Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Mercerising Hanks and Skeins in the Stretched Condition.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 5th May, 1898-Accepted, 2nd July, 1898.
French Republic, Engineer.]
Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Mercerising
Hanks and Skeins in the Stretched Condition.
I, WILLIAM GEORGE HEYS, of 70, Market Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Hanks and skeins of yarn and thread are mercerised in the stretched condition
for the purpose of producing a silky or lustrous effect. The operation includes
treatment with the mercerising liquid and a subsequent washing or treatment to
remove or neutralise the mercerising liquid, the yarn being stretched until the
operation is complete. According to my present invention I arrange that the
fluids used in the operation shall pass through the thickness of the yarn or threads
by aspiration as hereinafter described.
The hanks or skeins are arranged upon pairs of rollers between which they are
stretched, and they are kept in motion by means of gearing which drives one of
the rollers. The wall of one of the rollers is pierced and its interior communicates
with a chamber or chambers in which a more or less complete vacuum can be pro-
duced. Above that roller is a system of jets through which the mercerising liquid
and subsequently the washing or neutralising fluid can he supplied to the sur-
face of the yarn or thread upon the roller. The fluid is sucked through the
material to be treated and then passes to the vacuum chamber whence it may be
removed for re-use.
I will more particularly describe the said invention as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 indicates a front elevation partly in section.
Figure 2 shews a side elevation also partly in section and
Figure 3, a plan view.
The more prominent parts of the machine constructed to carry out this inven-
tion are two frames A B the upper one of which is supported and the lower of
which is guided by the four columns C C, fixed upon the base D of the apparatus.
The lower frame B may be moved vertically so as to produce the necessary stretch-
ing and relaxation of the yarn or thread. This motion is obtained by carrying
the frame B upon the upper end of a vertical screw E mounted in the base D and
rotated by gearing also contained within the base. This gearing is driven from
a shaft on which the pulleys F G H are mounted. H is a loose pulley: F is a
fast pulley and when the belt is on it the screw is rotated thereby to raise the
frame B and G also is a fast pulley which similarly serves to lower the frame.
The construction of the necessary gearing is commonly used for other purposes
and is well understood. The strap fork may be arranged so as to be brought
into action when the frame B reaches certain points which may be varied.
The lower rollers of each pair each consists of a plain metal shaft I I mounted

page_text: and running freely in the frame B. The upper rollers J J are provided with_end
flanges c d, and are formed upon a hollow shaft running upon the fixed shaft KK.
The ends of this shaft are bored and fitted with the inlet pipes P P. The hollow
roller shafts are rotated by means of worms and worm wheels M N, the worms N N
being fixed upon the shaft upon which the pulleys 0 0 are fixed. One of these
pulleys is fast and the other loose upon the shaft. The worms and the worm
wheels are so constructed that in the case of two pairs of rollers, the upper roller
of one pair is driven in an opposite direction to that of the similar roller of the
next pair. Each of these rollers rotates in a direction over towards the next roller
as indicated by the angles of the worms, Figure 1.
The treatment of the yarn or thread is effected upon the upper arcs of the
upper rollers. For this purpose the walls of the rollers between the end flanges
are pierced with a number of holes which are preferably arranged in' quincunxes,
that is to say so that the holes in one circle break pitch with the holes in the next
circles, so that a moderately thin plane parallel with and cutting the axis of the
shaft K will include some of the holes. When any of these holes arrive in the
highest point of the revolution of the roller they come in line with a slot through
which they communicate with the bored ends gg in the shaft K K. The canals gg
in turn, communicate by means of the system of pipes P P with the reservoir Q
in which a more or less complete vacuum is produced and maintained by an
ejector, pump, or other known means. The same canals g g, also communicate
through the pipe system P¹ P¹ with a second vacuum chamber Qin which a vacuum
can also be produced and maintained as required, as in the chamber Q Either
system of pipes may be put into or out of communication with its respective
chamber by the valves YY. The mercerising liquid is contained in a tank R,
and the water or neutralising liquid in a tank R₁, each of which communicates
with a horizontal pipe S S on which the series of jets T T is arranged and either
of which can have its communication opened or closed by the valves X X. Below
the jets T T there are scrapers U U which are normally nearly horizontal, with
a slight downward inclination towards the rollers J J which they may touch.
Above the jets, each of which can be controlled by a small cock, there is arranged
a series of corresponding prickers hh, held up, as shewn by the spiral springs.
In the event of any jet becoming choked it may be cleared by depressing the
corresponding pricker.
The scrapers UU are each mounted upon a fulcrum k, which also carries the
counterweighted lever V, adapted to hold the scrapers up and out of contact with
its roller as indicated to the left of Figure 1, when the hanks are being removed
or replaced.
The hanks being stretched upon their rollers and the apparatus being put in
motion, the valves X and Y on the mercerising system are opened and mercerisa-
tion takes place. This being completed the same valves are closed and the corres-
ponding valves of the washing or neutralising system are opened. The stretching
of the yarn or thread is maintained until the mercerising liquid has been removed
or neutralised, as is well understood.
It will be seen that the liquid falling through the jets T T falls upon the
scrapers and descends upon the material upon the rollers through which it is sucked
by the vacuum more or less complete in the chamber Q or Q¹
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:
1. The hereinbefore described method of treating yarns and threads in hanks
or skeins which consist in maintaining the yarns or threads in a stretched con-
dition on a pair of rotating rollers one of which is perforated, and in drawing
through the material upon the perforated roller first a mercerising liquid and
second water or a neutralising liquid, substantially as herein before described with
reference to the accompanying drawings.

page_text: 2. Apparatus for effecting the treatments of yarn and thread in hanks as set
forth in the preceding claim, constructed arranged and operated substantially as
hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
3. In apparatus for effecting the treatment of yarn and thread in hanks and
skeins as set forth in the first preceding claim, and in which the yarn or thread
is stretched upon rollers, constructing one of the rollers with a perforated circum-
ference surrounding a hollow interior which is in communication with a vacuum
chamber, and arranging the supply of liquid to that roller in such a manner that
the liquid is drawn through the material on the roller and its perforated wall to
the vacuum chamber, substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated
by the accompanying drawings.