US3022625A

US3022625A - Ring rail suspension

Info

Publication number: US3022625A
Application number: US831214A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ernest D Meadows
Original assignee: MEADOWS Manufacturing CO
Current assignee: MEADOWS Manufacturing CO
Priority date: 1959-08-03
Filing date: 1959-08-03
Publication date: 1962-02-27
Anticipated expiration: 1979-02-27

Description

Feb. 27, 1962 E. D. MEADOWS RING RAIL SUSPENSION Filed Aug. 3, 1959 B M raw ATTORNEYS 3,022,625 RiNG RAIL SUSPENSION Ernest D. Meadows, Atlanta, Ga, assignor to Meadows Manufacturing Company, Atlanta, Ga, a corporation of Georgia Filed Aug. 3, 1%59, Ser. No. 831,214 19 Qlairns. (Cl. 57-137) This invention relates to thread or yarn spinning or twisting machines, and in particular to their ring rail assemblies including ring rails, ring rail seats and guide means.

A ring rail assembly is usually impositively actuated, as by lifter-rod means or by chain and pulley means, through up and down strokes of vertically reciprocative bobbin build-up travel, the down stroke ordinarily resulting from the lifting of a counterweight and the up stroke from the dropping of the counterweight. Previously, the ring rail assembly has been guided for its impositively effected up and down travel by guide collars or bushings around guide rods. Such guiding means is not favorable to smooth travel of the ring rail assembly and is especially adverse to smooth reversal of the direction of assembly travel. Furthermore, lint accumulating on the guide rods enters and sticks in the guide bushings and fouls up the guide means, eventually resulting in the sticking of the impositively actuated ring rail assembly.

The present invention avoids the above defects of the previously used guide means for the ring rail assemblies and provides a novel ring rail assembly featured by a ring rail suspension having smooth, anti-friction guiding coaction with guide rods. According to the invention, the ring rail suspension involves trolleys or carriages mounting the ring rail seat and carrying anti-friction guide elements. Preferably these elements are grooved rollers in balanced riding engagement with opposite sides of the guide rods. The guide rollers are journaled in the, trolleys by ball hearings or like suitable anti-friction means. Each trolley has at least two guide rollers and these rollers are in vertically spaced positions at opposite sides of a guide rod passing through the trolley. This enables the pressure of the rollers against the guide rod to be equalized and enables the trolley to adjust itself laterally to rolling of the guide rollers over lint accumulations on the guide rod. A ring rail assembly incorporating a suspension constructed according to the present invention is capable of smooth and rapid up and down travel and is reversible in direction of travel without the ill eflfect of vibration; also, the accumulation of lint on a guide rod or rods causes no sticking of the assembly inasmuch as the guide rollers can freely ride over such lint. Another feature of the ring rail assembly constructed according to the invention is the mounting of the ring rail in a manner permitting it to be readily leveled.

Other features and objects of the invention will appear from the following parts of the specification and from the drawing which shows, by way of example, a now preferred embodiment of the invention.

in the drawing:

PEG. 1 is a broken perspective view showing end portions of a ring rail assembly in a thread twister, this shown ring rail assembly incorporating the novel ring rail suspension.

FIGVZ is an enlarged view of one of the trolleys of the novel ring rail suspension, partly broken away and sectioned.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the trolley in FIG. 2 with one of the guide rollers in the trolley being in section.

In FIG. 1 is shown a section of a yarn or thread twister with a vertically reciprocable ring rail assembly. This assembly includes the novel ring rail suspension comprising trolleys T having anti-friction traction on verticaltatesatent 1y extending round guide rods 10. Suitable means are provided for mounting the guide rods 10 at upper and lower ends to the machine frame. The upper mounting means for the guide rods are not shown here but may include means for fixing the guide rods to the frame in a manner permitting plumb adjustment of the guide rods. At the lower ends, the guide rods are held by bracket feet 11 horizontally extending rom the bottom flange of a channel frame beam 12. The ring rail of the assembly is a horizontal plate structure 14 narrow in proportion to the length and downwardly flanged at the long sides. Circular holes 14a in the ring rail are adapted to be fitted with traveler rings spaced clear around bobbins. To avoid complicating the showing, the travelers, their mounting rings, the bobbins and the bobbin spools as well as other elements not directly entering into the invention have been omitted from the drawing. It is understood, however, that during the spinning of the bobbin spools, the thread guiding travelers rotate on their mounting rings in the holes 14a of the ring rail While the ring rail moves down and up according to the bobbin shape to be built on the spools.

At spaced locations along the length of ring rail 14, at least at its two ends, the ring rail is fastened by screws 15 upon support arms or seats 16 extending across the bottom of the ring rail. Each support arm 16 has a downward leg 16a fitting between parallel side plates 18 or side walls of a trolley T. A pivot pin 19 pivotally connects leg 16a to the trolley side walls which are formed below the pivot pin with horizontally elongated slots 18a. Extending through slots 18a andthrough leg 16a is a. fastener element 2%, such as a bolt to be tightened in place by a nut. By loosening the fastener elements 20 of the plurality of ring rail seating arms 16, the ring rail is made free for tiltable adjustment about pivot pins 19 so as to be laterally leveled. The ring rail assembly, as is clear now, has at least two end support arms 16 for the ring rail 14. Assuming two arms 16, there are two trolleys T each supporting one of the arms 16 in cantilever fashion; also, there are two guide rods 11 each guide rod extending through one of the trolleys. Each trolley has balanced rolling traction on its associated guide rod 10. For this purpose, the trolley is provided with a pair of guide rollers 21 vertically spaced apart and arranged for engagement with opposite sides of the guide rod. Rollers 21 are centrally grooved for maintained tracking coaction with the guide rod. In addition to the anti-friction rolling engagement afiorded by rollers 21 for smoothing the ride of the trolleys along the guide rods 10, further reduction in traction resistance is provided by mounting the rollers themselves on anti-friction journals. Thus, as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3, each roller 21 is journaled at its ends by a pair of ball bearings 22 of which the inner rings have trunnions 23 engaging in holes in the trolley walls 18.

Fastened between the sides 18 of each trolley T is a clevis block 25 provided with a protruding eye piece 25a through which a threaded stud 26 freely passes. The stud 26 is held in position within the eye piece by a pair of nuts 27 at opposite sides of the eye piece and is connected to one end of a litter chain 28. The ring rail assembly is thus suspended from the lifter chains 28 at the ends of the assembly. The connections including the threaded studs 26 and nuts 27 enable the ring rail assembly to be adjusted for longitudinal leveling of the ring rail 14. Thus should the right hand end of the ring rail be too high, it can be rought down by suitable adjustment of the nuts 27 to lower the right hand trolley T relative to its lifter chain 28. The ring'rail 14 is thus universally adjustable for leveling, longitudinal leveling being provided for by adjustment of the trolley connections to the lifter chains and lateral leveling by the tiltable .position to the ring rail assembly.

Q adjustment of the rail seating arms 16 about the pi pins 19.

The ring rail assembly is impositively moved through its down and up, strokes by builder mechanism including the lifter chains 28. The builder means connected to the chains are not shown as they form no direct part of the present invention. Such means may include builder mo tion wave shafts with sprocket wheels around which'the lifter chains 28' are led to support builder weights inop- The down stroke of the ring rail assembly will occur upon the lifting of the I builder weights while the up stroke of the ring rail assembly will occur upon the dropping of the builder weights. The-anti-friction roller ride of the trolleys T of the ring rail assembly suspension along the guide rods 10 provides for smooth up and down travel of the ring rail assembly without any chattering or vibration upon reversal of motion from up stroke to down stroke or vice versa. The engagement of the rollers 21 of the trolleys with opposite sides of the guide rods ll) provides a laterally balanced traction of the suspension trolleys T along the guide rods. With the two guide rollers 21 of a trolley being vertically otfset and at opposite sides of a guide adjust itself to variations in dimensions within working tolerances. Further, due to this construction, the pres ence of lint on theguide rods will not hinder the travel of the ring rail assembly because the guide rollers will freely rollover the lint, while the trolleys will adjust themselves angularly to the disturbance of the roller po-. sitions. Further still, lint will not be caught and stuck between the guide rods and the guide rollers or any part of the. trolleys, but due to the continual rotation of the 2. In a thread twister or the like, a ring rail assembly to be vertically reciprocated for build-up of bobbins, frame-based vertical guide rods for guiding the vertical reciprocation of the ring assembly, said assembly including an elongated horizontal ring rail and a suspension therefor comprising at least two trolleys, the trolleys being in laterally ofiset positions relative to the ring rail, support arms reaching from the respective trolleyslto the ring rail for supporting the ring rail at longitudinally spaced locations ofthe rail, said support arms being tiltably adiustably fastened to the trolleys to enable the ring rail to be leveled laterally, each trolley having anti-friction traction along one of the guide rods and provided for the purpose of such traction with at least two guide elements having rolling engagement with opposite sides of the guide rod for the trolley, and lifter means connected to the trolleys for controlling impositive up and down strokes of bobbin-building reciprocation of the ring rail assembly along the guide rods.

3. The invention according to' claim 2, vertically adjustable connections being provided between the lifter means and the trolleys to enable the trolleys and thereby the ring rail to be leveled also in longitudinal direction.

rollers will be dispersed and thrown out of the trolleys,

the. trolleys being open at the bottom to permit the lint to fall through. Thus there is no danger of the ring rail.

assembly incorporating the novel suspension sticking because of accumulation of lint between guidesurfaces. Be-

cause of the advantages of the novel ring rail'suspem.

understood that changes in the form and details of the disclosed embodiment may be made without departing from the invention. It is intended, therefore, to be limited no further than indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a thread twister or the like, a ring rail assembly to be vertically reciprocated for build-up of bobbins, frame-based vertical guide rods for guiding the vertical reciprocation of the ring rail assembly, said assembly including an elongated horizontal ring rail and a suspension therefor comprising at least two trolleys, at least two support arms each having one end attached to the ring rail at spaced apart points and extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the length of the ring rail, means to attach one of the trolleys to the opposite end of each support arm for supporting the ring rail at longitudinally spaced locations of the rail, each trolley having anti-friction traction along one of the guide rods and provided for the purpose of such traction with at least two guide elements having rolling engagement with opposite sides of the guide rod for the trolley, and lifter means connected to the trolleys for controlling impositive up and down strokes of bobbin-building reciprocation of the ring rail assembly along the guide rods,

'4. In a thread twister or the like, a ring rail assembly to be vertically reciprocated for build-up of bobbins, frame-based vertical guide rods for guiding reciprocation of the assembly, said assembly including an elongated horizontal ring rail and a suspension therefor comprising a pair of trolleys at the ends of the ring rail, a pair of support arms each having one end attached to the ring rail and the opposite end of eachsupport arm'extending substantially perpendicularly with the. length of the ring rail, said opposite end of each support arm being attached to one of the trolleys for supporting the ring rail at the ends, each trolley having anti-friction traction along one of the guide'rods and provided for such traction with a pair of guide rollers having rolling engagement with opposite sides of the guide rod for the trolley, and lifter means connected to the trolleys for controlling impositive up and down strokes of bobbin-building'reciprocation of the ring rail assembly. r

V 5. In a thread twister or the like, a ring rail assembly to be reciprocated for bobbin build-up. frame-based vertical guide rods, said assembly'including an elongated horizontal ring rail and a suspension therefor comprising means including a pair of troll ys for'supporting the ring rail at longitudinally spaced locations of the rail, each trolley having a pair of spaced parallel side walls between which a said guide rod extends and each trolley having rolling traction on opposite sides of the associated guide rod, the trolley being provided for the purpose of such traction with at least two guide rollers journaled between the trolley walls, oneof the guide rollers being located for rolling engagement with one side of the guide rod extending between the side walls of the trolley and the other guide roller being located for rolling engagement with the opposite side of this guide rod, and means connected with the trolleys 'for controlling their up and down strokes of bobbin-building reciprocation.

6. In a thread twister or the like, a ring rail assembly to be moved up and down for bobbin-building, framebased vertical guide rods, said assembly including anelongated horizontal ring railand a suspension therefor comprising means including a pair of trolleys for supporting the ring rail at longitudinally separated locations of the ring rail, each trolley having rolling engagement with a guide rod diagonally across the rod, the trolley being provided for such engagement with a pair of guide rollers vertically spaced apart one roller at one side'of the guide rod and the other roller at the opposite side of the guide rod, whereby the rollershave a rolling engagement with vertically spaced opposite surfaces of the guide rod, means connected with the trolleys for controlling the bobbinbuilding up and down movements of the ring rail assembly, each trolley having an open-bottom frame comprised of a pair of side walls between which an associated one of the guide rods extends, and each guide rollor being provided with ball bearing journal means for journaling the roller between the trolley Walls.

7. The invention according to claim 6, the rollers being centrally grooved and the guide rods being round to provide for maintained tracking coaction between the guide rollers and the guide rods.

8. In a thread twister, a frame, an elongated horizontal ring rail assembly adapted to be moved up'and down for bobbin-building, and a suspension to move each ring rail independently of any other ring rail comprising at least two trolleys, at least two support arms each having one end attached to the ring rail at spaced apart points and extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the length of the ring rail, means to attach one of the trolleys to the opposite end of each support arm for supporting the ring rail, each trolley having anti-friction traction along one of the guide rods and provided for the purpose of such traction with at least two guide elements having rolling engagement with opposite sides of the guide rods for the trolle, and litter means connected to the trolley for controlling impositive up and down strokes of bobbin-building reciprocation of the ring rail assembly along the guide rods.

9. In a thread twister, a ring rail assembly to be vertically reciprocated for build-up of bobbins, frame-based vertical guide rods for guiding the vertical reciprocation of the ring rail assembly, said assembly including an elon-' gated horizontal ring rail and a suspension therefor, said suspension comprising at least two trolleys, at least two support arms, each having one end attached to the ring rail at spaced apart points and extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the length of the ring rail, means to attach one of the trolleys to the opposite end of each support arm for supporting the ring rail at longi tudinally spaced locations of the rail, each trolley having two bearing means spaced apart vertically, the uppermost of the bearing means being in roiling engagement with the side of the guide rod furthermost from the ring rail, the lowermost of the bearing means being in rolling engagement With the side of the guide rod adjacent the ring rail so that the ring rail may be pivoted relative to the guide rod, and lifter means connected to the trolleys for controlling impositive up and down strokes of bobbinbuilding reciprocation of the ring rail assembly on the guide rod.

10. The invention according to claim 1 including means to attach said guide elements for each trolley in vertically spaced apart relation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,892,343 Hess Dec. 27, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS 525,524 Great Britain Aug. 29, 1940 706,523 Germany May 28, 1941 810,615 Great Britain Mar. 18, 1959 1,195,661 France May 19, 1959