For wet treatment, in particular for dyeing and decolouring or stripping, of textile material while in liquor in a treatment vessel comprising a cylindrical centrifuge drum having a closed bottom and double walls, said centrifuge drum is accommodated in a centrifuge housing on a vertical drive axis in such manner that a sieve-like interior jacket wall retaining the textile material against centrifugal force is surrounded with little space by the exterior wall of the vessel. The centrifuge housing comprises a hinged cover having an opening in a central area, and in the marginal area of its bottom comprises at least one liquor outlet aperture for supply of liquor to the treatment vessel out of a liquor tank from above by means of a liquor pump via a supply pipe that is arranged almost axially, liquor return to the centrifuge housing being provided radially via the exterior wall of the treatment vessel and out of said housing through at least one liquor outlet aperture with a pipeline connection to the liquor tank.

Devices have already been known for dyeing and decolouring textile material gathered in the shape of a hollow cylinder into a cylindrical treatment vessel having a vertical cylinder axis, liquor being axially supplied through a pipeline to the treatment vessel by means of a pump so

that the liquor radially penetrates the textile material and is drained from the interior along the vessel wall. The company THEN-Comat HRL in an advertising leaflet has offered and introduced to the market a dyeing apparatus system designated as"THEN-Comat"for wet finishing treatment of yarns, threads, combing and flock. The textile material is shaped to form a hollow cylinder and is vertically accommodated in a vertically arranged cylindrical treatment vessel having a pressure-tight closable lid, with some space remaining between the textile material and the wall of the vessel. A jacket comprising a liquor drain pipe coaxially surrounding a liquor inlet pipe with a peripheral gap is inserted into center of the vessel bottom. The liquor is pumped from out of a liquor tank under high pressure so as to rise axially via a pipe system into the treatment vessel connected thereto. Here the liquor penetrates the textile material almost radially, flows down along the outside of said textile material, leaves the treatment vessel through a liquor return pipe and is led back through the pipe system to the liquor tank.

Such equipment is very costly with respect to both production and maintenance as well as to operation. Due to the high pressure required for forcing the liquor through the goods to be treated, a very powerful pump is needed; accordingly high is the power consumption. Typically, liquor throughput amounts to 20 litres for each kilogram of textile material per minute of treatment time. Consequently, large water and waste water volumes are inevitable, and much energy is consumed for heating the liquor.

Generally, the reaction time of the liquor must be maintained for a relatively long duration in order to obtain a satisfactory treatment result because on the one hand the liquor penetrating the goods to be dyed at high pressure always follows the path of least resistance, and because on the other hand the textile material cannot be packed with absolutely

uniform tightness. An excess of liquor is provided initially which at the end of the dyeing process must be drained again.

The conventional technology is further disadvantageous in that after completion of the treatment proper, the textile material must be brought into a centrifuge for dewatering. Apart from that centrifuge taking up space, this also requires elevating gear to lift the heavy wet bulk of textile material from out of the liquor vessel into the centrifuge.

The publication DE 16 35 109 A1 disclosed a device for brightening textiles, especially such made of fully synthetic fibres, after dyeing in a dye bath or in a backwashing bath. That prior device essentially comprises a centrifuge having a cylindrical centrifuge drum with a closed bottom and a liquor-permeable drum wall and further includes a liquor tank in which a pump is submerged. During a period to be set, this pump forces a brightening liquid via a pipe towards a broad-jet nozzle which is positioned vertically and is directed towards the wall of the drum. The nozzle spray range covers the entire stacking height of the drum's contents. After dyeing in a separate apparatus, the remaining dyeing liquor is removed in the centrifuge from the fibrous goods, except for some residual moisture. Subsequently, with the centrifuge running, the goods are radially flooded by sprayed-on brightening liquor and centrifuging is continued until said fibrous goods contain only about 3 to 7 percent of the brightening liquor spun-off through the drum wall.

Such centrifuge plants are much simpler and more economical than a dyeing apparatus system described above. However, they are not suitable and not intended for dyeing, as is to be seen from the description in DE 16 35 109 A1. The radial liquor flow more or less compresses the drum's contents, depending on the rotational speed of the centrifuge. Uniform dyeing, with the fibrous material not merely floating in liquor but having to be intensively penetrated by it, cannot be achieved with such a centrifuge,

or at least not within a reasonable period of time. Therefore, dyeing must be effected in advance in a specially designed device from which the fibrous goods have to be transferred.

It is thus an important object of the invention to create a centrifuge-like device for wet treatment, in particular for dyeing and decolouring as well as dewatering, of textile material in liquor, whereby improved results can be obtained in a shorter treatment time. Moreover, transfer between various apparatus should be unnecessary for the goods during treatment.

To meet these objects and to avoid further drawbacks, the invention employs a centrifuge-like device as set out in the introduction hereinabove. Main features of the invention are stated in claim 1, more particularly in its characterizing portion. Further specializations and embodiments are defined in claims 2 to 10.

Description Below, details of the invention are elucidated by way of exemplary drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a treatment device, including an axial section view of part of a centrifuge housing and of a treatment vessel; Fig. 2 is a top view onto the device of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a magnified section view of the portion marked by A in Fig.

1.

The embodiment of a device according to the invention essentially comprises a centrifuge 1 whose cylindrical housing 1 a with vertical axis is supported by three shock absorbing legs 2. A centrifuge drum which constitutes the treatment vessel 4 is supported on a vertical drive axis 3 in the centrifuge housing 1a in which a motor 1b is arranged for driving the centrifuge drum via V-belts 1 c. The treatment vessel 4 includes a double- wall structure having an interior jacket wall 4a which retains the textile material to be treated against the centrifugal force and which is surrounded with a small peripheral gap by the exterior wall 4b of the vessel 4.

The treatment vessel 4 is cylindrical and comprises a closed bottom 4c as well as a ring-disc shaped cover or lid4d that is removably attached to the exterior wall 4b of the treatment vessel 4. Directly above the bottom 4c as well as in the upper marginal zone of the exterior wall 4b, there is a regular pattern of spaced perforations 5 and 6, e. g. each arranged on a circumferential line. The upper perforations 5 may be formed by recesses in the upper rim of the vessel 4 which are confined at the top by the lid 4d when that is in place. A liquor distributor 7 designed as an open-top hollow body having regularly spaced perforations 7a is coaxially arranged in the central region of the treatment vessel 4 for rotation therewith. In the embodiment shown, said hollow body 7 is configured as a cylinder made of perforated sheet metal and is attached to the bottom 4c of the treatment vessel 4. Its diameter is smaller than the interior diameter of the ring-disc shaped lid 4d on the treatment vessel 4.

The centrifuge housing 1a comprises a hinged cover 8 whose hinge is attached to its margin; in a central region, the cover 8 comprises an aperture 8a for a liquor inlet 9 leading to the liquor distributor 7. The centrifuge housing 1a includes in the marginal area of its bottom three liquor outlet apertures 10 which are interconnected by a channel below the bottom of the centrifuge housing 1a. One of the liquor outlet apertures 10

leads, by way of a pipesocket 10a, to a liquor tank 11 part of which is situated below the centrifuge 1.

Downstream in the direction of rotation of the treatment vessel 4, the liquor outlet aperture 10 leading to the liquor tank 11 includes a radially upright guiding plate or baffle 10b which which is scoop-shaped with an inclination relative to the direction of rotation of the treatment vessel 4. This structure will prevent the liquor thrown out of the treatment vessel 4 from entering the centrifuge housing 1a that rotates with the treatment vessel 4 and from spilling beyond the liquor outlet aperture 10.

In the embodiment shown, the centrifuge 1 rests on a low base above a hall floor into which the liquor tank 11 is partly lowered. A portion of it is located below the centrifuge housing 1a so that the liquor outlet aperture 10 there leads via the short pipe socket 1 Oa directly into the liquor tank 11.

On top of the liquor tank 11, there is a liquor pump 12 joined to a suction pipe 13 which opens into the liquor tank 11 and from which a conveyor pipe 14 leading to the treatment vessel 4 opens above the liquor distributor 7.

In the example described, the liquor tank 11 includes only one chamber.

However, it may expediently be divided into several chambers for various liquors, each chamber being connectable to the liquor pump 12 by way of a suction-pipe junction having a check valve. Likewise, each chamber may be connected to the liquor outlet aperture 10 of the centrifuge housing 1 a by way of a liquor outlet pipe having a check valve. Such arrangement offers the advantage that several treatment steps e. g. dyeing, rinsing and draining an excess of dye can be carried out sequentially without interruption.

The liquor supply per unit of time to the treatment vessel 4 may be controlled via regulation of the pump capacity of liquor pump 12.

Alternatively, the liquor supply flow may also be regulated by arranging a flow control valve having a variable aperture in the conveyor pipe 14 between the liquor pump 12 and the treatment vessel 4. The rotation speed of the latter can also be controlled. Both parameters may be derived from the filling level in the treatment vessel 4. Thus it is possible, by adjusting the supply flow of liquor at a given rotation speed of the treatment vessel 4, to maintain an equilibrium between supplying and draining liquor during a desired liquor reaction time with the treatment vessel 4 being full.

In operation, the device according to the invention is used as follows.

Once the textile material 15 to be treated has been introduced into the treatment vessel 4 and that has been closed with the ring-disc shaped cover or lid 4d, the hinged cover 8 is placed onto the centrifuge housing 1a. Now liquor (e. g. for dyeing) is pumped, by means of liquor pump 12, from liquor tank 11 through conveyor pipe 14 and through aperture 8a in the hinged cover 8 of the centrifuge housing 1 a into the liquor distributor 7.

As a result of the centrifugal force that prevails during rotation of the treatment vessel 4, the liquor will penetrate radially into the textile material 15 and upon reaching the exterior wall 4b, it will rise in the textile material within vessel 4 to fill that completely. Thus the liquor will form a liquid hollow cylinder in which the textile material 15 is floating, with the interior diameter of said hollow cylinder being confined by the interior diameter of the ring-disc shaped lid 4d covering the treatment vessel 4. A smaller volume of liquor will spin out therefrom through the lower perforations 5, and a larger volume will spin out through the upper perforations 6, towards the interior wall of the centrifuge housing 1a where the liquor will flow down and subsequently be returned to the liquor tank 11 through the outlet apertures 10 and the pipe socket 10a. At the same time, the liquor pump 12 will press liquor into the treatment vessel 4 with a selected inflow speed

and an associated volume of drainage. The quantity of supply per unit of time is controlled in such manner that during the specified duration of treatment, an equilibrium between supply and drainage will prevail in the treatment vessel 4, with merely a small excess of afflux at most.

Essentially, the liquor will flow continuously upwards through the textile material 15 and will leave the treatment vessel 4 through its wall apertures; some slight excess of liquor will be thrown off radially via the ring-disc shaped cover 4d. At the end of the specified treatment period, the liquor pump 12 is switched off and simultaneously the rotation speed of the treatment vessel 4 is increased until all the liquor has spun off. In the case of the liquor tank 11 being divided into several chambers containing different liquors, the treatment can be continued. For example, when the rotation speed of the treatment vessel 4 has been reduced again, excessive dye may be drawn off in a decolouring step by treatment with a respective liquor from another chamber in liquor tank 11, whereupon that liquor is removed at an increased rotation speed of the treatment vessel 4, with subsequent rinsing of the textile material in the same way.

All and any features and advantages of the invention, inclusive of design details and of spatial arrangements, as evident from the claims, from the specification and from the drawings may be inventionally substantion both per se and in most variegated combinations. List of Reference Symbo/s 1 centrifuge 1 a centrifuge housing 1 b motor 1 c V-belts 2 shock absorbing legs 3 drive axis 4 treatment vessel 4 a interior wall 4 b exterior wall 4 c closed bottom 4 d ring-disc shaped cover 5 perforations 6 perforations 7 distributor 7 a perforations 8 hinged cover/lid 8 a aperture 9 liquor inlet 10 outlet aperture 10 a pipe socket 10 b guiding plates/baffles 11 liquor tank 12 liquor pump 13 suction pipe 14 supply pipe 15 textile material