US2733807A - morrill - Google Patents

Description

F. B. MORRILL CLOTH REEL.

Feb. 7, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 001.. 12, 1951 l'zweazfozt- K 12224313. MofliiiZZ, I by W KW fliiodaeg F. B. MORRILL Feb. 7, 1956 CLOTH REEL 5 Sheets-Sheet '2 Filed Oct. 12, 1951 15212922202 FIMB.MO?4?1ZZZ, by MK W,

flii'oafiaeg;

Feb. 7, 1956 Filed Oct. 12, 1951 F. B. MORRILL 2,733,807

CLOTH REEL 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Iaweazior FWD-M03431,

by (MK- W United States Patent CLOTH REEL Frank B. Merrill, North Adams, -Mass., assignor to The James Hunter Machine Company, North Adams, Mass, a corporation of -Massa'chusetts Application October 12, 1951,Serial No. 251,043

9 'Claims. (Cl. 203-300) This invention relates to reels for propelling cloth in textile machines in processes of dyeing,'washing, bleaching and otherwise administering liquid treatments to cloth in rope form.

In such processes, for example in piece dyeing the piece of cloth must be kept moving continuously and alternately through the liquor in the dye book and then through the air for the absorption of oxygen, and this propulsion is 'e'fiected by a reel which pulls the cloth up out of the liquor and feeds it back again immediately into the liquor. Only the friction arising from the cloth being looped over the reel can be utilized to 'lift'thecloth, as any'additional pressure would set' creases in therope of cloth and cause shading in'the dyeing or other process being performed. However, in the dyeing of slippery fabrics suchas rayons'or nylons, the reel has difficulty in pulling or lifting the wet fabric and slippage of the reel within the loops of fabric occurs resulting'inimeven dyeing and shading and causing tight loops and other troubles because it fails to' feed the fabric or the various strings uniformly, and in chafing and damage to the cloth when the 'cloths travel stops entirely.

Additionally, the risk of chafing the fabric precludes the use of cleats or other cloth-engagingmembers on the roll which have any degree of sharp or rough gripping edges capable of getting abe'tter grip on the'cloth strings, as such would destroy the cloth in' the event of tangling and resulting stoppage ofclothtr'avel. Hence no reel devoid of dye-absorbing material hashitherto been satisfactorilyable to'pull the cloth without slipping.

The usual method of overcoming these ditficulties is to cover the reel, sometimes with rubber, which is extremely expensive and will not endure boiling dye liquor, or more commonly with fabric, such as duck or cheese cloth to give it sufficient frictional grip on the cloth. This latter involves so much expense for the fabric used, time spent in applying it, and loss of machine time, that often a part of the available machines are taken out of production and left standing idle rather than. relapping the reels with fresh fabric as necessary to avoid ofi-color work when the shades which are next to be dyed are lighter than those which have beenput through the dye becks, using only those machines which have been on lighter shades. In short, relapping is such an itemof expense it is put off as long as possible, even at the cost of idle machines and delayed productiom and the'interference with the dyers planning and timing of his work.

Since cloth is generally high in cost, and sometimes scarce and not available, especially in'war times, or since the lapping ordinarily lasts only from one to three weeks, depending on the quality of the cloth used, the conditions of heat of the dye liquor and the degree of abrasion to which the cloth is subject, it becomes, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide a reel in which lapping of the reel with cloth andall its attendant difficulties are avoided and rendered unnecessary to prevent slippage of the reel within the 'fabricbeing propelled.

Chief among such'difiicult'ies is thatit requires "great skill to apply the fabric evenly; 'if the fabric covering increases the diameter more at one point in the length of the reel than at another, even by A" in circumference, it makes tight loops in the strings of cloth being run which lead to slippage, scuffing, and eventual damage of the fabric unless someone stands by and holds back with his hands on the fast-feeding loop to slack elf the preceding tlight loop.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved reel which avoids these drawbacks while attaining a gentle and least injurious action on the cloth.

Another object of the invention is to provide a reel handling the cloth in such manner that the treating liquid permeates the cloth uniformly with avoidance of shading of the cloth throughout its width and length.

To these ends I have provided a novel reel having circumferentially spaced supporting elements for the cloth Whose supporting surfaces are oblique to the force which presses the fabric radially inward against the reel, these oblique surfaces standing at both sides of each string of the cloth to define V or U-shaped crotches in which the string of cloth wedges. While these supporting elements may be arranged end-to-erid in close proximity in the same longitudinal plane, the successive elements are preferably disposed in different planes so that the fabric wedges and kinks between them in proportion to the resistance of the fabric to being fed onward. In a preferred form the V5 or Us are spaced circumferentially around the reel on lags so that the unit pressure of the cloth on each crotch remains high enough to cause a good grip on the fabric, as well as spaced along the reel to accommodate a plurality of strings or loops of the cloth.

Other objects of the invention, and the manner of their attainment are as made plain in the accompanying description.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l. is a side elevation of the improved reel.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation; of the reel.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view partly in section of a portion of Fig. 1 showing construction details.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the reel.

Pig. 5 is a side-elevation of a portion of one slat adjacent one head of the reel, showing an alternative form of construction of the humps.

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings and to Figs. 1 and 2 in particula-n-the reel is built preferably of stainless steel or other noncorrodible metal, except as otherwise indicated, and has metallic heads 1 of generally oval outline formed from circular plates by removing equal segmental areas from opposite sides, and with turned-out rims 3 to fit closely against the walls of the machine in which it "is 'used'andexclude entry of the cloth therebetween.

The heads 1 are mounted on opposite ends of a barrel or tubular shaft comprising a length of heavy pipe 5, Fig. 3, of ordinary steei sheathed throughout its length with two lengths of stainless steel tubing 5" fitting closely thereon, and in each end of the pipe 5 is fixed a heavy cast iron sleeve 9 pressed into the counterbored extremity of the pipe and secured non-rotatably therein by pins 11. in the central bore 13 of each sleeve 9 is fixed-a steel stub-shaft 15 press-fitted tightly therein and held by pin 17, the stub-shafts forming the journals of the reel, the full-diameter portion of each shaft forming the bearing surface while at least one has a reduced extremity which is threaded and provided With'a keyway whereby a driving gear or pulley maybe mounted thereon to drive the'reel. A spacing collar 19 is press-fitted about each journal against the outward end of sleeve 9, and-on this collar the head is mounted nd'- seenre1y welded *tothe end of pipe 5 around the joint 21,-the*stainless steel sheathing 7 bein flared to cover the welding bead in joint 21. A ring 23 of sheet metal also surrounds collar 21, being Welded to the outward surface of the head to reinforce the aperture therein receiving collar 19.

Each head is provided with a rectangular flange 25 centered about the shaft and welded to the inward surface of the head, within which are four gussets 27 each welded to the inside of flange 25, to the inward surface of head 1, and to the surface of the adjacent end portion of sheathing sleeve '7, and serving to brace the heads so as to maintain them in true radial relation to the axis of rotation defined by the journals 15. At mid-length of the reel is an intermediate support comprising a rectangular web 29 having its edge turned over at right angles all the way around its periphery to form a flange 31, the length and breadth of this rectangle being the same as that of the two flanges 25 on the heads, and having a central aperture 33 whereby this support fits about pipe 5, being fixed thereon by a welding bead filling the angle between the support and the pipe all the way around the latter at each side of the support. The proximate ends of the two sheaths 7 are flared to cover and include these welding beads.

The center support 29 is braced to hold it truly radial to the axis of the reel by triangular gussets 35, 37, welded to the support 29 and to the surface of sheaths 7, and also to the inward surface of the flange 31 in the case of gussets 37.

Slats or lags 39, 41, are mounted on flanges 25 on the heads and flange 31 on the center support. Slat 39, Fig. 2. is in the form of a channel'member having three faces disposed angularly to each other, and with inturned flanges 43. These slats 39 are mounted on the narrow ends of flanges 25, 31, each slat being closed at its extremities by a plate 46 matching in outline the section of such slat and being welded to the latters end; these plates are fixed to the inward faces of heads 1 by bolts 47. Similarly shaped plates 49, 51, are welded inside the trough of each slat 39 at suitable intervals to brace them against deformation, one of these, 51, being located at midlength of the reel and having a flange 53 fastened to the narrow end of flange 31 of center support 29 by bolts 55. Suitable drain holes 57 are provided in the faces of each slat 39 and in the reinforcing webs 49, 51, adjacent this face, to prevent the accumulation of liquor in the trough within each slat 39.

Slats 41 are located at midlength of the long sides of the oblong flanges 25 and are of right angle channel section as indicated in Fig. 2, the extremities of the two parallel sides of each being bent outward at right angles to form flanges 43, Fig. 2, whereby they are bolted to the inward surface of the heads 1 by bolts 45. At midlength each slat 41 is secured to the flange 31 of center support 29 by yokes 59 whose outturned feet 53 are fastened to such flange by bolts 56.

Humps 61, 62, are provided on the slats to give the reel its peculiar pulling and lifting power, through increasing the frictional engagement between the reel and the wet ropes of cloth looped over it. These humps are formed of stainless steel rod bent into low, slightly pointed arches with the arms of the arches having straight portions diverging at substantially right angles from each other, the end portions of the arms being bent into parallel relation and threaded. These humps are mounted in each of the three faces of the slats 39; and in the middle face of slats 41, in accordance with the invention in planes extending parallel to the reels axis, preferably in two parallel paired series with each hump 61 of one series overlapping two humps 62 of the other series of the pair (except at the ends). The humps are fixed in place in the slats by inserting their threaded ends through holes properly located in the slats and tightening nuts 63 on the threaded ends of the humps to bear against the inward and outward surfaces of the slats. Half-humps 65 are provided at the ends of the series, having their elevated ends extending through slots 67 in heads 1, and having braces 69 welded to them intermediate their lengths with the threaded extremities of such braces fixed in similar manner in holes in the slats by nuts '71. The resulting reel is in effect oval in cross-section.

Because the equally spaced humps 61 of one series of each pair are in a different plane, spaced away a substantial distance from the humps 62 of the other series of such pair in a direction around the reel, as clearly shown in the case of slat 41, Fig. 1, but much less distant than the thickness of the rope of cloth, and the humps 61 are arranged in overlapping and staggered relation to the humps 62 along the slats 41 and along the three faces of each slat 39, the strings of cloth looped over the reel and pressing inward toward the axis of the reel in looping around it tend to wedge into the valleys or crotches of V-shaped profile between each two adjacent circumferential sequences of humps. In so doing the strings are bent obliquely out of their normal circumferential extent in the effort to enter the space between the overlapping portions of. the two members of each adjacent pair of humps they engage. The cloth is bent or kinked into zigzag relation lengthwise of the reel at its point of contact with each hump, and the sharpness of the kink and consequent power of the reels grip on the cloth is in direct proportion to the resistance of the cloth to being pulled by the reel up to a certain point, because such drag tightens the loop of cloth around the reel. Because the humps defining the two cooperating sides of each V-shaped valley are arranged thus in both spaced and staggered relation, in different planes, herein both parallel to each other and to the reels axis, the angular supporting surfaces which they provide oblique to the force pressing the cloth against the reel not only cause the cloth to wedge between them thus, but also hold the cloth from resting on the slats and thus from diminishing the wedging action and consequent grip on the cloth.

There is'thus a double cloth-gripping action in each .1, first that which arises from the wedging of the cloth in the V-shaped crotch defined by one hump 61 and its cooperating hump 62 engaging a single string of cloth, and secondly that which is produced by the snubbing of the cloth around the feed of the proximate legs of these humps at and below the bottom of the V as the cloth is diverted into zigzag relation in entering the space left between the two series of humps 61, 62 in pursuance of the cloths natural tendency to seek the portion of the reel of least girth as it wraps around the reel. Hence because the respective humps defining the two sides of each V are spaced apart in a direction around the reel and stand in diiferent planes, and thus engage the cloth passing between them at successive points only in the length thereof instead of at opposite points in its length, an added and concurrent cloth-grasping crotch is provided at or below the bottom of each V.

By this manner of operation the improved reel exerts an increased lifting and tractive power on the strings of cloth with reduction of slippage of the reel within the loops of cloth and with much gentler action on the cloth and absence of straining of the cloth over the humps than heretofore in many cases. Further, since a severe strain or tension in the cloth will pull out or prevent the forming of the zigzag bends in the cloth which provide the reels improved grip on cloth under normal moderate tension, causing the cloth to ride wholly above the bottoms of the Vs, the reel possesses an automatic safety feature easing its grip and saving the cloth from injury when travel of the cloth is stopped as a result of tangling. All surfaces engaging the cloth are smooth and rounded, and ience chafing and serious damage to the cloth is avoided if the strings tangle and the cloth stops traveling. There is of course no material to absorb dyes, and hence the dye kettle may be used continuously and successively for light or dark shades indiscriminately, merely rinsing out between, and with no boiling out. Because the humps and the valleys which they define are arranged in circum- MUM-mm ms ferential sequence in radial planes, there is no tendency for the reel to crowd the strings of cloth toward one end or the other of the reel to cause tangling.

The manner of mounting the individual humps by means of nuts 63 securing their threaded legs on the slats 39, 41, permits easy adjustment of the humps to have the desired extent from their respective slats, and thus to give the reel the desired girth at each of the circumferential valleys lying in their respective radial planes, by varying the spaced relation of the humps from the reels axis and the corresponding spaced relation from such axis of the bottoms of the Vs they define. It is essential that the effective circumference of the reel be the same at each circumferential valley defined by the bottoms of each series of Vs located in a given radial plane, as regards all loops which offer the same resistance to being lifted. since the cloth runs in these valleys and not on the peaks of the humps, and a departure from equal circumference or girth at one or more of the valleys will produce long and short loops, as is well known, and result in improper operation of the reel. However, all of the loops in the dye beck do not pull equally; for instance, the first valley on the reel has to pull the endless string of cloth leaving the last valley of the series clear across the machine and past the loops hanging from the valleys between. This creates a greater tension in such crossing strand which reduces its cross-section and makes it ride lower in the said first valley, requiring such valley to be given a greater circumference than the others in order to feed its strand at the same rate as the rest and keep the loops equal. For such corrections the feature of adjustability of the radial extent of the humps is of great value, as by tilting the humps defining one or both sides of a valley inward or outward of the latter by manipulation of nuts 63 on the proximate legs the effective girth of the reel at such valley can be increased or reduced. Appropriate shift of the nuts on the remote legs of these same humps maintains the adjacent valley or valleys unchanged in circumference, or modifies their circumferential girth, as may be desired.

An alternative form of the invention which attains many of the advantages of the form of Fig. 1 while being much simpler and less costly to manufacture, is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. In this form, the series of humps on each face of slats 39, and on the single face of slats 41, is formed from a single continuous piece of metal rod 75 of the desired diameter bent into serpentine form and welded at 77 to the respective faces of slats 39, 41, to stand perpendicular to such faces. The elevated portions of the sinuosities of the rods form humps 79 corresponding to 61, 62 of the form of Fig. 1, while the depressed portions 81 form the valleys or Vs in which the strings of cloth 83 wedge and become gripped. These Vs are arranged in radial planes defining axially spaced valleys, as in the other form, each valley handling one string of cloth or one loop of a spiraled piece of cloth, as the case may be. While lacking the gripping power of the double kink put into the cloth at each V in the other form, it renders good service in handling all but the slipperiest of fabrics. Though lacking in adjustability of its girth in attaining equal rates of feed at all the sets of valleys, this form tends to achieve such uniformity by the nature of its construction, with a substantial saving in cost of production, and the girth of its initial valley at each end is easily enhanced by elevating its Vs in welding to the slats, as at 85.

While I have illustrated and described a certain form in which the invention may be embodied, I am aware that many modifications may be made therein by any person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the particular form shown, or to thedetails of construction thereof, but

What I do claim is:

l. A reel for propelling cloth having in combination spaced heads, means connecting the heads, and arched cloth-engaging humps formed of bent rods fixed on such means and disposed in planes parallel to the reels axis.

2. A reel for propelling cloth having in combination spaced heads, means connecting the heads, and clothengaging elements comprising arched bars defining V- shaped notches and spaced apart in the direction of the length of the cloth at the bottom of the V.

3. A reel for propelling cloth having in combination spaced heads, slats joining the heads, and humps arranged in staggered relation in two spaced series on each slat wedging the cloth between them as it is fed onward by the reel.

4. A reel for propelling cloth having in combination spaced heads, slats joining the heads, and humps evenly spaced in one series in staggered and overlapping relation with respect to the humps of another evenly spaced series on the same slat wedging the cloth between them in proportion to the resistance of the cloth to being fed onward.

5. A reel for propelling cloth having in combination spaced heads, slats joining the heads, and humps in staggered series on each slat and having arched portions in the same radial plane as the arched portion of humps in corresponding series on the other slats, defining valleys extending in series around the reel in radial planes.

6. A reel for propelling cloth having in combination spaced heads, slats joining the heads, and humps at spaced intervals staggered as to other humps on the same slat and acting therewith to wedge and to bend the cloth axially between them in proportion to the resistance of the cloth to being fed onward.

7. A reel for propelling cloth having in combination spaced heads, slats connecting the heads, and humps extending lengthwise of the reel parallel to its axis in a plurality of series, the humps of one series staggered and overlapping with respect to the humps of an adjacent one of such series preventing the cloth from resting on the slats.

8. A reel for propelling cloth having in combination spaced heads, slats connecting the heads, and cloth-engaging elements comprising rods bent into serpentine form and attached to the slats to form series of humps alternating with intervening valleys, such series being disposed in planes parallel to the reels axis.

9. A reel for propelling cloth having in combination spaced heads, a pair of slats joining the heads and located in diametrically opposite relation to each other at equal distances from the axis of the reel, a series of cloth-engaging humps on each of such slats, a second pair of slats also joining the heads and located in diametrically opposite relation to each other at equal distances from the reels axis, such distances exceeding those of the first pair, and a plurality of series of cloth-engaging humps on each of this second pair of slats, the several series on each such slat being disposed in obliquely related planes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 755,006 Hoxie Mar. 22, 1904 1,282,909 Mills Oct. 29, 1918 1,957,618 Simonds May 8, 1934 2,162,841 'Dunlap June 20, 1939 2,320,891 Ryder June 1, 1943 2,578,330 Von Kohom Dec. 11, 1951 2,585,948 Litzler Feb. 19, 1952 2,597,839 MOrrill et a1 May 20, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 132,683 Australia June 2, 1949

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