US2067251A - Manufacture of textile materials - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 12, 1937. w TAYLOR 2,067,251

MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE MATERIALS Filed- April 18, 1934 Patented n... 12, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE land, assignor to Celanese C orporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Applicationnpril 18, 1934, Serial No. 721,089 In Great Britain April 21, 1933 8 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of textile materials, and in particular to the production of artificial filaments in aforin suitable for their conversion into staple fibres adapated for the manufacture of spun yarn.

.U. S. application S. No. 390,355 filed 4th September,-1929, describes the production of 'a fibrous mass of artificial filaments by subjecting travelling filaments to the action of afiuid'stream by 1 the aid of which thefilaments are scattered and deposited as a mass throughout which they are irregularly disposed. In this way the filaments in the mass do not lie closely side by side, and

when the mass is pulled, combed or teased to bring the filaments into substantial alignment preparatory to cutting or breaking them into staple fibres, there is avoided the very close disposition of filament and filament encouteredwhen staple fibres are cut from threads of artificial filaments, which close disposition renders difiicult the sepa-' ration of the filaments necessary for their even distribution in the spinning operations by which the staple fibres are formed into the spun yarn.

The present invention makes use of similar means to bring aboutan irregular disposition of filaments which are to be cut or otherwise formed into staple fibres, the object of .the invention, "however, being to bring the filaments into a more ordered arrangement so as to facilitate their transformation into fibres.

According to the invention, travelling filaments are subjected to the action of a stream which blows them in the direction of their travel so as to separate them from each other, and then, in-

tion S. No. 390,355, the separated filaments are received on a winding device which collects them in a state of substantial but not complete parallelism with one another.

An important point about the winding operation is that the filaments are collected with little or no tension so that the action of the winding device does not draw the separated filaments close together again, but operates mainly to collect the filaments in a slack manner and allow them to retain the separated condition to which they have been brought by the action of the fluid stream. For this purpose the winding device,

periphery, moves with a winding Speed somewhat'less than the delivery speedof the filaments, the :filaments being delivered thereto by u means of a suitable blowing nozzle, e. g. an ejector stead of allowing the filaments to collectin. adisorderly mass as described in U. S. applica- 4 which is conveniently in the form of a reel-or drum having a winding surface of substantial in order'to allow the operation to proceed as long as possible without interruption, should be of large capacity. Threads 'of filaments drawnlo from such supplies should, of course, nothave any twist which would hinder the desired separation of the filaments, and with advantage the threads may be entirely without twist.

The operation may, moreover, be carried out continuously with the production of artificial filaments, as for example continuously with the production of filaments of cellulose acetate or other .cellulose esters or ethers by the dry or evaporative method. 'In this case the filaments are drawn'from. one or any other desired number of jets by a feed roller and delivered from this roller to the ejector device where they are separated and delivered to the winding drum. Such operation, by bringing the filaments continuous y with their production into a condition suitable for their immediate conversion into staple fibres, forms a simple and economical step in the production of artificial spun yarns.

By way of example a form of apparatus suitable for carrying out the presenttinvention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:-

' Figure 1 is a part sectional side elevation and,

Figure 2 is a plan view of the apparatus. Continuous artificial filaments 3 are produced in a dry spinning cell or chamber 4 and are deflected by means of a guide rod 5 through an opening 6 leading out of the chamber. The filaments- 3 are forwarded from the chamber 4 by a feed roller 1 round which they pass, pairs-of tension rods 8, 9 between which the filaments pass being provided before and after the feed roller 1. The tension rods 8 are in a vertical position and the tension rods 9 in a horizontal position, and both pairs of rods are adjustable by means of knurled heads II, I I to vary the amount of friction applied between the rods and the filaments.

After passing the second pair of tension rods Q,

the filaments proceed through an ejector device device is of the type described in U. S. application S. No. 390,355 and comprises an inner tube l3, air being fed to the annular space outside the tube It by means of an air pipe M controlled by a valve l5. The ejector ii is flared at its mouth it and the filaments 3 passing through the inner tube i3 areopened and spread out into a mass of separate filaments ii. The separation of the filaments is assisted by the action of the tension rods 8, 9 which, as is described in U. S. application S. No. 390,355, not only apply a controlled tension to the filaments, but also cause them to spread.

In addition, the friction between the rods and the filaments causes the filaments to be electrically charged, which is also of assistance in causing the The separate filaments li are blown on a winding drum I8, the axis of the ejector device ll being higher than that of the drum l8, so that the filaments are received by the drum at a point above its axis. The drum it rotates (as indicated in Figure 1) in a counter-clockwise direction so that the filaments H which have formed a loose pile above the axis of the drum are drawn downwardly beneath the drum and wound thereon. In this manner the tension in the filaments H is due'to the air blast only and not to any'pull of the drum I 8. The drum I8 is provided with flanges 19 to confine the filaments laterally and is mounted on standards 23.

As is shown in Figure 2, the feed roller l and the drum 18 are driven from 'a shaft 2!, chain sprockets 22, 23 and chain 2d being provided to drive the feed roller 1, while cones 25, 26 and a belt 21 are provided to drive the shaft 28 of the drum l8. A fine adjustment of the speed of the drum l8 relative to that of the feed roller 'l' is obtained by varying the position of the belt 21! on the two cones 25, 26. .This is effected bymeans of a fork 29 controlling the position of the belt Zll and movable by means of a screw 30 which is rotated by a hand wheel 3!. By these means the speed of the drum I8 is so adjusted as to be slightly' less than that of the feed roller '5, and the filaments ii are wound slackly on the drum.

When a sufiicient quantity of filaments has been collected on the drum' i8 it is cut off by means of a knife and forms a hank-like bundle consisting of filamentary lengths each equal to the periphery-of the drum I8. I

The bundle of filaments formed on the drum may conveniently be wetted in the manner described in U. S. application S. No. 613,561 filed 25th May, 1932, to bring it into a compact state for cutting and, furthermore, the wetting liquid employed may contain hygroscopic bodies as described in U. S. application '8. No. 614,853 filed '1. A process for, the lproduction of staple fibres fr oniicontinuous filaments which comprises blow:

.. ing travelling continuous filaments in the direction of their travel so' as to separate the filaments from one another and winding the filaments while one another.

they are separated so as to collect them in a state 'of substantial but incomplete parallelism with 2. A process for the production of staple fibres from continuous filaments which comprises blowing travellingcontinuous filaments in the direction of their travel so as to separate the filaments from one another and to direct them towards a rotating winding surface, and receiving the separated filaments upon a portion of such winding surface which is moving in a direction reverse to the direction of travel of the filaments, thereby collecting the filaments in astate of substantial but incomplete parallelism with one another.

3. A process for the production of staple fibres which comprises extruding a spinning solution to produce a plurality of continuous artificial filaments,'separating said filaments from-one another while they are travelling continuously with their production by blowing them in the directionv of their travel, and winding the filaments while they are separated so as to collect them in a state staritial but incomplete parallelism with one another.

5. A process for the production of staple fibres of cellulose acetate which comprises extruding a solution of cellulose acetate to produce continuous. artificial filaments, separating said filaments from one. another while they are travelling continuously with their production by blowing them in the direction of their travel, and winding the filaments while they are separated so as to collect them in a state of substantial but incomplete parallelism with one another.

6. Apparatus for the production of staple fibres from continuous filaments comprising a winding member to receive the continuous filaments, means for rotating said member and a; blowing nozzle adapted to direct the filaments and to separate them from one another, said member being rotatable in such a direction, and said nozzle being so disposed with respect thereto that the separated filaments are received on a part of the surface of said member which moves in the reverse direction to that in which the filaments are directed by the nozzle, whereby the separated filaments are wound in a state of substalntial but incomplete parallelism with one anot er.

7. Apparatus for the production of staple fibres from continuous filaments, comprising a winding member, a blowing nozzle adapted to direct filaments coming from a source of supply on to said winding member and to separate them from one another, means for forwarding the filaments from such source of supply to said blowing nozzle, means for rotating the winding member in a" direction opposite to the direction of travel of the blown filaments, said member being adapted to collect the separated filaments in a state of substantial but incomplete parallelism with one another, and means for adjusting the speed ratio between said winding device and said forward-- in: means.

1 supply and said nozzle,v said tension device being adapted to spread the continuous filameatsbefore they reach said nozzle and means'tor rotating the winding member in a direction opposite to the direction oi travel of the blown filaments, said member being adapted to collect the separated filaments in a state of substantial but incomplete 5 parallelism with one another.

WILLIAM IVAN TAYLOR.

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