TECHNICAL FIELD

The _ present invention relates to a plant,, and to a relative method, for the treatment of items of clothing.

In particular, the present invention finds advantageous, but not exclusive, application for the scouring of jeans (denim) to which the following description will make explicit reference without thereby losing generality.

BACKGROUND ART

Currently the treatment of finishing/washing an item of clothing involves the use of at least 70 liters of water for every single item of clothing to which the chemical additives (chlorine, permanganate, solvents etc..) are added, which allow transforming an item of clothing from the raw state (untreated) into an item of clothing on which the effects of scouring much appreciated especially by young customers are present.

Typically the treatment of items of clothing, jeans in particular, to be scoured comprises the following steps:

1 - manual scratching with sandpaper or abrasive brushes when cleaning effect so requires;

2 - washing the item of clothing with enzymes with an average consumption of 10/13 1 for each items of clothing;

3 - rinsing in washing machine with an average consumption of 26/30 1 for each item of clothing;

4 - manual treatment with chemicals (permanganate);

5 - neutralization in washing machine with metabisulphite with an average consumption of 10/13 1 for each item of clothing;

6 - rinsing in washing machine with an average consumption of 26/30 1 for each item of clothing;

7 - spinning operation on every single item of clothing, and 8 - final drying (of tumbler type) of each item of clothing.

We will pass now to examine in closer detail each step:

1. MANUAL, SCRATCHING: strictly manual .processing on the item of clothing, with the aid of special equipment (grinding wheels, sandpaper) aging effects are produced by rubbing onto the items of clothing (the so-called "fraying"/ "scratching"). Said processing involves the formation of fine dust, which, through appropriate suction hoods, must be dampened in special rain chambers. The fine dust contains all the chemicals used in the fabric processing and must be therefore conveyed to a purification plant.

2. WASHING THE ITEM OF CLOTHING WITH ENZYMES: The item of clothing is subjected to a wash called "Stone Washed", which can last from 10 to 45 minutes in the washing machine with the use of chemical enzymes at temperatures ranging from 45 to 50C°. With this processing, the item of clothing is cleaned from the glue, from the indigo .or the sulfur used in the processing procedures of the fabrics; said chemical products, together with the water, must be successively purified with the addition of chemical additives . necessary to achieve neutral PH.

3. RINSING IN WASHING MACHINE: Step required to clean the items of clothing after the treatment.

4. MANUAL TREATMENT WITH CHEMICAL PRODUCTS: Procedure used to corrode in localized areas indigo or sulfur. The chemical reagent used corrodes indigo or sulfur, but does not act on cellulose. The most widely used product is potassium permanganate, a harmful and combustive substance, hazardous to the environment which can damage eye tissue, irritate the skin and if the dust is inhaled may damage the respiratory system and the mucous membrane. To limit the damage, the spray of said substances occurs in water film booths and the operator must obligatorily wear all the necessary protective clothing. The product that falls in the water is fed into the cleaning plant. 5. NEUTRALISATION IN WASHING MACHINE WITH METABISULPHITE : Procedure used to neutralize the permanganate. The use of metabisulphite and of the permanganate is subject to inspection for their possible release into the environment.

6. RINSING IN WASHING MACHINE: Step . needed for cleaning the item of clothing after treatment.

7. SPINNING OPERATION: Procedure for mechanically removing fluids from the item of clothing.

8. FINAL DRYING: Procedure for the final drying of the items of clothing variable according to the type of fabric to be dried.

The above processing can be used all or in part, in an actual scouring procedure.

The steps described above, in addition to creating dahgers for the workers who are constantly exposed to risks in the processing steps, require considerable quantities of water, water which must be disposed of in a purification system since it is unusable in the successive treatment steps. The disposal of these liquids involves the use of additional chemical substances required to ensure that the quality of the. purified water meets regulations. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

With the present invention it is intended to obtain scouring effects on items of clothing with low consumption of water and in the total absence of chemical products of difficult disposal.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a plant for the treatment of items of clothing which is free from the drawbacks described above and, at the same time, is easy and economical to produce. According to the present invention, a plant and a respective method, for the treatment of items of clothing, are made as claimed in the independent claims or in any one of the dependent claims that depend, directly or indirectly, by at least one of the independent claims 1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention, various preferred embodiments are. now described, purely by way of non- limiting examples and with reference ^' to the accompanying figures, wherein:

- Figure 1 shows schematically a plant for the treatment of items of clothing according to the present invention;

- Figure 2A shows a first embodiment of a nozzle used in the plant of Figure 1;

- Figure 2B shows a second embodiment of a nozzle used . in the plant of Figure 1;

- Figure 3 shows a series of outlet openings on the nozzles of the pressurized fluid that are represented in Figures 2A, 2B; and

- Figure 4 shows some enlarged details of the plant of Figure 1.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In Figure 1, with 100 is indicated, as a whole, a plant for the treatment of items of clothing according to the invention. As we shall see, on said plant 100 is possible to implement a respective method for the treatment of items of clothing also object of the present invention.

The plant 100 comprises a first feeding line 10 of the items of clothing (not shown), in particular jeans (denim), coupled to a second treatment line 20 on which the various devices for the treatment of said items of clothing (see below) are arranged. ' The plant 100 also comprises a third . feeding line 30 of- circulation and treatment of fluids that serve the various processing. By means of a specific electronic control unit (EC) the image to be transferred on the item of clothing can be designed and the processing variables can be set on the basis of the different types of fabrics to be processed. In particular in the electronic control unit (EC) is provided the possibility to treat the items of clothing according to programs set by the programmer, who can choose the type of processing . to be performed by a preconceived, archive. Said treatments can be, for example, the obtaining of fringes, scratches, tears, discoloration and localized worn-out areas. Moreover, it can be foreseen the possibility to insert in the software managed by the electronic control unit (EC) a digital image from which the processing to be performed in relation to the weight of the constituent elements and the color of the fabric to be treated can be derived. As shown in the figure the items of clothing to be treated are manually loaded in correspondence of a STATION I and are transferred, by - means of semi-rigid structures (not shown) moved on a suspended path, to. a STATION II where they are introduced into a treatment booth 21 partially closed. On the walls of the treatment booth 21 a plurality of ^" nozzles 22 is provided, each of which is hydraulically connected to a respective pump 23 at high pressure. The nozzles 22 spray on the items of clothing that are in the treatment booth 21, a high pressure fluid that is drawn from a collection tank 31. In the present case the treatment abradant fluid in this step can be constituted by water alone, or by a water based solution. Preferably, but not necessarily, the water, or the water based solution, is hot. Note how in the present invention the main function of the water is not to wash the items of clothing, as was the case in treatment plants belonging to the prior art, but that of mechanical abrasion of the fabric. Moreover, the treatment abradant fluid might also be constituted by a high pressure gas, for example, high pressure air. On average, each nozzle 22 sprays from 10 1/min to 20 1/min, preferably 14 1/min, at a medium output pressure ranging from 100bar to 300bar. Of all the water sprayed in this step it is recovered at least 70% at finished treatment (see below). The high pressure water is . sprayed on the items of clothing with time, temperature and pressure variables on the basis of the, technical characteristics of the fabric and of the processing to be performed. Still using the first feeding line 10 the items of clothing are moved from the STATION II to the STATION III and introduced in a shrinkage booth 24 wherein at least one nozzle 25 sprays on the items of clothing themselves hot water at a variable temperature and pressure, based on the technical characteristics of the fabric to allow the items of clothing the necessary technical shrinkage.

It is recalled that in the textile field the so-called "technical shrinkage" is a factor which serves to -avoid that an item of clothing can shrink and change in size after being subjected to a homemade washing.

For this reason, industrially, according to the type of fabric, hot washing follows and the product is given a dimensional stability. The "technical shrinkage", then, is no more than the percentage difference of the product before and after washing the same in hot water. After passing in the shrinkage booth 24 items ^' of clothing are manually or automatically introduced in a spinning machine 2 6 (STATION. IV) where the items of clothing are dehydrated. The items of clothing are then removed manually from the spinning machine 26 and are dried in a tumbler (not shown) . As illustrated in the figure, all the fluids used in the machi-ning method are pumped into a pretreatment filter 32, The fluid coming back from the pretreatment filter 32 is then sent in an osmosis device 33 which completes the recovery and purification procedure.

The purified fluid is then injected into said collecting tank 31 through a pipe 34 and reused in the next cycle.

By doing this it is possible to save up to 93% of fluids with significant energy savings. Another important saving factor is in the possible amount of energy used, and in particular the quantity of fuel gas normally used for the production of steam in the laundry department.

On the contrary, with the present method the final result is obtainable with just the mechanical action of water at room- temperature. Well . worth noting, the only step where the use of hot water is expected (with the need, therefore, to have a fuel gas or electric boiler) is related to the shrinkage treatment of the items of clothing that is accomplished, as we have said, in the shrinkage booth 24. At this step solar energy for water heating could be used. Inside the treatment booth 21 electromechanically moved nozzles 22 are located in the perimeter of the treatment booth 21 with the same shape and different diameters. A first embodiment of the nozzle 22A is shown in Figure 2A.

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The nozzle 22A is mounted on a support structure 50 comprising a first prismatic block 51 fixed to a wall of the treatment booth 21. From the first prismatic block 51 a second prismatic block 52 protrudes, on which a supporting rod 53 of the nozzle 22A is mounted. The supporting rod 53 ^' is coupled to the second prismatic body. by a ball joint 54 electromechanically movable by way of devices not shown. ·.

In particular, the nozzle 22A comprises a cylindrical main body 22A* prolonged, ^' towards the inside of the treatment booth 21, by a conical body 22A**.

The end 22A*** of the conical body 22A** is provided with at least one outlet opening 55A, 55B, 55C, 55D, 55E of the type shown in Figure 3.

In particular, the outlet opening 55A consists of. a simple circular hole, the outlet opening 55B consists of a segment, the outlet opening 55C has the shape of a wave, the outlet opening 55D consists of a curve . portion and the outlet opening 55E is provided by the set ^' of three circular holes.. A second embodiment of the nozzle 22B is shown in Figure 2B. Said nozzle 22B is of a substantially spheroidal-shaped cap but may also have a different shape and is supported by a. support rod 63 fixed to the wall of the treatment booth 21 by a ball joint 64 electromechanically movable by means of devices not illustrated. Alternatively, all the aforesaid nozzles can be handled directly by the movement .of the first prismatic block 51 (Figure 2A)

Even on the nozzle 22B outlet openings 55A, 55B, 55C, 55D, 55E of the types shown in Figure 3 are provided. ^'

The nozzles 22A, 22B will act on points coordinated by the program controlled by the electronic control unit (EC) moving autonomously in all directions. From said nozzles 22A, 22B by way of the high-pressure pumps 23 fluids at variable pressure and duration in function of the final .effect and the type of fabric to be treated will be sprayed directly on the items of clothing. Said fluids will act only mechanically on the items of clothing abrading the surface, giving rise to wear and aging effects as programmed. As shown in more detail in Figure 4, each single item of clothing (CP1) , (CP2), (CP3) , (CP4), ( CP5 ) is manually loaded on a respective mannequin (MN1), (MN2), (MN3) , (MN4), (MN5) transported by said first feeding line 10 of the items of clothing shown in Figure 1.

Each (CPl), (CP2), (CP3) , (CP), (CP5) will then be lowered down from above into the treatment booth 21 from the respective mannequin (MN1) , (MN2), (MN3) , (MN4 ) , (MN5) actuated by an extensible rod, and is subjected to at least, one high pressure spray produced by at least one nozzle 22.

It is interesting to note that special scouring effects can be achieved by combining the movements of the nozzles 22 with any rototranslating movements made by the items of clothing (CPl), (CP2), (CP3), (CP4), (CP) by the handling of the respective mannequins (MN1), (MN2), (MN3), (MN4 ) , (MN5) . The items of clothing (CPl), (CP2), (CP3), (CP4), (CP5 ) are arranged one by one in the treatment booth 21 and may be subject to the same or different treatments depending on how the electronic control unit (EC) has been programmed.

Thus, to summarize we can say that, depending on the desired treatments and the desired final . appearance of the items of. clothing and after setting the desired program on the appropriate software, from the nozzles fluids with variable pressures and durations that abrade, in a programmed manner, the surface of the items of clothing that are in the treatmentbooth, will be sprayed.

The present invention also relates to a . method for the treatment of items of clothing, in particular jeans (denim), comprising the step of sending an abradant fluid at high pressure on the items of clothing.

Furthermore, the abradant fluid may be an abradant liquid substantially water-based having, an average output pressure ranging from lOObar to 300bar, and, preferably, a flow rate ranging from 10 1/min and 20 1/min.

Said method may optionally comprise a spinning step, during which the items of clothing are subject to spinning, followed by a drying step of the items of clothing themselves.

The main advantage of the plant and the respective method object of the invention consists in ^' the fact of having completely eliminated, the following processing steps:

- manual or mechanical scratching with sandpaper;

- washing the items of clothing with enzymes;

- rinsing in washing machine;

- manual treatment with chemicals (permanganate);

- neutralization in washing machine with metabisulphite; and

- rinsing in washing machine. All this results in consequential conservation in terms of consumption of water and having a much lower environmental impact.

In addition, given the low volume of water required for the operating, of the plant, its installation can be carried, out even in low development countries and with scarce water resources.