US1024528A - Tension mechanism for looms. - Google Patents

Description

E. E. SIBLEY TENSION MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

AIPLIOATIOH FILED JULY'IB, 1910.

Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

UMBIA PLANOORAPH C0..WI\SH NGTON D c B. E. SIBLEY.

TENSION MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

APPLIOATIONIILED JULY 16, 1910.

Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

SIBLEY, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

EDWIN E.

TENSION MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

1,024,528. Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

Application filed July 16, 1910. Serial No. 572,276.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN E. SIBLEY, of Chelsea, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tension Mechanism for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention which is intended chiefly for looms for weaving elastic fabrics, although applicable for other purposes, has for its object to provide simple and effective means for maintaining a uniform and, if desired, a regulable tension on flexible material such as threads, or strands, forming parts of a woven fabric, or previously woven sheets or ribbons, which are drawn from a source of supply for any purpose requiring a uniform tension on the material while it is passing from the source of supply to a point where it is accumulated as a finished product, or otherwise.

To these ends the invention consists in a loom having a tension mechanism substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings, which represent my invention embodied in a tension device for elastic fabric looms,-Figure 1 represents a side elevation of one form of tension mechanism embodying my invention, Fig. 2 represents a top plan view of the same, Fig. 3 represents a front elevation, Fig. 4 represents a section on line 44 of Fig. 3, Fig. 5 represents a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 3, Fig. 6 represents a side elevation of another form of tension mechanism embodying my invention, Fig. 7 represents a rear elevation of the same, Fig. 8 represents a section on line 8-8 of Fig. 6, Fig. 9 represents a perspective view of the strand guide shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 10 represents a diagrammatic view showing the course of the strand engaged with the tension pulley, shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8'.

Referring to the embodiment of the invention shown by Fi s. 1 to 5 inclusive, (1, a represent a pair of brackets or hangers attached to a beam 1) forming a part of the frame of a loom, the bases of said hangers being formed to bear on and be attached to the beam. The outer ends of the hangers are provided with open bearings a, in which are journaled trunnions or shaft ends 0, o aiiixed to and projecting from opposite sides of a pulley a, the periphery of which constitutes a movable support for elastic warp threads or strands d, said supports being interposed between a source of supply of said threads and the usual weaving and take-up mechanism of an elastic fabric or other loom. I- do not show the said weaving and take-up mechanism, this being well known and comprising the usual heddles, lay, cloth beam and other component parts.

In the embodiment of my invention now under consideration the warp threads are stored in a holder d from which they pass as hereinafter described to the periphery o the pulley 0.

6 represents a pressure roll having shaft ends or trunnions e which rest upon and are in rolling contact with guides f, which are supported by the hangers a and are inclined downwardly from the bases of the hangers toward the bearings a so that the roll 6 is caused by gravitation to move toward the pulley 0. The hangers a are here shown as of the form usually employed to support the warp spools or beams of an elastic fabric loom, the pulley 0 taking the place of the said spool or beam. The guides f are shown as separate pieces having studs f bearing provided on warp beam hangers to support the weightedtension or-brake cords hereinafter referred to.

The warp threads d pass through fixed guides 9 arranged to present or guide said threads to the rear side of the pressure roll 6, the threads passing over said roll between the latter and the pulley 0, under the pulley, and over the upper portion thereof, and from the pulley across the frame beam 12 to the weaving mechanism, as shown by Fig. 4:.

The threads are nipped or pinched between the roll and pulley and portions of the threads are held in tractional engagement with the peripheries of the roll and pulley. Means are provided for yieldingly resisting the rotation of the roll and pulley so that the strain exerted on the warp threads by the take-up mechanism is resisted sufliciently to set up the desired tension in the threads and properly stretch the same. The means here shown for this purpose include cords h attached at one end to the uprights a and passing around the end portions of the pulley, weights h attached to the free ends of said cords and holding the latter in frictional engagement with the pulley, cords 71 attached at i to the loom frame and passing partly around the end portions of the roll 0, and weights 7? attached on opposite sides of the uprights a usually to the free ends of the cords 2' and holding said cords in frictional engagement with the pressure roll. The portions of the pulley and pressure roll engaged by the said cords are preferably grooved to prevent dis placement of the cords.

In an elastic fabric loom the resistance to the rotation of the roll and pulley in connection with the strain exerted on the elastic warp threads by the take-up causes an intermittent rotation of the pulley, the latter remaining at restuntil the threads have been sufliciently stretched, and then being rotated by the threads, the rotation of the pulley being step-by-step or intermittent. The pressure roll is preferably weighted, to increase its pressure on the threads, by cords j depending from the trunnions (2 and weights j attached to the free ends of said cords.

Means are provided for holding the pressure roll in an inoperative position away from the pulley to release the warp threads and permit their contraction. To this end the guides f are provided with notches f adapted to engage the trunnions 6 when the roll is moved back from the pulley, and thus hold the roll in a retracted position.

Referring to the embodiment of my invention shown by Figs. 6 to 10 inclusive, 12 represents a pulley having a cylindrical periphery and rotatably mounted 011 a suitable supporting frame or stand, which may in elude two side members 13, 13, connected at their upper portions by a transverse stud or pin 1%, rigidly secured so that it does not rotate, the pulley being rotatable on said stud. In this case the means for yieldingly resisting the rotation of the pulley comprise two collars 15, 16, one having a flange 17, bearing on one side of the web of the pulley, and the other having a flange 18, hearing on the opposite side of said web, the said flanges being in frictional contact with the web. The collar 15 is rigidly secured to the stud 14 by a pin 19. The collar 16 has a sliding engagement with the stud 14; so that it is prevented from rotating and ismovable toward and from the collar 15, the collar 16 being provided with a key 20 which is movable in a groove 21 in the stud 141-. The said stud has a screw-threade ;l portion with which is engaged a nut 22 bearing on the collar 16. The flanges l7 and 18, which are prevented from rotating by the means de scribed, by their frictional contact with the sides of the pulley web, offer a yielding re sistance to the rotation of the pulley, the dothe periphery of the pulley 12, as here shown, include an idle pressure roll 24: and a beam or spool 25, each of which is adapted to rotate loosely and is pressed yieldingly toward the periphery of the pulley 12, the relative arrangement of the pulley, the roll and the spool, being such that the roll guides the strands 23 from the spool to the periphery of the pulley and presses them against said periphery, the spool or the aecumulation of material thereon, being pressed yieldingly against the portion of the strands which pass from the roll partly around the periphery of the pulley. The arrangement of the pulley relatively to the mechanism of the loom is such that the portions of the strands which pass from the pulley to the loom are in relatively close proximity to the roll 24:, so that the strands are in contact with a considerable part of the periphery of the pulley, as indicated in Fig. 5. The roll 24 is journaled in a swinging support composed of side members 26, mounted to swing on a pivot bar or stud 27, supported by the stand. Springs 28 connecting the swinging side members 26 with the stand draw the roll 24 yieldingly toward the pulley 12.

The spool 25 is removably journaled in open bearings formed in the outer ends of a swinging support composed of side members 29, which are also mounted to swing on the pivot stud 27, and are acted on by springs 30 which yieldingly draw the spool toward the periphery of the pulley. The spool is provided with heads or flanges 31, which overlap the sides of the pulley, as indicated in Figs. 6 and 7. The swinging frame which supports the roll 24 is provided with guides 32, between which the strands pass on their way to the roll 24, said guides preventing lateral displacement of the strands.

33, 33, represent fixed guides attached to the upper portion of the stand and occupying such relation to the pulley that they prevent the strands from being displaced laterally from the upper side of the periphery of the pulley.

It will be seen that a warp thread or strand 23 moved in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 10, by the take-up mechanism of the loom, or other suitable means, is caused by its tractional engagement with the pulley 12, to rotate said pulley. It will also be seen that the described yielding resistance to the rotation gree of resistance being determined by the of the pulley is imparted through the pulley adjustment of the nut 22. If desired, the to the strand, so that the portion of the strand between the pulley 12 and the takeup mechanism is kept at a uniform degree of tension. The uniformity of the tension is due to the fact that the strand is so pinched between the two movable surfaces provided by the roll and pulley that it can flanges 17 and 18, or one of them, may be provided with a facing of felt, or other compressible material, bearing on the web of the pulley.

The means for holding warp threads or strands 23 in tractional engagement with not slip, and the further fact that the pulley supports only the limited extent of the strand that is in contact with its periphery and does not constitute a supply spool on which an accumulation of the strand is wound. In tension mechanisms of this character in which a tension device is applied directly to the supply spool, which decreases in diameter as the material is removed from it, there is a corresponding variation in the tension on the strand passing from the spool to the take-up mechanism, the tension increasing as the diameter of the spool decreases. In my improved mechanism the tension pulley 12 is entirely independent of, and unafli'ected by the diameter of the accumulation of material on the supply spool, consequently, the strand tractionally engaged with the pulley, is always under the same tension, while the frictional device remains at a given adjustment. The tension may be regulated to any extent desired by varying the weight h in the first described embodiment of the invention, or by regulating the pressure of the flanges 17 and 18 on the sides of the pulley in the last described embodiment.

Either of the described forms of tension mechanism is particularly useful and valuable in elastic fabric looms, because it enables an absolutely uniform tension to be applied to the elastic rubber strands. Owing to the present hlgh cost of rubber, variations in the tension of the threads are liable to result in loss to the manufacturer, in case the tension becomes less than the predetermined degree, so that the rubber is not properly stretched when incorporated into the fabric.

My invention is not limited to the details of construction here shown, and the same may be modified in various respects, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

An important feature of my invention, so far as the same relates to an elastic fabric loom, is the provision of means for exerting a positive pinch, bite or grip on the elastic warp threads, such as is caused by the yielding pressure of the roll 6 on the pulley a, said pinch or grip holding the warp threads at a point between the supply and the take-up until a predetermined stretch or tension is imparted to the portions of the threads between the point where they are gripped and the take-up, which pinch or grip will then yield, due to the brake mechanism permitting a slip of the pulley, and so permit the threads to be moved with the gripping surfaces until the tension is sufliciently reduced to enable the brake to cause the gripping surfaces to again locally arrest the threads, whereupon the threads are again stretched as before, until the gripping pressure is overcome, the result being the maintenance of a practically uniform tension on the threads, because the gripping and release of the threads follow each other in such rapid succession that there is no material fluctuation or variation in the stretch or tension of the threads between the gripping point and the take-up.

I claim 1. In a loom, a let-off for elastic warps comprising in combination a warp supply means, a support, a warp roller journaled in the support, an auxiliary roller, means to cause said auxiliary roller to yieldingly bear upon said warp roller, means for braking said rollers, the warps passing from the supply means between the two rollers and over a suflicient extent of the periphery of the warp roller to cause said warp roller to be rotated by the friction and pull ofv the warps, said warps passing thence to the heddles, said auxiliary roller being adapted to yieldingly pinch the warps against the warp roller approximately at the point where they take on to said roller, said warps being thereby left free to creep over the surface of said warp roller beyond said pinch point.

2. In a loom, a let-off for elastic warps comprising in combination a warp supply means, a support, a warp roller journaled 5 in the support, an auxiliary roller, means to cause said auxiliary rollerto yieldingly bear upon said warp roller, means for braking said rollers, the warps passing from the supply means over the auxiliary roller about the substantially entire periphery of the warp roller and thence to the heddles,- said auxiliary roller being adapted to yieldingly pinch the warps against the warp roller at the point where they take onto said wvarp roller, said warps being thereby left free to creep over the surface of said warp roller beyond said pinch point.

3. A tension mechanism for looms, comprising hangers having bases affixed to the frame of the loom, pulley bearings at their outer portions and guides inclined downwardly from the said bases toward the bearings, a pulley journaled in said bearings and free to be rotated by the warp threads, the periphery of said pulley constituting a movable support for portions of said warp threads and being interposed between a source of supply of said threads and the weaving and take-up mechanism of the loom, a pressure roll having trunnions in rolling contact with said guides, said rolls being rotatable by the threads and movable by gravitation toward the pulley, means for presenting the warp threads to the periphery of the pressure roll, and means for yieldingly resisting the rotation of the pulley.

4. A tension mechanism for looms, comprising hangers having bases affixed to the frame of the loom, pulley bearings at their outer portions and guides inclined downwardly from the said bases toward the bearings, a pulley journaled in said bearings and free to be rotated by the warp threads, the periphery of said pulley constituting a movable support for portions of said. warp threads and being interposed between a source of supply of said threads and the weaving and take-up mechanism of the loom, a pressure roll having trunnions in rolling contact with said guides, said roll being rotatable by the threads and movable by gravitation toward the pulley, weights suspended. from said trunnions and adapted to force the roll toward the pulley, means for presenting the warp threads to the pe riphery of the pressure roll, and means for yieldingly resisting the rotation of the pulley.

A tension mechanism for looms, con1- prising hangers having bases allixed to the frame of the loom, pulley bearings at their outer portions and guides inclined downwardly from the said bases toward the bean ings, a pulley journaled in. said bearings and free to be rotated by the warp threads, the periphery of said pulley constituting a movable support for portions of said warp threads and being interposed between a source of supply of said threads and the weaving and take-up mechanism of the loom, a pressure roll having trunnions in rolling contact with said guides, said roll being rotatable by the threads and movable by gravitation toward the pulley, means for yieldingly resisting the rotation of said roll, means for presenting the warp threads to the periphery of the pressure roll, and means for yieldingly resisting the rotation of the pulley.

(3. A tension mechanism for looms, comprising hangers having bases afliXed to the frame of the loom, pulley bearings at their outer portions and guides inclined clownwardly from the said bases toward the bearings, a pulley journaled in said bearings and free to be rotated by the warp threads, the periphery of said pulley constituting a movable support for portions of said warp threads and being interposed between a source of supply of said threads and the weaving and takeup mechanism Off the loom, a pressure roll having trunnions in rolling contact with said guides, said rolls being rotatable by the threads and movable by gravitation toward the pulley, means for presenting the warp threads to the periphery of the pressure roll and weighted cords trictionally engaged with the pulley to yieldingly resist its rotation.

7. A tension mechanism for looms, comprising hangers having bases afiixed to the frame of the loom, pulley bearings at their outer portions and guides inclined down wardly from the said bases toward the bearings, a pulley journaled in said bearings and free to be rotated by the warp threads, the periphery of said pulley constituting a movable support for portions of said warp threads and being interposed between a source of supply of said threads and the weaving and take-up mechanism of the loom, a pressure roll having trunnions in rolling contact with said guides, said roll being rotatable by the threads and movable by gravitation toward the pulley, means for presenting the warp threads to the periphery of the pressure roll, weighted cords frictionally engaged with the pressure roll to yieldingly resist its rotation, and means for yieldingly resisting the rotation of the pulley.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

EDXVIN E. SIBLE Y.

lVitnesses:

C. F. Brown, P. W. PEZZETTI.

M Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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