US2643831A - Yarn tension - Google Patents

Description

June 30, 1953 M. R. FLAMAND YARN TENSION- Filed Dec. 21, 1951 INVENTOR. MAUQIC RFLAMAND f2, 7 kz z/wfi A TTORNE Y Patented June 30, 1953 YARN TENSION Maurice R. Flamand, Central Falls, R. I., assignor to Draper Corporation, Hopedale, Mass., a corporation of Maine Application December 21, 1951, Serial No. 262,685

This invention pertains to tension means for textile purposes, for example for use in controlling the tension in a yarn or thread being fed to the weaving instrumentalities of a loom.

It is a general object of the invention to devise tension means for running yarns which shall be susceptible of variation as to the amount of drag to be imposed upon the yarn, and which may be employed for subjecting the yarn to extremely light degrees of tension. 7

It is a further object of the invention to devise tension means which shall employ extremely light, thin, flexible plate members which have very little resistance to lateral bending or displacement and which have very little inertia to resist their displacement.

A further and more specific object of the invention is that of devising a tension which shall be self-clearing, that is, shall not be adversely affected by accumulations of lint or foreign matter even though used over extended periods of time, without any special attention being directed thereto. Along this same line it is a further object to devise such means which may be very effectively dismounted, disassembled, and which may be cleaned, or parts adjusted or replaced as may be desired with a minimum of effort and '7 Claims. (01. 242-449) ner hereinafter to be described in detail. .The amount of tension or drag to be imposed upon the running yarn is in each instance controlled by. subjecting the flexible members to a predetermined amount of lateral deflection, bending or bowing a term which will be used hereinafter and the connotation of which should be clear to those skilled in the art upon a study of the instant description. The mechanism adapted to impart to the flexible members this bowing may be of a type to be adjusted and furtherwithout stopping the machine to which the tension is applied for more than an extremely brief interval.

It is a further object of the invention to devise tension means which shall offer very little resistance and therefore which may be employed without subjecting the tensioned yarn to unusual stresses upon the passage of knots, slubs, or other imperfections through the device.

Other objects of the invention will become ap parent from the following more detailed disclosure.

In carrying the invention into effect, the yarn to be tensioned is passed between a pairof thin, flexible, strip members which are -preferably of spring steel and are 'ofonly avery'few thousandths of an inch in thickness so that the mass thereof is extremely small and the resistance to deflection or bending laterally shall also involve or necessitate the imposition of extremely small forces in order to effect suflicient lateral deflection to permit the passage of knots, slubs, or other enlarged portions of the running yarn. These thin, flexible members are so devised as to be loosely, but positively restrained within a holder which may be formed of sheet material bent to proper form and slotted for the reception of reduced ends of the flexible members, all in a manmore, may be adjusted by means which is adapted to maintain a definite or predetermined amount of deflection in the members so long as the adjustment thereof is left'at some particular value determined by the machine operator.

Again, in another form of the invention as will be explained in detail, the running yarn itself may be employed through certain movable members to vary the lateral deflection or bowing of the members whereby different conditions. imposed by the physical characteristics of the yarn itself and also by the demands of the machine to which the device is applied may be automatically compensated within a reasonably Wide range.

The invention will be described in detail by reference to certain embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the acompanying figures of drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing one form of the tension means which is adapted to be manually adjusted.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the tension means shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but'flshowing additional means by which the running yarn itself is employed to alter or vary the lateral bowing of the tension members.-

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the parts in the position Which they may assume upona different conditionin the running thread. elevation of the mechanism Fig. 5 is an end shown in Figs; 3 and Figs. Sand 7 are sections showing in detail the spring means for the arm by which the tension adjustment is automatically controlled.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a modified form ofa f tension member.

Now referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a simple form of the invention involves a holder I 0 which is slotted or apertured at either end, the said ends being bent as at l I at more or less of a angle,

and thereafter being bent inwardly a second time as at I 2, the latter portion being bent at anjangle' movement of the members within the holder.

In actual practice, these thin strip steel members may be punched out or iorined in any other manner and the reduced ends and i6 bent Q form. They may be assembled in the holder by introducing one end in the slot at one end of the holder and then by laterally deflecting or bowing the parts to an extended degree, the opposite reduced ends may be inserted in the slotat the ppo en of the hold r, Once assemb ed here is no like ihood o th p rts becoming siisssembled nder h ihfi ehoe oi an ordin ry forces. to whi h they may e er be su jected his rm oi he invent n he flexi e memers i3 an L ar ad pt d t be t wed late al hr u ho t s m p r cul r exten y means f a t rea d member pressin a ainst one o th ai m b rs at or a jac nt i s mid p int This hread d mem e i o rs cap bl f bein adjus to alter the amo n o late al d fle tion and thereby to vary the effect that the memb r hal have u n a ram unn ng b we n t m. The ad usting me ns er es l o t mount the tension unit upon a. bracket It or p n any ther ooh hien p t oi he ma ine to which it may be applied. A threaded and shouldered sleeve member is having the head P r i n 28 pass s throu h a slo or oth r ape ur 2| in h bracket and is look th re by m a o a clampin nut lh s ve 9 is nernal thre d o the recept on f a t s o mpos ng d djusting s ew 23 having a nagge h d 24 which is nurled or o herwis roughened to facilitate its use by the machine operator. The end of this screw 23, as shown in ieis in o ta t with th adjacent f ce oftho op emb 14 and may se v to how the memersthroue out any desir d nd reasonabl xtent.

For the purpose or aintaining the adju moot fixe a sp ing type p nt r memb r 25 is clamped between the head 20 and the adjacent ace of the holder l8 and the red ed e o hi pointer engages within the serrations or notches in the head 24 of the screw thereby to prevent unntentio l otation thereof.

The t read if is pas ed through the device in a lengthwise direction as illustrated here and is bj cte to an am unt of tension or dra as h s m pa s s be ween the members whi a otu lly pr ss d ogether w th wh t v r f r e e ults fr m their natural or nher nt r si n and also in accordance with the amount of de-- fiection or bowing to which they are subjected at any particular time. Of course, the greater the d e o bowin th more t nsion s pplied to the yarn. When knots, slubs or other imperfections in the yarn are encountered, the om r pa sed throu h. t ten o member without more than a slight change in the actual tension to which the yarn is subjected as it is drawn since the extremely light parts [3 and [4 offer no appreciable resistance to movement due to their inertia. and the extrem ease with which they may be laterally bent also serves very effectively to permit the passage of these enlarge ments in the yarn since the ends of the: member I4 may bend upwardly and the intermediate portion of the member 13 may bend downwardly, that is, as the parts are arranged in the figures to which reference has been made. It is to be understood that the device may be mounted edgewise and that is, in fact, probably the most preferable way to arrange the parts since then the forces due to inertia of the flexible members l3 and M are more satisfactorily disposed. The device is also self-clearing in that position. However, that is not critical and the tension may be arranged to operate in any position.

Now referring to Figs. 3, 4 and 5, a second form of the invention will be described, this form being of a type in which the tension in the yarn itself is employed for varying the effect of the flexible, spring steel members upon the running yarn. In h s views th ho der and th t n n members are indic ted by si ilar ref ren u e ls to those employed in Figs. 1 and 2, these numerals being primed as they apply to the second form of the invention described. A connecting means employed to attach the holder ID to the bracket I 8 comprises a threaded sleeve 26 having its inornal b re o s ita e di ens on and a ap d to serve as a bearing for a pin or plunger 21. This sleeve 26 is shouldered at the end adjacent the holder l0 and on passing through an aperture in that holder is riveted overthereby to attach he sa e perman n y o he holder.

Th sleeve .26 passes ou h a uita s t or other ap rt re in t e racket 18 an a n t 28 serves to clamp the tension unit which comprises the parts l0, l3 and I4 and also the prin pivo e -rm l er to be de ri d t t bracket; its disassembly requires only a matter of moments.

An arml!) having angularly bent portion 39 carries a curved shoe or slipper 31 of suitable hardened material and of a width suilicient so that the same may ride upon or press against the thread or yarn T passing through the tension. This arm 29 is in turn pivoted on a bearing actually carried at the outer or free end of a rack t 32 which ma be connected to the ho Ill, for example, by soldering or otherwise attaching a laterally bent foot member 33 to some suitable surface on the said holder. The arm is provided with a cylindrical drum or casing member 34 within which is enclosed a spring member for the purpose of urging the arm in a clockwise direction, that is, as seen in Figs. 3, e and 6. This drum 34 is actually formed with a flange portion 35 apertured to turn freely upon the outer diame er f a h u dered crew g n ra y ind cat d by numeral 36 and shown in Figs. 6 and '7, this screw having a very much enlarged head 31 and a reduced, threaded part 38 which passes through a suitable opening in the bracket 32, being clamped in position by meansof a nut 39. A washer 40 may be employed between the shoulder of the screw and the adjacent face of the bracket and the drum portion of the arm actually turns upon the screw and is confined laterally between the washer and the inner face of the enlarged head 31. A clock type spring 4! is at tached at 42 to the inner part of the drum 34 at one end, and at its opposite end, is attached by a similar lug or projection 43 to the central des red amount of tension th ein so t at the sion members except as. the arm is moved in a reverse direction by the-tension in the thread as it passes beneath the slipper 3! that, of course,-

acting against the tension in the spring 4! to permit the tension members l3 and. M to assume something more nearly their untensioned or.

straight relationship as evidenced in Fig. 3.

The shoulder screw 36 may be turned after loosening nut 39 and may be clamped in any desired position thus serving to adjust the tension in the spring fill so that for any thread or yarn being tensio-ned, and bearing in mind the particular purpose for which the tension is to serve, the amount of lateral deflection or bowing of the tension members may be regulated within limitsand it is to be understood that the mechanism functions best in a position in which the plane of movement of the arm 29 is substantially horizontal. At that time, the inertia of the parts and the spring tension are the only forces necessary to be overcome so: that the eifect of gravity on the parts is minimized.

When employing the form of the invention of these later figures, the arm 2a is aflected by the running thread so that as tension increases, it is swung to or toward the position illustrated in Fig. 3. That is an extreme position in which virtually no tension at all would be imposed on the yarn. That position is not often realized in actual practice and as a general rule the condition prevailing in Fig. 4 is substantially that which one would expect to find in a properly operating installation. lhe arm may serve to depress the plunger and to deflect the tension members in the event the tension in the thread becomes too little, and oppositely, upon the passing of imperfections, or if the drawing mechanism tends to create a sudden surge of material through the tension, or if the yarn is retarded at the supply end so that it draws oil less easily, then the arm is moved so as to permit the tension members to assumea more nearly straight relationship and thereby to decrease the actual effect thereof on the passing material.

The normal form which the tension members takes is that illustrated, e. g., rectangular. In some instances it may be desirable to provide less tension than can normally be advantageously governed by means of the rectangular members it or I i which necessarily must have considerable width at their ends in order to fit Within the holder and to provide a suiiioiently wide surface for the running thread or yarn. If desired, the sides of the tension members may be cut inwardly as illustrated in Fig. 8. There the members generally indicated by numeral 34 have angularly bent ends 85 and the necessary shouldered portions such as as, but the central part 4? of the member is much narrower and therefore will offer less resistance to deflection so that for lighter tensions the modified form of tension means of this figure serves very well.

In actual practice spring steel of .002"-.G03" in thickness has been used. These thicknesses of material are found to be satisfactory for a variety of materials and for controlling the tension in filling fed to filling inserting means of shuttleless looms. For more widely diiferent materials and when employed in other installations, the thickness of the strip stock may be greater or less and experience will show that thickness which may be best adapted for a particular purpose.

While a preferred embodiment and certain modifications of the invention have been disclosed, it is to be understood thatthe inventive concept may be carried out in a number of The invention is,therefore, not to be limited to the precise details 'described,but is intended to embrace all variations and modifications thereof falling within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A yarn tension device comprising in coinbination a holder, flexible, thin, flat yarn engaging members each of which is restrained at both of its ends by said holder and between which a yarn to be tensioned is drawn, and a means for deflecting said yarn engaging members to bow them lengthwise thereby to increase the amount of tension to be imposed thereby.

2. A yarn tension device comprising in combination a holder, flexible, thin, flat yarn engaging members, means forming a part of said holder for restraining each of the ends of each of said yarn engaging members and to maintain them in parallelism so that a yarn to be tensioned may be drawn through them lengthwise in frictional engagement with their adjacent faces, and means to deflect and bow said members thereby to increase the amount of tension to be imposed thereby.

3. A yarn tension device comprising in combination a holder, flexible, thin, flat yarn engaging members, means forming a part of said holder for restraining each of the ends of each of said yarn engaging members and to maintain them in parallelism so that a, yarn to be tensioned may be drawn through them lengthwise in frictional engagement with their adjacent faces, and means for pressing against an external face of once]? of said members intermediate the points of restraint therefor at its ends to'deflect and bow said members thereby to increase the amount of tension to be imposed thereby.

4. A yarn tension device comprising in combination a holder having angularly bent ends, flexible, thin, flat yarn engaging tension members, means for loosely restraining said members in parallel relationship including slots in the bent ends of the holder and reduced, shouldered portions of said members engageable within said slots, and means comprising a threaded member and a locking means therefor for laterally bowing said members to determine the amount of tension to be imposed thereby upon a yarn running between them.

5. A yarn tension device comprising in com bination a holder having angularly bent ends, flexible, thin, fiat yarn engaging tension members, means for loosely restraining said members in parallel relationship including slots in the bent ends of the holder and reduced, shouldered portions of said members engageable within said slots, and means for bowing said tension members comprising a movable means bearing against one of said members and a yarn controlled means affecting said movable means in accordance with tension in the yarn thereby to control the amount of deflection of the said members to maintain the tension in the yarn at a uniform value.

6. A yarn tension device comprising in combination a holder having angularly bent ends, flexible, thin, fiat yarn engaging tension members, means for loosely restraining said members in parallel relationship including slots in the bent ends of the holder and reduced, shouldered portions of said members engageable within said slots, and means for bowing said tension members comprising a movable means bearing against one of said members at substantially its mid point, and a yarn controlled, spring biased arm efiective upon said movable means for controlling the degree of bowing of the tension members as required to maintain a substantially uniform tension on the yarn.

7. A yarn tension device comprising in combination a holder having angularly bent ends, flexible, thin, flat yarn engaging tension members, means for loosely restraining said members in parallel relationship including slots in the bent ends of the holder and reduced, shouldered portions of said members engageable within said slots, and means for bowing said tension memhere comprising a movable plunger and guide means therefor by which said plunger is maintained for movement in a path normal to the plane of said tension members, and a yarn controlled arm pivoted adjacent sald plunger, resilient means for pressing said arm against said plunger and a yarn engaging shoe at the free end of said arm.

MAURICE R. FLAMAND.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number

Images