US1336089A - Automatic controlling attachment for looms - Google Patents

Description

I, ROTHFUCHS. AUTOMATIC CONTROLLING ATTACHMENT FOR Looms.

APPLICATION FVILED OCT. 12. 1916. "1,336,089. Patented Apr. 1920 2 SHEETS.SHEET 1- L. ROTHFUCHS. AU-TQMATI'C CONTROLLING ATTACHMENT FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I2, I9I6- I UNIE %TATE% T OFFICE.

LOUIS ROTI-IFUGHS, OF THREE OAKS, MICHIGAN, ESIGNOR TS THE VJARREN FEATHER- BONE COMPANY, OF THREE OAKS, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

AUTOMATIC CONTROLLING ATTACHMENT FOR LOOMS.

Application filed Gctober 12, 1816.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS Ro'rHrUoHs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Three Oaks, in the county of Berrien and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Uontrolling Attachments for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an automatic controlling attachment for looms, and is of particular utility in connection with looms in which ribbons or cords are woven in a long row of weaving fields. In such looms a lathe member extending full length of the loom is moved forwardly and rearwardly and carries reeds for compacting the woof threads between the warp threads) which travel transversely through the loom, the lathe also carrying a continuous rack which is rapidly longitudinally reciprocated thereon and with which small pinions mesh which also mesh with racks on the shuttles which reciprocate in guide-ways mounted on the lathe, these shuttles carrying the woof threads back and forth through the warp strands during operation of the loom. The continuous rack which drives all the shuttles is usually made of light material, usually wood, and its teeth sometimes break, in which event the rack would be prevented from reciprocating its full distances so that the shuttles would not travel entirely through the warp threads and such threads would be torn, and considerable time would be lost in tediously rethreading the loom. Or, the teeth of the pinions. or of the shuttle racks, which are also usually of wood, may break to prevent full stroke of the rack bar. Or, the belts which are sometimes used for reciprocating the rack bar, may stretch and fail to give the rack bar the required distance of reciprocation. Other conditions may also arise which would result in improper movement of the rack bar, all of which would result in tearing of the threads and considerable loss of time.

The object of my invention is therefore to provide an attachment for looms of this class, which will operate to immediately stop the loom the instant that the rack bar fails to move its required distance in either direction, such immediate stopping preventing tearing of the threads and calling the operators attention to the defective operation of the loom. More in detail, the invention in- Specifieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

Serial No. 125,133.

volves a plate secured to the rack bar to partake of the same movement as the shuttles. The shuttles have a combined transverse and lateral movement, each shuttle describing a U-shaped path du ng opera tion of the loom, and the plate secured to the rack to reciprocate therewith and to travel forwardly and rearwardly with the lathe will describe the same U-shaped path that the shuttles do. On the loom supporting structure an actuating bar is mounted which is adapted at one end to cooperate with the clutch mechanism controlling the connection of the loom with a driving source, and the other end of the bar extends into the U-shaped path of the plate in such manner that when the loom is operatingproperly the. plate will travel alongside of the bar and just clear the bar, but should the rack bar for any reason fail to be shifted the proper distance in either direction the plate will strike and shift the bar which will then release the driving clutch mechanism, brake mechanism being actuated at the same time to immediately stop the loom after unelutehing from the driving source.

Onthe accompanying drawings I have shown one form of my improved controlling mechanism applied to a loom of well known construction. In these drawings Figure 1 is an end elevational view of a loom to which my improved attachment is applied,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the end of the loom, showing just enough of the loom parts to illustrate the operation of my attachment,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on plane 3-3, Fig.1,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view from plane 4-4, Fig. 1, showing part of the clutch controlling lever mechanism.

The loom shown comprises a supporting frame-work 10 on which is journaled the main drive shaft 11 carrying at its end the disk 12 and driving pulley 13. Running along the front of the frame is the shelf 14 for supporting various parts of the loom, as for example the rollers 15 over which finished cords or ribbons 16 are guided to receiving spools (not shown). Behind the shelf 14 the lathe beam 17 extends longitudinally of the machine and is supported on upright rocker arms 18 mounted on a shaft 19 extending along the frame-work. Connectof the lathe beam at the rear thereof is a' row of shuttle supporting blocks 22 through which shuttles 23 reciprocate parallel with the beam. Each block has upper and lower guide pieces 2% ant 25 secured to its front between which the shuttle reciprocates,-the top block having the groove 26 for receiving the tongue 27 on the shuttle. Within each block rack pinions' 28 are journaled which engage with the rack teeth 29 on the under side of the shuttles. The lathe beam has a groove 30 in which a rack bar 31 is adapted to reciprocate longitudinally on the beam, the teeth 32 of the rack bar meshing with the various pinions 28 in the shuttle supporting structures, the distance of reciprocation of the rack bar being such as will reciprocate the shuttles back and forth over a distance equal to the distance between the centers of adjacent supporting blocks 22.

In Fig. 3 means are shown more or less diagrammatically for effecting reciprocation of the rack 31. Within and at the ends of the beam 17 pulleys 33 and 34 are journaled around which pass belt sections 35 and 36. The upper ends of the belts are secured to the'respective ends of the rack and the belts travel over guide pulleys 37 and 38 journaled on the beam and around guide pulleys 39 and i0 journaled on the frame-work 10. The lower ends of the belt sections ter minate in hooks 41 and --l-2 respectively which engage a link fitting 43 which is pivoted on the stud 4L4, this stud being secured to a crank arm extending from the shaft 26 driven by a driving t'ain (not shown) from the main shaft 11. The stud 44; is adjustable along the arm by means of a slot l7. 'As the crank arm 45 rotates tension will be exerted alternately on the belt sections and the rack bar will be shifted back and forth in the lathe beam and the shuttles will be correspondingly reciprocated. The mechanism for driving the shaft 46 is not shown as it forms no part of the invention and is well known in loom construction, the shaft being driven intermittent]3 in a manner to cause the belt sections to remain a, rest a while when the rack bar is at the ends of the lathe beam, and such periods of rest occur while the lathe beam is being shifted forwardly and a distance rearwardly. During the remainder of the rearward movement of the lathe beam the shaft 46 will be rotated to quickly swing the crank arm 45 to shift the rack bar to the other end of its stroke and to correspondingly reciprocate theshuttles.

The warp threads a9 extend from supply spools (not shown) and are guided through harness frames 50 of the usual construction and fron'i there through reed frames 51 inserted between the shuttle supporting blocks 22. Each shuttle carries a bobbin 53, the thread on which is carried back and forth through the warp threads to form the woof threads, the woof and warp threads being interwoven to form the cord or ribbon 16, all in a maner well understood in the' art. The shuttles are carried bodily forwardly with the lathe beam and are reciprecated longitudinally thereon. During forward movement of the beam the'shuttles travel along one side of the warp threads and after the beam has been returned a distance the shuttles are reciprocated through and to the other side of the warp threads and are then again carried forwardlywith the bean'i, the shuttles therefore describing U shaped paths. Should the shuttles fail to reciprocate their full distances on the beam they will atchin the threads when the beam is shifted forwardly and the threads will be torn and considerable time will be lost in labo iously and tediously re-threading and tying broken threads. Means are of course provided whereby the operator may operate the n1a-' chine driving clutch mechanism from any part of the machine, but the'operatcr cannot always operate this means rapidly enough to prevent damage to the threads. Sometimes the operator is away from the machine; and. even if he is close beside the machine, many times it will be impossible for him to discover defective operation in time to prevent damage, as in some of these machines there are a' great number of shuttles and other parts and ierations which he must inspect. The object of my invention is therefore to provide means for automatically stopping the machine as soon as the shuttle operating rack bar fails to travel itsfull distance in either direction. Such automatic controlling mechanismmay be of various constructions and applied in various ways. On the drawings I have shown the controlling mechanism applied to cooperate with the manual clutch controlling mechanism to automatically operate this mechanism to stop the machine. Describing first the clutch controlling mechanism provided on the looms for manual operation. a lever is pivoted in lugs 55-011' bracket extending from the machine frame-work 10. The rear end of this lever forks around a clutch collar 57 and pins 58 in the fork engage in the groove 59 of the collan-this collar being shown as secured to the'pulley 1 -3 so that the pulleyniay be shifted along the shaft 11 tobe awayfrom the disk 12 orto befin frictional or clutching engagement therewith. The front end of the lever pivots. to arm 60 extending fronithe shaft 61 jourlll) naled in the end of the lower arm 62 of the U-shaped supporting bracket 63 mounted on the machine frame-work 10 at the front thereof. At its outer end the shaft 61 carries the arm 64.- having the slot 65 at its upper end with which engages the pin 66 of the lever 67 which is pivoted at the end of the upper arm 68 of the bracket 68. The upper end of the lever 67 pivots to the end of the bar 69 which extends along the front of the machine to be accessible to the operator. A tension spring 70 connects between the arm 6% and the bracket 63 and tends to swing the arm 6% inwardly and the upper end of lever 67 outwardly, the arrangement being such that when the bar 69 has been shifted a short distance outwardly the spring will have suflicient strength to effect complete outward shift of the bar. In the positions shown the bar is in, the front end of lever 54 is out and its rear end is in, and the pulley 13 is in driving connection with the disk 12 on the main shaft 11 and the machine is operated. WVhen it is desired to stop the machine the bar 69 is shifted outwardly to effect unclutching of the pulley 13 from the disk. A stop arm 71 is provided on the bracket 63 for the arm 6% when the bar 69 is shifted out. In order to stop the machine immediately after unclutching, a brake lever 72 is provided which is pivoted at 73 to the bracket 56 and carries a brakeshoe 7 4: at its rear end, the front end of the lever forking around the lever 54. When the clutch is actuated to start the machine the brake lever will be rotated to release the brake lever from the shoe but when the clutch mechanism is shifted to release the pulley 13 the brake-shoe is immediately pressed against the disk 12 and the machine is stopped.

Describing now my attachment for automatically actuating the clutch controlling mechanism, a bracket 75 secured to the end of the shelf 14 forms a guide for the forward and rearward reciprocation of a cam bar 76 which has the upturned rear end 77. At its front end the bar is turned over and shaped to form a cam head 78 for engaging with the lever 67 when the bar is shifted forwardly, a spring 79 between the bar and bracket tending to hold the bar in its rear position with the cam head away from the lever 67. Secured to the rack bar 31 and extending forwardly therefrom is a plate 80 which during operation of the machine partakes of the same movements as the rack bar, that is, the plate travels bodily forwardly and rearwardly with the lathe beam and reciprocates thereon with the rack bar and therefore describes the same path as the shuttles when the machine is operating properly. The location of the up-turned end 77 of the cam bar 76 is such that when the rack bar is at one end of its stroke and the lathe beam is carried forwardly the plate 80 will pass the end 77 at one side thereof and will just clear it, and when the rack bar is at the other end of its stroke and the lathe beam is shifted forwardly the plate will pass the end 77 at the other side thereof and will just clear it. Then, if for any reason the rack bar was not shifted the full distance in either direction the plate 80 will not clear the cam bar but will strike it and the cam head 78 will engage with the lever 67 and will swing it sufficiently to allow the spring 70 to complete the operation to effect unclutching of the pulley 13 and application of the brake-shoe to the disk to immediately stop the machine, and to prevent tearing of the threads. Owing to the construction of looms of the class referred to, conditions may readily arise which will prevent full stroke of the rack bar. The long rack bar must be made very light in order that it may be rapidly shifted along the lathe without requiring excessive power or heavy driving parts, and such rack bars are sometimes made of wood and sometimes of material which has no greater strength than wood. The shuttles are also usually of wood and the pinions are of wood, fiber, or similar material. Owing to the sudden throwing back and forth of the rack bar and the correspondingly sudden reciprocations and shiftings of the shuttles, teeth or pieces may break from the racks or pinions and full movement of the parts would be prevented. Sometimes also the belt sections which control the reciprocation of the rack bar will stretch and will not effect full stroke of the rack bar. Then, if the machine is not immediately stopped the shuttles will not clear the warp threads and the threads will tear or tangle, this causing considerable loss in the operation of the machine. However, with my attachment for automatically stopping the machine, the lathe beam can move forwardly just once before the machine is stopped after failure of the rack bar to move full distance in either direction. As soon as repairs have been made after automatic stopping of the machine the hand bar is shifted inwardly and the machine is ready for further automatic control.

The attachment of my invention comprises few parts and is very simple, and can be readily attached to the well known types of lathes without in any wise altering the construction or arrangement thereof. Changes and modifications may also be made which would still come within the scope of the invention, and I do not therefore desire to be limited to what I have shown and described.

I claim as follows:

In a loom, the combination of a shuttle rack, driving mechanism and clutch mechanism, clutch operating members comprising a manually operable ba1',,a clutch'lever, levers pivotally connected with each other and having operative connection with said bar and clutch lever respectively, said levers being flexed in the movement of said clutch lever into clutch releasing position, a tension spring connected with said levers and acting to aid in movement of said levers into clutch releasing position, and means for automatically operating said clutch mechanism comprising a cam bar positioned to be engaged by said shuttle rack in the undesired movement thereof, and adapted to act on said levers to move the same toward clutch releasing position, and a brake member operably connected to and operative simultaneously With said clutch lever, and acting to effect the stopping of said driving mechanism.

In Witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this (3th day of October, A. D. 1916.

LOUIS ROTHFUCHS.

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