US1329302A - oe boston - Google Patents

Description

C. LEA.

TUBE FRAME FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION man one. l9l3- RENEWED MAR. 11.1918.

alt-(f UNITED STATES IZTENT ()FFIGE,

CHARLES LEA, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNUR TO AMERICAN WARP DRAWING MACHINE COMPANY, OF BOSTGN, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

TUBE-FRAME FOR LOQMS.

Application filed December S, 1913, Serial No. $305,634.

To all whom it may concern:

lie it lrnown that l, CJTAIELES LEA, citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachu sett-s, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tube-Frames for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This a giplication forms a continuation of, and renewal of an allowed application now pending in the U. S. Patent OlllCK-B, Serial No. 805,634E, filed by me December 9, 1913, and cowering the invention in tube frames herein described and claimed.

This invention relates to tube frames such as are used in weaving Axminster carpets or other pile fabric, and which embrace generally speaking, a rigid longitudinal carrier-structure which forms so to speak, the back-bone for carrying the rotatable yarn spool and the support to which are secured a plurality of tu'lt tubes which control or guide and deliver the yarn tufts to the fabric in the process of weaving.

To meet practical requirements the tuft tubes must be sufficiently narrow to pass between adjacent warp threads, and must be very accurately and uniformly spaced and reliably held in position; furthermore, convenience in use requires that the intake or threadii ends of the tubes should be ere posed to afford unobstructed access by the operator for convenient and accurate insertion oi the yarn-ends, and that substantially the whole body portion of the tubes should be exposed to inspection to permit instan detection of any bending or collapsing of any individual tube.

Owing to the practical requirements of the art, it has been the practice to solder the tuft tubes to each other and to the carrier structure along one side thereof, although performance of this soldering operation is necessarily slow and very painstaking, subject lo imperfect positioning, and re quires the services of a skilled mechanic. l/loreowr, the inconvenience and loss of time of the loom. involved in tearing out damaged tubes, dressing the ruptured portion of the solder to fit it for a new tube, and accurately resoldering such new tube in place, is a serious drawback or hindrance to eiiiciency.

It is the object of the present invention. to provide an improved tube frame having the Specification of Letters Patent.

Renewed March 11, 1918. Serial No. 221,864.

requisite arrangement, form and disposition of lts component parts with the tube members disposed side by side externally to or in front of the carrier structure so as to meet the above described conditions, but so that individual tube members while rigidly and securely attached to the carrier structure shall be capable of quickiand easy detachment for replacement or renewal, the removal being effected by mechanically releasing the holding engagement of the carrier structure with the individual tubesinstead of cutting or tearing out old tubes and soldering in new ones as has heretofore been the practice. A further object is to afiord such a construction and arrangement of the carrier construction in conjunction with the construction of the tuft tubes as to aiiord an absolutely accurate and uniform means for positioning or spacing the tuft tubes side by side and maintaining them firmly against displacement in any direction against such external pressure or contact as they may be subjected to in practical service. A further object is to provide a form of construction whereby standard tube members of proper form may be interchangeably used for replacement purposes and whereby in case of injury to one or more of the tuft tubes it is convenient and practicable to readily replace only the damaged tubes without disturbing or injuring the undamaged tubes. 7

For the purpose of meeting the practical conditions above stated and for the objects indicated, the invention consists primarily of a tube frame or spool frame embracing in its construction a rigid longitudinal carrier structure adapted to form a support for yarn spool placed in juxtaposition thereto, for the purpose of supplying the yarn to the individual tubes, and a series of tuft tubes operatively engaged with said carrierstructure by a quick-detachable and uniform spacing connection whereby the tuft-containing portions of the tubes are completely exposed for purposes of inspection and of threading the yarn, while permitting easy and quick replacement of damaged or de- 'fective tube members.

As has been pointed out above the forward or yarn delivery ends of the tubes have to be of such dimensions as to leave spaces between, so that. the ends of the tubes (for iift-delivery purposes) may pass down he tween adjacent warp yarns in the loom; and in many cases there are required to be so many tubes per inch lengthwise to the tube frame, that substantially the largest practicable number of tubes per inch has been reached in commercial practice. The individual tubes are generally of somewhat larger cross section at "the rear or yarnenterin ends thereof.

I preferably form the tubes so that with the requisite number thereof per inch they are of such dimension at their rear portions that, when operatively assembled in parallel relation on the carrier-structure, rear portions of adjacent walls of adjacent tubes are in surface contact, whereby adjacent tubes in cooperation with their carrier engaging connection serve'to mutually support and space each other in proper parallel relation for service.

As a further detail such construction enables me preferably to provide holding and guiding s ots .for the tubes and preferably of such dimension that each slot can snugly receive or engage the adjacent walls of two adjacent tube members, thus affording a convenient method of holding and alining the tubes with absolute precision while maintaining the tubes with their axes in parallel alinement.

Obviously when employing these last described details of my invention the slots or openings in the carrier-structure for receiving adjacent walls of adjacent tube. members may engage and hold the tube members without further addition, but usually I prefer to construct the tube members with the rear ortion of their walls or extensions thereof, in such form asto serve in a cooperative gripping or holding engagement with the assembled carrier-structure, but always so as to permit the ready detachment of individual tube members.

The tubemembers or units may comprise, according to preference in individual cases, either-single tubes of the proper construction to adapt them to detachable engagement with the carrier-structure, or several tubes assembled together upon a common connecting or attaching member, thus forming so to speak, -pluraltube units.

In the forms of my invention illustrated herein, the tube members or units whether single or multiple, are detachably connected with, or attached to the carrier-structure without'a separate additional locking member, but in a co-pending application I have shown one of the modes in which a special locking member or clamping member may be employed as a ositive locking means for securing the tu e members to the carrierstructure while permitting their ready detachment therefrom.

lIn'the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan View showing the complete tube frame engaging the tube-member with the carriermember.

Figs. 4, 7 and 8 are different detail views illustrating the application of the quickdetachable and positioning connection of a multiple tube-unit.

In the practice of my invention according to the particular form illustrated in the drawings, the carrier-structure comprises a longitudinal rigid bar a made of any suitable tubular form, to the ends of which are secured in any suitable manner, the arms or brackets e which support the yarn spool f in operative relationship to the individual tubemembers whose main function it is to deliver the yarn tufts properly between the warp threads in order to furnish the pile of the woven fabric. The tuft-delivering members I) are made of thin sheet metal bent to form hollow delivery members or tubes with their forward or delivery ends reduced in width so as to leave uniform spaces between the delivery ends of the adjacent tubes in order that the tubes may pass between the warp threads in the tuft-weaving operation. The rear or intake ends of these single tubes are of a width or gage to allow the desired number of tubes per inch lengthwise of the carrier-member, to lie side by side in parallel arrangement, and preferably with the adjacent walls of adjacent tubes in surface contact with each other thereby affording mutual support.

The particular form of carrier bar shown in Fig. 2, which constitutes the backbone of the carrier-structure, is quadrilateral in shape, with its front face and a portion of each adjacent face intersected by a series of uniformly spaced parallel transverse slots 0 which are dimensioned to allow the projectino rear ends of the adjacent side walls of ad acent tubes, to be snugly inserted in a single slot as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. It will be seen that the cooperative structural formation of the main carrier-member and the tuft-tube members is such that the individual tuft tubes are accurately and uniformly spaced without the possibility of shifting along the carrier-member or of changing their right-angle relationship to the ax s of the carrier-member. At the same time each or any tube-member may be quickly removed from its engagement with the carrier-structure to permit a a similar member to be inserted in its place, the tubemembers mutually supporting and sustaining each other by lateral contact at their rear or intake end portions.

In Figs. 2 and 5 of the drawings I have shown the different ways of interlocking or securing the tube-members in their operative positions on the carrier-member. In Fig. 2 the extensions 6 of the side walls are provided with projecting prongs b which are constructed and arranged to spring into interlocking engagement with a series of correspondingly arranged apertures a formed in the main carrier-member in alinement with the spacing and holdslots (6.

The form of interlocking connection illustrated in Fig. 5 works on a similar principle, but in this case the hook members 5 have an external interlocking engagement with retaining shoulders b, b, which are formed lengthwise of the bar at the appropriate location to accomplish this purpose. The exterior angle or corner of the bar in this case forms one such retaining shoulder, while the forward face of the bar is provided with a projecting ledge 6 It will of course be understood that'these two forms of positively locking individual tube-members to the bar are merely illustrative of the interlocking principle which forms one of the features of this invention.

Precisely the same spacing and holding principle is applicable in cases where like the form illustrated in Figs. 6, 7 and" 8, the tube-members instead of consisting of a single tube, comprises a plurality of tubular guides permanently or rigidly secured to a common holding or retaining member (1 which as here shown has a flat body portion with parallel angular extensions 0 which fit into correspondingly spaced receiving slots a in the main carrier-member a. These extensions or wings a obviously are capable of being formed in any suitable manner to interlockingly engage the carrier-member such as by a spring or resilient engagement between suitably formed hook portions 0 and properly located apertures or openings a in the carrier-structure. In this case too, each tube-member affords lateral support for the next adjacent member, the receiving slots of the carrier-memher being preferably of a width to receive adjacent portions of adjacent supporting members.

Whether the single tube-members or the multiple tube-members are employed. will depend upon particular conditions and convenience in each case, but in either event the tube-members will have a quick-detachable engagement with the rigid carrier-structure, and in such relation that no improper spacing or positioning along the carrier-structure of the tube-members is possible, while at the same time the tubemembers are exposed exteriorlv of the carrier-structure so as to avoid all obstruction to the easy drawing-in or threading of the yarn strands from the yarn spool, and also permitting rapid and complete inspection of the tube-members so that any deformation or bending of any individual tube may be instantly detected.

What I claim is:

1. An Axminster tube-frame for the control of yarn for tuft weaving, embracing in combination a rigid longitudinal carrierstructure adapted to form a support for a yarn-supplying spool, and a series of tufttube members constructed to be assembled side by side on said carrier-structure in position to receive their appropriate yarn-ends from the sp0ol,'said tube members being structurally separate, and being mechanically engaged with the carrienstructure in operative relationship by a quick-detachable engagement with the carrier-structure whereby each tube member 18 properly positioned in relation to the yarn-spool While permitting rapid and easy replacement, substantially as described.

2. In an Axminster tube-frame for controlling the delivery of yarn for tuft weaving, the combination of a carrier-structure. with a yarn-delivering tube member formed to be detachably engaged with said carrierstructure with its yarincontaining portion disposed in exterior relationship to said carrier-structure, whereby the tube-member is removably held in operative position while affording unobstructed access for inspection and yarn-threading purposes, substantially as described.

3. An Axminster tube-frame for the control of tuft yarns in weaving, comprising a rigid tube carrying structure extending transversely of the rear ends of the tube members when the latter are operatively assembled on said structure, and individually and readiiy detachable tube-members operatively held on said structure with their axes parallel, and at right angles to the axis of the carrier-structure, said tube-members being formed as separate elements and being dimensioned to have the rear portions of adjacent walls of adjacent tube-members in lateral contact when operatively assembled, whereby adjacent tube-members afford mutual support for each other to aid in maintaining correct operative position while permitting indvidual tube-members to be readily detached and replaced on the carrierstructure, substantially as described.

tube-members operatively assembled inengagement with said slots and readily detachable from the carrier-structure, substantially as described.

5. An Axminster tube-frame for the control of tuft yarns in weaving, embracing in its construction a rigid carrying structure extending transversely of the rear ends of the tube-members when the latter are assembled on said structure and provided with a series of transverse slots, and a series of parallel tube-members assembled on said structure by detachable engagement therewith, the tube members being formed and dimensioned with the rear portions of their side walls in lateral contact with the next adjacent tube-members and partly within said slots in the carrier-structure, the individual slots being dimensioned to receive the adjacent walls of two adjacent tubes whereby adjacent tubes are retained in contact in a single slot and the parallelism of the tubes is maintained, substantially as described.

6. 'An Axminster tube-frame for the cohtrol of tuft yarns in weaving, embracing a rigid carrier-structure having uniformly spaced receiving slots, a series of tube-members havin their rear portions formed to engage sai slots and held therein by a quick-detachable connection whereb each tube-member may be removed from t e carrier-structure independently of the other tube members, substantially as described.

7. An Axminster tube-frame for the control of tuft yarns in weaving, embracing in its construction a rigid carrier-structure, a series of tube-members arranged transversely of the carrier-structure and exteriorly thereof, said tube-members being held detachably in operative position by spring engagement with said carrier structure whereby each tube-member may be removed or replaced without affecting the spring engagement of the other tube-members with the carrier-structure.

8. In an Axminster tube-frame the combination of a. carrier-bar formed with transverse parallel slots along one side, a series of tube-members having rearwardly projecting extensions adapted to pass into said slots and formed to have interlocking quickdetachable engagement with said bar to support the tubes against swinging and torsional movement.

9. In an Axminster tube-frame the combination of a rigid carrier-bar formed with transverse parallel slots along one side, a series of tuft-guiding tube-members having their side walls extended rearwardly to project into said slots, and formed to have a quick-detachable lockin engagement with said carrier-bar for holding them in operative position.

10. The combination of a hollow transversely slotted carrier bar, a series of tufttube members having rearwardly projecting holding extensions arranged to enter the slots in said bar and formed with book members adapted to form a quick-detachable locking engagement with cooperating portions of the bar.

11. In an Axminster tube-frame the combination with a carrier-bar provided with transverse parallel slots arranged along one side thereof, a series of tuft tube-members each having a pair of supporting extensions of a thickness approximately equal to one-half the width of said slots, whereby the adjacent wings of adjacent tube-members may be inserted in the same slot in order to be held in quick-detachable engagement with said bar.

12. In an Axminstertube-frame the combination of a single rigid carrier bar and a series of parallel tuft tubes provided with spring supporting members formed to be sprung into interlocking engagement with said bar to permit the quick attachment and detachment of each individual tuft tube from the bar independently of the other tubes, substantially as described.

13. In an Axminster tube frame the combination of a single carrier bar, a series of tuft tubes, each individual tube having means for firmly connecting it to the carrier bar by a quick-detachable engagement, the connecting means of each tube being independent of the other tubes, whereby any desired tuft tube may be instantly detached from the bar and replaced thereon without disturbance of the other tubes, substantially as described.

14. The combination of a rigid hollow carrier bar provided with transverse slots along one side and having a series of cooperating apertures formed in the adjacent sides, and a series of tuft tubes having wings arranged on one side to project into said slots, said wings bein formed with hook-like members arrang to be forced into quick-detachable locking engagement with said apertures in the bar, substantially, as described.

15. A carrier bar foran Axminster tubeframe comprisin a longitudinal rigid metallic bar provi ed along one side with a series of narrow parallel slots of equal. width with the exception of the slots at either end, said end slots being approximately one-half the width of the intermediate slots, substantially as described.

16. A carrier-bar for an Axminster tubeframe comprising a longitudinal hollow metallic bar provided with a series of parallel uniformly spaced thin transverse slots intersecting three sides of the hollow bar, said bar having also a series of cooperating holding apertures alined with said slots, substantially as described.

17. A tuft-guide member for a tube-frame embracing a tubular body for containing and guiding the yarn, and offset holding means of spring metal projecting from the rear or intake end of said tube to form interlocking spring engagement with its carrier bar, substantially as described.

18. A tuft-guide member for a tubeframe embracing in its construction a tubular body portion for guiding and containing the yarn, one end of Which is provided with a pair of laterally offset holding Wings at the rear or intake end of said tube, said Wings being formed to have interlocking engagement with the carrier bar of the tube frame, substantially as described.

In Witness whereof, I have subscribed the above specification.

CHARLES LEA.

In the presence of ARTHUR F. RANDALL, GEO. N. GODDARD.

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