Improvements relating to the Dyeing and Drying of Hanks of Yarn, Slubbings, and the like, and to Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Aug., 1889-Accepted, 21st Sept., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Dyeing and Drying of Hanks of
Yarn, Slubbings, and the like, and to Apparatus therefor.
I, ENOCH HEPPENSTALL of Cambridge Road, Huddersfield, in the county of York,
dyer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what inanner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:—
My invention relates to apparatus for drying hanks of yarn, slubbings and the
like, and consists more particularly in improvements in the class of machine described
in the specifications of Letters Patent Nos. 8,803, dated June 18th, 1887 and 16,756
dated November 17th, 1888. I employ the closed form of casing and by my improve-
ments the said machine is converted into a drying machine or into a machine
that may be used alternately for drying and dyeing.
According to my said invention I retain the closed casing, the wheel, the sticks
and the general construction and driving gear of the machine herein before referred
to but when the machine is to be used for drying only, I dispense with the apparatus
for introducing the dye, and I provide suitable inlet and outlet openings by which bot
or cold air may be forced, or drawn, through the machine. To propel or draw the
air I may use a fan or blower of any ordinary construction, and to heat the air I
may use a multitubular steam heater or any other suitable form of heating apparatus.
I prefer the inlet opening to be situated at or near the bottom of the machine, and
the outlet opening at or near the top thereof, but any other suitable position may
be adopted for these openings. I also prefer to place a false perforated bottom in
the machine above the level of the air inlet pipe for the banks of dispersing the
entering current of air and preventing blowing of the
wheel.
suspended on the
In the case where the air is drawn through the machine it is desirable to make all
the doors approximately air-tight to prevent air entering except by the inlet aperture
provided for the purpose. I prefer to make the casing, and all the doors, of iron.
If it is desired to use the machine as a dyeing as well as drying machine I retain
all the parts of the apparatus described in the specifications above referred to and
merely add the arrangements for passing hot or cold air through the machine as
above indicated. In this case it is necessary to place a stop-valve in the air inlet pipe
to prevent the dye-stuff running out along this pipe. By this means I can use
the machine for dyeing purposes at one time and for drying at another, and to make
the change, all that is necessary is to pump or draw the dye-stuff out of the tank
and turn on the hot or cold air current as the case may be.
The advantages of my improved drying machine are obvious. In the first place
the same machine may be used for both drying and dyeing, or, if two separate machines
are used, they being of the same character and size, the hanks that have been dyed in
one machine may be transferred at once to the other for drying. Usually, however,
it will be advisable to extract the bulk of the liquid from the hanks by means of a
bydro-extractor, or similar apparatus, before placing them in the drying machine.
The two machines may be situated side by side on the dye house floor and con-
sequently I avoid the loss of time, and labour, that is involved in carrying the dyed
material to a separate drying room as is necessary when an enclosed drying machine
such as the one described is not used. Moreover the time occupied in drying is very
Duch reduced by my apparatus inasmuch as the air is passed rapidly over the banks
(which move intermittently so as to leave no portion unexposed) instead of remaining

page_text: in a comparatively quiescent state as is the case with the air in the usual drying
rooms.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown how my invention may be con-
veniently and advantageously carried into practice.
Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse section, and
Fig. 2 is a vertical central longitudinal section of my improved drying machine,
but showing only so much of the apparatus as is necessary to the correct under-
standing of my invention.
A is a closed cylindrical casing, preferably constructed of iron, within which the
hanks of yarn, slubbings, and the like are dried. B is a wheel or swift for carrying
the banks provided with an axle C which is mounted in suitable bearings formed
ir the end plates of the casing A. The wheel B is constructed and actuated in the
manner described in the specifications of letters patent hereinbefore referred to. At
the lower side of the casing A I form a box like extension a, and over the said
extension I place a perforated plato a¹. This plate is curved to the same sweep or
curvature as the casing A and is supported by lugs a projecting from the sides of
the extension a. The casing is provided with folding doors a³ to permit of the
introduction and withdrawal of the banks, and with side doors through which the
sticks are passed and for other purposes as fully described in the specifications herein-
before referred to. The said doors may be made approximately air-tight by means
of india-rubber rings or other equivalent means. D is an inlet aperture formed in
the side of the box-like extension a, and E is an outlet aperture formed in the top of
the casing A.
The working of my improved machine is as follows. Air is forcibly blown into the
extension through the inlet pipe D, by means of a fan or blower or equivalent
device, and thence rises through the perforations at in the false bottom a¹ into the
casing where it rapidly circulates over and through the banks suspended on the
revolving wheel and then passes out in a saturated state through the outlet opening E.
The object of the false perforated bottom a¹ is to thorougbly disperse the air and
prevent its impinging with too great violence on the hanks. Although I may use
cold air for drying the hanks, I prefer to accelerate the process by heating the air,
and for this purpose I pass the air before entering the machine preferably through a
multitubular steam heater of any ordinary construction, or I may use any other
suitable device for heating the air. In some cases also, where the heat is not all
extracted, I may use the air over again by conducting it back from the outlet pipe E
to the inlet pipe of the fan or blower. I may arrange the fan or blower to draw the
air through the machine instead of forcing it through as above described.
If it is desired to use the same machine for dyeing as well as drying, 1 place a
stop valve in the inlet pipe to prevent the dye leaving the machine by this passage.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I desire to say that I do
not claim a dyeing machine, or the construction of the wheel or swift on which the
hanks are suspended, but I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The method of drying hanks of yarn, slubbings, and the like, wherein the hanks
are suspended on a revolving wheel and subjected to the action of a current of hot or
cold air within a closed chamber, substantially as specified.
2. A machine for drying hanks of yarn, slubbings, and the like comprising a
revolving wheel on which the hanks are suspended, a closed chamber within which
the wheel revolves, and means for drawing or forcing air through the chamber and
of heating the air, substantially as described.
3. In a machine for drying hanks of yarn, slubbings, and the like, a wheel, on
which the banks are suspended, revolving within a closed chamber, combined with
a fan or blower for forcing or drawing air through the chamber, and a tubular steam
heater or other device for heating the air, substantially as and for the purpose
described.

page_text: 4. The apparatus constructed substantially as described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings and operating substantially as, and for the purpose, specified.
Dated this 8th day of August 1889.
HASELTINE, LAKE, & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.