US1970243A - Coating or filling textile fabrics - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 14, 1934. A. MELLOR El AL COATING OR FILLING TEXTILE FABRICS Filed Dec. 8, 1932 Patented Aug. 14, 1934 PATENT OFFICE COATING OR FILLING TEXTILE FABRICS Albert Mellor and Ralph James Mann, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application December 8, 1932, Serial No. 646,265 In Great Britain December 30, 1931 7 Claims.

terial'over a gap arranged opposite to the spreading means, so that the sheet is free to yield under any unevenness, and especially local unevenness, of the fabric. The bed may also be arranged to yield as a whole; for example, the bed may be carried on a member mounted on springs or other resilient means. A doctor knife affords a convenient means for effecting even spreading, and the subsequent description is directed principally to the use of such knife as the spreading means.

The coating or filling may be applied to the fabric prior to its reaching the doctor knife in any convenient manner. For example, it may be poured on to the fabric so as to form a pool or roll along the doctor knife. The supply of the filling material is preferably controlled so as to maintain the pool or roll substantially uniform'in size, thus keeping the spreading effort required fairly constant. The width of such pool or roll may be adjusted by means of boundary plates which confine the coating or filling material to the width of fabric to be treated.

The doctor knife is preferably adjustable in order to provide for different thicknesses of fabric and coating layers. Such adjustability may be provided both for the height of the knife and its angularity with respect to the fabric. Means may be provided for drying the treated fabric continuously with the coating and filling operation.

Though the invention is .applicable to the coating or filling of all kinds of fabric with any desired material, it is of particular advantage in the filling of fabrics adapted to beused as linings. Such materials require to have a firm, full 50 and springy yet smoothfinish, andparticularly in the case of lighter fabrics, a filling is required *to impart such finish. {This filling is usually effected by coating the fabric with gum which, in order to avoid any risk of spoiling the appearance of the fabric, is applied to theback only. By the use of filling materials of suflicient viscosity, a coating can be applied according to the invention which does not penetrate to the face of the fabric, the evenness with which the coating can be imparted by the use of the resili-' ent bed in conjunction with the doctonblade affording an adequate safeguard against such penetration.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, but it is to be understood that this description is given by way of example only and is in no respect limitative.

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional elevation of a form of apparatus according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of part of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 shows in cross-sectional elevation a detail of Fig. 1 to an enlarged scale.

As shown in Fig. 1, a batch rollof fabric 12 to be treated, on a core 13, is supported by a spindle 14 in open bearings 15 formed in brackets 16 carried on a pair of end-frames 1'7. Further brackets 18 on the end-frames 1'1 provide bearings for a series of tension rollers 19, 20, 21 which extend between the frame ends 17.

The fabric, denoted at 22, is led from the batch roll 12 and over and under the tension rollers 19, 20, 21 to a resilient bed comprising a reinforced rubber sheet 23 stretched over the upper face of a wooden beam 24 extending between the frame ends 17.

Along the length of the beam 24 is a recess 25,

and, as shown clearly in Fig- 3, the reinforced rubber sheet extends over the recess 25 and is adjustable as to tension, one edge of the sheet being fixed to the beam 24 at 26 while the other edge is secured in a clamp 27 having a threaded shank 28 which is drawn through a plate 29 attached to the underside of the beam 24 by a nut 30.

Two frames 31, 31 are mounted upon the end frame 17 and are slotted vertically (Fig. 1) at 32 to house blocks carrying trunnions 33 of a bar 34 which extends between the frames 17 and carries a downwardly pointing doctor knife 35. Hand wheels 38, 38 mounted on vertical screwed shafts 39, 39 extending partly down the slots 32 are adapted to raise or lower the trunnions 33- and bar 34 so that the edge of the doctor knife can be raised or lowered relative to the resilient bed.

A further hand wheel 40 is attached to one extremity of a horizontal shaft 41 borne in a bracket 42 mounted on one of the trunnions 33 and on rotation of the hand wheel 40 the angularity of the doctor knife can be adjusted through a worm gear 43 on the shaft 41 and bar 34.

The coating or filling is supplied from a tank 36, and is appliedto the fabric at a point a little in advance of the doctor knife 35 through a pipe 37 extending from the tank 36 to a position above the desired point of application. The rate of flow of filling material from the tank 36 to the fabric is controllable by a valve 371 in the pipe 3'7, and may be such as to maintain a pool of filling material of substantially uniform size before the doctorknife 35 thus keeping the spreading effort required fairly constant. In order to retain the pool of filling material upon the fabric, the last tension roller 21 is maintained at substantially the same level as the resilient bed, and the width of the pool is controlled by boundary plates 48 adjustably mounted on a bar 49 outstanding from the doctor knife 35, so as to be readily adapted to any width of fabric being treated.

The fabric is led from the tension rollers over the rubber sheet 23 of the resilient bed and out of the machine. During its progress beneath the doctor blade it is supported in a resilient manner by the rubber sheet 23 only and in operation the doctor knife 35 is maintained somewhat out of the vertical with its edge pointing towards the batch roll 12. The doctor knife can thus be adjusted to spread the coating evenly over the fabric in any desired thickness, the rubber sheet 23 of the resilient bed enabling evenness to be maintained in the case of unevenness in the fabric, even where such unevenness is local and not across the full width of the fabric. To allow for unevenness across the full width of the fabric, the resilient bed as a whole is free to give and for this purpose the beam 24 supporting the rubber sheet 23 is mounted on coil springs 46, 46 (see Fig. 3) surrounding pegs 4'7, 47 attached to a wooden block secured to the end frames 17.

The fabric 22 is drawn through the apparatus by means of a rotatable drying cylinder or can 52 co-operating with a nip roll 53.

The back of the fabric rests on the drying cylinder 52, thus allowing heat from the cylinder to penetrate and dry the filling material upon the face ofthe fabric. The fabric may be passed around any number of such cylinders depending on the amount of heat which may safely be applied to the fabric during one drying period. It

is preferred, however, to avoid a multiplicity of drying operations thus avoiding danger of the partly dried fabric picking up scales of dried filling material from the parts of the drying apparatus which, necessarily contact with the treated surface of the fabric. Conveniently, therefore, one drying cylinder of large diameter is employed. The drying apparatus may be arranged to run in series with a stenter for finishing the fabric as will be well understood.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:- i

1. Apparatus for applying coating or fill ng material evenly to a fabric comprising spreading means, a support, a sheet of resilient material stretched across said support in proximity to the spreading means, means to hold said support stationary but resiliently with respect to the spreading means, and means adapted to draw thev fabric over the sheet and between the sheet and the spreading means so that by. the resiliency.

of the material of the sheet and the resilient mounting of the support for the sheet, the sheet is capable of yielding to local and general unevenness of the fabric so as to cause an even COM ing to be applied to the fabric by the spreading means.

2. Apparatus for applying coating or filling materialevenly to a fabric comprising spreading means, a support, a sheet of rubber stretched across said support in proximity to the spread-- ing means, means to hold said support stationary but resiliently with respect to the spreading means, and means adapted to draw the fabric over the rubber sheet and between the sheet and the spreading means so that by the resiliency of the rubber sheet and the resilient mounting of the support for the sheet, the sheet is capable of yielding to local and general unevenness of the fabric so as to cause an even coating to be applied to the fabric by the spreading means.

3. Apparatus for applying coating or filling material evenly to a fabric comprising a spreading doctor knife, a beam-having a channel in its 'upper surface, a' sheet of resilient material stretched across said beam in proximity to the doctor knife, means to hold said beam stationary but resiliently with respect to said doctor knife, and means adapted to draw the fabric over the sheet and between the sheet and the doctor knife so that by the resiliency of the material of the sheet and the resilient mounting of the beam, the sheet is capable of yielding to local and general unevenness of the fabric so as to cause an even coating to be applied to the fabric by the spreading means.

4. Apparatus for applying coating or filling material evenly to a fabric comprising a spreading doctor knife, a beam having a channel in its upper surface, a rubber sheet stretched across said beam in proximity to the doctor knife, means to hold the said beam stationary but resiliently with respect to said doctor knife, and means adapted to draw the fabric over the sheet and between the sheet and the doctor knife so that by the resiliency of the rubber sheet and the resilient mounting of the beam, the sheet is capable of yielding to local and general unevenness of the fabric so as to cause an even coating to be applied to the fabric by the spreading means.

5. Apparatus for applying coating or filling material evenly to a fabric comprising a spreading doctor knife, a beam having a channel in its upper surface, a rubber sheet stretched across said beam in proximity to the doctor knife, supporting springs to hold said beam stationary but resiliently with respect to said doctor knife, and means adapted to draw the fabric over the sheet and between the sheet and the doctor knife so that by the resiliency of the rubber sheet and the spring mounting of the beam thesheet is capable of yielding to local and general unevenness of the fabric so as to cause an even coating to be applied to the fabric by the spreading means.

8. Apparatus for applying coating or filling material evenly'to a fabric comprising a spreading doctor knife, a beam having a channel in its upper surface, a rubber sheet stretched across said beam in proximity to thedoctor knife, ten- .sioning means on said beam for imparting tension to said rubber sheet, supporting springs to hold said beam stationary, but resiliently with respect to'said doctor knife, and means adapted to draw the fabric over the sheet and between the sheet and the doctor knife so that by the resiliency of the rubber sheet and the spring mounting of the beam the sheet is capable of yielding 9 local and general unevenness of the fabric so draw the fabric over the sheet and between the sheet and the doctor knife so that by the resiliency of the sheet and the spring mounting of the beam, the sheet is capable of yielding to local and general unevenness ofthe fabric so as to cause an even coating to be applied to the fabric by the spreading means, and a drying apparatus adapted to receive the treated fabric drawn past the spreading doctor knife.

ALBERT MELLOR. RALPH JAMES MANN.

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