Process for the continuous crushing of velvet
Misenheimer et al.  
 [4 1 Apr. 15, 1975 1 1 PROCESS FOR THE CONTINUOUS CRUSHING OF VELVET [75] Inventors: Lindsay S. Misenheimer; John D.  
 Babb, Taylors, both of S.C.  
 [73] Assignee: J. P. Stevens &amp; Co., Inc., New York,  
 [22] Filed: Sept. 25, I973 [21] Appl. No: 400,586  
 [52] US. Cl. 26/2 R; 26/69 R; 28/72 P [51] Int. Cl. D06c 23/00 [58] Field of Search 26/2 R, 69 R, 18.5;  
 28/72 P, 76 E; 162/11 1, 113, 280&#39;, 264/282; 223/28, 29; l9/65 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 535,401 l/l922 France 162/111 1,810,719 6/1970 Germany 223/28 28,420 1897 United Kingdom 26/2 R Primary Examiner-Robert R. Mackey Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert Ames Norton, Esq.; Michael T. Frimer, Esq.; Saul Leitner, Esq.  
 [ 5 7 ABSTRACT Velvet or other pile type fabric is wet and then fed onto a flat surface and passes under a rubber-covered spiked roll, which has spikes or extended metal fingers with a random arrangement of the spikes. This picks up the cloth from the flat surface and stuffs it into a set of nip.rolls which are placed immediately behind the spiked roll. The spiked roll feeds the fabric faster than the second set of nip rolls, for example, about three times as fast. The resulting overfeed determines the amount of crush and can be varied. After passing through the second set of nip rolls, the fabric is wound on a reel and drops into a container for later drying and finishing.  
 2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PROCESS IFOR THE VELVET BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the past crushed velvet has been made by a batch method. putting a single piece of wet fabric into a wooden box and using a pneumatic press to crush the pile one piece at a time. A low level of production results and labor costs are increased. However. this has been the only practical way of crushing velvet.  
  Crushing of velvet is a temporary phenomenon in the sense that the pile of the fabric after crushing are not heat set into the crushed form. Where the pile is of thermoplastic yarns, it has been proposed to brush out the pile with rotary brushes so that the yarns are somewhat oriented and then pass it between heated rolls which set the thermoplastic pile. Patterns can be produced by engraving or embossing designs on the heated rolls. The final fabric has a design which is relatively permanent because of the setting of the thermoplastic nap. The brushing is for the purposes of orienting the pile fibers and does not stuff the fabric by an overfeed into the heated pattern-forming rolls. The operation just described. which produces an entirely different material. has been patented. and a typical patent is the Whitehead U.S. Pat. No. 2.338.792, Jan. ll, I944. The fabric is not a crushed velvet. with the production of which type of fabric the present invention deals.  
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention deals with an improved process and apparatus for crushing velvet. Crushed velvet is a product which is not heat set by hot rolls and was formerly produced; as has been described above, by a batch method in which wet velvet is put in a box and a patterned press crushes the velvet in the desired pattern. The batch method of the prior art is fairly slow. production is low, and this necessarily increases labor costs and fixed costs. which have to be distributed over a smaller output. Also, there is a limit on the size of the pieces of velvet which can be crushed as described. As far as the quality of the product is concerned, the crushed velvet is satisfactory and has been standard in the industry for many years.  
  The present invention is directed to an improved process and apparatus in which velvet is crushed continuously. There is no limit on the length of the crushed velvet, and width is limited only by the length of rolls. which will be described below. This is not a real limitation because velvet is usually woven, that is to say the substrate is woven. before napping and the width is. therefore. necessarily limited.  
  In the new process and apparatus of the present invention wet velvet is fed by a roll to a roll which has random spikes, for example. set about two inches apart. This spiked roll is covered with a soft material. such as rubber or other elastomer. and although referred to as a spiked roll, the projections are blunt fingers and are not sharpened spikes as the name might indicate. However, as this is the designation of such rolls in the art. it will be used throughout the specification. it being understood that the fingers or spikes covered with the plastic or elastomerare blunt rather than sharp. The,  
 spiked roll forces or stuffs the wet velvet between a pair of smooth nip rolls which are unheated. The overfeeding resulting from the faster rotation of the spiked roll can be varied as it is one factor in varying the amount of crushing of the velvet and hence its final appearance. A typical overfeed is about 3: l but the invention is not limited to these exact figures. From the apparatus standpoint of the present invention. of course. the overfeed is determined by the ratio of spiked roll drive to smooth nip roll drive. It should be understood that we are talking about peripheral speed because this is what determines to what extent the wet velvet is stuffed between the nip rolls. and if the spiked roll and nip rolls are of different diameters this must be taken into consideration in fixing a particular drive to produce a particular peripheral speed overfeed. After the continuous crushing. the wet crushed velvet is passed on to a suitable container. for example by passing over a reel. and is then dried and further processed in the conventional manner. which will not be further described. Once the wet velvet has been crushed to the desired degree. it is then subjected to conventional drying and other downstream operations which do not necessarily differ from those used in the prior art and are not distinguishing features of the present invention from the prior art. Accordingly, in the more specific description of preferred embodiments, details of these operations will not be shown or described.  
  Looking at the present invention from the apparatus standpoint. the wet velvet is moving along a flat surface in a machine and is picked up by the spikes or fingers of a spiked roll and stuffed into a pair of nip rolls. as has been described. This stuffing is produced by a more rapid peripheral movement of the spiked roll than the nip rolls, which results in an overfeed of the velvet picked up by the spikes to the rolls.  
  It is theoretically possible in the prior art batch process to operate on a longer length than the box size where the crushing is effected by a press. It is still a batch process as the press can only crush a piece of velvet the size of its dimension and speed is still limited.  
  It should be noted that crushed velvet is not a permanent set-in fabric design. although in use the crushed appearance persists. In other words. the fabric has no relation to napped fabrics with a thermoplastic or other nap which can be heat set into a more or less permanent form. The two types of fabric have entirely different appearances and are used in the trade as different fabrics, often for different purposes or effects. The continuously crushed velvet of the present invention. of course. has the same appearance and characteristics as crushed velvet produced by the batch process of the prior art. The only difference, insofar as it may be considered a difference. is that the continuous crushed velvet has a perfectly uniform appearance. which is sometimes more difficult to produce by the batch process of the prior art. The continuous crushing is very much faster than the batch process used and therefore reduces labor costs and other fixed factors. The only limitation on output is the speed of the rolls and the ability of the wet velvet to withstand the stresses of continuous crushing. However, this is normally at least about an order of magnitude greater than the batch process formerly used. Without limiting the invention to any particular speed. a typical crushing speed is from 25 to 75 yards per minute. which. as has been pointed out above. is very much greater than is possible with the batch process of the prior art. Since. as has been pointed out. the drying and other downstream operations, as well of course as the initial wetting of the velvet, are not changed by the present invention. this is an advantage as in these operations no new technique or apparatus is required.  
  The materials processed in accordance with the present invention are usually ordinary velvets which have a woven base and nap and which may be of any of the well known fibers. natural or synthetic or blends. It is possible. although not done extensively at the present time. to produce a velvet with a knitted base. The present process and apparatus can crush velvet on such a base, and so the invention is not limited to use with velvets on a woven base. although this latter type of velvet. which is the most important product at the present time, may be considered as a preferred embodiment.  
  Reference has been made to a random arrangement of spikes or fingers on the spiked roll. This is normally desirable as crushed velvets are ordinarily preferred to have a random crushed appearance. Although the stuffing of the wet velvet with the spikes or fingers should produce such a random appearance, it is possible to arrange the spikes in a fairly regular order on the spiked roll; for example. they can be in lines or rows making an angle with the axis of the roll. This results in random stuffing but is sometimes desirable as it is easier to produce spiked rolls with more regular arrangements of spikes in rows or sets. Therefore. the reference to random spikes is in terms of the effect on the stuffing of the velvet and not necessarily the spikes being in complete random disorder on the roll. This, of course, will produce perfectly good results in the present invention. but as it is somewhat more difficult to fabricate it is ordinarily not the preferred mechanical design of the roll. The effect is random in the process aspect of the present invention and that is all that counts.  
  The pair of nip rolls into which the wet velvet is stuffed by the desired overfeed from the spiked roll in general has smooth surfaces, which may, if desired, be covered with an elastomer. such as rubber, neoprene. and the like. The present invention in its broadest aspects is not strictly limited to the pair of nip rolls having smooth surfaces, although this is the preferred form.  
  While. as has been pointed out, the present invention does not involve a heat set design in fabrics of thermoplastic piles, it should be noted that the crushing of wet velvet followed by drying does produce an appearance which is, at least temporarily, set and which in ordinary use is retained. There is, however, no chemical setting of either thermoplastic or thermosetting fibers in the pile.  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side elevation ofa velvet crushing apparatus;  
  FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a somewhat larger scale of the spiked roll. and  
  FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic elevation of the drive for the rolls.  
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A width of velvet 1, which can either be velvet on a woven base or a knitted base, is led over a guide roll 2, onto a flat surface 3. The velvet is wet with water from a source. not shown, as the wetting of the velvet is not changed by the present invention. The wet velvet passes along the surface 3 until it encounters a socalled spiked roll 4 with spikes or fingers 5. The roll and the spikes or fingers are coated with a yielding coating. such as. for example, an elastomer. for which any suitable elastomer, such as rubber, neoprene and the like, is used. As the elastomer coating is quite thin and if shown on the drawings would confuse them, FIG. I does not specifically illustrate a complete coating. though for purposes of semi-diagrammatic illustration the elastomer covering is shown partly broken away in FIG. 2 at 6. The drawings show a round spike roll, which is preferred, but the invention is not limited thereto.  
  FIG. 2 shows the spikes or figures arranged in regular rows diagonal to the axis of the roll. This diagonal spacing. of course, does not show in FIG. 1. It is desired that where the spikes or fingers encounter the wet velvet they be in substantially random distribution. However. it is simpler to form a spiked roll with the fingers in a more regular pattern, and this is shown in FIG. 2. In each axial row and between them the spacing is approximately 2 inches. This spacing is not critical. but 2 inches gives a very satisfactory spiked roll.  
  The spiked roll 4 grips the velvet with its fingers in a generally random condition and moves the wet velvet forward on the surface 3 to the nip of two smooth rolls 7 and 8. The rate of feed of the velvet to the rolls should be faster than the rolls are turning. Peripheral speed of about three times greater for the spiked roll 4 than for the smooth rolls 7 and 8 is a typical ratio. It is, of course. effected by conventional gear or chain drives for the rolls, which are shown diagrammatically as their particular design forms no part of the invention.  
  A&#39;very substantial overfeed results, so that the fingers 5 stuff the wet velvet in the desired random pattern between the rolls 7 and 8. These rolls are set to impart the desired degree of crush to the velvet. The appearance of the crushed velvet is the same as in velvets which have been crushed in the past by the batch process described above. The rate of throughput of the velvet is, however, much greater, for example from 25 to 75 yards per minute. The wet crushed velvet, which is shown leaving the rolls 7 and 8, is then dried and wound into suitable bolts. As the drying and winding up of the crushed velvet is not changed by the present invention from the corresponding operations used in the batch process of the prior art, these conventional elements are not shown as their particular design forms no part of the present invention. It is, however, an advantage that conventional equipment can be used and no specially designed equipment is needed.  
  FIG. 3 shows a side elevation, partly in section, of a typical drive for the roll. The spiked roll 4 is provided with a sprocket 12 on the end of its shaft. Over this a chain 11 runs from a suitable sprocket l0 driven by a motor 9. The same motor also is provided with a second sprocket from which a chain 15 extends to a sprocket 16 on a nip roll 7. The roll 7 is driven by a chain 15 from a sprocket behind the sprocket 10 which, therefore. cannot be seen. The same is true of chain 13, which drives roll 8 via a sprocket I4 by suitable mechanical engagement from the motor shaft. Motor and roll sprocket sizes produce rotation of the rolls 7 and 8 at the same peripheral speed but the two rolls are driven in opposite directions. as can be seen by the arrows. It will be noted that the small .sprocket 12 turns the spiked roll 4 much faster than do the larger sprockets l4 and 16 on the shafts of the nip rolls 7 and 8. As shown. the peripheral speed of the spiked roll 4 is approximately three times that of the nip rolls. which causes the overfeed. which has been described above and which is illustrated in FIG. 1. The exact speed ratios are not critical. and the 3:l ratio shown is a typical useful one. The invention is also not limited to any particular detailed drive. The sprockets and chains illustrated in FIG. 3 are typical but the invention is in no sense limited thereto and the drives may be by suitable V-belts. gears and the like. It would. of Course. be possible to have one motor drive the roll 4 and another motor the two nip rolls 7 and 8, but while perfectly operative the additional cost and complication render such a modification less desirable.  
  lt should be noted that all of the surfaces. such as the surface 3. the surface of the rolls 2. 7 and 8. etc.. are substantially unheated. The illustrated process and apparatus does not produce the entirely different kind of fabric obtained with thermoplastic pile fabrics by embossing or otherwise forming patterns from heated rolls which impart a practically permanent pattern. Crushed velvets, of course. do not involve heat setting of a pattern by change in physical characteristics by melting or softening and cooling. This is not to say that crushed velvet does not retain its appearance. but it is not a heat set or cured pattern.  
  lt is not necessary that the water be very cold; it may be slightly warmed. but far below the temperature which would result in melting or softening thermoplastic fibers if the velvet is made of such materials.  
 We claim:  
  1. A process of continuously crushing velvet to form a crushed velvet fabric which comprises passing a water wetted velvet along a smooth surface and overfeeding it while supported by the smooth surface to smooth nip rolls by a spiked roll with spikes or fingers in a random pattern. the peripheral speed of the spiked roll being greater than the smooth rolls. to produce the overfeed. whereby the wet velvet is stuffed between the rolls in a random pattern.  
  2. A process according to claim 1 in which the spikes or fingers of the spiked roll are covered with a resilient elastomeric covering so that the velvet encounters a soft. yielding surface as it is stuffed by the spiked roll between the smooth rolls.