GB2093871A - Apparatus for feeding tubes to, and removing packages from spinning machines and twisting machines - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for feeding tubes to and removing packages from, spinning machines and twisting machines comprising a driven endless conveyor belt (4) which is substantially horizontally guided beneath a spindle rail (3) and has holders (7, 8) for the tubes and packages. The holders (7, 8) on the conveyor belt are inclined relative to the vertical in the direction of the operating side of the machine. Preferably studs (7) and cups (8) are alternately arranged on the conveyor belt (4) the studs (7) serving as holders for the tubes (5) and the cups (8) serving as holders for the packages (6). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for feeding tubes to, and removing packages from spinning machines and twisting machines It is known, for the infeed of tubes and for the removal of packages or cops from spinning and twisting machines, to use an endless driven conveyor belt which extends the whole length of the spinning or twisting machine and which is horizontally guided under the spindle rail and comprises, in alternate sequence, vertically positioned package studs and tube studs, the number of the studs being at least twice that of the number of spindles of a machine side.As the conveyor belt not only transports the doffed packages horizontally but, at one end of the machine, upwardly to an ejection station, the packages are secured by tube coupling devices on their studs, and are released, at the ejection station, from these studs by a stripper or doffer (British Patent Specification 1131 247).

The replacement of the packages by empty tubes is effected by means of a gripper beam which extends the whole length of the row of spindles and on which is arranged a number of grippers which corresponds to the number of spindles. In its inoperative position the gripper beam is positioned under the spindle rail within the width of the machine. In this position the grippers and the studs of the conveyor belt are in the same vertical plane.

By this arrangement it is possible to arrange packages and tubes, upright and with fixed positioning, on the conveyor belt and, after the change-over, to convey the packages to the ejection station. However, this arrangement is restricted to machines in which sufficient space is available under the spindle rail, for accommodating the gripper beam and the latter's vertical movements when doffing the tubes from the studs, serving as holders, of the conveyor belt, and when the packages are being deposited on the studs. The machine must be given correspondingly high dimensions.

In another known apparatus the gripper beam together with the grippers, when in the inoperative position, are in front of the spindle rail, and the conveyor belt is inclined to the horizontal, so that the tube studs, which are vertically positioned on the belt, and accordingly, also the tubes which have been deposited on these studs, are inclined forwardly towards the operating side of the machine (Prospectus Ring spinning frame model G 5/1 Rieter Machine Works Ltd.) No holders or studs for the package or cops doffed from the spindles are provided on the conveyor belt. The packages are placed between the tubes on the conveyor belt and, after the tubes have been removed from the tube studs, fall onto one another in the conveyance direction so that they overlap in imbricated fashion.In this position the packages are conveyed by means of the conveyor belt to one end of the machine where they are received by an ascending conveyor and conveyed upwardly to the ejection station.

Due to the fact that the gripper beam lies, in its inoperative position, in front of the spindle rail, and due to the position of obliquity of the conveyor belt which is adopted on account of this positioning of the gripper beam, it is possible to use this known apparatus also in the case of machines in which only a limited space is available under the spindle rail. As, in the case of this known apparatus, the gripper beam does not have to be pivoted out of the area of the spindle rail and then pivoted back into position under the spindle rail, a lesser number of movements of the gripper beam are executed for the changeover procedure and, hence, less time is required.However, there is the disadvantage that, by reason of the imbricated juxtaposition of the packages, and by reason of the oblique attitude of the conveyor belt, the packages have to be transferred onto a separate ascending conveyor for conveying them upwardly from the conveyor belt. Accordingly, disturbances in the conveyance procedure may be experienced at this transfer station, such disturbances being for example caused by packages which are not correctly positioned on the conveyor belt.

Underlying this invention is the intention of providing an apparatus by means of which - also in the case of machines with relatively little free space under the spindle rail - the tubes can be fed into the machine in a disturbance-free manner, and wherein also the packages can be removed to the ejection station in a simple and disturbancefree fashion.

Thus in accordance with the present invention there is provided apparatus for feeding tubes to, and removing packages from spinning machines and twisting machines, with a driven endless conveyor belt, which is substantially horizontally guided under the spindle rail and has holders for the tubes and packages, characterised in that the holders on the conveyor belt are inclined relative to the vertical, in the direction of the operating side of the machine.

In this way, firstly, the advantage that the apparatus only occupies little space is maintained.

However, a further advantage resides in the fact that the packages can remain in fixed position on the conveyor belt until they are ejected from the latter, as the conveyor belt can, without presenting any problems, be upwardly deflected, at the end of the machine, from the horizontal position which the conveyor belt assumes under the spindle rail. Accordingly, a separate, ascending conveyor can be dispensed with (disturbances in operation can easily arise at the transfer station between the conveyor belt and the separate ascending conveyor).

In a preferred modification of the invention studs and cups are alternately arranged on the conveyor belt, the studs serving as holders for the tubes and the cups as holders for the packages.

Expensive studs, with tube coupling devices for the packages, and stripping and doffing devices, for removing the packages from the studs, can thus be dispensed with. Conveniently, the angle of inclination ofthe holders may be so selected that the vertical at the centre of gravity of the package lies within the width of the conveyor belt.

Due to the fact that the conveyor belt, which is guided past a tube depositing device, has a convex portion at this station, the studs are more accessible for depositing the tubes thereon. This convex portion of the conveyor belt may be simply achieved by guiding the conveyor belt over a stationary curved element.

According to a further modification of the invention, the conveyor belt may be in the form of a link chain conveyor, which carries the studs and cops alternately on transverse strips or webs.

These strips or webs may, advantageously, be laterally guided at their ends.

An embodiment of the invention is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of an apparatus according to the invention for feeding tubes to, and removing packages from a spinning machine; and Figure 2 is a cross-section through the apparatus of Figure 1 along line 2-2.

The spinning machine or twister, which is illustrated in Figure 1 and only the parts of which required for understanding the invention are shown, comprises end frames 1 and 2, between which is arranged a spindle rail 3 with a row of spindles 30. Under the spindle rail 3 there extends along the machine an endless conveyor belt 4, which is horizontally guided by means of guide rollers 40 and 41, and upwardly guided in the vicinity of the end frame 1 by means of a further guide roller 42. In addition to these guide rollers, further guide rollers 43 or other guide means may be provided for the conveyor belt 4.

Holders for tubes 5 and cops or packages 6 are fixed on the conveyor belt 4, which is for example driven by the guide roller 40 and arranged substantially horizontally under the spindle rail 3.

Studs 7 are provided as holders for the tubes 5, and cups 8 as holders for the packages 6, these studs 7 and cups 8 being arranged in alternate sequence on the conveyor belt 4, the spacing between the studs and cups corresponding to half the spacing between adjacent spindles. The number of studs 7 and cups 8 is at least twice as great as the number of spindles 30 present on a side of the machine.

Two different working stages are represented in Figure 1. In the right hand half of the machine the feed of empty tubes is shown, the conveyor belt 4 moving in the direction of P2. In the ieft hand half of the drawing the full bobbins have been deposited on the conveyor belt, while the empty tubes still are between the bobbins on the conveyor belt. In this working stage the conveyor belt is stationary.

As is clear from Figure 2, the studs 7 and cups 8, which serve as holders, are inclined forwardly in the direction of the operating side of the machine, on the horizontally positioned conveyor belt 4 disposed under the spindle rail 3; this may be accomplished, in a simple manner, by giving the supporting surface for these holders an appropriate inclination. The angle cg of inclination of the studs 7 and of the cups 8 relative to the vertical varies from 8 to 1 50 according to the height of the spindle rail 3 and according to the thickness of the packages 30, which have to be moved past the spindle rail 3, in each individual instance. It will be advantageous if the vertical at the centre of gravity of the package still lies within the width of the conveyor belt 4.This degree of obliquity of the holders suffices for bringing the tubes 5 and packages 6 which have been deposited on the holders a sufficient distance away from the spindle rail 3 to ensure that their longitudinal axes lie in the axis of linear movement of a gripper beam 9, which carries a numer of grippers 90 which corresponds to the number of spindles 30 and lies, in its inoperative position, in front of the spindle rail 3. Further, when this relatively small angle of inclination is adopted there is no danger of the conveyor belt 4 itself tilting out of its horizontal position when fully loaded with tubes and packages. Conveniently, use is made of a conveyor belt which is intrinsically rigid, or is rendered rigid, in its transverse direction, and is only flexible in its longitudinal direction perpendicularly of the conveyance plane.Accordingly, by the term "conveyor belt" is meant not only a belt in the usual sense of the word, but any belt-like conveyor device, e.g. a link chain conveyor, which carries the studs and cups in alternating sequence on transverse webs or strips. The transverse webs or strips may slide, at their ends, in guide rails, so that rollers may be dispensed with.

In order to supply the spinning machine or twister with tubes 5 (Figure 1, right hand half) the tubes are successively deposited on the studs 7 at the point indicated by arrow P1 in a known manner, for example with the use of a tube feed shaft. On each occasion when a tube has been deposited on a stud the conveyor belt 4 is moved in the direction of the arrow P2 to the extent of the spacing between two adjacent studs 7, until a tube 5 has been deposited on the conveyor belt 4, for each spindle 30. In order to make the studs 7, positioned between two cups 8, more accessible for receiving a tube, the upper section of the conveyor belt 4 is given, at the point lying below the tube depositing device, a shape such that it is upwardly protuberant towards the tube depositing device (for example, the conveyor belt may be guided, at this point, over a stationary supporting section 44 of upwardly directed convexity). As is clear from Figure 1, the cups 8 situated on both sides of a stud 7 are, in this way, forced away from the latter, so that the distance of the upper edge of the cups 8 from the studs 7 is increased.

When the process of depositing the tubes on the studs has been completed, the conveyor belt 4 is stopped in such a way that the cups 8 lie under the spindles 30, and the studs 7, with tubes deposited on them, each lie between two spindles 30. After the packages 6 have been completed, they are removed from the spindles 30 by means of the grippers 90; this is accomplished by upwardly moving the gripper beams 9, usually by means of a lazy tong mechanism, by then pivoting them about a swivel pin 91 , to a position above the row of spindles 30, and by lowering them onto the spindles 30. The packages 6 seized by the grippers 90 are then deposited into the cups 8 (Figure 1, left hand half). The conveyor belt 4 is then advanced by a distance corresponding to the spacing between the studs 7 and the cups 8, so that the tubes 5 are then positioned below the spindles 30, where they are seized by the grippers 90 and deposited on these spindles 30.

Subsequently, the packages 6, positioned in the cups 8, are removed, the conveyor belt 4 conveying these packages 6 both horizontally, that is to say along the spindle rail 3, and also upwardly into the region of the ejection station at the guide roller 42. In the course of this conveyance the packages 6 are securely held by the cups 8 and, after they have passed the guide roller 42, drop, with equal reliability, from the cups 8 into a container.

Claims (8)

1. Apparatus for feeding tubes to, and removing packages from spinning machines and twisting machines, with a driven endless conveyor belt, which is guided in a substantially horizontal position under the spindle rail and has holders for the tubes and packages, characterised in that the holders on the conveyor belt are inclined relative to the vertical, in the direction of the operating side of the machine.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein studs and cups are alternately arranged on the conveyor belt, the studs serving as holders for the tubes, and the cups serving as holders for the packages.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the angle a of inclination of the holders is so selected that the vertical at the centre of gravity of the package lies within the width of the conveyor belt.

4. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the conveyor belt is guided past a tube depositing device, and is of convex shape at that point.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the conveyor belt is guided over a stationary curved portion.

6. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the conveyor belt is a link chain, of which the links comprise transverse webs or stips which alternately carry studs and cups.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the strips or webs are laterally guided at their ends.

8. Apparatus for feeding tubes to, and removing packages from, spinning machines and twisting machines and constructed substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.