IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING, STEAMING, AND AGEING APPARATUS FOR WOVEN FABRICS AND YARNS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Smith, Engineer to Messieurs Walter Crum and
Company, of Thornliebank, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING, STEAMING, AND AGEING APPARATUS
FOR WOVEN FABRICS AND YARNS."
Sealed the 13th June 1878, and dated the 28th December 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Smith at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th December 1877.
JAMES SMITH, Engineer to Messieurs Walter Crum and Company, of Thornlie-
bank, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING,
STEAMING, AND AGEING APPARATUS FOR WOVEN FABRICS AND YARNS."
This Invention has for its object to secure continuity and uniformity of action
and generally improved results in drying woven fabrics and yarns by means of
improved apparatus which occupies a comparatively small space, and is easily and
conveniently worked.
The improved apparatus may be advantageously used for drying goods that have
been either washed, or dyed, or starched, or printed, or steamed, and it comprises
improved parts or arrangements which are also advantageously applicable in steaming
and ageing apparatus.
In carrying out the Invention according to one modification a box or chamber is
constructed of a rectangular form, and of such a size that each part of the fabric in
passing from the inlet to the outlet will occupy the time necessary for completing
the drying process.
Apparatus, by preference such as is herein-after described, is provided for admitting
or delivering heated air by numerous apertures into the lower part of the box, and
this heated air rising in a uniform current up through the box escapes through a
hooded outlet at the top, such outlet being by preference arranged at the side or
sides, and so as to avoid the risk of moisture dropping on the goods. Whilst in the
box the fabric is suspended in long vertical loops or loose folds on rods, the ends of

page_text: which rest on two parallel endless chains placed horizontally at the top of the box
The chains have a slow progressive motion, and carry the rods with the folds of
fabric hanging from them slowly from the entering to the delivering end of the
box.
The fabric is guided and fed by rollers or reels from a beam, or from whatever
apparatus it has just previously been subjected to, so as to enter the box con-
tinuously, and as the quantity to form each vertical loop or fold is supplied a fresh
rod is moved forward so that the fabric may turn over it and commence the next
loop or fold. The rods are supplied to the chains in the box by a pair of inclined
endless chains at the entering end, these inclined chains having hooks which pick
up the rods in succession from a reversely inclined board or pair of guides, on which
they are placed by hand. At the outlet end of the box the fabric is drawn out con.
tinuously at the same rate as that at which it was entered, and the rods are led off
the chains by inclined guides.
When the goods have been printed or are otherwise in a condition rendering it
desirable to avoid the possibility of the folds touching each other, the several rates
of the progressive chains of the rod entering chains, and of the fabric feeding rollers
or reels are adjusted so as to keep the rods twelve inches or other sufficient distance
apart, but in other cases the several rates may be adjusted so that the rods will be
much closer together.
In a second modification the rods are carried and moved progressively through
the chamber by two horizontal screw shafts, the ends of the rods lying between the
projecting screw threads of the shafts.
Where very large quantities of goods have to be dealt with simultaneously the
apparatus may be arranged for taking in and moving through the chamber two
lines of the goods, in which case the rods may be long enough for the two widths of
fabrics, and may be moved by a single endless chain or screw shaft in the middle,
the ends resting and moving on fixed guides.
The apparatus preferred for heating the air consists of a rectangular iron chest
placed at the bottom of the drying box or chamber, and fitted with a number of
vertical tubes, up through which the air passes from below, whilst steam is admitted
to the interior of the chest so as to surround the tubes. The air may be passed
through the apparatus by means of a fan or other blowing or exhausting apparatus,
or by draught.
When the apparatus is made or used for ageing purposes the air requires to be
only moderately heated, whilst provision has to be made for mixing a little steam
with it.
The herein-before described arrangement of screw shafts for moving the rods
through the chamber is applicable to steaming apparatus of the kind described in
the Specification of Letters Patent granted to the present applicant, and dated
10 April 1875 (No. 1303).

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th June
1878.
JAMES SMITH, Engineer to Messieurs Walter Crum and Company, of Thornlie-
bank, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRYING,
STEAMING, AND AGEING APPARATUS FOR WOVEN FABRICS AND YARNS."
My said Invention has for its object to secure continuity and uniformity of
action, and generally improved results in drying woven fabrics and yarns by means
of improved apparatus which occupies a comparatively small space, and is easily
and conveniently worked.
My improved apparatus may be advantageously used for drying goods that have
been either washed, or dyed, or starched, or printed, or steamed, and it comprises
improved parts or arrangements which are also advantageously applicable in
steaming and ageing apparatus.
In carrying out my Invention according to one modification a box or drying
chamber is constructed of a rectangular form, and of such a size that each part of
the fabric in passing from the inlet to the outlet in a continuous manner will occupy
the time necessary for completing the drying process.
Apparatus is provided for admitting or delivering heated air into the box at the
lower part in one modification, and this heated air passing vertically through the
box in a uniform current escapes at one or more outlets, the inlets and outlets being
arranged so as to avoid the risk of moisture dropping on the goods. Whilst in the
box or drying chamber the goods when consisting of woven fabrics are suspended in
long vertical loops or loose folds on rods, the ends of which rest on two parallel
endless chains placed horizontally at the top of the box. The two endless chains
are arranged like those for a similar purpose described in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to me, and dated 10 April 1875 (No. 1303), and have a slow pro-
gressive motion so as to carry the rods with the folds of fabric hanging from them
slowly from the entering end to the opposite end of the box or chamber.
The fabric is guided and fed by rollers or reels from a beam, or from whatever
apparatus it has just previously been subjected to, so as to enter the box continu-
ously, and as the quantity to form each vertical loop or fold is supplied a fresh rod
is moved forward, so that the fabric may turn over it and commence the next loop
or fold. The rods may be supplied to the endless chains in the box in the manner
described in my earlier Specification herein-before referred to, that is to say, by means
of a pair of inclined endless chains at the entering end, these inclined endless chains
having hooks which pick up the rods in succession from a reversely inclined board
or pair of guides, on which they are placed by hand; or the rods may be supplied by
mechanism of the kind herein-after described, and which is a simplified modification
of the rod entering mechanism just described. At the end of the box opposite that
where the fabric is put on the rods it is drawn off them continuously at the same
rate as that at which it enters, and the rods are led off the chains by inclined
guides.
When the goods have been printed or are otherwise in a condition rendering it
desirable to avoid the possibility of the folds touching each other, the several rates
of the progressive chains of the rod entering mechanism, and of the fabric feeding
and withdrawing rollers or reels, are adjusted so as to keep the rods twelve inches
or other sufficient distance apart, but in other cases the several rates may be adjusted
so that the rods will be much closer together.
In a second modification of my improved drying apparatus the rods are carried
and moved progressively through the box or drying chamber by two horizontal
screw shafts, the ends of the rods lying between the projecting screw threads of
the shafts.
Where very large quantities of goods have to be dealt with simultaneously the

page_text: apparatus may be arranged for taking in and moving through the chamber two
lines of the goods, in which case the rods may be long enough for the two widths of
woven fabric or two sets of yarn hanks, and may be moved by a single endless
chain or screw shaft in the middle, the ends if necessary resting and moving on fixed
guides.
The apparatus for heating the air consists, according to one modification appli-
cable when the air is admitted below and passes off above, of a rectangular iron
chest placed at the bottom of the drying box or chamber, and fitted with a number
of vertical tubes, up through which the air passes, whilst steam or hot water is
admitted to the interior of the chest so as to surround the tubes. The air may be
passed through the apparatus by means of a fan or other blowing or exhausting
apparatus, or by draught.
Instead of the air passing through tubes in the steam chest it may be made to
traverse over or across tubes through which steam or hot water is passed; and when
it is preferred that the hot air current should pass downwards the heating apparatus
should be erected at the top of the chamber; or it may in some cases be more con-
venient to arrange the heating apparatus outside of or apart from the drying box or
chamber, whether the current passes upwards or downwards in that box or
chamber.
When the apparatus is made or used for ageing purposes the air requires to be
only moderately heated whilst provision has to be made for mixing a little steam
with it.
The herein-before described arrangement of screw shafts for moving the rods
through the chamber is applicable to steaming apparatus of the kind described in
my earlier Specification herein-before referred to.
And in order that my present Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append four Sheets of explanatory Drawings,
to be herein-after referred to, and representing modifications of my improved
apparatus.
In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like
parts wherever they are repeated.
Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings, are longitudinal and
transverse vertical sections of one modification of my improved drying apparatus ;
and Figure 2, on Sheet 2, is a horizontal section. The chamber is represented as
occupying two floors of a building, the upper part being built up of cast-iron plates
1, 2, 3, 4, resting on the upper floor 5, whilst the lower part is a simple wooden
casing 6, extending down to the lower floor. The woven fabric, which is shown by
peculiarly dotted lines, enters the chamber at the end which is to the left hand in
Figure 1, and is withdrawn from the other end at the same rate as that at which it
enters, the entry and withdrawal both taking place by preference in a vertical
direction. In this modification the rods 7, which carry the loops or folds of fabric
from one end of the chamber to the other, are carried by two shafts 8 formed with
deep screw threads, between which the rod ends lie, and which move them progres-
sively along. The two screw shafts 8 are respectively right-handed and left-handed,
so that their transverse frictional actions on the rods 7 neutralise each other, and
these shafts 8 are carried in bearings upon the end plates 4 of the upper part of the
chamber, being driven by bevil wheels 9 from a transverse horizontal shaft 10, which
is driven by bevil wheels 11 from a vertical shaft 12, receiving its motion in any
convenient way from a prime mover. The vertical shaft 12, by bevil wheels 13,
drives a reel 14, which leads the woven fabric down into the chamber. The rods 7
are entered at regular intervals by a pair of short arms 15 on the shafts 10, these
arms lifting a rod at a time from the lower end of a series of rods 7, laid by hand
on inclined guides 16, and passing it over curved guides 17, which lead it into its
place upon the screw shafts 8 inside the chamber. As each rod 7 starts on its
traverse through the chamber it passes under a bar or roller 18, carried by a pair
of levers 19 on a rocking shaft, which bar or roller prevents the greater weight of

page_text: the last completed loop of the fabric from drawing the uncompleted fresh loop over
the rod. At the further ends of the screw shafts 8 the rods 7 pass out upon inclined
guides 20, from which they are removed by hand.
In the modification of my drying apparatus presently being described, the
heated air current is made to move downwards, entering by a duct 21 at the centre
of the roof 1, 2. The air is heated by passing through between a number of hori-
zontal tubes 22, having steam inside of them, these tubes being fixed in two vertical
end casings 23, 24, provided with pipes for the ingress of the steam and for the
egress of the water of condensation, and of as much steam as will insure proper
currents through the tubes. At the bottom of the chamber there are placed a
number of triangular pipes 25, connected to end casings 26, 27, and cooling water is
passed through these casings and the pipes so as to condense the moisture carried down
by the air, such moisture collecting in gutters 28 placed below the triangular pipes 25,
and draining off thereby. The cooling water is regulated so as not to cool the air
more than is necessary to condense from it the moisture it has gathered from the
goods that are being dried. The air passes off from the chamber by a duct 29,
leading to a blowing fan 30, which forces it by the duct 21 to the top of the
chamber again, so that any heat remaining in it is utilised.
The modification of my improved drying apparatus herein-before referred to, in
which the rods (7) are carried and moved through the chamber by endless chains is,
excepting the chains and parts immediately connected therewith, the same as
that herein-before described with reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, of the accompanying
Drawings; and the general arrangement of the chains being the same as that
described in my earlier Specification herein-before referred to, does not require a
full and particular description here.
Figure 4 on Sheet 2 of the accompanying Drawings, is however, a partial longi-
tudinal vertical section showing one of the endless chains 31 at the entering end of
the drying box or chamber, and this Figure also shows a star wheel 32, which on
account of the different speed of the transverse shaft 10 has to be substituted for
the pair of short arms (15, Figures 1, 3), for lifting up the rods 7 in succession upon
the inclined guides 17, by which they are led to their places on the endless
chains.
Figures 5 and 6, on Sheet 3 of the accompanying Drawings, are longitudinal and
transverse vertical sections of a steaming chamber as fitted with my improved
mechanism for moving the rods (7) through it; and Figures 7 and 8, on Sheet 4,
are respectively a partial side elevation and a horizontal section.
In this example
the lower part of the chamber is represented as constructed of brickwork, but the
upper part is constructed with cast-iron plates 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 3, of which
those, 35, 36, over the opposite ends, and the vertical plates 37, 38, at the ends of
the chamber are made hollow to be filled with steam or heated air or gas to assist
in maintaining the proper temperature and prevent condensation inside the chamber.
The part through which the fabric travels may be covered with a flat roof or cover
consisting of metal casing into which steam is admitted to prevent drops due to
condensation from falling on the fabric, as described in my earlier Specification
herein-before referred to. I have, however, in the example presently being
described, shown a peaked roof with the sides 33 inclined with sufficient steepness
to insure that any condensed moisture will not drop off them, but run down to the
sides of the chamber; and in addition there is suspended immediately below the
ridge of the roof a steam pipe 39, with a concave upper external surface to intercept
any drops that may fall from beneath the ridge. Horizontal steam pipes 40 are
placed at the bottom of the chamber, with perforations along their inner sides for
supplying to and distributing in the chamber the steam employed in the operation.
Exit funnels 41 for the escape of steam are fitted to the roof ends 3+, and are fitted
with throttle valves, by means of which the egress of the steam can be regulated.
As it is desirable to have the steaming chamber comparatively longer than that
for drying, and as this necessitates longer screw shafts 8, it becomes necessary to
support such shafts at one or more points between their extreme ends, and each

page_text: shaft may be made in one or more lengths joined together. The shafts are tubular,
and the lengths may be united by means of plug pieces entering the two adjacent
ends. One mode of supporting each screw shaft 8 between its ends is shown in
Figures, 5, 6, 8. At the part to be supported the screw threads are made thicker
so as to present broader circumferential surfaces, and these broad surfaces rest and
turn in semi-cylindrical bearings formed in brackets 42 fixed to the sides of the
chamber.
According to another plan shown in Figure 9 there is beneath each screw shaft 8,
at the part to be supported, a drum 43, on which the body of the screw shaft
rests, and which is formed with reversed screw grooves to receive the thread of the
screw shaft 8. The drum 43 rotates with the screw shaft 8, being carried by end
journals in bearings on a fixed bracket 44. There may be two such bearing drums
43 at or near the part to be supported, and placed a little on opposite sides of the
bottom line of the screw shaft 8.
The fabric enters the steaming chamber between a pair of rollers 46, which close
the entrance opening, and each fresh fold or loop is prevented from being drawn
over the preceding rod by the weight of the preceding fold, by means of a few legs
47, each having a number of points at its feet so as to touch the fabric as little as
possible. These legs 47 are suspended on a rod carried by levers 19 on a rocking
shaft, and do not interfere with the progressive movement of the rod. As the steamed
fabric is being drawn off the rods it may be led directly upwards and out through
an opening 48 at that end of the chamber, or when more convenient it may be led
over a guide roller 49, thence towards the entering end, and out through an opening
50, in the vertical end plate 34 of the roof, the plate being formed with steam
spaces above and below the opening to prevent markings from condensed
moisture.
When my improved apparatus is arranged for drying yarn in hanks the height of
the chamber is reduced, and the endless chambers (31), or the screw shafts (8), are
extended a little beyond each end of the chamber, so that the rods (7), with the
hanks previously strung on them, may be conveniently placed by hand on such
chains or shafts at the entering end, and so that the rods with the hanks on them
may be conveniently removed by hand on leaving the other end of the chamber.
The chamber ends are open below the level of the rods to a sufficient depth to
allow the hanks to pass in and out; but as when the apparatus is in operation
there will always be banks entering or going out at the openings, these openings
will be thereby practically nearly closed, whilst they may be fitted with doors to
be closed at the discharge end until the first of a series of hanks reach that end,
and to be closed at the entrance end immediately after the last of the series of
hanks have entered.
necessary.
By another modification the yarns may be dealt with in the "chain" or warp
form, and be entered into, passed through, and withdrawn from the chamber in
manner like
the woven fabric, but with the rods pitched further apart if
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details
herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and original, and
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
1. The combining of a system of loose rods, carrying vertical loops or folds of
woven fabric, and moved progressively along a chamber with appliances for entering
and withdrawing the fabric, and for passing heated air through the chamber to dry
the fabric, substantially such as are herein-before described.
2. The combining of rods with one or more screw shafts arranged to move such
rods progressively through a chamber for drying, ageing, or steaming woven fabrics
or yarns substantially as herein-before described.
3. The combining of a system of loose rods carrying yarn in banks or other
suitable form, and moved progressively along a chamber, with appliances for passing

page_text: heated air through the chamber to dry the yarn, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JAMES SMITH. (L.S.)