Improvements in Machines for Mordanting, Sizing, or Mercerising Hanks of Yarn.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd June, 1898-Accepted, 20th Aug., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines for Mordanting, Sizing, or Mercerising
Hanks of Yarn.
'A communication by BERNHARD COHNEN, of Grevenbroich, Rhenish Prussia, in
the Empire of Germany, Machine Maker.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, & 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, & 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
In the machines at present employed for mordanting, sizing or mercerising hanks
of yarn, pairs of rollers as is well known are employed for receiving the hanks of
yarn, one of which rollers acts as stretching roller and is under constant spring
pressure. The tension of, or pull on, the goods produced by this spring is accord-
ingly always even and on the removal or changing of the goods the springs have
always to be released or slackened. Such tension of the goods remaining constant
during the entire operation is however very disadvantageous, as practical experi-
ments thereto directed have shown. It is on the contrary necessary in order to
fully attain the object of the operation, (more particularly in mercerising for
obtaining an indestructible and especially even glaze of the yarn) that the hanks
during the time in which they are immersed in the mordanting, sizing or mer-
cerising liquid shall be slack or only slightly strained in order that the penetration
of the liquid into the goods may be produced or facilitated as much as possible.
It is only during the squeezing out (wringing) that the yarn is subjected to more
or less tension, according to the intended object of the process, for the purpose
of entirely expelling the surplus mordant or size or of preventing the yarn shrink-
ing under the action of the mercerising liquid (lye or the like), said tension
continuing during the washing or rinsing off and finally ceasing when the goods
are to be removed or changed.
In order to attain this object by this invention an improved arrangement is
adopted by which the rollers serving for stretching the yarn of the pairs of yarn-
carrying rollers (which pairs of rollers are mounted on a support revoluble on its
central axis) are combined with a fixed cam guide profiled to correspond to the
respective working object, which guide imparts to said rollers at a suitable time a
position to correspond to the actual stage of the process.
The invention also relates to the arrangement of subsidiary or assistant stretching
rollers (more particularly employed for silk glaze mercerising) for equalising the
tension of the upper and under hanks or layers of yarn lying on the pairs of rollers,
the said subsidiary rollers, like the tension rollers of the pairs of rollers being in
combination with a fixed cam guide which imparts to the rollers at a suitable time
a position corresponding to the actual stage of the process.

page_text: In the accompanying drawings an improved machine more particularly appli-
cable for silk glaze mercerising is shown in one form of construction in which:-
Figure 1 is a front view of the machine, the front standard of the frame and the
cam guide attached to this standard being omitted.
Figure 2 is a side view of the machine with the trough which contains the mer-
cerising liquid, in section.
Figures 3 and
are details.
The machine in the form of construction shown in the drawings has six pairs of
rollers a¹¹, a² ², a³ b³, a¹ b¹, a³ b5, a 66, intended for receiving the hanks of yarn
and mounted concentrically on a support formed by two star wheels mounted
on a revoluble shaft w. The shaft is revolubly mounted in standards g¹ g²
between which the support with the pairs of rollers is arranged. Of these pairs
of rollers, the rollers a¹ to a" are fixed to the support, whilst the adjustable
rollers 6 to be serving for stretching the yarn are mounted on lever arish of
levers h¹, the arms have at their free ends rollers k which engage in a cam
guide fixed on the standards g. The levers h¹ are mounted on the ends of
cross shafts which are revolubly mounted in the support for the pairs of rollers,
and in the star wheels d. The cam guide extends for about a semi-circle con-
centrically to the central axis of the machine, that is to the shaft w with such a
radius that always three of the stretching rollers affected by this concentric part
of the guide (in the case shown in the drawings rollers 64 65 66) are at the furthest
distance away from the fixed rollers belonging to them. This curve or guide
approaches the centre for about a third of the distance approximately where the
trough containing the mercerising liquid stands, so that by this part of the guide
two of the stretching rollers (in this instance rollers 62 b) are always approached to the
fixed rollers belonging thereto so that although there is a stretching it is only
moderate. At one point where the removal of the finished mercerised yarn takes,
the groove or cam has a strong bend towards the central axis so that the stretch-
ing roller in question (in the case shown b¹) is so adjusted that the yarn hanks hang
down slack and may be easily taken off.
The cam groove thus produces an adjustment of the rollers in such a way that
on the immersion of the yarn in the mercerising liquid (or in mordanting machines
in the mordant, or sizing machines in the size) the hanks of yarn are only held
moderately tightly (strained) in order to facilitate the penetration of the liquid
into the yarn and thus produce its saturation. As soon however as the yarn has
passed the bath, it is very tightly strained by a suitable adjustment of the stretch-
ing rollers with the object of being squeezed out, rinsed or the like and especially to
prevent shrinking and to obtain a stretching and silk gloss in the finished goods.
In mordanting and sizing machines on the contrary in which a pressing out of
the size or mordant merely is intended to take place, the cam groove is so shaped
that the yarn during the pressing out, loosening and brushing and the like is not
so strongly stretched as it is whilst being mercerised, but only moderately so, that
is in such a way that the rollers 4666 come to stand more inwards than is shown
in the drawings. The same is the case for mercerising machines in which the
finished yarn is not intended to have a silk gloss but a woollen character, for which
object the shrinkage of the yarn hanks in the bath must not be prevented. In
this case the cam groove is so shaped that the yarn can contract.
Further, in order to equalise the tension for each pair of rollers an assistant or
subsidiary roller c¹ to c is provided for each, by means of which the drawback is
overcome that the hanks or layers of yarn lying next the periphery of the rollers
are less stretched than the hanks lying above, which of course in consequence of
their greater diameter undergo a greater extension and which for this reason
show a finer gloss than the lower ones. These rollers c¹ to care adjusted in a
similar manner to the rollers 1 to 6 into the stretching and non-stretching
positions respectively by means of a cam groove ² arranged in the standards g²
and in which rollers to engage. These rollers are mounted on lever arms i¹

page_text: of lever mechanisms i¹, the arms of which carry the rollers c¹ to co, the said
arms and being connected with one another by means of cross shafts revolubly
mounted in star wheels ele. By means of this cam groove which has a
similar form to the cam groove the subsidiary stretching rollers are operated
in a similar manner to the stretching rollers themselves. On the yarn being
immersed in the liquid, they are still out of action as may be seen in Figure 1,
whilst in Figures 3 and 4 one of the subsidiary stretching rollers is shown on an
enlarged scale in a position of repose and working position respectively with the
pair of rollers to which it belongs.
The machine is provided as usual with spiked rollers m¹ and m² which serve
for energetically freeing the mercerised yarn from the remaining liquid, the water
penetrating the yarn opened out by the spikes. In the form of construction shown
these rollers which are mounted on revoluble arms o¹ 02 may be rendered capable
of being folded up and down by a cam groove q mounted on the star wheel e¹ to
act on a roller o of a lever o3 which is mounted on a shaft w¹ carrying the
arm o¹, the movement being conveyed from the shaft w¹ to the shaft carrying
the arm o by means of toothed sectors p¹, p².
Pipes n n² for conveying the washing liquid are arranged over these spiked
rollers and sectors m² m² and p¹ p2, which pipes have a number of discharge holes
in their upper part above the spiked rollers for the purpose of equally distributing
the washing liquid.
A basin or tank r suitably arranged under the spiked rollers and the approximate
position of which is indicated by dotted lines in the drawing serves for catching
the washing liquid.
7.
A trough suitably arranged in the path of the series of rollers serves for receiving
the mercerising liquid or acts as a lye trough, and has preferably a double bottom in
order to allow of the introduction of a cooling medium for cooling the mercerising
liquid. In this trough roller-brushes u are arranged in the ordinary way. The
trough is of course constructed of such materials such as copper, cast iron or the
like, as is but little or not at all acted on by the liquid (lye).
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. In machines for mordanting, sizing, or mercerising yarns and having pairs of
rollers carrying the yarn hanks, the arrangement of the rollers which serve for
stretching the yarn. of the yarn carrying pairs of rollers in combination with a
fixed cam guide or groove shaped to correspond with the action desired, which
guide is adapted to impart to said rollers at a suitable time a position to suit the
actual stage of the working operation, substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. In machines for mordanting, sizing and mercerising yarns in hanks and
having pairs of rollers for carrying the yarn; the arrangement of these pairs of
rollers concentrically on a shaft so that by the rotation of same, the said pairs of
rollers constantly change their position in such a way that the yarns may be first
saturated with size, lye, mordant or the like and then squeezed out, washed,
loosened or opened out and brushed, and finally removed, whilst the stretching
rollers belonging to the fixed rollers are so adjusted by a cam groove that the
tension of the yarn during the separate operations is stronger or weaker to corre-
spond to said operations and is finally (on the change of the yarn) entirely
suspended, substantially as herein before described.
3. In machines for mordanting, sizing, or mercerising yarns and having pairs
of rollers carrying the hanks of yarn, the arrangement of assistant or subsidiary
stretching rollers for equalizing the tension of the upper and under hanks or
layers of yarn lying on the pairs of rollers, the said subsidiary stretching rollers
similarly to the stretching rollers of the pairs of rollers, being combined with a
device adapted to impart to the rollers at a suitable time a position corresponding
to the actual stage of the operations, substantially as hereinbefore described.

page_text: 4. In machines for mordanting, sizing or mercerising yarns and having pairs
of rollers carrying the hanks of yarn, the arrangement of spiked rollers for
removing the liquid in combination with pipes with perforated walls arranged
over said spiked rollers for conveying the washing liquid, and also of a trough
or basin underneath the spiked rollers for catching the surplus liquid after it has
passed through the rollers and the yarn, substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated thin 1at dan of Tu 1908
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.