US1672719A - Means for tentering fabrics - Google Patents

Description

June 5, 1928. 1,672,719

. J. H. HAMILTON MEANS FOR TENTERING FABRICS filed March 25, 1927 s Sheets-Sheet 1 I77 U6 711 011 BMWM,

31 @JM W June 5, 1928. 1,672,719

J. H. HAMILTON MEANS FOR TENTERING FABRICS Filed March 25, 1927 s Sheets-Sheet 2 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII WWW,

771's dl'lo r7163] June 5, 1928. 1,672,719

J. H.. HAMILTON -Y MEANS FOR TENTERING FABRICS Filed March 23, 1927 s Sheets-Sheet 3 I iffjjiiij Patented June 5, 1928.

UNITED STATES JOHN HERBERT HAMILTON, OF NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS.

MEAN S FOR TENTERING FABRICS.

Application filed March 23, 1927. Serial No. 177,575.

My invention relates to a machine for tentering fabrics; the machine employed, belonging to that class having travelling chains provided with clamps that travel along guide-rails, for the purpose of stretching smoothing and drying continuous Webs of, say, cotton cloth.

The ultimate object of both features of my invention is to obtain, at substantially the same cost, a large increase in the production of centered fabrics, over that now attained with the best known resources.

I have found that when my method is carried out by my' machine, the productive capacity of the latter is much geater than that of any tentering machine known to me; in

'fact, as between mine and the most efiicient of those in the rior art, operating at the same speed and En the same period of time, the quantity of cloth successfully tentered by my machine may be said to be about twice that tentered by the best of those now in use.

Further, be it noted that the modern tentering machine requires, as does mine, the attention of two operatives. If as often happens, the business of a mill absolutely requires that more cloth be tentered than can be, by one machine, in one day, then for extra or night work, these men must be paid larger and additional wages.

7 If the quantity to be tentered is beyond the capacity of one machine, then a second inachine must be purchased, set up and operated as by two operatlves. This means a doubling of cost for machinery, for operating expenses, and of floor space for tentering.

Now by reason of my method and of my apparatus, I overcome these objections and obtain, ,7

1) Greatly increased production;

2 A saving in cost for machinery;

- 3; Saving in number of operatives employed;

4) Saving in cost of over-time work;

is) Saving in floor space in mill;

Allof which savings are of great value to the textile manufacturers, both the large, and especially the smaller.

My'method resides in any tentering process whereby two or more webs of fabric, with an intervening air space between the adjacent webs, may be simultaneousl and uniformly successively fed, conveye stretched and delivered; and my machine,

and to close, for the reception, the holding,

and the release of the selvage edges of said plurality of webs of fabric moving in parallel separate planes.

The accomfanying drawings illustrate the principles 0 my inventions, and the best mode now known to me of embodying them in operative structures.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view, in eleva- 7 tion, of the apparatus, and machinery making use of my new method of tentering; the chains and the gripping means being omitted to avoid confusion.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the tentering machine; its chains and gripping means being indicated by dash and dot lines.

Fig.3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view on line 33, Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a right side elevation of Fig. 3, partially in section.

Fig. 5 is a partial plan View of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of entering end of said tentering machine shown in Fig. 2; some of its parts being omitted forthe sake of clearness.

That one may gather a general idea of the features of my invention, reference may be made to Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 1 showing from beginning to end, my means using my method of tentering a plurality of webs of fabric, uniformly and simultaneously.

Two trucks A, B, each having a dam piece of fabric 0, D that has been extende from washers, are placed under two overhead racks, E, F made up of a series of tension bars, G, H. One web C is led through rack E, and the other D, through rack F, each web, respectively, being directed into the entering end of the machine by an well known automatic, compressed-air clot guiders I, J; and after passing under their respective tension rolls K, L both webs C, D are seasonably simultaneously, but separately, seized at their respective selvages, as Wlll be described hereinafter, by a plurality of superimposed clamps 2, 2, F1 s. 2 and 6, mounted on the links 3 of the chains 4, 4 and are conveyed and stretched in the usualmanner, the two webs C, D, moving through the machine in separate arallel horizontal planes with an air space. etween them. Upon the arrival of the webs at the Peach supporting an endless chain 4, 4',

' travelling in stretching guide-ways Q, and

driven around idle sprockets, R R by sprocket wheels R, B, Fig. 2 at the delivery end of the machine, fixed to shafts S receiving their power from bevel gears operated by a drivin shaft T receiving its power from a suita le source.

The guide-rails are of the usual construction, and, by use of hand wheels V, U and cooperating mechanisms, may be moved to give any desired width to the tentering ma chine.

In order that I may simultaneously and uniformly tenter two or more webs of fabric, I provide integral with, and projecting laterally from, each link 3, Figs. 3, 4, and 5, of each endless chain, as 4, Fig. 2, a standard 5 for the reception of a plurality of clamps 2, 2 designed to be seasonably opened and closed by cams and gravity, to receive and to grip the selvage of a plurality of webs C, D of fabric.

The standard 5 is E-shaped in vertical section, the middle and lower arms 6, 7 forming bases for clamp-plates 6', 7' of the clamps 2, 2; while the upper and the middle arms 8, 7 support pins 9, 9 upon which swing gravity operated jaws 10, 10 that, when free, fall upon the fixed clamp-plates, 6', 7' and grip the selvages that may he upon the clamp-plates.

Upon the-front of each movable jaw as 10, is a boss 11 to be engaged in a manner later to be explained, for raising each jaw while in the rear mid portion of the movable clamp-plate, is a slot 12,.Fig. 5, in which one leg 13 of an L-shaped controller opera: tively connected to the jaw and pivoted at 14: in the standard, is free to be moved by the jaw to raise the jaw and permit the selvage of the fabric to be positioned there under, see Fig. 6, upon entering the machine, or by gravity, when the boss on the jaw is not engaged by a cam surface.

To sustain the standard 5 and clamps 2, 2, Fig. 3, in a fixed plane in relation to the machine frame, the guide-way Q in the to surface of each guide-rail, to receive eacli link'-3"df the chain, is, in crosssection, that of the link. At the back of the link, projecting rearwardly, is an integral guide member 15, Figs. 3, 5, and 6, in sliding engagement with a loclc rail 16 that resists any tendency on the part of the conveyor link, to turn, due to the ull of the stretching fabrics away from the clamps. To resists this tendency still further, a supporting rail 17 is fixed to the inside of the guide-.

rails of the machine.

seasonably to open, simultaneously and momentarialy, the normally closed clamps 2, 2 on each link of the chain, to receive the selvage of the fabric, at the feed end of the machine, see Fig. 6, and release it at the delivery end, there are fixed to the machine frame four groups 18, 18, 19, 19, Figs. 1, 2 and 6 of cam surfaces, each group, as 18, Figs. 1 and 6, comprising a plurality of semi-circular cam surfaces 20, 20, each group, respectively, having a centre in c0mmon with that of its sprocket wheel, and adapted to engage the bosses 11, 11' on the superimposed jaws 10, 10 of the clamps 2, 2'.

That the webs of fabric may move from the cloth guides I, J, Fig. 1, into the positions required, Figs. 1 and 6, to be seized by the clamps, a plurality of delivery plates 22, 22, Fig. 6, is provided which deliver the advancing selvages 23, 23 into the open spaces between the clamp-plate and jaw of each clamp, brought about by said opening cams.

I will now describe the operation of the features of my invention.

By means of the hand wheels U, V, Fig. 2, shafts and bevel gears shown, the longitudinal guide-rails F, P and endless conveyor chains 4, 4 are moved into the position appearing in Fig. 2, the dot and dash lines indicating the endless chain links 3, eachwith its two superimposed clamps 2, 2, Fig. 3, all properly arranged to tenter two webs of fabric C, D, simultaneously and uniformly, said webs being contained, as

sitilready stated, in theiwo trucks A, B, in

Power from a suitable source being aphed to the machine through the large gear l V, Fig. 2, shaft T, bevel gears, shafts S and driving sprockets R, R, indicated in Fi 1, the two endless chains 4, 4', move along t eir respective guide-ways Q, ln the guide-rails P, P and about the driving and the idle sprocket wheelsR, R R R, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2.

The machine being in motion, the web of fabric 0, Fig. 1, from truck A having been drawn over the bars G of the rack E, and

through the cloth guides I, as has, likewise,

the web D from truck B, over its bars H and through its cloth guides J, a narrow threadmg tape is next attached to the free end of each web, drawn under their respective feed rolls K, L, over the delivery plates 22, Fig. 2, through the machine, and over tension bars, to the mechanism M for forming the tentered pieces of fabric C, D, for example, into rolls As this mechanism M begins winding the two separate tapes, the free ends of the webs of fabric C, D, approach and move over the delivery plates 22; their respective selvages 23, 23 being guided by hand into their respective open spaces between the clampplate 6', 7 and jaws 10, 10, Figs. 3 and 6, of the clamp 2, 2, and held open by the engagement of the bosses 11, 11' of the jaws with the cam plates 20, 20 from which said bosses are about to become disengaged.

At the moment of disengagement, the jaws 10, 10' and legs 13, 13' of the controllers, fall, but while the latter fall upon the selvages 23, 23, they also hold the jaws o rft of gripping engagement with the selwages. As the chains 4, 4, clamps 2, 2',

and fabrics C, D, move forward, the chains and clamps move apart, and in controllers finally slip off the edges of the selvage, drop down into the cavities in the bases, and free the jaws, which at once, with the clampplates, bite and securely hold the selvages.

In this way, each portion of the selvage of each of the two webs of cloth, simultaneously enters the machine, is simultaneously seized, and the webs are simultaneously and uniformly stretched in width, as they pro- .ceed to the central portion of the machine,

where the advancing parts of the endless chains with the gripped selvages of the webs, begin and continue to move in parallelism, until their clamps are released by the bosses of the gates engaging the release cams, 19, 19'. From the machine, these two separate webs C, D, pass over suitable bars, and are wound up into rolls C, D, upon their re spective winding rollers ready for the next operation, if any, to which they are to be subjected. I 1 7 Having described the method, and the means, invented by me, whereby, in the tentering art, there may be obtained (1) Greatly increased production; 0 (2) A saving in cost for machinery;

- (3) Saving in number of operatives employed;

4) Saving in cost of over-time work; 5) Saving in floor space in mill;

And desiring to protect said means in the parallelism while passing through the machine. I

2. In a tenter ng machine, a pair of continuously-travelling chain conveyors run ning in the same horizontal plane and mecha nism for driving the same, each link of said chains being provided with two independent cloth-gripping units mounted one above the other, each of said units embodying its own gripping-plate and downwardly-moving gripping-devices, and stretching-guides for the chains locat (1 under the chains, whereby the one set 0 chains and stretchingguides serve to uniformly tenter two webs of cloth.

3. In a tentering machine, driving mechanism, a pair of travelling chains moved by said mechanism and both lying in the same horizontal plane, said mechanism embodying chain-carrying wheels whose axes are vertical, cloth-gripping-units mounted on top of the links of said chains, each unit comprising a plurality of superimposed gripping-jaws,

and companion c1amp-plates,-all the clamp.-

plates having their clamping-faces facing upwardly, stretching-guides for holding said gripping-units in their respective operating planes, and means for seasonably opening and closing each of said jaws for the purpose of simultaneously and seasonably receiving, seizing and releasing a plurality of 'moving webs ,of fabric separate from each other but in parallelism while passing through the machine. f

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature. 1

JOHN HERBERT HAMILTON.

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