US 7,500,294 B2
Water needling device
Roland Schweizer, Leonberg (Germany); and Thomas Weigert, Sulzbach (Germany)
Assigned to Fleissner GmbH, Egelsbach (Germany)
Appl. No. 11/664,757
PCT Filed Sep. 10, 2005, PCT No. PCT/EP2005/009758
§ 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Apr. 04, 2007,
PCT Pub. No. WO2006/039970, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 20, 2006.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2004 049 146 (DE), filed on Oct. 07, 2004.
Prior Publication US 2007/0261220 A1, Nov. 15, 2007
Int. Cl. D04H 1/46 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 28—167  [28/104] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A water needling device comprising:
a housing having an intake side and defining a generally horizontal transport direction extending downstream from the intake side;
a support in the housing having an upwardly directed foraminous support face;
upstream and downstream reversible winders in the housing spaced apart in the direction;
a plurality of rollers in the housing between the winders;
means in the housing defining for a textile web a path starting at the intake, extending over the support face and the rollers, and then downstream out of the housing;
means including a nozzle beam directed downward at the surface for projecting a plurality of high-pressure water streams at the textile web and thereby consolidating and finishing it as it passes over the foraminous face;
a threading-in conveyor strand secured to the winders, having a gripper attachable to the textile web, and extending over at least some of the rollers; and
means for operating the winders in a forward direction for, when the gripper is attached to a leading end of the web, pulling the web over the rollers and through the housing and for, when the gripper is not attached to the web, operating the winders in a reverse direction to return the gripper upstream.