Apparatus For The Production Of Textile Materials Which Are Not Knotted And Are Not Woven

Abstract

An apparatus for the production of textiles which are neither knotted nor woven. According to the invention, the yarns which are to be formed into the textile cross each other and are joined together at their crossing points where they contact each other, either by welding of the yarns to each other or by adhering them to each other at their crossing points. The apparatus includes a pair of press rollers, the length of which corresponds to the width of the material which is produced, and a spindle, which extends at right angles to the press rollers upstream of the latter, carries a battery of spindles, on each of which a spool of yarn is mounted. A thread or yarn regulator is disposed between the press rollers and the battery of yarn spools, and this regulator has a number of holes corresponding to the desired spacing in the yarns in the material. A number of yarn-guiding eyelets are arranged parallel to the press rollers between the latter and the yarn regulator on an endless belt having a length corresponding to the width of the material and supported so as to carry out reciprocating movements, while between the yarn-guiding eyelets and the press rollers a yarn-coupling head extends parallel to the rollers and is mounted for movement toward the way from these rollers.

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus for the production of textile materials which are not knotted and are not woven.

The speed of production of textile manufactured by conventional weaving is considerably limited by technical factors determined by the looms. During manufacture, the large-scale working up of regenerated fiber and synthetic fiber involves a further difficulty. These difficulties have led to adhered, sized and knotted plaited textiles. In these textiles in the place of weaving, knitting or knotting the convergence of the fibers ensures the adhesion or the sizing and the thermal treatment in the case of thermoplastic filamentary materials.

One or more web layers obtained by means of a carding machine in the production of glued fabrics or textiles are hardened by the addition of adhesives, or in the case of thermoplastic filamentary materials, part of the thread material which forms the web, is plasticized by thermal action, and the plasticized materials are stuck together.

The production of textiles in this manner is already much more productive but the textiles thus produced have the disadvantage that the meshes made from disarranged filaments are rigid. It is also disadvantageous that the thread material of the meshes glued by spraying sticks together at relatively few places, with the result that a relatively large quantity adhesive appears in only a few points of connection. The greatest disadvantage of the textiles thus produced is, however, the fact, that due to the excess of adhesive, the component threads of such textiles change or to a great extent lose their original properties e.g. their gloss, their texture, their pleasant appearance etc.

In the manufacture of textiles with large mesh widths e.g. of nets, the production is carried out according to a known method by rotating head extrusion presses. The product obtained by extrusion pressing is at the same time interlaced in one direction or in both directions. Although the production of textiles thus manufactured is much more productive compared to nets manufactured by means of the weaving technique it lacks the possibility of having patterns, and textiles of a decorative character can thus not be produced by this process.

There is also an apparatus and, by which nets are produced which are interlaced by the revolving head extrusion press, and in which transverse textile threads are then fastened to the net.

The disadvantage of this apparatus consists in that the manufacture is extremely complicated and involved.

It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus, by means of which it is possible to combine into a textile material in a simple, economical and inexpensive manner, natural or synthetic threads with an adhesive, threads or filaments of thermoplastic material by heat and pressure, mixed threads of thermoplastic and natural fibers by heat, threads coated with a thermoplastic material by heat, natural or synthetic threads by welding between foils of a thermoplastic material, or natural or synthetic thread materials by sticking them to a carrier substance.

The invention thus concerns an apparatus for the production of textiles which are neither knotted nor woven. The invention relates to an apparatus for the production of materials in the form of nets comprising a pair of press rollers, a spindle extending at right angles to said rollers and upstream of the entry to said rollers which spindle carries a pivotally drivable sleeve, a rotary spool carrier mounted on said sleeve which carrier carries a plurality of spindles each adapted to carry a thread spool, a thread regulator disposed between said rollers and said carrier and having a plurality of holes corresponding to the desired spacing of threads in the material, thread guide eyelets arranged on a predetermined path which is parallel to the axes of said rollers and between the rollers and the thread regulator said eyelets being mounted on an endless belt and arranged to make reciprocating movement and, between said thread guide eyelets and said rollers a thread coupling head extending parallel to said rollers and mounted for movement towards or away from said rollers.

According to the invention, a carrier substance storage roller can be mounted in front of the pair of press rollers on at least one side of the thread coupling head; it is thus achieved that the crossing threads can be welded or stuck in foils or between foils.

In the case of welding, the fiber coupling head is constructed as a radiant heat welding head and in the case of sticking as an applicator head.

Further possibilities of manufacturing and a better and quicker fastening together of the synthetic threads can be provided if the two rollers are heatable.

The apparatus according to the invention will be considerably simplified if the sleeve which carries the spool carrier is driven by a gear, and the thread regulator, is mounted on a hollow spindle and if the thread coupling head is mounted so as to be movable back and forth in said hollow spindle.

The apparatus according to the invention will be explained in more detail and by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings of embodiments, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of apparatus according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof partly broken away, and

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic side view of another embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention.

According to FIGS. 1 and 2, the spools 1 of thread to form the material are mounted on spindles 3 in spool carriers 2 made up of discs. The threads 4 running off the spools 1 are led through holes 6 of a thread regulator 5 shown as being of disc shape. The spacing of the holes 6 is equivalent to the desired spacing of the threads in the material to be made.

The carrier 2 and the thread regulator 5 are secured to a sleeve 7. The sleeve 7 is pivotally mounted on a spindle 8. In the embodiment the spindle 8 is hollow. The sleeve 7 has a driving disc fixed thereto which is connected via a belt drive to a gear not shown in the drawing. The threads 4 are guided from the holes 6 of the thread regulator 5 to the thread guide eyelets 9. The thread guide eyelets 9 are fixed to an endless belt 11 which is stretched over rollers 10 a which hold the belt 11, are pivotally mounted and the roller 10a is connected via a belt pulley 12 and gear 13 to the disc 14 which is secured to the sleeve 7. The discs 12, 14 and the gear 13 are so chosen that the movement of the horizontal runs of thread emerging through the holes 6 of the thread regulator 5 is at the same speed as the belt 11.

The threads 4 travel from the thread guide eyelets to a pair of press rollers 15 and 16. The rollers 15 and 16 are rotatably mounted and their axis extends at right angles to the spindle 8. The threads cross each other on the line of contact of the press rollers. In front of the press rollers, i.e. in front of the meeting point of threads emerging from the thread guide eyelets 9 a thread coupling head 17 which can be brought closer to or removed from the pair of press rollers 15 and 16 is arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of the rollers 15 and 16 respectively. In the embodiment the thread coupling head 17 is mounted on a shaft passing through the hollow of spindle 8. The shaft can be moved axially in the hollow spindle either continuously or stepwise closer to the pair of rollers 15, 16.

When using an adhesive, the thread-coupling head is constructed as an adhesive applicator head and for welding as a radiant heat-welding head.

During operation the threads running off the spools 1 pass through the thread regulator 5 and, guided by the thread guide eyelets 9, cross one another along the line of contact of the rollers 15 and 16. When sticking the threads the coupling head 17 - moved periodically in accordance with the thickness of the threads - feeds adhesive to the surface of the opposite side of all the crossing threads. The press rollers 15 and 16 press the threads surfaces provided with adhesive together and thus secure the crossing threads together.

When using threads of thermoplastic material, the uniting can also be effected by welding instead of sticking. In this case the periodically moved thread coupling head 17 is constructed as a heat radiator and as they approach it fuses the opposite surfaces of the thread intersections and the rollers 15 and 16 then weld the fused surfaces together.

For ensuring a better fusing or for a quicker drying of the adhesive, the rollers 15 and 16 can also be provided with heating means.

In another embodiment of the invention, carrier or base material rolls 18 and 19 are mounted in front of the rollers 15 and 16 on either side of the thread-coupling head 17. By means of the apparatus so formed also net-reinforced foils or sheets can be produced. In this case a carrier material such as synthetic resin foil, is fed by the rollers 18 and 19 between the rollers 15 and 16. The introduction of threads between the foils running off the rollers 18 and 19 is effected in a manner similar to that described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The foil material from the rollers 18 and 19 engages the thread 4 from below and from above, and the thread-coupling head as well as the rollers 15 and 16 welds or sticks the two foils and the interposed threads 4 by sticking or welding.

The foil or carrier material can obviously also be introduced by a single roller. In this case the thread reinforcement consisting of threads 4 is not coated.

The design can be changed by varying the speed of rotation of the rollers 15 and 16, or by varying the speed of movement of the sleeve 8. If the speed of rotation of the rollers 15, 16 equals e.g. the speed of the endless belt 11, the finished material will have a square pattern.

By feeding threads of different colors into the spool carrier 2 also the arrangement of desired colored patterns can be controlled.

Claims

I claim:

1. Apparatus for producing material in the form of nets, comprising a pair of press rollers, a hollow spindle extending at right angles to said rollers and upstream of the entry to said rollers, said hollow spindle carrying a rotatably drivable sleeve, a rotary spool carrier mounted on said sleeve, said carrier carrying a plurality of spindles each adapted to carry a thread spool, a thread regulator disposed between said press rollers and said carrier and having a plurality of holes corresponding to the desired spacing of threads in the material, thread guide eyelets arranged on a predetermined path which has parallel upper and lower portions parallel to the axes of said press rollers and between the press rollers and the thread regulator, said eyelets being mounted on an endless belt arranged to make continuous movements, threads passing through the guide eyelets in the upper and lower parallel portions of their said path of movement of the guide eyelets approaching each other in thread formations located in planes which intersect at the nip between the press rollers, an elongated thread-coupling head disposed parallel to the press rollers, between the guide eyelets and the press rollers, and engaging the confronting, inner sides of said thread formations, and means mounting the coupling head comprising a shaft extending through the hollow spindle and reciprocable axially with respect thereto, the coupling head being connected to and reciprocable with the end of the shaft adjacent the press rollers.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which a carrier or base material supply roller is mounted on at least one side of the thread-coupling head and in advance of the pair of press rollers.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thread-coupling head is constructed as an applicator head for applying adhesive.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thread-coupling head is constructed as a radiant heat-welding head.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the press rollers are provided with means for heating them.