JPS6222639B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing cushioning or locking materials. To explain in detail,
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing a cushioning material or locking material made of a synthetic fiber filament aggregate having three-dimensional curls.

The cushion material is made by cutting a filament with three-dimensional curls to a specified size and making it into cotton, then compression-molding it into a specified shape while opening the cotton, and bonding the contact points of the filaments with adhesive.The cushion material has high rebound elasticity and is breathable. The present inventor has previously discovered that it has excellent cushioning properties.
No. 152573). Alternatively, a cushion material is provided in which each contact point between the filaments of a synthetic fiber filament assembly having three-dimensional curls is bonded with an adhesive, and the curl shape of the filaments of the cushion material is partially oriented in one direction. The curl filaments, which have various shapes and are formed by stretching and deforming each other, are formed in a direction in which the load strength is to be produced, and the entangled portions are formed as required. The present inventors have also previously discovered that a cushion material that is distributed according to the load strength has even more excellent effects (Japanese Patent Application No. 53-46373 (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 54-138669)). .

These cushion materials are made by spinning three-dimensional curled filaments, which are fed into a conveyor usually consisting of an endless belt, into an endless belt and/or
Alternatively, the filament is compressed by rollers or other means to form a filament aggregate block having a predetermined bulk density, and this molded product is needled with a barb-equipped needle so as to have a predetermined needle density. It can be obtained by applying an adhesive with or without applying an adhesive and then drying by heating.
Therefore, the method of feeding the filament to the conveyor is to use a cotton opening machine to open the filament while it is being opened, or after opening the filament using an air force to feed the filament into a vertically provided tapered opening, or to use a horizontally provided opening. A method of feeding directly onto a conveyor is adopted. Therefore, the opened filament fed in this way will be affected by the amount of filament fed in said feeding zone (its width in the case of a tapered opening, its height in the case of a horizontal conveyor) during the compression step. On the other hand, it will be compressed by the distance between the lower conveyor and the upper roller or endless belt. In this case, the cushioning properties of the cushioning material are determined by the degree of compression (bulk density) of the filament aggregate, in addition to the type and thickness of the fibers constituting the filaments, that is, the degree to which the initially supplied filaments are compressed. In order to obtain a cushioning material of constant quality, especially density, the supply of filament must always be constant, since the spacing during the compression process is constant.

However, among the methods described above, in the method of feeding filament into a tapered opening, the opening area of the tapered part varies greatly depending on its height, so the amount of filament supplied varies greatly depending on the height of the filament supplied, and furthermore, it is continuous due to aerodynamic forces etc. Since it is extremely difficult to maintain the same supply height, the compression ratio of the resulting cushion material fluctuates significantly, making it impossible to obtain a constant quality. On the other hand, in the method of feeding on a horizontal conveyor, it is extremely difficult to always feed the material at the same height throughout the supply area of a certain width using air force, etc., so the compression ratio of the resulting cushion material is As in the previous case, the quality fluctuates significantly and constant quality cannot be obtained.

The present invention was made in order to improve the various drawbacks of the conventional method as described above, and the present invention has been made in order to improve the various drawbacks of the conventional method. The filament is supplied so that the filament is always present in the supply area, and the filament is compressed by passing through a compression area formed by opposing pressing members having an opening area smaller than the opening area, thereby forming a block of the filament. This method of manufacturing a cushioning material or locking material made of a synthetic fiber aggregate having three-dimensional curls is characterized in that the blocks are molded and adhesive is applied to the blocks to connect the contact points between the filaments. Further, in the above method, even better results can be obtained if the filament block is needled with a barbed needle at a predetermined needle density and then the adhesive is applied.

The above method consists of a synthetic fiber filament supply area having three-dimensional curls, which is made up of an endless belt provided in a substantially vertical direction by vertical members formed in parallel, and has an opening area of the same area, and an opening area smaller than the opening area of the synthetic fiber filament supply area. a means for compressing the supplied filament comprising pressing members arranged parallel to each other; a means for conveying the filament block formed by the compressing means; a means for applying adhesive to the block; and a means for applying an adhesive to the block. This is carried out by means of a device comprising a drying means for the filament block which has been subjected to the process.

The synthetic fibers used in the present invention include:
Examples include polyester, polyamide, polypropylene, etc., and polyester is most preferred. Its thickness is 30-2000 denier as monofilament, preferably 50-1000 denier, most preferably 100 denier
It is a filament with ~600 denier and three-dimensional curl. The three-dimensional curl here means a three-dimensional curl in a broad sense such as bidirectional curl and three-directional curl, but preferably a three-dimensional three-dimensional curl filament.
A double-twisted filament D as shown in FIG.
is produced and then untwisted to obtain a three-dimensional three-dimensional curl filament F as shown in FIG. The length of the filament after cotton-making is preferably 40 to 200 mm, particularly preferably 60 to 150 mm.

Next, the method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the apparatus of the present invention mainly consists of the following. A filament supply port 4 is provided, which is formed by vertical members such as endless belts 1 and 2 and side plates 3 and 3, which are provided substantially vertically and parallel to each other, and has a substantially vertical opening. Therefore, the opening area S ₁ of this supply port 4
is the same over the entire area. Thus, the belts 1, 2 are moved downward (in the direction of the arrow) by the sprockets 5, 6 connected to a power source (not shown). In addition, a fixed wall can also be used instead of the endless belts 1 and 2. A compressor 10 for a filament assembly is provided below the supply port 4, which is formed by two endless belts 7, 8 and both side plates 8, 9, which are arranged parallel to each other.
The upper end opening communicates with the lower end opening of the supply port 4 . The endless belts 7, 8 may be rubber belts, but may also be endless track bodies. Also,
A large number of rollers may be provided in close succession. The upper end of this compression device 10 communicates with the lower end of the supply port 4, so that the upper end is formed almost vertically, but the lower end is connected to the adhesive application and other processing means, as will be described later. Alternatively, it may be formed horizontally as shown in FIG. These belts 7, 8 are also moved downward (in the direction of the arrow) by sprockets 11, 12, etc. connected to a power source (not shown). Therefore, in this compression device 10, the area _S2 of the opening through which the filament assembly passes, particularly the opening at the lowermost end or the opening between the roller 13 and the conveyor 14 provided afterward as necessary, is the supply opening. Opening area at 4
It is necessary that _S1 be smaller. Further, it is desirable that the running speed v ₁ of the belts 1 and 2 at the supply port 4 is the same as or higher than the running speed v ₂ of the belts 7 and 8 in the compression device 10, and especially when v ₁ >
Preferably v ₂ . The height of the filament supplied to the supply port 4 can be detected by a phototube, a light emitting diode-phototransistor, etc., and automatically controlled by a control device (not shown).

At the lowest end of the compression device 10, there is a conveyor 14 consisting of an endless belt 15 for conveying the compressed and molded filament aggregate block.
A roller 13 is provided on the top of the roller 13 as necessary.
are provided to adjust the bulk density and thickness of the filament assembly block. Next, an adhesive spraying device 16 is provided. A conveyor 17 and a drying device 18 are further provided at the tip of the conveyor 14. Further, above the filament supply port 4, a filament supply device 21 consisting of a cotton opener 19, a conveyor 20, etc. is provided.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the device according to the present invention, in which endless belts 7 and 8 are connected at the inlet of the compression device 10 (the communication portion between the filament supply port 4 and the compression device 10). The opening area S _x gradually decreases from the opening area S ₁ , which is approximately the same as the endless belts 1 and 2 that are tapered and constitute the supply port 4, and from the middle part onward, the belts are provided in parallel with an opening area of S ₂ . It is being Further, in front of the adhesive spraying device 16, a needling device 22 is provided which moves several needles having at least one barb up and down. In addition, in the same figure, the third
The same reference numerals as in the figures represent the same members.

FIG. 5 shows a further embodiment of the device according to the invention, in which the endless belt in FIG. 4 is provided separately in the tapered part and in the parallel part. That is, endless belts 24 and 25 are provided in the tapered portion to face each other. In this figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 4 represent the same members.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the device according to the invention. In this case, after passing through the tapered portion, the filament assembly is pressed from one side by a number of rollers 26, 26, . . . to compression mold the filament assembly.

Next, a method for manufacturing cushioning material or locking material using the above-mentioned apparatus will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the synthetic fiber filament F having a thick denier three-dimensional curl is sent to the opening machine 19 using a conveyor such as a belt conveyor 20 as shown in FIGS. From there, the filament is supplied to the filament supply port 4. The supplied filament F falls inside the compression device 10 provided at the bottom of the supply port 4, but gradually accumulates, and when it reaches a certain height of the supply port 4, the endless belts 1, 2 of the supply port 4 And the endless belts 7, 8 of the compression device 10 are operated. In this case belts 1 and 2
It is desirable that v ₁ ≧v ₂ be satisfied between the moving speed v 1 of the belts 7 and 8 and _the moving speed v ₂ of the belts 7 and 8. This is because, although the filament F moves to some extent due to its own weight, it is mainly controlled by the moving force of the belt and must be forced to move in order to obtain the desired compressed bulk density, especially when v ₁ > v ₂ is desirable. The filament aggregate conveyed by the movement of the belts 1, 2, 7, and 8 in this way is transferred to the compression device 1.
0, the opening area of the supply port 4 S ₁
and the opening area of the compression device 10, S ₁ /S ₂ >1.
Due to the relationship v ₁ /v ₂ ≧1, it is compressed to a predetermined compression ratio (bulk density). The filament assembly blocks compression molded in this way are typically 0.002
It has a bulk density of ~0.2 g/cm ³ , preferably 0.005-0.08 g/cm ³ .

In this manner, adhesive is applied to the compression-molded filament assembly block by the adhesive spraying device 16. In addition to the spraying method, the adhesive may be applied by immersing the block in an adhesive solution. A typical adhesive is styrene.
Synthetic rubbers such as butadiene rubber, acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber, chloroprene rubber, urethane rubber, natural rubber, vinyl acetate adhesives, cellulose acetate adhesives, acrylic adhesives, etc. are used in the form of latex, solution, etc. be done. The amount of adhesive applied is usually 10-200 g/100-filament, preferably 50-120 g/100-filament. Further, in this case, the above adhesives can be used alone or in combination, but even better results can be obtained if the synthetic rubber adhesive is applied first and then the natural rubber adhesive is applied.

The filament assembly block coated with adhesive is then sent to a drying device 18 and heated to 80-200°C, preferably 100°C, using superheated steam, infrared rays, high frequency, etc.
Drying or vulcanization is carried out by heating at a temperature of ~160° C. for 10 to 60 minutes, preferably 15 to 40 minutes, and further cutting into predetermined dimensions using a cutting device (not shown).

If better rebound properties are required for the cushion material, the filament assembly block is needled by a needling device 22 before applying the adhesive, as shown in FIG. The needling method uses a needle having at least one barb at the tip using the device and method disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 53-46373 (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 54-138669). Poke the appropriate number of times with the appropriate needle density. The diameter and length of this needle are determined depending on the purpose, but it is usually 1.8 to 3.6 mm in diameter and 50 to 2000 mm in length.
and usually has 4 to 12 barbs per needle. Specifically, for example, the belt conveyor 18
The lower surface of the filament assembly block whose upper surface is compression molded is a flat plate 24, such as a perforated plate, a slit plate, etc.
While supported by a slit conveyor, etc., the needle fixture is moved up and down from the opposing surface with or without a perforated plate, for example, a perforated plate, a slit plate, etc., to give the filament aggregate block an appropriate density. needling. the needles are mounted in one or more rows at desired intervals in a needle fixture, the mounting being effected by rotation of a crankshaft actuating a crank connected to the shaft and the fixture; During this time, the filament assembly block is run at such a speed that the needling is performed at appropriate intervals. The needle density can be varied depending on the purpose of use of the final cushion material and the desired compressive elasticity, and the higher the desired compressive elasticity, the smaller the needle spacing, but it is usually 1 to 100 needles/100cm. ² , preferably 4~
50 pieces/ ^100cm2 . After needling in this manner, adhesive treatment and drying treatment are performed as described above.

As described above, the method and device of the present invention have the following features:
A filament supply area opened with the same area S ₁ in the substantially vertical direction, and _an opening area S ₂ smaller than the opening area S 1 provided in communication with the lower part of this supply area.
The method consists of a compression means formed from endless belts facing each other, and an opened synthetic fiber filament having three-dimensional curls is supplied to the compression means for compression molding. In a supply area formed by an opening with the same area S ₁ , the compression ratio of the filament is determined by S ₂ /S ₁ no matter what height the filament is supplied, so S ₁ and S ₂ are each constant. As long as , it is always constant. Furthermore, by setting the distance between the running speeds v ₁ and v ₂ of each endless belt to be v ₁ ≧v ₂ , the supplied filament can have a desired compression ratio. Therefore, if S ₂ /S ₁ and v ₁ and v ₂ where v ₁ ≧ v ₂ are selected appropriately, a lock used for cushion materials or filters having a predetermined compression ratio (bulk density) at a constant value can be obtained. wood is obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a double-twisted filament, FIG. 2 is a front view of a three-dimensional three-dimensional curl filament, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of a cushion material manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. Cross section, 4th
The figure is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing still another embodiment of the present invention.
Further, FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1, 2, 7, 8... Endless belt, 3, 9
...Side plate, 4...Filament supply port, 5, 6,
11, 12... Sprocket, 10... Compression device, 14, 17... Conveying device, 16... Adhesive spraying device, 18... Heating device, 21... Filament supply device, 22... Needling device, 26 …
…roller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A synthetic fiber filament having opened three-dimensional curls is fed to a filament feeding area formed by openings with the same area in a substantially vertical direction so that the filament is always present in the feeding area, The filament is compressed by passing through a compression zone formed by opposing pressing members having an opening area smaller than the opening area to form a block of the filament, and an adhesive is applied to the block to form a block of the filament. A method for manufacturing a cushioning material or a locking material made of a synthetic fiber aggregate having three-dimensional curls characterized by bonding mutual contact points. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the compression zone comprises opposing endless belts. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the compression zone comprises opposing endless belts and rolls. 4. The supply zone is constituted by endless belts arranged parallel to each other, and the distance between the running speed v ₁ of the feeding zone and the running speed v ₂ of the endless belt constituting the compression zone is v ₁ ≧ v ₂ . 1st term or 2nd term
The method described in section. 5. The filament block according to claims 1 to 4, wherein the filament block is needled with a needle provided with at least one barb in a direction to impart a predetermined compressive elasticity before applying the adhesive. Any one of the methods described. 6. A synthetic fiber filament supply area consisting of an endless belt provided in a substantially vertical direction by vertical members formed in parallel and having a three-dimensional curl formed by openings with the same area, and having an opening area smaller than the opening area. Compressing means for the supplied filament consisting of opposing pressing members, conveying means for the filament block molded by the compressing means, means for applying adhesive to the block, and means for applying the adhesive to the filament block. An apparatus for manufacturing a cushion material or a lock material made of a synthetic fiber aggregate having three-dimensional curls, comprising a drying means for drying the material. 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the compression means comprises opposing endless belts. 8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the compression means comprises opposing endless belts and rolls. 9. Claim 7, in which the distance between the running speed v ₁ of the endless belt constituting the supply zone and the running speed v ₂ of the endless belt constituting the compression zone is v ₁ ≧ v ₂
Apparatus according to paragraph or paragraph 8. 10. A device according to any one of claims 6 to 9, further comprising a needling means provided with at least one barb and a reciprocating needle in front of the adhesive application means. Device.