US1979765A - Thread holder for weft replenishing looms - Google Patents

Description

NOV. 6, 1934; Q v PAYNE 1,979,765

THREAD HOLDER *FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LOOMS Filed Oct. 19. 1931 Oscar U. Pen ne attorzrs Patented Nov. 6, 1934 UNITED ATENT oFrlcE THREAD HOLDER FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LOOMS Application October 19, 1931, Serial No. 569,586

8 Claims. (Cl. 139247) This invention relates to improvements in thread holders for weft replenishing looms and itis the general object of the invention to provide means for improving the mode of operation of the devices which keep the reserve weft ends taut.

In weft replenishing looms more particularly of the multicolor type there ordinarily extend from the reserve bobbins a number of weft ends. As the bobbins descend these ends are likely to become slack, with the result that on the pick following transfer the loose or slack ends may be broken. It is an important object of mypresent invention to provide travelling or moving surfaces which engage the reserve ends to hold the same taut, said surfaces being actuated in any way, as by vibration of the loom, and being preferably retarded so as not to override and pull 01f an excess'amount of thread.

It is another object of my present invention to provide a pair of gears one to drive the other so that the weft ends lie between the loosely meshed gears without danger of being broken or abraded as the gears rotate. I have found that if the gear teeth are smooth they can have driving relation with each other without injuring the yarn on which they act.

. Occasionally the weft ends which lie between the gears will be drawn toward one end of the gear teeth, and to prevent the thread ends from 80 passing beyond the teeth I provide a substantially resilient flat disk-like member which will limit movement of the weft ends to prevent them from passing beyond control of the teeth. The disk also exerts an end friction on the gears so that the latter will not override the driving im- H pulses which they receive from the actuator.

, It is another object of my invention to make one'of the geared members movable so that the degree of meshing can be varied. Inthis way the force acting to deform and thus drag the weft ends can be changed tomeet different conditions, such as change in type of thread from relatively coarse yarn where little drag is needed to fine polished yarn, as rayon, where a greater deformation is needed.

" With these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

' I In the accompanying drawing, wherein a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth, Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a portion of a loom showing themanner of applying my present in- ,55 vention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged end elevation taken in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a reverse view of the structure shown in Fig. 2 with the cover removed to disclose the matter on the inside of the casing,

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the dampening or retarding element.

Referring to the drawing, the loom 10 is provided with the magazine 11 supplied with reserve bobbins 12 from whichvextend weft ends W. In multicolor looms the shuttle S on the lay L receives the lowest bobbin in the stack corresponding thereto and ispicked to the opposite side of the loom while the weft end of the freshly transferred bobbin is held at the magazine side. The magazine may be of the type set forth in Patent No. 1,030,748 and of itself forms no part of my present invention. It includes in its construction a tie rod 13 on which is secured an arm 14. The lower end of the latter has a foot 15 to which is attached a casing 16.

A weighted mass 17 is supported in the casing on resilient hangers 18 the upper ends of which may be attached by screws 19 to the casing. A resilient pawl 20 is secured to the weight and is positioned to actuate a ratchet 21 mounted on and moving with a shaft 22.

As the loom operates there will be sufiicient shaking or vibration of the magazine and the arm 14 to cause a movement of the casing 16. The resulting reciprocations of the upper parts of the hangers 18 transmit a yielding force to the weighted mass 17 and the latter is found to vibrate by a motion substantially parallel to its length. Vibration is found to exist in practically all directions at the lower end of the arm 14, but I prefer to use that exerted in a horizontal direction and preferably perpendicular to the lay.

The matter thus far described operates during normal running of the loom to rotate the ratchet 21 with a left hand step by step movement as viewed in Fig. 3 so as to cause rotation of the shaft 22 in a counter clock-wise direction, as suggested by the arrow A. The structure on arm 14 thus far set forth of itself forms no part of my present invention, as it has been proposed by me heretofore in Patent No. 1,842,731.

In carrying my present invention into effect I provide two gear toothed thread tensioners 30 and 31 which are located, respectively, at the right and left hand sides of Fig. 2. Tensioner 31 is secured to the shaft 22 so as to rotate there- 11 with, said shaft and its connection with the geared element being as set forth in Fig. 4. The nut 32 serves to clamp the tensioner to the shoulder 33 of the shaft 22, and is located in a recess 34 so as not to become entangled with the weft ends.

The other tensioning element 30 may have a mounting similar to the one first described, its shaft 35 rotating freely in a movable bearing 36, the foot 37 of which is provided with slots 38. Screws 29 extend through the slots and into the casing 16 to secure the foot 37 in position, and

afford a horizontal adjustment of the shaft '35- relatively to the shaft 22. One wall 39 of the casing is provided with a slot or opening IO-through which the bearing 36 extends.

The tensioning members 30 and 31 have'teeth 41 and 42, respectively, which are preferably made substantially as shown in Fig. 2, that is they are spaced by slots somewhat larger than the teeth to afford ample room for the weft ends W without pinching the latter. The teeth 42 aredriven by the ratchet 21 and by their engagement with the teeth 41 rotate the driven tensioner 30. In this way the teeth of the two elements 30 and 31 are brought successively in engagement with each other 'so as to provide travelling surfaces each of which intersects. the path of the other. The weft ends W extend overa shelf 43 overhanging the left or inner ends of the gears as viewed in Fig. 4. Rotationof the gears is in such a direction that the meshing teeth move downwardly or away from the threads so as to engage and tension the latter. p

Under certain conditions the Weight 17 will be quite active and rotate the gears at such a rate as will tend to draw off the weft ends too fast. When the weight moves to the right, Fig. 3, on a working stroke, sunici'ent force may'be imparted to the gears to cause them -to continue movement during the return or non-working stroke of the pawl 20. In order to dampen this excess motion of the gears I provide a dished disk 50 'lying'be tween the wall 39 and the adjacent ends of the gear tensioners. This disk is provided with a hole 51 throughwhich extends the shaft 22 and its bearing 52, and also'has a slot 53 through which extends the horizontally adjustable bearing 36. As suggested more particularly in Fig. 4, disk 50 has its periphery curved slightly away from the plane of the main part of the disk so as to exert a pressure on the gear tensioners which will check the tendency ofthelatter to'm'ove under their own momentum when the weighted mass 1'7 vibrates rapidly.

There is 'a further function performed by the disk 50, namely, the weft ends which may be move'd'toward'the wall 39 by action of the gears are prevented by'said disk from moving beyond the teeth. By this construction assurance is'given that the weftends will always be 'operatively related to the gear tensioners and so be subjected to a stresswh'ich will tend to hold them taut and prevent sagging as the bobbins descend in the magazine or rotate on their axes.

I have found also that by making the gear tensioners out of molded bakelite the driving connection betweenthe teeth which engage the weft endswill not abrade the latter. The only force which need be transmitted by the teethis that required to 'Iriove'the gear 30 againstits own inertia and the stressm'aintaiiied by the disk '50.

'Fr'or'nthe foregoing it will be seen'that I have provided a thread holder with a pair of travelling surfaces each "of which intersects the path of the other to engage and tension weft ends, and that the tensioners, which may be made in the form of gears, are so related that one drives the other. It will also be seen that the disk 50 serves to arrest excess motion on the part of the tensioners and serves further to prevent the weft ends from passing beyond controlling relation with respect to the teeth or travelling surfaces of the tensioners. Again, it will be seen that the vmovable mounting provided for the shaft 35 enables the driven gear or tensioner to be moved to the desired position with respect to the driving gear and this adjustment does not interfere in any waywith the driving connections for the tensioner which rotates in the relatively fixed bearing 52.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and "I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

*1. In a thread holder for weft replenishing looms, a pair of travelling thread engaging surfaces one of which intersects the path of travel of the other, means dependent upon shaking of theloom due to operation to actuate the surfaces, and an element operatively related to the surfaces and effective to resist excess movement of said surfaces.

' 2. In a thread holder "for weft replenishing looms, a pair of movable members, each having a set of elements one set of which intersects the path of movement of the other set, the elements engaging and tensioning the weft threads, and a retarding device to engage the members to resist excess movement thereof and also prevent movement of the weft threads outof engagement with the elements.

3. 'In a thread holder for weft replenishing looms, a pair of meshing weft thread engaging gear members, means to cause rotation of the members during loomoperation, and a combined retarder and thread guard to resist excess movenient of the members and prevent movement of the weft threads away from the members.

4. In a thread holder for weft replenishing looms, a movable member to engage and tension a weft thread, a support for the member, an actuator on the support dependent upon vibration of the support incident to loom operation togive the member a driving impulse, and a retarder 'on the support to resist excess movement of the member to prevent the member from having too much motion should the actuator give an excessive impulse.

5. In a thread holder for weft replenishing looms, a pair of coa'cting members movable to tension the weft threads, a supporting structure for the membersanda resilient disk between the structure and members and pressing on the'latter to retard excess movement thereof and limit movement of the weft threads relatively to the members in a direction transverse of the members.

6. In a thread holder for weft replenishing looms, a pair of travelling thread engaging surfaces one of which intersects the path of travel of the'othen'aseparate support for each surface, means to move one support relatively to the other, driving means for one surfaceoperative regardless of the relative positions -of 'the supports to drive the "other surface 'by a force transmitted through'the threada'and driving connections between the surfaces operative regardless of the relative positions of the supports to cause said surfaces to move together to tension the weft threads.

7. In a thread holder for weft replenishing looms, a pair of movable members, each having a set of elements one set of which intersects the path of movement of the other set, means to drive one member during loom operation, means to position the other member at difierent distances from the first member, the members having direct driving connections with each other through the threads effective to cause them to move to tension the weft thread regardless of the relative positions of the members.

8. In a thread holder for weft replenishing looms, a pair of meshing weft thread engaging gear members, one of which rotates about a given axis, means to rotate said member about its axis during loom operation, means to position the other member at a plurality of distances from the first named member to vary the degree of meshing of the members, the first member having driving relation with the second member through the threads in all positions of the latter to tension the weft threads.

OSCAR V. PAYNE.

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