US2184880A - Traveling cleaner - Google Patents

Description

W. B. HODGE TRAVELING CLEANER Filed May 23, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I am f W/LL/AM 5. HODGE Dec. 26,1939. w B, HOD Gk 2,184,880

TRAVELING CLEANER Filed May 23, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ea 94 9? 92 85 I M 2% 24 41a UH 0W: v I WILLIAM HODGE Dec. 26, 1939.

w. B. HODGE 2,184,880

TRAVELING CLEANER Filed'May 25, 1938 5' Shets-Sheet 5 v 7 3mm:

WILLIAM B. HODGE Patented Dec. 26,1939

2,184,880 TRAVELING CLEANER William B. Hodge, Charlotte, N. 0., assignor to Parks-Cramer Company, Fitchburg, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application May 23, 1938, Serial No. 209,546

11 Claims. (Cl. 1520) This invention relates to a cleaning apparatus for textile machinery, and more particularly to a cleaner mounted upon a trackway and adapted to travel successively over a plurality of rows of textile machinery. In my prior patent, No.

2,011,763 of August 20, 1935,-a traveling cleaner is disclosed in which downwardly directed blasts of air are projected onto the upper portion of textile machines to clean and to remove lint and other foreign substances therefrom. It

quite frequently happens that it is desired to eliminate this blast over one or more'machines,

especially when dofiing takes place, or in case it is desired to work upon any particular mal5 chine. The reason for eliminating these blasts of air, over a particular machine while doffing is being effected, is quite obvious, since the yarn is not being processed at this time, and consequently no lint will be falling therefrom. Also 0 the blasts. of air are objectionable at this time,

because it will interfere with the operation of dofiing. V

It is, therefore an object of this invention to provide a trackway mounted above a plurality of spaced textile machines over which blast producing means are adapted to travel for delivering blasts of air onto the machines, and means for automatically rendering the blast producing means inoperative while the fan passes over one or more of the machines, and means for automatically rendering the blast producing means operative after it has passed over a particular machine or machines.

It is another object of this invention to provide a fan mounted so as to successively traverse a plurality of spaced textile machines, and a motor for driving the fan, with a clutch between the motor and the fan and means for automatically disengaging the clutch as it passes over the machine and means for engaging the clutch after the fan has passed over a particular machine.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a cleaning apparatus of the class described comprising a pair of fans for directing blasts of air down onto spaced textile machines, with a motor for driving each fan, a third motor for driving a carriage and said fans over successive rows of spaced textile machines as shown in my co-pending application, Serial No. 59,614,

filed January 17, 1936, of which this application is a continuation in part. In this present application means are provided for breaking the circuit to the fan motors while the carriage is traveling over a particular textile machine and other means for automatically cutting on the fan motors after the carriage has traveled over the particular machines.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the descrlption proceeds when taken in connection with 5 the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a plurality of tex-' tile machines, showing my invention applied thereto; I

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View taken it) along the line 2-2 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 33 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional detail viewtaken along the line t-t in Figure 3; I it? Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 in Figure 2;

Figure 6 is an enlarged vertical sectional detail view talren along the line 6-t in Figure 3;

Figure 6a is a sectional plan view taken along 2;) line fizz-6a in Figure 6;

Figure '7 is a sectional view through a trackway disposed above a textile machine and showing a slightly different form of the invention;

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view taken along 25 the line 8-4 in Figure '7;

Figure 9 is a sectional view taken along the line 53-9 in Figure 8;

Figure 10 is an exploded isometric view of the switch employed for controlling thecurrent to 39 the fan motors;

Figure 11 is a schematic electrical wiring diagram of the invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numerals l0 and II denote suitable textile 35 machines such as spinning frames, spoolers, drawing frames, and the like, which are spaced apart from each other leaving a passageway l2 therebetween. These textile machines have mounted on the upper side thereof, suitable stands it, the upper end of which support tracks l5 and I6. Mounted upon these tracks are wheels I! and. I8, respectively, of a wheeled traveler Ill. The traveler H! has a motor 20 carried thereby, which motor receives its elec- 45 trical energy through cable 2!, said cable cornmunicating with contacts 22, 23 and 24. These contacts areadapted to slide along wires 25, 26 and 21, respectively, as the traveler moves longi tudinally of the trackway. 50

The motor 20 has a motor shaft 30 extending upwardly therefrom, and the upper end of this shaft has secured therearound, a collar 3| by means of pin 32, said collar having a flange 3Ia.

Disposed below this flanged collar is a clutch is shoe 33, which has secured to the lower side thereof by means of rivets 34, a clutch lining 35. A roller bearing 36 is disposed between the shoe 33 and the collar 3| so that when the lower face 5 of clutch lining 35 is not contacted, the clutch shoe 33 and its associated parts can have free rotative movement around the collar 3|. The upper side of the clutch shoe 33 has suitable plates 31 secured thereto by means of stud bolts 38, and secured to these plates are fan blades 39, which blades extend radially of the shaft 38.

The lower face of the clutch lining 3 5 is contacted by a clutch disk 45 which is also mounted around the lower portion of collar 3|. This disk has secured to the lower side thereof, a small collar 46 by means of upwardly projecting pins 41, said collar 46 also being secured to the lower portion of flanged collar 3| by means of pins 48 which extend into slots 49 disposed in the lower edge of collar 3|. The pins 48 prevent relative rotation between the collar 3| and members 45 and 46, but relative vertical movement can take place on account of the slots 49.

' An inner race 58 is mounted around the shaft 38 directly below the collars 3| and 46. Disposed around the upper portion of race 50 and supporting collar 46 is a ring 5| which has extending from opposed sides thereof pins 52, said pins being rotatably mounted in opposed sides of an outer ring 53. Disposed at right angles to the pins 52 and projecting from the outer ring 53,

is a pin 54. This pin has one end loosely mounted-in the ring 53 and has its other end secured in the upper portion of post 55, said post extending downwardly and being supported by the motor 28. Directly in line with the pin 54 and secured in the opposite side of the ring 53 is an arm 56, the outer end of which has the upper end of a vertically disposed rod 51 slidably mounted therein. Suitable nuts 58 are secured upon the upper portion of the rod 51 whereas a compression spring 59 is disposed around rod 51 and on the lower side of the lever 56 to norunally press the end of the arm 56 upwardly 45 against the nuts 58. The lower end of spring 59 is confined around the rod 51 by means of plate 68, which plate is secured to the upper portion of the motor 20 by means of a bolt 6|.

The rod 51 is adapted to be moved up and down to engage and' disengage the brake lining 35 from the, face of disk 45. When the rod 51 is moved downwardly then the arm 56 and its associated ring 53 will be rotated in a clockwise manner about the pin 54 (Figure 6). This movement will release the upward pressure of the ring 53 against the collar 46, which, in turn, will relieve frictional pressure between the upper side of disk 45 and brake lining 35 because the upper side of shoe 33 will no longer be pressed against the lower side of flange 3|a. When the pressure between the faces of disk 45 and brake lining 35 is released, then the shaft 38 and the associated collar 3| will rotate, but the fan blades 39 and associated hub 33 will remain stationary around the shaft because rotation to these members is imparted by virtue of the friction between members 35 and 45.

The lower portion of the race 58 has an outer race 65 mounted therearound and suitable balls 66 are disposed therebetween. A compression spring 61 is disposed directly below the race 58 and has its lower end normally confined around the shaft 30 by means of a cup shaped member .68 which member is secured to the shaft 30 by means of set screw 69. The spring 61 normally presses the members 65, 58, 5|, 46 and 46 upwardly against the brake lining 35. Upon the downward movement of arm 56 and the downward movement of rod 51 this spring is compressed to relieve this upward pressure. It is, therefore, seen that it is necessary for the members 35 and 45 to be engaged when the traveler is traveling over machines which are in operation but disengaged when traveling over a machine whenever a dofling operation is being effected.

j The lower end of the rod 51 has a block 18 secured thereto which block has a slot 1| therein surrounding the restricted portion 12 of a bolt 13. The bolt 13 is threadably secured in the side of the traveler l9. 'The lower end of block 10 has a stud 88 extending therefrom which normally contacts cam 8|. This cam has depressions 82 and 83, the depressions 82 being disposed nearer the center of shaft 12 than the depressions 83. With the stud 80 in a depression 82 as shown in Figure 5, the upper portion of the rod 51 will be allowed to move upwardly far enough to cause the members 45 and 35 to frictionally engage each other, in which event the rotation of shaft 38 will impart rotation to the fan blades. On the other hand when the cam 8| has been rotated through an angle of 90 degrees from the position shown in Figure 5, the stud 80 will be disposed in depression 83, at which time the rod 51- will be moved downwardly toimpart vertical movement to members 56 and 53, and thereby relieve the pressure between the members 35 and 45 (Figure 6).

The cam 8| is an integral part of hub 85 and this hub has radially disposed prongs 86 extending therefrom. Suitable laterally projectin bolts are disposed in the path of .the lowermost of these prongs, and when one of these members contacts a. bolt 81, a quarter revolution is imparted to the hub 85 and its associated cam 8| to thereby engage or disengage the members 35 and 45.

The bolts 81 .are preferably disposed at each end of the textile machines l8 and H, and adjacent the aisles l2. Each of the bolts is pivoted as at 81a to the upper portion of stand l4. Disposed beneath the bolt 81 is a suitable leaf spring 88 which normally holds the bolt in a laterally extending position. The base of the bolt 81 has a toe portion 81b for limiting the counter-clockwise movement (Figures 2 and 3). When it is desired to rotate the bolt 81 out of the path of the prongs 86 so that the clutch arrangement will not be operated, it is only necessary to pull the free end of bolt 81 downwardly for a' quarter revolution to a point where this bolt will be in a plane paralle1 to the motor shaft 30.

In Figure 1 the fan is shown disposed over the aisle l2 at which time the stud 80 in Figure 5 is disposed in a cavity 82 which will allow the members 35 and 45 to be engaged and cause the fan to be in operation. As the fan moves to the left, if machine H is being dofied, a laterally extending bolt 81 will be set in horizontal position to be in the path of a prong 86, and impart a quarter revolution to the cam 8|. This, of course, will disengage the clutch and cause the fan to cease operation but at the same time the motor 20 will propel the traveler I9 over the textile machine After the carriage has reached the other end of the textile machine, another bolt 81 will be set in horizontal position to engage one of the downstanding prongs 86 and impart another quarter revolution which will place the stud 80 in another depression 82, at which time the clutch members 35- and 45 will again become engaged and the fan will resume its operation.

The fan is encased by a suitable casing 90 which has removably secured in the upper portion thereof, a ring 9|. The upper end of the ring 9| has a diametrically disposed member 92 mounted thereon the center of which supports a plurality of adjustable vanes 93 as at 94. These vanes are rotated to difierent positions in order to vary the size of the opening in the upper side of the casing 90.

The lower side of casing 90 has bifurcated skirts 96 and 91 for the accommodation of the upper edges of spouts 98 and 99, respectively, said spouts being secured as at I00 and 6|, respectively, to the upper side of motor 20 (Figure 2). Suitable straps I05 and I06 are secured to opposed sides of the casing 90 by means of rivets I01 and I08 and these straps have suitable slots I09 and H0 therein which are penetrated by bolts 1 II and H2, respectively. These bolts also penetrate spouts 98 and 99 and hold them in adjusted position relative to straps I05 and I06. For example, if it is desired to vary the position of the lower ends of the spouts 98 and 99, so as to direct blasts of air in a different direction, then nuts III and H2 may be loosened and rotation imparted to the respective spouts. Although these spouts are not provided they are made of material sufficiently flexible to allow bending without damaging the material. The bending or pivoting takes place at points 98a and 99a. The lower end of spouts 98 and 99 have pivoted thereto, as at H5 and H6, nozzles H1 and I I8, respectively. Also disposed in the spouts 98 and 99 are vanes I I9 and I20 which are rotated to proportion the amount of air which is delivered by the lower pivoted nozzles H1 and H8.

Figures 7 to 11, inclusive, show another form of the invention which is in many respects similar to the form of the form shown in Figure 6 of my co-pending application, Serial No. 59,614, filed January 1'1, 1936. In this form of the invention, the trackways I5 and I6 have mounted thereon a traveler I29 provided with wheels I30 and I3I, respectively, said wheels,-being mounted upon the ends of transverse shafts I33 and I33a. This shaft is rotatably mounted in housing I34 and has a gear I35 fixedly secured to the intermediate portion. The gear I35 meshes with a worm I35 which worm is driven by motor I31, said motor being supported by the carriage I34.

As the motor I 31 is operated. it is evident that rotation will be imparted to the wheels I3I and I32 through the members I36 and I35 and'I33.

The motor, I31 has wires I40 and MI leading from opposed sides thereof, said wires being also connected to wires I42 and I43 respectively. Wire I40 has a hand switch I44 disposed therein which may be operated manually to cut ed the motor I31. The wires I42 and I43 are connected to terminals I46 and I41, which terminals contact trolley wires I48 and I49, respectively, which are disposed below the trackway. It is seen that the motor I31 which drives the housing I34 will rotate at all times and is controlled by switch I44.

Mounted upon the housing I34 is a support I55, the ends of which project to an overhanging position relative to the tracks I5 and I6. Each end of the member I55 has a socket I56 secured thereto in which balls I51 or bracket I58 are adapted to fit. Mounted in the brackets I58 are mounted thereon. These fans have guards I66 and I61, respectively surrounding the same. The motors I60 and IN are hooked up in parallel by wires I68 and I69, the wire I68 having switches I10 and HI for controlling the current to motors I60 and I6I, respectively. Leading from the wire I68 is another wire I12, the other end of which is secured to terminal I13. This terminal is mounted in insulation block I14, which block is supported by bracket I15, said bracket extending outwardly from the housing I34.

By observing Figure 10, it is seen that the block I14 has notches I11, I18, I19 and I cut in the face thereof, The notch I80 has extending thereinto another terminal I8I which is identical to the terminal I13. Leading from this terminal are wires MI and I42 which have been previously described. By observing the wiring diagram in Figure 11, it is seen that when the terminals I13 and I8I are connected that current will flow to the motors I60 and I6 I that is, when the switches I10 and HI are closed.

It should be stated that when this form of the invention is employed in combination with a plurality of spinning frames and it is desired to cut off the air while the traveler passes over a frame, as in case of a dofiing operation being effected, means must be provided for breaking the connection between the terminals I13 and I8I, while the fans are passing over the textile machine to eliminate draughts, and also means must be provided for making contact between these two terminals when the fans pass over the machines in operation.

In order to. accomplish this result, I have provided a rotary switch bar I which has alternate positions in which the terminals HM and I13 are contacted and which also has alternate positions in which the terminals are not contacted. In other words, the switch bar I85 is so actuated that while the fans are passing over a machine not in operation the switch bar I85 will have its extremities resting in notches I18 and I80 in a non-contacting position whereas while the fans pass over a machine in operation, the switch bar will be resting in notches I11 and I19 and at the same time contacting the terminals I13 and I8I.

The switch bar I85 is .fixedly secured upon shaft I which shaft has one end thereof rotatably mounted in bore I9I .in block I14. The other end of shaft I90 is rotatably mountedin housing I92, said housing being secured to the braeket I15. A suitablespring I98 is disposed around theshaft I90 one end of which normally presses against the bar I85 and its other end being confined upon the rod by the housing I92. This spring presses the bar I85 against block I14 at all times. The 'end of the shaft I90 nearest the observer in Figure 10 is adapted to penetrate a hole I92a in housing I92 and upon the projecting end of the shaft, a suitable insulation block I93 is mounted. This block has radially disposed arms I94 extending therefrom. When in assem- -I95 out of the path of the radially disposedarms I94 so that the fans I64 and I65 will oper-\ ate continuously, over all of the frames I0 and II,

it is only necessary to rotate the bolt I95 to dotted line position (Figure 9), at which time the spring I91 will also hold the bolt I95 out of the path of the arms I94. As. the traveler I29 moves to the left along the trackway, it is evident that a prong I94 will engage the laterally extending bolt I95and cause the shaft I99 to rotate substantially through an angle of degrees. If the switch bar'I95 is disposed in cavities Ill and I19, that is in contact position, the rotation of the shaft by the engagement of members I94 and I will rotate the same bar into the adjacent cavities I19 and I89, at which time no contact will be made and the circuit to the fan motors IBI and I60 will be broken.

It is therefore seen that I have also provided an electrical means for automatically and periodically controlling the air delivery of a cleaning apparatus for textile machinery.

In the drawings and specification, there has been set forth preferred embodiments of the invention, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a traveling cleaner apparatus having a motor for propelling the same along a suitable trackway and having a fan clutched to said motor to be driven thereby for producing blasts of air as the apparatus travels along said trackway, and means carried by the apparatus and cooperating with other means disposed at spaced intervals along the trackway for disconnecting the fan from the motor at predetermined times and for predetermined intervals, and again con necting the fan to the motor.

2. A traveling cleaner apparatus comprising a motor and a fan, means driven by the motor for propelling the apparatus successively over a plurality of machines, means for driving the fan, means acting at predetermined points in the travel of the apparatus for rendering the means for driving the fan inactive, and after the apparatus has traveled a predetermined distance for again rendering active the fan driving means.

3. In a traveling cleaner apparatus for travel over a plurality of machines and having a motor for propelling the apparatus and driving a fan for creating blasts of air to-strike the machines as the apparatus passes successively over the machines, disconnectible means between the motor and the fan, means settable at will for actuating the disconnectible means for rendering the fan inoperative, and other means settable at will for again actuating the disconnectible means for rendering the fan operative.

4. In a traveling cleaner apparatus adapted to travel along a trackway and having a motor for propelling the apparatus and also having blast.

producing means carried by the apparatus, means carried by the apparatus for controlling said blast producing means, and means mounted independently of the apparatus and arranged in the path of the travel of the apparatus for cooperation with the means carried by the apparatus for controlling the blast producing means, for rendering the blast producing means inoperative for predetermined periods of travel of the apparatus.

5. In a traveling cleaner apparatus having wheels adapted to travel along a trackway, an electric motor having a driving connection with said wheels, a fan driven by said motor for creating blasts of air while the apparatus is traveling along the trackway, disconnectible means between the fan and the motor, fixed means for disconnecting the fan from the motor, and other fixed means for connecting the fan to the motor.

6. In a travelingcleaner apparatus having a motor for propelling the apparatus along a suitable trackway and also having a blast producing means driven by the same motor, means carried by the apparatus for controlling the blast producing means, and means remotely mounted from the apparatus and-independent thereof for actuating the controlling means to render the blast producing means inoperative and operative at will during predetermined periods of travel of the apparatus.

7. In a traveling cleaner apparatus having wheels adapted to travel along-a trackway, an electric motor having a driving connection with the wheels of the apparatus for propelling the same along the trackway, said motor having a motor shaft, a fan loosely mounted on said motor shaft, a clutch disposed between the motor shaft and said fan, means settable at desired points on the trackway for opening said clutch to render the fan inoperative, and other means settable at desired points on the trackway for closing said clutch and again rendering thev fan operative,

' after the apparatus has traveled a predetermined distance along the trackway.

8. In a traveler adapted to pass over a plurality of machines successively and having means for propelling the traveler and also having means for creating blasts of air to strike the machines as the traveler passesover the machines, means for rendering the blast producing means inoperative for predetermined length of travel while maintaining in operation the means for propel-.

ling the traveler, and means operable after the traveler has moved a predetermined distance for again rendering the blast producing means operative.

9. In a traveling cleaner apparatus adapted to travel on a suitable trackway and having means for imparting travel to the apparatus along the trackway and for creating blasts of air as the apparatus moves along the trackway and means for rendering the blast-producing means inoperative for a predetermined length of travel while maintaining in operation the means for imparting travel to the apparatus.

10. Apparatus for removing lint and other foreign particles from machinery and being adapted to travel along a trackway disposed "over a plurality of machines, a motor driven traveler .mounted on said trackway to pass successively over said machines, said traveler being provided with means for producing downwardly directed blasts of air to strike the machines as the traveler passes over the same, andmeans for'rendering the blast producing means inoperative while passing over a selectedmachine and for again rendering the blast producing means operative after it has passed over the selected machine.

11. In a traveling cleaner apparatus adapted to travel on a trackway above a plurality of machines and to successively traverse said machines and having an electric motor for propelling the apparatus along the trackway, a member disposedtransversely of the line of travel of the apparatus and having an electric motor mounted on each end thereof, a circuit for the motor propelling the apparatus, a second circuit for the two motors mounted on the ends of said transversely disposed member, a fan driven by each motor disposed on the end of said transversely apparatus for again restoring the circuit to the fan motors after the apparatus has traveled a predetermined distance after the breaking of the fan motor circuit.

WILLIAM B. HODGE. 5

disposed member, and means engageable by the apparatus for breaking the circuit to the motors having fans thereon at one point in the travel of the apparatus in its movement along the trackway, and other means engageable by the

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