A New or Improved Process and Apparatus for Dyeing, Bleaching, and Boiling Textile Material.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 29th July, 1893
A New or Improved Process and Apparatus for Dyeing, Bleaching,
and Boiling Textile Material.
LEOPOLD ETTL, of Zwittau, near Mähren, Austria, Dye Works Owner, 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:-
The invention consists of a new or improved process and apparatus for the
treatment of textile material of every kind and is characterized by the fact that
the operative liquid is circularly driven by the machine through the material
requiring to be treated. The material is placed in a centrifugal machine which is
freed from air after it has been closed that is to say that the air is first removed by
a pump, the dyeing or bleaching liquid is admitted in the machine with or without
pressure and the latter is rotated, so that the said liquid is repeatedly driven
through the material. The result of this process is that when the centrifugal
drum is set in motion, the liquid impelled is in consequence of the centrifugal
force produced, from the centre towards the periphery, passing through the
perforated inner case in order to ascend along the walls of the outer receptacle.
The cover of the latter prevents the liquid from running out, this liquid being
moreover forced back by a turbine wheel arranged below the lid towards the centre
in order to find again its way through the drum in the manner above set forth.
My improved apparatus or centrifugal machine is illustrated in the accompanying
drawings in which
Fig. 1 is a side view partly in elevation of the same, Fig. 2 is a plan of the
turbine wheel and Fig. 3, a side view of the driving gear of the machine.
The centrifugal drum b consists of a sieve like perforated copper casing having
a fixed bottom as in an ordinary centrifugal machine, but instead of the top being
strengthened by an outer ring, it is smooth so as to offer no resistance to the liquid
ascending outside thereof. This drum b is. built upon a vertical axis e and enclosed
in the boiler a which is closed on all sides and rests upon a fixed frame. The
shaft e is made water tight in the boiler a by means of a stuffing box. In the
centre of the rotating centrifugal drum b is fixed at the bottom thereof a small
perforated hollow cylinder c of copper which extends slightly beyond the mouth
of the drum b. Within the cylinder c a screw c¹ is arranged along its walls and
propels when the drum b and the cylinder c rotate, the liquid from the top to the
bottom. The drum b is closed by a tight cover or lid 6 having a central perforation
corresponding with the diameter of the cylinder c. Above the lid b¹ and tightly
over the mouth of the cylinder c a turbine wheel d is suspended to the upper ring
in the boiler a.
The vanes of this turbine wheel (Fig. 2) which may be made to revolve when
required in a contrary direction to that of the rotation of the drum b, and so
constructed as to impel the liquid ascending along the walls of the boiler a towards
the centre of the wheel and thence into the cylinder c. The boiler a is closed by
a water tight hinged which carries a manometer a², a safety valve a³ and a cock a.
A pipe a leads to the bottom of the boiler which is likewise provided with a blow
off cock a. After the lid a¹ is opened and the wheel d is removed together with
the lid 6, the drum 6 may be filled with the material under treatment. When such
material as cops are to be treated it is necessary to use a special inner drum of wire
woven fabric which is first filled with the cops and placed in the drum b. After
the latter has been filled, it is closed by means of the lid or cover b'. The wheel d
being now replaced in position, the boiler a is tightly closed by the lid or cover a',
and the cock at is connected by a hose with an air pump forming a vacuum in the

page_text: boiler a so that the material to be treated and its pores are freed as much as
possible from air in consequence whereof the liquid is admitted under pressure the
air pump is dispensed with and the drum bis straightway set in rotation. The
centrifugal force acting now on the liquid causes the latter to follow an outward
course that is to say to move from the centre outwardly; this liquid having no
other way opened to it proceeds upwardly where a certain amount of space remains
still unoccupied. The liquid thus driven upwards between the outer wall of the
drum and the inner wall of the boiler a meets on its way the wheel d which
, owing to the peculiar construction of its vanes forces the air current downwardly
towards the centre, so that the liquid is compelled to fall into the open cylinder e
whence it is forthwith propelled by a screw c¹ rotating with the cylinder cand
the drum band distributed over the whole length of the said cylinder c. As there
is no other way out the liquid passes through the perforations of the cylinder c
into the centrifugal drum b being forced once more through the material in a
continuous circuit, so that the coloring or dyeing, bleaching or boiling process is
carried out under most favourable conditions. To facilitate the upward motion
of the liquid against the inner wall of the boiler a a screw may be fixed therein in
the same manner as in the cylinder c as well as against the outer wall of the
centrifugal drum b. This drum b may be driven in any suitable manner such as
shown in Fig. 3 for instance. Upon the shaft e (Fig. 1) is mounted a pulley el
which is driven by the pulley 1 mounted on the transverse shaft e². The pulley 1
is driven in turn by the driving pulley 2 accompanied by a loose pulley 3. To
allow after the withdrawal of the liquid the machine to be used for dry material it
is requisite to allow it to move slowly for which purpose two more pulleys of
larger dimension, a fixed pulley 4 and a loose pulley 5 may be mounted on the
shaft and driven directly from the motor pulley not shown in the drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A centrifugal machine for dyeing, bleaching or boiling in which the liquid
issuing from the centrifugal drum is propelled on its ascending course by a turbine
wheel d which impels it in a central direction into a central perforated cylinder or
tube e placed in the centrifugal drum this liquid being distributed by a screw fitted
to the inner wall of this tube or cylinder c in order to be conveyed again through
the centrifugal drum .b, substantially as herein described and shown in the
accompanying drawings.
2. The process for dyeing, bleaching and boiling consisting in freeing from air,
the material requiring to be treated and placed in the centrifugal machine, and to
repeatedly drive after the machine is set in motion and in consequence of the
centrifugal power developed the liquid admitted under pressure or not through this
material, substantially as herein described and shown and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 28th day of October 1892.
HUGHES, SON & Co.,
38, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.