Claims
- 1. Apparatus for crimping continuous filaments comprising:
- (a) a chamber having an inlet opening for receiving the filaments and an outlet opening for withdrawing the filaments;
- (b) barrier means disposed in said chamber adjacent said inlet opening;
- (c) fluid directing means for directing a stream of compressible fluid containing said filaments into contact with said barrier means to initiate crimping thereof;
- (d) fluid escape means associated with said chamber for separating the major portion of said fluid from said filaments and expelling it from said chamber;
- (e) carrier means for transporting said filaments through said chamber, including a continuously moving surface associated with said chamber to cause overfeeding of said filaments into said chamber, said filaments being forced against a mass thereof within said chamber to produce crimps therein;
- (f) heating means connected to and upstream of said fluid directing means for contacting said filaments with heated fluid to increase the temperature of the filaments; and
- (g) crimp setting means, including fluid jet heating means disposed in said chamber downstream of said fluid directing means, for contacting said mass of filaments with at least a second stream of heated fluid to set the crimps, whereby said filaments emerge from the chamber in crimped form.
- 2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said chamber has a curvilinear configuration.
- 3. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said barrier means has a coefficient of friction of about 0.05 to 0.9.
- 4. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said fluid escape means is a screen having a mesh size ranging from about 50 to 400.
- 5. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said heating means includes a tube having at least one fluid inlet therein.
- 6. Apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein said tube has a length of about 3 to 60 inches.
- 7. Apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein the number of fluid inlets is about 1 to 60.
- 8. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said fluid directing means comprises a tube having an end located in relatively close proximity to said barrier means, the cross-sectional area of said end being about 0.0002 to 0.30 square inch and the cross-sectional area of said chamber being about 0.00015 to 1.00 square inch.
- 9. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said fluid escape means is a plate containing a plurality of apertures, the number of apertures being sufficient to separate from said filaments and expel from said chamber about 60 to 98 percent of said fluid.
- 10. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said chamber has a cover and said fluid jet heating means includes at least one passageway disposed in said cover.
- 11. Apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein said passageway has an end in communication with said chamber and the center-to-center distance between said end and said inlet opening is about 0.5 to 30 inches.
- 12. Apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein said fluid jet means includes a plurality of passageways.
- 13. Apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the cross-sectional area of said passageway end is about 0.0001 to 0.040 square inch.
- 14. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said barrier means is a stationary, noncontinuous impacting surface.
- 15. A method of crimping continuous filaments, comprising the steps of:
- (a) feeding said filaments by aspiration into a stream of heated fluid;
- (b) contacting said filaments with at least a second stream of heated fluid to increase the temperature of the filaments;
- (c) directing said stream containing said filaments into contact with barrier means disposed within a chamber, the contact having sufficient force to initiate crimping of said filaments;
- (d) separating a major portion of said first and second streams of heated fluid from said filaments and expelling it from said chamber;
- (e) transporting said filaments through said chamber by continuous movement of a surface therein at sufficient velocity to cause overfeeding of said filaments into said chamber, said filaments being forced against a mass thereof within said chamber to produce crimps therein;
- (f) contacting said mass with one or more streams of heated fluid to set the crimps; and
- (g) removing said filaments in crimped form from said chamber.
- 16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said filaments contact said barrier means at an angle of impact of about 15.degree. to 75.degree..
- 17. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein said filaments are composed of material selected from the group consisting of poly 1,4-cyclohexylenedimethylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyhexamethylene adipamide, poly -aminocaproic acid, polypropylene cellulose acetate, cellulose tri-acetate and blends thereof.
- 18. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said filaments contact said barrier means at a velocity of about 3000 to 23,000 feet per minute.
- 19. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said streams of fluid are compressible.
- 20. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the number of streams of fluid contacting said filaments is about 1 to 60.
- 21. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the mass is contacted with a plurality of streams of fluid.
- 22. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein each of said streams of fluid has a temperature of about 150.degree. to 300.degree. C.
- 23. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said filaments are composed of polyester.
- 24. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said filaments contain in excess of 40 crimps per inch and a skein shrinkage level of at least about 35 percent when removed from said chamber.
- 25. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said filaments are composed of nylon.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part to copending application Ser. No. 619,085, filed Oct. 2, 1975, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Texturizing Continuous Filaments", now U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,611 of May 24, 1977.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
619085 |
Oct 1975 |
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