US3147899A - Web festooning device - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 8, 1964 R. c. PARKES WEB FES'IOONING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 9, 1963 ATTORNEY Sept. 8, 1964 Filed April 9, 1963 INVENTOR RALPH C. PARKES ATTORNEY United States Patent "ice 3,147,899 WEB FESTODNING DEVICE Ralph C. Parties, Rydal, Pa, assignor to The National Drying Machinery Company, Philadelphia, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Fiied Apr. 9, 1963, Ser. No. 271,629 1 Cim' m. (iii. 226-106) This invention relates to a web festooning device Whereby a flexible web may be formed into loops of uniform length suspended from horizontally disposed poles or rolls moving in a path at substantially right angles to the path of movement of the web toward the poles.

A relatively heavy, or coarse web such as woolen cloth can be clamped to a supporting pole during the formation of a loop by mechanical means, and presents no problem. But, a delicate fabric, especially when wet, will be marked if it is clamped to the pole by mechanical means While it is being draped over successive poles. This problem has been recognized for a long time and the structures shown in Patents Nos. 1,287,172; 2,534,026 and 2,788,968 are representative of the solutions heretofore attempted.

It is therefore one object of the invention to produce an improved apparatus whereby a delicate web is clamped to the supporting poles during the formation of loops suspended from moving poles by means of a stream of air having the requisite velocity.

Since the poles which receive the loops move in a horizontal path and the air is blown in a generally downward direction, the source of air must move in an arcuate path so that the stream of air will always be oriented in the direction of the web from the moment the web first engages a pole until the loop has reached the desired length, by which time the pole carrying a complete loop will have passed beyond the range of the air stream, whereupon the source of air abruptly swings back so as to direct the stream of air against the web at the moment that the web engages a succeeding pole to begin forming the next loop, and so on.

As shown in Patent 1,287,172 and Patent 2,534,026, a fixed blower housing supplies air to a flexible pipe to which is connected the air discharge nozzle. In this construction, the axis of the pipe, in the vicinity of its connection to the nozzle, is at right angle to the axis of rotation of the nozzle. This means that the pipe, and particularly the underside thereof, must flex sharply with each rotation of the nozzle and it does not take long before the pipe is destroyed. Also, the flexing capacity of the pipe limits the arc of rotation of the nozzle. In Patent No. 2,788,968 a fixed plenum is provided and a rotary nozzle is attached to the lower edge thereof. This struc ture has, among other things, the advantage of a steady stream of air under substantial constant static pressure, as compared with centrally concentrated pressure available when the air is blown into the center of the nozzle as in the first-mentioned patents. However, after using the structure of Patent 2,788,968 successfully for several years, I found that if the joint between the nozzle and the plenum were made tight, rotation of the nozzle was difficult and if the joint between the nozzle and the plenum were made loose enough for free rotation, the joint leaked. Also, it was found that rotating the nozzle in an arc with the diameter of the nozzle as the radius, or over a relatively small radius, unduly limited the length of the arc which, in turn, greatly limited the spacing apart of the poles carrying the web.

It is therefore the object of this invention to produce a structure in which the nozzle proper is rigidly secured to a relatively large plenum; in which the plenum and the nozzle are jointly rotated about an axis far removed from the poles, thereby permitting rotation of the nozzle over 3,147,899 Patented Sept. 8, 1964 a much larger arc and hence wider spacing apart of the poles.

A further object is to produce a structure wherein air is admitted to the upper end of the plenum longitudinally of the axis of rotation of the plenum so as to reduce the twisting of the flexible pipe leading from the source of air to the plenum.

The web to be festooned must be initially guided onto an approaching pole through a throat, or passage, and the direction and size of the throat should be varied according to the weight, texture and rate of movement of the web. In Patent 2,788,968 an adjustable throat is shown but, once adjusted, the throat is stationary. In Patents Nos. 1,287,172 and 2,534,026, the throat is not adjustable. It is therefore a still further object of this invention to produce an improved construction in which the throat which guides the web is both adjustable and swingable.

A cloth moving through the throat described tends, especially if wet, to stick to the walls of the throat and, particularly, to the front wall, reference being had to the direction of movement of the web supporting poles.

It is therefore a still further object of the invention to produce a structure which includes means for preventing, or minimizing the sticking of the web to the wall of the throat.

These and other objects are attained by the invention as set forth in the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary and diagrammatic view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, looking in the direction of line 1-1 on FIG. 3 and corresponds to FIG. 1 of the Parkes patent.

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1, certain parts being omitted, and corresponds to FIG. 5 of the Parkes patent.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic and fragmentary view looking in the direction of line 33 on FIG. 1 and corresponds to FIG. 2 of the Parkes patent.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view looking in the direction of line 44 on FIG. 1.

The machine herein disclosed includes a drying chamber having bottom and side walls 12 and a closed top, not shown; endless sprocket chains 14 which carry spaced shafts 36; poles or rolls 16 freely rotatable on said shafts; sprockets 18 for driving said chains from left to right, as viewed in FIG. 1, and a feed mechanism 20 for delivering Web to be dried, or otherwise treated, to the feed end of the drying chamber. The rate at which web 22 is delivered to the rolls 16 is synchronized with the rate of movement of said rolls whereby the web is festooned in the form of uniform loops suspended from the poles.

The machine disclosed further includes a plenum 68 which is about as long as poles 16 and which is provided with a fixed, coextensive bottom nozzle 62. Plenum 60 is supplied with air through rigid pipe 72, one end of which is connected, through flexible conduit 74, to a source of air 58. Rigid pipe 72 is rotatably supported on rollers '76 which are carried by the frame 10 of the machine. The other end of the plenum is closed and carries a shaft 88 which is journalled in bearing 82 which is also carried by the frame 10 of the machine. By this arrangement, plenum 60 and nozzle 62 are rotatably mounted for joint arcuate movement between the positions of FIGS. 1 and 2. It will be noted that, because of the distance between the lower end of nozzle 62 and the axis of shaft 80, the lower end 62 of the nozzle moves over a wide arc, while the top of the plenum moves over a very small arc, whereby the twist and strain to which flexible conduit '74 is subjected are reduced to negligible proportions. By this arrangement, no moving seal is needed, and a tight connection is obtained without any maintenance expense and without any binding. Also, the

flow of air through nozzle 62 which communicates, over its entire length, with plenum 60 is more uniform than it is through nozzle 44 of the Parkes patent, which is connected to pipe 48 at its center only.

The machine also includes a guide board 64 which is rotatably mounted at its upper end for joint rotation with plenum 6t and the lower edge of which coacts with the lower edge of plenum 60 to form a throat 69 through which the web must pass to reach poles 16. Throat 69 is adjustably secured to the plenum by a link 66 which is adjustably secured to guide board 64 by a pin '71) which is engageable with holes 63 in link 66 and a similar hole, not shown, in the guide board. The other end of link 66 is pivoted to plenum 60, as at 71. By this arrangement, guide board 64 coacts with the adjacent portion of plenum 60 to form an adjustable throat for feeding the web to the poles. It Will be noted that throat 69 moves jointly with the plenum 60, whereby the relation of the air stream issuing out of the nozzle 62 to the loop being formed between a pair of poles moving therebelow is constant, as distinguished from structures in which the point of entry of the web is fixed and only the air discharging nozzle oscillates.

I have discovered that, for reasons not yet fully understood, the web descending towards throat 69 tends to be pulled to the right, as viewed in FIG. 1, and to stick to the left-hand side of plenum 69, as viewed in FIG. 1. This could be due to the pull exerted on the cloth by the poles and/or by the air blowing downwardly against the partly formed loop. Be that as it may, adherence of the web to the side of the plenum marks cloth and interferes with the proper operation of the machine and after study and experiment, I discovered that fluting, or modulating the side of the plenum, as at 61, FIG. 4, effectively prevents the cloth from adhering to the plenum. Again, the reason for this desirable effect has not been definitely ascertained, but it may be that, in addition to decreasing friction, the air issuing out of nozzle 62 entrains other streams of air downwardly in flues 65, FIG. 4. In any event, in the presence of corrugations 61, the web does not stick to the adjacent side of the plenum.

The air issuing out of nozzle 62 must clamp the web to the leading pole to avoid damage or marking which may result from the use of mechanical clamping, and it must exert pressure against the bight portion of a nascent loop to pull the left wall 67 of the newly forming loop down. To this end, nozzle 62 is deflected slightly to the right, as at 63, so that it blows on, or in the direction of, the leading roll whereby the air clamps the cloth onto the pole while simultaneously it exerts downward pressure against the bight of the newly forming loop.

The volume and the velocity of the air directed against the web is varied according to the type of web and the rate of movement of the web, etc. To this end, nozzle 62 is rendered adjustable by means of a bolt 75 which adjustably engages bracket '73 which is suitably secured to the plenum and engages a bracket 77 secured to the righthand wall 79 of the nozzle, as viewed in FIG. 1. Either the entire plenum is made of fairly flexible material, or only wall 79 thereof can be made flexible, or it can be made as a separate piece and hinged to the bottom of the plenum.

Since roll 78 of the present disclosure is identical with roll 58 of the Parkes patent and since, except as above pointed out, the formation of the loops is the same as that described in the Parkes patent, only the features which differ from the Parkes disclosure have been described and only said features will be claimed.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that by the use of flexible coupling 74, an air-tight connection is produced while permitting free rotation of the nozzle; that by making the nozzle and the plenum integral with the nozzle at a great distancethree or four feet, or more, from the axis of rotation-the nozzle moves through a relatively large arc and the flexible pipe 74 is subjected to a very slight twist which is not enough to produce any undue wear on the flexible coupling; that by pivoting the guide board, it will be moved jointly with the nozzle while maintaining the adjustment to which it may have been set, and that nozzle 62 is itself adjustable as may be indicated.

It will also be seen that the discharge nozzle and the adjustable throat move jointly so that the throat which controls the passage of the Web and the nozzle which lows air on the web move together and maintain a constant relationship to the loops forming there-beneath.

What i claim is:

A festooning device for forming a flexible web into loops suspended from horizontally moving poles, said device including a horizontally disposed air supply pipe,

a plenum, the length of which is substantially equal to the length of said poles,

means journalling the upper end of said plenum for rotation about a horizontal axis which is an extension of the horizontal axis of said pipe,

a flexible conduit connecting said pipe to the upper end of said plenum, a restricted orifice at the lower end of said plenum for discharging air from said plenum onto said poles,

means actuated by the movement of each of said poles and connected to the lower end of said plenum to rotate said plenum about said axis to move said orifice in predetermined relation to said poles,

said orifice being remote from said axis whereby the movement of said orifice produces minimal distortion of said flexible conduit,

a guide board positioned adjacent said plenum;

a link adjustably securing the lower end of said guide board to the lower end of said plenum,

and means journalling the upper end of said guideboard for rotation about an axis parallel to, but horizontally spaced from, the axis of rotation of said plenum whereby said guide board slants downwardly toward the lower end of said plenum, said board and the lower end of said plenum co-acting to form a throat movable with said plenum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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