Apparatus and process for the production of pile surface articles
AssigneeImperial Chemical Industries PLC
InventorsDonald J. Bye, Harold P. Stanistreet, Werner Lindenstruth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a method and apparatus for making a pile-surfaced thermoplastic material by a tack-spin technique the laminate of backing web and adhered pile is hauled off from the heated drawing surface over a rod or bar which fixes the point at which the laminate separates from the heated drawing surface and which directs cooling fluid from an aperture in the rod or bar and onto the back of the backing web and into the fibril-forming area.
Claims10
In a process for the production of a pile surfaced thermoplastic material comprising feeding a high porosity backing and a thermoplastic material to a substantially smooth surfaced roll in a manner such as to hold the front of the backing against the thermoplastic material and to hold the thermoplastic material in contact with the roll while holding the roll at a temperature above the softening point of the thermoplastic so that the thermoplastic bonds to the backing and adheres to the surface, separating the resulting laminate of the backing and the thermoplastic material from the heated surface so that fibrils are drawn out from the thermoplastic material between the backing and the surface in a fibril forming area, cooling the fibrils so formed to below the softening temperature of the thermoplastic and disjoining the fibrils from the heated surface the improvement wherein the thermoplastic material is hauled off sharply at an angle greater than 90 degrees from the heated surface along an edge extending across the width of the roll, said edge being provided by a rod or bar having a slot or holes therein and having a radius of curvature of between 1 and 8 millimeters at the point where the backing passes thereover, said rod or bar being positioned transverse to the direction of movement of the material and at a distance from the surface of the roll greater than the combined thickness of the thermoplastic material and the backing, said rod or bar fixing the point at which the thermoplastic separates from the surface and thereby controlling the direction of the path of the material as it moves away from the heated surface, said rod or bar being of a shape such that a stream of cooling fluid is directed through the slot or holes in the rod or bar into the back of the backing.
An apparatus for the provision of pile surfaced materials comprising a roller having a substantially smooth cylindrical surface heated to above the softening temperature of the thermoplastic, means to hold the front of a backing web against a thermoplastic material and the thermoplastic material against said heated surface so that the thermoplastic adheres to the surface and bonds to the backing, means to withdraw the laminate of the backing and the thermoplastic from the surface, and a rod or bar situated close to the heated surface around which the laminate is withdrawn to stabilize the position of the thermoplastic as it leaves the heated surface and to control the path of the laminate, said rod or bar having a radius of curvature at the point where the web passes thereover between 1 and 8 millimeters directing cooling gas onto the back of the laminate as it moves away from the heated surface.
An apparatus for the production of pile surface materials comprising a heatable rotatable roller having a substantially smooth cylindrical surface, feed means for supplying thermoplastic to the heatable roller, means to feed a backing material with the thermoplastic, means to the hold the thermoplastic against the heated surface and the front of the backing against the thermoplastic, a rod or bar mounted at a distance from the surface of the roller which is between the thickness of the thermoplastic material combined with the thickness of the backing material and 25 millimeters greater than that distance, a jet mounted to direct cooling fluid onto the surface of the roll so that the cooling fluid is deflected into the space between the rod or bar and the roll, the outlet of said jet being between 10 millimeters in the opposite direction to that of rotation of the roll and 20 millimeters in the direction of rotation of the roll from the plane passing through the centre of the roll and being tangent to the rod and between 0.5 millimeters and 40 millimeters in a direction perpendicular to the tangent to the roll at the position where the roll surface cuts said plane, the jet delivering the coolant at an angle between 75.degree. and -15.degree. to said direction, and means to withdraw the thermoplastic and the backing from the heated surface over said rod or bar the radius of curvature of the rod or bar at the point where the web passees thereover being between 1 and 8 millimeters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.