Improvements in Mercerizing Apparatus.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 11th July, 1899-Accepted, 12th Aug., 1899
Improvements in Mercerizing Apparatus.
I, PAUL JEANMAIRE, of 21, Altkircherstrasse, Mülhausen, Alsace, in the German
Empire, Manufacturer, 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:
-
Up to now,
the apparatus used in the mercerization of cotton under tension
have consisted substantially of frames having clamps or pegs by means of which
the cotton is held during the several operations of the mercerizing process i.e.,
the impregnation with the mercerizing liquid, the washing of the cotton, and
the treatment of the cotton with an acid solution.
Now apparatus according to this invention has also for object to hold the fabric
tightly in order to prevent it from shrinking either in length or in width, but
this object is attained, not as heretofore by fastening the fabric by means of
pegs or clamps at its edges, but by making the fabric adhere over its entire
surface to one or more drums and the several mercerizing operations are carried
out one after another whilst the cotton is on the said drum. The surface of the
cylinder or cylinders is therefore not smooth, but rough. This rough surface
may be produced in various ways; the cylinder may be of cast iron and be
provided with annular or with spiral grooves, which may be either at right
angles to the generatrix of the periphery of the cylinder or at an angle thereto;
or the drums may be made of wood or sheet metal and encircled by steel bands
which are hammered until their external surfaces become like those of kitchen
graters.
An example of apparatus is diagrammatically represented in the accompany-
ing drawings.
The cotton is first of all impregnated with soda lye of 25° to 30° Bé in a
trough a provided with a number of rollers b, and is then immediately seized
by the first of the drums c, which, in consequence of their rough surfaces,
retain the fabric in its original shape. The several drums are driven at a
speed coresponding to their circumference and their number in such a manner
that the fabric remains on the several drums long enough to allow the merceriz-
ing liquid to take effect. The pieces are vigorously washed by sprinkling
devices d arranged between the last two drums. Underneath there is a drum c
of smaller diameter, which has likewise a roughened surface and is arranged
in a water vessel f intended to catch and collect the water as it flows down."
The lye that remains adhering to the fabric is neutralized either by passing
the fabric over a small drum g which has also a roughened surface, is in contact
with the last drum, and is arranged in an acid bath ; or by simply passing the
fabric through a vat i which is provided with rollers and is filled with sulphuric
acid of 30 or 4° Bé. Between the first two of the upper drums c the fabric
passes round an intermediate drum c, which, like the drum e, runs almost tan-
gentially to the adjacent upper drums c.
•
Characteristic features of apparatus according to this invention are the pro-

page_text: vision of cylinders and intermediate drums with roughened surfaces, and the
special arrangement of the impregnating vat and several intermediate drums,
which run almost tangentially to the upper drum, the object being to keep the
cotton, from the moment when it is first subjected to the action of the lye, in
uninterrupted contact with the several parts of the machine, whereby the
dimensions of the fabric are retained until the washing has taken place, so that
the cotton is prevented from shrinking.
It is advantageous to make the drums c from 1 to 3 metres in diameter.
Obviously when the drums run in acid baths their clothings must not be of
steel but of a suitable material capable of withstanding the action of the acid,
as sheet copper.
Apparatus according to this invention possesses the advantages that all loss of
time that would otherwise occur in the handling of cotton pieces of different
sizes, is avoided; that the output-capacity is greatly increased, since it depends
only on the dimensions and the number of the drums; and that there is an
important reduction of the manual labour required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
1 claim is:-
1. Mercerizing apparatus provided with one or more drums c with roughened
surfaces for firmly holding the cotton to be treated, for the purpose of prevent-
ing the cotton from shrinking in length or in width by means of the thorough
adhesion of the fabric to the surfaces of the drums.
2. Apparatus according to the preceding claim in which the drums are provided
with clothings having surfaces like those of graters.
3. Mercerizing apparatus constructed, arranged, and operating substantially
as herein before described with reference to and shown in the accompanying
drawing, whether or not the fabric be passed through the vessel h.
Dated this 11th day of July 1899
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.