EP0646667A1 - Device for handling healds in warp thread insertion machines - Google Patents

Abstract

The device contains carrier rails (13) for storing the healds and transport means (28, 29, 31) for feeding these to a separating station (ST). Each carrier rail (13) is held by a plurality of controlled clamps (K1 - K6) and is thereby subdivided into a plurality of sections, each for receiving a heald set. The transport of the healds takes place in sets from section to section, the clamp located between the respective sections being opened. The control of the clamps (K1 - K6) takes place by means of sensors assigned to the clamps, at least one sensor being provided for each pair of clamps associated with one another. Use for the storage of healds having closed end loops and of those having open end loops. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a device for handling healds for warp threading machines, with support rails for storing the healds and with transport means for feeding them to a separating station, at which the healds are separated for the purpose of providing them for the warp threading.

In a device of this type mentioned in US Pat. No. 5,184,380 for the handling and separation of strands with open end loops, the heddle support rails are attached laterally to support arms, the connection between support rails and support arms taking place in the region of the open part of the end loops, so that the displacement of the strands on the mounting rails is not hindered by the mounting arms. It is obvious that this device is not suitable for the handling of strands with closed end loops, because here the end loops could not pass through the support arms.

A device suitable for processing strands with closed end loops is known from the drawing-in system USTER EMU (USTER - registered trademark of Zellweger Uster AG). In this device, the support rails form the cross legs of a C-shaped magazine clasp, which is fastened with its vertical leg in the drawing-in machine, in such a way that the free ends of the support rails against the separating station protrude. Since the mounting rails are only clamped on one side, the strands can be processed with closed end loops without any problems.

Since the mounting rails can only have a very limited length of at most about 30 cm for one-sided clamping for stability reasons, this known solution is not suitable for an automatic drawing-in machine. On the one hand, an empty magazine clasp has to be exchanged for a full magazine clasp at relatively short intervals, and on the other hand, each such change means a stop of the drawing-in machine.

The invention is now intended to provide a device of the type mentioned at the outset, which enables fully automatic handling even of strands with closed end loops.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that each mounting rail is held by a plurality of controlled clamps and the transport path of the strands on the mounting rails is divided into several sections for receiving a strand package each, and in that the strand is transported in packages from section to section, the clamp between the respective sections is open.

By using the controlled terminals, relatively long mounting rails with a length of about two meters and more can be used, on which up to 4000 strands can be temporarily stored. Even a modern drawing-in system like the USTER DELTA 200 needs to process this number of Slats more than half an hour. As soon as the first section in the refilling direction has been emptied, a further strand package can be refilled, so that the handling of the strands in the other sections is in no way impaired and in particular the drawing-in system is not switched off.

Fig. 1

eine perspektivische Gesamtdarstellung einer Kettfadeneinziehmaschine,

Fig. 2

eine schematische Draufsicht auf die Einziehmaschine von Fig. 1,

Fig. 3

eine perspektivische Darstellung des Litzenmoduls der Einziehmaschine von Fig. 2, in Richtung des Pfeils III von Fig. 2 gesehen,

Fig. 4

eine Ansicht in Richtung des Pfeiles IV von Fig. 3,

Fig. 5

eine Ansicht in Richtung des Pfeiles V von Fig. 4,

Fig. 6 a-c

ein erstes Detail des Litzenmoduls in drei Ansichten; und

Fig. 7a, b

ein zweites Detail des Litzenmoduls in zwei Ansichten.

The invention is explained in more detail below using an exemplary embodiment and the drawings; it shows:

Fig. 1

an overall perspective view of a warp threading machine,

Fig. 2

1 shows a schematic plan view of the drawing-in machine from FIG. 1,

Fig. 3

2 shows a perspective illustration of the strand module of the drawing-in machine of FIG. 2, seen in the direction of arrow III of FIG. 2,

Fig. 4

3 shows a view in the direction of arrow IV of FIG. 3,

Fig. 5

4 shows a view in the direction of arrow V of FIG. 4,

Fig. 6 ac

a first detail of the strand module in three views; and

7a, b

a second detail of the strand module in two views.

1, the drawing-in machine consists of a base frame 1 and of various assemblies arranged in it, each of which forms a functional module. In front of the base frame 1, a warp beam carriage 2 with a warp beam 3 arranged on it can be seen. The warp beam carriage 2 also contains a lifting device 4 for holding a thread frame 5 on which the warp threads KF are stretched. This clamping takes place before actual retraction and at a location separate from the retraction machine, the thread frame 5 being positioned at the lower end of the lifting device 4 in the immediate vicinity of the warp beam 3. For the pulling in, the warp beam carriage 2 with the warp beam 3 and lifting device 4 is moved to the so-called upgrade side of the pulling-in machine and the thread frame 5 is lifted up by the lifting device 4 and suspended in the base frame 1, where it then assumes the position shown.

The thread frame 5 is displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the base frame 1 by a drive, not shown. With this shifting, the warp threads KF are guided past a thread separation group 6 forming part of a so-called yarn module, and are separated and divided in the process. After division, the warp threads KF are cut off and presented to a pull-in needle 7, which forms part of the so-called pull-in module. The sectioning device used in the USTER TOPMATIC warp knitting machine can be used, for example, to separate the warp threads.

In addition to the pull-in needle 7, a monitor 8 can be seen, which belongs to an operating station and is used to display machine functions and machine malfunctions and for data input. The operating station, which forms part of a so-called programming module, also contains an input stage for the manual input of certain functions, such as, for example, crawl gear, start / stop, repetition of operations, and the like. The drawing-in machine is controlled by a control module containing a control computer, which is located in a control box 9 is arranged. In addition to the control computer, this control box contains a module computer for each so-called main module, the individual module computers being controlled and monitored by the control computer. The main modules of the drawing machine are, in addition to the modules already mentioned, drawing module, yarn module, control module and programming module, the strand, the lamella and the sheet module.

The thread separation group 6, which presents the warp threads KF to be drawn in to the pull-in needle 7, and the path of movement of the pull-in needle 7, which runs vertically to the plane of the stretched warp threads KF, determine a plane in the region of a support 10 forming part of the base frame, which supports the already mentioned upgrade side of the so-called disassembly side of the drawing machine. The warp threads and the individual elements into which the warp threads are to be fed are fed in on the upgrade side, and the so-called dishes (strands, lamellae and sheets) with the drawn-in warp threads can be removed on the tear-down side. During the pulling-in, the thread frame 5 with the warp threads KF and the warp beam carriage 2 with the warp beam 3 are moved past the thread separating group 6 to the right, the pull-in needle 7 successively removing the warp threads KF stretched on the frame 5.

When all the warp threads KF have been drawn in and the thread frame 5 is empty, the latter is together with the warp beam carriage 2, the warp beam 3 and the lifting device 4 on the dismantling side and can be removed from the base frame 1.

Immediately behind the plane of the warp threads KF are the warp thread guard slats LA, behind them the healds LI and even further behind the reed. The lamellae LA are stacked in hand magazines, and the full hand magazines are hung in inclined feed rails 11, on which they are transported to the right, towards the pull-in needle 7. There they are separated and brought into the feed position. After pulling in, the slats LA arrive on slat support rails 12 on the dismantling side.

The strands LI are lined up on rails 13 and manually or automatically shifted to a separation stage on them. Then the strands LI are individually brought into their retracted position and, after they have been drawn in, distributed to the corresponding mounting rails 14 on the dismantling side. The reed is also moved past the pull-in needle 7 step by step, the corresponding sheet gap being opened for the feed. After it has been drawn in, the sheet is also on the dismantling side. A part of the reed WB can be seen to the right of the mounting rails 14. This illustration is to be understood purely for illustrative purposes, since the reed is of course located on the upgrade page in the position of the frame 5 shown.

As can be seen from the figure, a so-called crockery trolley 15 is provided on the dismantling side. This is inserted together with the slat support rails 12 fastened thereon, the support rails 14 and a holder for the reed into the base frame 1 in the position shown and, after being pulled in, carries the dishes with the warp threads drawn in KF. At this time, the warp beam carriage 2 with the warp beam 3 is located directly in front of the dishwashing carriage 15. Now, using the lifting device 4, the dishes are reloaded from the dishwashing carriage 15 onto the warp beam carriage 2, which then carries the warp beam 3 and the pulled-in dishes and to the weaving machine in question or can be moved to an interim storage facility.

The functions described are distributed over several modules, which represent practically autonomous machines that are controlled by the common control computer. The cross-connections between the individual modules run via this higher-level control computer and there are no direct cross-connections between the individual modules. The main modules of the drawing-in machine which have already been mentioned are themselves modular again and generally consist of sub-modules.

This modular structure, which is described in CH-A-579 871, can be seen particularly well from the illustration in FIG. 2. 2 shows the base frame 1, the warp beam carriage 2 with the warp beam 3, the lifting device 4 and the thread frame 5, which are coupled together with the warp beam carriage 2, the yarn module, the slat module, the heddle module, the sheet module, the operating station with the Screen 8, the feed module, the control box 9, the sub-module stranded wire magazine, the sub-module lamellaed magazine, and the crockery trolley 15 with the lamellar support rails 12 and the support rails 14.

• Litzenmagazin: Entgegennahme der Litzen vom Anwender ab Stapel, Weitergabe der Litzenstapel an das Teilmodul "Litzenseparierung".
• Litzenseparierung: Aufnahme der Litzenstapel, Separierung der Litzen vom Stapel, Weitergabe der separierten Litzen an das Teilmodul "Litzenpositionierung".
• Litzenpositionierung: Uebernahme der Litzen vom Teilmodul "Litzenseparierung", Transport der Litzen zur Einzugsposition, seitliche und vertikale Positionierung der Litzen, Transport der Litzen mit dem eingezogenen Kettfaden zur vorbestimmten Tragschienenposition, Uebergabe der Litzen an die jeweilige Tragschiene.
• Litzenförderung: Förderung der Litzen mit den eingezogenen Kettfäden entlang der Tragschienen von der Auffüllseite an das andere Ende.

As can be seen from the already mentioned CH-A-679 871, the strand module consists of the strands LI from the magazine stack to the processes a drawn-in warp-carrying strand on a mounting rail 14, from the following sub-modules:

• Strand magazine: acceptance of the strands by the user from the stack, transfer of the strand stacks to the sub-module "strand separation".
• Strand separation: picking up the strand stacks, separating the strands from the stack, passing on the separated strands to the sub-module "strand positioning".
• Strand positioning: transfer of the strands from the "strand separation" sub-module, transport of the strands to the retracted position, lateral and vertical positioning of the strands, transport of the strands with the drawn-in warp thread to the predetermined mounting rail position, transfer of the strands to the respective mounting rail.
• Strand conveying: conveying the strands with the drawn-in warp threads along the mounting rails from the filling side to the other end.

The sub-module "strand separation" is described in US-A-5 184 380, the sub-module "strand positioning" in EP-A-0 500 848 (= WO-A-92/05303). The sub-module "strand magazine" will now be described below.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the heddle magazine essentially consists of a lower and an upper profile rail 16 or 17, in which the heddle support rails 13 and means for conveying the strands lined up on the support rails are stored to the separation station. The separating station designated ST in the figure directly adjoins the heddle support rails 13, wherein the separating station ST has an upper and a lower separating stage for each heddle support rail 13 with a piston 18 which can be moved transversely to the heddle stack and one or two transducers 19. In addition, a common separation finger 20 is provided for both separation stages. All of these organs are described in detail in US-A-5,184,380, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

According to the illustration, the heddle magazine is configured in two paths and contains two pairs of heddle support rails 13 and of separation stages. A solid plate 21, which carries two pins 22 projecting on the end face, is fastened to the separating stage end face of the profiled rails 16 and 17. These pins serve as an interface to the sub-module "strand positioning" and are provided for engagement and fixing in corresponding recesses of this sub-module.

The two profile rails 16 and 17 are fastened in a height-adjustable manner on a support 24 mounted on a rail-guided sliding carriage 23. The distance between the end loops of the strands is adjustable with a crank 25; the offset of the thread eyes is also adjustable. Reference number 26 denotes a housing with the electrics and electronics and reference number 27 denotes a housing for the pneumatic control. Both housings are connected via corresponding lines to the sliding carriage 23, which in turn is connected to the corresponding supply and data lines of the drawing-in machine and is therefore in particular also connected to the control module in the control box 9 (FIGS. 1, 2).

On each profile rail 16, 17, two heald support rails 13 are held, which extend from the right end of the profile rails in FIG. 3, that is the loading side of the heald magazine, to the separating station ST and which have a length of over two meters. The strands to be stacked are lined up on so-called transfer rails (not shown), that is a pair of rails which are connected to one another by a web at one end and project freely from this web. The web not only serves as a carrier for the transfer rails, but is also a type of handle for handling them. To fill the heald magazine, the transfer rails with the healds located thereon are docked onto the ends of the heald support rails 13 on the loading side and pushed onto the heald support rails.

After a relatively short shift by hand, the strands come into the effective range of a means of transport which conveys the strands in the direction of arrow A against the separating station ST. This means of transport is formed by a conveyor belt 29 equipped with laterally projecting brushes 28 contacting the strands, such a conveyor belt 29 being arranged along each strand support rail 13. Each pair of conveyor belts 29 assigned to a path of the heddle magazine is driven by its own motor 30. Shortly before the separation station ST, a motor-driven pressure brush 31 is arranged on the side next to each heald support rail 13, which presses the healds against the respective separation stage and ensures a constant dynamic pressure in the separation station ST.

The heddle magazine shown in FIG. 3 can be used universally and is suitable for the storage of heddles with open and those with closed end loops. Stranded wires with open end loops can be easily stored because they have hook-like end loops and can therefore be easily moved on the mounting rails if only the carriers holding the mounting rails lie in the area of the open part of the end loops, i.e. the mouth of the hook. Stranded wires with closed end loops, on the other hand, can only be moved on all-round free mounting rails, but this cannot be achieved with mounting rails with a length of more than half a meter. In the illustrated heald magazine, the displaceability of healds with closed end eyelets on the heald support rails 13 is made possible by the fact that each heald support rail 13 is held by several controlled clamps K₁ to K₆ and the transport path of the healds on the support rails is divided into several sections for receiving a strand package in each case. The strands are transported in packages from section to section, whereby the clamp between these sections is opened when moving from one section to the next.

The opening and closing of the terminals K₁ to K₆ is controlled so that two adjacent terminals can never be open at the same time. To control the terminals, detectors 32 (FIGS. 7a, 7b) for the passage of strands are arranged in their immediate vicinity. When the heald magazine is empty and the first heald stack is pushed from the transfer rails onto the heald support rails 13, the detector 32 arranged on the first clamp K 1 detects the presence of this heald stack firmly on the first clamp and opens it. The strand of strands can thus pass the first clamp, comes into the effective range of the conveyor belt 29 equipped with the brushes 28 and is automatically pushed by this to the second clamp K₂.

After a certain, adjustable period of time, for example 9 seconds, the first clamp K 1 is closed and the automatic transport of the strand stack to the separation station ST begins, which takes place step by step from clamp to clamp. As soon as the clamp K 1 is closed again and the detector 32 detects the presence of strands at the clamp K 2, the clamp K 2 is opened until the detector no longer detects strands. Then the clamp K₃ is opened, and so on. As soon as the section between the terminals K₁ and K₂ is empty and the terminal K₂ is closed again, a new strand of strands can be transferred from the transfer rails. When a strand stack is transported through the strand magazine, which is not completely empty but at least partially filled, the opening of a clamp is dependent on a further criterion, namely whether the section adjoining the clamp to be opened is empty. Whether this criterion is met is determined on the basis of the signal from the detector at the terminal terminating the section mentioned in transport direction A: If this detector has registered the complete passage of the previous strand stack, the section in question is empty. The signals of the individual detectors are processed in a common control in the housing 26, the control being due to the packet-wise transport of the strand stacks from section to section always "knows" in which section a certain strand of strands is currently located and which sections are empty and which are full. In this way, congestion in the sections or overfilling are excluded from them.

The terminals and the detectors will now be described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7. FIGS. 4 and 5 show the arrangement of the clamps and detectors in a side view and in a plan view of the head end of the stranded magazine carrying the separation station ST, FIGS. 6a to 6c show three views of a clamp and FIGS. 7a and 7b show two Views of a wire detector.

As can be seen from FIGS. 4 and 5, a detector 32 is provided in the frontmost clamps K in in the transport direction A both on the clamp on the upper rail 16 and on the lower rail 17, the detectors being arranged within the clamps . The detector 32 on the upper terminal K₆ is therefore below this and that on the lower terminal K₆ above it. As a comparison of the two pairs of terminals K₅ and K₆ shows, only one detector 32 is provided on the pair of terminals K₅. The latter also applies to the remaining terminals K₁ to K₄, which also have a detector 32 only on the upper terminal.

FIG. 6a shows a view of a clamp K _n in the direction opposite to the arrow IV in FIG. 3, FIG. 6b shows a view related to FIG. 6a from the left and FIG. 6c shows a view related to FIG. 6b from above . As shown, the Clamp K _{n is designed} like pliers and essentially consists of a pneumatic cylinder 33, a guide block 34 fixedly connected to the pneumatic cylinder 33 and a pair of clamping jaws 35 and 36. The latter is driven by a piston 37 of the pneumatic cylinder 33 and consists of an approximately L-shaped carriage 38 which can be displaced in the guide block 34, a guide 35 fastened to the latter and forming a jaw 35 for the heddle support rail 13 and a bearing mounted in the guide block 34 and swivel lever 36 which can be driven by the carriage 38 and which forms the second clamping jaw and fixes the heddle support rail 13 in the guide 35. This design of the jaw enables a quick release of the clamping and release of the heddle support rail. When the piston 37 and thus the slide 38 are moved to the left from the clamping position shown in FIG. 6 b, the guide 35 on the one hand moves to the left, i.e. away from the heddle support rail 13 and on the other hand the pivot lever 36 is also pivoted away from the heddle support rail 13 .

In the clamp K _n shown in FIGS. 6a to 6c, the guide 35 is provided with a fixing cone 39 which is encompassed in a semicircle by the clamping end of the pivoting lever 36. The fixing cone 39, which is only provided on the first clamp K 1, is used to engage in a corresponding bore in the heddle support rail 13, whereby the heddle support rails are additionally fixed at the end mentioned. The guides 35 have an approximately trapezoidal cross-section, the oblique flanks serving to ensure that the heddle support rail 13 securely engages in the base offset in accordance with the support rail cross-section during the clamping process the guide 35 is inserted. In addition, the above-mentioned sloping flanks form a safeguard against a possible falling of the heddle support rail, which, however, is extremely unlikely anyway. 6 shows two vertical bores 40 in the guide block 34; these are provided for receiving screws which are used to connect the terminal K _n to the respective wire detector 32. The position of the clamp K _n shown in FIGS. 6a and 6b represents, with respect to the top and bottom, a clamp arranged on the lower profile rail 16 (FIGS. 3, 4). On the upper profile rail 17, the clamps K _n are rotated accordingly by 180 °, so that the point of engagement of the pivot lever 36 in the slide 38 would be in the upper and the clamping end of the pivot lever 36 in the lower half of the figure.

FIG. 7a shows a side view of a heddle detector 32 seen in the longitudinal direction of an upper heddle support rail 13, in fact opposite to the transport direction A (FIG. 3); FIG. 7b shows a top view of FIG. 7a. As shown, the stranded detector 32 consists of a wing-like support part 41 bent over at one end and a sensor lever 42 pivotally fastened to the support part 41. The support part 41 carries at one end a fastening part 43 provided for fastening to a clamp K _n (bores 40) and at its other, bent end an inductive sensor 44. The sensor lever 42 projects above the carrier part 41 at its front end and carries at this end a circular plate 45 protruding into the movement path of the strands. A metal plate 46 is fastened to the rear end of the sensor lever 42, that in the in the Fig. 7a and 7b shown rest position of the sensor lever 42 is just above the inductive sensor 44. A return spring 47 engaging the sensor lever 42 presses it into the rest position, in which the sensor lever 42 is fixed by a stop pin 48.

If a strand of strands is pushed against a terminal K _n , it hits the plate 45 of the sensor lever 42 when the terminal reaches it, as a result of which the latter is pivoted and the inductive sensor 44 responds. After passing the strand package, the spring 47 pivots the sensor lever 42 back into its rest position, which is also registered by the inductive sensor 44.

Claims (12)

Device for handling healds for warp threading machines, with support rails for storing the healds and with transport means for feeding them to a separating station at which the healds are separated for the purpose of making them available for the warp thread insertion, characterized in that each support rail (13) is characterized by several controlled clamps (K _n ) and thus the transport path of the strands on the mounting rails is divided into several sections for receiving a strand package each, and that the strand is transported in packages from section to section, the clamp between the respective sections being opened is. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the terminals (K _n ) are controlled so that only one of two successive terminals can be opened. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the clamps (K _n ) have a pair of clamping pliers (35, 36), and that both clamping jaws are actuated to open and close the clamp. Apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that the two clamping jaws (35, 36) are driven by a common drive (33, 37), the one clamping jaw is formed by a guide (35) for the mounting rail (13) and the other clamping jaw, which is attached to a lifting part (38) connected to the drive unit (38), by a pivot lever (36). Apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the lifting part (38) is guided in a fixed guide part (34) and is in engagement with the pivot lever (36), and that the pivot lever is mounted on the guide part. Device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that each pair of clamps (K₁ - K₆) is assigned at least one detector (32) for detecting the presence of strands in the region of the clamps. Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the detector (32) is arranged on the upper clamp (K₁ - K₆). Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that two detectors (32) are provided on the pair of clamps (K₆) adjacent to the separating station, one on the upper and one on the lower clamp. Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the detectors (32) have an adjustable sensor lever (42) which projects into the movement path of the strands and a sensor (44) which detects the displacement of the latter. Apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the sensor (44) is formed by an inductive sensor. Apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that the sensor lever (42) is designed with two arms and is positioned in a rest position in which one lever end (45) projects into the movement path of the strands and the other lever end (46) in the effective range of the inductive sensor (44 ) lies. Device according to claim 11, characterized by a spring (47) pressing the sensor lever (42) in the direction of the rest position against a stop (48).

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