US2902057A - Weft needle operating mechanism for loom - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 1, 1959 R. G TURNER 2,902,057

WEFT NEEDLE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR LOOM Filed Nov. 26, 1957 2 Shets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

INVENTOR RICHARD G. TURNER I AR ATTORNEY Sept. 1, 1959 R. a. TURNER Q WEFT NEEDLE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR LOOM Filed Nov. 26, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR RICHARD G. TURNER ATTORNEY United States Patent WEFT NEEDLE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR LOOM Richard G. Turner, Worcester, Mass, assignor to Crompton & Knowles Corporation, Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 26, 1957, Serial No. 698,996

12 Claims. (Cl. 139- 124) This invention relates to improvements in mechanisms for operating weft needles more particularly of narrow ware looms.

In high speed weft needle looms it is desirable to avoid intermittent motions on the part of the actuating mechanism which would cause abrupt stopping and starting of the Weft needle. With this thought in mind it is an important object of the present invention to provide a uniformly rotating crank pin actuator to move a needle carrier backwardly and forwardly and also laterally and place part of the carrier under control of means which gives the needle the desired motions into and out of the shed.

It is a further object of the invention to provide control means for the carrier effective to give the needle an accelerated motion while it is in the warp shed and retarded motion while it is out of the shed to provide suflicient time for the harness mechanism to change Warp sheds between successive insertions of the needle.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a form of control means including a link which rocks about a fixed pivot and has a pivotal connection of a part of the aforesaid carrier.

It is another object of the invention to provide a form of control means utilizing a slotted member to receive a roll on the carrier, the slot being adjustable angularly with respect to the length of the fabric being woven and also in a direction toward and from the fabric to produce various desirable characteristics of needle motion.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a needle operating mechanism which will produce both a back and forth motion of the needle as well as a transverse motion to insert the weft into Warp sheds and to construct the parts which produce these motions in such manner that the back and forth motion will be considerably less than the transverse motion so that as the needle actuating mechanism is adjusted to weave fabrics of varying widths requiring different transverse needle motions there will be considerably less variation in the back and forth motion of the needle.

It is a further object of the invention to provide actuating and control means made in such manner as to facilitate removal of the needle carrier should the latter require repair or adjustment.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example the five embodiments of the invention and in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the preferred form of the invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation looking in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed vertical section on line 33, Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view indicating the path traversed by the eye of the needle as it moves into and out of the warp shed,

Fig. 5 is a view similar to a part of Fig. 1 showing the first modification,

Fig. 6 is a front elevation looking in the direction of arrow 6, Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged horizontal view on line 7-7, Fig. 6, through the roll and first modification wherein the slot of the roll is straight,

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detailed horizontal section on line 8-8 showing the manner in which the slot for the roll can be adjusted both angularly and with respect to the distance from the fabric being woven,

Fig. 9 is an enlarged vertical section on line 99, Fig. 5,

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing a center line of a slot made according to the second modification of the invention,

Fig. 11 is similar to Fig. 10 but shows a center line of another slot made according to the third modification, and

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 10 which shows the center line of a slot made according to the fourth modification.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, there are shown two harness frames 1 and 2 reciprocable vertically in guides 3 and 4 by mechanism not shown but similar to that employed for instance in my prior Patent No. 2,625,959. A reed shaft 5 is rotatable in right and left- hand bearings 6 and 7 respectively and is driven by a chain 8 trained over a sprocket wheel 9 secured to shaft 5. The reed shaft has secured thereto a number of rotary reed dents 10 between which extend the warp threads W. The shaft 5 and reed dents make a rotation for every other Weft laying operation of the loom and the reed, if desired, may be made similar to that shown in the aforesaid patent. The bearings 6 and 7 are on a support 11 which is mounted in fixed relation with respect to the guides 3 and 4.

A second support 15 fixed with respect to support 11 has mounted for rotation therein a shaft 16 to which is secured a sprocket 17 of half the size of sprocket 9 meshing with chain 8 so that shaft 16 will rotate once for each weft inserting operation of the loom.

The fabric F is led forwardly from the point of weaving to a guide roll 18 and over a takeup roll 19 which may be driven in any desired manner.

The support 15 has mounted for rotation therein a vertical shaft 20 shown in Fig. 3, this shaft being operatively connected by appropriate gearing as equal bevel gears, not shown herein, to shaft 16. The shaft 20 has a head 21 secured in adjusted angular position thereon by means of a screw 22 which passes across a narrow slot 23 in the head and is tapped into one part of the head to clamp the latter to shaft 20. The upper part of the head is provided with an undercut slot 24 which receives the lower enlarged end 25 of a stud 26 which is drawn upwardly by a nut 27 so that the stud can be held tightly to the head in adjusted position along the slot 24. The latter is open at both ends as indicated in Fig. 3 for a purpose to be set forth hereinafter.

A bushing 30 surrounds the stud and is engaged tightly by the under side of the nut 27. A bearing sleeve 31 surrounds the bushing and has a close fit with a bearing 32 on a needle carrier 33. The bushing 30 prevents the nut 27 when tightened from binding the parts 31 and 32, and enables the nut and lower part of the bushing to limit vertical motion of these parts.

The carrier 33 has a rearwardly extending arm 35 to which is secured a needle 36 the right-hand end of which as viewed in Fig. 1 is bent forwardly and secured to arm 35 by screws 37. The left-hand end of the loom 36 is provided with a weft eye B through which the weft thread WT extends. The thread WT is drawn from a stationary outside supply of weft not shown herein and Patented Sept. 1, 1959 after passing through the eye E extends to the fabric previously woven.

The carrier is provided with a second arm 40 which extends forwardly and has a pivotal connection designated generally at 4 1 with a link 4-2 ro'ckable about a fixed'stud 43 extending through arms 44 andAS of an upright stand 46 secured to the support 15. The. pivotal connection includes a stud 47 mounted on the link as indicated in Fig. 2 and a bearing 47a on arm 40 through which stud 47 passes.

In the operation of thestructure shown in Fig. 1 the crank actuator pin or stud 26 rotates in a counterclockwise direction as indicated at arrow a. The circular path of the stud is determined by its radial distance from the axis of shaft 2 3 and when the parts are as shown in Fig. l the needle 36 will be displaced at its maximum distance from the fabric being woven. When the needle is in this position the harnesses It and 2 will be changing the warp from one shed to the next shed and by the time the stud 26 gets to its rearmost position, A of a turn of shaft 20 after the position shown in Fig. l, the needle eye E will be approximately at the adjacent selvage warp threads. Continued turning of the actuator will carry the needle eye through the shed and beyond the far selvage so that the weft laid by the needle can be caught by a selvage forming needle SN which may be operated in any convenient manner as for instance by another actuator designated generally at 49. Still further turning of the actuator will move the crank pin 26 to its foremost position which will place the eye E near the right-hand selvage as the needle leaves the warp shed and still further turning will return the needle and the carrier to. the position shown in Fig. 1. The needle. thus enters the warp shed in rear position, moves into and out of the shed while moving forwardly, and then moves rearwardly to its starting position.

When the needle carrier is as shown in Fig. 1 the link 42 is preferably disposed in such manner that a line joining the centers of the fixed axis 43 and the stud 47 will be substantially perpendicular to the fabric being woven, or parallel to the slot 24 in the actuator. As the needle moves rearwardly the pivotal connection 41 will swing to the left and. for this reason have the effect of retarding entry of the needle into the warp shed. As the needle enters the. shed with the actuator moving from its rearmost to its leftmost position the link will be moved forwardly so that the pivotal connection 41 will move away from the fabric being woven and this, coupled with the motion of the actuator, will accelerate the motion of the needle. As the actuator moves towards its foremost position the link will be moved forwardly in an arcuate direction again toward the fabric and this will produce an accelerated motion. As the actuator moves from its foremost to its rightmost position the link will again move rearwardly and by its arcuate motion will retard the motion of the needle. From this it will be seen that the needle has a retarding motion when it is out of the Warp shed, thereby giving the harnesses ample time to change the warp from one shed to the next, and has an accelerated motion while in the warp shed. Because of the retarded motion when the needle is out of the shed the transverse throw of the needle is somewhat less than might otherwise be necessary to provide time for changing the warp shed.

Another feature of the needle motion is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4, this feature being that the transverse motion of the needle is very much greater than its back and forth motion. The bodily movement of the carrier 33 in a back and forth direction parallel to the warp threads isdetermined by the diameter of the path of the actuator, but the transverse motion is determined by the ratio of the distance from the pivotal connection 41 to the shuttle eye E compared to the distance to the actuator. As shown in the drawings this ratio is about 3:1 so that the transverse length of path 5, Fig. 4, is about three times 4 the back and fourth dimension of the path. This ratio, of course, can be varied as desired but it is desirable to have a much less increase in the back and forth motion than in the transverse motion when variations in width of fabric are provided for in order to avoid conflict with the beat-up mechanism such as the reed dents 10.

In the first modified form shown in Fig. 5 the parts of the mechanism thus far described will be the same except for the control means for the second or forwardly extending arm of the carrier. As shown in Fig. 5 the support 15 has mounted thereon a member having a foot 51 provided with an open slot 52 through which passes a screw 53 which is tapped into the support 15 at 54. By reason of this screw 53 the member 50 can be moved toward and from the fabric being woven and it can also be adjusted angularly. The upper part of the member 50 is formed with a slot 55, see Fig. 9, which, according to the first modification, is straight and has over-hanging top sides, 56 and an upwardly opening narrower slot 57. Extending through the slot 57 and into the slot is a stud 60 having an upper reduced end 61 to receive a nut 62 passing through the bearing 47a of the arm 40, or a bearing similar to it. By reason of a shoulder 64' of the stud the latter is thus fixed by nut 62 with respect to the arm 4%. An intermediate part 65 of the stud extends down through the slot 57 and is of a width or thickness to provide a snug fit with the slot 57. Extending downwardly from the intermediate part 6 5 is another reduced part 66 having at its lower end a nut 67 which clamps the center part 68 of a roller bearing R to the stud. The outer ring 69 of the roller bearing fits snugly in the slot 55 and by reason of the balls 70 is free to rotate on the inner part 68 which is fixed with respect to the stud 60.

In this first modified form of the invention the slot 55 may be arranged substantially parallel with the fabric being woven as suggested in Fig. 5 in which event the roll will move back and forth in a line parallel to the warp threads as the actuator rotates around its axis. Because of the adjustment shown in Fig. 8,. however, the axis of the slot 55 can be moved toward or fromthe fabric being woven to accommodate cloths of different widths and can also be adjusted angularly.

In the other modified forms of the invention. the structure described with respect to Figs. 5 to 9, except for the slot, may be the same. In Fig. 10, for instance, there is shown diagrammatically the center line 0 of a slot as might be provided in the second modification, this modification showing acurved intermediate part 7 S- and straight alined end parts 76. In the third modification the center li'ne d of the modified slot has two straightparts 78 joined by a curved part '79, whereas in Fig. 12 which shows the center line 2 for the fourth modification the greater part- 8?) of the axis of the slot will be straight but one end of the axis will be curved or deflected to one side as at 31.

Another feature of the modified forms relates to the ease with which the carrier member may be removed from the loom. It will be noted that both ends of the slot 2.4 in the head 21 are open and that opposite ends of the slot 55 are also open. Similarly slots similar tothose having center lines 6, d and e shown in Figs. 1042 respectively will also be open at both ends. When it is desired to remove the carrier the nut 27 is backed off to release the holding relation between the stud 2d and the head 21, after which the stud can be slid either rearwardly or forwardly out of the slot 24 andv at the same time the roll at the bottom of the stud 6th will move out of one or the other ends of the control slot, for instance slot 55.

With further reference to the adjustments of the control means including a slot for a roll on aim 4t it may be noted that bodily movement of the member 5%? towardthe cloth being woven will result in shifting the locus of the needle path indicated in Fig. 4 to the right, a condition which would be desirable if a wider fabric is to be woven. It will also be noted that the center line d, Fig. 11, represents a slot which gives a motion to the forward arm 40 closely approximating the character of motion given to this arm by the link 42. Angular adjustments of the straight form of slot 55 may be resorted to when it is desired to effect slight modifications in the accelerated and retarded movements of the eye E compared to these features of the eye movement when the slot 55 is parallel to the fabric or has its axis radial with respect to the axis of the actuating crank pin.

From the foregoing it Will be seen that the invention sets forth a simple form of weft needle operating mechanism adaptable to looms more particularly of the narrow ware type. The operating mechanism includes a uniformly rotating actuator having a crank pin rotating in a circular path and effective to move the carrier member 33 in a backwardly and forwardly direction and also in a crosswise direction. The control means determines the path of the forwardly extending arm 40 and cooperates with the actuator to magnify the crosswise movement of the needle whereas the back and forth motion of the needle is equal only to the diameter of the circular path through which the crank pin turns. In the preferred form of the invention the link cooperates with the actuator to give the needle a retarded motion when it is out of the warp shed but gives the needle an accelerated motion while in the shed, the retarded motion facilitating changing of the warp shed by the harness frames. It will further be seen with respect to the modified forms that the forward arm 40 carries a roll movable in a slot forming part of the member 50 and that the latter can be adjusted angularly and also in a direction toward and from the fabric being woven to give the needle the desired characteristic of the motion.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. In weft needle operating mechanism for a narrow ware loom operating with an outside weft supply and having warp threads which are manipulated to form sheds, a crank actuator rotating at uniform speed in a circular path, a needle carrier having a part driven in circular path by the actuator, an arm on said carrier extending rearwardly from the actuator, a weft needle secured to said arm having a weft eye on the end thereof opposite said arm, a second arm on said carrier extending forwardly from said actuator, and control means including a link which swings about a fixed pivot at one end thereof and has a pivotal connection at the other end thereof with said second arm and determining the path of movement of said second arm as said actuator revolves enabling said carrier to move bodily in a back and forth direction through a distance equal substantially to the diameter of said circular path and causing said eye to move in a transverse direction through a distance determined by the ratio of the distance between said control means and said eye compared to the distance between said control means and said actuator, said control means and actuator cooperating to cause the weft eye to enter a warp shed once for each rotation of the actuator.

2. The mechanism set forth in claim 1 wherein said fixed pivot for the link is between said pivotal connec tion and the cloth being woven to enable the needle eye to have an accelerated motion when the needle is in a warp shed and have a retarded motion when the needle is out of the shed.

3. In weft needle operating mechanism for a narrow ware loom operating with an outside weft supply and having warp threads which are manipulated to form sheds, a crank actuator rotating at uniform speed in a circular path, a needle carrier having a part driven in a circular path by the actuator, an arm on said carrier extending rearwardly from the actuator, a weft needle secured to said arm having a weft eye on the end thereof opposite said arm, a second arm on said carrier extending forwardly from said actuator, and control means including a member having a slot therein and a roll on said second arm moved along said slot as the actuator revolves and determining the path of movement of said second arm as said actuator revolves enabling said carrier to move bodily in a back and forth direction through a distance equal substantially to the diameter of said circular path and causing said eye to move in a transverse direction through a distance determined by the ratio of the distance between said control means and said eye compared to the distance between said control means and said actuator, said control means and actuator cooperating to cause the weft eye to enter a warp shed once for each rotation of the actuator.

4. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein said member is adjustable to enable the direction in which said slot extends to be varied angularly with respect to the back and forth motion of said carrier caused by said actuator.

5. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein provision is made for adjusting the member to locate said slot at different distances from the cloth being woven,

6. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein provision is made for adjusting the member to change the angle of said slot relative to the cloth being woven and also change the distance between said slot and the cloth being woven.

7. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein said actuator includes a crank pin member removably secured in a slot in the actuator open at opposite ends thereof and the slot in said member is open at opposite ends thereof to permit removal of the roll therefrom when the crank pin member is removed from the slot in said actuator.

8. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the slot in said member extends generally in a back and forth direction substantially parallel to the cloth being woven.

9. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the axis of the slot is substantially straight.

10. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the axis of the slot has a curved intermediate part and aligned straight end parts.

11. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the axis of the slot has front and back nonparallel straight parts joining a curved intermediate part.

12. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the axis of the slot is straight throughout the greater part of its length but terminates at one end in a part deflected from said straight part.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,797,962 Merrick Mar. 24, 1931 2,013,230 Best Sept. 3, 1935 2,625,959 Turner Jan. 20, 1953 2,757,692 Coppa Aug. 7, 1956 2,769,462 Libby Nov. 6, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 516,143 Great Britain Dec. 22, 1939

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