US2303476A - Drier for textile threads - Google Patents

Description

Dec. l, 1942.

O. VON KOHORN ZU I (ORNEGG DRIER FOR TEXTILE THREAD Filed July 26, 1940 for the short fibers.

Patented D ec. l, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE e DRIER FOR TEXTILE THREADS Oscar von Kohorn zu Kornegg, New York, N. Y.,

assignor, by mesne assignments, to Fibres Associates, Inc., a. corporation of New York Application July 26, 194D, Serial No. 347l,607

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to thedrying oi textile threads and more particularly to the continuous drying of the artificial thread used in the manufacture of yarns and slivers.

It has been well known in the art to dry short fibers such as cotton wool and staple fiber in driers of the conveyor belt type, in which endless ropes or tows were dried on one or several 'endless `belt conveyors.

A further object of this inventionis the provision of a new process for drying threads or filaments particularly those relating to synthetic.

which are either heated themselves, or which v are placed intoa heated chamber. This method of drying does 'not afford the fibers the opportunity of following their natural tendency such as forinstance shrinking in the case of viscose fibers. It is, however, desirable to permit viscose fibers to follow their natural shrinking tendency during the drying, because such shrinking results in a crimp or curl which improves the feel` and appearance of yarns and fabricsmade fromfs'uch fibers.

If viscose filaments, for instance', are cut into staples, forming staple fiber, they are no more under tension and therefore can shrink and curl in accordance with their shrinking or tendency to contract. the continuity of these fibers, which requires another opening, lap-forming, carding and spinning process, vaccording to -one' of the known j methods of yarn spinning. Y y A l My invention makes it possible to obtain a yarn consisting, for instance, of viscose fibers 'or any other fibers zhaving'a shrinking and curling tendencyduring drying, which hasall the desirable properties I'of-yarn spun from short-fibers and dried 'in stock, withoutghowever, necessitating the same spinning operations required ll attain this result by af fording continuous threads, such for instance as viscose rayon threads, the opportunity .to shrink and curl freely while being -dried in a continuous operation. According fto my invention I provide a drier of the design and construction as shown on the drawing and described hereinafter. and I use this drier in accordance with the following method:

My drier consists of a number vof .endless belt conveyors, carrying the fiber material to be dried,

ing through them. As one preferred embodiment of my invention, I drive allthese conveyorfbelts individually and at variable speeds which can be individually controlled. I also arrange these belt conveyors in several adjacent sections, each section consisting of a number of belts arranged vertically or substantially vertically above each other.

When drying continuous' threads it is assumed that a multitude of such threads,.consi sting of many thousands, will be' dried `simultaneously and that these threadswill befed into the drier a large number of individual conveyor b elts in order to obtain the necessary drying time for the fibers carried by these belts, the drying time depending on the quantity of fibers to be dried.

On the attached-drawing:

used by me, partly in section;

This, on the other hand, destroys 'l the drying section I. the drier on tothe top belt conveyor by means these belts being driven, and the drying air pass- Figure 2 is a sectional view of the drier; and

Figure 3 is 'a top plan view of the drier, partly' in section. I.

On Figures 1, 2 and 3, the drying chamber 5 contains the drying sections I, 2, '3 and L4. Each such drying section consists of 'a number of endless conveyor belts I', I", I 'v; 2', 2", 2' and so forth.

On Figure 2 are shown, for instance, six end-A less conveyor belts,.I, I, I.,f and .so forth) arranged vertically above feach"other making up The ribbon I5 isafed into of a. feed arrangement cons'istin'g'o'f :feed-gears or other suitable devices; On the drawing :is

shown a pair' of toothed gears 6ones1ichfeed-v ing device being provided on topr of each dryfing section.V The feedingdevice ,ontop Vof the drying section I feeds the fiberV ribbon on to' the' top belt `of drying section I. "The toplbelt' ofdrying section'l is driven bymeans of pulleyor pulleys 1. The speed'of this-belt .can 4be controlled and I have .found it desirable to-contro1 Y individually the speed of each'belt in the'drier.

successive belt over which the ribbon passs 'at a slightly vlower speed. Thus,jfor` instance, the

Vtop belt'I" will. move at aslightly higher speed than belt I" which in turn will move ata slightly higher speed than I" and so forth.

When drying materials which do not have too high a shrinking tendency, it is also possible to run all belts in one drying section at the same constant speed but to operate the belts of drying section 2 at a slightly lower speed than that of drying section I, the belts of drying section 3 at a slightly lower speed than .that of the .belts of drying section 2, and so forth.

By means of the feed gears 6 the ribbon is fed on to the top belt of drying section I in wave for as shown on Figure 1. It is carried through the drier from left to right, as shown on Figure l, and after having traversed the drier on the top belt I" of section I, it drops on to the belt I" This'b'elt moves from the right to the left as shown on Figure 1, and in turn discharges the ribbon on to belt I" This operation is repeated until the ribbon finally reaches the bottom belt I' of section'I. From there it is taken up by the guide pulleys 8, 9 and I0. The ribbon then passes through the feed gears provided over the drying section 2 .and is again in wave form fed on to the top belt of the drying sectionV 2.

It passes through the drying section 2 in the same manner as through drying section I and is then fed into the drying section 3 as described.

above. After the ribbon has reached drying section 4, it passes through this section down to the last belt which at the same time is the discharge belt of the drier. On Figures l, 2 and 3 only iive drying belts have been provided in section 4 in order to discharge the ribbon at the end of the drier opposite to that at which the ribbon has been fed into it. Where required, it is, of course, possible, to discharge the ribbon from the drier at the feeding end.

The air circulates through the drier from the bottom upward in order to obtain a countercurrent effect of the air on the fibers, bringing the dry,air in contact with, the dry fibers on the bottom belts and the wet air with the wet fibers at the top bell. On Figures l and 2 a fan II is shown forcing the air through the radiator I2 into the drier through which the air rises. It is then drawn off at the top of the drier by the fans I3 and escapes through duct I4.

In'` order to make even better use 'of the counter-current system, it is also possible to conduct the heated air first through the drying section 4 in'upward direction, then forcing it by means of a fan through a double wall between the sections 3 and 4 back to the bottom of section.3, allowing it to rise by virtue of its higher temperature through drying section 3, forcing it by means of a fan through the double wall provided between the drying sections 3 and 2 back to the bottom of drying section 2 and repeating this process the required number of times or until the air has passed through all sections of the drier. The drier can, of course, have any number of drying sections necessary. The size of the gears 6 must be properly calculated in order to provide the necessary curl or curlage desired inthe fiber itself during the drying operation.

After the fiber ribbon leaves the drier in dried, shrunk and curled condition-'it is either cut into pieces or the continuous ribbon is converted immediately into a spinnable roving yarn by means of one of the known methods. Such a yarn will have excellent physical properties because it will consist of individually curled or crimped fibers which will give the yarn and the resulting fabrics the volume and vbullriness usually not obtainable from continuously dried endless tows or ropes.

1. Apparatus for drying continuously running threads comprising a plurality of endless driven belts supporting the threads during drying, said belts being arranged in a series of adiacent drying sections, cach section -comprising a number of endless belts positioned vertically above each other and driven alternately in opposite directions, means to feed the threads into the drier on to the top belt of one section carrying the threads through the length of the drier and dropping the said threads on to the belt below moving in opposite direction to the bottom belt of the first section, and driven means to transporty the l threads laterally and upwardly on to the top belt of the second adjacent drying section through the required number of drying sections, means for admitting hot air into the drier, means for circulating the hot air over said belts and means for removing moist air from the drier.

2. Apparatus for drying continuously running threads comprising 'a plurality of endless driven belts supporting the threads during drying, said belts being arranged in a series of adjacent drying sections, each section comprising a number of endless belts positioned vertically above each other 1` and driven alternately in opposite directions, means to feed the threads into the drier on to the top belt of one section carrying the threads through the length of the drier and dropping the said threads on to the belt below moving in opposite direction and continuing to convey the threads through the drier down to the bottom belt of the rst section, driven means to transport the threads laterally and upwardly on to the top belt of the second adjacent drying section Iand means to continue to convey the threads through the required number of drying sections, means for admitting hot air into the drier, means for circulating the hot air over said belts and means for removing moist air from said drier.

3. Apparatus for drying continuously running threads comprising a plurality of endless driven belts supporting the threads during drying, said belts being arranged in a series of adjacent drying sections, each section comprising a number of endless belts positioned-vertically above each other and driven alternately in opposite directions, each subsequent belt moving progressively slower than the preceding one, means to feed the threads into the drier on to the top belt ofA one section carrying the threads through the length of the drier and dropping the said threads on to the belt below moving in opposite direction and continuing to convey the threads through the drier. down to the bottom belt of the first section, driven means to transport' the threads vlaterally and upwardly on to the top belt of the second adjacent drying section and means to continue to convey the threads through the required number of drying sections, each subsequent section progressively moving at a slower average speed than the preceding section, means for admitting hot air into the drier, means for circulating the hot air over said beltsY and means for removing moist -air from said drier.

OSCAR von KOHORN zu KORNEGG.

Images