crossed belt 5<1> from loose pulleys 6 on to a fast pulley 7 mounted on a screwed shaft 12. These belts 5, 5<1> are driven from a pulley 8 on the driving-shaft, which also carries a cone pulley 9. Accordingly a nut 13, carrying belt-forks 14 and riding on the screwed shaft 12, is caused to move to the right or the left, carrying with it a belt 11 which drives a second cone pulley 10 mounted on the shaft of the worm w. Automatic regulation of the speed is thus obtained. A somewhat different method of regulation is described in the Provisional Specification. A vertically-disposed shaft carries at one end two friction-wheels and is screwed to take a nut which governs a differential motion. When the shaft is raised or lowered bv the movement of the roller 1, one or the other of the friction-wheels contacts with a continuously rotating disk and the nut is accordingly traversed up or down. The spurt pipes p, p<3> are supplied with liquor from an injector or from a pump q which draws from the seal, preferably adjacent to a pipe r from which fresh liquor enters the apparatus from a tank s. By means of suitable branches and two-way cocks on the suction and discharge pipes of the pump q, liquor can be drawn off from near the inlet of the liquor-pipe r, or from the bottom of the sump, to be discharged respectively through the spurt pipes p, p<3> or to a separate tank, so as to rid the sump of sediment &c. The liquor from the spurt pipes percolates through and scours the material in the accumulator and then collects in a shallow receiver b<1> at the bottom of the chamber b. Sediment &c. washed out of the fabric collects in the receiver and can be periodically blown out through a cock b<2>. The overflow returns to the sump and is stated to pass finally to the discharge portion h of the tank f. Steam is admitted to The chamber b, preferably by means of pipes 15 and reducing valves adapted to keep the pressure constant. According to the Provisional Specification, a regulating-device may be combined with admission means for superheated steam which consists of a ball-tap valve arrangement at the lower level of the seal adapted to keep the pressure constant. Suitable apertures are provided in the casing to facilitate threading the material, and also sight holes or windows for inspection purposes. Testing taps may be provided in the seal for ascertaining the alkalinity of the liquor, and an air cock at the top of the apparatus allows the steam, when admitted, to expel the air.