U.S. patent number 3,879,820 [Application Number 05/379,324] was granted by the patent office on 1975-04-29 for apparatus for producing non-woven papermakers felt.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Albany International Corporation. Invention is credited to Lowell G. Grieves, William S. Wightman.
United States Patent |
3,879,820 |
Grieves , et al. |
April 29, 1975 |
Apparatus for producing non-woven papermakers felt
Abstract
An improved non-woven papermakers felt and economical method of
manufacturing the same in which a base fabric is formed of a
plurality of layers of webs formed of fibers oriented substantially
longitudinally consolidated into a homogeneous mass and a web of
fibers is needled thereinto.
Inventors: |
Grieves; Lowell G. (Lacon,
IL), Wightman; William S. (Niskayuna, NY) |
Assignee: |
Albany International
Corporation (Albany, NY)
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Family
ID: |
26899994 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/379,324 |
Filed: |
July 16, 1973 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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205009 |
Dec 6, 1971 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
28/110; 19/163;
28/112 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D21F
7/083 (20130101); D04H 1/46 (20130101); D04H
1/74 (20130101); D04H 1/498 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
D04H
18/00 (20060101); D04H 1/70 (20060101); D04H
1/74 (20060101); D04h 018/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;28/4R,72.2R
;19/163 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Rimrodt; Louis K.
Parent Case Text
This is a division of application Ser. No. 205,009 filed Dec. 6,
1971.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. Apparatus for producing a papermakers felt including in
combination a fiber carding means, a first apron for receiving a
web of fibers from said fiber carding means, a primary lapper top
apron, a primary four ply lapper adjacent said primary lapper top
apron for receiving a web therefrom and performing four lapping
operations to produce a web of four fiber layers, a first
intermediate apron at the output end of said primary lapper, first
consolidation means between said primary lapper and said first
intermediate apron whereby the four fiber layers are consolidated
into a homogenious sheet, a second intermediate apron, said first
and second intermediate aprons being substantially horizontal,
parallel vertical aprons for receiving a web from said first
intermediate apron and delivering it to said second intermediate
apron, a feed-through apron, a secondary four ply lapper, means for
producing a tapered feathered edge on the web disposed between said
secondary lapper and said feed-through apron whereby web from said
feed-through apron is passed to said secondary lapper, said
secondary lapper producing four plies of web received therein said
first apron being movable between a first position whereby web
therefrom is passed thereby to said primary lapper top apron and a
second position whereby web therefrom is passed thereby to said
feed-through apron by-passing said primary lapper and a needling
machine providing second consolidation means at the output of said
secondary lapper.
2. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which a 90.degree.
turn device having a smooth surface is provided between said second
intermediate apron and said feed-through apron.
3. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said first
consolidation means are compressive rub rolls.
4. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said means for
producing a tapered feathered edge on the web are edge comb rolls.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Felts for use in papermaking machines are of many varieties and
have undergone changes through the years. The woven version is the
traditional type, developed by weaving the wool or wool-synthetic
yarns, and then shrinking or felting the fabric to provide the
appropriate desired finish characteristics and the stable running
size for the particular paper machine position. Although
conventional felts are still used to a great extent, needled felts
are becoming increasingly popular. The standard needled
construction consists of needle punching a web of fibers into a
previously woven base fabric. Although the needled felt has
generally been more costly to manufacture than the conventional
wholly woven felt, it has many advantages--not the least of which
is the ability to provide in the felt a base having a specific
construction and materials selected for a particular purpose
(generally dimensional stability) and combine it with a surface of
needled web of fibers formed of different material and having its
own structure free of the base and selected to provide the desired
surface characteristics in the product being formed.
In conventional needled felt construction the base fabric is woven
on the usual papermakers felt loom. The web is formed by carding
fibers and is laid on the base just prior to through the needling
machine. Several layers of web may be used, the felt going through
the needling machine after each layer is added.
In the needled construction based on paper machine requirements,
more or less web can be used on either or both sides of the base
fabric. The needles are fashioned with tiny barbs. As the needles
descend, these barbs grasp fibers from the web and force them into
the base fabric.
Needled felts are generally stronger. The web contributes strength
in accordance with the orientation of the fibers. As a result of
available manufacturing procedures, substantially all of the fibers
in the web of conventional needled felts are oriented transversely
to the path of travel of the felt.
Because of the finish problems with regular felts, it is frequently
not possible to add large amounts of synthetics to resist wear. The
needled felts being stronger maintain their bulk, water removal and
finish characteristics for a longer time than conventional
felts.
Another desirable feature of needled felts is improved sheet
finish. The twisted yarns are hidden in the base and a better and
smoother cushion meets the sheet. The fleecy web needled in
provides innumerable very minute fiber contacts with the sheet, in
contrast to the coarser yarn contacts of the wholly woven felt.
This smooth surface imparts superior finish to one side of the
sheet and often improves finish on the other side, as well by
reducing strike-through. Yarns in woven fabrics and in woven bases
of conventional needled fabrics are often objectionable because of
strike-through or marking of the sheet of paper being formed.
It has been realized for some time that if a completely non-woven
felt (not even a woven base) could be produced without excessive
cost and one which would have sufficient strength for satisfactory
operation, an even superior felt would thus be made available.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A non-woven papermakers felt comprising a base formed of a
plurality of lapped layers of webs of fibers oriented substantially
in the direction of felt travel and which have been consolidated
into a homogeneous mass by consecutive compressing and needling
operations, and a web of fibers needled into the base. The fibers
can be synthetic, natural or a blend of synthetic and natural.
A method for producing a non-woven papermakers felt comprising the
steps of: carding a first web of fibers onto a conveyor with the
fibers substantially parallel and oriented in the direction of
movement of the conveyor, delivering the web to a primary lapper
and depositing the web on the moving top cart apron with the fibers
oriented in the direction of movement of the apron and thence to
the lower cart apron, lapping layers of web from the lower cart
apron onto a floor apron with the speed of the lower cart apron and
floor apron adjusted to produce four fiber layers with the angle of
fibers deposited within the range of 85.degree. to 45.degree. to
the direction of travel of the floor apron, consolidating the
fibers into a homogeneous sheet by compressive rub rolls, producing
a tapered feathered edge on each edge of the sheet by the use of
edge comb rolls, delivering the sheet to a secondary lapper and
depositing the sheet on the moving top cart apron and thence to the
lower cart apron, lapping four layers of sheet from the lower
secondary cart apron onto the floor apron with the speed of the
lower cart apron and floor apron adjusted to produce four sheet
layers with the fibers therein forming an angle with the direction
of travel of the floor apron in the range of 10.degree. to
40.degree., consolidating the sheet into a homogeneous substrate by
pre-needling, providing an endless scrim netting and feeding the
substrate onto the scrim and consolidating by passing through a
needle loom to form a base fabric, peeling the scrim off the base
fabric, and adding web to the base fabric by a needling
operation.
An apparatus for producing the non-woven papermakers felt by the
said economical method.
The method and apparatus disclosed herein provides the ability to
produce a wide, continuous length of web with individual fibers
oriented substantially in the lengthwise direction. The width of
web produced is limited only by the width of available lapping
equipment. Felts made in accordance with this invention do not
contain lengthwise or crosswise yarns, therefore, there will be no
yarn marks imparted on the sheet of paper. Due to the absence of a
woven base fabric, the felt will drain water better than a
conventional felt because of this homogeneity in the felt; and the
absence of a woven base fabric results in a felt which will be
easier to clean using conventional methods employed on the paper
machine.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B which is a continuation thereof disclose in
perspective view the novel method and apparatus for producing the
non-woven base for the felt which is the subject of this
invention;
FIG. 2A, 2B and 2C are side diagrammatic views of the non-woven
base for the felt which is the subject of this invention at various
stages of its formation; and
FIG. 3 is a side diagrammatic view of the needling in of fibers to
complete the felt after formation of the base.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The terms substrate, base and felt are used herein to designate the
product at various stages of completion as will appear.
Also the terms "pre-needling" and "needling" are used as commonly
understood in the art. The term pre-needling designates a needling
operation in which fibers are very lightly consolidated to
facilitate handling such as rolling and unrolling. Needling is the
operation in which fibers are firmly consolidated to produce the
product involved.
In the method disclosed herein and illustrated in the FIGS. a blend
of synthetic fibers is first carded in a conventional manner on a
woolen system card. The type of blend used has a bearing on the end
product. Consideration as to type of polymers, blend percentage,
fiber denier and staple length is pertinent. In one embodiment of
the invention the substrate is formed of 60 percent, 15 denier,
41/2 inch polyamid fibers to give strength plus elasticity, 25
percent, 6 denier, 41/2 inch polyester fibers to resist stretching
and 15 percent, 6 denier, 3 inch polypropylene fibers which is a
fusible material and useful to heat set the end product.
The carded fibers are doffed from the cylinder doffer 10 in a
conventional manner onto inclined conveying apron 11. The weight of
the web doffed in the preferred embodiment is approximately 20
grains per square foot and the fibers are laid on apron 11 in an
essentially parallel orientation running in the length direction of
the web or in the direction of movement of the conveyor. The
orientation of the fibers on apron 11 is illustrated by
exaggerating certain of the fibers and designating them by the
numeral 12. The carded web is conveyed into primary lapper 13 which
is a four ply lapper, that is, one that is capable of producing
four plies or layers of web received therein. In order to
accomplish this the inclined apron 11 deposits the web on top apron
14 which deposits the web onto top cart apron 15 of the lapper and
thence to lower cart apron 16. The web as deposited on the moving
top cart 15, has the fibers thereof oriented in the direction of
movement of the apron as illustrated in FIG. 1A by the arrow 15'.
The web is lapped by layers in lapper 13 from the lower cart apron
16 onto floor apron 17 with the speed of the lower cart apron and
floor apron adjusted to produce four fiber layers with the angle of
fibers deposited within the range of 85.degree. to 45.degree. to
the direction of travel of the floor apron. Again in FIG. 1A, the
orientation of the fibers on the floor apron is illustrated by
exaggerating the fibers and designating them by the numeral 18. In
the apparatus, the lower cart 16 travels from left to right and
then right to left--or to-and-fro--depositing the layers of web on
the moving floor apron. The width of the web lapped onto the floor
apron is approximately 80.5 inches in one example and consists of
four layers of the web and the angle of fibers deposited being
approximately 75.degree. to the direction of travel of the floor
apron. The four layers of web thus deposited are then consolidated
into a homogeneous sheet of fibers by means of compressive rub
rolls 19, 20 and 21. By this means the four layers of web are
prevented from ply separating in subsequent processing. The sheet
so produced is designated in the Figs. by the numeral 22. This
sheet is then taken up by the first intermediate apron 23 and fed
between vertical aprons 24 and 25.
During the process of conveying the four layers of web from the
floor apron to the first intermediate apron 23, the web is drafted
approximately 1.74 times or 74% by varying in speed of the rub
rolls and aprons. This results in the angle of fibers being reduced
to approximately 66.degree. to the direction of travel.
The sheet is transported between the vertical aprons 24 and 25 to
the second intermediate apron 26 which is shown in FIG. 1B.
From the second intermediate apron 26 the sheet is conveyed by
means of top apron 27 to a stationary 90.degree. turning device 28.
The surface of this stationary turning device 28 should be slippery
and the device can be made of highly polished stainless steel,
teflon, or any other material which would provide such slippery
surface. The sheet, after turning, is deposited upon feed-through
apron 29 and transported to secondary lapper 30.
An intermediate step in the process is to remove the folded-over
edges of the sheet by means of edge combing devices 31 and 32. The
fiber removed by these edge combing devices on each edge are
conveyed by blowers and a pipe system, not shown, back to the
card-feeders. With the folded-over edges removed by the edge comb
rolls, a tapered-feathered edge remains on the sheet.
The secondary lapper 30, which is also a four ply lapper, operates
in a similar manner to the primary lapper 13 except that very wide
widths can be developed in the secondary lapper. In one example,
lap widths up to 400 inches were made. There is no limit to the
width that can be made provided a sufficiently wide lapper is
available.
In the secondary lapper, the sheet is deposited on the secondary
top cart apron 33 and thence to the secondary lower cart apron 34
and then onto the secondary floor apron 35.
Four layers of web had been lapped in the primary lapper to produce
a sheet. Now four sheets are lapped in the secondary lapper to
produce a substrate on secondary floor apron 35 consisting of a
total of 16 original fiber layers.
The sheets are laid onto the floor apron with the speed of the
lower cart apron and the floor apron adjusted to produce the four
sheet layers with the fibers therein forming an angle with the
direction of travel of the floor apron in the range of 10.degree.
to 40.degree.. The width of the laps formed is infinitely variable
within the ranges available in the machine and in the specific
example disclosed herein the width of the laps thus formed is
variable within the ranges of 100 inches minimum and 400 inches
maximum. For the 100 inch width the fibers are aligned at
approximately 13.5.degree. and 34.5.degree. to the direction of
travel and for the 400 inch width the fibers are aligned at
approximately 21.5.degree. and 26.5.degree. to the direction of
travel.
In order to consolidate into a homogeneous substrate, the sheet is
compressed and passed through pre-needling machine 37. The
compression prior to pre-needling can be accomplished by any
suitable means. In the present application the bed plate 37' of the
pre-needler is extended toward apron 35 and a plate 36 which is a
compacting sheet of metal is mounted over the bed plate 37' on the
top side of the sheet. As the substrate passes between plates 36
and 37', it is compressed. The substrate so formed and indicated by
the numeral 38 in the Figs. is passed to wind up mechanism 42 where
rolls of the substrate are produced for subsequent use in further
processing. The example of the embodiment disclosed herein allows
for the production of long lengths of substrate up to 200 feet in
length on the rolls. This is not a limit but rather an example.
These rolls of substrate have the fibers oriented essentially in
the length direction giving the substrate more resistance to
stretch lengthwise than crosswise. Weight of the substrate produced
varies from 180 grains per square foot to 225 grains per square
foot. Lighter or heavier substrates could also be made but would
depend upon the anticipated end use. In the present stage of the
art heavier substrates may not be useful for papermakers felts,
however, they may be desirable for other types of non-woven
industrial textiles such as corrugator belts or conveyor
belting.
In the next step in the process, which is illustrated in FIGS. 2A,
2B and 2C, an endless scrim 43 is installed between rollers 44 and
45 and lightly tensioned. In one example the scrim is formed of
light weight polypropylene netting in endless form and of proper
length and width to produce a wet felt. Another type of scrim can
be used if desired to hold the substrate together during the
needling operation which is accomplished in the needle loom
designated by the numeral 46 in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C.
The lengthwise oriented substrate 38 is then unwound from roll 47
onto the scrim netting and consolidated by passing through the
needle loom 46. Three layers are shown being needled in in FIGS.
2A, 2B and 2C. The first layer after passage through the needle
loom 46 is a needled in layer indicated by the numeral 38a. The
next step illustrates the scrim 43 with layers 38a and 38b and the
third or final step illustrates the scrim 43 with layers 38a, 38b
and 38c needled thereinto.
Once these three layers have been sufficiently consolidated by
needling so that they become self-supporting, the initial scrim 43
is peeled away from the inside to provide the base fabric. This
base fabric is an endless loop of the proper length, width and
strength for subsequent processing. Onto this base are applied
further layers of fibers which are lapped in a conventional manner
as a web with fiber orientation essentially crosswise to the length
direction of the felt and there is provided subsequent
consolidation by needling as illustrated in FIG. 3 wherein the base
38a-38b-38c is shown passing through needling machine 48 after
multiple layers of conventional web from roll 49 have been placed
thereon. In FIG. 3 the needling machine designated by the numeral
48 could also be the machine previously designated in FIGS. 2A, 2B
and 2C by the numeral 46.
After completion of needling the felt is washed in a conventional
manner and then stretched to its proper operating tension and
length on a conventional felt dryer. During the lengthwise
stretching the fibers in the base which had been at angles to the
lengthwise direction as a result of the first and second lapping
operations are oriented substantially lengthwise. In one example,
after stretching the resulting length of the felt is 108% of the
length prior to stretching. The felt is dried by means of heated
cylinders (such as steam heated, gas heated or otherwise) as is
well known in the art.
In certain embodiments, after drying, the felt is subjected to a
heat treatment in the neighborhood of 380.degree.F which tends to
fuse the polypropylene fibers previously referred to. This fusing
tends to further stabilize the fabric. Another alternative for
further bonding and stabilization dimensionally is to use resin
treatments but these tend to make the finished products stiff and
impede easy installation in certain positions on the paper
machine.
In FIG. 1A feed-through apron 29 is shown in phantom. Conveying
apron 11 is also shown in phantom in a shifted position. The
apparatus is so constructed with apron 11 shiftable between two
positions so that when it is desired to make a conventional web
with fibers oriented crosswise, it is necessary only to shift apron
11 from the position shown in solid lines to the position shown in
phantom in FIG. 1A where it can feed the fibers received thereon
directly onto feed-through apron 29 thereby by-passing the first
lapping operation.
* * * * *