Wool scouring machines

Scouring machines of wool depend on the kind of wool to be scoured i.e. raw wool, hank form or woven fabrics. Scouring of wool can be carried out in batch or continuous process, aqueous or solvent media and rope or open width form. 

In the conventional scouring machine (Fig. 5-17), raw wool is propelled through a tank filled with warm water containing detergent, raked through the bowl, conveyed by means of a transfer mechanism to squeezing rollers and then earned into another similar tank. The bowls have false bottoms consisting of perforated plates... 

In the jet scouring machines (Fig. 5-19) the wool travels on a conveyer belt or a... 

Woollen and worsted yams, unless dry spun contain significant amount of lubricating oil and are usually scoured in hank form in a continuous scouring machine. The hanks are transported through the scouring sets either by tape (Fig. 5-21) system or by battrices (Fig. 5-22). Usually, the sets have four bowls two scour bowls, one rinse bowl and a final bowl where acidification and moth proofing is carried out. There is a pair of squeeze roller between each bowl. The top roller is usually lapped with wool or cotton sliver and the bottom roller is made of metal. Pressure is applied to have an expression of about 60%. The characteristic features of the two types of machines are summerised in Table 5.2. It is normal to scour only 1-2... 

Abrasive treatments consist of scouring, machining, hand sanding, and dry and wet abrasive blasting. The abrasive medium can be fine sandpaper, carborundum or alumina abrasives, metal wools, or abrasive shot. Mechanical abrasion is usually preceded and followed by solvent cleaning. The choice is generally determined by available production facilities and cost. 

Some of the commercial uses which the machine suggests are the recovery of oil from soap stock, the dehydration of crude petroleum and emulsions, the separation of amorphous wax from cylinder stock and the recovery of wool grease from waste scouring liquors. A brief description of the last application will make the commercial use of the machine plain. 

Scouring of knitted goods, wool and blended woven fabrics in discontinuous rotary-drum washing machines has been established in many countries for a number of years. Equipment for continuous preparation and dyeing from non-aqueous solvent have been developed by several companies (Table 5.1). 

Figure 5-17. Scouring of raw wool in traditional scrouring machines.

The raw wool is also scoured by some unconventional machines [25], In the Fleissner machine loose wool is conveyed through the bowl by a series of suction drums (Fig. 5-18). The flow of liquor through the wool and into the three suction... 

Woven piece goods and knitted wool fabrics are scoured in what is commonly known as the Whiteley type of machine (Fig. 9.25). The ends of the... 

After scouring, the wet wool is carbonized with diluted sulfuric acid to remove plant-derived components. The wool is then dried, pressed, and made into yarns with woolen spinning machines (Section 3.2.1). 

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