A METHOD OF AND AN APPARATUS FOR WASHING, DYEING, BLEACHING, RINSING, IMPREGNATING AND DRYING FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1884

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, WILHELM SCHEIDT of Kettwig on the Ruhr in the Kingdom of Prussia,
and owner of a wool-spinning factory at the said place do hereby declare the
nature of my Invention for A METHOD OF AND AN APPARATUS FOR WASHING,
DYEING, BLEACHING, RINSING, IMPREGNATING AND DRYING FIBROUS MATERIALS,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:
My Invention consists in a method of and an apparatus for washing, dyeing,
bleaching, rinsing, impregnating and dyeing fibrous materials by means of a
continuous current of cleansing or dyeing fluid or hot air which, by means of a
suitable pump, is forced in uniform rapidity of motion and always equal quantities
through the fibrous material, the latter being held in a boiler of peculiar
construction, so arranged as to allow tho current of the cleansing or dyeing fluid
or hot air to be forced through the material in opposite directions alternately at
pleasure, as will be hereinafter more fully described.
In Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing I have shown the apparatus as
arranged for washing, dyeing, bleaching, rinsing, impregnating and drying loose
fibrous material such as for instance wool, while in Figure 2 the boiler is shown of
a slightly different construction for treating woven fabrics in whole pieces without
causing folds or creases in the same, and Figures 3 and 4 show another
arrangement of the boiler for the treatment of fibrous yarns on their bobbins, such
as long combing wool, the different arrangements of the boiler for the different
materials to be operated upon, embracing the same main features of my Invention.
The boiler a, Figure 1, of suitable size and material, is provided with a
perforated double bottom b, between which and the lower bottom of the boiler a, a
free space is left in which coils of steam pipe l, m, suitably connected with a steam
boiler, are situated and by means of which the cleansing or dyeing fluid in the.
said space may be heated to any desired degree. The boiler a, is also provided
with a perforated double lid c, which moves easily within the boiler, while the
removable upper lid c¹, closes the same. The material to be treated is placed on the
perforated bottom b, and held down by the perforated lid c, the desired amount of
pressure to be exerted by the latter being attained by the greater or less weight
placed on the free end of a pivoted lever f, secured to the upper lid c¹, to which
Din C37

page_text: lever at a suitable point is pivoted a standard f¹, passing through lid c¹, and
secured centrally on the lid c. This pressure however may be obtained by means
of screwpower or by any other suitable means as I do not confine myself to the
arrangement shown.
In the Drawing h, represents a suction and force pump operating my apparatus,
and I prefer to use a double action pump, though any other suitable kind of
suction and force apparatus will operate equally well, provided the valves and
cocks are arranged in a manner similar to that shown. The lower bottom of the
boiler a, is provided with a central opening to which a pipe o, connected with the
valve 2, on one side of the double action pump h, is screwed, a threewaycock ki,
allowing the fluid to be forced either through pipe o, into the lower part of the
boiler a, below the double bottom b, or through a pipe p, into the upper part of the
same above the double lid c, an opening d, in the side of the boiler at a suitable
distance from its top, connecting with the pipe p, which near the point where it is
secured to the boiler, is provided with another threewaycock t, a suitably deviating
branchpipe u, and a downwardly extending one 1. The pipe, at its lower end
connects with the pipe o, and a little above this point with the other valve 1, of
the double action pump h, a third threewaycock, regulating the proper course of
the fluid.
The operation of my apparatus is as follows. The washing, rinsing or dyeing
fluid is fed either after or while the boiler is filled with the material to be treated
into the boiler, in the lower part of which it is heated up, to the boiling point if
required, by means of the steainpipes I, m. The lid c, being placed on the material
and properly weighted, the boiler closed by the lid c¹, and the threewaycocks i, k, t,
placed in position as shown in the Drawing, the pump h, being put into operation,
will draw the fluid through the opening d, from the upper portion of the boiler,
while pressing it in at the bottom of the boiler at e, the fluid being forced through
the perforated bottom b, the material and the perforated lid c, in a continuous
circuit of uniform rapidity, which can be regulated at will and by which, especially
in dyeing equal quantities of the fluid are evenly distributed through the entire
material and evenly permeate every particle of the same, thereby securing a much
more even distribution of the dyeing matter and consequently a much more even
dyeing of the entire material. By turning the threewaycocks i, & k, so that the
former will close the pipe r, and, communicate with pipe o, and the latter close the
pipe o, and connect with pipe p, the direction of the stream will be reversed, the
fluid being forced iu at the top and drawn off at the bottom of the boiler, while if
the threewaycock t, is turned to shut off the opening in the boiler a, the cocks i,
and k, being in position as last stated, the liquid is drawn out of the boiler entirely
at e, and pumped off through .pipe u. Should the fluid be wanted for another
operation, it may be pumped in a suitable reservoir, from which it can be returned
to the boiler when needed, by turning the cocks i and k, as shown in the Drawing
and leaving the cock t, in position as last described. All of which will be easily
understood. In order to enable the operator to take samples of the material
being treated and to add, if necessary or desirable, dyeing or other matter to the
fluid while the operation is going on and without interrupting the same, the
lids c, c', may be provided with small manholes which may be closed and opened
in any suitable manner. It will be readily understood, tliat fibrous material, as
for instance wool, may be first washed, then alunned,, dyed and rinsed in my
apparatus without having to be removed from the boiler after each operation, by
merely alternating the fluids for the several purposes. The great advantage which
my process possesses over all others known in the art of dyeing, lics not only in
the fact, that the, dyeing liquid permeates the fibrous material in a continuous
current of uniform strength, but also in the possibility of alternating the same to
the opposite direction, thereby avoiding inequalities of the colour in dyed material,
which are caused by the fact, that certain dyestuff's affect the material strongest at
the point of first contact, but lose in effect the more they permeate into it. Being
able to permeate the material with the dyeing fluid alternately from opposite

page_text: directions entirely obviates such inequality in the colouring. In washing unburred
wool my apparatus also offers special advantages, the spiral or ring burrs not being
crushed as in the washing processes now in use, but being removed much easier
and more thoroughly afterwards, when the wool is operated on by the cards or an
unburring device.
In Figure 2, I have shown my Invention as adapted especially to the washing,
dyeing and rinsing of woven materials in pieces so as to treat the materials in their
entire width, without folding them. The boiler a, in this case, is not provided
with a double bottom or lid, but with one or more perforated cylinders x, x, which
are closed at their upper ends and, being screwed with their open lower ends into
corresponding openings in the bottom of the boiler a, communicate with small
pipearms v, having one common lower end o¹, which is screwed or otherwise
connected to the pipe o. Steampipes l, and m, are also secured in the boiler near
its bottom as and for the purpose already described.
The cylinders x, are unscrewed from the boiler, the material wound upon them
in its full width and without folds or creases, and the cylinders then returned to
the boiler and secured in their places. The washing, dyeing or rinsing fluid is
then pumped into the boiler in the manner already described and the boiler being
somewhat higher than the tops of the cylinders x, the fluid, being forced through
the perforations of the latter and the coils of the material wound upon them,
circulates through the boiler, is drawn off by the pump through the opening d, and
returned to the boiler again through the cylinders, thus permeating evenly the
material to be washed, dyed or rinsed in a continuous current of equal force, which
can be made to alternate in its direction in the manner already described.
One great and particular advantage of this arrangement is, that the material to
be treated can be washed, dyed or rinsed in its full width, without any heat-folds,
spots, creases or inequalities being made in it, an advantage not attained heretofore
by any known method.
Figures 3 and 4, show another modification of my Invention as applied to the
washing, dyeing or rinsing of combed wool, spinning and spun yarns on their
bobbins, Figure 3 being a vertical section, and Figure 4 a plan view of the same.
In this arrangement the boiler a, is furnished with a double bottom b, provided
with a number of openings v, having screwnuts v¹, formed or firmly secured over
them, into which the open lower screwends of small perforated cylinders x, having
closed upper ends, are srewed. By this means a watertight closing is effected
between the space below the double bottom b, and the upper part of the boiler a;
The cylinders x, are of such a length as to correspond to the length of the bobbins
used in spinning, and, where the filled bobbins are to be slipped on to them, they
are formed with pointed upper ends and of a diameter correspondingly smaller than
that of the bobbins, Otherwise the boiler a, is provided with the steam coils b,
and m, in the space between the two bottoms, and connected to the pump h,
exactly in the same manner already described. The double bottom b, is provided
with as many openings v, as the boiler will conveniently hold of bobbins, without
the latter touching each other. The long combed wool or yarn being upon the
bobbins, the latter are slipped over the cylinders x, or the latter may be filled on
the spinning machine with the yarn, in place of the bobbins, and the cylinders
thus filled or carrying the bobbins filled, are then screwed into the nuts v¹, when
the operation of washing, dyeing or rinsing is effected, by the current of fluid,.
circulating in one or the opposite direction alternately in the manner already
described.
In my improved apparatus drying can also be effected in the same manner by
substituting a ventilator or blower for the pump and making use of a current of
hot air in place of the fluid, as will be readily understood.
If the spools in fine spinning and those used for the roving yarn in the trains
of combed wool spinning are constructed in the shape of the cylinders x, and with
screwends to screw into the double bottom b, and perforated, all kinds of woollen

page_text: yarns may be washed, dyed, impregnated, rinsed and dried in my apparatus without
the necessity of unwinding them from the spools, as must be done in many of the
processes now in use. In others a number of filled bobbins are pressed into a
given space filled with the dyeing or cleansing, fluid, but by reason of their round
shape, they can never be squeezed together in such a way, that all fibres undergo
an equal pressure; for more or less intermediate spaces will be formed, while at
other parts the bobbins will be firmly pressed together. The fluid naturally
permeates the loose parts more readily, finding the least resistance in them and
affects them more intensely than the denser parts, thereby causing inequalities in
the colouring. Now as in my improved method and apparatus each bobbin is
subjected separately and equally to a continuous current of the treating fluid, and
all parts are equally subjected to its effects, no inequalities will occur and the
above difficulties are entirely obviated.
From the foregoing it will be readily understood, that all processes of washing,
dyeing, bleaching, rinsing, impregnating and drying fibrous materials can be
effected by my improved method and my new apparatus, either separately or any
number of them consecutively by merely using or substituting consecutively the
different fluids necessary therefor, or by substituting a blower and hot air for the
pump and fluid in the drying process.
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:
1st The method of washing, dyeing, bleaching, rinsing, impregnating and
drying fibrous materials by passing a continuous current of fluid or hot air of
uniform rapidity and strength through such material in one direction and the
reverse one alternately, by means of a suitable apparatus, substantially as
described.
2nd The apparatus for washing, dyeing, bleaching, rinsing, impregnating and
drying loose fibrous materials, consisting of the boiler a, provided with a
perforated double bottom b, and weighted perforated double- lid c, and connected
at top and bottom by suitable pipes with the valves of a double action pump or
blower l, substantially as described.
3rd The apparatus for washing, dyeing, bleaching, rinsing, impregnating and
drying woven fibrous materials in picces, consisting of the boiler a, perforated
cylinders x, closed at their upper ends and open at their lower ones, which latter
screw into the bottom of the boilera, and connect with one of the valves of a
double action pump or blower h, by means of suitable pipes, while the other
valve is connected by a similar pipe to the upper part of the boiler a, in such a
manner, that the current of fluids or hot air must pass through the perforated
cylinders to get into the boiler or vice-versa, substantially as described.
4th The apparatus for washing, drying, bleaching, rinsing, impregnating and
drying yarns on spools, consisting of the boiler a, provided with a double
bottom b, having openings v, to which the open lower screwends of perforated
cylinders, provided with closed upper ends, are secured by screwnuts v¹, and
further provided with coils of steampipes l, m, situated in the lower part of the
boiler a, which connects with one of the valves of, a double action pump, while the
other valve connects with the upper portion of the boiler a, by suitable pipes,
substantially as described.
"
5 In an apparatus for washing, dyeing, bleaching, rinsing, impregnating and
drying fibrous materials, consisting of a boiler, the bottom of which connects
with one of the valves of a double action pump or blower, while its upper portion
connects with the other valve, by means of suitable pipes, in order that a
continuous stream or current of fluids or hot air may be forced through the
boiler and the materials in it, the threewaycocks i, and k, arranged relatively to
the boiler, and the pump in such a manner, that the direction of the current of
fluids or hot air may be reversed at will, substantially as described.

page_text: 6th In an apparatus for washing, dyeing, bleaching, rinsing, impregnating and
drying as described herein next above, the threeway cock t, so arranged relatively
to the boiler and the pump h, as, in connection with the threewaycocks i, and k, to
enable the fluids to be drawn out of the boiler and conducted into a reservoir if
desired, substantially as described.