Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to a hlgh pressure steamer
used for dyemg a cloth material under a high temperature and
a high pressure and particularly to a cloth treating high pressure
steamer ~hich allows the treated cloth to make its exit without
being loaded with tension.
In the conventionally known high pressure steamer of
this type, a cloth material which has been impregna~ed with a dye
stuff is introduced into a high temperature, high pressure chamber
to carry out ad~eing treatment under a high temperature and high
pressure. The seal arrangements which are dis~osed at the cloth
material inlet and outlet of the conventional high temperature,
high pressure chamber, or a hi~h pressure steamer, are composed
of many rolls respectively. Whlle the cloth material impregnated
with a dye stuff is passing through the seal arrangement, there
arises no such problems as the effusion of the impregnating dye
stuff because the group of the rolls rotate to forward the cloth
material into the high pressure steamer.
In a previous patent application, the inventor of this
invention proposed a reliable seal arrangement which includes a
liquid seal chamber disposed in the conventional seal arrangement
comprising many rolls. With the seal arrangement of the previous
application applied to the cloth material inlet of a high pressure
steamer, however, the liquid seal chamber tends to cause a dye ~ -
stuff to effuse as a cloth material impregnated with the dye stuff
passes through the seal arrangement. `
Furthermore, when the cloth material to be treated is
knltted fabric or when a felting treatment is to be applied to a
cloth material, the treating cloth material must be continuously
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transported to ensure that the cloth is not loaded with tension.
However, since the cloth materlal i~let and outlet of the con-
ventional high pressure steamer are provided in the upper part
of the steamer drum body, the cloth is pulled up in guiding it
to the outside upon completion of the treatment~ Such a proces
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inevitably causes tension on the cloth material~ In other words,
although no tension is applied to the cloth while it is introduced
into the steamer and travels the inside of the steamer, the cloth
is loaded with tension in the stage of being pulled up to the
outside of the steamer.
An object of this invention is to provide a cloth
treating high pressure steamer wherein the above stated short-
coming of the prior art is eliminated with a liquid seal chamber
not disposed inside a seal arrangement provided at a cloth
material inlet but is disposed inside another seal arrangement
provided at a cloth material outlet to carry out either treatment
with a chemical solution or washing with water inside the liquid
seal chamberO
More specifically stated, at the cloth material inlet
of the high temperature, high pressure steamer, there is provided
a seal arrangement which comprises a combination of seal rolls or
a nip seal, while at the cloth outlet of the steamer, there is
provided another seal arrangement comprising a combination of seal
rolls or a nip seal, these seal arrangements being respectively
positioned on the cloth treati~g high pressure steamer.
In the above described construction of the steamer,
there is provided no liquid seal chamber in the seal arrangement
on the cloth inlet side. This completely precludes the possibility
of the effusion of the dye stuff with which the cloth is impregna-
.
ted. On the other hand, since there is provided a liquid sealchamber inside another seal arrangement disposed on the cloth
outlet side, treatment with a chemical solution or washing with
water ca~ ~e accomplished inside the seal arrangement. -~
Another object of~this~lnvention is to provide a cloth
treating high pressure steamer for a cloth material that requires
treatment without tension. In the steamer, an outlet for a
treated cloth materlal is provided at a height which is equal to
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or lower thar~ the height at which the cloth is trea~ed inside
the high pressure steamer, and a seal arrangement i9 positioned
at the cloth outlet to face downward.
Inside a drum body of the high pressure steamer, there
is provided a conveyer which comprises upper and lower conveyer
parts, both parts extending in a transverse direction. Liquid
reservoirs which serve to give a suitable humidity to the cloth
material to be transported by the conveyer are provided on the
upper part of the conveyer. On the upper part of the outer
circumference of the drum body, there is provided a cloth inlet
which communicates with theinside of the drum body. At the upper
end of the inlet, there is provided a pressure seal arrangement
which allows the cloth to come in but prevents the internal
pressure of the drum body from leaking. Also on the upper part
of the outer circumference of the drum body, there is provided
a cloth outlet on the side opposite to the cloth inlet. The
outlet is disposed at a height not exceeding the height at which
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the cloth is transported. Below -the outlet, there is provided a
pressure seal arrangement whicl~ is facing downward. These pressure
seal arrangements provided on both sides of the outer circumference
of the drum body are of the same construction as those of the
steamer described in the foregoing as the first o~ject of this
invention. Their functions and operations are also the same as
those described in the description of the first object of this
invention. ~ water washing chamber is provided in the lower part
of the seal arrangement. Inside the water washing chamber, there ~ `
are provided a pair of upper and lower conveying means which carry
the traveling cloth to the outside. Those and further objects,
features and advantages of this in~ention will become apparent
from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments
taken in connection with the accompan~ing drawings.
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In accordance with one embodiment, a high pressure
steamer for treating a cloth material comprises a high temp-
erature~ high pressure chamber which is provided with many
guide rolls arranged in upper and lower rows for guiding a
cloth material in a zigzag manner9 water reservoirs arranged
in ~uitable positions for moistening said cloth material while
the cloth material is being transported by said guide rO119
and a high temperature, high pressure drum body equipped wit~
a drip tray disposed in the upper part thereof, a seal arrang-
ement consisting of a pressure reducing chamber disposed at
a cloth material inlet of said drum body and a nip seal or roll .
seal assembly which is disposed above said pressure reducing
chamber with compressed air inlet ports provided therein,
said seal arrangement being disposed on the cloth material in- :
let side, and another seal arrangement which is disposed on ;
the cloth material outlet side, said cloth outlet seal
arrangement consisting of a liquid seal chamber disposed at
the cloth material outlet of said drum body and a nip seal or :
roll seal assembly which is provided with compressed air inlet
ports above said liquid seal chamber. ~:
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The accOmpanying drawings Figure 1 through Figure 3
are sectional views illustrating embodiments of this invention
respectively~ :
FIGURE 1 illustrates an embodiment of thlsinvention,
FIGURE 2 another embodiment, and
FIGURE 3 a still other embodlment which is suitable
for a high pressure, no-tension treating
process.
EXAMPLE 1
In Figure 1, the reference numeral 1 indicates a drum : :
body which forms a high temperature, high pressure chamber. Many
guide roLls 3 are provided in~side the drum body to make a cloth
material travel up and down over these guide rolls. In addition
to these guide rolls 3, there are also provided water reservoirs
4 inside the drum body 1 to moisten the cloth material 2. ~he .,
reference numeral 5 indicates a drip tray, 6 a cloth inlet seal ~ ~,
arrangement provided at an inlet 7 or the cloth 2, and. 8 a cloth
outlet seal arrangement which is provided at an outlet 9 of the
drum body ~
The cloth inlet seal arrangement 6 comprises a pressure
reducing chamber 13 which has multiple upper and lower valve seats
10 and a steam discharge port 11 and a nip seal assembly 16. The
nip seal assembly 16 consists o~ upper and l.ower nip seal members
13 which are arranged on the left and right sides in such a manner .~ '
that theleft and right members expand to come into contact with,
,
each other when air is supplied to them and compressed air inlet
ports 14 which are provided between the upper and lower nip seal
members and beneath the lower nip seal members. The other seal
arrangement 8, which is provided on the cloth outlet side,
30 'comprises a liquid seal chamber 15 communicating with the cloth '~'
outlet 9 and a nip seal assembly 16 provided above the liquid
seal chamber 15. The nip seal assembly 16 is identical with , , ,
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that of ~he clo~h inlet seal arrangement 6 and comprises upper
and lower nip seal members 13 and compressed air inlet ports 14
which are also provided between the upper and lower nip seal
members and beneath the lower nip seal members. The liquid seal
chamber 15 is provided with a water supply port 17 and a water
discharge port 18.
The seal arrangement 6 which is constructed as cles-
cribed i.n the foregoing and disposed on the cloth inlet side
serves to seal the cloth inlet 7 through the actions of air
pressure supplied through the compressed air inlet ports 1~,
nip seal members 13 and a pressure reducing chamber 12. The
other seal arrangement 8 which is disposed on the cloth outlet
side seals the cloth outlet 9 through the actions of air pressure,
nip seal members 13 and the liq~id seal chamber 15. `
With sealing effected as described above, the cloth 2
which passes through the seal arrangement 6 on the cloth inlet
side is introduced into the high temperature, high pressure
chamber 1 neither being immersed in a liquid nor being impregnated
with a liquid. Therefore, the arrangement is suitable for passing
a cloth material which has been impregnated with a dye stuff.
When the cloth is passing through the cloth outlet seal arrangement
8, the cloth 2 is impregnated with a liquid (washing water in this
particular embodiment) contained ln the liquid seal chamber 15, so
that the washing treatment can be continuously carried out for
the cloth which has been subjected to a dyeing process inside the
high temperature, high pressure chamber. Thus, a preliminary
washing treatment can be accomplished for the cloth -through this
cloth outlet seal arrangement.
EXAMPI.E 2
Referring to Figure 2, the nip seal assemblies 16, ~;
which are employed in Example 1 are replaced with roll seal
assemblies 20 in this embodiment (~xample 2) as illustrated in
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Figure 2. Each of the roll seal assembly 20 comprises a
mutually pressing pair of rolls. With the exception of this,
other cons-tituent members and the overall structure are identical
with those of Example 1.
In ~oth Examples 1 and 2, -the pressure reducing chamber
12 which constitutes a part of the clot,h inlet seal arrangement
serves to protect the roll seal members or nip seal mernbers from
being heated to ensure the increased durability of the seal
arrangement.
EXAMPLE 3
In Figure 3 which illustrates another embodiment, a
conveyer 2 is arranged in the transverse direction inside the
drum body 1 of the high pressure steamer. ~iquid reservoirs 4
are disposed over the conveyer 2 to give a sui-table'degree of
moisture to a cloth material 3 being processed while itis being ' '~
transported by the conveyer 2. Above the drum body 1, there is
provided an inlet 5 for the cloth to be processed. In the upper
part of the inlet 5, there is provided a pressure seal arrangement ~;
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6 which allows the cloth to enter but prevents the ~ressure '
inside the drum body 1 from leaking. This pressure seal arrange-
ment 6 is of the same construction as that of Example 2. An
outlet 7 for the cloth 3 is provided on the outer circumference
of the drum body 1 either at about the same height as or lower
than the height at which the cloth 3 is transported by the con- '
veyer 2. Beneath the outlet-7, there is provided a pressure seal '
arrangement 8 which faces downward and is of the same construction
and functions as the other seal arrangement 6 which is provided ;-
on the cloth inlet side. In the lower part of the seal arrange- ~ ',
ment 8, there is provided a water washlng chamber ~ which contains
a pair of upper and lower conveyers 10 for transporting the
cloth which has come out~of the drum body l after,completion of
the treatment carried ou. U ere
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The high pressure steamer of Example 3 operates as
follows: The clot'h material to be processed ls introduced into
the drum body 1 through the pressure seal arrangement 6. The
clo-th is then subjected to a desired treatment under high
temperature and high pressure while being transported by the
conveyer 2. Upon completion of the treatment, t'he cl.oth is
guided to the outside of the drum body 1 through the outlet 7
and the pressure seal arrangement ~. The above described
operation includes no step at ~hich the cloth being treated is :
pulled up while the cloth is bei.ng guided from the inside of the
drum body 1 to the outside through the pressure seal arrangement . ',
8. The cloth 3 is thus free from being lo'aded with any tension ,~
during the operation, so that the purpose of the operation can ,',
be attained as desired. This embodiment is therefore suitable
for the no-tension treatment of a cloth material under high ,
~r~ssule.
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