This Application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/GB01/04771, with an international filing date of 29 Oct. 2001, now pending, claiming priority from Great Britain Application No. GB00/26763.3, filed 2 Nov. 2000, now pending, and herein incorporated by reference.
This invention relates to the texturing of textile yarn products, in particular the jet texturing of filament and/or staple yarns, which includes the intermingling and/or the twisting of multifilament yarns, the co-mingling of two or more filament yarns and the combining of filament and staple yarns.
It is known to perform the above processes on one or more textile yarns by passing the yarn or yarns through a jet device in which a jet or jets of air are directed transversely of the travelling yarn or yarns to agitate or twist the filaments or the fibres of the yarns. Agitation by such means may cause uniform texturing or intermittent texturing, i.e. intermingling or co-mingling. When intermittent, nips are produced in the yarn or yarns at spaced intervals. Since such jets rely on air turbulence, the degree of twist, texturing or of nip spacing along the yarn is in consequence random. Whilst the average degree of twist, texturing or nip production per unit length of yarn processed by such known jets may be satisfactory for certain textile applications, there are often long lengths of yarn produced having no twist, texture or nips. These lengths of yarn when used in knitted or woven fabrics manifest themselves as unsatisfactory regions in the fabric. To remove spin finish oil and to improve process stability it is known to wet the yarn prior to its entry into the air jet, but the above problems still exist. In addition, typically a machine for performing such processes can have many, for example 200 or more, processing positions, i.e. 200 or more yarns are processed simultaneously in parallel threadlines. The provision of high pressure air to such numbers of jets is expensive and such a machine is very noisy.
To overcome the above problems, in our co-pending International Application No PCT/GB00/02610 there is proposed a method of texturing textile yarn products comprising passing the yarn product along a predetermined yarn path through a liquid jet device applying a force to the yarn transversely to the axis thereof. It has now been found that, surprisingly, the performance of the method proposed in that application and the quality of the products produced thereby can be improved by modifying the liquid flow through the jet device.
The invention provides a method of texturing textile yarn products wherein the yarn product is passed along a predetermined yarn path through a liquid jet device applying a force to the yarn transversely to the axis thereof, comprising directing the liquid as it passes through the liquid jet device past an air inlet to the liquid jet device to entrain air therein.
The force may be applied to the yarn by the liquid prior to passing the liquid past the air inlet. Alternatively, the force may be applied to the yarn by the liquid simultaneously with passing the liquid past the air inlet.
The method may also comprise applying a forwarding force or a retarding force to the yarn product. The method may comprise applying at least one jet of liquid to the surface of the yarn product transversely to the axis thereof, and may comprise applying the at least one jet of liquid with components of velocity both axially of and transversely to the yarn path through the jet device. The method may comprise applying a plurality of jets of liquid disposed about the axis of the yarn path through the jet device. The method may comprise applying the plurality of jets of liquid offset from the axis of the yarn path to twist the yarn. Preferably the liquid is water and may be cold water. The supply of water may be pulsed. The method may comprise directing the air entrained along the air inlet transversely to the axis of the direction of flow of liquid through the jet device, and may comprise directing the air entrained along the air inlet with components of velocity both axially of and transversely to the flow of liquid through the jet device.
The yarn product may be a plurality of yarns that are combined to form a single coherent yarn. One of the yarns may be a staple yarn. Alternatively, the yarn product may be continuous filaments.
The invention also provides a process in which the yarn product is textured by the above method, and the process may comprise drawing the yarn product to form a partially oriented yarn.
The process may be controlled by a feedback arrangement. In this case a property of the yarn product may be measured and the measurement used to control the process. The measurement may be used to control the liquid jet device or a yarn product speed. The yarn product may be wound up after being textured.
The process may also include cooling the yarn product. The yarn may be cooled by the liquid jet device. The process may comprise heating the yarn, and may comprise twisting the yarn. The yarn product may also be cooled in a liquid immersion cooling zone, in which case a cooling liquid may be moved in contraflow to the yarn product passing through the cooling zone. The cooling zone and the liquid jet device may be contiguous. The coolant liquid may be the liquid of the jet device.
The invention may also comprise apparatus for texturing a yarn product comprising a liquid jet device adapted to apply to a yarn product travelling along a predetermined yarn path through the jet device a force transversely to the axis of the yarn product, the liquid jet device having a path for the liquid through the liquid jet device and an air inlet communicating with the path for the liquid.
The liquid jet device may be adapted to apply the force to the yarn upstream of the air inlet. Alternatively, the liquid jet device may be adapted to apply the force to the yarn simultaneously with passing the liquid past the air inlet.
The liquid jet device may be adapted to apply a forwarding force or a retarding force to the travelling yarn product. The jet device may apply at least one jet of liquid to the surface of the yarn product transversely to the axis thereof. The at least one jet of liquid may be directed to have velocity components both axially of and transversely to the yarn path through the jet device. A plurality of liquid jets may be disposed about the yarn path through the liquid jet device. The plurality of jets of liquid may be offset from the axis of the yarn path to twist the yarn. The liquid jet device may comprise a housing which terminates in a yarn constricting outlet, having an axis defining a yarn path therethrough, with liquid flow channels aimed towards the outlet and transverse to the axis. The housing may comprise at least one seal against liquid escape along the yarn path. The seal may be a labyrinth seal, which may be pressurised, and may be gas pressurised, e.g. by compressed air. The air inlet may extend transversely to the axis of the direction of flow of liquid through the jet device, and may extend in a direction having components both axially of and transversely to the flow of liquid through the jet device. The liquid jet device may comprise a baffle located at the outlet thereof. Preferably the liquid jet device comprises a water jet device.
The jet device may be arranged in the path of a plurality of yarns. Alternatively, the jet device may be arranged in a filament spinning apparatus. The apparatus may also comprise drawing means, which may be disposed upstream of the jet device. The apparatus may comprise a feedback arrangement operable to control the processing of the yarn product. The feedback arrangement may comprise a measuring instrument operable to measure a property of the yarn product, and control means operable in response to a signal from the measuring instrument proportional to the measurement to control the processing of the yarn product. The control means may be operable to control the liquid jet device and/or a yarn product speed.
The apparatus may comprise winding apparatus disposed downstream of the liquid jet device. The apparatus may comprise cooling apparatus. The cooling apparatus may comprise the liquid jet device. The apparatus may also comprise heating apparatus, which may be disposed upstream of the cooling apparatus. The fluid jet device may be adapted to twist the yarn.
The jet device may be disposed downstream of a further cooling arrangement. The further cooling arrangement may be a fluid cooling arrangement in which the yarn product passes through a fluid to be cooled by heat transfer thereto. The further cooling arrangement may comprise a cooling chamber having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet for cooling fluid to be passed therethrough, and a yarn product inlet and yarn product outlet. The cooling fluid may be passed in contraflow relative to the yarn product. The cooling chamber may comprise seals against escape of cooling fluid at the yarn product inlet and the yarn product outlet. The seals may be labyrinth seals, which may be pressurised, and may be gas pressurised, may be by compressed air. The cooling fluid may be a liquid and may be water. The flow of liquid through the cooling chamber may be arranged to be turbulent. The jet device and the further cooling arrangement may be contiguous. The jet device and the further cooling arrangement may have a common liquid.
The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
In the case of this invention, the intermingling jet 46 is constructed and operates as the device 10 of
A machine 60 for co-mingling two or more yarns is shown in
In this machine arrangement, the cooling device 72 and the co-mingling device 73 are shown to be contiguous. In addition, the water introduced into the co-mingling device 73 is forwarded therefrom to the cooling device 72 in the direction of arrow D, so that both devices 73, 72 use the same water. Also in the case of machine 60, there is shown a measuring instrument 79, which measures a property of the co-mingled yarn 75. Such parameter may be node frequency or coherence. The measuring instrument 79 sends a signal proportional to the value of the measured parameter to a controller 80 which compares that value with a predetermined desired value. If there is a discrepancy between the two values the controller 80 is operable to control the rate or pressure of water flow to the co-mingling device 73 and/or the speed of the first feed rollers 66, 67, the draw rollers 70, 71, and the second feed rollers 74.
By means of the invention improved texturing and intermingling are achieved by comparison with processing with air jet devices. In particular, in the case of intermingling core and effect yarns together, the core yarn provides most of the strength of the resultant textured yarn. In the present process, the core yarn is not opened or deviated as much as with the known processes, possibly due to the surface tension of the water. Although the core yarn is opened sufficiently for the effect yarn to be threaded through the core yarn and so be intermingled efficiently, it is not opened to the extent that the strength of the core yarn is seriously reduced. It has been found that air texturing produces strengths of 30–36 cN/tex, whereas strengths of 41.5 cN/tex can be produced with water/air texturing as described herein. In addition lower core overfeeds can be used in the present process, e.g. 2.9% instead of 5% to 8% with air jet texturing, to further improve the situation. These advantages are particularly important in the sewing thread market. For sewing threads, tight loops are required so as to minimise snagging and reduce needle temperatures during sewing. To achieve tighter such loops the textured yarn 75 may be heat set by passing the textured yarn 75 around a heated roll 81 as shown in
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/GB01/04771 | 10/29/2001 | WO | 00 | 4/30/2003 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO02/36868 | 5/10/2002 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040040278 A1 | Mar 2004 | US |