US2008477A

US2008477A - Skein winding machine

Info

Publication number: US2008477A
Application number: US577007A
Authority: US
Inventors: William F Twaddle
Original assignee: AMOSKEAG Manufacturing Co
Current assignee: AMOSKEAG MANUFACTURING Co
Priority date: 1931-11-24
Filing date: 1931-11-24
Publication date: 1935-07-16
Anticipated expiration: 1952-07-16

Description

July 16, 1935,

W. F. TWADDLE SKEIN WINDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 24, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 frame-71702. W QM 5/.

y 1935' V w. F. TWADDLE 2,008,477

SKEIN WINDING MACHINE Filed Npv. 24, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 16, 1935 PATENT OFFICE SKEIN WINDING MACHINE William F. Twaddle, Manchester, N. l1, assignor to Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, trustees,

Manchester, N. H.

Application November 24, 1931, Serial No. 577,007

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved machine for winding yarns, and particularly rayon yarns, in skeins.

A common type of skein winding machine unwinds the yarns from a multiplicity of spools or packages and winds them on a reel in a corresponding number of skeins. When the winding is completed, the reelwith its skeins is removed from the machine and transferred to a stand where the skeins are tied, leased, and removed from the reel. The reel is subsequently returned to the winding machine for the winding of other skeins thereon. The removal of the reel on the machine and its transference to a stand requires considerable physical exertion and provides an opportunity for the reel to become bruised and damaged so that the yarn is liable to catch on roughened or splintered surfaces of the reel and thus become frayed and broken, especially when the yarn is delicate, as with fine rayon yarn. Futhermore, when a reel is out of the winding machine, the machine is idle.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved skein winding machine wherein the reel is a permanent part of the machine and the skeins can be removed from the reel without removing the reel from the machine.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a skein winding machine having a plurality of reels upon which the skeins are wound, leased and tied, and from which the skeins can be removed without removing the reels from the machine, the arrangement being such that the reels are positioned successively into winding position and the skeins can be wound, leased, tied and then removed from one reel while the reel remains in the machine and while yarn is being wound into skeins on another reel.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a skein winding machine wherein the winding reel is supported at one end and the other end is open and free from obstructions so that the skeins can be withdrawn from the open unobstructed end of the reel, the reel being collapsible to facilitate the removal of the skeins.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a skein winding machine having a rotatable support which carries a plurality of reels, the reels being secured at one end only to the support and the other end of the reels being free and unobstructed so that the skeins can be withdrawn therefrom.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a skein winding machine having a plurality of winding reels which can be moved successively into and out of winding position and automatically into and out of positive driving engagement with reel-rotating mechanism which, when a reel is in winding position, rotates it positively in timed relation with the yarn-traversing mechanism.

A further object of the invention is generally to improve the construction and operation of skein winding machines. I

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the skein winding machine embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail through the winding reels taken along lines 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of the locking mechanism for a collapsible bar of a reel.

Fig. 5 is a detail of the locking means for the rotatable reel support.

As here shown, the skein winding machine embodying the present invention comprises a supporting frame I0 having a pair of end plates or standards 12 in which the supporting shaft ll of a rotatable reel support is journalled. Said shaft at one end thereof is provided with a pair of reel supporting members or frames l6 and I8 which are spaced apart on said shaft and have

corresponding arms

20 and 22 which extend in opposite directions from said shaft.

A reel supporting shaft 24 is carried by and is journalled in the ends of the corresponding arms 22 and a similar and parallel reel supporting shaft 26 is carried by and is journalled in the ends of the corresponding arms 20. Said shafts project beyond the frame member It in the same direction free from support and carry

skein winding reels

28 and 30 on the unsupported portions thereof. The reels are or can be identical and are collapsible so that the skeins on the reels can be withdrawn over the open and unobstructed left hand ends thereof.

Each reel comprises three yarn supporting bars 32 and a fourth similar bar 34, which bars are parallel with their supporting shaft and are disposed in equi-angularly spaced relation thereabout. The bars 32 are supported near the ends thereof in radially-outstanding arms 36 of hubs 38 which are fixed to the reel supporting shaft. The bar 34 is pivotally connected through yokes 40 fixed to the bar at its opposite ends, with the outer ends of parallel sets of spaced

links

42 and 44. The inner ends of said llnks'are pivotally connected to hubs 38 of the supporting shaft. With this arrangement the bar 34 can be moved in parallel lines inwardly toward the reel supporting shaft from the position shown at the left hand end of Fig. 3 to the position shown in the right hand end of Fig. 3 for the purpose of reducing the peripheral extent of the reel and thereby allowing the skeins of yarn to become slack or loose on the reel so that they can be withdrawn from the unobstructed end of the reel. The bar 42 is locked in expanded position by a locking arm 46 which is pivoted to a hub 418 fixed to the reel supporting shaft and is extended between the pairs of links 42 where it is provided with a notch 58 that releasably engages a pro- .jection 52 of a bar yoke 48 and holds said bar against collapse. The locking arm 46 is: urged in a locking direction by a spring 54 which bears outwardly against an ear 56 of said arm. Said arm is provided with a handle 58 at its free end which is accessible at the unobstructed end of the reel to permit the unlocking of the collapsible bar.

The rotatable support for the winding reels is adapted to be locked releasably in positions which correspond to the winding positions of the successive reels. For this purpose, the ends of the

arms

28 and 22 of the rotatable supporting frame are provided with notches 68 each of which is adapted to be entered by the end of a locking bolt 62 carried by a bracket 64 of the stationary frame of the machine and urged toward the real supporting frame by a spring 66. The locking bolt can be removed from holding engagement with the supporting frame by a lever 68, see Fig. 2, which is pivoted to the frame and is connected to the locking bolt by means of a pin 18. When the lever 68 is moved in a counterclockwise direction the locking bolt is withdrawn from one or the other of the notches 68 and the reel support then is free to be rotated to position another reel in winding position.

The reels are rotated when they are in. winding position by a shaft 12, see Fig. 1, that is carried by one of the standards l2 and has a clutch connection with a driving pulley 14 that is loose on said shaft, the clutch connection including a clutch element 16 that is fixed to rotate with the shaft 12 and is axially movable thereon. When the clutch element is engaged with the rotating pulley 14, the shaft 12 is rotated. The shaft 12 has a driving gear 18 thereon and the

reel support shafts

24 and 26 have similar gears 88 and 82 thereon, each of which is adapted automatically to be moved in turn into positive driving engagement with the gear 18 when its associated reel is brought into winding position.

The yarns are contained in spools or packages 84 which are supported bya shelf 86 at the bottom of the machine-frame and the yarns from bar 96 and thence upwardly to-whichever one,

of the winding reels is in winding position. The bar 96 is reciprocated in more or less the usual manner in timed relation with the shaft 12 to guide the yarns onto the reel with proper trav- BISQ- The usual treadle 98 is provided by which an operative watching the winding operation can actuate the clutch and start and stop the machine.

The manner of using the machine is substantially as follows:

When a sufficient amount of yarn has been wound in skeins on the reel 28, the winding operation is stopped, the locking bolt is removed from engagement with the reel support and the reel support is rotated 180 by hand to exchange the positions of the reels and to bring the empty reel 38 into winding position. This operation automatically disengages'one reel from its positive driving connection with the operating shaft 12 and places the other reel in positive driving engagement therewith. The locking bolt is again engaged with the reel support to hold it in proper position and the yarns are severed from the reel 28 and are suitably connected to the reel 38. The machine is then set in operation to wind yarns in skeins on the reel 38. The operator leases and ties the skeins on the full reel and then collapses the reel by releasing the lock on the bar 34 and then removes the skeins from the unobstructed or left hand end of the reel, subsequently returning the bar 34 to its outward position and looking it in such position. The operation is repeated indefinitely. The shaft I4 is provided with guard plates I88 which are interposed between the two reels so as to protect the operator who is working on the skeins of the filled reel from coming in contact with the rotating reel, and to protect the ends on the'reel being leased from snarling due to the wind set up by the other rotating winding reel. Said plates also serve to stiffen the shaft I4.

The machine thus described is capable of operating faster, without damage to the yarn, than the prior type of removable-reel machine. Since the reels are a permanent part of the machine, the parts can be heavier than heretofore and thus the reels can be rotated more rapidly than heretofore without setting up vibration that interferes with the proper winding of the yarn.

The reels are positively-driven when they are in winding position so that they are constrained to rotate in timed relation with the operation of the yarn-traverse mechanism, regardless of the speed of the reels. Consequently the yarn is laid on the reel in a definite accurate manner that facilitates the leasing of the skein and its subsequent unwinding whereas, with the removable reel, being friction-driven, the yarn could not be laid accurately, especially when the reel was rapidly rotated, due to slipping between the friction elements and the consequent haphazard and continually changing relation between the operations of the reel and the yarn-traversing mechanism.

I claim:

1. A machine for winding yarns into skeins comprising a rotatable supporting shaft, a frame carried by said shaft having pairs of oppositely extended arms, reel supporting shafts journalled at their one ends in corresponding arms of said frame and being free at their other ends, reels on which the yarns are wound into skeins carried by the free ends of said shafts, said frame being rotatable to exchange the position of said reels, means for releasably holding said frame in any one of its several positions, means including yarn-traversing mechanism for laying a plurality of yarns in separate positions disposed length wise of the reel that is in winding position for forming a plurality of skeins thereon, means for rotating said reels at a positive constant speed when they are in winding position including a constant-speed operating shaft having a driving gear, said reel supporting shafts having gears which are movable automatically into and out of positive driving engagement with said operating shaft by the rotation of said supporting frame, and means for collapsing the reels and permitting the removal of the skeins thereon over the unobstructed ends thereof.

2. A skein winding machine comprising a base having spaced upstanding end plates, a reel supporting frame including a horizontal pivot shaft extended between and journalled in said end plates, said shaft having a pair of horizontally spaced arms fixed thereon between said plates and near one of them, said arms being parallel and extended both on both sides of the shaft,

reel shafts parallel with and on opposite sides of said pivot shaft and journalled in and overhanging said arms, collapsible reels on said shafts, said pivot shaft with said reels being capable of turning to exchange the position of said reels and said frame having provision for permitting such turning movement, releasable locking means engaging said reel supporting frame for locking the pivot shaft against turning with the reels in a horizontal plane, reel rotating means positioned to engage and rotate one only of said reels when they are successively positioned in the locked position of said pivot shaft 50 that one is rotated and the other is idle, means for guiding yarns onto the reels to wind in skeins spaced lengthwise of the rotated reel, the end of the idle reel remote from said arms being clear of the adjacent end plate of said frame so that the end of the idle reel is free and unobstructed and leased skeins on the idle reel can be removed endwise of the collapsed reel.

WILLIAM F. TWADDLE.