US2977780A - Carrier tube - Google Patents

Description

G. T. SMITH CARRIER TUBE Filed Feb. 25, 1958 INVENTOR Gus 7T .SmE-H BY Z/ ,fl, $141+ Va.

ATTORNEY fjl.

A ril 4, 1961 United States Patent CARRIER TUBE Gus T. Smith, Padncah, Ky., assignor to Ace Engineering Company, Paducah, Ky.,'a corporation of Kentucky Y .Filed m. 25, 1958, Ser. No. 717,366 4 Claims. (Cl. 66-126) of steels, is widely recognized and has been the source of difiiculties in the production of fabrics which should be knit with uniform yarn tension, as well as the cause of interruptions in production in order to renew worn guides which cause uneven tension in the yarn. Where possible, yarn guides have been made, at least in part, from ceramic material, as the extreme hardness and smoothness of the ceramic better resists wear by the yarn. In the past, attempts have been made to fashion a carrier tube from ceramic, but have been generally unsuccessful due to the fact that the carrier tube is subjected to vibrations and strains in the knitting machine which cause a ceramic tube to fracture.

One of the principal purposes of the present invention is to provide an improved carrier tube which consists of a metal sleeve which receives annular ceramic inserts at either end, which are thus located in the area where the BCQ,

ceramic inserts 18 are set into these enlarged portions of the passageway with the bottoms of the inserts bearing against the shoulders 16. It will also be noted that the interior diameters of the inserts, when so placed, correspond to the interior diameter of the passageway which lies intermediate the shoulders 16, so that there is provided, after the inserts are placed, a passageway through the entire length of the tube which is of substantially uniform diameter. These inserts contact the yarn passing through the tube at thepoints where the yarn changes direction, and consequently at the points where the maximum wear occurs.

' It is desirable in some instances to employ a filler, preferably an adhesive one, between the contacting surfaces of the inserts 16, or at least the sides thereof, and the tube 12. This serves to provide a tight fit between the tube and the insert which is diflicult to achieve by making these elements with the exactness which would be required to prevent relative movement between them in the event such a filler was not employed. The use of the filler, if it is adhesive in nature, also prevents accidental yarn passing through the tube principally contacts the tube.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved carrier tube which contains ceramic inserts to take wear at the points or areas where the yarn principally contacts the tube, and which also comprises a steel support for the ceramic inserts which protect the ceramic and permit the tube to be fastened into the knitting machine and subjected to vibrations and shocks therein without fracturing the ceramic inserts.

One form of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in more detail hereinafter.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a carrier tube according to the present invention, also showing in dotted lines the central passage'of the tube and the position. of the ceramic inserts at either end;

Figure 2 is a longitudinalsectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure l of the same carrier tube; and

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the carrier tube illustrated in Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1, it may be seen that the carrier tube, generally indicated by the numeral 10, comprises an elongated annular tube 12 which is preferably made of steel, although'other rigid metals or materials may be employed. The tube comprises a central passage 14 l Referring to Figures Z and 3, it may be seen that throughout the length of the tube, through which yarn is passed whenthe tube is "assembled in known manner on 'a knitting machine. It maybe seenfrom Figures 1' and 2 that the walls of the'tube' at the upper and lower ends arereduced inthickness to provide a shoulder 16,

and consequently, to e'nlarge'the diameter of the central passage 14 outwardly of the shoulders 16. 1 r a displacement of the inserts.

A satisfactory ceramic for forming the insert according to this invention may consist of, the type of ceramic material which is described in U.S. Patent No. 2,369,266 to Thurnauer, issued February 13, 1945. It is not necessary, however, that the ceramic'have the electrical properties therein described, although these may be desirable in some instances. Ceramics having properties satisfactory for the manufacture of inserts according to this invention may be identified by the following characteristics:

Hardness, Mobs scale AlSiMags, products of the American Lava Corporation, are satisfactory ceramic materials. U.S. Patent No. 2,214,703 to Thurnauer describes ceramic materials satisfactory for the present invention.

It will be appreciated that the above characteristics are exemplary of the ceramic materials which may be employed, and that the invention may be embodied in various forms other than that illustrated and described specifically above. i

a Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is: V

1. A carrier tube for guiding yarn in a knitting machine comprising a rigid metallic cylindrical tube of substan- 7 tially greater length than width and having a straight longitudinal axis, said tube being provided with a central passageway of circular cross section extending throughout the length of the tube coaxially of the=longitudinal axis thereof, said passageway being enlarged at at least one end and of uniform diameter elsewhere along its length, the diameter of each such enlarged portion ,being the same. and substantially constant throughout thelength thereof, a ceramicinsert fof annular form' positioned in each such enlarged portion of said-passagewaywith its central aperture concentric with said central passageway, both the external and internal di'ameter of; said insert i being essentially uniform along the length thereof, the

former being not greater than the diameter of the enlarged portion of said passageway and the latter being the same as the uniform diameter of said passageway exclusive of said enlarged portion, said insert being substantially completely contained within the corresponding enlarged portion of said passageway. i

2. A carrier tube as claimed in claim '1 in which the enlargements of said passageway provide annular shoulders at right angles to the axis of said passageway which bear against the inner ends of said inserts.

3. A carrier tube as claimed in claim 2 in which a filler is placed between at least some of the contacting surfaces of said inserts and said tube.

4. A carrier tube as claimed in claim 3 in which said filler is an adhesive.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Barlow Dec. 31, Houghton Aug. 12, Scott Feb. 24, Amon Dec. 29, Weisbecker Dec. 7, Feustel Aug. 9, Kannegieter Jan. 31, Weisbecker Sept. 10, Rowe Jan. 6, Jauch Nov. 9, Barrett Jan. 1, Kaufmann July 31,

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