GB2198159A

GB2198159A - Cleaning brush for a drum napping machine

Info

Publication number: GB2198159A
Application number: GB08728092A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hermann Josef Erkens; Klaus Hettner; Helmut Neuhausen; Werner Nordmeyer; Karl Heinz Paulsen; Franz-Leo Reiners; Axel Ried; Albert Vroomen; Josef Wicken
Original assignee: Sucker & Franz Mueller GmbH
Current assignee: Sucker & Franz Mueller GmbH
Priority date: 1986-12-02
Filing date: 1987-12-01
Publication date: 1988-06-08
Also published as: DE3641159A1; FR2607526A1; JPS63152453A; BR8706498A; IT1223026B; GB8728092D0; IT8722463A0

Abstract

A cleaning brush for cleaning the card furniture of a drum napping machine can be used equally well for both napping and counterstroke napping rollers by being constructed as a brush strip 6 disposed parallel with the drum axis 4 and over the total length of the napping roller 2. The bristles 8 of the brush strip 6 engage between the cards of the napping rollers 2 and extend into that region of the card clothing 9 which is on the drum periphery of each napping roller 2 that happens to be passing. The width of the strip 6 in the peripheral direction 10 of the drum is arranged to clean all round each rotatingly passing roller 2. The brush is endlessly fed over feed or tensioning rollers 17,18. Impurities are extracted under vacuum by extractor 13 via slots 14. A flat guide 16 for the strip 6 is mounted on stands 20 and on a vertically adjustable spindle 21 to adapt the guide 16 to the form of roller 2. <IMAGE>

Description

CLEANING BRUSH FOR A DRUM NAPPING MACHINE The invention relates to a cleaning brush having bristles for cleaning the card clothing of the napping rollers rotatably mounted on the periphery of the drum of a drum napping machine, the said drum being adapted to rotate about its main axis, the said napping rollers having longitudinal axes extending parallel with the main axis, the bristles engaging between the cards of the napping rollers which during operation pass by with a rotating action.

For the continuous cleaning of the card furniture of napping rollers on drum napping machines, various types of cleaning brushes have been used in the past (see DE-PS 81 891). This cleaning process cannot be carried out easily while the machine is operating because generally drum napping machines have on their drum an alternating arrangement of napping and counterstroke napping rollers having variously bent-over card. points.

Therefore, cleaning is possible only if the brushing bristles always engage the bent-over card tooth from the rear. For this reason, two cLeaning rollers are associated with the napping drum. One cleans the napping rollers and the other the counterstroke napping rollers. Each cleaning brush is equipped, for instance, with two brush blades in a diametrically opposed relationship.

The conventional cleaning brush rollers have to be so constructed, mounted and driven that one brush only contacts the napping rollers while the other brush only contacts the counter stroke napping rollers. This presupposes an accurate synchronising of drum-rotation and cleaning brush rotation. At the same time, the cleaning brush rollers have to be driven at relatively high speed so that the power input to the cleaning apparatus is considerable. Nevertheless, at every contact of a brush blade with a napping roller, only about one-tenth of the latter's periphery can be cleaned so that the known cleaning brush rollers can only gradually clean the napping rollers, that means they can clean them only statically and in many passes. In practice, therefore, additional manual cleaning of all the napping rollers is required time and again.

DE-PS 30 14 595 suggests an air extraction cleaning apparatus for the card furniture of the napping rollers of a drum napping machine. In this apparatus, there are extending parallel with the drum periphery air baffles disposed on both sides of an extraction slot, the baffle which is in front in the direction of drum rotation, leading the extraction slot is masked by two and preferably three adjacent napping rollers which in the peripheral direction are spaced apart by at least the peripheral spacing.

This apparatus has proved successful where it is necessary to remove short-staple impurities or those which are lying loose on the napping rollers.

The invention is based on the problem of providing an apparatus for cleaning the napping rollers while the napping machine is operating and which makes it possible also to remove long staple impurities located deep in the card furniture of the relevant napping machine and which, regardless of the drum or napping roller rotation, permits cleaning of different types of napping roller in one stage. It is intended to save on the complicated means of synchronising cleaning brush and drum and furthermore, it is intended to reduce energy consumption. Finally, it is intended that each napping roller should be cleaned all round at every pass of the cleaning means.

For the initially mentioned cleaning brush of a napping roller drum which is adapted to rotate about its main axis, the solution according to the invention is characterised by the construction as a brush strip disposed parallel with the main axis of the drum and extending over the entire length of the napping roller and having bristles extending into that region of the card clothing which is on the drum periphery of each napping roller which happens to be passing.

The invention provides a cleaning brush which must be regarded virtually as stationary in relation to the peripheral speed of the drum and/or of the napping rollers. According to a further feature of the invention, a movement in the longitudinal direction of the brush strip is possible in order to clean the brush strip itself and in fact outside of its area of contact with the drum. In this respect, it is possible to provide an endless brush strip which is moved past a cleaning device or an endless and reciprocatingly moved brush strip. Such a relatively slowly moving brush strip calls for a correspondingly low driving power which in its magnitude is less than 20% of the power needed to drive conventional pairs of cleaning brush rollers.

According to yet a further feature of the invention, the width of the brush strip, measured in the peripheral direction of the drum, the width of the brush strip is designed with a view to cleaning all round each rotatingly passing napping roller.

Therefore, the brush strip is sufficientlywide that even at a high drum rotation speed and a low napping roller speed, each napping roller is gene, rally cleaned all round at each passage past the brush strip. Finally, it is intended that the bristle length of the brush strip be considerable compared with the depth of the card furniture of the napping rollers, so ensuring that the bristles can reach to the bottom of the card clothing and yet still have sufficient elasticity to be able to yield before the individual parts of the card clothing. For similar reasons, the bristle density of the brush strip is so chosen that the bristles cannot impede one another in their yielding before the individual parts of the napping roller mountings, at least one bristle always engaging between any two hooks of the napping roller clothing.

The material brushed out or loosened by means of the brush strip can according to a further feature of the invention be removed by means of an extractio arrangement orientated at the edges of the brush strip and disposed on both sides of the latter in the peripheral direction of the drum. It is possible, for example, to employ the extraction arrangement disclose in DE-PS 30 14 595.

If the napping rollers sag slightly outwardly due to the centrifugal force acting on them, then the brush strip should be placed in a guide which makes it possible so to follow the profile of the drum which may become convex during rotation, that the bristles of the brush strip engage in the same way into the clothing everywhere over the length of whichever napping roller is being cleaned.

In order to optimise the cleaning effect, it may furthermore be favourable so to trim the bristles of the brush strip on the side which is towards the drum that the bristle tips are adapted to the cylindrical form of the drum.

Details of the invention will be explained in greater detail hereinafter with reference to an embodiment shown in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a section parallel with the drum axis and through an endlessly rotating cleaning brush strip, and Fig. 2 shows a section at right-angles to the napping rollers axes and through a cleaning brush strip.

Fig. 1 shows a part of a longitudinal section through the drum of a card napping machine, namely a napping roller 2 rotatable in bearings 1 and which, together with the bearings 1 mounted on plates 3, is adapted to rotate about the drum axis 4 which is mounted in a machine frame 5. Provided on the underside of the drum is a brush strip 6 which extends parallel with the main axis 4 or the longitudinal axis 7 of each napping roller 2 at least sufficiently that each napping roller 2 as it passes the brush strip 6, comes over its entire length simultaneously in contact with the bristles 8 of the brush strip 6.

Fig. 2 diagrammatically shows a section (somewhat enlarged) at a right-angle to the plane of Fig. 1. The brush strip 6 which has its bristles 8 engaging into the card clothing 9 on the napping rollers 2 has in the peripheral direction 10 of the drum, in other words in the direction of transport of the napping rollers 2, a width B which makes it possible even in the least favourable case for each napping roller 2 which passes and which rotates about itself to be cleaned all round by the bristles 8. The cleaning effect of the brush strip 6 can be extended to the entire width B thereof if the bristle tips 11 are on the face which is towards the napping rollers 2 so trimmed that the surface jointly covered by them is parallel with the imaginary peripheral surface 12 of the drum.

Since the brush strip 6 is at most moved relatively slowly in comparison with the peripheral speeds of drum and napping rollers, one and the same brush strip can clean various types of napping rollers, in other words napping rollers and counterstroke napping rolLers in the same way. By virtue of the low brush strip speed, there is no danger either of damage to the card clothign of the napping rollers of one type or the other.

The dirt or impurities loosened or detached from the card clothing of the napping rollers 2 by the brush strip 6 according to the invention can be extracted under full control by means of a vacuum extraction device 13, through extraction slots 14 disposed on both sides of the brush strip 6 (in the peripheral direction 10 of the drum).. Preferably, the extraction slots 14 are directed at the lateral edges 15 of the brush strip 6 or at the bristles 8 thereon.

In the example of embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, there is furthermore a flat guide 16 for the brush strip 6 which is transported endlessly over two feed or tensioning rollers 17 and 18. At a location outside the area of contact of the brush strip 6 with the napping rollers 2, a cleaning device 19 is provided by which it is possible to loosen up impurities which have collected in the bristles 8 of the brush strip 6.

In the example of embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the flat guide 16 is mounted not only on stands 20 but also on a vertically adjustable spindle 21 which is disposed substantially in the centre. Thus, the form of the flat guide 16 can be adapted to the form of the napping rollers 2 which is possibly outwardly curved during rotation of the drum. In this way, even with a drum which is rotating at high speed, an even cleaning of each napping roller 2 is achieved over its entire length. In all cases, the cleaning effect is independent of the from of the card clothing. It is therefore immaterial whether the hooks 9 are directed in the direction of rotation or against the direction of rotation of the napping rollers 2.

Claims

1. Cleaning brush having bristles (8) for cleaning the card clothing (9) of the napping rollers (2) rotatably mounted on the periphery of the drum of a drum napping machine, the said drum being adapted to rotate about its main axis (4), the said napping rollers (2) having longitudinal axes (7) extending parallel with the main axis (4), the bristles (8) engaging between the.cards of the napping rollers (2) which during operation pass by with a rotating action, characterised by the construction as a brush strip (6) disposed parallel with the main axis (4) of the drum and over the entire length of the napping rollers, said bristles (8) extending into that region of the card clothing (9) which is on the drum periphery (12) of each napping roller (2) which happens to be passing.

2. Cleaning brush according to Claim 1, characterised in that, measured in the peripheral direction (10) of the drum, the width of the brush strip (6) is designed with u view to cleaning all round each rotatinglypassing napping roller (2).

3. Cleaning brush according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the bristle length of the brush strip (6) is considerable compared with the depth of the card clothing (9).

4. Cleaning brush according to one or more of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the bristle density of the brush strip (6) is designed with a view to the possibility cf a resilient yielding at the individual parts of the card clothing (9) on the one hand and with a view to achieving engagement everywhere between any two adjacent individual parts of the card clothing on the other.

5. Cleaning brush according to one or more of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that extraction slots (14) directed at the edges of the brush strip (6) are provided on both sides of the latter in the peripheral direction (10) of the drum.

6. Cleaning brush according to one or more of Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the brush strip (6)is driven in its longitudinal direction particularly at a speed which is low in relation to the peripheral speed of the drum or the napping rollers.

7. Cleaning brush according to Claim 6, characterised in that outside the area of contact with the drum, a cleaning device (19) is associated with the brush strip (6).

8. Cleaning brush according to Claim 6 or 7, characterised in that an endless brush strip (6) is provided which is transported in one direction.

9. Cleaning brush according to Claim 6 or 7, characterised in that an endless brush strip (6) is provided which is transported to and fro.

10. Cleaning brush according to one or more of Claims 1 to 9, characterised in that the brush strip (6) is, in the area of contact with the drum, mounted on a flat guide (16) having a profile which can be adapted to a sag in the napping roller mountings.

11. Cleaning brush according to one or more of Claims 1 to 10, characterised in that the bristles (8) of the brush strip (6) are on the surface which is towards the drum trimmed to fit the cylindrical shape thereof.

12. Cleaning brush substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

13. A drum napping machine comprising a drum, napping rollers (2) having carding clothing (elements) (9), rotatably mounted on the periphery of the drum, said drum being adapted to rotate about its main axis (4), the napping rollers (2) having longitudinal axes (7) extending parallel with the main axis (4), a cleaning brush having bristles (8) engaging between the cards of the napping rollers (2) which during operation pass by with a rotating action, and a brush strip (6) disposed parallel with the main axis (4) of the. drum and over the entire length of the napping rollers, said bristles (8) extending into that region of the card clothing (9) which is on the drum periphery (12) of each napping roller (2) which happens to be passing.

iLl. A drum napping machine as claimed in Claim 13, having a cleaning brush according to any one of the claims 2 - 11.

15. A drum napping machine substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.