US3043528A - Method and apparatus for automatically fixing the end of the thread or yarn of a wound package to the package support - Google Patents

Description

July 10, 1962 Filed March 28, 1961 w. SIEGENTHALER 3,043,528 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY FIXING THE END OF THE THREAD OR YARN OF A WOUND PACKAGE TO THE PACKAGE SUPPORT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I NVEN To R SIEGEN THALE. R

ATTORNE Y5 uly 10, 1962 W.'SIEGENTHALER 3,043,528

METHOD AND APPARATUS FDR AUTOMATICALLY FIXING THE END OF THE THREAD OR YARN OF A WOUND PACKAGE TO THE PACKAGE SUPPORT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 28, 1961 Fig. 6

INVENTOR WALTER SIE'GEN mama AT-ro RNeys United States Patent Ofific e 3,043,528 Patented July 10, 1962 3,043,528 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATI- CALLY FIXING THE END OF THE THREAD R YARN OF A WOUND PACKAGE TO THE PACKAGE SUPPORT Walter Siegenthaler, Erlenbach, Zurich, Switzerland, as-

siguor to Maschineufabrik Schiirer, Erlenbach, Zurich, Switzerland Filed Mar. 28, 1961, Ser. No. 98,969 Claims priority, application Switzerland Mar. 31, 1960 Claims. (Cl. 242-18) The present invention concerns a method and an apparatus for automatically fixing the end of the thread or yarn of a wound bobbin or package to the package support at the end of the winding operation.

In order to-bring a' weft bobbin into a condition suitable for use in a weaving operation, it is a known practice to produce a small auxiliary winding at the runningotf end of the package support in spaced relationship with the main package; this auxiliary winding is then slightly spread apart e.g. by means of a suitable finger during the final revolutions of the bobbin, so as to form a wedgeshaped groove, while the thread running up to the support is inserted immediately behind the finger into the wedgeshaped groove which subsequently is closed again by the inherent elasticity of the auxiliary winding and thereby tightly clamps the end of the thread into the auxiliary winding. This fixing of the end ofthe thread into the auxiliary winding, however, is not very safe and the thread end becomes easily loose.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for fixing the end of the thread or yarn of a wound bobbin or other package in a safe and reliable manner so as to avoid the above mentioned disadvantage.

The method according to the invention comprises the steps of producing an auxiliary winding at the running-off end of the package support and axially spaced from the body of the main package, said auxiliary winding being produced in a plane inclined at an angle to the axis of rotation of the support, axially displacing said auxiliary winding on the support into a plane extending at right angles to the said axis of rotation, lifting a portion of the displaced auxiliary winding from contact with the support at a point revolving around the periphery of the support, and placing the thread running-up to the support underneath the lifted portion of the auxiliary windings, whereby said thread is covered by the auxiliary winding making contact again with the support immediately behind said revolving lifted portion of the winding.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus for carrying out the above defined method. According to the invention this apparatus comprises a rotatable package support, a drivercoupled to one end of the support, a freely rotatable bearing head frictionally engaging the other end of the package support, a centrifugal lever pivotally mounted on said bearing head for movement in an axial plane, said centrifugal lever having a lever arm abutting against the surface of the package support in proximity to the frictionally engaged end thereof when the bearing head rotates, said lever arm being provided with an inclined surface adapted, upon rotation of said bearing head, to coincide with the path of the running-up thread forming an auxiliary winding on said support, and to engage underneath said auxiliary winding.

The invention will now be described in detail, reference being had to the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment of the apparatus as applied to a weft bobbin. In the drawings,

FIG. 1 digr-ammatically shows the package support mounted in its driving device and coupled to the bearing head, during the production of the auxiliary winding,

FIG. 2 is an axial section through the bearing head, drawn to a larger scale, showing the production of the auxiliary winding at the running-off end of the package support.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are views similar to FIG. 2 showing a first and a second phase of the relative rotation of the bearing head and the package support occurring after a braking of the support.

FIG. 5 shows diagrammatic views of the one end, with the auxiliary winding in various phases of fixing the end of the thread.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the end of the support showing the end of the thread fixed by the auxiliary winding.

In the drawing, numeral 1 represents the bobbin supporting core of a weft winding machine, which core is clamped for rotation with a driver 2. The running-off end 1a of the core 1 is slightly rounded and mounted with frictional engagement in a coupling socket 3 of a bearing head 4. The coupling socket 3 is enclosed by a diametrically slotted outer shell 5 of the bearing head 4. An approximately -G-shaped centrifugal lever 7 is supported on a pin 11 for pivotal movement in an axial plane in the slot 12 of the peripheral shell 5. The arm 7a of the lever 7 is formed as centrifugal weight for the lighter arm 7b. This arm 7b axially projects out of the coupling socket 3 and terminates in a wedge-shaped tapering finger 8, the external surface of which forms an acute angle with the axis of rotation of the core, when said finger abuts against the core end 1a. The bearing head 4 is mounted to be freely rotatable upon a pin 9.

The mode of operation of the described device is as follows: During the normal winding of a package, the core 1 is rotated by the driver 2. The end 1a of the core, mounted with frictional engagement in the coupling socket, drives the bearing head 4 at the same speed. After the thread guide 10 (FIG. 1) has carried out the required number of strokes along the core 1 for producing the package A, it is moved out of the zone of the main package A and into the zone of the free core end 1a, so that the thread tangentially passes onto the end of the core at a point situated axially outward, i.e. towards the right of the end of the finger 8, which end abuts against the core owing to centrifugal action. Upon each revolution of the core, the thread thus is wound over the finger 8, from the inclined surface 13 of which it axially slips inwards towards the core, so that an auxiliary Winding B is formed (FIG. 2), which is engaged from underneath by the concurrently rotating finger 8 and situated in a plane extending at an incline to the axis of the spindle. After completion of a sufiicient number of turns for this auxiliary winding B, the core 1 is braked at its driving end. The bearing head 4 which by means of the coupling socket 3 only frictionally engages the core end, utilizes its flywheel inertia and continues to rotate for a sort time at undiminished velocity, whereby a relative rotation between the core 1 and the finger 8 results, as the finger 8 rotates in advance of the core 1. The driving direction of the core 1 is indicated in FIGS. 1-3 by an arrow (1. Owing to the lead of the finger 8 with respect to the core 1 the auxiliary winding B, engaged by said finger from underneath, is forced from its inclined position with respect to the axis of the core into a radial plane (FIG. 3). This fact simul taneously results into a corresponding loosening of the auxiliary winding on the core, whereby the finger 8, in travelling around the core 11, lifts this loose winding slightly away from the core surface at the point of engagement of the finger. This is particularly evident in the diagrams a to d shown in FIG. 5, in which diagram a corresponds to the position of the parts when the core 1 is driven according to FIG. 2, diagram b corresponds to the position of the parts when the core is braked according to FIG. 3, and diagram 0 corresponds to the position of the parts after the spindle has been braked according to FIG. 4. In this'connection'it has to be noted that the thread running up to the core 1 will maintain its original tension, so-that in the zone of the portion of the loose auxiliary winding B which is lifted off the core surface, said oncoming thread automatically slides underneaththis lifted winding portion and immediately afterwards is covered by the auxiliary winding which, after the passage of the finger 8, will be applied again on the surface of the core 1. The portion of the thread, drawn underneath the auxiliary winding B in the manner described, isindicated in FIG. 5 by a heavy solid line. The tension of the thread running upon the core, which during this winding operation is greater than the tension of the auxiliary winding on the core, additionally causes a subsequent tightening of at least the last coils of the auxiliary windings which have been loosened by their axial displacement. Then the drawing-in operation of the end of the thread is finished (FIG. 6), the auxilia'ry'winding thus is positioned again in tight condition on the end of the core and the thread, of which several turns have been drawn in underneath the auxiliary Winding B during the leading revolutions of the bearing head 4, is thereby tightly fixed to thecore end 10. Any undesired loosening of the fixed thread thus is rendered impossible owing to the tight seating of the auxiliary winding upon the end of the core.

I cla m:

1. A method for automatically fixing the end of the thread or yarn of a wound pack-age to the package support, which comprises the steps of producing an auxiliary winding at the running-off end of the package support and axially spaced from the body of the main package, said auxiliary winding being produced in a plane inclined at an angle to the axis of rotation of the support, axially displacing said auxiliary Winding on the support into a plane extending at right angles to the said axis of rotation'to loosen the winding, lifting a portion of the displaced auxiliary winding from contact with the support at a point revolving around the periphery of the support,

and placing the thread running-up to the support underneath the lifted portion of the auxiliary Winding, and permitting the thread to be covered by the auxiliary winding making contact again withthe support as it is released immediately behind the revolving lifting point.

2. Apparatus for automatically fixing the end of the thread or yarn of a wound package to the package support, comprising a rotatable package support, a driver coupled to one end of the support, a freely rotatable bearing head frictionally engaging the other end of the package support, a centrifugal lever pivotally mounted on said bearing head for movement in an axial plane, said centrifugal lever having a lever arm abutting against the surface of the package support in proximity to the frictionally engaged end thereof when the bearing head r0- tates, said lever arm being provided with an inclined surface adapted, upon rotation of said bearing head, to coincide with the path of the running-up thread forming an auxiliary winding on said support, and to engage underneath said auxiliary winding.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, in which said bearhead is provided with a coupling socket for frictionally engaging a rounded end of the package support. I

4. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said centrifugal lever is C-shaped and is mounted in said bearing head so as to be movable in an axial plane, said lever having two arms of unequal weight, the heavier arm serving as a centrifugal weight, While the free end portion of the lighter arm forms the inclined surface adapted to engage the auxiliary winding.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, in which said hearing head includes a sleeve, the two arms of the centrifugal lever being situated in diametrically opposite slots of said sleeve.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,141,604 Belz June 1,1915

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