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`BEDGEAR 1003
`IPR of U.S. Pat. No. 8,566,982
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`1
`PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TENTERING
`AND HEATING TEXTILE MATERIALS
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
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`ing chains, on which elements the material rests and
`thus is prevented from sagging. However, such anar-
`rangement of stationary supporting units is undesirable
`since the material slides along these stationary ele-
`ments and thus is braked. The disadvantage of are for-
`mation as a consequence of structural changes in the
`marginal zone also occurs in this arrangementand even
`to an increased extent.
`In order to eliminatecreases, and in order to stretch
`the material to a specific width, a certain length of the
`tentering station is required, for example, at least about
`4 meters or more. The longer the tentering station, the
`more favorably affected is
`the material. However,
`lengthening the tentering station is expensive and in ad-
`dition produces
`the disadvantage that
`the space
`requirements become
`correspondingly
`larger.
`In
`general, only a limited space is available for such treat-
`ment plants. Therefore, it is desired to keep the plant as
`short in length as possible. By employing the perforated
`drum principle, a shortening of the treatment time and
`thus also a shortening of the length of the treatment
`plant can be achieved.
`
`SUMMARY or THE INVENTION
`
`The object of the present invention is to avoid the
`prior art disadvantages in the treatment of textile
`materials.
`
`Another object of the present invention is to provide
`an improved process for the treatment of textile materi-
`als wherein the material being treated is guided through
`the treatment process and apparatus in a distortion-free
`manner.
`»
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`A further object of the present invention is to pro-
`vide an improved process and apparatus for the treat-
`ment of textile materials wherein a substantial reduc-
`tion in apparatus cost and space can be achieved
`thereby making the present system economically ad-
`vantageous.
`Other objects and further scope of applicability of
`the present invention will become apparent from the
`detailed description given hereinafter; it should be un-
`derstood, however, that the detailed description and
`specific examples, while“ indicating preferred embodi-
`ments of the invention, are given by way of illustration
`only, -since various changes and modifications within
`the spirit and scope of the invention will become ap-
`parent to those skilled in the art from this detailed
`description.
`Pursuant to the present invention, it has been found
`that
`the above-mentioned disadvantages may be
`eliminated and a much improved process and ap-
`paratus for the treatment of textile materials may be
`obtained by providing at least one endless supporting
`element associated with the tentering device, which
`travels along with said tentering device. The supporting
`elements, according to one embodiment of the present
`invention, can consist of cords or strings (bands or
`belt) spaced at mutual distances from each other. In
`this connection, it is advantageous to arrange the cords
`and strings on the side carrying the material, and at a
`slight angle with respect to each other in the direction
`of travel, in such a manner that the strings preferably
`diverge from one another, as seen in the direction of
`travel. Another desirable arrangement
`results by
`disposing a broad supporting hand between the tenter-
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`This application is a division of application Ser. No.
`831,683, filed on June 9, 1968 (now U.S. Pat. No.
`3,521,378), which application is a continuation-in-part
`application of application Ser. No. 654,728, filed on
`July 20, 1967 (now U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,134).
`The present invention relates to a process and ap-
`paratus for the treatment, e.g., drying, steaming, fixing,
`condensing and the like, of materials, particularly tex-
`tile materials, such as cloth, knit fabrics, composite
`fiber materials, tufted goods, etc., by utilizing a- gaseous
`treatment medium, for example, air, steam, or steam-
`air mixtures. The apparatus of the present invention in-
`cludes a heat-insulated housing containing as the con-
`veying means at least one sieve means subjected to a
`suction draft preferably a perforated sieve drum means,
`and one or more fan means for the generation of said
`suction draft and for the purposes of circulating the
`treatment medium. A heating means is also provided
`for heating the treatment medium.
`It is known to combine devices of this type with a
`tentering device in such a manner that the material is
`guided, while being stretched along its width, directly
`‘up to the placement or transfer of said material to the
`conveying means subjected to a suction draft. Such a
`guidance of the material preliminary to its introduction-
`onto a conveying means subjected to a suction draft ex-
`hibits the advantage that
`the width of the wide-
`stretched material is substantially retained by the suc-
`tion draft and thus is prevented from shrinking.
`The utilization of the throughflow principle and the
`conveyance on perforated sieve conveying means dur-
`ing the treatment affords considerable advantages as
`compared to a sole tenter frame treatment. The par-
`ticular advantages of the throughflow principle include -
`extremely brief treatment
`times and an extremely
`uniform treatment effect. By placing the materialon
`sieve means during the treatment process, a more
`uniform character of the materials is obtained particu-
`larly in the case of fixing treatments and generally in
`the case of treating mesh material. By the utilization of 45
`a tentering station, the material can be prestretched to
`a specific width.-Furthermore, creases can also be sub-
`stantially eliminated.
`One of the problems encountered in the use of ten-
`tering devices is that the material sags between the ten-
`tering chains. This can promote the formation of arcs in
`case of treating very wide webs of material tending
`toward arc formation. Also, the tensile forces are cor-
`respondingly high when treating wet textile material,
`especially in the case of thick goods such as tufted rugs
`and stitched felts. In the case of wide webs of material,
`it is very difficult to fully eliminate oblique distortion
`and arcs solely by the chains of the tenter station, that
`is, by temporarily having one chain lead or lag behind
`with respect to the other chain. Also, in the case of sen-
`sitive knit fabric webs having a width of about 3 meters
`and more, a sagging of the material is disadvantageous
`since as a result, the loops or stitches in the marginal
`zones are stretched out of shape more readily and to a
`greater degree than those in the central zone.
`in connection with tentering stations, it is conven-
`tional to dispose cords or pipes between the the tenter-
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`ing chains. In this connection, the supporting band
`(belt) is arranged at the level of the tentering plane or
`slightly therebelow.
`The tentering chains are disposed above the support-
`ing element thereby guiding the web of material along
`the underside of said tentering chains. This arrange-
`ment exhibits the particular advantage that the sup-
`porting element, for example, the supporting band, can
`be providedwider that the tentering width, so that the
`entire width of the material can rest on the supporting
`element. In order to remove the web of material from
`
`the needles (pins) of the tentering chains, a conven-
`tional perforated roll, which is under a suction draft,
`can be employed. This ensures that the material is
`unequivocally held by a suction draft along its
`peripheral edges, even along the path between the
`transfer area and the conveyance onto the perforated
`drum.
`
`The provision of using a supporting element between
`the tentering chains exhibits the additional advantage
`that said element can temporarily be driven faster or
`more slowly by the interposition of an appropriate gear,
`and thus can be employed to compensate for are distor-
`tions in the material.
`
`The use of a supporting element, particularly a band-
`shaped supporting element, makes it additionally possi-
`ble, according to the present invention, to utilize the
`apparatus in a substantially more versatile manner. Ap-
`paratus with versatile application is of great
`im-
`portance, particularly with small companies and in the
`case of contractors, since in such cases, due to the large
`capacity of the perforated drum devices, all existing
`types of materials can be treated thereon.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`The present invention will become more fully un-
`derstood from the detailed description given herein-
`below on the accompanying drawings which are given
`by way of illustration only and thus are not limitative of
`the present invention and therein:
`FIG. 1 shows a perforated sieve drum device in alon-
`gitudinal sectional view provided with a tentering sta-
`tion disposed in front of said device;
`FIG. la shows an end view of thedevice shown in
`FIG‘. 1;
`FIG. lb shows a plan view of a support means opera-
`tively associated with the tentering means illustrated in
`FIG. 1;
`FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the device
`shown in FIG. 1; and
`FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view through the
`device of FIG. 1.
`
`DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENTS
`
`Referring now the drawings wherein like reference
`numerals are used throughout the various views to
`designate like parts the apparatus according to FIG. 1
`comprises a web-shaped material 1 which is conducted
`over rollers 2 and spread during said process. Sub-
`sequently, the material is transferred to a tentering sta-
`tion 3 and taken over by the tentering chains 4. In the
`illustrated embodiments, the tentering chains are con-
`structed as pins, spikes or needle chains having a verti-
`cal chain return system. However, it is also possible to
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`employ tentering chains having a horizontal chain
`return. The material 1 is attached to the pins in a con-
`ventional manner by means of circular brushes (brush
`disks) 5. The apparatus includes a heat-insulated hous-
`ing 6 subdivided by a longitudinal wall 7 into a treat-
`ment chamber and a fan chamber, which is customary
`in perforated sieve drum dryers. Perforated drums 8,
`which are subjected to a suction draft are disposed in
`the treatment chamber. In the fan chamber, the fans
`are accommodated, said fans being required for the
`production of the suction draft. These fans blow the
`treatment medium drawn from the perforated drums 8,
`via heating units above and below the perforated drums
`back into the treatment chamber. The longitudinal wall
`7 accordingly extends only up to the perforated covers
`9 disposed above and beneath the perforated drums for
`making the flow uniform. ON the side which is free of
`the material being treated, the perforated drum con-
`tains a cover or baffle member 10 which interrupts the
`suction draft at this side of the sieve drum.
`
`A suction roll 11 is disposed at the inlet of the hous-
`ing 6 in order to transfer the material from the tenter-
`ing chains 4 to the first perforated drum 8. This roll,
`too, is shielded from the suction draft on the side free
`from contact with the material being treated by means
`of a cover plate 12.
`In the apparatus according to FIGS. 1 and 2, the
`material 1 is guided on the underside of the tentering
`chains 4 by a conveyor belt 13 which is associated with
`the tentering chains. Thus, the material being treated
`rests on this conveyor belt. The conveyor belt in these
`embodiments extends beyond the maximum stretching
`width.
`
`The device according to FIG. 2 is similarly con-
`structed to the device of FIG. 1. However, in FIG. 2,
`the conveyor belt 13 partially extends about the first
`perforated drum 8, so that for a short distance the
`material is held between conveyor belt 13 and per-
`forated drum 8 during the heating procedure.
`In FIG. la there is illustrated the means for driving
`the conveyor belt at a variable speed in order to com-
`pensate for the weft or diagonal distortions which
`might occur in the textile material. This means includes
`control unit 20 for regulating the speed of the tension-
`ing chains, control unit 21 for regulating the speed of
`the conveyor belt, and control unit 22 which correlates
`the speed of the tensioning chains with the speed of the
`conveyor belt.
`In FIG. lb the embodiment of the apparatus is illus-
`trated wherein the conveyor belt is in the form of a plu-
`rality of spaced-apart bands, which bands diverge from
`each other in the direction of the material travel. These
`
`bands are designated by reference numeral 13’.
`The cross section of this device is illustrated in FIG.
`
`3. As can be seen therefrom, the internal space of the
`heat-insulated housing 6 is subdivided by a wall 7 into a
`heating chamber and a treatment chamber. Each per-
`forated drum 8 is associated with a radial-flow fan 16,
`disposed at the front end of the drum. Outlet means in
`the form of a pair of perforated belts 28 and 29 are
`shown positioned at the end and below the last of the
`perforated drums 8 positioned within the treatment
`chamber. The drive 30 for the fan is attached at the
`outside of housing 6. Heating units 31 are provided in
`the fan chamber above and below the fan 16. The drive
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`32 for the perforated drum 8 is mounted on the other
`side of the housing.
`The invention being thus described, it will be obvious
`that the same may be varied in many ways. Such varia-
`tions are not to be regarded as a departure from the
`spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifica-
`tions as would be apparent to one skilled in the art are
`intended to be included.
`‘
`‘
`lt is claimed:
`
`1. An apparatus for the treatment of textile material
`which comprises a heat-insulated treatment chamber; a
`plurality of sieve drum means subjected to a suction
`draft rotatably disposed within said treatment chamber;
`fan means associated with the sieve drum means for
`producing a suction draft and for circulating a treat-
`ment medium in said treatment chamber; heating
`means provided in a circulation zone of the treatment
`chamber; inlet means for introducing a textile material
`into said treatment chamber, said inlet means including
`tentering means provided with tensioning chains and at
`least partially disposed outside the treatment chamber,
`said tentering means cooperating with the sieve drum
`means for the effective conveyance of the textile
`material to said sieve drum means; a supporting means
`disposed below the tensioning chains for supporting the
`textile material disposed on said chains whereby the
`textile material is conveyed on the bottom side of the
`tensioning chains; a suction roller disposed between the
`tentering means and the first sieve drum means and
`below said tentering means at the inlet end of the treat-
`ment chamber, said suction roller
`facilitating the
`removal of the textile material from the tentering
`means and transferring the material to the lower por-
`tion of said first sieve drum means; and outlet means
`for removing the textile material from the treatment
`chamber.
`
`2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suction
`roller contains a baffle plate which interrupts the flow
`of the suction draft at that portion of the roller which is
`not in contact with the material being treated.
`3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the supporting
`means is a conveyor belt and the suction roller forms
`one of the reversing members of said conveyor belt.
`4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein means are pro-
`vided for driving the supporting means at a variable
`speed in order to compensate for weft distortions in
`said textile material.
`
`5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the supporting
`means comprises a plurality of spaced-apart bands as-
`sociated with the tentering means on the side thereof
`carrying the textile material.
`6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the bands
`diverge from each other, in the direction of material
`travel.
`
`7. An apparatus for the treatment of textile material
`
`which comprises a heat-insulated treatment chamber; a
`plurality of sieve drum means subjected to a suction
`draft rotatably disposed within said treatment chamber;
`fan means associated with the sieve drum means for
`
`producing a suction draft and for circulating a treat-
`ment medium in said treatment chamber; heating
`means provided in a circulation zone of the treatment
`chamber; inlet means for introducing a textile material
`into said treatment chamber, said inlet means including
`tentering means provided with t_ensionin chains and at
`least partially disposed outside of
`e
`treatment
`chamber, said tentering means cooperating with the
`sieve drum means for the effective conveyance of the
`textile material to said sieve drum means; a moving
`conveyor belt disposed below the tensioning chains and
`operatively associated with said tensioning chains for
`supporting the textile material disposed on said chains,
`said textile material being conveyed on the bottom side
`of the tensioning chains whereby textile material
`transfer is facilitated from said chains to the sieve drum
`means; and outlet means for removing the textile
`material from said treatment chamber.
`
`8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the conveyor
`belt extends into the treatment chamber beyond the
`tentering means.
`9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the conveyor
`belt is a wire mesh belt which extends at least partially
`around at least one sieve dmm means.
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`10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the width of
`the conveyor belt extends beyond the maximum
`stretched width of the textile material.
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`11. A process for the treatment of textile materials
`selected from the group consisting of knitted goods,
`composite fiber materials and tufted goods in a treat-
`ment chamber containing a plurality of sieve drum
`means subjected to a suction draft which comprises in-
`troducing a textile material onto a tentering means con-
`taining tensioning chains where the material is held by
`its edges in a stretched condition with pins, supporting
`the textile material below said tentering means while
`said material is being conveyed on the bottom side of
`the tensioning chains, applying a suction draft to said
`textile material whereby said material is drawn out of
`the pins of the tensioning chains while being supported,
`transferring the textile material to the first sieve drum
`means subjected to a suction draft, and drawing a treat-
`ment medium around and through the textile material
`while the material is being conveyed on the first and
`subsequent sieve drum means.
`12. The process of claim 11, wherein the treatment
`medium is air, steam or steam-air mixtures.
`13. The process of claim 11, wherein the textile
`material is supported by a moving conveying means
`which is driven at a speed sufficient to compensate for
`distortions in the textile material.
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