US1873108A

US1873108A - Weft detecting mechanism for drop box looms

Info

Publication number: US1873108A
Application number: US530900A
Authority: US
Inventors: Clyde E Brown
Original assignee: Crompton and Knowles Corp
Current assignee: Crompton and Knowles Corp
Priority date: 1931-04-17
Filing date: 1931-04-17
Publication date: 1932-08-23
Anticipated expiration: 1949-08-23

Description

Aug. 23, 1932. Q 5 BROWN 1,873,108

WEFT DETECTING MECHANISM FOR DROP BOX LOOMS Filed April 1'7. 1931 m'lmflwlllh (93 "MIN" i I I Jmrentor Clyde 5. Brown attorney;

Patented Aug. 23, 1932 UNETED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLYDE E. BROWN, 01? WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO CROMPTON &'

KNOWLES LOOM WORKS, 0F WORCESTER,

MASSACHUSETTS WEF'I DETECTING MECHANISM Eon nEor Eox Looms Application filed April 17,

This invention relates to looms in which drop boxes are provided at the detecting side of the loom and in which a separate weft detector is definitely associated with each drop box and moves upward and downward therewith. 1

It is the general object of my invention to provide improved means for determining which weft detector shall become operative at a given time and which detector shall remain inoperative.

More specifically, I provide a construction by which the detector associated with the shuttle about to become active will be left free for detecting action, while the other detector will be positively withdrawn or otherwise held inoperative.

My invention also relates to an improved construction in the supporting slide of aweft detector, so designed that a certain amont of lost motion is provided for a purpose to be described.

My invention further relates to arrange ments and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawing, in which 7 Fig. 1 is an end elevation, partly in section, showing portions of a drop box loom having my improvements applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the detecting mechanism, looking in the direction of the arrow2in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view, taken along the line 33 in Fig. 2, and 7 Figs. 4 and 5 are diagrammatic views indicating the operation of certain parts under different conditions.

Referring to the drawing, I have shown portions of a loom frame 10, a lay 11, a lay end 12, drop boxes 13 vertically movable thereon, and a lift-er rod 14 for raising and lowering the boxes, these parts being of any usual construction.

A detector slide 20 is mounted in a vertical stud 60 positioned in an arcuate slot 61 inthe relation on arms 23 and 24 projecting laterally 931. Serial no. 530,900.

from the slide 20. The vertical spacing of the detecting devices A and Bcorre'sponds to the vertical spacing of the drop boxes 13 and of the'shuttles S and S boxed therein. 3

Each weft detecting device comprises a'detectingmember 30 pivoted at 31 (Fig. 3) to a member 34 which is associated with a similar member 35 to form a sliding support for the detector 30. The

members

34 and 35 are slidable in a guideway in a stand 36 and eachmember is cut away or recessed asindicated at 37 and is provided with a lug or projection termined amount of lost

motion slide members

34 and 35.

A spring 40 in each stand 36 engages the detector 30 at the point 41 and holds a forwardly extending portion 42 of the detector against a stop pin 43 on the slidemember 34'. The single spring 40 also acts to separate between the the

slide members

34 and 35 to their fullest When a detector eng'ages'a weft carrier having a sufficient supply of weft thereon, the detector is moved directly forward, sliding past the contact member without communieating any motion thereto. When the weft is substantially exhausted, however, the detector 3'0 slides along the surface of the carrier to the left in Fig. 3, communicating-motion to the contact member 50 an'd swinging the arm 53 intothe path of the floating lever or chopper 55, by which action the lever 55 is rendered operative to initiate weft replenishment in the usual manner.

The detector slide 20 is provided with a front end of an arm 63, the stud entering The slide 20 is provided with notches or MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF .38, said lugs and recesses permitting a prededepressions M (Fig. 2) adapted to receive the pointed end of a spring-pressed plunger 65 and is thereby retained in desired vertical position when the lay moves rearward and the stud 60 is free from the slot 61 in the positioning arm 63.

Upper and

lower shields

70 and 71 are pivoted at 72 and 73 on the fixed stand or support 21. Each shield 70 .or 71' isprovided with a guiding portion or flange 75, adapted to cooperatewith offset lugs 76 (Figs.

' 2 and 3) at the front end of the slide members 34: and 35. Springs 77 hold the'free ends of the

shield members

70 and 71 pressed against the side of the support 21,'as indicated 'in- Fig. 1. The flanges '75 are cut away at theirextreme end portions so that the lugs 76 may ,pass by the flanges at-their upper or lowerlimits of travel, as will be hereinafter sirable that the detecting mechanism operate only with the shuttle about to become active and not with the shuttle which is moving to inactive position.

ment.

Assuming that a downward change in the Weft detection takes place as the boxes are approaching front center, at which time theshuttle about to become active is moving upwardor downward toward activeposition in alignment with the shuttle race, and the shuttle about to become inactive is moving upward or downward away from such alignment.

In Fig. 1 the boxes and detecting devices A and B are shown in an intermediate position, neither shuttle being in active position. I have indicated in dotted lines at 7 6 in Fig. 1 the position which would be occupied by the lug or projection 76 of the detecting device B at the completion of an operative upward movement, and at 76 I have shown the corresponding position of the detecting device A after an inoperative upward moveposition of the shuttles and drop boxes then 'takes'plaee, bringing the upper shuttle'S to active position the slide 20 will be simultaneously lowered, carrying. the upper and lower lugs or projections 76 downward relative to the shields and 71. The effectof this downward movement is indicated in Fig. 4, the upper lug or projection 76 moving directly downward behind the flange 7 5 of the upper shield 7 O whilethe lower lug or projection 7 6 is engaged by the flange of the lower shield 71 and is drawn'outward and forward, withdrawing the lower detector 30 of the detecting device Efrem engagement rendered inoperative by the action of the shield 71-. This movement of the lugs 76 is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4.

If the boxes are in lowered position, wlth the shuttle S at the level of the shuttle race and the shuttle S about to be raised and become active, the upper detector 30 will be withdrawn by the upper shield 70, while the lug 76 of the lower detector will pass behind the shield71, leaving the lower detector '30 free and operative, as indicated in Fig. 5. As the detector devices A'and B complete their upward or downward movement, the lugs 7 6 are freed from the cut-away end portions of the flanges 75. p

I have formed the detector slide in two

parts

34 and 35 so that the rear part 3% may move forward when the associated detector 30 engages a full bobbin without causing the portion 35 of the slide to be pushed forward and'engage the under sideof the

corresponding shield

70 or 71, as such engagement would add the tension of the corresponding spring 77 to the force of the spring 40, causing an unnecessarily strong pressure of the detector 30 against the weft on the bobbin.

Having thus described my invention, it

will be seen that I have provided a quite simple construction by which the detector moving from active position is rendered inoperative and the detector moving'toward active position is rendered operative.

The device is thus adapted for use in a loom designed for mixing filling, or many other loom, in which the boxes and shuttle are shifted after each pick. -.Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is 1. In a weftreplenishing drop box loom having a pair of shuttle boxes. and means to move said boxes to bring a selected shuttle to active position, a weft detecting device,

definitely associated with each shuttle box, and means to render each detecting device inoperative as its associated shuttle box is moved to inactive positionand to restore said detecting device to operative condition as the movement of the shuttle box to inactive posi-' tion is completed.

2.- In a weft replenishing drop box loom having a pair of shuttle boxes and means to move said boxes to bring'a selected shuttle to active position, a weft detecting device definitely associated with each shuttle box,

and means to render each detecting device inoperative as its associated shuttle box is moved to inactive position, said means leaving freely operative at all times the detecting device associated with the shuttle box moving to active position and restoring the inoperative detecting device to operative condition as the shuttle box movement is completed. 7 v

3. In a weft replenishing drop box loom having a pair of shuttle boxes and means to move said boxes to bring a selected shuttle to active position, a weft detecting device definitely associated with each shuttle box, and a separately movable detector-withdrawing element associated with each detecting device and effective to render its detecting device inoperative as said device and its associated shuttle box are moved to inactive position said withdrawing elements being both inoperative with respect to a shuttle box and associated detector moving toward active position.

ing portion passes under said flange as said detecting device is moved to active position and passes beyond the second end of said flange as said device reaches active position.

9. In a loom, a weft detecting device comprising a detector, a stand, a slide guided in -fixed my signature.

CLYDE E. BROWN.

, 4. The combination in a drop box loom as 7 set forth in claim 3, in which each detecting device has a portion cooperating with its' associated control element only and engaged by said control element as said detecting device is moved from active to inactive position.

5. The combination in a drop box loom as set forth in claim 3, in which each detecting device has a portion cooperating with its associated control element only and engaged by said control element as said detecting device is moved from mid-position to extreme position relative to said control elements. 7

6. The combination in a drop box loom as set forth in claim 3, in which each detecting device has a portion cooperating with its associated control element only and engaged by said control element as said detecting device is moved from active to inactive position, v but said engaging portion being free from said control element on the return movement of the associated detecting device to inactive position.

7. In a weft replenishing drop box loom having a pair of shuttle boxes and means to move said boxes to bring a selected shuttle to active position, a weft detecting device definitely associated with each shuttle box, and means to withdraw each detecting device from weft-engaging position as said device and its associated shuttle box is moved to inactive position, said means comprising shields having flanges of limited length thereon and each detecting device having a projecting portion riding on one of said flanges as said detecting device moves to inactive position and passing off of an end of said flange as the device reaches inactive position.

8. The combination in a drop box loom as I; set forth in claim 7, in which said project-