GB2031033A

GB2031033A - An Apparatus for Inserting a Weft into a Shed in a Jet Loom

Info

Publication number: GB2031033A
Application number: GB7931742A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Toyota Central R&D Labs Inc; Toyoda Automatic Loom Works Ltd
Current assignee: Toyota Industries Corp; Toyota Central R&D Labs Inc
Priority date: 1978-09-15
Filing date: 1979-09-13
Publication date: 1980-04-16
Also published as: JPS5926688B2; JPS5540856A; FR2436205B1; NL178337B; CH640277A5; FR2436205A1; GB2031033B; DE2937192A1; NL178337C; DE2937192C2; NL7906880A

Abstract

Apparatus for inserting a weft into a shed in a jet loom in which a plurality of auxiliary nozzles 7 for jetting an auxiliary fluid and a plurality of guide members 4a for guiding the auxiliary fluid and a weft are arranged on a sley. Each guide member is provided with an opening 6a by which a passage for guiding the auxiliary fluid and a weft is formed. The transversal cross-sectional area of the opening is gradually expanded toward a direction opposite the direction for weft insertion into a shed. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION An Apparatus for Inserting a Weft into a Shed in a Jet Loom The present invention relates to an apparatus for inserting a weft into a shed in a jet loom in which a plurality of auxiliary nozzles for jetting an auxiliary fluid and a plurality of guide members for guiding the auxiliary fluid and a weft are arranged in the respective alignment on a sley. The insertion of a weft into a shed is hereinafter referred to as "filling".

Description of the Prior Art As the conventional filling apparatus comprising a plurality of guide members arranged in an alignment on a sley to guide a fluid and a weft, there is known a type in which the guide face of each guide member is formed to have a substantially circular shape so as to provide a guide passage which is substantially cylindrical in the filling direction. In such type, the weft is caused to run through the space in the abovementioned cylindrical passage by introducing the fluid jetted from a main nozzle substantially through the central portion of the cylindrical passage. The present invention is not directed to a filling method of this type.The present invention is applied to: a filling method in which the weft guide portion of one or more guide members confronting an auxiliary nozzle, among a plurality of guide members arranged on a sley, is semiopened and the remaining guide members have a substantially closed structure, including a slit from which a weft is taken out in the beating operation; a filling method in which the weft guide portions of all the guide members are semi-opened, or; a filling method in which a part of a reed is modified to form guide members and an auxiliary fluid is jetted to the guide wall defined by the open faces of the guide members to effect the filling operation. For example, the present invention is applied to filling apparatus disclosed in U.S.

Patent No. 3,818,952.

In the above-mentioned filling apparatus of the type to which the present invention is directed, since an auxiliary fluid jetting nozzle is utilized, the filling operation can be performed stably, irrespective of the width of a woven fabric.

Furthermore, since the weft-guiding portion of a guide member confronting the auxiliary nozzle is opened, there can be attained an advantage that the auxiliary nozzle can be arranged very easily and the filling state can be confirmed easily.

However, the stable filling condition can be created only when the filling operation is conducted at a relatively low speed, and if the speed of the fluid is elevated so as to increase the speed of the weft-insertion into a shed, the flying speed of the weft cannot be increased and the stability of the filling operation is lowered. As a result of research conducted with a view to clarifying the causes of such undesirable defects as the difficulty in increasing the filling speed and the lowering of the stability of the filling operation, it was found that the main cause resides in the configuration of the semi-opened guide member.For example, since the guide wall of each guide member coincides with an imaginary continuous surface of the cylindrical guide passage, i.e. each of said guide wall is flat in spite of the fact that the cylindrical guide passage has a function of imparting a high stability to the filling operation, such guide wall of each guide member drastically inhibits the function to increase the flying speed of the weft. Therefore, even if the flow rate of the fluid is increased, the filling speed can not be effectively increased, and consequently, the stability of the filling operation lowered.

Summary of the Invention It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a filling apparatus for a jet loom in which the structure of the semi-opened guide member is improved, so that the above-mentioned defects involved in the conventional apparatus are eliminated by jetting an auxiliary fluid to this improved guide member, and the filling speed can be elevated while maintaining a good stability in the filling operation.

In accordance with the present invention, the above mentioned object can be attained by a filling apparatus for a jet loom comprising a plurality of guide members arranged in an alignment in the filling direction on a sley, to guide a fluid and a weft, and an auxiliary nozzle opened toward a guide face defined by the guide members, the apparatus being characterized in that an inclined face is formed on the guide walí of at least the guide member confronting the auxiliary nozzle so that the filling side of the guide member is expanded over the opposite side thereof and the opening of the auxiliary nozzle is directed to the inclined face of the guide members.

Brief Description of the Drawing Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a jet loom provided with an embodiment of the filling apparatus according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of the jet loom illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic side view of the guide member according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line II in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line IIII in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a partially sectional plan view illustrating the function of one embodiment of the guide members according to the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a partially sectional plan view illustrating the function of the known guide members utilized for conventional jet loom.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 schematically illustrating one embodiment of the jet loom to which the present invention can be applied, a sley 1 is rigidly disposed to a sley sword 2 which is capable of reciprocally oscillating in the directions A1, A2 in a direction indicated by arrows in Fig. 1 by means of a driving mechanism (not shown). A reed 3 and a guide member constructed by guide pieces 4 and auxiliary nozzles 5 are arranged on the sley 1 in the respective alignments which are parallel each other. As shown in Fig. 2 and 3, a large number of guide pieces 4 are arranged in an alignment in the filling direction, and a guide face for fluids and a weft is defined by guide walls 6 of these guide pieces 4, which are semi-opened on the reed side.The auxiliary nozzles 5 are disposed in an alignment and at predetermined intervals on the sley 1 to confront the guide walls 6 of the guide pieces 4. A fluid jetting opening 7 (Fig. 7) of each auxiliary nozzle 5 is opened toward the confronting guide walls 6 of the guide pieces 4 positioned at the side of the filling direction. A weft Y from a cheese 8 stationarily mounted on the side portion of the machine frame is delivered by length-measuring rollers 9 and 10, temporarily reserved in a storing device 11 and guided to a main nozzle 13 through a control device 12.

When a fluid is jetted from the main nozzle 13, the weft Y is caused to fly and is inserted into a shed along the guide face defined by the guide pieces 4, while the flying force of the weft Y is being maintained by the auxiliary fluid jetted from the auxiliary nozzles 5. On completion of the filling operation, the sley 1 is turned in the direction indicated by the arrow At, and the guide pieces 4 and nozzles 5 separate from warps W as indicated by imaginary lines in Fig. 1, and the beating operation is performed by the reed 3 to form a woven fabric 14. Incidentally, reference numeral 1 5 represents a temple device.

The guide piece 4 constructed according to the present invention is illustrated in Figs. 1 through 5. The upper portion of the guide piece 4 is semiopened toward the reed 3 so that a recessed guide wall 6 is formed by the inner guide faces 6a of the opening. All of the upper, lower and the innermost portions of the guide face 6a, that is, the entire portion of the guide face 6a is inclined so that the transversal cross-sectional area of said opening expands toward the direction opposite the direction of weft insertion into a shed. As illustrated in Fig. 3, this opening has a semiopened shape like a U-figured shape. An opening having a V-figured shape can also be applied for the guide members utilized for the filling apparatus according to the present invention.

Incidentally, the lower face 6a of the guide wall 6 is inclined also downwardly so that when the guide piece 4 is intruded in the warp shed, it does not catch warps.

The operation and functional effect of the present invention will now be described in detail.

The apparatus of the present invention illustrated in Fig. 6 is different from the conventional apparatus illustrated in Fig. 7 only in the point that, in the present invention, the faces 6a of the guide walls 6 are slightly inclined against the filling direction, while in the conventional apparatus, a face 6b of the guide wall, which correspond to the faces 6a of the guide wall 6 of the present invention, coincides with an imaginary continuous wall of the cylindrical guide passage. Other conditions are identical in the apparatus of the present invention and the conventional apparatus. In the conventional apparatus illustrated in Fig. 7, an auxiliary fluid jetted from the auxiliary nozzle 5 is diffused radially in a conical form from the opening 7 of the auxiliary nozzle 5. In Fig. 7, flow line of a highest flow speed is indicated by a.And the flow speeds of flow lines are reduced as they separate from the flow line a. This condition is similarly created in the apparatus of the present invention illustrated in Fig. 6. The flow represented by the line a impinges against the end on the filling side of the face 6b of the guide wall of the guide piece 4b located at position (X2) and is reflected toward the filling direction at a certain angle. The flow represented by a line b impinges against the opposite end of the guide face 6b of the guide piece 4b located at position (X2) and deflected to the filling direction. The flow represented by a line e flows in the filling direction without impinging against the guide piece 4b located at position (X2).However, the flow represented by a line d which passes through the filling side corner of the guide face 6b of the guide piece 4b located at position (X,) and impinges against the side face of the guide piece 4b located at position (X2), and therefor, it passes through the intervened space between two adjacent guide piece 4b. Accordingly, the fluid in the range B between the flow lines a and d flows to the back of the guide piece 4b as a leaking fluid and has no function of causing the weft to fly. Furthermore, the fluid in the range B is a fluid flowing in the vicinity of the position a of a highest flow speed, and the majority of the fluid in the high speed range is lost as a leaking fluid. Therefore, the efficiency of utilization of the fluid for increasing the filling speed is extremely low. In the conventional apparatus, however, this leaking fluid exerts a function of maintaining the flying weft on the side of the guide wall 6b, and therefore, an effect of improving the stability in the filling operation is created. However, the leading fluid presses the weft to the side of the guide wall 6b too strongly, and hence, the frequency of contact of the weft Y with the guide wall 6b is increased, and the resistance to the flying weft is increased by contacts with the guide face 6b. This results in the impossibility of increasing the filling speed, as well as the abovementioned low efficiency of utilization of the fluid.

In the apparatus of the present invention illustrated in Fig. 6, each guide wall 6 is provided with the above-mentioned inclined guide faces 6a so that the cross-sectional area of the opening defined by the guide wall 6 expands toward the direction opposite to the filling direction. The flow lines a, b and e in the present invention are created in the same condition as the conventional apparatus. However, the flow represented by the flow line a impinges against the central portion of the guide face 6a of the guide piece 4 located at position (X2). The flow represented by the flow line c, of a relatively high speed which passes through a position in the vicinity of the position of the flow line a, impinges against the end on the filling side of the guide face 6a of the guide piece 4 located at position (X2) and flows in the filling direction.Accordingly, a range B of the leaking fluid between the flow lines c and d is remarkably narrowed from the range A in the conventional apparatus and all the fluid present in the high speed region necessary for increasing the filling speed, that is, all the fluid flowing in the vicinity of the flow line a, is allowed to flow in the filling direction. Accordingly, the efficiency of utilization of the auxiliary fluid for increasing the flying speed of the weft is remarkably increased over that of the conventional apparatus and, hence, the filling speed can be remarkably elevated. Furthermore, the force of pressing the weft to the guide wall 6 is weakened by a decrease of the leaking fluid from that of the conventional apparatus, resulting in a reduction of the contact resistance on the weft.Also by this reduction oi the contact resistance, the effect of increasing the flying speed of the weft is enhanced. In Fig. 6, the reduced range B of the leaking fluid is shown twodimensionally. In the practical operation, however, the auxiliary fluid is dispersed in a conical form, and hence, the ratio of reduction of the quantity of the leaking fluid is very high.

In the present invention, since the guide wall 6 is provided with such inclined guide faces 6a that the cross-sectional area of the opening defined by the guide faces 6a of each guide piece expands toward the direction opposite to the filling direction, the peeling phenomenon of the leaking fluid is remarkably enhanced as compared with the case of the above-mentioned guide wall of the conventional apparatus, and therefore, a turbulent flow-generating region between the two guide pieces 4 is remarkably broadened. Accordingly, a space allowing passage of the leaking fluid, other than the turbulent flow-generating region, becomes very small and the quantity of the leaking fluid is further decreased.In other words, since the above-mentioned reduction of the space for the leaking fluid and the influence of the above-mentioned peeling phenomenon of the fluid are cooperatively created, the quantity of the leaking fluid can be maintained at a level much lower than in the conventional apparatus.

Generally, when the jetting angle of fluid from the jetting opening 7 of the auxiliary nozzles 5 is constant, the inclination angle of the guide faces of the guide wall is preferable set in inverse proportion to the space ratio of the guide member. From the results of experiments conducted by the invention of the present invention, it was confirmed that the inclination angle of 8 (Fig. 6) of the guide face 6a in the present invention is preferably in the range of 00 < O < =300C. In this case, it is preferred that the jetting angle of the jetting opening 7 of the auxiliary nozzle 5 be 5 to 600 with respect to the filling direction.

The effect of the present invention can be sufficiently attained even if the inclined guide face is formed only on the deepest portion of the opening of the guide wall 6. Of course, if the inclination angle is made not only in the deepest portion but also in the upper and lower portions of the guide wall, the effect of preventing unnecessary leakage of the fluid can be enhanced.

In the present invention, since leakage of the fluid is reduced to a very low level compared to the conventional apparatus, it might be understood that good stability of the filling operation attained in the conventional apparatus will be reduced. Furthermore, since the guide wall 6 has an inclined faces and the angle of reflection of the fluid is increased, it might be understood that the weft will be pressed to the opening of the guide piece 4 by the reflected fluid to drastically reduce the stability in the filling operation. In the present invention, however, a certain leaking fluid region B is present as illustrated in Fig. 6. The force pressing the weft to the side of the opening of the guide piece 4 is created because of a large ref!ection angle of the fluid between the flow lines b and c.In the present invention, since there is present a stream of the auxiliary fluid flowing in the filling direction along the line e which is closer to the open end than the above-mentioned reflected fluid, flowing of the above-mentioned reflected fluid is disturbed by this stream of the auxiliary fluid and all the auxiliary fluid flows substantially in the filling direction. Therefore, the force of pressing the weft to the open side of the guide piece 4 is remarkably reduced and a strong force of propelling the weft in the filling direction while maintaining the weft on the side of the guide wall is produced, and a high stability can be maintained in the filling operation.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned inclined faces of the guide member need not be formed on all of the guide members. Namely, such inclined faces may be formed only on at least the guide member confronting the auxiliary nozzle or several guide members. Moreover, the present invention may be applied to a guide device of a so-called modified reed type, in which the reed also serves as a member for guiding a fluid and a weft, and in this case, the abovementioned effect can be similarly attained.

As will be apparent from the above-mentioned illustration, the present invention is characterized in that some or all of a plurality of guide members arranged in an alignment in the filling direction are provided with such an inclined face on the guide wall that the cross-sectional area of the opening defined by the guide faces is expanded toward the direction opposite to the filling direction and fluid jetting openings of auxiliary nozzles are directed to such guide walls. By virtue of this characteristic feature, in the present invention, the efficiency of utilization of the auxiliary fluid for flying of the weft can be remarkably enhanced and the filling speed can be remarkably increased while maintaining stability in the filling operation at a high level.

Furthermore, since the inclined faces are formed on the guide wall, the jetting angle of the auxiliary nozzle can be increased with respect to the filling direction, and therefore, the distance between the auxiliary nozzle and the guide wall can be shortened to increase the filling speed.

Namely, a high filling speed can be obtained with a low jetting pressure.

Still further, leakage of the fluid is reduced by the presence of the inclined faces formed on the guide wall and therefore, the distance between two guide members can be proportionally increased. Accordingly, entanglement of warps can be prevented. In this regard, since the filling operation can be carried our very stably, a woven fabric having an increased warp density can be formed.

Claims

1. In a filling apparatus for inserting a weft into a shed in a jet loom provided with a plurality of guide members for guiding the weft from a main nozzle arranged in an alignment in the filling direction on a sley and a plurality of auxiliary nozzles arranged on said sley, each of said guide members being provided with an opening defined by a recessed guide wall, and each of said auxiliary nozzles being provided with at least one opening for jetting fluid forward said guide wall, an improvement comprising at least a predetermined number of said guide members confronting each one of said auxiliary nozzles, which are provided with a transversal crosssectional area of said opening expanded toward a direction opposite to a direction for weft insertion, said expansion of cross-sectional area of said opening of said guide member being created by an inclined guide face of said recessed guide wall, and said opening of said auxiliary nozzle being directed to said inclined guide face of said recessed guide wall of said guide member.

2. A filling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said guide members, except said group of predetermined number of guide members confronting each one of said auxiliary nozzles, are provided with an opening having the same construction as the opening of said group of predetermined number of guide members confronting each one of said auxiliary nozzles.

3. A filling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said guide member is a modified reed having the functions of a reed and said guide member together.

4. A filling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said inclined guide face of said recessed guided wall is formed at the innermost position of said recessed guide wall.

5. A filling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said inclined guide face of said recessed guide wall is formed on the entire portion of said recessed guide wall.

6. A filling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recessed guide wall of said guide member has a semi-opened shape.

7. A filling apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said semi-opened shape of said recessed guide wall of said guide member is a curved shape.

8. A filling apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said semi-opened shape of said recessed guide wall of said guide member is V-figured shape.

9. A filling apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said semi-opened shape of said recessed guide wall of said guide member is U-figured shape.

10. A filling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said inclined guide face of said recessed guide wall has an inclination angle 0 with respect to said alignment of said guide members in a range of 0 < 0~30.