US2856640A - Apparatus for crimping textile strands - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 21, 1958 A N. E. KLEIN 2,355,640

APPARATUS FOR CRIMPING TEXTILE STRANDS Filed Feb. 1, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTORZ 47 #21014 f. 1415/.

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Oct. 21, 1958 N. E. KLEIN APPARATUS FOR CRIMPING TEXTILE STRANDS 3 Sheets--Shet 2 Filed Feb. 1, 1954 INVENTOR: #02414 2 flew;

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Oct. 21, 1958 N. E. KLEIN 2,856,640 APPARATUS FOR CRIMPING TEXTILE STRANDS Filed Feb. 1. 1954 s Sheets-Sheet s i n L INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

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United States Patent 2,856,640 APPARATUS FOR CRIB [PING TEXTILE STRANDS Norman E. Klein, Pendleton, S. C., 'assignor to Deering Milliken Research Corporation, Pendleton, S. C., a

corporation of Delaware Application February 1, 1954, Serial No. 407,474 8 Claims. (Cl. Ill-66) This invention relates to an improved apparatus for curling, crimping or crinkling continuous substantially parallel strands, ropes, slivers or bundles of artificial filaments or fibers to condition the same for subsequent processing, such as spinning and twisting.

Apparatus currently in use for imparting crimp or crinkle to artificial sliver or tow include complementary sets of relatively narrow positively driven feed rolls between which the sliver is fed into a stuffing chamber whose discharge end is restricted by a movable clapper plate to resist or retard the flow of sliver through the chamber to cause it to bunch up and crinkle or crimp within the chamber prior to being discharged from the chamber. In such an apparatus the amount of crimp is determined by the pressure of the feed rolls and the resistance of the clapper plate. The feed roll pressure must be adjustable and positive yet resilient and the resistance of the clapper plate must also be resilient and adjustable in relation to the feed roll pressure.

Prior devices have not been satisfactory in that the means employed to provide relative movement of the feed rolls toward and away from each other permit the axes of rotation of the rolls to become misaligned thereby causing the rolls to become skewed with respect to each other. Operation of the rolls under such conditions soon causes the side plates of the stuffing chamber that are in contact with the side faces of the rolls to become grooved and worn thereby making it necessary to replace frequently the side plates in order to maintain the operating efficiency of the crimping machine.

It is, therefore, the primary object of my invention to provide an improved, simple and effective means for enabling the feed rolls of a crimping machine to be moved relative to each other under operating conditions without permitting the axes of the rolls to move out of parallelism.

The arrangements of prior devices for applying pres sure to the feed rolls are also unsatisfactoiy in that they have a relatively small mechanical advantage, utilize cumbersome parts and consequently have a low rate of response.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved means for applying pressure to the feed rolls of a crimper which possesses a large mechanical advantage thereby permitting the use of light weight parts which due to their light weight have a low inertia and consequently permit a quick response of the rolls to variations in size or thickness of the rope or bundle of material being fed therebetween.

Briefly, the foregoing objects are accomplished by mounting the two feed rolls respectively on two parallel disposed shafts that are relatively long compared with the axial lengths of the rolls. One shaft is concentrically journaled at each end in low friction bearings carried by the frame of the crimping machine. The second shaft is of tubular form and is journaled at its ends on low friction bearings carried by an internal shaft that extends beyond the ends of the tubular shaft. The ends of the internal shaft projecting beyond the tubular shaft are each provided with a reduced diameter portion disposed in eccentric relation with respect to the axis: of the tubular shaft. These reduced diameter portions arejalso journaled in low friction bearings mounted in the frame.

Any movement of the second roll toward and away fromthe first roll must therefore always take place with theaxes of the two rolls remaining in parallelism.

The relatively small eccentricity between the axes of the journal shaft projections and the tubular shaft carrying the second feed roll makes it possible to urge the feed rolls toward each other with a great force by the application of only a relatively small rotative force to the internal shaft. This rotative force may be applied through any suitable means such as a lever arm and coil spring, a torsional spring surrounding the internal shaft or even a torsion bar forming a continuation of the shaft.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in Which Figure 1 is a front elevation of the improved crimping apparatus with the weight arm broken away;

Figure 2 is'a vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 22 in Figure l, with parts broken away to clearly illustrate the crimping chamber and its improved restricting means;

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical the improved crimping apparatus taken substantially along line 3-3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 44 in Figure 3, showing means for driving the feed rolls in opposite directions;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary isometric view looking at the right-hand portion and end of the upper feed roll supporting shaft in Figure 3, showing the eccentric portion thereon and also showing the pressure applying lever mounted thereon;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary isometric view similar to Figure 5, but showing the corresponding end of the upper feed roll supporting shaft eccentrically journaled in the corresponding Wall of the housing or frame and showing another or second form of means for exerting torsional pressure on the upper feed roll;

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 2, but showing still another or third form of means for applying torsional pressure to the upper feed roll.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, with particular reference to Figures 1 to 5, inclusive, one form of the inveniton is shown in which the numeral 10 broadly designates a suitable housing for the improved crimping apparatus and which includes top and bottom walls 11 and 12, side walls 13 and 14 and a partial rear wall 15 which extends upwardly from the bottom wall 12 and terminates substantially short of the top wall 11. The rear wall 15 has a guide in the form of a trumpet 16 suitably secured thereto through which a .strand, rope or sliver S of substantially parallel artificial or synthetic textile filaments or fibers is drawn by means of a complementary pair of feed rolls 20 and 21.

Since the sliver S is drawn between the rolls 20 and 21 in a substantially horizontal plane, the rolls 20 and 21 may be respectively termed as bottom and top feed rolls. The feed roll-s 20 and 21 are preferably made of hardened and ground metal and are provided with relatively narrow cylindrical faces substantially greater in width than the maximum width of the rope or sliver S to be crimped.

sectional view through Disposed immediately forwardly of the bite or nip of the feed rolls 20 and 21 is an elongated crimping or stufling chamber C formed from side plates 22 and 23 which are spanned by a pair of spaced upper and lower chamber walls 24 and 25, respectively, shown in the form of relatively narrow bars suitably secured to the proximal surfaces of the side plates 22 and 23.

The bar 24'is of less length than the bar 25 and has a generally arcuate concave end 26 which mates with a generally convex end of a bar 27 which forms part of the upper wall of the crimping chamber and is in effect an extension of the bar 24. The bar 27 is pivotally mounted adjacent its concave end between the plates 22 and 23 as at 28. The bar 27 acts as a clapper plate or chamber restricting plate.

The inner or rear end of the bar 27 is disposed at a point intermediate the length of the chamber C and the free front end of the bar 27 extends beyond the lower chamber wall 25 and has a projection or abutment 30 on itsupper surface which is engaged by a lever portion 31 of a weight arm. The lever 31 is pivoted, as at 32, between the side plates 22 and 23 and a rod 33 is suitably secured in the free end of the lever and forms a part of the weight arm. A suitable weight 34 is confined on the rod 33 as by a snap ring or projection 35 and is adjustably positioned thereon as by a hand screw 36.

Thus, the front end of the chamber restricting plate 27 is normally urged toward the lower chamber wall 25 by the weight arm and its weight 34 to impede or retard, to a predetermined extent, free movement of the rope or sliver S through the crimping or restricting chamber. This causes the sliver S to fold back upon itself in the rear portion of the stuffing chamber as it is fed thereinto by the feed rolls 20 and 21, thus forming a crimp or crinkle in the. filaments or fibers as is best shown in Figure 2. Upon the sliver backing up a sufficient amount in the chamber C, it will exert pressure upon the bar 27 to permit crimped sliver to be discharged from the cham er A suitable discharge chute 37 may be positioned adjacent the, discharge end of the stuffing chamber as by means of a shaft or pin 38 extending through the bar 27; and on opposite ends of which hooked upper ends of side walls 39 of the inclined discharge chute 37 are supported, the side walls 39 fitting in suitable recesses in theplates 22. and 23.

l The respective upper and lower ends of the side plates 22 and 23' are suitably secured to the front edge of the top wall 11 of housing 1t) and the front edge of a bar 41; suitably secured to the upper surface of the bottom housing wall 12. If desired, suitable spacers 40 on rods 40a may be positioned between the plates 22 and 2,3 and the plates 22 and 23 and associated parts may be removed from the housing as a unit.

In order that straying portions of the sliver S under pressure are not trapped during the crimping or crinkling operation, the rear portion of the stufling chamber overlaps the feed rolls 20 and 21 as shown in Figure 2. The rear ends of the upper and lower chamber walls 24 and 25 are disposed in closely spaced relation to the cylindrical surfaces of the rolls 20 and 21 and are arcuately shaped as at 42, to conform substantially to the curvature of the rolls.

The rear end of each of the side plates 22 and 23 has a relatively narrow extension 43 which overlaps the two outside side faces of the feed rolls 20 and 21 adjacent the bite of the feed rolls 20 and 21 and are preferably provided with hearing inserts 44 of a vitreous material such as the composition known as AlSiMag. The bearing inserts 44 slidably engage the distal side; faces of the rolls 20 and 21 to insure that the sliver S is fed iHiO, the chamber C.

Inv order to maintain or set the crimp in the sliver S it is. necessary to heat the sliver while in crimped condition within the chamber C. To this end, suitable means are provided for introducing moist heat such as steam or the like into the chamber C comprising a pair of pipes 45 and 46 whose upper ends penetrate and are suitably secured in the bearing inserts 44 immediately forwardly of the bite of the feed rolls 20 and 21. The discharge ends of the pipes 45 and 46 are preferably covered with perforated disks 50. The pipes 45 and 46 extend downwardly and are connected to a common pipe 47 extending to a suitable source of heat such as steam or gas, not shown.

In order to obtain the desired crimp, it is necessary to feed the sliver S into the chamber C under pressure which may be varied in proportion to the weight exerted on the bar 27 and at the same time the feeding means must be more or less yieldable to allow for variations in the thickness of the sliver. To accomplish this purpose the feed roll 21 is mounted in a novel manner.

The bottom feed roll 20 is fixed on the medial portion of a transverse shaft 51 whose reduced opposite ends are suitably journaled in the side walls 13 and 14 of the housing 10 as by low-friction bearings 52 in bearing housings 53, suitably positioned in the respective side walls 13 and 14. The upper feed roll 21 is fixed on a tubular member or shaft 56 rotatably mounted on an upper shaft 57 as by anti-friction or low- friction bearings 60 and 61.

Suitable lubricant seals 62 are preferably provided adjacent the distal surfaces of each of the anti-friction bearings 60 and 61 and the tubular shaft 56 has a suitable lubricant fitting 64 mounted therein for introducing lubricant into the tubular shaft 56 to lubricate the bearings 60 and 61. Opposite ends of the shaft 57 extend beyond the tubular shaft 56 and each has a reduced eccentric journal portion 65 thereon. The eccentric portions 65 are suitably journaled in the respective side walls 13 and 14 of the housing 10, as by anti-friction or lowfriction bearings 66 in bearing housings 67 positioned in the respective side walls 13 and 14 of the housing 10. The bearing housings 53 and 67 are also provided with suitable lubricant seals 70 to prevent lubricant from escaping therefrom.

Resilient means are provided for applying a rotative force to the eccentrically mounted shaft 57 and, in the form shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 5, such resilient means is embodied in a pressure applying lever or torsion lever 71 fixed on the shaft 57 between the right-hand bearing block 67 in Figure 3 and the corresponding end of the tubular shaft 56, as by a key 72. The eccentric portions 65 are disposed substantially rearwardly of the axis of the shaft 57, and the pressure applying lever 71 extends forwardly from shaft 57 and has the upper end of a tension spring 74 connected to the free front end thereof. The lower extremity of the tension spring 74 is connected to an eye-bolt 75 which loosely penetrates the bottom Wall 12 of the housing 10 and has an adjustment nut 76 threadably mounted on its lower end and engaging the lower surface of the wall 12.

It is apparent that tightening or loosening the nut 76 on the eye-bolt i5 correspondingly increases and decreases the amount of downward pressure exerted by the top feed roll 21 to permit accurate and minute adjustment of the amount of pressure exerted by the top roll 21 upon the sliver S.

Any suitable means may be provided for driving the rolls 20 and 21 in opposite directions and in a preferred embodiment of said driving means, sprocket wheels 80 and 81 are fixed on corresponding ends of the shaft 51 and the tubular shaft 57, respectively, and the upper portion of an endless belt or sprocket chain 82 substantially encircles the sprocket wheel 81 and passes between the sprocket wheels 80 and 81 in a clockwise direction in Figure 4 and its rear or right-hand run engages the lower sprocket wheel 80. The belt or sprocket chain 82 may be driven by any suitable means, not shown, to thereby impart rotation to the sprocket wheels 80 and 81 and the respective bottom and top rolls 20 and 21 in opposite directions. In this instance, the bottom roll 20 is driven in a counterclockwise direction and the top roll 21 is driven in a clockwise direction in Figure 2. A dividing wall 85 may be provided to separate the driving, mecha nism from the crimping area within the housing.

Referring to Figure 6, there is shown a modified or second form of means for applying pressure to the upper feed roll and, since the parts shown in Figure 6, other than the modifications made therein, are identical to those shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 5, those parts shown in Figure 6 which are the same as those shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 5 shall bear the same reference characters with the prime notation added.

In lieu of a pressure applying arm or torsion arm such as the arm 71 in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 5, the eccentric portion 65' in Figure 6 has one end of a torsion bar or rod 90 fixed thereto, substantially concentric therewith. The torsion rod 90 is preferably polygonal in cross-section, but it may be circular in cross-section, if desired, and it is preferable that its inner end is embedded in the free end of the corresponding eccentric portion 65' of the shaft 57'. The torsion bar or rod 90 loosely extends through a suitable opening 91 provided therefor in the corresponding bearing block 67 and the outer end of the torsion bar or rod 90 loosely penetrates a stationary member shown in the form of a plate 92 which is spaced substantially from the corresponding wall 13 of the housing or frame 10'. n

The outer end of the torsion bar or rod 90 is fixed in a torsion control lever shown in the form of a torsion plate or adjusting plate 93 which bears against the outer surface of the stationary plate 92 and is provided with an arcuate slot 94 generated about the axis of the torsion rod or bar 90. The slot 94 is penetrated by an adjustment screw 95 which is preferably in the form of a thumb screw and whose inner end is threadably embedded in the stationary plate 92.

Thus, the plate 93 may be adjusted in either direction to correspondingly twist or turn the torsion bar or rod 90 for accordingly adjustably varying the amount of downward pressure exerted by the tubular shaft 56. When the torsion adjusting plate 93 has been properly positined,.the thumb screw 95 is then tightened to maintain the torsion rod or bar 90 under the desired torsional stress to thereby effect the desired downward pressure in the upper feed roll, such as the roll 21 in Figures 1, 2 and 3.

In Figure 7, there is still another or third form of means illustrated for transmitting downward pressure to the upper feed roll and, since the structure shown in Figure 7 is similar to that shown in Figure 2, with the exception of the form of means shown for imparting torsional or downward pressure to the upper feed roll, those parts shown in Figure 7 which are substantially the same as those shown in Figure 2 will bear the same reference characters with a double-prime notation added.

The pressure applying means shown in Figure 7 differs from that shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 6 in that the eccentric portion 65" at one end of the shaft 57" has one end of a torsion spring 100 fixed thereto whose other end has one end of a link 101 connected thereto. The other or lower end of the link 101 is connected to one end of an eye-bolt or threaded shaft 102 which loosely penetrates the bottom wall 12 of the housing 10" and has an adjustment nut 103 threadably mounted on its lower end and engaging the lower surface of the wall 12". The eye-bolt 102 and nut 103 may be identical to the eye-bolt 75 and nut 76 shown in Figures 1 and 2 although, in this instance, the eye-bolt 102 is mounted more closely adjacent the vertical plane of the lower and upper feed rolls 20" and 21" than that of the eye-bolt 75 relative to the vertical plane of the lower and upper feed rolls 20 and 21 in Figure 2.

It is apparent that tightening or loosening the nut 103 on the eye-bolt 102 correspondingly increases and decreases the amount of downward pressure exerted by the top feed roll 21 to permit accurate and rninnte adjustment of the amount of pressure exerted by the top'roll 21 upon the sliver S.

It is thus seen that I have provided an improved crimping apparatus for continuous substantially parallel artificial or synthetic filaments in rope, sliver or strand form embodying an improved, simple and effective adjustable means, shown in three forms, for varying the pressure of one of a complementary pair of feed rolls relative to the other of the feed rolls to control the feeding of the textile filaments into the crimping chamber. In addition, means are provided for heat-setting the crimp.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment 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 defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for crimping textile material in sliver form comprising a positively driven pair of complementary feed rolls, a stufiing chamber adapted to receive sliver from said feed rolls, said stuffing chamber having a pair of extending members slideably engaging: the end faces of said feed rolls adjacent the bite thereof, movable means eccentrically supporting one of said feed rolls relative to its axis of rotation, and resilient means for applying a rotative force to said movable means to urge said one roll into engagement with the other roll without permitting the axes of the rolls to move out of parallelism, whereby uneven wear of said extending members is minimized.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said resilient means comprises a lever extending from said movable means and adjustable spring means connected to the free portion of said lever for exerting a force thereon.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said resilient means comprises a torsion spring connected to said movable means for exerting a rotative force thereon.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said resilient means comprises a torsion bar connected to said movable means for exerting a rotative force thereon.

5. Apparatus for importing crimp to textile material in sliver form comprising a support member, a shaft carried by said support member, a first feed roll carried by said shaft, a second shaft disposed in spaced parallel relation to said first shaft and having eccentric portions on opposite ends thereon journaled in said support member, a tubular shaft rotatably mounted on said second shaft, a second feed roll carried by said tubular shaft, said first and second rolls being disposed in complementary positions to form a bite therebetween, means for positively driving said feed rolls in unison, a stufling chamber adapted to receive sliver from said feed rolls, said stufiing chamber having side plates with extensions which slideably engage the end faces of said feed rolls adjacent the bite thereof, and resilient means for applying a rotative force to said second shaft to urge said second roll into engagement with said first roll without permitting the axes of said rolls to move out of parallelism, whereby uneven wear of said extensions is minimized.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said resilient means comprises a lever fixed to said second shaft and extending substantially radially therefrom, spring means for applying a force to a portion of said lever spaced from said second shaft, and means for adjusting said spring means to vary the amount of force exerted thereby.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said resilient means comprises a torsion spring having one of its ends connected to said second shaft, and adjustable means connected to the other end of said torsion spring to cause said spring to exert a rotative force on said second shaft.

8. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said re- References Cited in the file of this patent silient means comprises a torsion bar having one of its UNITED STATES PATENTS ends connected to sald second shaft, and ad ustable means 4 d S 1 connected to said torsion bar remote from its point of 2 z S 1 3 attachment to said second shaft to hold said bar under a 5 iii-51 gig g 2 t t y orslonal stress, whereby said bar exerts a re ative force 2,514,557 Pfau y 1950 San secmd shaft 2,525,590 Collins Oct. 10, 1950

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