US2972856A - Process and apparatus for twining threads - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 28, 1961 n A E. HAMEL 2,972,856

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TWINING THREADS Filed March 25, 1959 2 Sheets-sheet 1 ,//lW//l//f// FIG I. f\ 4 I2 2 ll-l- 'f//AIV/l//M INVNTOR.- Edmund Hamel ff/@M AGENT.

j (Il Feb. 28, 1961 Filed March 25, 1959 E. HAMEL PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TWINING THREADS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Edmund Hamel INVENTOR.

AGENT.

Uited VStates 'PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TWINDTG THREADS Edmund Hamel, Munster, Westphalia, Germany, assigner to Hamel Proiektierungsund Verwaltungs-A.G., Horn, Thurgau, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland My present invention relates to the twining of threads from vegetable, animal or synthetic fibers' by blending several filaments into a yarn and twisting the yarn thus obtained.

Heretofore, diiculties were encountered in the blending of filaments from two or more spools, in particular from spools of unequal diameters, since the difference Ain tension often resulted in the formation of loops and knots or led to the rupture of one or more of the component filaments. In the production of such threads it is not, however, always possible to use spools of like diameter since this would necessitate the discarding of some spools prior to complete unwinding. As a consequence of these diiculties, frequent stoppage of the machinery and repair of broken filaments could not be avoided even if the blending process was carried out at relatively slow speed.

An important object of my present invention is to provide an improved twining process enabling the realization of greatly increased production rates.

Another major object of this invention is the provision of a simple and economical process for producing great lengths of threads free from knots and other objectionable defects.

It is also an object of this invention to yprovide machinery adapted to put the above process into practice.

arent O The process according to the present invention consists in the twining of threads in two stages, namely a blending stage and a finishing stage, each involving a twisting of the thread-forming filaments. kIn the blending stage the filaments are brought together at preferably high speed and are given a slight protective twist at a relatively low number of turns per unit of length; in the finishing stage the yarn is twisted again, this time at a relatively high number of turns per unit of length. The initial twist, affording a preliminary consolidation of the filaments in a manner preventing the occurrence of major irregularities due to cumulative differences in tension, is best carried out with the aid of a rotating bobbin to which the yarn is delivered, by a suitable feeding mechanism, at a predetermined forward speed relative to the angular velocity of the bobbin; the latter is advantageously provided, in a manner well known per se, with an axially reciprocable spinning ring bearing a freely movable traveler through which the yarn passes. For the finishing stage, in which the yarn is to be unwound from the bobbin at a high rate of spin, I prefer to use a rotatable shell in which the bobbin is encased for simultaneous rotation therewith about a vertical axis, the shell being provided at its top with a hole through which the finished thread is withdrawn at a desired rate; a device of this type requires virtually no supervision.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of an apparatus adapted to carry out the process step illustrated in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of an apparatus for carrying out the process step shown in Fig. 2.

Reference will tirst be made to Fig. 1 for a description of the novel blending stage of my improved system. Filaments 1' and 2', individually dispensed by a pair of spools 1 and 2, are led together over a deecting roller 5 andthrough an eye 6 to ra suitable transport mechanism here shown as a'pair of parallel rollers 7, 8 of different diameters. The blended filaments pass one or more times around the two rollers, which are driven by suitable means not illustrated in Fig. l, as has been indicated by the arrows. After passing through another stationary eye 9, the yarn 10 representing the combination of these filaments is given a slight initial twist -by being wound on a bobbin 15, at a controlled rate, following the traverse of a traveler 14 which is freely displaceable on a non-rotating spinning ring 11 surrounding the bobbin 15. This bobbin, removably seated on a vertical spindle 22 which is journaled in a stationary bracket 24, is rotated by a belt 13 ata predetermined speed with respect to the feed rollers 7 and 8. Spinning ring 11 is mounted on a frame 12 arranged to move up and down in a manner more' fully illustrated in Fig. 3.

If therperipheral speed of bobbin 15 measurably exceeds the linear lspeed of yarn 10 as imparted to it by the transport mechanismv7, 8, the traveler 14 will revolve about the bobbin axis at a rate commensurate with the difference of these two speeds. I have found that aninitial twist suicient to maintain the yarn smooth and reasonably uniform can be obtained yif the aforementioned speed difference is just large enough to overcome the inertia of the traveler 14. VSince the effective forward speed of the yarn and, therefore, the rate of twist per unit of length will also be affected by the reciprocating motion of the frame 12, this latter motion should be very slow in comparison with the peripheral velocity'of roller 8 so that the rate of twist will be substantially the same during the upstroke and the downstroke of ring 11.

Generally, the preliminary twist produced by the arrangement of Fig. l can range between about one and eighty turns per meter, i.e. up to approximately twoy 30 turns per meter or 10,000 to 12,000 traveler revolu-l tions per minute.

Reference will now be made to Fig. 2 for a description of the second or finishing stage of my process. The loaded bobbin 15, taken from the spindle 22 of Fig. 1, is now seated within a generally cylindrical shell 16 on a stud 16 which is rigid with that shell and whose outward extension is journaled in a bracket 25 whereby the members 15 and 16 are rotatable as a unit about a vertical axis. Motion is imparted to this unit by a belt drive 23. VThe top of shell 16 is closed by a removable lid 16" through whichthe finished thread 10 passes outwardly by way of an eye 19 to a take-up reel 20. The lid 16 carries a hook 18 which frictionally Vengages the thread 10 so as to twist it at the rate of rotation of unit 15, 16 without materially impeding the advance of the thread. This advance is controlled by a driven friction roller 21 whose supporting arm 26 is urged by a spring 27 into contact with the periphery of the reel 20.

While the take-up speed of reel 20 may vary within wide limits in accordance with requirements, its correlaaeraese tion with the rotary speed of bobbin and shell 16 should be such that the additional twist now imparted to the thread should be considerably greater than that previously given to it; it will be understood that both twists are to be in the same direction. A suitable finishing twist is of the order of 1,000 turns per meter, or approximately 300 turns per foot; the rate of this twist may, however, range between approximately 80 and 5,000 turns per meter, thus upwardly of the upper limit of roughly two turns per inch given above for the preliminary twist. The rotary speed of the bobbin 15 may again be of the order of 10,000 to 12,000 r.p.m.

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated an apparatus adapted to carry out the iirst step of my process, described hereinabove with reference to Fig. l. Mounted on a rack 30 are four spools 1, 2, 3, 4 dispensing the ilarnents 1', 2, 3 and 4', respectively. These iilaments are blended, in the manner described above with reference to the filaments 1' and 2', by being led around the roller 5 and additional guide rollers 31, 32 as Well as the eye. 6 to the transport rollers 7 and 8 whence the yarn 10 traverses the eye 9 and the traveler 14 prior to being wound around the bobbin 15. A drive roller 33 normally is in frictional engagement with the feed roller 8, being urged against it by a spring 34 anchored to a lever 35 by which this roller is pivotally mounted on the stationary frame 36 of the machine. A rod 37 links the lever 35 with a pedal 38 to enable disengagement of drive roller 33 from feed roller 8. The elements referred to above are symmetrically duplicated on the machine frame 36; only the left-hand part of the system will be described in detail hereinafter.

A belt 39 connects the roller 33 with the shaft of a motor 40 which also drives the spindle 22, through the belt 13. This belt passes about the spindle 22, and the corresponding spindle on the right-hand side of the system, by way of two pairs of independently rotatable rollers 41a, 41b and 41a' and 41h. A pair of independently rotatable tension rollers 42a, 42h, carried by a pair of arms 43, serve to stretch the belt 13 taut under the action of a spring 44. One of the belt-supporting rollers, here the roller 41a, is connected with the motor 40 by a belt 45. In this manner the desired synchronism is maintained between spindle 22 and feed roller 8 with the degree of accuracy required for the purpose previously explained.

The stationary frame 36 is provided with a plurality of vertical rails 36 engaged on opposite sides by pairs of bearing rollers 12 which are carried on the vertically movable frame 12. This frame supports not only the spinning ring 11 but also, through an arm 46, the guiding loop or eye 9 through which the yarn 10 passes on its way to the traveler 14. The distance between eye 9 and ring 11 is thereby maintained constant. Frame 12 is reciprocated, through the intermediary of a connecting rod 47, by a crank 48 which is driven over a belt 49 from a motor 50.

In view of the rapidity with which the filaments )iL-4 from dispensers 1 4 are combined into the yarn 10 which is then wound on the bobbin 15, a two-bobbin unit as illustrated in Fig. 3 can continuously supply a large number of shells 16 from which the nished thread is taken at a high rate of twist but at a relatively reduced rate of feed. This has been illustrated in Fig. 4 which shows a battery of such shells 16 rotatably mounted alongside one another on the frame 25, another part of this frame supporting the eyes 19 through which the threads 10 pass as they emerge from the lids 16" by way of hooks 18. Frame member 25' carries rollers 51 on which a platform 52 is supported for horizontal reciprocating motion imparted to it by mechanism not further illustrated. The platform 52 carries the take-up reels 20 for the respective shells 16, these reels being operatively engaged by the rollers 21 driven over belts 53 from a suitable power source not shown. It will be apparent that the belts 23, which serve to rotate the shells 16, may be powered by the same source in a manner insurin(y proper correlation between the rotary speed of the shells and the linear velocity of the threads.

In view of the great lengths of flawless thread which can be produced by a system according to my invention, the bobbins 15 as well as the reels 20 may be of much larger storage capacity than has heretofore been practical. T'ne assembly illustrated in Fig. 4, in which each shell 16 forms a compact unit with the enclosed bobbin 15, can be operated with a minimum of supervision at Very high rotary speeds. This is so because the unfinished yarn within the shell, prior to being twisted into the thread 10', is protected from atmospheric currents by the fact that the air cushion within the shell rotates substantially at the same speed as the bobbin.

Whenever the contents of a bobbin 15 have been transferred onto one or more reels 20, the bobbin is removed from its shell 16 and replaced by a freshly loaded bobbin from the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 3. The reels 20, when completed, are removed from the platform 52 for storage or utilization in a loom, a braiding machine or the like.

Although preferred speed and twist ranges have been given in the preceding description, it will be understood that the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to these values, nor to the particular structure shown and described, but that it is capable of numerous modifications and adaptations without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A process for twining threads, comprising the steps of blending a plurality of filaments from respective sources into a yarn by advancing said filaments together at a relatively high and equal forward speed while irnparting to the yarn a preliminary twist with a relatively low number of turns per unit of length, and subsequently imparting to said yarn a iinishing twist of a relatively high number or turns per unit of length while advancing the twisted yarn at a relatively low forward speed, the minimum ratio of said high and low number of turns being about ten to one.

2. A process according to claim 1 wherein said preliminary twist ranges between approximately l and turns per meter.

3. A process according to claim 1 wherein said relatively high forward speed is of the order of several hundred meters per minute.

4. A process according to claim 1 wherein said nishing twist is of the order of 1,000 turns per meter.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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