GB1582326A

GB1582326A - Looms

Info

Publication number: GB1582326A
Application number: GB14597/76A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: James Mackie and Sons Ltd
Current assignee: James Mackie and Sons Ltd
Priority date: 1976-04-09
Filing date: 1976-04-09
Publication date: 1981-01-07
Also published as: ES457613A1; FR2347471A1; IT1075829B; JPS52132160A; ES457614A2; DE2716322A1; IT1076164B; BE853131A

Description

(72) Inventor WILLIAM DENIS GRENVILLE MACKIE (54) IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO LOOMS (71) We, JAMES MACKIE & SONS LIMITED, a British company of P.O. Box 149, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT12 7ED, do hereby declare this invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement:: This invention relates to shuttleless looms of the weft transfer type i.e. looms in which the weft thread, yarn or tape is carried through the warp shed by means of two weft inserters e.g. rapiers, each being reciprocated into and out from the shed from opposite sides of the loom re spectively, one weft inserter gripping the weft inserted into the shed, the weft being transferred at the centre of the shed to the other inserter (the weft receiver) which is then driven outwardly to insert the weft through the remainder of the shed. The invention particularly relates to weft receiving inserters.

Hitherto it had been proposed to grip the weft thread or tape on the head of the weft receiver between a flat clamp surface and a pivoted clamp member (see for example the specification of our copending British Application No. 28670/73, Specification No. 1468819). In order to achieve a good grip it has been found necessary to make the rapier of fairly robust constructuction and consequently of fairly high weight and size.

It is clearly desirable for the head of the weft inserter to be as light as possible both to reduce the wear on the tape which is used to reciprocate the inserters into and out from the shed: to reduce the energy required to drive the loom and/or speed up the movement of the inserters and hence the loom.

This desiderata of lighter weight is generally achieved with a weft inserter in accordance with the invention wherein the weft gripping means comprises interengaging relatively movable wedge members which are located on the head of the receiver and which are capable of wedging together tightly to grip weft yarn or tape positioned therebetween, one of the wedge members being formed with a V-shaped slot into which the other member can move and wedge against the sides of the slot.

This construction enables a lighter and smaller receiver to be produced.

Preferably one of the gripping members is in the form of a hook to receive the weft from the weft inserter, the other member may then be in the form of a movable deflector which, in its open or raised position, acts to deflect weft into the hook of the said one member and in its lowered or closed position acts to wedge against the hook member to grip the weft. The hook of the said one member and in its lowered or closed position acts to wedge against the hook member to grip the weft.

The hooked member may in this case be provided with two upstanding hooks, the hooks being more widely spaced apart at their upper faces than at their lower to form a V-shaped slot into which the deflector member can move and wedge agains tthe sides of the slot. The deflector member is preferably also of V-shaped crosssection.

The angle of the slot and/or of the deflector may be between say 10 and 35 and the arrangement is preferably such that the deflector member cannot "bottom" in the slot, the weft being wedged between the two sides of the slot and the two sides of the deflector.

Such an arrangement enables the weight and height of the weft inserter head to be reduced as compared with those-proposed hitherto.

The deflector arm may be moved between its closed and wedging position and its open and deflecting position by means of an opener which, in accordance with the features of our copending Application No. 40498/72 (Specification No. 1447861) is arranged to extend over a plurality of warp threads usually at the centre of the shed and two act through these threads to press on the tail of the pivoted deflector member to pivot the wedge head of this member upwardly against a bias so that it is then located in its deflecting position.

In the specific embodiment of the opener described in the specification of our Ap Application No. 40498/72 (Specification No.

1447861) the opener is connected to the reed. A weft inserter in accordance with this invention may have a shallower head than that of the rapier described in the specification of Application No. 40498/72 (Specification No. 1447861). Consequently in is necessary to make the opener extend fur ther down into the shed and if it was to remain stationary it would foul the woven cloth during beat-up.

This undesirable effect is avoided in accordance with the feature of our co-pending application No. 15421/77 (Serial No.

1582327) wherein a shuttleless loom of the transfer type has an opener for a weft yarn gripper of a weft inserter arranged to extend over a plurality of warp threads and to act through the warp to operate the gripper of a weft rapier passing through the shecl,'means being provided to move the opener above the warp threads and out of the path of the cloth, during beat-up.

The invention will now be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the two weft inserter of a shuttleless loom of the yarn transfer type; Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the gripping means of the weft receiving inserter shown in Fig. 1; and Figs. 3 and 4 are elevations of the weft receiving inserter showing the, gripper in the closed and open position respectively.

Referring to Fig. 1 the weft inserter generally indicated at 2 is substantially that described in our copending Application No. 28670/73 Specification No.

1468819. It is shown carrying a weft end 4 which it has picked up outside the shed and the weft is held extending across the lower face of the inserter by means of a pivoted clamp generally indicated at 6.

The clamp member 6 if lifted to open the clamp when an arm 8 connected to the clanip member 6 is depressed against the bias of a spring 10. The weft is then carried throgh the remainder of the shed by the weft receiving inserter generally indi ca'ted)at,12 in Fig. 1.

The weft inserter 12 is of shallow channel section and is reciprocated into and out from the shed by means of a tape 14 to which the inserter 12 is attached.

The inserter includes means for gripping the weft yarn so that once this has been transferred from the inserter 2 the yarn can be pulled out through the remainder of the shed. This yarn gripper comprises a stationary hook member 16 projecting out from the front end of the inserter and a pivoted deflector arm 18, the arm 18 being pivoted at 20 to the inserter and biassed by means of a spring 22 to the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3 in which it engages the hook member to grip the weft. The front of the arm 18 is formed as a beak 19 so as to deflect yarn down towards the clamping position.

As can clearly be seen in Fig. 2 the hook member is formed to define a Vshaped slot 24 the two upwardly extending sides 26 and 28 of which are each formed with a hook 30 and with a tongue 31 which is positioned so as to trap the yarn and to help prevent it escaping during transfer from one inserter to the other.

The end of the arm 18 is positioned to engage in the V-shaped slot in its lower or gripping position and as can be seen in Fig. 2 the sides of the end of the arm 18 also slope so as to wedge tightly with the sides of the slot.

The bottom edge 32 of the end of the deflector member is designed so as never to "bottom" against, the bottom of the Vshaped slot 24.

The tail 34 of the deflector member 18 is bowed upwardly as can be seen in Figs.

1, 3 and 4.

When the weft inserter 12 is moving towards the centre of the shed in the left hand direction as seen in the drawings the gripper is closed with the end of the deflector -18 engaged within the V-shaped slot of the hook member as can be seen in Fig.

3. As it approaches the centre of the shed the bowed arm 34 of the deflector members strikes th underside of a curved opener plate "36 which depends downwardly to act on'the arm through the warp threads. The deflector is thus pivoted in a clockwise direction about its pivot 20 against the bias of the spring 22 so that the end of the arm 18 rises from the hooked member as can be seen in Figs. 1 and 4. In this position the underside of the end of the deflector arm acts to help deflect the weft yarn carried by the weft inserter 2, down behind the hooks 30. In fact the hooks are moved under the weft 4 carried across the end of the inserter 2 and the weft is then deflected down behind the barbs of the hook as ,ca'n be seen in Fig. 1.

The two weft inserters then begin to move in opposite directions the inserter 12 moving to the right as seen in the drawings.

As this happens the clamp 6 of the inserter 2 is opened and the bowed arm 34 of tbe inserter 12 disengages from the opener 36 so that the front end of the deflector 18 is driven down into the V-shaped slot between the hooks by means of the spring 22. This acts, as can be clearly seen in Fig. 2, tightly to wedge the weft against the sides of the slot behind the two hooks and the top of the walls of the slot at this point are rounded so that the weft will not be unduly frayed.

The deflector 18 is shaped so that when in this position the upper surface carries on the line of the hooks as can clearly be seen at the point A marked in Fig. 3 to help to prevent the hooks fouling as the inserter is withdrawn through the warp shed.

The opener 36 has to entend fairly far down into the shed so as to be able to engage the bowed arm 34 of the weft inserter 12. In this position is would foul the cloth during beat-up, and this is avoided by providing means to move the opener during beat-up and such means form the subject of our co-pending Application No.

15421/77 (Serial No. 1582327).

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A weft receiver for a shuttleless loom of the weft transfer type the receiver being provided with weft gripping means comprising interengaging relatively movable wedge members which are located on the head of the receiver and which are capable of wedging together tightly to grip welft yarn or tape positioned therebetween, one of the wedge members being formed with a V-shaped slot into which the other member can move and wedge against the sides of the slot.

2. A weft inserter as claimed in claim 1 in which the angle of the slot and/or of the other member is between 10 and 35 .

3. A weft inserter as claimed in either of the preceding claims 1 or 2 in which the slot and other member are so dimensioned that the said other member cannot bottom in the slot.

4. A weft inserter as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which one of the gripping members is in the form of a hook designed to receive weft from a weft inserting inserter.

5. A weft inserter as claimed in claim 4 in which the other gripping member is in the form of a movable deflector which, in its opened or raised position relative ,to the hook member is able to act to deflect weft into the hook of the said one member and in its lowered or closed position wedges against the hook member.

6. A weft inserter as claimed in claim 5 in which the hooked member is provided with two upstanding hooks, the hooks being more widely spaced apart at their upper face than at their lower face to form a V-shaped slot into which the deflector member can move and wedge against the sides of the slot.

7. A shuttleless loom of the transfer type having a weft receiving inserter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.

8. A loom as claimed in claim 7 in which the wedge members are moved apart at the centre of the shed to permit entry and positioning of the weft yarn between the wedge members, the members being closed to wedge the yarn therebetween as the inserter initiates its travel out the shed of the loom.

9. A weft inserter substantially as here inbefore described with reference to figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.

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Claims

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move in opposite directions the inserter 12 moving to the right as seen in the drawings.

As this happens the clamp 6 of the inserter 2 is opened and the bowed arm 34 of tbe inserter 12 disengages from the opener 36 so that the front end of the deflector 18 is driven down into the V-shaped slot between the hooks by means of the spring 22. This acts, as can be clearly seen in Fig. 2, tightly to wedge the weft against the sides of the slot behind the two hooks and the top of the walls of the slot at this point are rounded so that the weft will not be unduly frayed.

The deflector 18 is shaped so that when in this position the upper surface carries on the line of the hooks as can clearly be seen at the point A marked in Fig. 3 to help to prevent the hooks fouling as the inserter is withdrawn through the warp shed.

The opener 36 has to entend fairly far down into the shed so as to be able to engage the bowed arm 34 of the weft inserter 12. In this position is would foul the cloth during beat-up, and this is avoided by providing means to move the opener during beat-up and such means form the subject of our co-pending Application No.

15421/77 (Serial No. 1582327).

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A weft receiver for a shuttleless loom of the weft transfer type the receiver being provided with weft gripping means comprising interengaging relatively movable wedge members which are located on the head of the receiver and which are capable of wedging together tightly to grip welft yarn or tape positioned therebetween, one of the wedge members being formed with a V-shaped slot into which the other member can move and wedge against the sides of the slot.
2. A weft inserter as claimed in claim 1 in which the angle of the slot and/or of the other member is between 10 and 35 .
3. A weft inserter as claimed in either of the preceding claims 1 or 2 in which the slot and other member are so dimensioned that the said other member cannot bottom in the slot.
4. A weft inserter as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which one of the gripping members is in the form of a hook designed to receive weft from a weft inserting inserter.
5. A weft inserter as claimed in claim 4 in which the other gripping member is in the form of a movable deflector which, in its opened or raised position relative ,to the hook member is able to act to deflect weft into the hook of the said one member and in its lowered or closed position wedges against the hook member.
6. A weft inserter as claimed in claim 5 in which the hooked member is provided with two upstanding hooks, the hooks being more widely spaced apart at their upper face than at their lower face to form a V-shaped slot into which the deflector member can move and wedge against the sides of the slot.
7. A shuttleless loom of the transfer type having a weft receiving inserter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.
8. A loom as claimed in claim 7 in which the wedge members are moved apart at the centre of the shed to permit entry and positioning of the weft yarn between the wedge members, the members being closed to wedge the yarn therebetween as the inserter initiates its travel out the shed of the loom.
9. A weft inserter substantially as here inbefore described with reference to figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.