FI56983B - FOER FARING OCH ANORDING BEHANDLING AV TYGARTIKLAR FOER ATT FOERBAETTRA DERAS NON-IRON EGENSKAPER - Google Patents

Description

FSS ^ l [B] (11) ANNOUNCEMENT CCQOo lJ 1 'UTLÄGGNI NGSSKRIFT öObö ό C (45) Patent granted 1C 05 1030 Patent msddelat VV (51) Kv.ik.' / Int.ci. * D 06 B 21/02 FINLAND —FINLAND (21) PttMttlh.k.mut-Ptttt.t.nrtknlng 2516/72 (22) HtkamltpUvl - Ara & knlngtdkg 13 * 09 * 72 (23) AlkupUvl — Glltlghttsdig 13 * 09 * 72 (41) Has become swept - Bull lU.03 * 73 _. . . (44) Date of issue of the competition. -, 0.

Patent * och registerstyrelsen '' Ansttktn utlagd och utUkriftun publlcurad 31 * 01.00 (32) (33) (31) Requested prefix * —Begird priorltet 13 * 09 * 71 USA (US) 179781 Toteennäetty-Styrkt (71) McGraw-Edison Company, 333 West River Road, Elgin, Illinois, USA (72) John Howard Forg, Cincinnati, Ohio, George Louis Payet, Cincinnati,

Ohio, USA (US) (7 * 0 Oy Borenius & Co Ab (5I +) Method and apparatus for improving the smoothness of fabric products - Förfarande och anordning för behandling av tygartiklar för att förbättra deras non-iron egenskaper to treat their fabric products to improve their smoothness, which can be done efficiently and economically on a commercial scale with substantially good results.

The invention therefore relates to a method for improving the smoothness of cotton-containing fabric products, in which method the fabric products are suspended in a closed treatment chamber into which sulfur dioxide and formaldehyde gases and steam are introduced to cause the gases and steam to penetrate the fabric products.

The method according to the invention provides the desired moisture content to the fabrics without affecting the initial smoothness of the products.

The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out this method in the handling of fabric products, the apparatus comprising a box comprising a treatment chamber and means for hanging the products from the chamber roof along its length, doors for transporting the products in and out of the box, and an air duct running from the bottom to the top of the chamber, and a fan for circulating air into the chamber via a line, wherein the heat exchanger is arranged in the line for heating the air which is blown 56983 into the chamber 2.

The prior art is described in U.S. Patent 3,257,739, which discloses a treatment chamber for treating air, which air is used in a drying chamber through which garments are continuously fed. The above patent does not encompass or even suggest a method according to the present invention known for introducing gases and steam into a chamber without any polymer-forming precondensates at elevated temperature, shutting off the steam supply below a predetermined value and then heating the air to blow the chamber. ° C. Such a method for impregnating and drying clothes is not previously known. The method according to the invention provides a fairly even handling of the garments.

U3 patent publication 3,102,796 discloses a garment handling device which also has an air duct running from the bottom of the chamber to its upper part and a fan blowing air from the upper part of the chamber, as well as a heat exchanger fitted to the line. However, previously known devices do not show m.m. spraying water according to the invention against the walls of the treatment chamber to cool the chamber. The combination of the parts of the device according to the invention provides an advantageous and uniform handling of the garments.

The method according to the invention is characterized in that the gases and steam are introduced into the chamber without any polymer-forming precondensates at an elevated temperature until the temperature reaches a predetermined value, the steam supply is cut off to lower the chamber temperature below this predetermined value, and then heated air is blown into the chamber. at least 121 ° C.

The device according to the invention, on the other hand, is characterized in that the box has means for introducing steam and chemical treatment gases into the chamber, means for circulating both hot and cold air in the chamber, the air line being connected to an exhaust pipe and fresh air inlet, and the box having means for spraying water against the treatment chamber walls. , when the heat exchanger is turned off and that a suspended ceiling is perforated in the chamber at a distance from the box roof.

The objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description.

3 56383

Our invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings; in which; Fig. 1 is a plan view of a processing device according to the invention, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view showing a double seal, Figs. Fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view similar to that shown in Fig. 2 showing various basic steps used in the method of the invention to treat fabric products to self-iron, and Fig. 9 is a graph showing a typical temperature-time cycle of this treatment.

This device comprises an elongate box 10 which is rectangular in cross-section and has double walls 11 (Fig. 2) for effective insulation of the elongate treatment chamber 12. At opposite ends of the box (Fig. 1) there are doors 13 on hinges 14 and fastened by suitable latches 15. A two-door system is used to make it possible to fill the chamber at one end and unload finished products from the other end at the same time.

Each door 13 is connected to the edge 16 of the box by a double sealing device running around the door opening shown in Fig. 4, in order to prevent the escape of gases during the treatment cycle. This double seal comprises a notch 17 on the edge 16 of the box, to which a strip of silicone rubber 18 is attached. The edge of each door has a similar notch 19 slightly outwardly of the notch 17 and has a silicone rubber strip 20. When the door is closed, the flange 21 on the outside of the door notch 19 presses against the yoke rubber strip 18 and the box flange 22 on the inside of the notch 17 presses against the yoke rubber strip 20. and sponge-like strips 18 and 19 trapping air therebetween. This enclosed air space can effectively prevent gases from leaking out of the treatment chamber.

, 56983

At some distance from the roof of the box is a perforated ceiling 23 with holes, which forms an air diffusion chamber or a second layer 24 extending over the length of the treatment chamber 12. The middle stages of the box 10 have a side compartment 25 in the longitudinal direction with an air duct 26 running from the bottom of the chamber 12 to the upper floor 24. This air duct has a fan 27 at the lower end and a heat exchanger 28 at the point where it opens to the upper floor. The fan circulates air through the chamber 12 from top to bottom. Starting from the line 26, at a distance in the direction of rotation, there is an outlet line 29 and an air inlet line 30. The outlet line 29 has a pull flap 31 supported at 32 to open and close the line (Figures 6 and 8). Also, the inlet line 30 has a flap 33 supported at 34 between the two lines for movement between the closed position (Figure 5) and the open position (Figure 6) of the hose wall, where the flap closes the tube 26 between the two lines to force air to circulate from outside the line 30, heat exchanger 28, through the upper layer 24, the treatment chamber 12, the fan 27 and the exhaust pipe 29 back to the outside air.

The cabinet roof has three equally spaced plate fans 35 (Figures 1 and 2) that circulate air through the space 36 between the double walls 11 and then out through a simple central exhaust line 37 (Figure 1). Between the double walls 11 there are also suitable spray heads 38 which can be connected to a source of cooling water (not shown) for conducting water against the walls of the treatment chamber to reduce its temperature to room temperature after the treatment cycle.

At the bottom of the treatment chamber 12 are openings 39 for injecting steam upwards onto garments 40 which are attached by hangers 41 to rails 42 running in the longitudinal direction of the chamber. At the bottom of the treatment chamber 12 there is also an opening 43 for conducting sulfur dioxide gas. In addition, near the bottom of the chamber is a heating plate 44 for receiving paraformaldehyde from the hopper 45, which enters through a pipe 46 by means of a piston, screw or pusher, generally indicated at 47.

The perforated ceiling 23 comprises two rows of spaced apart plates 48 which are inclined from the center line of the width of the chamber 12 towards opposite sides thereof. The plates are all U-shaped and have a relatively short upturned flange 49 at its distal edge from the central plane L of the chamber and a higher flange 50 along the opposite edge closer to the plane L, from which the upper part of the latter flange 50 is turned horizontally at 51

B 56963 5 over a shorter flange 49 in an adjacent plate closer to and at a distance from the plane L equal to the distance between the plate and the next adjacent plate. Further, the spacing of the plates increases by one degree from the central plane 1 towards the ends of the chamber. Thus, larger degree portions 52 are formed from the plane 1 toward the ends of the chamber to receive air into the second layer 24, which air flows from the central conduit 26, and direct it downward into the chamber 12. Further, since each plate is inclined downward toward the sides and shaped in the shape of an upward U-channel, it retains condensing water and causes it to flow downward to the side walls of the chamber to reduce the possibility of dripping of the garments 40 to be treated.

In carrying out the treatment method according to the invention, the garments 40 are placed at regular intervals along the length of the treatment chamber 12 and the doors 13 are closed. If the relative humidity of the outside air is less than 20%, three initial steps are first performed to apply a suitable amount of moisture to the garments without affecting the corrugation or finishing with which the garments are pretreated, 1) by injecting steam into the treatment chamber 12 through orifices 39 for about 20 seconds with the inlet flap 33 closed and the heat exchanger off, to raise the chamber temperature from about 35 ° C to about 49 ° C (Figure 5); 2) by stopping the steam injection to soak the garments 40 in steam for about two minutes, allowing the temperature to drop to about 43 ° C; and 3) allowing air to circulate from the outside through the inlet line 30, the treatment chamber 12 and the outlet pipe 29 for about three minutes with the inlet shutter 33 open (Figure 6) to lower the treatment chamber temperature back to the starting point of about 35 ° C.

The next step 4) - which could be the first step of the treatment cycle if the relative humidity of the outside air is higher than 20% - involves injecting chemicals into the treatment chamber 12 with the plate fans 35 still on, the outlet flap 31 open, the inlet flap 33 closed and the fan 27 and heat exchanger 28 both off (Fig. 5) a) heating the paraformaldehyde fed to the hot plate 44 until it has evaporated and dispersed over the treatment chamber 12, h) injecting steam through the openings 39, and c) injecting sulfur dioxide gas through the opening 43, all in about 45 seconds, which allows the chamber temperature to rise from 49 ° C to 63 ° C. According to a preferred example, the measured amount of sulfur dioxide is injected by filling a tank which could contain the correct amount of gas at ambient pressure to two atmospheres and continuing to conduct until the pressure drops to atmospheric. More broadly, the gas can be stored at a certain higher pressure when only the vapor pressure has not been reached, and is then passed until a predetermined lower pressure is reached.

The next step 5) is carried out by switching off the steam supply in order to allow the temperature to drop, and preferably the injection of sulfur dioxide gas and formaldehyde gas is continued. Typically, the garments may thus be allowed to wet in the treatment steam for about 5 minutes until the chamber temperature drops to at least 5.5 ° C and as much as 17 ° C, depending on the temperature to which the chamber was heated by the steam (Figure 5).

This step 5) is the most important step of the invention, as it makes it possible to achieve self-lubricity in an efficient manner.

The exhaust heating step 6) is performed next, keeping the plate fan 35 off, the main fan 27 on, the exhaust flap 31 open, the inlet flap 33 open, and the heat exchanger 28 on (Fig. 7), but all steam and chemical injection into the chamber now closed so that only heated air circulates from the outside to the treatment chamber, whereby steam, as well as all free chemicals, escapes from the garments over a period of about two minutes; during this step, the temperature is typically allowed to rise to about 82 ° C (Figure 9). Next, a closed loop heating step 7) is performed for about five to seven minutes, which differs from the previous heating step in that the inlet shutter 33 and outlet shutter 29 are closed (Fig. 8) to raise air temperature internally through the heat exchanger 28 to raise the air temperature to about 138 ° C. as shown in Figure 9, for the purpose of heating the garments to be treated to at least 121 ° C. The final step in the treatment cycle is to perform exhaust cooling (Figure 6) for about thirty seconds to bring the temperature to about 93 ° G.

Finally, the garments are subjected to a series of cleaning steps to remove residual odors and reduce the temperature to room temperature as follows: the first cleaning step 9) is performed in three to seven minutes by injecting steam with the plate blower 35 off, heat exchanger 28 off, shutter 33 closed and outlet shut off the main fan 27 off (Fig. 5) »until the internal temperature rises to about 105 ° C; the next cleaning step 10) is performed in about five minutes by turning the plate fan 35 over, opening the inlet

Claims (13)

1. A process for treating cotton articles containing cotton to improve their non-iron properties, wherein method of fabric articles is suspended in a closed treatment chamber, in which sulfur dioxide and formaldehyde gases are introduced and meadows are opened for permeation of fabric articles with gases and meadows, characterized whereby the gases and the meadow are led into the chamber without the presence of polymer-forming precondensate at increasing temperature until the temperature when a predetermined value, meadow supply is switched off to reduce the temperature below this predetermined value, after which heated air is blown into the chamber to raise the articles. temperature to at least 121 ° C. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that meadows are first injected into the chamber for wetting the fabric articles and then meadows are circulated externally through the chamber for pre-cooling the articles before being treated with the sulfur dioxide and formaldehyde gases. 3. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that meadow and free gases are removed from the chamber after the opening of the meadow has ended and the chamber is then heated to raise the temperature of the articles to at least 121 ° C. 4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the heating of the chamber comprises a first discharge and heating operation, in which air from outside is circulated through the chamber, while simultaneously heating the air entering the chamber, and a second stage for heating the closed the circulation in which the chamber's air is circulated through a lateral line and heated during its passage through said line until said fabric articles reach at least 121 ° C. 11 5G9C3 5. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that air is circulated from outside the chamber after the heating stages for lowering the temperature in the chamber, the meadow is injected into the chamber for raising the temperature in the chamber and the spraying of the meadow is then stopped and air is circulated on the chamber. new from outside through the chamber. 6. A process according to claim 3, characterized in that water is sprayed against the walls of the heating chamber after the temperature in the chamber is approximately 121 ° C, for cooling the walls substantially to room temperature. Process according to claim 4, characterized in that the temperature in the chamber is raised to the value 49 ... 63 ° C by injecting the meadow into the chamber and the temperature is then allowed to drop at least 5.5 ° C after the end of the meadow introduction and before the the last heating phase is started and in which the temperature is raised to about 82 ° G at the end of the discharge phase and it is raised to at least 121 ° C at the end of the closed heating period. Apparatus for carrying out the method according to any of claims 1-7 for the treatment of fabric articles, comprising a drawer (10) containing a treatment chamber (12) and devices (42) for hanging articles at the roof of said chamber longitudinal direction, doors (13) for insertion of articles (40) into and out of the leather, and an air conduit (26), which preferably from the bottom of the chamber (12) to its upper part, and a fan (27) for circulation of air into the chamber (12) via the conduit (26), wherein a heat exchanger (28) is provided in the conduit (26) for heating air blown to the chamber (12), sensing that the vane (10) comprises devices for conduit of meadow (39) and chemical treatment gases (43, 44, 45, 46, 47) to chamber (12), devices for circulating both hot and cold air in the chamber, the air conduit (26) comprising an outlet tube (29) and a fresh air inlet tube (30), and said leather (10) comprising means (38) for spraying withdrawing water against the path of the treatment chamber (12) to cool the chamber after the heat exchanger (28) has ceased to operate and the chamber (12) has a perforated melant roof (23) spaced from the roof of the leather (10). Device according to Claim 8, characterized in that the treatment chamber (12) is elongated and extends along the longitudinal direction (10) and the air line (26) is in the middle of the length of the ladder (10), leading to a layer (24) of air above the intermediate roof (23) for distributing recirculating air through the intermediate roof (23) to the chamber (12), the intermediate roof (23) comprising a series of inclined discs (48) transverse to the ladder (10) and spaced apart from each other longitudinally, each disc (48) has flanges (49, 50) wound on the sides which form a channel for condensing water and guide it towards the side walls of the chamber (12) to prevent the water flow into the articles. 10. Apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the flange (49) on the side of each disc (48) has less height away from the center of the leather (10) than the flange (50) closer to the center of the leather (10), and that the latter flange (50) of each disc is at its upper part facing the center of the leather (10) over the shorter flange (49) of the next adjacent disc and spaced from it, forming an opening (52) for receiving the air flow from the air conduit (26) and for conducting the air down into the treatment chamber (12). 11. Device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the space between successive discs (48) and above flanges (50) and the space between successive shorter flanges (49) grow from the center of the leather (10) to its two ends. . 12. Device according to claim 8, 9, 10 or 11, characterized in that the outlet pipe (29) and the inlet pipe (30) for fresh air pass from the pipe (26) and into it, in said order, in places which are spaced apart. from each other in the direction of air flow through the conduit (26), each tube having a flap (31, 33) and a device (32, 34) for changing the position of the flap so that it either closes the respective tube or opens the tube and the other The flap in the open position closes the conduit (26) between the tubes forcing the air to circulate out of the treatment chamber (12) through the inlet tube (30) and back out through the outlet tube (29) * and that the walls (11) are hollow. Device according to claim 12, characterized in that the fan (27) lies on the bottom of the ladder (10) near the outlet point of the treatment chamber (12), said outlet pipe (29) and inlet pipe (30) leading from the pipe (26) and into the the upper part of the ladder (10) and the heat exchanger (28) are in the conduit (26) between the inlet pipe (30) and the treatment chamber (12).