Textiles: fluid treating apparatus – Machines – Liquid applying
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-22
2001-11-13
Coe, Philip R. (Department: 1746)
Textiles: fluid treating apparatus
Machines
Liquid applying
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314771
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device for applying a patterning agent to a web advancing in its lengthwise direction, and particularly for applying a liquid dye to a carpet web.
A device for applying a patterning agent to a carpet is known from German Patent 33 15 770 C2, where the web runs below an application bar, with the pile facing up, and an application slit which is open to the bottom is formed in the bar. Opposite to the application slit, the web is supported by a resilient cushion which rests against the back of the carpet web. The patterning agent is a foam which is fed to the application slit at several locations distributed over the working width of the slit. The foam is fed to the individual locations via separate feed lines from a distributor. Upstream of the distributor, in the flow direction, there are valves through which foam from a first foam mixer is fed to the distributor during certain time periods, while foam from a second foam mixer is fed to it at different time periods.
The principle described in German Patent 33 15 770 C2, can be applied to carpet webs oriented with their pile facing down, traversing over an application slit that opens up to the top for applying a dye bath patterning agent.
If the patterning agent is changed when operating an arrangement according to the principle of German Patent 33 15 770 C2, for example if a transition is made from a first color to another color, an amount of first patterning agent still located in the lines between the switch-over valves and the distributor, between the switch-over valves and the exit slit, in the distributor, in the feed lines, and in the individual channels of the application bar is displaced by the new patterning agent. When this occurs, mixing of the two patterning agents occurs, so that on the web there is no defined border between the two colors, but rather a transition state in which mixed shades occur, resulting in scrap or in goods of lesser quality. The length of web segments with such lower quality can be on the order of a meter or more.
Developments in today's textile finishing technology are in the direction of shorter and shorter yardage, down to as little as several hundred meters length for the web. Scrap lengths of one or more meters are thus a marked loss when expensive carpeting is involved. Efforts are therefore being made to reduce the losses which occur in devices of the type described, when a transition to a different patterning agent occurs.
A further development of the current technology is described in German Patent 29 00 712 A1. That patent describes a web that is guided over a pressure table, and an application bar provided with the application slit that rests directly on the web. An electrically activated valve is provided for each individual feed line, directly in front of the exit slit.
The segment from the closing location of the valve to the outer opening of the outlet zone, i.e. to the contact location of the pattern agent with the web, therefore becomes short. The residual amount of patterning agent remaining in the segment is also small. In case of a change of the patterning agent, only the relatively small amount of patterning agent still remaining between the valve and the web is displaced by the new patterning agent, and only this amount can result in mixing.
The transition length on the web is significantly reduced as a result of this approach. In this patent, the distance to the exit location should be as small as can be implemented in technical terms. At the same time, supplying the patterning agent via a plurality of individual valves distributed over the width of the web results in a significant improvement of the uniformity of the application amount per surface unit, crosswise to the web. This occurs because there are no flow-related pressure drops, for example, towards the edges of the web.
An additional feature of the device described in this patent is that by dividing the flow supply among a plurality of individual valves, each of which has a section of the outlet zone assigned to it, it is possible to change the patterning agent not only on the whole web, such as over the entire width of the web, but also to change over narrower width regions at different times, as determined by the number of valves, so that various complex patterns can be obtained. Here again, the shortened transition from one patterning agent to the next is of great significance, because only in this way can be produced sharply defined rectangular patterns on the web. More specifically, the device includes a separate valve for each individual feed line, and the feed lines lead to the application slit as slanted bores, drilled through the slide shoe of the application bar.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The device according to the present invention reduces the design and production effort of applying a pattern to a web. According to the invention, the device for applying a patterning agent to a carpet web includes an application bar extending crosswise and parallel to the carpet web, a slide surface disposed on a first face of the application bar, adapted for contacting the carpet web, a slit-like outlet zone formed in the application bar, opening into the slide surface, and extending along a working width of the application bar, support means disposed opposite to the slit-like outlet zone, adapted for biasing the carpet web towards the slit-like outlet zone, a plurality of feed lines supplying the patterning agent to the slit-like outlet zone, and a plurality of valves disposed in the application bar, corresponding to the plurality of feed lines, adjacent to the slit-like outlet zone.
Each one of the plurality of valves further includes a cylindrical valve chamber, a valve body rotatable on an axis of rotation substantially perpendicular to the carpet web, an outlet channel formed in the valve body along the axis of rotation and opening into the slit-like outlet zone, an inlet channel fluidly connected to the outlet channel, a feed channel opening into the valve chamber, fluidly connected to the corresponding feed line, and at least one additional feed channel opening into the valve chamber and fluidly connected to a corresponding one of a plurality of additional feed lines supplying an additional patterning agent to the slit-like outlet zone. The valve body is rotatable to bring the inlet channel in fluid connection with one of the feed channel and the at least one additional feed channel.
According to the invention, the feed lines are directed into the slit-like outlet zone in the flow direction of the patterning agent, so that each one of the different types of patterning agent passing through the plurality of valves enters into the slit-like outlet zone in parallel with the other types of patterning agent, not sequentially. In this way, the tendency towards mixing in the adjacent regions during flow through the outlet zone is minimized, because only a small portion of the fluid connections downstream from the valves are shared by different types of patterning agents.
A valve body is arranged in each cylindrical valve chamber of the application bar, and can rotate along an axis of rotation. Each valve has at least two feed lines or channels providing patterning agents to it, which open from two opposite sides into the valve chamber, at the same axial position of the chamber. The feed channels can be selectively connected with the inlet formed in the valve body by rotating the valve body, so that the inlet and a desired feed channel are aligned.
The outlet channel also formed in the valve body and the section of the slit-like outlet zone corresponding to that outlet channel can therefore be optionally supplied with the one or the other patterning liquid simply by rotating the corresponding valve body. According to the invention, each valve serves for switching on and off at least two feed lines, so that the total number of valves required is cut in half, and the patterning agent reaches the outlet zone without having to travel through slanted bores.
In o
Ahrweiler Karl-Heinz
Gruber Heinz
Keller Alfred
Schumacher Walter
Coe Philip R.
Eduard Kusters Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG
Kenyon & Kenyon
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