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US 4,372,001 AGranted
Carpet dyeing system with movable squeegee roll
AssigneesGowin-Card, Inc., Tuftco Corporation
InventorH. Armin Maier
Life of this patent
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AssigneesGowin-Card, Inc., Tuftco Corporation
InventorH. Armin Maier
Estimating the term…
Dye is applied to the lower surface of a dye pickup roll for transfer to the pile surface of a length of carpet, and a squeegee roll engages the dye pickup roll after the dye has been applied to the pickup roll and before the dye is transferred from the pickup roll to the carpet. The external surface of the squeegee roll is approximately cylindrical with a multiple number of depressions formed therein, and the squeegee roll can be rotated and reciprocated with respect to the dye pickup roll, so that its high spots tend to wipe or "squeegee" the liquid dye from the surface of the dye pickup roll and its depressions or low spots tend to permit the dye to pass beyond the squeegee roll on the pickup roll in a pattern and move with the pickup roll into contact with the pile surface of the carpet. When the squeegee roll is reciprocated, it tends to prevent the pattern from being repeated on the dye pickup roll and on the carpet. When the squeegee roll is not reciprocated or when it is reciprocated in timed relationship with respect to its rotation, a repeat design can be applied to the carpet.
A process of dyeing carpet with a pile surface comprising moving the carpet along its length with its pile surface facing downwardly, and as the carpet is moved along its length contacting the downwardly facing pile surface of the carpet with the upper surface of a dye pickup roll, rotating the dye pickup roll so that its upper surface progressively moves into contact with the carpet, applying dye to the lower surface of said dye pickup roll, engaging the dye pickup roll at a position after dye has been applied thereto and before the dye pickup roll contacts the carpet with a squeegee roll which is longer than the surface of the pickup roll that contacts the carpet and which defines a pattern of high and low surfaces spaced about its circumference, rotating the squeegee roll so that the surface of the squeegee roll that engages the surface of the dye pickup roll moves in the same direction as the adjacent surface of the dye pickup roll and its high surfaces remove some of the dye from the surface of the dye pickup roll and the dye applied by the pickup roll to the carpet is formed in a pattern that corresponds to the high and low surfaces of the squeegee roll, and reciprocating the squeegee roll at an amplitude such that the pattern of high and low surfaces of the squeegee roll continues to be applied to the pickup roll and to the carpet but the pattern of dye applied to the pickup roll and to the carpet is displaced along the length of the pickup roll and across the length of the carpet.
A process of applying dye to sheet material comprising the steps of advancing sheet material along its length, engaging the sheet material as it is being moved along its length with a dye pickup roll, rotating the dye pickup roll in a direction such that its area of contact with the sheet material moves in the same direction as the sheet material, applying dye to the dye pickup roll at a position away from contact between the sheet material and the dye pickup roll, engaging the dye pickup roll with a squeegee roll having a pattern of high and low contact areas spaced about its circumference at a position on the dye pickup roll after the dye has been applied to the dye pickup roll and before the dye has been carried by the dye pickup roll to the sheet material, rotating the squeegee roll in timed relationship with said dye pickup roll so as to remove some of the dye from the pickup roll with the high contact areas of the squeegee roll and to form a pattern of dye on the pickup roll with the low contact areas of the squeegee roll that corresponds to the pattern of high and low contact areas on the squeegee roll, reciprocating the squeegee roll with respect to the pickup roll so as to displace the pattern of dye formed by the squeegee roll on the pickup roll along the length of the pickup roll and carrying the pattern of dye on the pickup roll to the sheet material to create a random pattern of dye on the sheet material.
Apparatus for applying dye to the pile surface of carpet and the like comprising a dye pickup roll, means for applying liquid dye to said pickup roll, means for rotating said pickup roll, means for moving carpet along its length and for moving the pile surface of the carpet into contact with said dye pickup roll and in the direction of movement of the dye pickup roll, a squeegee roll extending parallel to and in contact with said dye pickup roll at a position in the direction of rotation of said dye pickup roll between the position where dye is applied to the pickup roll and where the pickup roll contacts the pile surface of the carpet, means for rotating and reciprocating said squeegee roll, said squeegee roll having a cylindrical surface with a plurality of depressions therein spaced about the circumference of the squeegee roll, whereby the surface of the squeegee roll that contacts the pickup roll tends to remove the liquid dye from the surface of the pickup roll and the depressions of the squeegee roll create a pattern in the dye on the dye pickup roll and the pattern of dye is carried by the dye pickup roll to the pile of the carpet.
In apparatus for applying liquid to sheet material wherein the sheet material is moved along its length into contact with a pickup roll and the liquid is applied to the pickup roll and transferred from the pickup roll to the sheet material, the improvement therein of a squeegee roll of a length longer than said pickup roll positioned parallel to and in contact with said pickup roll at a position between the position where the liquid is applied to the pickup roll and the position where the liquid is transferred to the sheet material, said squeegee roll having a cylindrical surface with depressions formed circumferentially about its surface, and means for rotating the squeegee roll in timed relationship with said pickup roll and for reciprocating said squeegee roll, whereby liquid on the pickup roll is formed into a pattern by the squeegee roll before it is transferred to the sheet material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.