A Machine for Dyeing Wool, Yarns, and similar Material.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Nov., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 21st Aug., 1893-Accepted, 4th Nov., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Machine for Dyeing Wool, Yarns, and similar Material.
ROBERT BRUCE ARCHIBALD Devonvale, Tillicoultry, N.B. Woollen Manu-
facturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Whereas it is usual at present to dye wool yarns and similar material by hand or
by some kind of machine which exposes the material more or less to the air during
the operation, the present invention is intended to obviate these disadvantages and
consists mainley of a vat or receptacle for the dye, fitted with means for heating
the liquor with steam, and perforated partitions for distributing the currents of
the liquor; a movable cage is fitted within these partitions, carrying a perforated
tray or series of perforated trays upon which the material to be dyed is placed.
The cage carrying the trays is provided with gearing for moving it in the liquor
and for raising & lowering it at pleasure. A table with dished top is also provided
for placing the trays upon when the dyeing process is completed.
Dated this Nineteenth day of November 1892.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Machine for Dyeing Wool, Yarns, and similar Material.
ROBERT BRUCE ARCHIBALD Devonvale Tillicoultry, N.B. Wool 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 :-
This invention has for its object improvements in the method of dyeing wool,
yarns and other materials whereby the material being treated is less exposed to the
air during the operation, the process is more continuous and the material when
finished is left free and unmatted.
In order to explain my invention more clearly I have prepared the accompanying
drawings upon three sheets.
Fig. 1. Sheet 1. is a side elevation ;
Fig. 2. Sheet 2. is an end elevation ;
Fig. 3. Sheet 2. is the side elevation; of reversing gear; and
Fig. 5, 6, 7 and 8 Sheet 3 are details of the machine.
The following numbers refer to the same parts, in the different views.
In carrying out my invention I employ a vat 1 shown in section in Fig. 1., at the
corners of the vat are uprights 2. 2. for supporting the overhead gearing; this
gearing is for the purpose of moving the cage (to be afterwards described) in the
liquor and for raising and lowering it, when the cage requires to be filled or
emptied any suitable arrangement of gearing may be used for this purpose and it
may be driven by hand or by power: the arrangement shown on drawing consists
of pitch chains a. a. going over chain wheels b. b. fixed to shafts c. c.; at the ends
of these shafts are worm wheels d. d. driven by the worms e. e. ; the worm shafts
are driven by the spur wheels and pinions ff. and g. g. and the countershaft is
driven by the fast and loose pulleys h.
The vat is provided with the usual draw off valve.
Inside the vat is a cage preferably of tinned steel consisting of hanging bars 3. 3.
cross girders at bottom 4. 4. and angle iron runners 5. 5. 5. fixed horizontally and
parallel with each other, to the hanging bars; at the top of the hanging bars are
shackles connected to the chains a. a. by which the cage is lifted.
D
Upon the angle

page_text: iron runners are placed a series of trays 6. 6. 6. These trays are double, consisting
of a top and bottom plate, between which the liquor enters or discharges; the
plates may be either flat or corrugated and are perforated with holes for the inlet
and outlet of the liquor. The ends of the trays are turned up as shown in detail
on Sheet 3. Fig. 4 for the purpose of jointing to the circulating pipes 7. 7. the
joints may be made in any convenient way, but preferably as shown by means of
rubber rings R.
In the centre of the trays are sheet iron partitions 8. 8. perforated or otherwise,
and at the corners of trays and partitions are straps 9. 9. 9. forming guides for the
sieves 10. 10. The general arrangement of the apparatus may be varied, but, in
that shown on drawings there are eight circulating pipes 7. 7. four at each end of
the series of trays 6. 6. 6. Two of the circulating pipes at each end, supply the
upper half of the trays and two of them the lower half and each pipe is connected
to alternate trays. The circulating pipes 7. 7. are supplied by the supply
pipes 11 11 11 and 11d these are placed outside the vat 1. and are connected to
the circulating pipes by heads having two branches; the joints between the
branches on supply pipes and the heads of the circulating pipes are shown at 12. 12.
and are made with rubber rings between the two, compressed by the hand-wheel-
nuts 13. 13. The bolts upon which the hand wheels run are hinged, so that they
can be thrown out of the way when the cage is being lifted. The supply pipes are
connected, to the reversing valve box 14, and this box is connected to the suction
& discharge of the circulating pump 15. of which 15 is the discharge and 15b is
the suction, upon the discharge side of the pump is a branch 16 for the admission
of steam.
The pump 15 is driven from a countershaft 17 and the countershaft also drives
the gearing for reversing the valve in the valve box 14. this gearing is shown in
Fig. 3. Sheet 2. and will be afterwards described.
One of the supply pipes at each end of the machine is connected with one side
of the valve box and the remaining two pipes, to the other side of the valve box
so that if the current of liquor in 11 and 11ª is flowing towards the machine, the
current of liquor in 11 and 11° is flowing away from the machine.
By changing the position of the valve in the valve box the currents of liquor
may be reversed.
As it is desirable to reverse the currents of the liquor frequently and regularly,
the gearing shown in Fig. 3. Sheet 2 is provided.
In the valve box 14, the openings 18 and 19 are connected to the pump 15 and
the openings 20 and 21 to the supply pipes 11° 11° 11° and 11ª. The butterfly
valve 22 is attached to a spindle 23. and to this spindle a lever 24 is attached
having at the upper end a balance weight 25, the opposite end of the lever 24 is
connected to a rod 26, and to this rod are connected two levers 27 and 28. The
bosses in the centres of the levers 27 & 28 embrace a screwed shaft 29 and this
shaft is driven by the pulleys 30. These pulleys are driven by the open and
crossed belts shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. from the countershaft 17. A
nut 31 runs upon the screwed shaft, and is prevented from turning by a guide rod
at side, not shown on drawing.
The action of the reversing gear is as follows:-With the levers in the positions
shown on drawing, the pulley will be so driven, as to move the nut along the
screwed shaft in the direction of the arrow, in course of time the nut will reach
the lever 28 and will force it back, reversing the position of the lever 24 and the
valve 22. at the same time the forked rod at the top end of the lever 28. will
shift the belts so as to reverse the direction in which the screwed rod revolves, in
the usual manner, causing the nut to travel to the other end of the screwed shaft,
and in course of time come in contact with lever 27, when the valve and belt
shifting gear will be again reversed and the operation continued as before.
There may be any number of trays 6. 6. 6. and any number of sieves 10. 10.10
there are 12 seives, shown in the drawings, these seives may be made of any
suitable material but preferably of tinned sheet steel at the sides, having covers

page_text: both top and bottom, of a tinned steel frame covered with tinned steel wire cloth,
as shown in details in Fig. 4 and 5 Sheet 3, where 35 35 are the sides of the
seive, 36 the frame of cover and 37 the wire cloth. The seives slide freely in and
out of the double trays 6. 6. 6. When the seives are filled with the material to be
dyed and the cage lowered into the vat, the connections are made between the
circulating pipes 7. 7. and the supply pipes 11 11° 11° & 11ª the pump 15 is then
set in motion and the liquor with which the vat. is previously filled is put in
circulation. In consequence of the circulating pipes 7. 7. being connected to
alternate trays the contents of each seive is subjected to the action of a current
of liquor flowing to it from the top and leaving it at the bottom or flowing to
it from the bottom and leaving it at the top as the case may be. When the
position of the valve 22 in the reversing valve box 14 is changed the direction
of all the currents is reversed and the material in the seives is subjected to
the action of a current in the reverse direction. The liquor is heated to the
desired temperature, as it leaves the pump by means of the steam nozzle 16 and is
distributed equally through the whole of the material being operated upon. The
form of the trays is not confined to the double plates. Instead of the double
plates I employ a series of perforated tubes 37* 37* Figs. 6 & 7 Sheet 3 which
take the place of the double perforated plates, the partitions 34 serve as stays for
the tubes; 38. 38, are the hollow boxes or end pipes which are connected to the
circulating pipes 7. 7. by any suitable joint 39. The perforated tubes may be
jointed in any suitable way to the hollow boxes; in the drawing they are shown
as fitting tightly into sockets formed in the boxes to receive them. The seives 10. 10.
slide in above the tubes upon flat ledges formed upon the boxes and stays.
I do not confine myself to the form of circulating pump shown in the drawing,
any form of pumps may be used or the liquor may be circulated by steam jets only.
In another form of apparatus I dispense entirely with the circulating arrange-
ment comprising the pump, pipes and double trays or tubes herein described, and
perform the operation by moving the cage containing the series of seives up and
down in the liquor.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is.
First. A machine or apparatus for dyeing wool, yarn or other material, consisting
of a movable cage or cages, containing a series of perforated trays or tubes, between
which are placed shallow seives or perforated trays containing the material to be
dyed, with circulating pipes and reversing & lifting gears substantially as herein
described.
Second. Any form of apparatus having a series of shallow seives or perforated
trays containing the material to be dyed substantially as herein described and
through which the dyeing liquor is made to circulate.
Dated this 19th day of August 1893.
R. BRUCE ARCHIBALD.
Thos. Dale.