US1281670A - Process for the production of foam baths for treating textile materials. - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER scrnvm), or BAsEL, SWITZERLAND.

PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FOAM BATHS FOR-TREATING TEXTILE MATERIALS.

No Drawing.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER SCHMID, a

of Basel, Switzerland, have invented a new and useful Process for the Production of Foam Baths for Treating Textile Materials, of which the following is a full, clear,'and exact specification.

The invention relates to a process for the productionof foam or froth baths for treating textile fibers and textile fabrics of all kinds.

According to this process the foam or froth bathsare produced by adding to the watery liquid to be transformed into foam or froth alkalis and wastes of common trees as for instance" cops, chippings and sawdust of fir-wood, pine-wood and thelike needle-woods or leaves of beech-trees, mapletrees, poplars, acacias, etc., or mixture of these tree-wastes and heating afterward the Watery liquid containing the said 'tree wastes to boiling.

The processis employed for treating textile fibers of vegetal, animal or chemical origin, raw or in every state of manufacture, for instance for ungumming, phosphating, silieating," soaping, cleaning, fulling, dyeing, mordanting, fixing mordants and dyes, etc.

It is known that silk, silk wastes and fabricsthereof can 'be treated as threads, tissues, etc. p

(a) With soap latherKU. S. Letters Patent No. 848,605), in order to obtain an ungummingof the silk with a great soap sav- (b) With a foam or froth produced from a watery liquid containingsilk chrysalids or silk wastes'containing silk chrysalids or sericin and, if desired sodium carbonate or soap, in order to obtain an ungumming, a phosphating or a silicating of the silk (U. S. LettersPatents No. 1,199,433,'No. 1,207 ,800 and U. S. Letters Patent application Ser. No. 173,066 dated June 5, 1917.)

It is further known, that the soaping of printed cotton fabrics, of wool and of wool fabrics and of jute made woolly and of articles made of this latter material as well as the fullingofwool can be effected with soap lather.

ACCOIding to the present invention, it becomes possible (1) To avoid completely or nearly completely the employkof soap not only for the ungumming of si silk wastes and fabrics Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 27, 1917.

Patented Oct. 15, 1918.

Serial No. 204,286.

thereof'or for thei fphosphating and silicating, but also for all other treatments for which heretofore soap, or soap and other substances, or sodium carbonate alone, or alkalis in various preparations and in various mixtures with other substances, or acids, or mordanting baths of various compositions inform of liquid or of foam or froth have been employed forfibers of vegetal, animal or chemical origin in all forms of manufacture(threads,tissues, etc.)and in all states of treatment (raw, dyed, printed, weighted or not) and (2) To avoid also completely'or nearly completely'the addition of silk chrysalids or of silk wastes containing silk chrysalids, of sericin and of soap, if the said fibersare treated in foam or froth baths produced as follows:

Int-o a vessel of iron or Wood provided near its bottom with a heating coil or into an iron vessel placed on a furnace or other heating device is introduced a layer of water of 15 to v30 centimeters height, containing 1 to 8 or more grams of sodium carbonate per liter and 10 to grams of common tree wastes as for instance copse, chippings or saw-dust of fir-wood, pine-wood and the like needle-woods, leaves of beech-trees, maple-trees, poplars, or acacias, per 1 to 3 liters of pure or raw water and by boiling the liquid is transformed into foam or froth.

As in the new process substances are employed which may contain bacteria which, for instance when the process is employed for cleaning or washing linen, must not come into contact with the linen, it will be useful to show in what an excellent, simple and sure manner this condition .is attained with the idea upon which the new process is based.

The copse, chippings and saw-dust of firwood, pinewood and the like needle-woods or the leaves of beech-trees, maple-trees, poplars or acacias are introduced into the water near the bottom of the vessel and boiled and only when the boiling point has been attained and thus all bacteria are destroyed, the foam or froth is formed and has to rise 10 to 25 centimeters before it can come into contact with the linen to be treated, maintaining during this rising the finely divided vegetal substances in the foam bubbles at the boiling temperature. The foam producer is an extract of the above specified tree waste contained in the aqueous liquid at the bottomof the vessel. The hubbles"forme'd of resins, sa1ts,ac'ids,"a1ka1is,

etc, and a hot mixture of steam and air,

constitute an excellent substitute for} the soap owing to their continuous and very quick 'revival at the same place o f-the linen upon which every bubble has to act in the same manner,-tha'tis to say, has tO-dlSSOIVG the" dirt or render it soluble. Itis obvious that by the continuous boiling of the aqueous liquid the sodium carbonate will Vsaponify the resins of the tree-wastes. The produced foam orfroth may be neutral aoid'or al- 'kaline.

The textile material to be treated is held in any convenient manner in the vessel above tl1e aqueous liquid containing the treewastes and the said liquid is heated by the :steamcoil or other heating device and trans formed quickly into foam or froth which will rise through and over the textile mate rial and produce the ungumming, soaplng or cleaning of this latter in a time varying from 8 to '120 minutes according to the kind of textile material treated. For the fabrics,

which shall be white or show a particular touch or be colored, there canbe 'added,b'e-

' fore or duringthe foaming, the necessary quantity ofsubstances "capable of producing ithe'touch'or of oily or .dressing substances or of dystufi's or of any other soluble substance, which, ifdesired, can be a destroying agent for the bacilli. i v r A very uniform treatment of the textile material occurs, since the aqueous liquid is throughout boiled with'the introduced substance at the-bottom of the vessel, before it rises as foam or froth which is continuously revived. V I I Near the'bottom of the vessel the bacilli are destroyed in the boiling liquid and above this later, that is to say, in the'foam or froth they are subjected to two actions, namely on'the one hand to the action of the liquid boiling parts of every individual bubble and on-the other hand to the very 'intensiveaction of the steam flowing out of eachbubble-in the moment of its bursting; The liquid of the vessel circulates quickly; it rises as foam,-'is condensed at the 50' walls and in the upper part of the vessel, sinks again and begins a further circulation. The extraordinarily quickrenewal of the individual foam or froth bubbles 'produces 7 an extraordinarily intense destroying of the bacilli.

The greater part of the dirt on the linen is merely madesoluble by the foam or froth and not drawn in the liquid'yat the bottom of the vessel, the said dirt being only eliminated at the subsequent washing of the linen treated with foam or froth with water, while the linen as subjected tov asqueezing action. The, linen itselfcomes onlyinto contact with Copies o ffthi s pa tent maybe obtained for thefoam,'but ever into contact with the liquid. Thus the solid tree Wastes never 1 come into contact' -with the linen.

immersedfor a certain time in cold swarm. waterconta ning, if. desired, sodium carbonate.

The described treatment with foam or froth can also be employed for dyeing all the specified fibers in a foam or'froth bath,

thedyestufi being introduced, in the usual manner, into the foam or froth or into the liquid employed for the formation ,of the foam or froth. I 1 V I V According'to the textile materials treated,

the vessel of the'app'aratus can be provided L111 its upper part-with removable and rotatable holders on'whichthe silk hanks'or other :fabrics to be treated with 'foam or froth can be suspended or with rollers over which hurdles or trays *o'r. endless, co'ntinuously moved nets, on which linen or; the like can be treated with the foam or froth.

What I claim is:"'

' )1. The herein described'pro'cess for the production of foam or froth baths forjtreating textile fibers and textile fabrics, consisting in adding alkalis andwastes of com- "mon trees to the liquid to be transformed ing mixture to a boiling. r v

2. The' he'rein described-process for the production of foam or frothbaths for treating textile fibers and textile. fabrics, con 'sisting in adding alkalis and wastes of needle-woods to the liquid to be transformed jinto 'foarn or froth and subjectingthe resulting mixture to -1a boiling,

into foam or froth and subjecting the result- The "herein described process 5 for the fproductionof foam or froth baths; for treating textile 'fibers and textile fabrics, "con- *sisting in adding "alkalis and leaves of common trees to the liquid to'be transformed the calicos or'oth'er tissuesfcan' be conducted it through the foam or froth or with removable into foam or froth and subj'ecting'the resulting mixture to a'boiling;

' "In witness whereof I havehereunto'signed 'myname this 30th day of October, 1917,

in thepresenceof two subscribing witnesses.

' PETER SQHMID.

Witnesses: r

' 'HKH. DICK,

AMAND BITTER. i

washingtomn'fi." 1 e five cents each, by addressing thefGommis'sione r of Batents,