US2605982A

US2605982A - Thread unwinding apparatus and method

Info

Publication number: US2605982A
Application number: US649267A
Authority: US
Inventors: Emery P Miller
Original assignee: Ransburg Corp
Current assignee: Ransburg Corp
Priority date: 1946-02-21
Filing date: 1946-02-21
Publication date: 1952-08-05
Anticipated expiration: 1969-08-05

Description

Aug. 5, 1952 E. P. MILLER THREAD UNWINDING APPARATUS AND METHOD Filed Feb. 21, 1946 INVENTOR. EnE/Py R M/LLER rqnourvo Patented Aug. 5, 1952 THREAD UNWINDING APPARATUS D METHOD Emery .P. Miller, Williams Creek, Ind., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Ransburg Electro: Coating Com, Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application February 21, 1946, Serial No. 649,26?

The present invention relates to theprocess of and apparatus for unwinding filamentary material from wound packages such as cops.

In the unwinding or unreeling of thread from cops, spools, or other wound packages, the relatively poor adhesive characteristics of the thread on the cop frequently allows the thread to fall from its position on the cop before it is withdrawn from that position by the pulling action of the thread. This unwinding ahead of the demand results in tangles and snarls in the smooth flow of the thread from the cop.

The present invention has for its object the elimination of tangling of a thread while being unwound from a spindle, ball or the like.

According to the present invention a cop of yarn, roving or the like is supported in a stationary manner On a conducting spindle and is surrounded by an electrostatic field of a sufficiently high electrical potential with relation to the spindle to prevent tangling of the yarn as it is unwound. The electrostatic field surrounding the cop produces a force urging the threads toward the center and prevents adventitious unraveling or tangling of the yarn.

The invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2 is a view looking in the direction of the arrow II in Figure l, and

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a detail of the apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Referring to the drawing, a board I carries a plurality of spindles 2 of conducting material which have a reduced threaded end 3 passing through the board and are held thereon by nuts 4. The spindles 2 receive a plurality of cops 6 of filament wrapping or yarn of any suitable material such as rayon or the like. The spindles 2 may be grounded in any suitable manner, as by a wire I or connected directly by such wire to one terminal of a suitable source of high electrical potential which may itself be grounded. Suitably secured on the board in spaced relation are insulator rods 9 which are internally threaded at their ends and receive cap screws H. An annulus 12 has wires I3 suitably welded thereto and extending therefrom which terminate in loops which receive the cap screws by which the annulus is held in position surrounding the cop 6. Each cop is surrounded by an annulus, which annuli may be suitably electrically interconnected. A wire I connects the annulus or interconnected annuli to another terminal of the source of high electrical potential.

7 Claims. (01. 242-128) Any suitable thickness of wire or strip material may be employed for the, annulus l2, and any suitable source of direct or alternating high electrical potential may be connected thereto. Preferably the annulus is located intermediate the ends of the cop and is of lesswidth than the length of the cop. Also, I prefer to employ a pulsating electrical potential on the order of about eighty-five thousand volts, and at that voltage the annulus should be no closer than about six inches from the outside of the cop to avoid sparking therebetween. It will be understood the preferred spacing between the cop and annulus in any particular instance will depend on the voltage employed, and that the annulus should also be spaced sufficiently from the ground connection to avoid the passage of a spark therebetween. The electrostatic field thus established between the annulus and cop may be ionizing or not, as desired.

The end of the thread to be unwound passes through the annulus l2 and is drawn out through an eye [6, suitably supported to a winding reel or tire forming machine (not shown). The electrostatic field created about the cop, which has a gradient on the order of about ten thousand volts per inch, exerts a force upon the thread. coiled 0n the cop and urges the surface wrappings or coils against the underlying sub-surface wrapping or coils. The electrostatic force effectively prevents the wrappings or coils from unwinding from the cop faster than the end of the filamentary material or thread is withdrawn from the cop for the purposes of the particular machine to which the thread is being supplied. This tends toward preventing the thread from becoming tangled and yet insures a smooth and even delivery of the thread unimpeded by the intervention of any mechanical braking or drag-producing devices which may be susceptible to misoperation with attendant breaking of the thread as it is withdrawn from the cop.

The invention may be embodied in various other forms without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.

I claim:

1. The method which comprises positioning a filament wrapping about a central conductor. surrounding said wrapping by an ionizing electrostatic field, applying sufficient potential gradient to said electrostatic field to urge the surface wrappings against the subsurface coils, and unwrapping successive surface wrappings.

2. The method which comprises positioning a cop Wound with thread upon a spindle, surrounding said cop by an annular ionizing electrode,

said thread of material at its point of removal is subjected to the influence of an ionizing electrostatic field. Y

4. In cop unwinding apparatus in which thread i is withdrawn continuously from, a layerwound cop, means including a thread-guiding means for removing thread from a cop, and means including a high voltage source and an ionizing electrode having relatively small aggregate surface area in opposed relation to the outer layer on the cop for establishing an electrostatic field to attract the thread at its point of removal to said cop.

5. In apparatus for unwinding filamentary material from a wound package, means for supporting the wound package of filamentary material, means including a thread-guiding means for unwinding filamentary material from said supported package, a pair of electrodes spaced on opposite sides of that portion of said wound package from which thread is being removed, one of said electrodes presenting toward the other electrode a sharply curved surface of relatively small aggregate area, and means including a high-voltage source for establishing a potential difference between said electrodes for attracting said filamentary material at its point of removal to said wound package.

6. The invention set forth in claim 5 with the addition that one of said electrodes has an axial extent less than that of said wound package.

7. The invention set forth in claim 5 with the addition that one of said electrodes is in the form of an annulus.

, EMERY P. MILLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,263,681 Hart, Jr. Nov. 25, 1941 2,421,334 Kline et a1. May 27, 1947