APPARATUS FOR SOAKING, BOILING, OR DYEING TEXTILE MATERIALS OR SUBJECTING THEM TO THE ACTION OF LIQUIDS OR GASES
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM MATHER of Salford in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for "APPARATUS FOR SOAKING, BOILING, OR
DYEING TEXTILE MATERIALS OR SUBJECTING THEM TO THE ACTION OF LIQUIDS OR
GASES and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
"
The soaking and boiling of textile materials for cleansing, bleaching and dyeing
operations are usually effected in kiers or vessels in which the material is piled in
mass and subjected to the action of liquor, boiling liquor, and steam. Owing to
the difficulty of penetrating the mass, the process must be continued for a long
time, and the action is by no means uniform over the whole of the material.
Moreover a long time is occupied in charging the kier before the action can be
commenced, and after boiling has terminated, the kier is cooled down in the
operation of emptying it, which also occupies a long time and involves great waste
of heat. My invention relates to means of avoiding the disadvantages attending
the present system of treating the material, by the use of apparatus whereby
I am enabled to abridge the time and to economise the labor and heat required,
and at the same time to secure great uniformity of treatment throughout the
whole of the material operated on.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a longitudinal section partly in elevation,
and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of apparatus according to my invention which
by way of illustration, I will describe as applied for boiling. A is a cylindrical
vessel like a boiler placed with its axis horizontal. It is made with a double shell
forming round it an annular steam jacket B. At each end it is fitted with a
vertically sliding door C arranged like a wedge sluice valve which when pressed
down its inclined guides tightly closes the end of the vessel. In the lower part of
the vessel are fixed rails R on which run open framed or lattice trucks T which
are made of shape approximately corresponding with the interior of the vessel A
but smaller so as to leave space all round them within A. The metal of these
trucks should be enamelled or otherwise coated so as to prevent soiling of the
material which they contain. In the lower part of the vessel at the sides and ends,
are fixed partitions P nearly fitting to fillets on the trucks T, so that, when the
trucks are in position, these act as stops preventing free flow of liquor around
.n

page_text: them. S is a steam boiling pipe perforated with numerous holes and extending
along the bottom of the vessel, L'is a liquor pipe extending partly along the top
and terminating in distributing nozzles N. From the pipe La branch L' leads to
a supply cistern and a branch L' leads to the discharge of a rotary or other
circulating pump. From the bottom of the vessel A there is a pipe M, which
leads by one branch to a drain or other outlet and by another branch to the
suction of the circulating pump. D is a steam pipe.supplying the jacket B, and
E is a pipe for running off water of condensation. The pipes S, L, D and E and
their branches are provided with suitable cks or valves. F and G are pipes
leading to safety valves for the jacket B and the interior of A respectively. At
each end outside the vessel are continuations of the rails R with suitable bridge
pieces that can be folded down when the doors C are raised. Several sets of the
trucks T being provided, the operation is carried on in the following manner.
A pair of the trucks T which have been charged outside with the material to be
'operated on, are fun on the rails into the vessel A and the doors C are tightly
closed. The casing B is supplied with steam and a quantity of suitable liquor,
run into the vessel by the pipe L enough to cover or partially cover the trucks and
their contents, is heated and kept bot by the steam in the jacket B, and steam
blown through it from the pipe S. By means of the circulating pump the liquor
is kept in circulation being drawn from the bottom of the vessel by the pump
branch of the pipe M and discharged by the nozzles N which distribute the liquor
over the material in the trucks As the liquor in circulating from top to bottom
finds no free passage outside the trucks being impeded by the partitions P, it has to
find its way mostly through the material in the trucks which is also kept in a bath
of the boiling liquor surrounding it on all sides. When the boiling has been con-
tinued for such time as may be required, the liquor is run off by the drain branch
of the pipe M, the doors Ċ are raised by a steam, hydraulic or other crane, the
trucks T are run out: at one end of the vessel, and another set of trucks ready
charged are run into it at the other end to have their contents operated on as
above described. The trucks that have been run out of the vessel can be unloaded
and loaded again while the boiling of the material in the other trucks goes on,
and thus little time is lost and there is no material cooling of the vessel during
the exchange of trucks.
The vessel A instead of having doors at both ends, may have a door C only at
one end, the other end being permanently closed and this closed end may be steam
jacketted. The trucks in that case would be withdrawn and introduced at the one
end only.
I have shewn in the drawings a pair of trucks in use, and a boiling vessel
suited for reception of that pair. It is, however, to be understood that the number
and dimensions of the trucks may be varied and the boiling vessel may be made
to accommodate only one truck or a number greater than two.
rope
When the apparatus is used for boiling woven fabrics, these may be charged in
form into the trucks. It is, however, in many cases preferable to treat fabrics
spread out to their full width, which cannot be conveniently done in ordinary
kiers. In trucks such as I have described fabrics can readily be laid to expose
their full width either folded or wound on rollers.
Obviously for soaking or dyeing, the same apparatus is applicable. When the
material is to be soaked in cold liquor the heating by steam is dispensed with.
When the material is to be dyed or acted on chemically by liquids, the dye or
liquid is run in and should it require to be heated, this may be done by admitting
steam to the casing B or blowing steam through the liquid or both. Also when
the material is to be exposed to the action of gases, such as sulphurous acid,
chlorine, carbonic acid and others, these gases may be introduced by the steam or
the liquor pipes, or may be made to circulate through the vessel by admitting them
by the one pipe and allowing them to pass out by the other. For processes not
requiring heat the vessel A may be made without a steam casing B.
L

page_text: I am aware that it has been proposed to place textile materials to be dyed or
otherwise treated in a perforated box within a vessel like a horizontal boiler made
with a removeable end and provided with steam and liquor pipes and means of
pumping liquor through the vessel. I therefore make no general claim to such
perforated box and vessel.. I am also aware that textile and other materials are
often loaded in trucks to be moved from place to place or run into recipients for
treatment. I therefore make no general claim to trucks for moving textile
materials into and out of a vessel in which they are subjected to treatment, but
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
For soaking boiling or dyeing textile materials or subjecting them to the action
of liquids or gases, the construction and arrangement of apparatus consisting of a
vessel, steam cased if necessary, with its removeable end door or doors, and its
supply and discharge pipes, partitions and rails, in combination with lattice trucks
to contain the materials and to be run into and out of the vessel, substantially as
herein described and illustrated by the drawings.
Dated this 10th day of March 1885.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant,
28, Southampton Buildings,
London, W.C.