US2958920A

US2958920A - Apparatus for forming yarns and thread into packages

Info

Publication number: US2958920A
Application number: US843136A
Authority: US
Inventors: Erb Ernst
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1953-10-20
Filing date: 1959-09-29
Publication date: 1960-11-08
Anticipated expiration: 1977-11-08
Also published as: CH323572A; NL86842C; NL191682A; FR1114473A; DE1138349B; GB754809A; BE532688A

Description

NOV. 8, 1960 ERB 2,958,920

APPARATUS FOR FORMING YARNS AND THREAD INTO PACKAGES Original Filed Oct. 18, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 )HHHIHHIIII ll/l/E/VTOR ERA/8T ERB fly NOV. 8, 1960 ERB 2,958,920

APPARATUS FOR FORMING YARNS AND THREAD INTO PACKAGES Original Filed Oct. 18, 1954 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 P I 4 I l IO 7 s 2 20 28-"; g l ,z 2 2 I S 4 24 I "v- 27-; s 23 i i 22 254 E Z %Q 25 4 Q 18 I Q i a 1 4 2 4, 7 I r 41 j i 3 b 4 l? g/" VL 1 U, 1 r J k II* I j k "r: M

$5 I I IMVENTO/ 27 75- 29 6a 27 ERNST. 5K5

United States Patent APPARATUS FOR FORMING YARNS AND THREAD INTO PACKAGES Ernst Erb, Burglingerstrasse 113, Basel, Switzerland Original application Oct. 18, 1954, Serial No. 462,884. Divided and this application Sept. 29, 1959, Ser. No. 843,136

Claims priority, application Switzerland Oct. 20, 1953 2 Claims. (CI. 28-21) The present invention relates to improvements in the packaging of a continuous strand of material, such as yarns, threads, strings and the like with a view to eliminating the conventional packaging in form of skeins or strands which are subsequently wound into balls or onto bobbins.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 462,884, filed October 18, 1954, now abandoned.

The conventional method of packaging said string material is accompanied by serious secondary disadvantages such as entanglement of the skein or strand, thread breakage. A further important object of my present invention is to reduce the time necessary for the packaging operation.

It is already known to build up packages of threads by allowing the thread to fall by gravity into a container, the thread being distributed in regularly superposed layers by'combined rotational movement of the container and of a thread guide about different vertical axes, so shat each layer comprises an annular series of substantially circular, epicycloidal and commonly overlapping rings of thread.

The apparatus according to the present invention comprises a rotating thread guide and rotatable conveying members for forming a coil of the yarn, thread, string or the like to be packaged, the rotatable conveying members forming individual thread rings on one end of the coil and moving the individual thread rings along the length of the coil, and means rotatable relative to said conveying members and spring urged toward said conveying members and eccentric to said conveying members for receiving thread rings of the strand from said conveying members in a large coil the individual rings of which consist of a plurality of coils from said conveying members which overlap each other in a large coil more than twice the diameter of the individual thread rings.

The apparatus according to the present invention is set forth in the following specification and claims, together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation, partly in section of the apparatus for carrying out the method according to the invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a detail of the coiling head taken on the line H-H of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a section through the coiling head on the line U-U of Fig. 2.

As shown in Figs. 1-3, the apparatus comprises an upper portion 1 with the coil forming elements, and a lower portion 2 which includes an axially movable rotary cylinder 3 in which are built up the yarn coils. Lower portion 2 accommodates the drive mechanism and the cylinder guide means, a slidable floor 5 being mounted in said cylinder.

A thread 6 runs axially within a spindle 12 and laterally out below the second bearing 11 thereof, as in the case of a fiy spindle. Thread 6 passes over a bell and then is wound through a thread guide eye 7 onto the conveying members 4a, 4b below a bell 10. The con- 2,958,920 Patented Nov. 8, 1960 veying members 4 are two spindles having helical thread grooves 4c therein which convey the thread rings which together form a coil of thread laid on the conveying members by thread guide 7 transversely to the plane of rotation of the thread guide. The starting portions of V the two thread grooves 40 (Fig. 3), which grooves run in opposite directions, are widened somewhat for the purpose of positively accommodating the thread which runs from the guide 7. The threaded spindles 4 are rotated at the same speed as the thread guide bell 10 or spindle 12. The spindles 4 are rotated from a common drive head 18 which is in the form of a housing and disposed within bell 10. Head 18 is mounted on the spindle end portion 12b on two

ball bearings

19, 20. The conveying members 4 are mounted on the shaft 21, 22 and are driven in opposite directions through a gear assembly 23 to 26 as shown in Fig. 3. Gear 23 drives

gears

24 and 25 in a direction opposite to gear 23, and gear 26, being meshed with gear 25, and being rotated in the opposite direction therefrom, thus rotates in the same direction as gear 23. Spindle 4a has the thread groove 40 therein extending in the same direction as a left-hand thread, and spindle 4b has the thread groove 40 therein extending in the same direction as a right-hand thread. At the start of the thread rings 6a which are stretched by the outwardly running spindles 4, a thread brake is provided which prevents the thread in the thread rings from being moved axially of itself in the winding plane in order that the thread rings 6a may be moved downwardly with out lateral movement (see also Fig. 2). To such end, the thread rings 6a have to pass between a rubber roller 9 and a leaf spring 17 which engages the latter.

The upper portion 1 further comprises a cover plate 14 which in operation is engaged with the end of the cylinder 3 adjacent the ends of spindles 4. Said cover plate has an opening 15 through which project the conveying members 4a, 4b, and is made of transparent material. The cover plate is secured by screws 27 to a hood 28 on the upper portion 1. To prevent the spindles 4 from contacting the edges of opening 15, idling rollers 8 are mounted on cover plate 4 which accommodate the thrust of the whole of the coiling head 18. The thread grooves 4c are deeper than the diameter of the thread in order to prevent the thread from rubbing against the edge of opening 15 and the rollers 8 when it is conveyed downwardly. The end portions of the threaded spindles have an oblique surface 29 as shown in Fig. 3. They project for a couple of millimeters below the lower edge of opening 15 and serve for depressing the package 16 in the cylinder 3.

More than two threaded spindles 4 may be arranged about the center of spindle 12, for example four or six, which alternately rotate in the opposite direction.

Cylinder 3 is slidable and rotatable in lower portion 2. It is rotated by means of a Worm Wheel 2a being operatively connected thereto by shaft 3a when the cylinder attains its topmost position, i.e. its operative position. The cylinder comprises a movable bottom 5 which is forced upwardly through a spring 50. The growing package 16 then automatically pushes said bottom downwardly. Bottom 5 is guided in cylinder shaft 3a by shaft 5a.

When the cylinder is filled with the desired or predetermined quantity of yarn, it is lowered. In order that the operator may easily move the cylinder, the cylinder is provided with a circumferential handle 3b which the operator may grip with both hands. Cylinder shaft 3a is provided with grooves 30 and 3d in which is engageable a pawl 20 in order to retain or lock the cylinder in the corresponding position. When moving the cylinder upwardly or downwardly, said pawl is unlockable by means of a handle 2d. The latter extends out of the lower portion 2 so that it is readily actuable by the operators knee so that the operator has both hands free for moving the cylinder.

As can be seen from the foregoing description of the apparatus, the conveyor elements serve to form the coil of the strand to be packaged, the thread guide forming individual thread rings on one end of the coil on the conveyor members, and the oblique surface on the end of the conveyor members serving to remove individual rings from the other end of the coil. The rotating bottom of the cylinder 3 serves to cause a depositing of the removed rings thereon in an overlapping pattern.

The invention may be utilized to build up small packages for retail or shop sales as Well as larger packages for processing, dyeing, treating and converting operations. In the case of small packages, the thread rings are preferably laid close to the center of the movable bottom 5, but in the case of larger packages the thread rings may be kept at some distance from the center in order that, when dyeing for example, the dye liquor may be forced alternately from the inside to the outside and vice versa, and that, when drying, air may pass through more freely.

The thread rings need not be circular but may for example be elongated in shape, being stacked on top of one another in order to produce packages with well hound layers.

1 claim:

1. Apparatus for forming a package of a continuous strand of material comprising a continuously rotating thread guide, two parallel, continuously rotatable, cylindrical thread advancing members having helical thread advancing grooves in their surfaces around which the rotating thread guide rotates for wrapping thread rings of the strand thereon, said conveying members conveying the strand transversely of the plane of rotation of said thread guide, a driving means connected to said thread guide and to said conveying members for continuously driving said thread guide and said conveying members at the same number of revolutions per unit time, and means rotatable relative to said conveying members about an axis parallel to the cylindrical axes of said thread advancing members and spring urged toward said conveying members, said axis being eccentric to said axes of said conveying members, said means being for receiving thread rings of the strand from said conveying members in a large coil the individual rings of which consist of a plurality of coils from said conveying members which overlap each other.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and a cover plate fixed relative to said conveyor members and eccentric with said rotatable mews and having an aperture therein through which the ends of said conveying members adjacent said rotatable means project and toward which said rotatable means is spring urged, and an oblique surface at the end of one of said conveying members projecting through said cover plate for conveying the strand away from the conveyor member toward said rotatable means.

References Cited in the file of this patent- UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,433,723 Hubbard Oct. 31, 1922 1,601,567 Hubbard Sept. 28, 1926 1,607,723 Crockett Nov. 23, 1926 2,079,619 Knox May 11, 1937 2,346,336 Stuart et al. Apr. 11, 1944 2,445,109 Ferguson July 13, 1,948 2,478,960 Wilkie Aug. 16, 1949 2,527,662 Stevens Oct. 31, 1950 2,598,738 Wilkie June 3, 1952

Claims

1. APPARATUS FOR FORMING A PACKAGE OF A CONTINUOUS STRAND OF MATERIAL COMPRISING A CONTINUOUSLY ROTATING THREAD GUIDE, TWO PARALLEL, CONTINUOUSLY ROTATABLE, CYLINDRICAL THREAD ADVANCING MEMBERS HAVING HELICAL THREAD ADVANCING GROOVES IN THEIR SURFACES AROUND WHICH THE ROTATING THREAD GUIDE ROTATES FOR WRAPPING THREAD RINGS OF THE STRAND THEREON, SAID CONVEYING MEMBERS CONVEYING THE STRAND TRANSVERSELY OF THE PLANE OF ROTATION OF SAID THREAD GUIDE, A DRIVING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID THREAD GUIDE AND TO SAID CONVEYING MEMBERS FOR CONTINUOUSLY DRIVING SAID THREAD GUIDE AND SAID CONVEYING MEMBERS AT THE SAME NUMBER OF REVOLUTIONS PER UNIT TIME, AND MEANS ROTATABLE RELATIVE TO SAID CONVEYING MEMBERS ABOUT AN AXIS PARALLEL TO THE CYLINDRICAL AXES OF SAID THREAD ADVANCING MEMBERS AND SPRING URGED TOWARD SAID CONVEYING MEMBERS, SAID AXIS BEING ECCENTRIC TO SAID AXES OF SAID CONVEYING MEMBERS, SAID MEANS BEING FOR RECEIVING