US2984265A - Weft stop motion - Google Patents

Description

May 16, 1961 Filed May 5, 1959 KQNSFORMQR R. A. DUPRE 2,984,265

WEFT STOP MOTION 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Roland IJZDJ OJ'Q ATTORNEYS May 16, 1961 R. A. DUPRE WEFT STOP MOTION 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 5, 1959 INVENTOR. 190 [an a! v4. Dz vr ATTORNEYS May 16, 1961 R, A. DUPRE 2,984,265

WEFT STOP MOTION Filed May 5, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

I F0 lanclfl. B19010? BY 74 flww /JMzw ATTORNEYS May 16, 1961 R. A. DUPRE 2,984,265

WEFT STOP MOTION Filed May 5, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. Ralmwd vqflz pre ATTORNEYS United States Patent 6 WEFT STOP MOTION Roland A. Dupre, Ashton, R1. (27 Kent St., Cumberland, RI.)

Filed May 5, 1959, Ser. No. 811,153

6 Claims. (Cl. 139-371) This invention relates to a weft stop motion for a textile weaving loom, particularly a loom for making narrow fabric or woven web material.

In a so-called narrow fabric loom of the type herein concerned, a plurality of webs are simultaneously woven spaced from each other along the loom. The loom has a lay which carries a plurality of weft carriers or shuttles which lay a weft back and forth across warps to be interlaced one with the other in a known manner. There is a so-called shuttle block for each shuttle and there is an extra shuttle block at each end of the lay. The shuttle blocks are spaced from each other and are provided with a guide groove by which the shuttles are guided back and forth in their travel from one shuttle block to an adjacent shuttle block. The warp threads for each web are positioned in the spaces between shuttle blocks, and the shuttles, in being moved or oscillated back and forth, pass through the sheds of the warps and lay wefts across the warps to be interlaced therewith, the warps being shedded at each pass of the shuttles across the warps, the shuttles being held or boxed in the shuttle blocks during the shedding of the warps and the beating up of the last laid weft.

It is desirable and advantageous in some instances to bring the loom to rest just prior to the weft supply of the shuttles becoming exhausted so as to provide for doffing all the shuttles at the same time which allows threading of the new wefts by merely attaching the leading end of the new weft to the trailing end of the old weft to be pulled thereby through the guide eyes of the shuttle. It is equally desirable to stop the loom upon breakage of individual wefts.

An object of the present invention is to provide a weft stop motion for a narrow fabric loom which is so constructed as to stop the loom upon the breaking or exhaustion of the supply of any one shuttle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a weft stop motion for a narrow fabric loom which will be electrically actuated.

Another object of the invention is to provide an electrically actuated stop motion for a narrow fabric loom in which electrical contacts will be carried by the shuttle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a weft stop motion for a narrow fabric loom in which an auxiliary knock-off device operated through the stop motion will be adapted to be attached to the shift lever of the loom and electrically actuated to move the shift lever so as to operate the loom knock-01f device to stop the loom.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is an elevational view of a fragmentary portion of a narrow fabric loom embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the loom shift lever actuating means of Figure 1, shown on a larger scale;

6 ice Figure 3 is a front elevation view of a narrow loom shuttle showing parts of the weft stop motion fixed thereto;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 44 of Fig. 3;

Figure 5 is a front elevatio'nal view of two shuttle blocks with shuttles therein;

Figure 6 is a View similar to Figure 5 with the shuttles in a different position;

Figure 7 is a sectional view on line 7-7 of Figure 6 showing a fragmental portion of the block and on substantially larger scale than shown in Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a rear view of one of the blocks illustrating the spring for moving the contact arm into engagement;

Figure 9 is a fragmental view similar to Figure 8 but illustrating a modified form of means for swinging the contact arm;

Figure 10 is a view similar to Fig. 3 of a modified form of the shuttle;

Figure 11 is a view similar to Fig. 5 of the modified form;

Figure 12 is a view similar to Fig. 6 of the modified form; and

Figure 13 is a perspective view of a modified form of electrical contact means.

Referring to Figure l in more detail, 10 designates generally a narrow fabric loom, only that portion of which is shown as is believed necessary for an understanding of the present invention. The loom is of known manufacture and has a usual reciprocating lay 11 which carries a plurality of spaced shuttle blo'cks 12 in which the shuttles are boxed at the end of each throw thereof across the warps. Each block has the usual pair of guide tracks 13 and 13 (also Figures 5 and 6) for guiding the shuttle 14 from one shuttle block to the other. A so-called loom reed 15 through which warps (not shown) are passed, is positioned in the space between shuttle blocks. The shuttle blocks are similar to each other and are attached to the lay in a known way. In the present instance (see Figures 5 and 6) the guide tracks 13, 13 extend on the arc of a circle. The guide tracks 13 extend from one upper side edge of the block to the lower opposite side edge thereof, and the track 13 extends from the upper opposite side edge of the block to the lower opposite side edge thereof. The two tracks 13, 13 intersect each other centrally of the shuttle block. All the shuttles are moved or oscillated in unison back and forth between adjacent shuttle blocks. The shuttles will be moved from the track 13 of one block and into the track 13' of the next adjacent shuttle block. At the next throw or movement of the shuttle, the same will be moved from the tracks 13' to initial tracks 13. It may be here mentioned that during the oscillating of the shuttles, the warps are in a shedded relation and the shuttles pass through the shed and lay a weft across the warps to be interlaced therewith in a known way, the warps being shedded at each pass of the shuttles across the warps. The shuttles are oscillated back and forth by means of a gear wheel 16 mounted on each shuttle block for free rotation and are engaged by a reciprocating toothed rack bar indicated generally 17 (see Figure 1). The shuttles are of known construction each having an arcuate body portion 18 and a guide groove 19 (see Figure 4) which interengages with the undercut tracks 13, 13' of the shuttle block. Each shuttle is provided with an arcuate toothed segment 20 which is engaged by said gear Wheel 16 and oscillated thereby from one shuttle block to the other. The weft yarn Y is packaged in quill form 21 (see Figures 3 and 10) which is rotatably mounted on a stationary shaft 22 which is detachably secured to the shuttle.

The yarn Y is led from the quill 21 to pass through a centering eye 23 thence to tension applying eyes 24, 25 respectively and out through guide eye 26. Eye 24 is attached to one end of a pull spring 27 which extends through an opening 28 in the end portion 29 of the shuttle and is anchored at the other end thereof to the bottom of the shuttle in known way. The eye 25 is similarly attached to one end of a pull spring 30 which extends through an opening 31 in the opposite end portion 32 of the shuttle, and the other end of the spring being secured to the bottom of the shuttle. It may be here mentioned that spring 34) is made to be weaker than spring 27 so that under pull of the yarn, it will yield to a greater extent than spring 27. Free rotation of the quill 21 is blocked by means of a pivoted arm or feeler 33 which is provided with a plate 34 that extends into engagement with the quill '21. The feeler 33 is spring pressed into engagement with quill 21 by means of a spring 35 having one end thereof secured to the shuttle body and the other end thereof extending into engagement with feeler 33 as at 36. Thus the feeler will swing upward and follow the decrease in diameter of the quill.

According to the present invention, I mount a pair of electric contacts '37, 38 (Fig. 4) on opposite sides of spring 38 and spaced therefrom. Contact 37 is connected through a wire 39 to an electrical contact 4t secured to the face of the shuttle and substantially flush therewith. Contact 38 is connected through a wire 41 to an electrical contact 42 also secured to the face of the shuttle to be substantially flush therewith and spaced from contact 49. An electrical conducting plate 43 is secured to the eye 25 and is of an extent to bridge contacts 37 and 38. Since spring 27 is stronger than spring 30, plate 43 will be normally held out of contact by the pull of spring 27 acting through yarn Y. Upon breakage or exhaustion of the yarn Y, plate 43 under urge of spring 39 will be moved into bridging engagement with contacts 37 and 38.

A second pair of contacts 37 and 38 are provided and are mounted on the shuttle (see Figure 4) to be at a location to be engaged and bridged by the feeler 33. Contact 37 is electrically connected to contact 37 by wire 39' and contact 38' is electrically connected to contact 38 by 41'. The feeler 33 has sweeping engagement with contact 37 and upon the quill reaching a predetermined diameter, predetermined by the spacing between contacts 37 and 33, the feeler 41 will bridge contacts 37' and 38. Contact 38 is made adjustable so as to provide the proper spacing from contact 37 to predetermine the diameter of quill at which bridging of the contacts will be made.

in order to supply the electrical circuit from the shuttle to the framework of the machine and the control mechanism, I have provided a contact arm 44, see Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8, which is pivoted on the hollow shaft 45 which extends through the center of the gear 16. This arm 44 is made up of two portions 46 and 47 insulated from each other, the portion 46 being in a position to contact the strip 4?; and the portion 47 being in position to contact the strip 42. An insulated wire 74 extends from the arm 46 while the arm 47 makes its Contact through the shaft 45 with a wire 73 leading from the shaft in a circuit which is further explained. The shaft 45 is provided with a short lever arm 45 while a spring 80 engages this arm at the rear of the block (also' see Fig. 8) and is connected to this arm 45 and anchored as at 81 so as to tend to swing the arm to a vertical position. Thus, as the shuttle swings through the slot and contacts the arm, it will swing the arm from off the vertical posi tion as shown in Figure or 6 to provide a good wiping contact between the strips 40 and 42 and the arms 46 and 47. In some cases instead of using a spring such as 80 a weight 82 (Fig. 9) may be suspended from arm 83 affixed to the shaft to supply the same tendency to swing the arm to vertical position as did the spring and cause the contact to be formed between the contact arm 44 and the shuttle. The circuit will be completed as hereinafter described. I also find that I need an arm 44 at only alternate blocks 12 in this arrangement.

In Figures 10, l1 and 12 a modified arrangement is shown. In Figure 10 instead of bands extending across the shuttle as at 40 and 42, I provided metallic ribs. 40 and 42' extending the full width of the shuttle. The wire 39 in this case is connected to the rib 40 and the wire 41 is connected to the metal rib 42'. Other than this, the shuttle is the same as shown in Figure 3.

A difierent form of electrical takeoff is provided, however. From the shuttle and as shown in Figures 11 and 12 I have provided a pair of spring arms and 86 which are set into the block 12 along a path of the guide slot 13 so that as the shuttle 14 with its metal ribs 40 and 42' passes along the slot, it will contact these arms 85 and 86; that is, the rib 40 will contact arm 85 and the rib 42 will contact the arm 86. The connection from the arm 86 will be directly to the hollow metal shaft 45 of the gear 16 by wire and the connection from the arm 85 will be by means of an insulated conductor or wire 91 which will pass through the hollow shaft of gear 16 as shown at 74 in Figure 7, while a lead from the shaft as shown in 73 may be taken off for the other part of the circuit. Thus, by using two spring arms 85 and 86 set into the block 12, I may provide for the electric circuit being transferred from the shuttle to the block.

This same sort of a contact device is provided for each of the blocks along the guide groove 13, but no contact is made with these arms when the shuttle is in the position shown in Figure ll. Thus the stop motion is elfective only when the shuttle is at one end of its travel rather than both ends as shown in the arrangement of Figures 5 to 8 inclusive.

The loom is provided with the usual shift lever which is an elongated bar 48 (Figs. 1 and 2), which extends longitudinally of the loom and is manually operable to actuate the loom knock-off mechanism (not shown) to bring the loom to rest or to actuate the mechanism to start the loom in operation. The knock-off mechanism is operated through a linkage designated generally 50 which is supported on a bracket 51 attached to the frame 52 of the loom at one end thereof. The bar 48 is pivotally connected to said linkage as at 53 and is adapted to" rock said linkage in one direction, when the bar is moved towards the left as viewed in Figure 1, to actuate the knock-off mechanism to start the loom in operation. To actuate the mechanism to stop the loom, the linkage 50 is rocked in the other direction by moving the bar 48 toward the right. In accordance with the invention I provide an auxiliary knock-off mechanism for automatically actuating the loom knock-01f mechanism. This co'mprises a suitable support 54 (see Figure 2), which is attached at one of its ends to the loom frame 52 at a location above the bar 48 and adjacent thereto. A pair of links 55, 56 are pivotally connected as at 57 to each other at one end 57' thereof. The link 55 is pivotally connected at the outer end of the support 54 by means of a fixed pivot 58 and the link 56 is pivotally connected to a pivot pin 59 which extends through a longitudinally extending slot 60 in the support 54. The pivot pin 59 is free to move along slot 60 and is spring urged to be moved toward pivot pin 58 by means of a pull spring 61 which is adjustably secured at one end to a bracket 62 fixed to support 54, and at the other end thereof to a bracket 63 attached to the pivot pin 59. When the links are moved to the position shown in Figure 2, the pivots 57, 58, and 59 will be in line with each other and the pull of the spring 61 will be centrally of said pivots and said links will be locked in position or the pivot 57 may be slightly below such line and suppo'rted by the solenoid plunger. Upon the said pivoted ends 57 being moved upwardly out of line the spring will be free to move the pin 59 along the slot 65) toward pin 58. The links 55, 56 and support 54 may be considered to be a trigger mechanism operable to charge and release spring 61 which later operation is performed by a solenoid 64 which is secured to the support 54. The plunger 65 thereof extends through a suitable opening 66 in the bottom wall 54 and engages against the links when in the locked position thereof. Upon activating the solenoid, the plunger 65 will be moved outwardly and push the links out of line and thus release the spring to move pivot pin 59 along slot 60 as previously described.

A connecting link 67 having a longitudinal slot 68 is pivotally secured to bar 48 as at 69 and receives in this slot the pivot 59. When the loom is in motion, the bar will be at the position shown in Figure 2 and the pin 59 will be engaged at the outer end of slot 68. If for some reason it becomes necessary to manually move bar 48 towards the left as seen in Fig. 2, so as to stop the loom, it will be seen the link 67 will merely ride on pivot pin 59 and will not affect the locked position of links 55 and 56. However, upon contraction of spring 61, the link 67 will be carried along with pivot pin 59 and pull bar 48 toward the left to rock linkage 50 to stop position and bring the loom to rest as previously mentioned. Upon moving bar 48 in a direction to set the loom in motion, the pivot 59 will be pulled along slot 60 by link 67 and position the links 55, 56 in line with each other.

The electric circuits for the stop motion is shown generally in Figure 1 and may be traced from the transformer 70 through wire 71 to the solenoid 64 thence from the solenoid through common wire 72 to which contacts 47 of shuttle blocks contact arm are connected through wires 73 and from contacts 46 through wires 74 to common wire 75 to transformer 70. Electrical energy is supplied to transformer '70 through wires 76, 77 leading from a suitable power source.

It will be apparent from the above that I may use the stop motion which I have provided by equipping each block and each shuttle as above indicated with the stop motion operating either by a reduction of the quill to a certain size contacts 33, 37, 38, or by breaking of the yarn, or exhaustion of the yarn through contact plate 43 and strips 37 and 38.

In some instances, instead of utilizing the stop motion controlled by the feeler member 34 and arm 33 with contacts 37 and 38 these may be completely eliminated and all of the shuttles and blocks equipped with the other stop motion controlled by plate 43 and contacts 37 and 38. In which event the loom will stop when any one quill is exhausted and all of the quills may then be replaced by drawing in the yarn prior to exhaustion in all of the shuttles except the one which first exhausts, so that a time saving may be effected in reloading and a maximum use of the yarn on the quills provided.

In some instances, however, one shuttle and block may be equipped with the stop motion controlled by the feeler 34 and the arm contact 33 and contacts 37' and 38', which will be so set that when a certain diameter of quill occurs the loom will stop and all the quills may be reloaded prior to the exhaustion of any quill. In this event, a minimum installation is provided by a single block and shuttle so equipped but all shuttles may be reloaded by drawing in the yarn. Maximum use of the yarn, however, in such case may not be provided.

I claim:

1. A weft yarn stop motion for a loom having a knockoff mechanism, means including a solenoid for operating said mechanism, a reciprocating lay, a shuttle having an opening, a weft yarn supply in said opening, said lay having spaced shuttle blocks for guiding said shuttle, each of said blocks being provided with a pair of electric contacts connected to said solenoid, said shuttle having spaced electric conducting means engageable with said contacts upon said shuttle being boxed in said shuttle blocks, said shuttle carrying a first pair of normally open contacts connected to said means and means to close said shuttle contacts upon breakage in the weft yarn, and a second pair of normally open contacts connected to said means, said shuttle having a f-eeler member carried by an arm extending into engagement with the weft yarn supply constituting one of said second pair of contacts and a contact on the wall of said opening and in the path of movement of said arm to be engaged by the arm upon a predetermined decrease in said yarn supply to cause said arm to bridge and close the said second pair of contacts, said contacts on said wall being adjustable as to position to predetermine the point of contact.

2. A weft yarn stop motion for a narrow fabric loom having a lay provided with a plurality of spaced shuttle blocks having shuttle guiding tracks, shuttles guided in said tracks carrying spaced contacts on their face, a contact arm on each block movable on an axis at right angles to the path of movement of the shuttle and in such path and engaged and swung by said shuttle upon a shuttle being moved into the block said shuttle contacts engaging the contact arm.

3. A weft yarn stop motion for a narrow fabric loom having a lay provided with a plurality of spaced shuttle blocks having shuttle guiding tracks, shuttles guided in said tracks carrying spaced contacts on their face, a gear in each block for reciprocating the shuttle, a contact arm on each block swingable about a pivot coaxial with said gear for engaging said contacts upon a shuttle being moved into the block.

4. A weft yarn stop motion for a narrow fabric loom having a lay provided with a plurality of spaced shuttle blocks having crossing shuttle guiding tracks, shuttles guided in said tracks carrying spaced contacts on their face, a pivoted contact arm on each block for engaging said contacts upon a shuttle being moved into the block from either direction.

5. In a weft yarn stop motion, a shuttle having an opening, a weft yarn supply in said opening, a spring pressed arm carrying a shoe for engaging the surface of said supply, and contact means comprising a contact on the wall of said opening and in the path of movement of said arm and engaged by said arm, when said supply is at a determined point of exhaustion, said contact being adjustable as to position to predetermine the point of contact.

6. In a Weft yarn stop motion for a narrow fabric loom, a shuttle of frame form having an open center with a weft yarn supply therein, said shuttle having a bore in the frame, tension means for leading the yarn from the shuttle including an eye through which the yarn passes, a coiled spring connected to said eye and housed in said bore, spaced contacts on said frame at either side of the entrance to said bore spaced from the spring emerging from said bore, means to stop the loom comprising an electric circuit connected to said contacts, said eye carrying a bridging plate to engage said contacts and complete said circuit when the tension of the yarn passing through said eye fails to hold the bridging plate away from said contacts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 384,934 Rush et a1. June 19, 1888 2,356,458 Holmes Aug. 22, 1944 2,512,428 Hutchins June 20, 1950 2,661,028 Siegel Dec. 1, 1953 2,746,490 Hall May 22, 1956 2,788,025 Waterhouse et a1. Apr. 9, 1957

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