US2953821A

US2953821A - Receiving and positioning apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2953821A
Application number: US550323A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr Robert M Ingham
Original assignee: Milliken Research Corp
Current assignee: Deering Milliken Research Corp; Milliken Research Corp
Priority date: 1955-12-01
Filing date: 1955-12-01
Publication date: 1960-09-27
Anticipated expiration: 1977-09-27
Also published as: NL212409A; NL99339C; BE553052A

Description

Sept. 27, 1960 R, M. INGHAM, JR 2,953,821

RECEIVING AND POSITIONING APPARATUS I 1 Filed Dec. 1, 1955 uvmvrox ROBERT M. INGHAM,JR.

'Wlzfifi XML ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,953,821 RECEIVING AND POSITIONING APPARATUS Robert M. Ingham, Jr., Spartanburg, S.C., assignor t0 Deering Millikan Research Corporation, Pendleton, S.C., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 1, 1955, SenNo. 550,323 11 Claims. (Cl. 19-105) This invention relates to apparatus for handling rolls of textile material, and particularly to apparatus for receiving and positioning rolls of textile materials such as lap, etc.

In the handling and positioning of rolls of textile material such as lap, cloth, yarn, etc., it is important that the material on the rolls remain undamaged as much as possible during the various operations. Particularly is this true in the case of rolls of lap material. However, it is often-desirable to convey such rolls of material from one position, such as a supply source for rolls, to another position, such as the supply cradle of a card frame or the like. It is also often desirable to convey such rolls by a conveyor arrangement with the rolls being dropped as by action of an automatic trip release mechanism from an overhead conveyor to supply cradle of any machine needing supply roll replenishment. However, it will be apparent that such a vertical drop of the rolls (which drop may be of the order of several feet) in such an overhead supply system may easily result in considerable damage to the rolls upon impact with the roll receiver unless great care is employed in the roll releasing and receiving operation, or unless the arrangement is such as to eliminate or materially reduce the danger of damage inherent in a free fall of a heavy roll of textile or the like material.

It is an important feature of this invention that a roll receiver is provided which has particular utility in an overhead supply system for textile rolls and the like, in that a system employing an arrangement in accordance with the invention results in a great reduction of the possibility of damage to rolls when such are dropped at a receiving station.

Another feature of the invention'lies in the provision of a roll receiving and positioning apparatus wherein the roll of material may be first received over a relatively wide lateral area and is then lowered to a predetermined substantially precision position for use, such being particularly useful in combination with carding machines and other textile machines employing supply rolls from which material is unwound.

Briefly, in one physical embodiment thereof the invention takes the form of a releasably secured sheet of web material, such as canvas, or other suitable flexible sheet material releasably supported along two spaced apart substantially parallel lines, the sheet being secured at one end to a roller, there being a pair of coalignecl flared throat guides extending below and beyond either edge of the sheet for guiding the extending shaft of a roll into desired unwinding position. A roll receiving and positioning apparatus according to this invention may Figure 1 illustrates in perspective a preferred physical:

embodiment according to the invention, showing one roll in position immediately after having been dropped, and another roll (in phantom) in an intermediate lowered position.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing a roll of material at an intermediate position while being lowered.

Referring in detail to the figures of the drawing, a preferred roll receiving and positioning apparatus, which is particularly adapted to receive rolls of lap at a carding frame, has a pair of

upstanding end standards

12 and 14 mounted on the

side frame members

13 and 15 adjacent the feeding end of a card frame 10, the lap roll side of which frame is partially shown in schematic form.

Standards

12 and 14 each have-a vertical slot 16 formed therein which connects with a flared or V- shaped throat 18 defined by two

arms

20 and 22; the standards being each mounted on its

respective side frame

13 and 15 whereby the slots 16 are disposed above the journaled ends of conventional fluted .oradle roller 17 of the card frame.

In the illustrated embodiment a desired structural elasticity as well as a considerable economy of material and the necessary structural strength have been effected by forming the framework and the entire peripheral surface of the

arms

20 and 22, including throats .18 and slots 16 defined therebetween, of flat metal stock. The

lower body portions

19 and 21 of the

standards

12 and 14 are each preferably formed of sheet material, the flat stock being secured thereto as by welding around the lateral periphery of the sheet material to give the necessary structural strength and rigidity to the lower portion of the standards. f

Extending between and rotatably supported by the upper ends of arms 22, as in journal bearing blocks 23, there is provided a roll 24 of flexible soft, yet strong, web or other suitable sheet material 26, such as canvas. The opposite arms 20 have a fixed shaft 28 extending therebetween and suitably secured near the upper ends thereof as by welding directly to the arms at their apex, or bywelding or facilely be arranged beneath an overhead conveyor or a l taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,

wherein:

otherwise securing to end plates 29, which in turn may be welded or otherwise secured to and thus form a part of arms 20 as shown. The shaft 28 has a plurality of spaced apart pins 30 suitably secured or formed thereon, which serve to removably attach the end of canvas 26 to the shaft 28, as through the medium of metal or other reinforced eyelets 27 spaced along the end of canvas 26, whereby the canvas may be removably mounted across the upper span of throat 18.

The extended canvas 26 forms a bed which serves to receive with some degrees of resilience a lap roll dropped thereon from above, with substantially no injury to the lap. Additionally, with the illustrated open structural arrangement, arms 2% and 22 being elastic o'r resilient also serve to absorb the shock resulting from the drop of the lap roll, which may be quite heavy, as of the order of lbs. In order to prevent further unwinding rotation of the roll 24 after the end of the canvas 26 is attached to pins 30, a ratchet wheel 31 and pivoted mounted in complementary releas- 7 dog or pawl 33 are ably holding relation, the ratchet wheel being mounted on hand wheel 32, which in turn is secured onto roll shaft 25, with the pawl or dog 33being pivotally mount ed on the journal block 23 of arm 22. While theme? ferred means for selectively holding the roll 24 against undesired rotation takes the form of a'ratchet and, pawl arrangement, such as shown, it will beapparent that other hold-release arrangements might be utilized,

as a torsion spring and ratchet similar to the typeem Patented Sept, 27, 1560 ployed in window shade rollers, or a counterweight, cable and drum arrangement of conventional construction. Neither of these latter mentioned arrangements, however, afford the utility, positive contro1 and simplicity obtained with the preferred ratchet and pawl arrangement such as shown in the illustrative example of the invention.

After the lap roll 36 has dropped onto the bed formed by canvas web sheet 26, the operator may at a convenient later time come by the card frame and release the holding dog 33 from the ratchet and permit the canvas 26 to be unwound from roll 24, with unwinding being controlled as by the use of hand wheel 32 suitably secured onto one end of roll shaft and preferably having a handle 34 mounted thereon. Unwinding of canvas 26 from roll 24- thus results in lowering of lap roll 36 between

standards

12 and 14, with its lap pins 38 being thus lowered within the throat 18 until the extending lap pins 38 come to rest on a pair of lugs 40, one being formed or suitably secured, as by welding at the lower end of the throat 18 on the inner or throat surface side of each of arms 22.

In order to assure the pins 38 riding the inner rail or surface of arms 22 and into engagement with lugs 49, the throat 18 and slot 16 are formed such that the slot 16 is to one side (toward arm 20) of the center of the upper span of throat 18 (i.e. the canvas bed width across the throat). This is accomplished by making the inner rail or throat surface 23 less steeply inclined than the corresponding throat surface 21 of arms 20, and as a result, since the lap roll tends to remain in the center of the canvas bed, it will first engage arms 22 on being lowered and will then ride down the inner throat surfaces 23 of these arms and into engagement with lug 40, where it comes to rest.

After lowering the lap to the position where its pins 38 are supported by lugs 46, the canvas 2-6 is further unrolled from roll 24 a small additional amount and its end is then freed from pins 30, whereupon the canvas may be rewound onto roller 24 and repositioned above the lowered roll 36 and across throat 18 for reception of the next lap roll. The lowered roll 36 is not in its final operative position when riding on lugs 40, but may readily and easily be placed in operative position in slots 16 merely by pushing it laterally toward arm 29, whereupon the pins 38 then ride ofi the lugs and into the slot 16, in which position the peripheral surface of the lap roll 36 rests upon the fluted cradle roller 17 of the card frame 10. The normal operation of unwinding of the lap roll 36 and feeding of the lap into the carding frame may then be accomplished, with the lap progressing from the lap roll to the feed roll 46 and thence to the lickerin 43 in conventional or other desired manner.

It will be apparent from a reading of the foregoing description of one illustrative embodiment of the invention that many modifications and other structurally different embodiments thereof might be made Without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. It is,

therefore, to be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the illustrative embodiment, but only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for receiving rolls of textile material, comprising first support means, said support means having a roller rotatably mounted thereon, flexible sheet material secured along one end to said roller, second support means, securing means on said second support means and spaced apart from said roller in a direction transverse to the axis of said roller and releasably securing the opposite end of said flexible sheet material to said second support means along a line spaced from said roller, and means for rotating said roller, a pair of guides each having a V-shaped tapered throat with an apex at its lower end, one of said guides being disposed beyond each side of said sheet for guiding an extending shaft of a roll of material supported by said sheet toward the apex of said throat, the apex of said throats lying beneath the plane formed by said sheet when held in extended relation between said roller and said second support means.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said guides each have a substantially vertically extending slot formed beneath and connecting with the apex of its V-shaped throat.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein a detent is disposed on and near the apex end of each of said V- shaped guides for supporting the opposite ends of a lap roll pin or the like.

4. Apparatus for positioning and unwinding textile material on rolls, comprising a pair of spaced apart standards each having upwardly open cosligned Y-shaped flare-throated guidcways formed therein, said guideways effectively dividing said standards each into two upwardly extending arms, a roller rotatably mounted on and between the upper ends of corresponding arms of said standards, said roller having secured thereto one end of a length of flexible sheet material, a transverse member extending between and secured to the upper ends of the other of said arms of each of said standards, means for releasably attaching the free end of said sheet material to said transverse member, the total length of said sheet material being at least as great as the length of the V- shaped throat portions of said throated guideways, a cradle support roller rotatably mounted near the lower end of said slots, one of said arms of each of said standards having disposed thereon near the apex of the flared throats of said guideways a lug detent.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein releasable pawl and ratchet means are disposed adjacent one end of said roller and mounted on said roller and one of said arms, means disposed on said roller for rotation thereof to. wind and unwind said sheet material, said means for releasably attaching said free end of said sheet material to said transverse member comprises a plurality of spaced apart pins on said member, said sheet material having corresponding eyelets formed in said free end thereof.

6. Apparatus for receiving and positioning rolls of material, comprising a pair of spaced apart support means each having a pair of first and second upwardly extending arms spaced apart at their upper ends, the corresponding arms of each of said support means being in substantial co-alignment, a roller rotatably supported by and between said first arms, a sheet of flexible material secured to said roller, means for releasably securing said roller against unwinding rotation, and means extending between and supported by said second arms in spaced apart relation from said roller for releasably securing an unwound end of said sheet, one of said secured ends being mounted for substantial lateral resilient shock-absorbing movement relative to the lower end of its respective supporting arms.

7. Apparatus for receiving and positioning rolls of material, comprising a pair of spaced apart support means each having a pair of first and second upwardly extending arms spaced apart at their upper ends, the corresponding arms of each of said support means being in substantial co-alignment, a roller rotatably supported by and between said first arms, a sheet of flexible material secured to said roller, means for releasably securing said roller against unwinding rotation, and means extending between and supported by said second arms in spaced apart relation from said roller for releasably securing an unwound end of said sheet, said releasably secured unwound end of said sheet being laterally resiliently movably mounted for substantial lateral resilient shock-absorbing movement relative to the lower end of its respective supporting arms.

8. Apparatus for receiving fragile rolls of textile material comprising first support means, said support means having a roller rotatably mounted thereon, a sheet of flexible material extending along substantially the entire length of a fragile roll received and supported thereby and being secured along one end to said roller, second support means, securing means on said second support means and spaced apart from said roller in a direction transverse to the axis of said roller for releasably securing the opposite end of said sheet to the other of said supports along a line spaced from said roller, a pair of V- shaped tapered throat guides disposed beyond each side of said sheet for guiding an extended shaft of a roll of material supported by said sheet toward the apex of said throats, the apex of said throats lying beneath the plane formed by said sheet when held in extended relation between said roller and said second support means, said guides each having a substantially vertically extending slot formed beneath and connecting with the apex of its V-shaped throat, a detent disposed near the apex end of each of said V-shaped guides, a corresponding one of the guide surfaces of each of said throats being inclined at a smaller angle to the horizontal than the other guide surface of said throats, said detents being disposed one on each of said corresponding guide surfaces.

9. Apparatus for receiving soft, fragile, flangeless rolls of textile material comprising first support means, said support means having a roller rotatably mounted thereon, a sheet of flexible material extending along the entire length of a roll received and supported thereby and being secured along one end to said roller, second support means, securing means on said second support means and spaced apart from said roller in a direction transverse to the axis of said roller for releasably securing the opposite end of said sheet to the other of said supports along a line spaced from said roller, means for rotating said roller, a pair of tapered throat guides disposed beyond each side of said sheet for guiding an extended portable support member for a roll of material supported by said sheet toward the apex of said throat, a corresponding one of the guide surfaces of each of said throats being inclined at a smaller angle to the horizontal than the other guide surface of said throats.

10. In a textile machine operating upon textile material supplied thereto from a roll, in combination, a supply roll cradle roller and supply roll intermediate receiving and support means disposed above said cradle roller, said receiving and support means comprising a roller rotatably disposed above said cradle roller and spaced therefrom, a sheet of flexible material secured to said receiving and support roller being longer along the length of said roller than the length of rolls received and supported thereby, means spaced from said roller and said cradle roller means for releasably securing the free end of said sheet in spaced apart relation from said roller, and means for releasably holding said roller against unwinding rotation, a pair of V-shaped guide members disposed beyond each lateral edge of said sheet, the apex of the guide surfaces of each of said guide members being disposed in substantially vertical alignment with said cradle roller, said guide members each having a detent disposed near the apex of its V-shaped guide surface.

11. Apparatus for receiving and positioning rolls of material comprising a pair of spaced apart standards each having a first and second upwardly extending arm spaced apart at their upper ends, the corresponding arms of said standards being in substantial coalignment, a roller rotatably supported by and between said first arms, a sheet of flexible material extending along substantially the entire length of a fragile roll received and supported thereby and being secured to said roller, means for releasably securing said roller against unwinding rotation, and means extending between and supported by said second arms in spaced apart relation from said roller for releasably securing an unwound end of said sheet, said arms defining an upwardly flared throat, at least one arm of each of said pairs of arms comprising two laterally spaced apart rod sections extending over an intermediate portion of its length, whereby each of said one arrns has an inherent resiliency providing a shock-absorbing reaction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 947,007 Wheat Ian. 18, 1910 1,109,538 Miller Sept. 1, 1914 1,360,424 McGaughy Nov. 30, 1920 1,799,984 Larmuth Apr. 7, 1931 1,852,027 Rhodes Apr. 5, 1932 1,889,839 Owen Dec. 6, 1932 2,134,656 Breth Oct. 25, 1938 2,285,475 Valusek June 9, 1942 2,559,074 Hinson July 3, 1951 2,565,740 Robertson et al Aug. 28, 1951 2,656,050 Best et a1 Oct. 20, 1953