US2203686A - Thread-advancing reel - Google Patents

Description

June 11, 1940. B, KLINE r AL 2,203,686

' THREAD-ADVANCING 'REEL Filed 0012. 26, 1936 3 Sheets Sheet l INVENTORS HAYDEN B. KLINE LAVE RN J. JORDAN A TTORNEY June 1940. H. B. KLINE ET AL THREAD'ADVANCING REEL Filed Oct. 26, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS HAYDEN B. KLINE LAVERN J.JORDAN A TTORNEY June 1940. H. B. KLINE ET AL 2,203,686

THREAD *ADVANC ING REEL Filed Oct. 26, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 3- mo zq I40 /60 I80 200 220 240 260 250 300 I WEIGHT 0F Ma/srz/RE 11v WRE'AD (Valve/$7055 WVE/QHT OF BONE DRY THREAD Fly. 5

I v Fly. 6

I .B A D EC l M L 1 k I ,L-"-" Fly. 7

B D E 6 0 fi ooooooooooo n o INVENTORS HAYDEN B. KLINE L AV R N J. JORDAN mwfl ATTORNEY Patented June, 1940 THREAD-ADVANCING near.

Hayden B. Kline, Cleveland, and Lavern I. Jordan, Fall-view, Ohio, assignors to Industrial Rayon Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application October 26, 1936, Serial No. 107,667

6' Claims. This invention relates to the drying of substantially continuous lengths obmaterlals, such as thread or the .like, under circumstances inwhich provision is made for the shrinkage of such materials. More particularly, the invention relates to the drying of. such material while stored a in a plurality of generally helical turns on a winding reel permitting controlled shrinkage of the material being dried on the reel. While the 10 invention may be employed to advantage in the drying of any kind of thread or the like which shrinks while being dried, it may be employed to particular advantage in the drying of artificial silk thread produced by any of the known wetspinning processes, such, forexample, as the viscose, nitrocellulose and cuprammonium processes.

While the invention is applicable to the drying of a wide variety of materials, generically referred to as thread or the like, for convenience it will be described hereinafter as applied to the drying of viscose artificial silk thread.

It is desirable that viscose artificial silk thread shall have along its length uniform physical and physico-chemical characteristics, this being particularly true'inrespect of what may be called its residual capacity to shrink. The term residual capacity to shrink may be defined as the amount, in proportion to its original dry length, a dry thread will, if unrestrained in any manner,

shrink upon being re-wet and redried. Residual capacity to shrink is imparted to a thread which is prevented from completely shrinking as it is dried, the amount of shrinkage which the thread is permitted to experience before being prevented from further shrinking being determinative of its residual capacity to shrink. Uniformity of residual capacity to shrink is, however, extremely difficult to attain.

Uniformity of these P ysical and, physicochemical characteristics is particularly desirable in thread employed in the weaving of fabrics. In such fabrics, the cloth is initially woven to a width substantially equal to or slightly greater than the desired width'of the finished fabric.

. In the finishing operations, the woven fabric,

after being washed, dyed, etc., is dried in tentering frames which hold the fabric to the desired finished width. If the thread of which the fabric is formed has a high residual capacity to shrink,

tearing of the fabric may result during the drying operation, due to stresses set up in the fabric as it shrinks while being thus held in the tentering frames. For this reason, it is desirable that the thread forming the fabric have a low residual .65 capacity to shrink, particularly since the looms used in the weaving industry, being of fixed widths, may not be adjusted to compensate for excessive shrinkage stresses.

Non-uniformity in such characteristics causes imperfections in the finished cloth, which imperfections are especially noticeable in dyed fabrics. Moreover, the manner of drying the thread, particularly in the case of viscose artificial silk thread, determines to a large extent the uniformity and amount of residual capacity to shrink imparted to the thread, as well as the uniformity of other physical and physico-chemical characteristics of the thread. For this reason, it is diflicult to manufacture wholly satisfactory woven fabrics from artificial silk thread produced by a wet-spinning process in which the thread is dried on the spool on which it is collected. Such thread does not possess a satisfactory degree of uniformity, particularly in respect ;of the desired low residual capacity to shrink. This arises from the fact that the thread does not shrink evenly when dried on the spool.

As a result, thread which has been dried while which, due to their rapid drying, are prevented from shrinking by the inner layers of thread.

Other portions of the thread which are permitted to shrink more or less freely, such as the portions of thread in the inner layers of the cake, have'a relatively low residualv capacity to shrink. If such thread is woven into a fabric which is dried on a tenterlng frame, the fabric will not shrink 1 uniformly, due to such varying residual capacities to shrink, which adversely affect the uniformity with which the fabric may be dyed. The portions of thread of high residual capacity to shrink are subjected to higher tensions thanother portions as the cloth is dried, thus giving rise to bright streaks known to the fabric trade as shiners.

Heretofore, most of the wet-spun artificial silk thread manufactured for the weaving industry has therefore been produced by a process in which r the yarn is unwound while wet from the package in which it is collected, such package being either a pot-spun cake or a cake of thread wound on a spool, after which it is reeled into skein form. In

[the latter form, the thread, after being subjected to various processing steps, is dried while hanging loosely, thus permitting substantially free shrinkage of the thread. Since the weight of the thread as it hangs from the skein rods while drying tends to stretch certain portions of the thread and since all portions of the thread do not dry at the same rate, the thread inside of the skein winding dries more slowly than the outer portions of the thread, thus. introducing variations in the physical' and physico-chemical properties of the thread. It is therefore virtually impossible to obtain skein-dried thread which is of as high a. degree of uniformity as might be desired. Fullthermore, such methods entail a large amount of. handling, with consequent disadvantages of excessive breakage of thread, high labor costs, large investment in machinery, plant space, etc., all of which factors tend to make weaving thread comparatively expensive.

By the present invention, it is possible to produce thread which is of uniform physical and physico-chemical characteristics along its entire length, having in particular a uniform, predetermined residual capacity to shrink which may be as low as desired. The thread, because 'of the control over the shrinkage made possible by the present invention, is of a higher quality than the best that it has heretofore been possible to manufacture on a commercial scale. It is particularly well suited to employment in the weaving of fabric. The thread is dried while temporarily stored on a winding reel in a plurality ofspaced, advancing generally helical turns, the reel being adapted to permit either substantially complete shrinkage of the thread or unrestrained shrinkage of the thread to a point at which a desired residual capacity to shrink is imparted to the thread. Therefore, highly uniform artificial silk thread well suited for weaving may be produced at a much lower cost than has been heretofore possible.

Because of the improved means of drying the thread provided by the present invention, artificial silk thread may, as part of a continuous process, be unwound from the package in which it was collected, dried'on a winding reel embodying the'principles of this invention, and thereafter collected in suitable form. Suchoperations may be performed, for instance, by' means of apparatus in which one or more winding reels are employed for processing thread supplied thereto directly from the spinning package. If desired, the thread may be dried according to this invention on apparatus of the general type shown, claimed and described in prior copending application Serial No. 7,114, filed February 18, 1935. For the purposesof convenience and illustration, but in no sense of limitation, the invention will be described in connection with the drying of viscose artificial silk thread on a reel forming part of a machine for the continuous manufacture of artificial silk thread, of the general type disclosed in the above-mentioned application Serial No.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the machine of the general type shown in said last-mentioned application. Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same machine broken away more clearly to show the construction thereof. Figure 4 is an end elevation of the reel from line 4-4 of Figure 3. Figure 5 is a graph showing the amount of shrinkage of viscose artificial silk thread for various moisture cally a preferred profile contour of a reel embodying the invention, revealing the relation of the thread to the reel during operation thereof.

In the drawings, like reference characters refer to like parts throughout.

In the apparatus illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the thread I from a suitable source, such as a coagulating bath in which it has been formed, is passed in sequence to and over each of a series of suitable winding reels on each of which it is subjected to one or more desired processing treatments, three such reels, bearing referencev numerals 2, 3 and 4, being shown in theseflgures. On reels on which processing liquid is applied to the thread, of which reel 2 is typical, the processing liquid, which in this case may be wash water, is applied by a suitable distributor 5 supplied by pipe 6 from a supply manifold I which may extend longitudinally of the machine and serve like reels in a horizontal series. The liquid is collected in a suitable trough 8 which may be disposed beneath the reel and likewise extend longitudinally of the machine. On reel 3 no processing liquid need be applied, the thread being simply stored on said reel to provide a period for allowing excess liquid to drip from the thread. The thread is then passed to reel 4 on which it is dried according to the present invention. It is collected by suitable means,,such as captwister 9.

Winding reels 2, 3 and 4. may, as illustrated, be of cantilever form, having one end free and unobstructed as shown, in which case the reels may be disposed in a stepped arrangement as illustrated. Such an arrangement is advantageousin that it provides ready access to the reels for threading up, inspection, replacement, repair, etc- Each'of the reels may be driven as illus-' trated through gears l0 and l I from a drive shaft i2 driven from a main drive shaft l3 which extends longltudinally of the machine and drives each of the drive shafts l2 fora vertical series of reels. Captwister 9 may be actuated in the conventional manner whereby a belt I, driven by suitable means, may rapidly rotate the bobbin-supporting whirl I 5 while it is being vertically reciprocated by chain It which may be actuated by any suitable means.

The reel illustrated in Figures 3and 4 as embodying the invention corresponds to drying reel 4 of the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2. This reel is of a type similar to the'reel shown, described, and claimed in a copending application Serial No. 652,089, filed'January lfi, 1933. From these figures it canbe seen that each reel comprises two rigid generally cylindrical members I! and I8. Member H, which may -be termed the concentric member, is mounted concentrically upon and for-rotation with drive shaft is and has its periphery comprised of a plurality of bar members 2|. Member l8, which may be termed the eccentric member, may be rotatably mounted with its axis slightly offset from and askew to that of member l1 and has its periphery comprised of a plurality of bar members 22 equal in number to the bar members 2! and alternately disposed therewith.

Concentric member ll may be formed as shown with the bar members 2| formed on the periphery of a cylindrical body 23, in which case great rigidity is obtained. While member l'l may be mounted on the drive shaft I! in various man- Ii 7 ners, in that shown the generally cylindrical body 23 thereof is provided with slots 26 at the rear end, in which slots are disposed the ends I of pin 24 mounted in drive shaft 19 against caused to rotate with shaft l9 by means of pin 24.

Eccentric member I8 is formed of a rigid cagelike member 21 mounted concentrically upon an annular supporting member 28 as by bolts 29. Rigid cage-like member 21 is formed of the aforesaid bar members 22 which are provided at their supported ends with an external supporting rib 3! by means of which the cage-like member 21 is mounted on annular supporting member 28. Annular supporting member 28 is'rotatably supported in the desired offset and askew posi-' tion with respect to the axis of concentric member I! by being rotatably mounted on frame member 32, the shaft I! being journalled in or otherwise supported in the desired relationship to frame member 32." A bushing 33 may, if desired,be provided in annular supporting mem-' ber 28 to act as a bearing.

Rotation of reel drive shaft 19 causes concen-v erally cylindrical member to the bar members of the other generally cylindrical member. At the same time, the askew relationship of the generally cylindrical members causes the thread to advance in a plurality of spaced generally. helical turns lengthwise of the reel.

The other reels 2 and 3 of the illustrated apparatus may be of the same general type and operate in the same general manner.

As thethread'is continuously stored on the.

drying reel 4 (Figures 1 and 2), it is dried by suitable means. the drying is accomplished by means of heated air supplied from a supply manifold 35 through the shaft IQ of the reel 4 which may be made hollow for this purpose. The heated air passes through the holes 36 in shaft 19 to a chamber 31 in the interior of the cylindrical body 23 of concentric member 11. It reaches the thread stored on the reel through theholes 38 which may extend toward the spaces between the bars 2| of concentric member II. In order to intensity the drying action, provide better control over the drying operation, and conserve the heated air, a suitable housing 39 may be provided, the same being supplied, if desired, .with a door by means of which access may be'obtained to the reel 4. The. air may pass through return duct 42 to an exhaust manifold l3 .whence it may pass to suitable reconditioning and reheating means, not shown, after which it may be recirculated back through supply manitold 35. v

If the reel is made of metal having good heat conductivity, an aluminum, drying of the thread may becaused to a material extent by condition of heat through the reel members to the thread, as well as by convection of the air.

According to the present invention, provision is made ,for allowing substantially unrestrained shrinkage of the thread I as it isdried while be- In the apparatus illustrated,

ing progressed lengthwise of the drying reel 4 in a plurality of spaced generally helical turns..

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention;

plished by making the thread-bearing periphery of the reel of such form that substantially unrestrained shrinkage of the threadoccurs thereas shown in Figures 3 and 4, this is accom on for at least a portion of the length of the the length in the original wet condition for various percentages of moisture in the thread. The moisture content, plotted as the abscissa, is the proportion that the weight of the moisture in the thread bears to the weight of the bone dry thread at any given timefiwhile the percentage of shrinkage, plotted as the' ordinate, is the proportion that the reduction in length of the thread due, to shrinkage bears to the original wet length of the thread for a given moisture content. seen from this curve, as the moisture content of the thread is reduced by drying, as from 300% to approximately 150%, very little shrinkage'of the thread occurs. However, at a moisture content of approximately 150%, noted as point B on the curve, pronounced shrinkage of the thread begins, which shrinkage increases as the moisture content of the thread ie'reduced. When the moisture content of the. thread is reduced to zero, the thread for which the curve of Figure 5 As can be was determined shrinks somewhat more'than 6% of its original length.

The occurrence of but slight shrinkage of the thread while its moisture content is being reduced from 300% to 150% may be due to the fact that substantially all of the moisture re- 'moved from the thread during this drying phase may be surface moisture, while the high percentage of shrinkage which occurs while the moisture content of the thread is reduced from 150% is probably *due to achange in the structure of the thread duringthe removal of in-' ternal moisture from the thread. It has been found that moisture is rapidly removed from the thread until its moisture content is reduced to the point of pronounced shrinkage, whereas the remaining moisture is removed from the thread more slowly. This is probably due to the fact that the surface moisture is rapidly removed by evaporation, while the remaining moisture in the thread is removed more slowly by. diffusion.

As drying of the thread occurs when it is stored on the reel in a plurality of spaced generally helical turns, the diameter of the generally helical turns of thread will tend to decrease due to shrinkage of the thread. For a given set of drying conditions, a given set of operating conditions of the reel, including a given spacing of the thread turns, and a given kind and size of thread, the generally helical turns of thread will.

if shrinkage is unrestrained, define a surface tour which would be defined. by the thread as it shrinks under the above circumstances. For a given-set of conditions, this contour of the reel will permit unrestrained shrinkage of the thread.

A typical theoretical profile contour of a reel for free shrinkage of thread which is dried under certain drying conditions on a winding reel of the general type and construction shown in Figures 3 and 4 is diagrammatically shown in Figure 6. It will be noted that, from the point a at which the thread starts on the reel to the point b, the reel is substantiallycylindrical; from point b to point 0 the diameter of the reel diminishes, the profile contour between point b and point 0 being a curve from the larger-diameter of portion a-b of the reel to a smaller diameter; while from point 0, at which shrinkage of the thread ceases, to the point d, at which the thread leaves the reel, the reel is substantially cylindrical.

When the thread is stored in a plurality of spaced generally helical turns and advanced from point a to point b while being dried, it loses excess moisture, being in the condition corresponding to the portion of the curve of Figure 5 to the right of point B thereof. By the time it reaches point b on the reel, it has had its moisture content reduced to the point corresponding to point B' of Figure 5, at which pronounced shrinkage of the thread begins. Since moisture removed while the thread is advancing between points a and b is probably largely free surface moisture on the thread, which may be evaporated quickly, I

the relatively short length of travel represented by a-b is sufficient. As the thread is advanced 'from'point b to point 0, the thread, as shown by moisture content remaining in the thread after the drying operation, no further appreciable shrinkage thereof takes place, as is evidenced by the generally cylindrical portion extending from c to the end of the reel.

While; as indicated, on a reel having this theoretical contour substantially unrestrained shrinkage of the thread is possible for a given set of operating conditions and for a given kind of thread, any marked variation in the drying conditions, the speed of the reel, the kind of thread being dried, etc., will necessitate a change in this contour. It has been found, however, that, by modifying the contour of the reel from the theoretical contour in a manner provided by the present invention, satisfactory results may be obtained, even over widely-varying operating conditions and with threads of widely varying sizes and physical characteristics. To more'clearly explain the form and'operation of a reel having a preferred peripheral contour, in Figure 7 the theoretical profile contour of Figure 6 has been superposed in broken lines on the preferred profile leaves the reel.

contour, shown'in full lines, of a winding reel embodying the invention, which reel for the purposes of correlation is of the same general construction and which-is designed to operate over a range of conditions which include the operating conditions for the. reel embodying the theoretical profile contour of Figure 6. v

The preferred contour of a reel embodying the invention is substantially similar to the theoretical contour, as shown in Figure 7. As before, the reel may comprise two generally cylindrical portions A- B and C--D having between them an intermediate portion B-C so formed that it varies somewhat from the portion b-c ofthe ideal contour, the diameters of portion B--C of the preferred reel being less than the corresponding diameters of a reel having the ideal contour, as shown in Figure '7. In other words, at least a portion of the periphery of the reel over which pronounced shrinkage of the thread takes place decreases in diameter at a greater rate, as the turns of thread are advanced along said portion, than the diameter of-each turn of thread tends to decrease due to shrinkage of the thread. As a result, substantially unrestrained shrinkage ofthe thread is allowed to take place over such a portion of the reel.

The diameters of the portion CD of the reel ishrunk. In such case, drying of the thread is completed on the generally cylindrical portion C--D and a definite, uniform, controlled residual capacity to shrink is imparted to the thread.' If desired, the diameters of portion C--D may be such as to allow the thread to shrink completely, in which case the thread may have no residual capacity to shrink. As shown in Figure 7, however, the diameter of portion CD of a reel of the preferred contour is slightly larger than the corresponding portion of a reel of the theoretical contour shown, thus providing a certain small amount of residual capacity to shrink, in the thread. However, if desired, a reel having a theoretical contour may also be similarly made larger at the corresponding portion to provide a desired amountof residual capacity to shrink in thread which may be dried on a reel having such contour. By varying the diameter of generally cylindrical portion C -D within reasonable limits, it is possible to vary the residual capacity to shrink imparted to the thread. Thus, by increasing the diameter of portion CD, the residual capacity to shrink imparted to the thread may be increased; while by decreasing such diameters, the residual capacity to shrinkimparted to the thread may be decreased.

Furthermore, if desired, the generally cylin'drical portion CD of a reel of the preferred contour may, as illustrated, be somewhat longer than is necessary to dry the thread to the desired moisture content, since such longer portion may provide an additional setting period for the thread to reach equilibrium drying conditions before it As previously indicated, the thread may 'not be dried to a bone-dry condition, but to a condition in which the'thread has a moisture content of around 10%of the bone-dry weight of the thread, corresponding to the ordinary regain moisture content of thread produced by ordinary methods. This moisture is advantageous if, as in the illustrated embodiment. the thread is twisted after leaving the drying reed sine 'afmoisture content of this amount aids lie twisting operation.

'e position of the thread on the reel while mg driedis shown to advantage in the diagrammatic view of Figure 8, which shows in profile the preferred contour of the reel and the "cross-section of the threads thereon. In this I figure the first helical winding of the wet thread.

started on the. reel comes into contact with the reel at .A. The thread may be very wet, having a moisture content which may be in'the neighborhood of 300%. As the thread is advanced 1 axially of the reel it is dried, as by convection of the heated air supplied from the interior of a the reel and by the conduction of the heat through metallic bars of the reel. The moisture content of the thread is reduced as the thread is ad-- vancedalongpqrtions A.-B of the reel at such a rate that, as the thread reaches the vicinity of point B, it is in the condition corresponding .to point B on the moisture contenthrinkage curve of Figure 5, at which point pro "unced shrinkage of the thread begins. The portion A--B of the ported on portion A--B of the reel, it is loosely supported when it is advanced over the portionoi' the diminishing diameters B-C of the reel, due 0 the previously mentioned fact that the reductlons of the diameters of the reel, as the thread do'fadvances along this portion, are greater than the reductions in diameters of the corresponding turns of thread occuring from shrinkage of the thread. This is illustrated by the fact that, duringoperation of the reel the thread turns on portion 3-0 of the reel actually leave the reel during rotation thereof,- as shown in Figure 8, only occasionally touching the reel. The action of the reel as the thread turns advance along the portion BD thereof is not so much that of supporting the thread turns, but that of guiding and advancing the thread turns. The thread is thus allowed substantially urestrained shrinkage until I itcomes into' contact with the portion C-D of i the reel, on whichportion, if desired, the shrink 55 age of the thread may be halted and the drying of the-thread'allowed to proceed to completion. Thus, by lsuitably'designing the 'reel, there may be imparted. tothe thread a definite uniform residual capacity to shrink which may 60 within reason, be of any desired magnitude.

The invention contemplates the employment of reel contours of various kindsin the portion of the periphery over which unrestrained shrinkage of the thread is permitted to occur, but in general a straight'line contour such as that of portion 13-0 of the reel shown and described is preferred. The conditions aflecting the operation of the reel, such as the kind of thread being dried, the temperature and humidity of the heated air, speed of rotation of the reel, etc., may be varied with reasonable limits without an appreciable variation in the p cal properties of the thread or of the residual capacity to shrink thereof.

5 This arises from the fact that the thread is loose- 1y supported while shrinkage thereof occurs, and, while such variations vary the rate of drying of the thread, they merely change the position longitudinally of portions 0-D of the point E at which the thread leaving the tapered portion 3-42 of the reel comes into contact with the generally cylindrical portion 0-D thereof. Thus, if the operating conditions are so varied that the thread dries somewhat more rapidly, and consequently shrinks more rapidly, the point E at which the thread contacts the generally cylindrical portion C--D moves nearer point C, while, if the thread is dried more slowly, the point E moves away from point C.

The amount the thread shrinks and the residual capacity to shrink imparted to the thread are thus not afl'ected by such variations in drying conditions, since the thread is in each case permitted unrestrained shrinkage until it reaches portion C--D. This advantage is not obtained on a reel having a tapered portion which decreases in diameter more gradually than the thread turns tend to decrease due to shrinkage.

In such case, the thread is under an appreciable amount of tension as it passes 'over the tapered portion of the reel, since any variation in the drying conditions causes the thread to complete its dryingat different portions on the tapered portion of the reel, thus varying the amount of shrinkage occurring in the thread as well as the residual capacity to shrink imparted. to the thread.

Because of the fact that reels of the type embodying the preferred form of the invention may operate under varying conditions without appreciable variations in the final physical properties of the thread, it is therefore possible to dry a plurality of threads, as on apparatus of the invention it is possible to have all threads produced on such apparatus of substantially identical physical properties.

As an illustrative example of the operation of a reel having a contour of the type shown in Figure 8, it has been found in actual practice that desirable results are obtained in drying 150 denier 40 filament viscose artificial silk thread on an aluminum drying reel ofthe type illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. In such reel the diameters of "the reel members at the portions A--B thereof may be 4,950"; the diameters of the portions of the reel members at portions C-D thereof,

4.700"; the distance from the point A at which the thread startson the reel to point B, and the distance from point B to C, 1 The reel is preferably rotated at approximately 165 R. P. M., the thread being supplied from a preceding reel rotating at the same speed and having reel members of 5" diameters at their discharge ends. Due to the construction of the reel,

the thread is advanced in a plurality of generally helical turns which are spaced approximately ,16" apart. It is dried by heated air supplied at 185 F. at a static pressure of about 6" of water.

The finished thread has along its entire length a very uniform low residual capacity to shrink very closely approximating 0.6%, all other physical and chemical characteristics or the thread being also of a high degree of uniformity.

It has been found, further, that the amount of tension in the wet thread at the commencement of the drying operation determines to an appreciable extent the amount of residual capacity to shrink imparted to' the thread when it is dried on the reels of the present invention; Thus if the thread is under substantial tension at'the beginning of the drying operation, the residual capacity to shrink imparted to the thread will be higher than if the thread is under little or no tension at the commencement of the drying operation. For this reason, it is desirable that, at the commencement of the drying operation, the thread be under as little tension as practicable for satisfac tory operation of the reel.

Where the thread is dried on an individual drying reel, as in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, this may be accomplished by providing a peripheral speed of that portion of the drying reel on which the thread'first starts on-the reel; 1. e., portion A-B of the reel, which is less by a suitable amount than the linear speed at which the thread is supplied to the reel from the source of thread. Thus, in the illustrated apparatus in which the thread passes from a preceding .reel to the drying reel, the peripheral speed of portion A--B of the drying reel may be less than,

the peripheral speed of the discharge end of the preceding reel. This may be accomplis'hed,'for instance, by making the portion A-B of the drying reel and the discharge end of the preceding reel of the same diameters and rotating both reels at different angular speeds, or by making the diameter of portion A-B of the drying reel less than that of the discharge end of the preceding reel and driving both reels at the same speed, or by a combination of these methods. As a result, any tension in the thread will be released, the thread, if it is at all stretched, being allowed to contract as it starts on the drying reel.

As an example of the effect of the initial ten-- sion,of the thread on the residual capacity to shrink imparted to the thread the following is illustrative:

Viscose artificial silk thread is dried according reel is the same as that of the discharge end of the preceding reel and both reels are driven at the same speed. Consequently, no attempt is made to release any tension existing in the thread. The residual capacity to shrink of the thread so -dried is in the neighborhood of 1.6%.

Thread of the same kind is dried on a reel of the same general dimensions as the reel of the preceding example, the only diiference being that thediameter of portion A-B or the reel is 1% less than the diameter 01' the discharge end of the reel immediately preceding it. In this case, as

- in the preceding case, there is a difler'en'ce of 4 /z% between the diameters or portions A-B and 0-1) of the reel. Both the reel in question and the reel immediately preceding it are ro-v tated at 165 R. P. M., thethread being dried by aaoaoao heated air at 185 F. supplied from the interior principles. It may be applied to reels on which the thread is dried by other means than heated air, as in the examples herein given. Furthermore, reels embodying the invention may be employed for other uses and in other arrangements than those herein illustrated without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention. In

tended to include, besides thread, all articles of the nature of thread or the like which may be wound and dried on reels according to the teachings of the present invention.

It is intended tha t the patent shall cover, by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever featuresof patentable novelty reside in the invention.

What is claimedis:

i. In apparatus for handling thread, a threadadvancing reel made up of a plurality of interdigitating cage members, means for rotating said cage members, means providing relative movement between the thread-bearing surfaces of said cage members to advance the thread lengthwise oi the reel in a series of generally helical turns, and means for subjecting the thread asit is being advanced on thereel to conditions which cause it to shrink, the reel being substantially circular in transverse cross section from one end thereof to the other but having 'a periphery comprising a first substantially cylindrical portion on which the thread is advanced in firmly supported turns, an intermediate substantially frusto-conical portion on which successive perimeters of the reel-in the direction of travel of the thread aresui'ficiently shorter than the lengths of the corresponding thread turns to permit the thread to advance in loosely supported turns, and a second substantially cylindrical portion of smaller diameter than said first substantially cylindrical portion on s the appended claims, theterm thread is'inwhich the thread is advanced in firmly supported -1 V turns.

2. In apparatus for handling thread, a threadadvancing reel made up of a plurality of interdigitating cage members, means for rotating said cage members, means providing relative movement between the thread-bearing surfaces of said cage members to advance the thread lengthwise of the reel in a series of generally helical turns, and means for subjecting the thread as it is being ad- 'vanced on the reel to conditions which cause it to shrink, the reel being substantially circular ,in' transverse cross section from one end thereof to the other but having a periphery comprising a substantially cylindrical portion on which the thread is advanced in firmly supported turns and. associated therewith, a substantially frusto-conical portion on which successive perimeters of the 7 --reel in the direction of travel of the thread are claim 2 in which "the substantially cylindrica t 3. Apparatus of the character described mi portion on which the thread is advanced in ma "it supported turns constitutes the portion on which the thread starts on the reel.

4. Apparatus of the character described in claim 2 .in which the means tor subjecting the thread to conditions which cause it to shrink includes means for passing a gaseous medium outward through the periphery of the reel whereby the turns of thread on said substantially fmstoconical portion are urged away from the reel by said gaseous medium.

5. In apparatus for handling thread, a threadadvancing reel made up of a plurality of interdigitating cage members, means for rotating said cage members, means providing relative movement between the thread-bearing surfaces of said cage members to advance the thread lengthwise of the periphery of the reel in a series of generally helical turns, and means for subjecting the thread as it is being advanced to processing conditions which cause it to shrink, the periphery of the reel including an initial generally cylindrical portion on which the thread is firmly supported and, associated therewith, a succeeding generally tapered portion so correlated to the processing conditions to which'the thread is thus subjected that in spite of the. tendency of the thread to shrink as it is advanced successive perimeters oi the reel taken in the direction of travel oi the thread are small enough as compared with the lengths of the corresponding thread turnsto enable the thread to advance loosely over said generally tapered portion.

6; In apparatus for handling thread, a threadadvancing reel made up 01' a plurality of interdigitating cagemembers, means Ior rotating said cage members, means providing relative movement between the thread-bearing surfaces of said cage members to advance the thread lengthwise of the periphery of the reel in a series of generally helical turns, and means for subjecting the thread as it is being advanced to processing conditions which cause it to shrink, the periphery of the reel including two spaced, generally cylindrical portlons on each of which the thread is firmly supported and an intermediate generally tapered portion so correlated to the processing conditions to which the thread is thus subjected that in thread to advance loosely over said generally tapered portion.

HAYDEN B. KLINE. LAVERNJ. JORDAN.

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