Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~0098~2
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
Treatment Unit of Cloth and Treatment Apparatus
Incorporating the Unit
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an apparatus for
treating a clotll and a treatment unit of cloth forming the
apparatus, for use in dyeing process of a cloth, for
example, in which dyestuff or pigment is f ixed to the
cloth by steaming or heating after printing on the cloth,
otherwise a cloth is dipped in a solution of dyestuff,
resin or other chemicals to be impregnated therewith, or
dyestuff, resin or chemicals are physically or chemically
fixed to the cloth by steaming or heating after drying or
without drying, thereby changing the characteristics of
the cloth.
2. Description of prior art:
In the dyeing process of an elongated cloth, for
continuously carrying out such treatment as fixing of
dyestuff, pigment or resin to the cloth, or reforming the
cloth with chemicals, it has been popular to employ such a
device as continuous steamer using saturated steam or
superheated steam, heat setter using heated air, etc.
Any of those conventionally used devices comprises a
box-shaped housing in which every essential element is
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incor~ol^ated. ~ al: is, incorporated in this housing are a
plurality o~ guide rollers for guiding and carrying a
clo-th to be treated, steam supply means and heated air
supply means each Eor application of a required treatment
by providing saturated steam, superheated steam, heated
air, etc. I-t may be said that housing of the conventional
apparatus is very large in dimensions and scale to be
capable oE performing a treatment ~t high speed or a
treatment for a long fime.
In the mentioned known continuous steamer, heat
setter, etc. used ~s a treatment apparatus of cloth, steam
or heated air is supplied to the housing so -that a cloth
may be treated with such steam or air with which the whole
housing is filled. As mentioned above, the conventional
apparatus comprises a housing whose internal part forms a
single chamber, and moreover the housing is very large in
dimensions. Therefore, some cloths are treated with
excessive energy given from s-team or heated air which is
more than requlred. More specifically, for treating a
thin cloth or~a cloth of light material, or for finishing
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a~cloth~dyed with light~color, actually such treatment can
be sufficiently achieved by rather gentle treatment condi-
tions. Nevertheless, the entire housing should be filled
with steam or heated air ]ust for uniform distribution of
energy,~ which is a disadvantage from the economical point
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oE view.
Since the conventional treatment apparatus is formed
into one box-shaped housing as a whole and the box is
large in dimensions to be capable of performing mass
treatment as mentioned above, such conventional apparatus
is not suitable for treatment o~ varieties of products
devided into small lots. More specifically, there exist
disadvantages such that it takes a long time for rising
the apparatus to start or for changing some treatment
condition to a different one, eventually resulting in poor
efficiency of the operation of the apparatus.
Further, in the treatment of fixing by steaming a
deystuff to a printed cloth composed of cotton, rayon or
mixture thereof or to a cloth preliminarily dried after
dyestuff padding treatment, it is necessary for such cloth
to contain a certain extent of moisture. In addition to
the moisture contained in the cloth before putting it in a
steamer, a further moisture is given to the cloth in the
form of a condensed water which is transformed from steam
in the steamer and condensed on the cloth surface due to
temperature of the cloth lower than that in the steamer.
In this manner, latent heat of the steam is radiated
thereby increasing the temperature of the cloth to
accelerate the steaming. However, if temperature of the
cloth is high at the time of carrying the cloth in the
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appara~us due to heat residual and kept over from the
printing process or dyestuff pading process, amount of the
mentioned condense moisture to be given to the cloth at
the stage after carrying the cloth in is reduced and
moisture contained in the cloth is deficient, which
eventually results in undesirable poor coloring on the
product after the treatment. To avoid such a problem, it
has been conventional to employ a device separate from the
steamer by which cool air is blown against the cloth or
water is sprayed on the cloth as a preliminarily step.
Thus, cooling of the cloth or supplying the cloth with
moisture has been a necessary step previous to the
steaming. This is because the conventional steamer can
perform its function only on one uniform condition. It is
very troublesome to carry out the mentioned preliminary
step separately from the steaming, and moreover the
separate device requires its installation space. In the
steamer wherein moisture is partially discharged from the
cloth, because of large dimensions of the housing forming
a single chamber, a situation not easy to control treat-
ment conditions may sometimes come out in the housing
including a portion where steamn is dry, a portion where
temperature is high due to heat generated by reaction of
chemicals contained in the cloth. As a result, it is
often the case to bring about irregular coloring, which is
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a further problem from the viewpoint of quality.
A]so in the conventional heat setter using heated
air, treatment conditions in the housing is set to an
uniform one, and therefore temperature of cloth is obliged
to increase little by little taking a long time. That is,
temperature of the cloth can reach a required level just
after passing a certain time after carrying the cloth in
the housing, which is a further aspect of poor efficiency.
Generally speaking, it take a long time for a treat-
ment apparatus of large dimensions to be manufactured,installed and put into operation. Furthermore, since the
conventional apparatus is formed into a box-shaped housing
forming a single chamber, operation of the whole apparatus
must be stopped even if some trouble occur only in a part
of the apparatus, resulting in reduction in rate of
operation.
SUMMA~Y OF THE INVENTION
The present invetion was made to ovecome the above-
discussed problems and has an object of providing a
treatment apparatus of cloth which is not formed into one
box-shaped housing forming a single chamber but formed by
a plurality of treatment units combined one another.
To accomplish the foregoing object, the treatment
unit of cloth in accordance with the present invention
comprises: a box-shaped housing having an entrance for
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carrying a cloth in on one side and an exit for carrying
the cloth out on the other side; a guide roller on which
the cloth is put and transferred from said entrance to the
exit; and treatment means for performing a required
treatment by supplying the cloth with saturated steam,
superheated steam, heated air, cool air, etc.
It is preferabe that a plurality of guide rollers
forming several pairs and each serving as an electrode are
provided in the housing of each treatment unit, and
wherein each electrode is connected to a power source so
that a positive voltage is applied to one of each pair of
said guide rollers while a negative voltage is applied to
the other of each pair, and a current is applied to a
cloth dipped in a treating solution (electrolytic
solution) to be impregnated therewith and bridged over
between said pair of guide rollers by way of the solution
to exnibit a current effect such as heat generation
thereby performing a required treatment.
It is also preferable that a pularity of treatment
units of above construction forming a treatment apparatus
are arranged side by side in such a manner that, in the
treatment units adjacent each other, a side having an exit
for carrying a cloth out joins to a side having an
entrance for carrying a cloth in thus each treatment unit
being able to be recombinated.
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lt is ~referable that a plurality of treatment units
in which nature and conditions of treatment are common are
combined to form a treatment apparatus. It is also that a
plurality of treatment units in which nature and condi-
tions of treatment are different are combined to form atretment apparatus.
In the treatment unit of above construction, during
a period of time when a cloth carried in through the
entrance provided on one side of the housing is guided by
the guide rollers and sent out through the exit provided
on the other side of the housing, the cloth is subject to
a required treatment while being exposed to saturated
steam, superheated steam, heated air, cooling air, etc.
In the treatment unit in which a plurality of guide
rollers forming several pairs and each serving as an
electrode are provided in the housing of the treatment
unit so that a positive voltage is applied to one of each
pair of said guide rollers while a negative voltage is
applied to the other of each pair, and that a current is
applied to a cloth dipped in a treating solution (electro-
lytic solution) to be impregnated therewith and bridged
over between said pair of guide rollers by way of the
solution, chemical reaction is accelerated by the current
; ~ applied to the cloth impregnated with the solutio~, thus a
required treatment being performed.
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In -the treatment apparatus of cloth comprising an
optimum number of combined treatment units in which nature
and conditions of treatment applied to a cloth are commmon
considering kind, nature and characteristic of a cloth to
be treated and with positions of their entrance and exit
cincident in the adjacent treatment units as mentioned
above, an energy required for the intended treatment is
appropriately given by steam or heated air supplied into
the housing. If time necessary for rising the apparatus
to start or other condition of treatment is to be changed,
time necessary for transition to a changed condition of
treatment is minimized by adjusting the number of
treatment units arrranged side by side.
In the treatment apparatus of cloth comprising a
plurality of combined treatment units in which nature and
conditions of treatment applied to a cloth are different
from each other, a series of treatments including pre-
treatment can be continuously carried out by a single
treatment apparatus. Since the treatment apparatus is
formed of plural box-shaped compartments of small dimen-
sions, treatment condition can be controlled by each
compartment (housing), which permits exact control over
each section of the apparatus. Because temperature
condition can be set for each housing forming a treatment
unit, it is now possible to increase largely the tempera-
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ture of clotll at once to obtain a required temperature in
short time just by a treatment unit located at the head of
the apparatus.
Since the treatment apparatus of cloth of above
construction can be disassembled into each compartment of
treatment unit, manufacturing and installation of the unit
are easy. In the event of breakdown or trouble, only the
unit involved in the trouble can be released from opera-
tion so as to leave the cloth just passing from the
entrance to exit of the unit without stopping the opera-
tion of the entire apparatus.
Since the present invention is constructed and
pexhibits its function as mentioned above, when applying a
treatment such as steaming, baking, etc. to a cloth using
the treatment apparatus comprising plural treatment units
according to the invention, energy of steam or heated air
can be more effectively and economically utilized. Rate
of operation is satisfactory since the apparatus can
suitably meet treatment of variety of cloths in small lot.
A series of necessary treatments can be performed by a
single apparatus thereby not only installation space is
saved but also uniformity in quality of treated cloth is
improved.
Since the it is possible to add one or more treat-
ment unit to the apparatus, the scale of the apparatus can
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be increased ]:ittle by little according to the expansion
of opera-tion.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will
become apparent in the course of the following description
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings forming a part of the present appli-
cation,
Figure 1 is a front sectional view showing the whole
treatment apparatus of cloth in accordance with an embodi-
ment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a front view showing another treatment
apparatus;
Figures 3 to 5 are front sectional views respec-
tively showing an example of the treatment unit formingthe treatment apparatus;
Figure 6 is a front sectional ~iew of a further
embodiment of the treatment apparatus;
Figure 7 is a perspective view of a treatment unit;
and
Figure 8 is a front sectional view showing a part of
the treatment apparatus in accordance with a further embo-
diment of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
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Several preferred embidments are described herein-
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aEter with reference to the drawings.
Referring to Figure 1 showing a front sectional view
of a treatment apparatus oE cloth in accordance with an
embodiment of the invention, the treatment apparatus is
formed ol four treatment units 10, 12, 12', 14 arranged
side by side. Another treatment apparatus shown in Figure
2 is formed of five treatment units 10, 12, 12' 12", 14.
~s shown in the front sectional view of Figure 3, in
the first unit 10, an entrance 18 for carrying a cloth in
is provided on one side of a box-shaped housing 16. The
opposite side provided with a flange 20 is an opening side
22 on which an exit 24 for carrying the cloth out is
formed. Vertically disposed in the internal part of the
housing 16 are six rotatable guide rollers 26 on the upper
part and another six rotatable guide rollers 26 on the
lower part on all of which a cloth C to be treated is put
in order, so that the cloth C is guided moving up and down
by the twelve guide rollers 26 from the entrance 18 to the
exit 24. Disposed near the entrance 18 of the housing 16
is a leakage prevention device 28 for preventing leakage
of atmospheric steam or atmospheric air from inside the
housing 16. Further disposed in the housing 16 are steam
supply pipe 30 for supplying saturated steam or heated
steam, heater 32 and heat exchanger 34 for heating air in
the housing 16. The saturated steam, superheated steam or
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heated ai.r is drawn by a circulating fan 36, then, passing
through a duct 38, is blown through upper and lower
outlets 40 into the internal space of the housing 16. The
steam or heated air blown into the housing 16 ot and from
which the cloth C is carried in and out is circulated in
the housing 16, and a part of them is exhausted through an
exhaust cylinder 42. Combution exhaust gas of the heater
32 is exhausted through an exhaust pipe 44 after heat
exchange at the heat exchanger 34. Water spray pipes 46
for cleaning the internal part of the housing after the
operation are also disposed in the housing 16, and drain
pipe 48 is disposed at the bottom wall of the housing. As
shown in Figure 2, a torque motor S0 for rotationally
driving the gulde rollers 26 is disposed outside the
housing 16. Numeral 52 denotes a manhole door and numeral
54 denotes a view port in F'igure 2.
As shown in the front sectional view of Figure 4, in
the treatment units 12, 12' in the intermediate part of
the apparatus, the entrance 58 for carrying a cloth in is
provided on one side of the housing 56. A flange 60 is
formed on peripheral edge of the one side. The other side
is an opening side 62 on which flange 60' is provided. An
exit 64 for carrying a cloth out is provided on the other
side. As shown in the front sectional view of Figure S,
in the treatment unit 14 located on the end section of the
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apparatus, a ~lange 70 is formed on peripheral edge of the
housing 66. ~n entrance 68 for carrying a cloth in is
provided on a bulkhead on one side of the housing, while
an exit 74 for carrying the cloth out is provided on the
other side. Disposed near the exit 74 is a leakage
prevention device 28' for preventing leakage of
atmospheric steam or atmospheric air from inside the
housing 66. The other arrangement in each treatment unit
12, 14 located in the middle and the end sections is the
same as the treatment unit 10 at the head section.
Shown in Figure 6 is a treatment unit 10' in which
six guide rollers 26 on the upper part of the housing as
well as further six guide rollers 26 on the lower part are
connected to a power source to utilize those guide rollers
26 as electrodes in such a manner that a positive voltage
is applied to either upper or lower six guide rollers and
a negative voltage to the remaining six guide rollers. In
this treatment unit 10', the croth C to be treated which
is preliminarily dipped in a solution (electrolytic
solution) to be wet and put on the guide rollers 26 is
subject to a re~uired treatment such as chemical treatment
with heat generated by an electric current passing through
the solution with which the cloth is impregnated.
A treatment apparatus of cloth is formed by a
plurality of treatment units of above construction by four
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treatment unlts, for example, in the apparatus shown in
Figure 1. For connection of one treatment unit to the
other, as illustrated in the perspective view of Figure 7
showing an intermediate treatment unit 12, the flanges 60,
60' are provided with a pluraity of boltholes 78, 18'.
For connecting adjacent two treatment unit, positions of
boltholes of one flange are coincided with those of
another flange, then a bolt is inserted through each pair
of boltholes and the two flanges are secured to each other
by a nut mated with the bolt. A seal ring is interposed
between one flange and the other to prevent leakage of
steam or heated air. It is also preferable that adjacent
treatment units are connected by utilizing concave and
convex portions formed on the side section of each
lS treatment unit to engage closely with each other. Any
other connection manner is available so far as firm
connection iæ securssured.
Nature of treatment to be peformed by the treatment
units 10, 12, 12' 14 thus connected side by side or treat-
ment conditions such as temperature, humidity, etc. can be
either common in all of the units or different.
Thus, in the treatment apparatus of cloth assembled
in such a manner that each housing of the treatment unit
forming the apparatus is partitioned with a bulkhead, and
that position of the exit 24 of the treatment unit 10
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coincicles witll that of the entrance 58 of the unit 58,
position of the exit 64 of the unit 12 coincides with that
of the entrance 5~ of the unit 12', and position of the
exit 6~ of the unit 12' coincides with that of the
entrance 6~ of the unit 14 as illustrated in Figure 1, a
cloth C to be treated is first carried in the first
treatment unit 10 through the entrance 18, then is subject
to a required treatment while being carried into the
housings 16, 56, 56, 66 of the treatment units 10, 12,
12', 14 in order, and finally sent out through from the
exit 74 of the unit 14.
It is not always necessary that entrance and exit of
each treatment unit are positioned near the bottom section
as is illustrated in Figure 1, but exits 24', 64 and
entrance 58' may be located respectively at positions
illustrated in Figure 8. It is not always necessary to
form a fixed bulkhead on every side of the treatment
units, but it may be satisfiable to interpose a detachable
partition plate between the connecting sections of the
housings of adjacent two treatment units when reguired.
In this modification, volume of treatment space set to be :
a common treatment condition can be optionally changed to
flexibly meet the situation, which sometime favorably
results in easy control of the apparatus.
A specific example of treatment using the treatment
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apparatus of cloth of above construction is now described
hereinafter. For performing a steaming of a cellulose
cloth using this apparatus formed of seven or ten
treatment units, for example, a cool air is supplied into
housings of the first two units to reduce temperature of
the cloth, a large amount of saturated steam is supplied
to the housing of the third unit to increase condensed
moisture on the cloth, and the similar saturated steam is
supplied to each housing of the remaining units.
For baking a cloth with resin using heated air,
temperature of the first treatment unit is set higher than
that of the succeeding units so that temperature of the
cloth increases to a required level in short time, thereby
improving efficiency of the treatment.
While the present invention has been particularly
shown and described with reference to preferred embodi-
ments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in
the art that the foregoing and other changes and modifica~
tions can be made therein without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention.
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