U.S. patent number 3,667,258 [Application Number 05/097,433] was granted by the patent office on 1972-06-06 for apparatus for producing striped colorations on dyeable substrates in continuous form.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Imperial Chemical Industries Limited. Invention is credited to Clifford Newton.
United States Patent |
3,667,258 |
Newton |
June 6, 1972 |
APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING STRIPED COLORATIONS ON DYEABLE SUBSTRATES
IN CONTINUOUS FORM
Abstract
Striped colorations are produced on dyeable substrates
incontinuo us or sheet form by applying a plurality of dyestuff
streams to the substrate at selected points across its width while
the substrate is moved longitudinally relatively to the points of
application, and then passing the substrate between nip rollers,
the rate of application of the dyestuff streams being so controlled
that on passage through the nip the dyestuffs are squeezed into the
substrate to form non-overlapping longitudinal stripes of the
desired widths.
Inventors: |
Newton; Clifford (Manchester,
EN) |
Assignee: |
Imperial Chemical Industries
Limited (London, EN)
|
Family
ID: |
10474389 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/097,433 |
Filed: |
November 6, 1970 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 13, 1969 [GB] |
|
|
55,608/69 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
68/205R; 101/172;
28/218; 118/315 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D06B
11/0063 (20130101); B05C 5/007 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
D06B
11/00 (20060101); B05C 5/00 (20060101); B05c
005/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;68/25R,200
;118/314,315 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
2916012 |
December 1959 |
Hergenrother |
3052211 |
September 1962 |
Shirley et al. |
3155540 |
November 1964 |
Loeffler et al. |
3256581 |
June 1966 |
Thal et al. |
|
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Price; William I.
Claims
What we claim is:
1. Apparatus suitable for the production of striped colorations on
dyeable substrates in continuous form which comprises the
combination of a padding machine and means for applying a plurality
of streams of liquid dyestuff compositions to the substrate before
passage through the padding machine, an inclined plane the lower
edge of which is maintained in contact with the substrate across
the entire width thereof and in trailing relationship thereto, the
upper surface of the plane being provided with a number of spaced
channels terminating at the said lower edge, and a number, equal to
the number of channels, of jets from which the liquid dyestuff
compositions are continuously discharged into the said
channels.
2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the jets are mounted
upon at least one lateral support which is capable of reciprocating
motion in a direction transverse to the alignment of the channels,
so that at least two different dyestuff streams flow alternately
down any given channel.
Description
This invention relates to a novel process whereby substrates in
continuous or sheet form, such as textiles and like fibrous
materials, may be colored in reproducible striped patterns without
recourse to conventional printing machines and techniques.
According to the present invention there is provided a process for
the production of striped colorations on dyeable substrates in
continuous or sheet form by applying a plurality of streams of
dyestuff solutions or suspensions to the substrate at selected
fixed points across the width thereof while the substrate is moved
in a longitudinal manner relatively to the points of application,
and thereafter passing the substrate between nip rollers or like
pressure-applying means, each dyestuff stream being continuously
applied to the substrate at each of the said points in an amount
which can be completely absorbed by that part of the substrate
which passes beneath and immediately to each side of the point of
application of that stream, so that on passage through the nip the
dyestuffs are squeezed into the substrate to form non-overlapping
longitudinal stripes of the desired respective widths.
In performing the process of the invention, the distances between
the points of application of the dyestuff streams and the rates of
application of the individual streams are thus selected so that for
each stream there is available a band of substrate of sufficient
width to allow the dyestuff solution or suspension freely to spread
laterally under the influence of the applied pressure to the extent
which the absorptive power of the substrate determines, without
overlapping of adjacent streams taking place. There is thus 100
percent utilization of each dyestuff applied to the substrate. It
may be arranged that two or more adjacent stripes just meet, or
that a band of undyed substrate separates each colored stripe from
its neighbors, according to the type of pattern which is
required.
It will be appreciated that the widths of the stripes may be
altered either by varying the rate of supply of a dyestuff stream
to its point of application to the substrate or by varying the
speed of movement of the substrate, or both. A variation in the
speed of movement of the substrate will, of course, produce a
proportional change in the widths of all the colored stripes, while
a variation in the rate of supply of one or more dyestuff streams
relative to that of the other streams will produce a differential
broadening or narrowing of certain of the stripes only. By a
combination of such adjustments, any desired pattern of stripes can
be produced at will. The widths of the strips can also be
influenced by the pressure applied to the substrate by the nip
rollers, but in practice this is a factor which is less susceptible
to accurately controlled variation and it is found more
satisfactory to operate with a constant pressure setting and to
adjust the pattern in the way described.
The process of the invention can be applied to a wide variety of
substrates provided that these are in continuous or sheet form.
Thus it may be applied to fibrous materials, which include yarns
and rovings, webs such as paper and non-woven fabrics, and woven or
knitted fabrics, as well as to films and other sheet material. Such
substrates may be composed of natural, artificial or synthetic
polymeric materials or blends thereof. Natural polymeric materials
include cellulosic materials such as cotton and linen; artificial
polymeric materials include regenerated cellulosic materials such
as viscose rayon, and cellulose esters such as cellulose secondary
acetate and triacetate; synthetic polymeric material includes
polyamides such as nylon, polyesters such as polyethylene
terephthalate, and polymers or copolymers or acrylonitrile. The
process of the invention is particularly of interest for the
coloration of natural or regenerated cellulosic materials and their
blends with synthetic polymeric materials such as polyesters.
The dyestuffs used in the coloration process will normally be those
usually associated with dyeing processes for the substrate being
colored, e.g. disperse dyes in the cases of polyamides, polyesters
and cellulose acetates and vat or reactive dyes in the case of
cellulosic materials. The process may be employed so that a single
dyestuff is applied from solution or suspension to the substrate at
all the points of application; or so that different colored
dyestuffs are applied at different points. Variegated striped
patterns may also be obtained when the composition of the solution
or suspension which is applied to the substrate at a given
application point is made to vary with respect to the dyestuff
present, and hence to the color which is imparted to the substrate.
The dyestuff solutions or suspensions may advantageously contain
thickeners, whereby their absorption by the substrate following
application thereto may be retarded until the streams are spread
out in controlled fashion by passage through the nip.
The process of the invention may be performed with the aid of a
modified padding machine, the modification consisting in the
provision of suitable means for applying the streams of dyestuff
solutions or suspensions to the substrate. Such means may consist,
for example, of jets or conduits whereby the solution or
suspensions are conveyed directly to the surface of the substrate
from storage vessels, optionally with the incorporation of valve
means to control the rate of flow of each stream. A preferred
application means, however, consists of an inclined plane the lower
edge of which is maintained in contact with the substrate across
its entire width and in trailing relationship thereto, the upper
surface of the plane being provided with a number of spaced troughs
or channels, terminating at its lower edge, into which dyestuff
solutions or suspensions may be continuously discharged so that
they flow on to the substrate from the aforesaid lower edge.
The number of troughs or channels will correspond in general to the
number of individual dyestuff streams. Preferably the troughs or
channels are of U- or V-shaped section, in order to contain the
streams of solution of suspension in the narrowest width possible
until they are taken up by the substrate. The lower edge of the
upper surface of the inclined plane should be maintained in as
close contact as possible with the substrate, in order to produce
smooth striped colorations of the sharpest definition. Conveniently
the solutions or suspensions may be so discharged from an equal
number of jets communicating with suitable storage vessels
optionally by way of flow-controlling valve means. These jets may
advantageously be mounted upon one or more lateral supports which
are capable of reciprocating motion in a direction transverse to
the alignment of the array of troughs or channels (that is to say,
transverse to the direction of motion of the substrate), so that
two or more different dyestuff streams may be arranged to flow
alternatively down any given trough or channel and so give rise to
variegated colored stripe effects. It is however, important to
arrange that the change-over of supply from one dyestuff solution
or suspension to another into a given channel should be
instantaneous, so that there is no interruption in the flow of the
stream which is applied to the substrate.
By means of the process of the invention, reproducible color
stripes can be produced in which the width and spacing of the
stripes are comparable in constancy with those obtained by
conventional printing techniques. The present process has the
advantage over such techniques that a markedly increased depth of
penetration of the dyestuff into the substrate is achieved, and on
a wide variety of substrates duplex type patterns are produced
(that is to say, both the face and the back of the substrate are
dyed to eual extents). The present process is also advantageous in
that it calls for only simple equipment which can readily be
adjusted so as to produce a wide variety of different striped
patterns, thereby avoiding the need for an individually engraved
roller to be fashioned for each different pattern required.
The process of the invention is of particular interest for the
coloration of textile fabrics consisting of cellulosic material or
of blends thereof with non-cellulosic material such as synthetic
polyester material, using vat dyes or reactive dyes. The vat dyes
may be applied as a suspension or a solution of either the leuco or
the stabilized leuco form. In the first of these cases the vat dyes
can be fixed on the textile material by first drying the pigmented
fabric and then passing it through a cold alkaline reducing
solution followed by a heating or steaming step and the usual
oxidation treatments. In the latter cases, the dyestuff can be
fixed by submission to the usual oxidation treatments. Reactive
dyestuffs, whose us is preferred because of their simplicity of
application, may be fixed by a number of methods applicable to
these dyestuffs. For example, the dyestuff may be applied from a
neutral solution on to a fabric already impregnated with alkali and
dried; alternatively the dye may be applied from neutral solution
and fixed by subsequent immersion of the textile material in an
alkaline saline bath, optionally aided by a short steaming or
heating step in the cases of dyestuffs of lower activity.
Alternatively, the dyestuff may be applied in an alkaline solution
and fixation effected by heating, steaming or allowing to stand in
a moist condition for a suitable period of time, dependent on the
alkalinity of the solution and the nature of the reactive dye.
These solutions can contain the usual additives, e.g. thickeners,
wetting agents and small amounts of neutral electrolytes. This
procedure is well-suited to all types of cellulose-reactive dyes,
for example, those containing di- and tri-chloro-pyrimidine,
methanesulphonylpyrimidine, dichloro-phthalazine,
dichloropyridazone-sulphatoethylsulphone and, above all, mono-or
di-chloro-s-triazine reactive groups.
The invention is illustrated but not limited by the following
Example :
EXAMPLE
Three dyestuff solutions are prepared, each containing 3 g/l of a
high viscosity sodium alginate and the stated quantities of one of
the following dyestuffs or mixture of dyestuffs :-
i. 10 g/l of the 1 : 1 copper complex of 6-(dichloro-s-triazinyl)
-N-methylamino - 2 - [4'-(2"
,5"-disulphophenylazo)-3'-methyl-2'-hydroxyphenylazo]-1-naphthol-3-sulphon
ic acid
ii. 20 g/l of
1-(4'-sulphophenyl)-3-carboxy-4-(4"-dichloro-s-triazinylamino-2"-sulphophe
nylazo)-5-pyrazolone and
0.8 g/l of 1-amino-4-[4'-dichloro-s-triazinylamino)
anilino]-anthraquinone-2,3',5-trisulphonic acid
iii. 12 g/l of
6-(dichloro-s-triazinyl)-N-methylamino-1-hydroxy-2,2'-azonaphthalene-1',3,
5'-trisulphonic acid and
1.5 g/l of 1-amino-4-[4'-(dichloro-s-triazinylamino)
anilino]-anthraquinone-2,3',5-trisulphonic acid
These three solutions are applied to a length of mercerized poplin,
which has previously been impregnated with an aqueous solution
containing 30 g/l of sodium carbonate and then dried, using the
apparatus which is illustrated schematically in the accompanying
drawings.
In the drawings,
FIG. 1 is a side view of the apparatus and
FIG. 2 is a front view seen from point A in FIG. 1.
In the apparatus, which consists essentially of a padding mangle
with associated taking-off and taking-up rollers and means for
delivering the dyestuff solutions to the fabric, the fabric 1 is
drawn continuously from a taking-off roller 2, from where it passes
below the lower edge of an inclined dyestuff delivery plane 3, then
through the nip rollers 4 and 5 of a padding mangle and in finally
wound up on a taking-up roller 6, an impermeable film 7 being fed
in from a roll 8 so as to separate adjacent layers of the fabric 1
on the roller 6 and thus prevent marking off whilst the fabric is
still moist. The inclined plane 3, which lies at an angle of
45.degree. to the fabric 1, is provided with upstanding ribs which
divide its surface into four channels 10 terminating at its lower
edge, and above each channel is located a dye delivery device
consisting of a jet 11 connected by a feed duct 12 through a
control valve 13 to a storage vessel 14 for dyestuff solution. Each
valve 13 is of the simple on/off type and the rate of flow of the
solution is set by suitable choice of the size of the jet 11 at
25cc/min. The vessels 14 of the two middle dye delivery devices are
charged with solution iii described above and the vessels of the
two outer devices are charged with solutions i and ii respectively.
The fabric 1 moves at approximately 24yds/min.
When the apparatus is in operation, the dyestuff solutions are
allowed to run down their respective channels 10 on to the moving
fabric 1 and as the latter passes between the nip rollers 4 and 5
the bands of solution so applied are squeezed into the fabric to
produce stripes of color of uniform width approximately 18mm. The
striped poplin collected on the roller 6 is allowed to stand at
20.degree.-25.degree. C for 2 hours, then washed off in the usual
way in a bath containing 1 g/l of a detergent and 1 g/l of
hexamethylene tetramine.
The resultant fabric displays two central stripes of flame color
and outer stripes of blue and gold, each pair of stripes being
separated by bands of white with clearly defined boundaries between
the dyed and undyed areas.
In an improved form of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2,
the surface of the inclined plane 3 which lies between each pair of
ribs 9 is slightly recessed towards the center, so that the
channels 10 are of a shallow U - shape in cross section. In this
way the movement of the dyestuff streams down the channels is more
effectively controlled.
In FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings, there is shown a view
corresponding to that of FIG. 2 of a modified form of inclined
dyestuff delivery plane with its associated delivery devices. In
this case the ribs 9 attached to the surface of the plane 3 are in
the form of triangular baffles, so that the surface of the plane is
divided up into a plurality of equally spaced inverted triangular
troughs 10, the apexes of which are cut away so as to provide
outlets for the dyestuff solutions at the lower edge of the plane.
The apexes of the baffles 9 are however fully pointed, so as to
provide a sharp demarcation between one trough and the next. A
plurality of dye delivery devices similar to those previously
described are mounted above the plane 3, but with the difference
that the jets 11 are held, at a mutual spacing equal to the spacing
of the apexes of the baffles 9, in a rigid support 15 which is
arranged for reciprocating motion (the driving means is not shown)
with an amplitude equal to the distance between the apexes of two
adjacent baffles or a multiple thereof. The feed ducts 12 are made
of flexible material to accommodate this motion. The vessels 14 of
the dye delivery devices are in this case charged with dyestuff
solutions of color which readily blend with each other, and by
reciprocating the support 15 in the manner described color streams
of regularly varying composition can be made to flow down each of
the troughs 10, so giving rise to variegated stripe effects on the
fabric 1. The equal spacing of the jets 11 and the apexes of the
baffles 9 ensures that there is no interruption in the flow of
dyestuff solution down any of the troughs as the source of supply
is continually alternated.
* * * * *