EP2924153B1

EP2924153B1 - Top comb device of comber

Info

Publication number: EP2924153B1
Application number: EP15159559.2A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Masami Shimbara
Original assignee: Toyota Industries Corp
Current assignee: Toyota Industries Corp
Priority date: 2014-03-24
Filing date: 2015-03-18
Publication date: 2019-11-13
Anticipated expiration: 2035-03-18
Also published as: EP2924153A3; CN104947250A; CN104947250B; EP2924153A2; JP2015183312A; JP5999128B2

Description

The present invention relates generally to a top comb device of a comber and, more specifically, to a top comb device of a comber, having a top comb and a top comb holder.
A comber has a plurality of combing heads (eight combing heads in general). A series of operations for making sliver from lap as material is performed at each combing head. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of one of the combing heads of a known comber. It is noted that the left-hand side and righthand side of FIG. 6 correspond to the front and the rear of a combing head 51, respectively. As shown in FIG. 5, the combing head 51 includes a nipper device 53, a combing cylinder 54, and two pairs of detaching rollers 55, 56. The nipper device 53 has a feed roller 52 and the paired detaching rollers 56 are located forward of the paired detaching rollers 55. The nipper device 53 has a nipper frame 57 that is disposed above the combing cylinder 54 and pivotally supported by a shaft so as to be swingable back and forth. The nipper frame 57 has at the bottom thereof a bottom nipper 58.
The nipper frame 57 is configured so that the front end of the bottom nipper 58 is moved toward and away from the detaching rollers 55. A nipper arm 59 having at one end thereof a top nipper 59A is pivotally connected at the end thereof to the nipper frame 57 through a shaft. The top nipper 59A is operated to be opened and closed at a predetermined time in synchronization with the back-and-forth movement of the nipper frame 57 thereby to hold a lap L in conjunction with the bottom nipper 58.
A top comb 60 is mounted to the nipper frame 57 at a position that is forward of the bottom nipper 58 and operable to move in synchronization with the nipper frame 57. The top comb 60 combs the rear end of fleece combed by the combing cylinder 54. The top comb 60 is fixed to a plate-shaped top comb holder 61 at a plurality of positions by screws not shown in the drawing.
In these years, bending of a top comb has become a problem with an increasing operating speed and production volume (or increasing amount of cotton to be handled per unit time). FIG. 7 is a side view of a top comb device according to a background art. To solve the problem with the bending of the top comb, as shown in FIG. 7, document EP 2085505 A2 discloses a configuration in which the top comb holder 61 is strengthened by a reinforcing member 62 and the top comb 60 interposed between a clamp plate 63 and the top comb holder 61 is fixed by a screw 64.
In the configuration according to the above-cited document in which the top comb holder 61 is strengthened by the reinforcing member 62 and the top comb 60 is fixed through the clamp plate 63 to the top comb holder 61, the bending of the top comb 60 in the longitudinal direction thereof (in the perpendicular direction to the surface of paper) is suppressed. However, since the top comb 60 is made of a thin plate, a comb teeth portion 60A located at the tip end of the top comb 60 tends to be bent or vibrated back and forth as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 7, so that combing performance of the comber is degraded. If the top comb 60 is made thicker, the bending of the comb teeth portion 60A may be reduced. However, the thickened top comb 60 causes the teeth of the comb teeth portion 60A to be inserted into a fleece at a position that is shifted rearward (or rightward in FIG. 6), so that the distance of combing by the comb teeth portion 60A is reduced, with the result that combing performance of the comber is degraded.
Document WO 2008/037437 A1 pertains to a Needle Bar for a Warp Drawframe. In particular, a needle bar for a gill drafting device or a device for drafting a fiber bundle by needles is disclosed.
Document CN 203 295 687 U1 discloses a Strengthening Type Splicing Top Comb for a Combing Machine.
It is the object of the invention to provide a top comb device of a comber, which can secure the combing performance at increased operating speed and for increased production by appropriately suppressing the bending of the tip end of the top comb in back and forth direction.
The object of the invention is achieved by a top comb device according to claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are carried out according to the dependent claims.
There is provided a top comb device of a comber, including a top comb holder that is moveable in synchronization with a nipper frame and a top comb that is detachably fixed to the top comb holder. The top comb includes a comb body that is fixed to the top comb holder and a comb teeth member that is formed separately from and combined with the comb body at a tip end of the comb body. The comb body includes a base portion that is in contact with the top comb holder, a comb teeth combining portion combined with the comb teeth member at the tip end of the comb body, and a thickness increasing portion extending between the base portion and the comb teeth combining portion and having a thickness that is increased toward the base portion.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention together with objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description of the presently preferred embodiments together with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1A is a side view of a top comb device according to an embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 1B is a sectional view of a top comb holder of the top comb device of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1C is a sectional view of a top comb of the top comb device of FIG. 1A;
FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the relation between the top comb device and a nipper according to the embodiment;
FIG. 3 is a side view of a top comb device according to another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a side view of a top comb device according to a comparative example not falling under the scope of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a side view of a top comb device according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of a known conventional comber; and
FIG. 7 is a side view of a top comb device of the comber of FIG. 6.

The following will describe a top comb device of a comber according to an embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C, and 2. As shown in FIG. 1A, the top comb device is designated by reference numeral 10 and has a top comb holder 11 and a top comb 12. The top comb holder 11 is operable to move in synchronization with a nipper frame 21 (shown in FIG. 2) of the comber. The top comb 12 is detachably fixed to the top comb holder 11. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1C, the top comb 12 includes a comb body 14 and a comb teeth member 15 and the comb body 14 is fixed to the top comb holder 11 by a screw 13. The comb teeth member 15 is formed separately from the comb body 14, but combined with the comb body 14 at the tip end of the comb body 14. The comb body 14 includes a base portion 14B, a comb teeth combining portion 14A, and a thickness increasing portion 14C. The thickness increasing portion 14C extends between the base portion 14B and the comb teeth combining portion 14A and is formed in such a way that its thickness is increased toward the base portion 14B, so that the base portion 14B is formed thicker than the thickest portion of the comb teeth combining portion 14A.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the top comb holder 11 has therein a internal thread hole 11A that is formed through the surface of the top comb holder 11 that is in contact with a base portion 14B of the top comb 12 and receives the external thread portion of the screw 13. The screw 13 is inserted through holes 16 that are formed through the base portion 14B of the top comb 12. Tightening the screw 13, the top comb 12 is fixed securely to the top comb holder 11. The holes 16 are formed elongated so that the fixed position of the top comb 12 can be adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the top comb 12 with relative to the top comb holder 11.
The top comb holder 11 has a bent portion 17 so that a contact surface 11B of the top comb holder 11 is in contact with the base portion 14B of the comb body 14 at a position that is frontward of the front surface of the comb teeth combining portion 14A or leftward of the front surface in FIG. 1A. The comb body 14 and the comb teeth member 15 are made of different materials. The comb body 14 is made of a lightweight material with a rigidity such as aluminum alloy. The comb teeth member 15 is made of a material such as steel having durability against combing. As shown in FIG. 1C, the comb teeth member 15 is fixed to the comb teeth combining portion 14A of the comb body 14 at the tip end of the comb body 14 from the base portion 14B of the comb body 14, for example, by insert molding.
The base portion 14B has a rectangular shape in the cross section across the thickness of the comb body 14. The long side of the rectangular shape of the base portion 14B corresponds to the direction from the base end toward the top end of the comb body 14. The base portion 14B is hollowed.
The following will describe the operation of the above-described top comb device 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the top comb device 10 is fixed to a support lever (not shown) of a nipper frame 21 of a nipper device 20 of the comber at a position above the top comb holder 11. The nipper frame 21 is pivotally supported by a shaft (not shown) mounted to the support lever. Lap L supplied from a lap supply source (not shown) is delivered toward a position forward of a bottom nipper 23 by a feed roller 22. A top nipper 24A is fixed to a nipper arm 24 that is pivotally supported by a shaft mounted in the nipper frame 21. The top nipper 24A is operated to be opened and closed at a controlled timing in synchronization with the back-and-forth movement of the nipper frame 21 thereby to hold the lap L in conjunction with the bottom nipper 23.
During the operation of the comber, the bottom nipper 23 is swung back and forth with the nipper frame 21, with the result that the leading end of the lap L held by the bottom nipper 23 and the top nipper 24A is combed by a combing cylinder (not shown), thus being formed into a fleece F and the resulting fleece F is moved toward detaching rollers 25 by forward movement of the nipper frame 21. In accordance with the forward movement of the fleece F, the detaching rollers 25 are reversed thereby to move the preceding fleece backward. Thus, the rear end of the preceding fleece and the front end of the newly combed fleece (following fleece) are lapped one on the other. When the detaching roller 25 is rotated in forward direction, the fleece F is moved forward from the nipper device 20 and the trailing end of the preceding fleece F is combed by the comb teeth member 15 of the top comb 12. Repeating such operations, the fleece F fed by each combing head is bundled, drafted and compressed into sliver by a calendar roller.
The quality of the fleece F combed by the top comb 12 depends on whether all the teeth of the comb teeth member 15 of the top comb 12 repeat the insertion into the fleece F to a predetermined depth at the respective positions across the fleece F. The fleece F is transferred by the detaching roller 25 while being inserted by the comb teeth member 15 of the top comb 12, so that the top comb 12 receives through the comb teeth member 15 a force of the fleece F acting toward the detaching roller 25. The force is increased with an increase of the operating speed of the comber and of the production amount.
If the comb body 14 of the top comb 12 were of a plate shape such as the configuration of the background art, the comb body 14 may be formed thicker to resist the above force that is increased with an increase of the operation speed of the comber and of the production amount. If the comb body 14 is made thicker, the weight of the top comb 12 is increased and the power consumption of the comber is increased, accordingly. Furthermore, the position at which the teeth of the comb teeth member 15 are inserted into the fleece is displaced rearward (or rightward in FIG. 6), so that the combing distance of the comb teeth member 15 is reduced. Therefore, the combing performance of the comber is degraded.
In the top comb 12 of the embodiment, the comb body 14 includes the base portion 14B, the comb teeth combining portion 14A, and the thickness increasing portion 14C. The thickness increasing portion 14C extends between the base portion 14B and the comb teeth combining portion 14A and is formed in such a way that the thickness of the thickness increasing portion 14C is increased toward the base portion14B. Therefore, the rigidity of bending of the comb body 14 of the top comb 12 in the back and forth direction of the top comb 12 increases as compared to the configuration in which the comb body 14 of the top comb 12 is made of a plain plate, with the result that bending of the comb teeth combining portion 14A in the back and forth direction of the top comb 12 during combing operation of the top comb 12 is suppressed.
Specifically, the bending resistance of cross section of a member is proportional to the second moment of area. When the entire area of the section and a differential area in the section are expressed by A and dA, respectively, the second moment of area is calculated by integrating the product of a differential area dA in the section and squared distance from an axis by reference to the geometric center of the section, in the entire sectional region. A comb body having a thickness increasing portion such as 14C has a greater second moment of area than a comb body that has the same length but is formed with a constant thickness. Therefore, the former comb body 14 is harder to bend. The thickness of the comb teeth combining portion 14A remains unchanged, so that combing performance is not deteriorated.
The present embodiment has the following advantageous effects.

(1) The top comb device 10 of the comber has the top comb holder 11 that is moveable in synchronization with the nipper frame 21 and the top comb 12 that is detachably fixed to the top comb holder 11. The top comb 12 includes the comb body 14 that is fixed to the top comb holder 11 by the screw 13 and the comb teeth member 15 that is formed separately from the comb body 14, but combined with the comb body 14 at the tip end thereof. The comb body 14 includes the base portion 14B, the comb teeth combining portion 14A, and the thickness increasing portion 14C. The thickness increasing portion 14C extends between the base portion 14B and the comb teeth combining portion 14A and is formed in such a way that the thickness of the thickness increasing portion 14C is increased toward the base portion 14B. In such configuration, the bending of the top end of the top comb 12 in the back and forth direction is suppressed and, therefore, the desired combing performance of the comber can be secured regardless of an increase of the operation speed of the comber and of the production amount.
(2) The base portion 14B is hollowed. Though the base portion 14B may be made solid, the hollowed structure may reduce the weight of the base portion 14B and power consumption of the comber is decreased, accordingly.
(3) The base portion 14B is formed thicker than the comb teeth combining portion 14A. Accordingly, the bending in the longitudinal direction of the top comb 12 can be reduced.
(4) The top comb holder 11 may be configured to be in contact with the base portion 14B of the comb body 14 at a position that is frontward the front surface of the comb teeth combining portion 14A. Accordingly, the base portion 14B may be formed thicker.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but may be embodied in various manners as follows. As shown in FIG. 3, the top comb 12 may be formed in such a way that the portion of the comb body 14 extending toward the end thereof from the base portion 14B is bent away from the surface of contact between the base portion 14B of the comb body 14 and the top comb holder 11. According to such configuration, the base portion 14B may be formed still thicker.
In a comparative example not falling under the scope of the invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the top comb holder 11 is formed so that the surface thereof that is in contact with the top comb 12 extends straight as in the case of the above-cited document EP 2085505 A2 .
As shown in FIG. 5, the base portion 14B of the top comb 12 may be made solid and have therein an internal thread hole 18 that is formed through the surface that is in contact with the top comb holder 11 and receives therein the external thread portion of the screw 13. An elongated hole 11C may be formed through the top comb holder 11 to receive therethrough the screw 13 and the top comb 12 is fixed to the top comb holder 11 by tightening the screw 13.
The base portion 14B of the top comb 12 may be hollowed by providing a plurality of the hollowed portions. The shape of hollowed portion is not limited to a rectangular shape in cross section, but, the hollowed portion may be of any shape such as polygonal, circular, oval or any other shape.
In the case of the presence of a plurality of hollowed portions, their shapes and sizes may be different. The top comb 12 may be fixed to the top comb holder 11 by using a bolt and a nut, instead of the screw 13.
The top comb holder 11 may not be hollowed.

Claims

A top comb device (10) of a comber, comprising:
a top comb holder (11); and

a top comb (12) that is detachably fixed to the top comb holder (11),

wherein

the top comb (12) includes a comb body (14) fixed to the top comb holder (11) and a comb teeth member (15) that is formed separately from and combined with the comb body (14) at a tip end of the comb body (14), wherein the comb body (14) includes a base portion (14B) that is in contact with the top comb holder (11), a comb teeth combining portion (14A) combined with the comb teeth member (15) at the tip end of the comb body (14), and a thickness increasing portion (14C) extending between the base portion (14B) and the comb teeth combining portion (14A) and having a thickness that is increased toward the base portion (14B),

characterized in that

the top comb holder (11) has a bent portion (17) so that a contact surface (11B) of the top comb holder (11) is in contact with the base portion (14B) of the comb body (14) at a position that is frontward of a front surface of the comb teeth combining portion (14A).
The top comb device (10) of the comber according to claim 1, wherein the base portion (14B) is thicker than the comb teeth combining portion (14A).
The top comb device (10) of the comber according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the base portion (14B) is hollowed.
The top comb device (10) of the comber according to any one of claims 1 through 3, wherein the top comb (12) is bent so that the tip end of the comb body (14) is spaced away from a contact surface (11B) between the base portion (14B) of the comb body (14) and the top comb holder (11).