US2494378A - Apparatus for striping fabrics - Google Patents

Description

Jan; 10, 1950 L. N. DEXTER APPARATUS FOR STRIPING FABRICS Filed Nov. 29, 1946 Patented Jan. 10, 1950 APPARATUS FoR sm r'mo FABRICS Lyall Netherton Dexter, Glen Iris, Victoria,

Australia Application November 29, 1946, Serial N 0. 712,927 In Australia November 30, 1945 7 Claims. (c1 .'91-12) An object of the invention is to provide. im

proved apparatus of the kind described whereby the fabric may be simultaneously coloured in stripes of different colours on one side of the fabric in a continuous operation. The fabric may be coloured on its other side, either uniformly or in stripes, by a subsequent operation.

A more specific object is to provide means whereby the fabric may be colored in stripes of different colors in such a manner that a sharp clean dividing line is produced between adjacent stripes and that uncolored areas or bands are not formed between adjacent stripes.

A further object is to provide means for producing an even coating of coloring material of suitable thickness on the fabric, while a still further object is to provide means for drying the coating produced. 1

Apparatus for colouring fabrics aCCOICliIIgtO the invention comprises means for moving a length of fabric longitudinally, a trough disposed transversely of and above the fabric, front and rear walls on the trough, partitions extending between the front and rear walls of the trough and parallel to the direction of travel of the fabric, a series of open-bottomed cells formed in the trough by the partitions and which are adapted to contain liquid coloring materials, the lower edges of the partitions being curved longitudinally so that the highest portions of the curve are adjacent to the front and rear walls, the front portions of the lower edges of the par- .titions being tapered towards the front wall to form sharp apices at said front wall, and the lower portion of the front wall being tapered downwardly towards its lower edge to form a sharp 5 lower edge meeting the sharp apices of the lower edges of the partitions, a flexible band extendingbeneath the fabric as it passes beneath the trough, means for tensioning the flexible band in order to maintain the fabric in pressure trough, means for maintaining the fabric in pressure contact with the loweredges of the front and rear walls and with the curved lower edges of the partitions, and means for supplying liquid colouring materials to the cells.

5 An important feature of the invention resides in tapering the front portions of the: lower edges of thepartitions to form apices at thefront wall of the trough. By means of this construction! Per ew. it Possible to l l l erf eqegelil uncolored areas between adjacent colored stripes, and to produce a clean sharp junction line between said stripes without blurring or merging of the colors.

According to another feature of the invention the bottom edge of each partition is curved longitudinally with the highest portions of the curve at the entrance and exit ends of the cells. This insures that the pressure contact between the fabric and the lower edges of the partitions, which is maintained as hereinafter described, is substantially uniform, a condition which is essential for satisfactory operation.

According to still another feature the fabric is held closely against and in pressure contact with the lower edges of the partitions and walls by an underlying band of fabric which passes over a pair of rollers, one on the entrance side and the other on the exit side of the cells, this underlying band being held taut by weighting one of its ends and securing the other end in position.

' A cloth reservoir is provided from which the cloth or fabric is fed to the machine. The cloth is fed to the cloth reservoir intermittently and at a greater speed than that at which it is withdrawn. This provides time at the completion of; the unrolling of a r011 of fabric for the end of a roll to be sewn to the end of a subsequent roll, so that the length of cloth passing through the machin is continuous.

After the cloth leaves the cloth reservoir it passes over various idler rollers and through an automatic guider, and it then passes under the colour cells abovementioned. The colour cells are fed with colour gravitationally, an automatic fCllt-Off'0f the feed of each colour being provided. After the fabric has been coloured by passing it beneath the colour cells, it is drawn through ha-suitable hot air drier. The conditions in the --drier and the duration of the drying treatment ;a re -sucl 1 that when thefabric leaves the drier.

the colours are completelydry; The reverse side of the fabric may be coloured uniformly, or striped by passingthe fabric again through the mach-iner er i qt i inv n;

Figure 2 isa view in sectional-end elevationoj f colour cell showing the fabric passing there- Figure 3 is a plan view of the colour cells and fabric passing thereunder,

Figure 4 is a perspective view, partly in section, of the colour cells,

Figure 5 is a View in sectional elevation of a 5 colour cell showing mechanism for regulating the supply of colouring material to the cell, and

Figure 6 is a view in section taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Referring to the drawings, wherein the same reference numerals are employed to designate like or corresponding parts, the referencenumeral I8 indicates a fabric reservoir to which canvas or other fabric H is supplied by means notshown and from which the fabric Il may be withdrawn is" continuously. The fabric H-ipasses over anvidler roller l2, through an automatic guider-oraligning mechanism 13, over idler rollers l4, 05, over a brush 16, over an idler roller l1, and then be-' neath a colouring trough l8. The brush (6 smoothes out the fabric and removes loose threads and other pieces of foreign material.

Paint, lacquer or other colouring material l8a is supplied gravitationally to the -cells"of the trough I8 through pipes I 9 from containers 20. Valves 2| are provided in the pipes 19 toregulate the quantity of colouring material supplied.

- After passing beneath the trough 18, the fabric "1 l passes upwards and over an idler roller 22 and then passes horizontally through a drier 23. Air at a suitable temperature enters the drier 23 through inlet pipe 24 and is passed through the drier in contact with the fabric. The temperature and rate of flow of the air, and the duration "of treatment of the fabric in the drier, are such -3 that the colours on the fabrics are completely dry when the fabric leaves the drier. The fabric then passes over an idler roller 25 and is wound on roller 2 6.

The colouring trough It comprises a rear Wall 21 and a front wall 28 extending the full length of the trough and sloping downwardly and forwardly in the direction of travel of the fabric I l.

A bottom member 29 is secured to thelow'er edge of the'rear wall 21 and covers the'rear portion" f5 of the bottom of the trough.

The trough I8 is divided into colour cells 30 by partitions 3! which fit into recesses in the rear wall '21 and bottom member 29 and are secured to the rear face of the front wall 28. The-number, 5o arrangement and widths of the colourcells 30- are such as to provide on the fabric ll the required pattern of stripes.

In each cell or compartment 30 a space 32 is formed between the front'edge'of the bottom member 29 and the loweredge of the front wall 28. The lower or bottom edge of the front wall 28 is tapered or shaped to a sharp edge 33; The lower edge 34 and the frontedge 35 of each partition 3! are tapered at their forward and lower '60 ends, respectively, to form asharp pointor apex 36 at the forward or exit end of the cel1s-30,-which point or apex 36 meets thesharp lower edge iiil of the front wall 28.

The lower edges 34' of the partitions 3i and the lower surface of the bottom member 29 are curved longitudinally, that is, in the direction of: travel of the fabric II, and the highest portionsof the curve are-at the front and rear ends -o1 the said lower edges 34.

i The fabric II is passedbeneath the trough l8 as shown in Figure 2 in the directioniof ithearrow shownln this figure and ismaintainedin pressure contact with the undersurface 'of the bottom member 29 and with the lower edges of the partitions 3| and front wall 28 by a band 31 of fabric or other flexible material lying beneath the fabric H. One end of the band 3! is secured to a rod or bar 38 and the other end passes over a roller 39 and is attached to a weight or weights 40. A strip or pad 4| of sponge rubber or like resilient material may be inserted between the upper andlowerlayers of the band 31 beneath the trough I 8.

The weighted flexible band 3'! holds the fabric H firmly against the lower edges of the walls 21,

28, and the lower edges 34 of the partitions 3|, irrespective of any slight variations or inequalities' in the fabric.

- The paint, lacquer or other colouring material l8a'is applied to the upper surface of the fabric II as it passes beneath the open lower ends of the cells 38. The fabric H engages the lower edge 33 of the front wall 28 with such pressure that the required quantity of colouring material is left on the fabric leaving the trough l8.

' The tapering of the lower edge 34 of each par tion' 3| towards the exit ends of the cells 30 ensures that the fabric H is coloured in stripes" with exactitude, so that the differently coloured stripes do not smear at their junctions and do not leave any appreciable gaps of uncoloured mate rial in those positions. The exactitude of the meeting of the adjacent stripes withoutgaps and without overlapping depends mainly on the accuracy of construction of the partitions.

The colouring material 18a is supplied to the cells'30 through the pipes it! as previously stated, and'these pipes may be arranged as" shown in Figure 4 to supply the same colouring material to a series of cells. A feed trough 44 containing colouring material may be provided on the front of. the trough l8, and holes 45 are formedin the front wall 28 between the trough 44 and certain of the cells 30. This arrangement is particularly suitablefor'supplying colouring material to narrow cells 30, which are otherwise difiicult to sup ply.

In Figures 5 and 6 a device for automatically regulating the supply of colouring material I80, to the cells 30 is illustrated. The supply pipe l3is attached to a nipple 38 formed on the upper end of a valve body 41 which is bolted to the rear wall 2130f the trough l8. A delivery passage is formed in the valve body 4! and terminates in a valve seat 48. A ball valve 49 is adapted to be moved upwardly against the valve seat 48 by an armor lever 50 pivoted to the valve body 4'5 and having a float 5| connected to its free end.

Outlet passages 52 for the colouring material .are provided: in each side of the valve body 41'.

Byumeans of this float controlled valve a substantially uniform quantity of colouring material may be maintained in the cell 353.

This machine is remarkably efficient, not only in theaccuracy with which the stripes of different colours are marked upon the'frabric, but also on account of its remarkable speed. With one of these machines several thousand yards'of" fabric maybe coloured in a day.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for coloring fabrics which comprises means for moving a length of fabric longitudinally, a trough disposed transversely of and above the fabric, front and rear walls on the tr u a ns it i i v be een the from d re -Wa t e t e c a d pa a le -t tes direction of travel of the fabric, a serieslof openbottomed cells formed in the trough by the partitions and which are adapted to contain liquid coloring materials, the lower edges of the partitions being curved longitudinally so that the highest portions of the curve are adjacent to the front and rear walls, the front portions of the lower edges of the partitions being tapered towards the front wall to form sharp apices at said front wall, and the lower portion of the front Wall being tapered downwardly towards its lower edge to form a sharp lower edge meeting the sharp apices of the lower edges of the partitions, a flexible band extending beneath the fabric as it passes beneath the trough, means for tensioning the flexible band in order to maintain the fabric in pressure contact with the lower edges of the front and rear walls and with the curved lower edges of the partitions, and means for supplying liquid coloring materials to the cells.

'2. Apparatus according to claim 1 and having a bottom member which closes the rear portion of the bottom of each cell, an opening being formed between the front edge of the bottom member and the ront wall of the trough.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 and having a feed trough secured to the front wall of the trough, said feed trough being adapted to hold a supply of liquid coloring material, said front wall being provided with holes through which the coloring material is admitted to certain of the cells.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 and having pipes through which the colouring materials are supplied to the cells, valves connected to said pipes for regulating the admission of colouring materials to the cells, and floats mounted in the cells and connected to the valves so as to automatically maintain uniform quantities of colouring materials in the cells.

5. Apparatus for coloring fabrics which comprises means for moving a length of fabric longitudinally, a trough disposed transversely of and above the fabric, front and rear walls on the trough, partitions extending between the front and rear walls of the trough and parallel to the direction of travel of the fabric, a series of openbottomed cells formed in the trough by partitions and which are adapted to contain liquid coloring materials, the lower edges of the partitions being curved longitudinally so that the highest portions of the curve are adjacent to the front and rear walls, the front portions of the lower edges of the partitions being tapered towards the front wall to form sharp apicesat said front wall and the lower portions of the front edges of the partitions being tapered downwardly to said apices and the lower portion of the front wall being tapered downwardly towards its lower edge to form a sharp lower edge meeting the sharp apices of the lower edges of the partitions, a flexible band extending beneath the fabric as it passes beneath the trough, means for tensioning the flexible band in order to maintain the fabric in pressure contact with the lower edges of the front and rear walls and of the partitions, means for supplying liquid coloring materials to the cells, a drier, means for passing hot air through the drier and in contact with fabric passing therethrough, and means for passing the fabric continuously beneath the trough and then through the drier.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the flexible band is secured at one end and is weighted at the other end.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a resilient pad is incorporated in the flexible band beneath the trough.

LYALL NETHERTON DEXTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 397,091 Mortimer Jan. 29, 1889 1,422,545 Dayton July 11, 1922 1,929,127 Turner Oct. 3, 1933

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