US2692619A

US2692619A - Heddle frame for looms

Info

Publication number: US2692619A
Application number: US133444A
Authority: US
Inventors: Blickenstorfer Albert
Original assignee: Froehlich A G E
Current assignee: E FROEHLICH AG; Froehlich A G E
Priority date: 1948-12-21
Filing date: 1949-12-16
Publication date: 1954-10-26
Anticipated expiration: 1971-10-26

Description

Oct 26, 1954 A- BLICKENSTORFER 2,692,619

HEDDLE FRAME FOR LOOMS Filed Dec. 16, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l 7 L7], I 1 5 Fwy "W 5 \H r: ,l

Oct. 26, 1954 A. BLICKENSTORFER 7 2,692,619

HEDDLE FRAME FOR LOOMS Filed Dec. 16, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR flL BE/PZ'BZ/CIfMTOR/ZR Patented Oct. 26, 1954 HEDDLE FRAME FOR LOOMS Albert Blickenstorfer, Horgen, Switzerland, assignor to E. Froehlich A. G., Horgen, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Application December 16, 1949, Serial N 0. 133,444

Claims priority, application Switzerland December 21, 1948 4 Claims.

1 The present invention deals with heddle structures for looms.

The heddle frames having metal staves of sections, known up to the present, have only proved themselves in practice if they are equipped with thick side supports of wood of corresponding breadth and matched to the parts of the dobbies. These side supports of wood normally have a width of 16 mm. With heddle frames intended for looms having a weaving breadth of 170 cm. and more or with looms for the manufacture of heavy fabrics of even less width, the breadth of the side support must be increased up to 40 mm. Such wooden side supports have, however, the disadvantage that the decrease of the effective width of the heddle frame entailed thereby often does not allow the full utilization of the width of fabric, 1. e. the next wider loom type has often to be chosen in order to be able to weave a given breadth of fabric. To achieve a good connection between the metal staves and the wooden side supports the wooden supports have to be inserted and rigidly riveted into the hollow metal stave by corresponding moulding of a tenon therein facing the inner side of the heddle frame and being milled for this purpose. It, therefore, goes without saying that the side supports of such heddle frames riveted in such a manner can only be detached from each other with much trouble and corresponding loss of time by drilling and driving out the rivets. These operations, however, generally result in either the metal staves or the wooden side support becoming unusable.

A speedy exchange of the side supports without any damage either to the staves or the side supports is, however, often necessary in the practice of weaving. A heddle frame the side supports of which can be exchanged without much loss of time has the great advantage that the weaver can alter his heddle frames in use relatively quickly for shorter or longer healds when a possible change-over in the type of fabric pro duced occurs without the heddle frames or parts thereof becoming useless or possibly having to be stored for an extended period.

As mentioned before, side supports of wood have to be stepped, i. e. made thinner at their ends to enable them to be inserted into the hollow metal staves. In the practice of weaving the experience has been made that wooden side supports stepped in such a manner and thus weakened excessively often break at the transition from the original size of the support to the milled tenon because of the great notching action. The 2-4 rivets per corner joint located in a relatively 2 small area, which are necessary, also lead to th formation of cracks, i. e. of splits of the wooden side supports at the riveting points by the transmission of the forces caused by the heddle frame drive elements through the staves to the side supports. Furthermore this results in the steel rivets working loose in the wood and thus in the comparatively thin wall of the stave of light metal becoming beaten out at the riveting places leading to grave damage to the heddle frame and interruptions in the weaving process.

These disadvantages are to be eliminated by the present invention. This invention relates to a heddle frame for looms and the novelty consists in that the staves as well as the side supports of the heddle frame are formed of sections of light metal and are provided with means for securing the heddle frame in operative and assembled condition without the use of any tools.

In the accompanying drawings various forms of embodiment of the invention are shown by way of example, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the heddle frame,

Fig. 2, a connection between stave and side support partly in section,

Fig. 3 is a section taken along line A-A in Fig. 2,

Fig. 4, a section taken along line BB in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view partly in section showing the connection between a stave and a side support with rail, embodying another form of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 5 showing another modification of the connection between a stave and a side support;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to that of Fig. 6 showing a still further modification of a connection between a stave and a side support;

Fig. 8 is a view similar to that of Fig. 6 showing still another embodiment of the invention, illustrating the connection between the stave and a side support in further modified form;

Fig. 9 is a view similar to that of Fig. 5 but shown on an enlarged scale and illustrating a still further modified form of the embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 10 is an end view of Fig. 9 partly in section;

Fig. 11 shows still another embodiment of the invention and is a view similar to that of Fig. 9 somewhat modified;

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary view similar to that of Fig. 9 showing the connection between the stave and a side support in a still further modified form and made in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 13 is an end view of Fig. 12 partly in section.

With the numerals l and 2 (Fig. 1) the two staves and with the

numerals

3 and 4 the two side supports of the heddle frame are designated. The staves l and 2 are hollow in section, as is shown in Fig. 3, and are preferably made of light metal. The side supports 3 and 4 consist, as is shown in Fig. 4, of hollow rods which are also made of light metal. The length of the side supports 3 and 4 depends upon the length of healds. The connection between the staves I and 2 and the side supports 3 and 4 is made by means of the connecting corner piece 5, consisting preferably of a hot-pressed light metal part. As can be seen from Fig. 2, one end of the connecting corner piece 5 is integral with and forms a rail or connecting means 6 projecting at right angles to it, said rail being so dimensioned and reduced in thickness with respect to piece 5, that it fits tightly in and engages the walls defining the hollow stave. The connection of rail 6 with the corresponding stave can be frictionally increased, for instance, by indentations 1 formed in or struck from the material of said stave. The other end of the connection piece 5 positioned opposite the rail 8 takes the shape of a connecting means or spigot 8 reduced in thickness for engaging the inner face of the wall defining the end of the side support and connected with it, by way of example, by means of the notches 9.

It will be noted the

connecting means

6, 8 are somewhat reduced in thickness with respect to the corner piece 5 and provide abutment faces at the latter against which stave I and side support 4 abut in assembled position of the heddle.

The ends of the heald assembly rails I fit into suitable holes of the side supports 3, 4. In order that the heald assembly rails consisting of; tempered steel do not work into the relatively soft, thin-walled side-supports, steel sleeves H (Figs. 2 and 3) are provided.

In the modification according to Fig. a longer spigot 8 is provided than in the aforementioned example, in which case the fitting of a steel sleeve for the reception of the heald assembly rails becomes superfluous in that the ends of the heald assembly rails fit into suitable holes of said spigot, thus preventing damage to the thin walls of the side supports.

In the embodiment according to Fig. 6 the spigot 8 of the connecting piece 5 is provided with a slot [2 and pierced by the heavy tension sleeve 13, so that the spigot 8 is held resiliently in the side support and secured against unintentional detachment.

In the modification according to Fig. '7 the connection between the spigot 8 of the connecting piece 5 with the adjacent end of the side support is achieved by means of the screw I4.

In the embodiment according to Fig. 8, the spigot 8 is provided with an external thread and the side support 4 takes the form of a tube engageable with the threads of spigot 8.

By the use of a left and right-hand thread, or of two threads having different pitches, the distance between the two heald assembly rails 10 disposed parallel to each other can be increased or decreased by rotating the two side supports 3 and 4. Besides the speedy assembling and dismantling of the heddle frame as well as the changing-over to a different heald length by using another length of side support, this execution has the further advantage that the so-called heald nose clearance can be adjusted 4 according to the type of loom and the weight of the fabric to be woven.

For the protection of the side supports made of light metal against shock and rubbing actions, the surface subjected to such a stress can, as is shown in Fig, 4, either wholly or partially be provided with a protection coating [6a. This protection coating can be of plastics, plastic glass, etc.

In the alternative of detail according to Figs. 9 and 10, the connecting piece 5 has a spigot 8 at its end facing the side support 4. Said spigot is provided with a recess l5 open to the exterior and registrable with a rectangular opening M (Fig. 9) provided in one of the adjacent side walls of the side support 4.

In the recess 15 the sleeve I1 is slideably arranged. The sleeve H is open at one end and is under operative influence of the coil spring 18. Said sleeve has a button I9 of rectangular section having a slightly reduced diameter compared with the sleeve [1, so that the sleeve II, as can be seen from Fig. 9, comes to lie against the abutment 2!! of the spigot 8 and thus prevents it from dropping out. In the locked position the free end of button i9 is level with the adjacent out-side edge of the side support 4.

With the heddle loom according to the lastdescribed embodiment, the side supports can easily and conveniently be exchanged without the use of tools. This is especially desirable if the heddle frame has to be adjusted to a difierent length of heald. By depressing the button [9 against the action of the coil spring 18, said button can be pressed back sufliciently to cancel the lock and to enable the spigot 8 to be drawn out of the side support 4. In assembling the cross staves and the side supports, the press button I9 snaps automatically into the corresponding slot or opening l6 of the side support 4 under the action of the coil spring l8 causing the parts to be locked together.

The alternative of detail according to Fig. 11 differs from the one described above in that two side walls of the side support 4 lying opposite to each other are provided with slots I6 engaged by the buttons I9 and IS. The press-button l9 has the sleeve IT at one end, in which the sleeve 2| is located for axial displacement. Between the press-buttons I9, [9' the pre-compressed coil spring I8 is inserted, said coil spring urging the press-buttons l9, l9 into the locked position shown in Fig. 11.

The last-described embodiment ensures an absolute secure locking, even under the most severe vibrations of the heddle frames.

In the embodiment according to Figs. 12 and 13, a steel wire 22 bent twice at right angles is pro-v vided as a locking means, of which one limb is fitted into the horizontal hole 23 of the spigot 8 of the connecting part 5 and the other limb engages a corresponding opening of the adjacent side wall of the side support 4 in the locking position shown in Figs. 12 and 13. The spigot 8 is provided with a vertical and curved recess 24, so that the vertical arm of the steel wire 22 can be pushed back at least in its lower half in releasing the lock.

It can thus be seen, that there has been provided according to this invention a heddle frame having at least one stave and a side support; comprising a corner piece provided with respective connecting means for said stave and said side support, said stave and side support being hollow in cross-section and made of light-weight metal, said connecting means being reduced in thickness with respect to said corner piece, whereby respective abutment faces are formed on said corner piece, respectively, said hollow stave and said hollow side support being engageable with said connecting means and abutting in assembled position against the abutment faces of said corner piece, whereby said stave and said side support extend in adjusted position to each other, respective connecting means and respective walls defining said hollow stave and said hollow side support forming respective pairs of engageable frictional means, at least one of said engageable means of each pair being provided with integral projecting means frictionally and releasably maintaining said stave and said side support in said adjusted position with respect to said corner piece.

Various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention and it is intended that such obvious changes and modifications be embraced by the annexed claims.

What I claim and wish to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A heddle frame having staves and side supports; comprising pairs of connecting means each pair provided with a corner piece therebetween, said connecting means forming spigots reduced in thickness with respect to said corner piece and providing respective abutment faces on the latter, said staves and said side supports being hollow in cross-section and made of light weight metal, said spigots extending from said corner piece at right angles to each other and being shaped for engagement with the respective inner walls-defining said hollow staves and said hollow side supports, whereby said supports and said staves are adjusted in position with respect to each other, and respective friction-producing retaining means arranged within and projecting from the inner walls of said staves and within said side supports for engagement with the respective adjacent spigots of said corner piece to thereby frictionally and releasably maintain said staves and said side supports in said adjusted position.

2. A heddle frame according to claim 1, said retaining means including a resilient wire piece bent at right angles to provide two legs, one of said legs being mounted in a substantially horizontal opening within a spigot for engagement with a respective side support, the other leg being bent to extend exteriorly of said side support and being registrable with an opening provided in the latter, to thereby releasably mount the spigot on the respective side support.

3. A heddle frame having at least one stave and a side support; comprising a corner piece provided with respective connecting means for said stave and said side support, said stave and side support being hollow in cross-section and made of lightweight metal, said connecting means being reduced in thickness with respect to said corner piece, whereby respective abutment faces are formed on said corner piece, respectively, said hollow stave and said hollow side support being engageable with said connecting means and abutting in assembled position against the abutment faces of said corner piece, whereby said stave and said side support extend in adjusted position to each other, respective connecting means and respective walls defining said hollow stave and said hollow side support forming respective pairs of engageable frictional means, at least one of said engageable means of each pair being provided with integral projecting means frictionally and releasably maintaining said stave and said side support in said adjusted position with respect to said corner piece.

4. A heddle frame according to claim 3, wherein said integral projecting means are provided on said inner walls of said stave and on said side support.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,707,230 Lowy Apr. 2, 1929 1,852,076 Fernane et a1 Apr. 5, 1932 1,988,976 Andrews Jan. 22, 1935 2,216,682 Zurcher et a1 Oct. 1, 1940 2,238,706 Ohls Apr. 15, 1941 2,371,032 Davis Mar. 6, 1945 2,385,718 Menking Sept. 25, 1945 2,483,857 Turner Oct. 4, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 277,143 Germany Oct. 24, 1913 522,032 Great Britain June 6, 1940