Ultrasonic dyeing of thermoplastic non-woven fabric
AssigneeBurlington Industries, Inc.
InventorsKenneth Y. Wang, Bobby L. McConnell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The ultrasonically bonded point bonds of non-woven fabric are dyed by applying liquid dye to the contacting crossing points of the fibers before or at the same time that they are bonded by the application of ultrasonic energy, such energy being used not only to effect the point bonds but also to drive and fix the dye in such point bonds.
Claims11
A process of producing and dyeing non-woven fabric of ultrasonically fusible fibers with an ultrasonic welding machine having horn means and opposed anvil means, the steps comprising:
- forming a web of random, loose, ultrasonically fusible fibers;
- distributing a fluent dye directly onto the web;
- and
- advancing the web with the dye thereon between the horn means and anvil means of the ultrasonic welding machine to utilize the ultrasonic energy thereof to simultaneously bond the fibers in the web at their contacting crossing points to form non-woven fabric and drive the dye into the bond points and fix the dye therein.
Apparatus for producing and dyeing non-woven fabric of ultrasonically fusible fibers comprising:
- an ultrasonic welding machine having horn means and opposed anvil means, said anvil means comprising a roll having a pattern of anvil points;
- means for advancing a web of random, loose ultrasonically fusible fibers between said horn means and said anvil means;
- and
- means for distributing a fluent dye directly onto the web so that at least those contacting crossing points of the fiber fused and bonded by the ultrasonic energy of the machine are coated with the dye at the time of the application of the ultrasonic energy thereto and the dye is driven into and fixed in said bond points, said distributing means comprising the tops of said anvil points and a kiss roll for applying the dye to said tops.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.