Textiles: manufacturing – Textile product fabrication or treatment – Fiber entangling and interlocking
Reexamination Certificate
2003-11-12
2004-06-22
Vanatta, Amy B. (Department: 3765)
Textiles: manufacturing
Textile product fabrication or treatment
Fiber entangling and interlocking
C028S167000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06751830
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE PRIOR ART
This invention relates to a method for hydroenhancing fabrics, and more particularly to a method for hydroenhancing fabrics using a shaped orifice wherein a liquid under pressure is forced through a non-circular orifice in a coherent jet and impinges onto a fabric. Multiple orifices are typically used, and the shape and orientation of the orifices (e.g. the distance between adjacent orifices, the angle between the major axes of the orifices and the direction of fabric travel and the direction of impingement) can be modified to effect different hydroenhancement properties. The method of hydroenhancement can be practiced using a variety of machinery configurations. One use for the method of the present invention is to impart “striping,” i.e. a selective color wash-out to produce a pattern of alternating lighter and darker stripes across the width, and running the length of a fabric web.
The impingement of a liquid under pressure onto a fabric (hydroenhancement) to modify the properties of fabric materials is well known.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,560,326, Australian Patent 287,821 and Canadian Patent 739,652 to J. Bunting, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,957,456 and 5,737,813 to Sternlieb, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,791,028 and 6,253,429 to Zolin, and various other disclosures describe the use of pressurized liquid, usually water, exiting a manifold through an arrangement of circular orifices arranged either in a single line or in a pattern on an orifice strip; either impinging on a bat of loose fibers to make a non-woven fabric, or impinging on a fabric to change its properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,480 to Adachi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,486 to Brandon, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,130 to Tsurumi disclose the use of a single slot having a length that is equal to or greater than the width of the web of cloth being treated. In these references, the slot is arranged so as to cover the entire width of a cloth web, and the pressure of the liquid is limited due to the bending and deformation of the slot opening induced by the force of liquid pressure operating over a long unsupported length. This technology is useful for hydro-entanglement, i.e. the process of making a fabric from a loose bat of non-interwoven loose fibers, but the energy available at the maximum pressure is not adequate to appreciably alter the appearance or properties of a pre-existing fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,630 to Greenway describes the use of a fan “jet” array. A fan “jet” has an elongated opening, usually appearing as a sector of a circle, that produces a fan-shaped spray. In the fan-shaped spray, the liquid emerges from the opening in various directions, i.e. the fan-shaped spray is not columnar or coherent.
European Patent Application 0,177,277 of Wilbanks, et al discloses a method of imparting a pattern onto fabric using jets of water that are emitted in “pulses.” This process is much less efficient, time wise, than the method of the present invention.
The method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,813 to Sternlieb could be used to create a stripe pattern, but because the energy delivered by a single circular orifice is insufficient to provide adequate wash-out, the striping effect must be produced either with a series of orifices in multiple manifolds, or by making multiple passes through one machine.
It is not feasible to simply increase the number of orifices per inch in order to deliver more energy per pass. The material that comprises an orifice strip must be of sufficient thickness to withstand the liquid pressure behind it. This thickness is usually about ten time greater than the diameter of a typical circular orifice, e.g. an orifice strip having 0.303 inch diameter (or wide) orifices can be from about 0.010 up to 0.040 inch thick. If the orifice passage was a constant 0.003 inch diameter (or width) for the full 0.040 inch of its length, the resulting stream would become divergent, i.e. would not be coherent or columnar. In order to produce coherent or columnar jet that retains its effectiveness over greater distances, an orifice passage can be relieved at the exit end. This construction reduces the effective length of the orifice passage and results in a coherent or columnar jet. A negative side effect of this construction is to create a minimum distance between adjacent orifices, in order to retain adequate material in, and strength of, the orifice strip.
It is difficult to make and maintain multiple orifice/manifolds alignment so that successive impingements fall on the same wash-out line; with the result that the striping becomes blurred. Similarly, multiple pass striping operation requires precise repeatability of fabric tracking, and also an absence of shrinkage in the width direction of the fabric throughout the time required to make the required number of passes. If the tracking deviates or width shrinkage occurs, the striping becomes blurred.
The above references describe a variety of fabric support means. Fabric support is variously described as being flat or curved, smooth or textured, non-porous or foraminous; with certain combinations of the properties being used in any given application (e.g. a curved, smooth and foraminous roll; or a flat and textured conveyor “screen;” or a flat smooth and non-porous conveyor belt). Foraminous surfaces are described as being made of mesh screen material, or being a perforated sleeve. Another variable involves whether the fabric support is stationary, i.e. whether the fabric is “dragged” over the support (typically referred to as an “impact box”); or is moving with, or even effecting the transport of, the fabric.
In the fabric support configurations that involve a foraminous support, the references also disclose the use of a vacuum to enhance the hydroenhancement process. The vacuum keeps the water from pooling or flooding, and thereby impeding. the ability of the water jets to impinge the fabric. The vacuum can also facilitate the handling of the fabric by holding it tight to the support or support/transport member.
The above references also describe a variety of fabric transport means. Fabric transport can involve the use of a flat conveyor, or a serpentine path through a series of rolls. Additionally, the methods and apparatus of the prior art range from single-pass operations, using multiple manifolds and jet arrays; to multi-pass operations; to reciprocating operations where the fabric web travels first in one direction, then in the reverse direction, and possibly repeats this forward/reverse cycle numerous times in order to achieve a desired degree of hydroenhancement.
Further, the above references describe a variety of impingement angles, that is the angle at which a coherent jet strikes the surface of the fabric. In some cases the impingement is perpendicular to the fabric surface, but in other cases it is deliberately not.
The above references also describe methods of hydroenhancement where only one, or both sides of a fabric are subjected to the liquid jet impingement.
In the Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,429 to Zolin, at column 7, rows 9-12, is the statement that “. . . other diameter orifices and other orifice shapes can also be employed.” However, nothing in the references shows or suggests an elongated orifice shape, or an orifice other than a circle.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention contemplates hydroenhancing fabrics with a liquid exiting a pressurized manifold through an array of elongated orifices. The liquid jet emanating from each elongated orifice is columnar or coherent in form, i.e. its cross section has minimum variation from where the liquid jet exits the orifice to where the liquid jet impinges the fabric. The benefits of using elongated orifices are several: to permit the presence of solid impurities in the pressurized liquid that would clog an array of circular orifices; to improve the energy efficiency of the hydroenhancement process; to reduce the number of passes required to create the desired hydroenhancement effect; to simplify the “stripi
Sternlieb Herschel
Zolin Paul F.
Seyboldt Charles F.
Textile Enhancements International, Inc.
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