US3154904A

US3154904A - Yarn spinning and winding apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3154904A
Application number: US82625A
Authority: US
Inventors: Furst Stefan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1960-01-14
Filing date: 1961-01-13
Publication date: 1964-11-03
Anticipated expiration: 1981-11-03
Also published as: GB979048A; CH391535A

Description

Nov. 3, 1964 s. FURST 3, 4, 04

YARN SPINNING AND WINDING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 13. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 3, 1964 s. UR'ST YARN SP'TNNING AND WINDING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 13. 1961 United States Patent YARN SPG AND WINDING APPARATUS Stefan Fin-st, Monchen-Gladbach, Germany, assignor to Walter Reiners, Monchen-Gladbaeh, Germany Filed Jan. 13, 1961, Ser. No. 82,625 Claims priority, application Germany Jan. 14, 1960 6 Claims. (Cl. 57l) My invention relates to a machine for producing spinning cops and for winding yarn directly from the spinning cops as they come from the spinning machine into yarn packages, preferably packages of the cross-wound type such as cheeses and cones, of a desired larger size and shape.

in the production of textiles from preliminary threads to the finished yarn, the winding operation is performed subsequent to the spinning operation in order to produce the desired yarn packages from a relatively large number of individual spinning cops. While the spinning operation proceeds with a speed of up to 20 meters/min, rewound packages can be satisfactorily produced on modern machinery at much higher speeds, for example 1,500 meters/min. The spinning cops produced on the spinning machine are customarily stacked in a container which, when filled, is transferred or carried to the winding machine where a suilicient reserve to the cops is kept in readiness and is dispensed to the winding machine in accordance with demand. Copending patent application Serial No. 808,381 of Reiners et al., now abandoned, describes and illustrates a coil winding machine fed with spinning cops from such containers. The ratio of the number of spinning spindles in the spinning machine to the number of winding spindles required for further processing of the same yarn quantity in the winding machine, is an integral multiple in the range of about 60:1 to 90:1. The necessity for stacking the spinning cops twice, namely at the spinning machine and thereafter at the winding machine, as well as the intermediate transferring or carrying work, constitutes a considerable complication since the yarn quantities to be fabricated are very large. Furthermore, during transportation of the cops they are xposed to the danger of being damaged, since they may become soiled or mechanically impaired during the re-stacking. This problem will be even more fully appreciated if one considers that the output per unit of time of approximately 80 spinning spindles can be processed on a single rewinding spindle.

It is therefore an object of my invention to eliminate the abovementioned disadvantages and to greatly simplify the coaction of the spinning frame with the winding frame of a textile plant.

It is another object of the invention to provide a combined spinning and winding machine having spinning and winding portions which are coordinated to operate for equivalent output and which interact to spin the yarn from roving material and wind it into yarn packages.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a transfer device for conveying spinning cops from a spinning portion of a machinery unit to a winding portion thereof, which device coordinates the relative capacities of said two portions to operate said winding portion only after a supply of spinning cops has been produced by said spinning portion.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a combined spinning and winding machinery unit which automatically spins raw roving material into yarn, and

cleans and rewinds the spun yarn into packages, and whereby the same personnel cansupervise the spinning operation as well as the rewinding operation of said machinery unit.

According to my invention a spinning machine with a number of spindles is combined to form a single machinery unit together with a Winding machine comprising one or more Winding spindles, and the two mutuallly difierent types of subassemblies are interconnected by a conveying or transfer device which furnishes the spinning cops from the spinning machine portion to the winding machine portion of the machine unit. This conveying connection between the two subassemblies passes the spinning cops, produced on the spinning machine portion, directly to the winding machine portion where the cops are rewound to form the desired yarn package. The removal of the final product for transportation or trucking to further processing is thus effected only from the Winding portion of the machinery unit, and in the form of a desired cheese, cone, or other yarn package containing cleaned and rewound yarn.

According to another feature of my invention, the winding capacity of the winding machine portion is so coordinated with the spinning portion that its capacity is not less than the maxmum spinning capacity of the spinning machine portion connected therewith.

According to another feature of the invention, a winding machine assembly is disposed between two spinning machine portions and connected with both, preferably so that the winding machinery is located in the middle and the two spinning machinery portions on the two sides, respectively.

According to another, alternative feature of my invention, the spinning machinery is located at only one side of the winding machinery, and the winding machinery is preferably installed at a transverse aisle of the plant. As a result, the material to be spun can be supplied to the individual spinning stations along the free spinning-machine side of the unit, whereas the material to be rewound is conveyed to the opposite side where it is converted into the desired cheese, cone, or other yarn package, and is then issued to a transporting device approaching the winding-machinery side of the unit in the transverse aisle. As a result, care is taken for the most favorable flow of material in harmony with the sequence of operating steps. In can thus also be avoided that the supply of material and the selection and elimination of the finished yarn packages occur on mutually intersecting paths.

According to still another feature of my invention it is preferable to control the supply of spinning cops to the winding machinery portion in dependence upon the operation of the winding machinery. As a result, a small magazine is sufficient for securing a continuous flow of cops between a spinning station and a winding station, particularly when the winding capacity of the winding machinery is suificiently large. In the interval of time elapsing while the cops produced in the spinning machinery are further processed in the winding machinery, the front supporting surface of the spinning machinery upon which the spinning cops are deposited, is preferably also used as an intermediate magazine in which the spinning cops are kept in readiness while new spinning cops are being produced at the individual spinning stations.

The foregoing and other objects and features of my invention, said features being set forth with particularity 3 in the claims annexed hereto, will be apparent from the following description in conjunction with the embodiment of a yarn processing plant according to the invention illustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a preferred embodiment of the machine unit according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross section of an individual winding station and the conveying devices connecting the station with the spinning machinery.

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken along line Ill-III of FIG. 2.

According to FIG. I, the overall spinning and winding unit comprises a spinning machine portion 1, provided with a spindle bank 2 composed of a multiplicity of individual spinning stations. An endless, horizontally moving conveyor belt 3, driven by a motor 4, is lo cated under the spinning stations to receive the pirms containing spun yarn. The conveyor drive motor 4 when in operation drives the conveyor belt 3 in the direction of arrow A, and it is put into operation by means of a switch 5 to which it is electrically connected from a source of power. The switch 5 is mounted above the conveyor 3 and is provided with a feeler 6, which is biased, according to the view of FIG. 1, in a clockwise direction. The teeier 6 of switch 5 closes the motor circuit when there are no spinning cops 7 to hold the feeler up against the clockwise biasing action.

The conveyor 3 thus moves when there is an absence of spinning cops 7 at feeler 6 and is switched off when a cop is present thereat. After termination of a spinning operation, the attendant personnel pulls the spinning cops 7 in the conventional manner elf respective spindles 2 and places them upon the conveyor belt 3 in the position illustrated in FIG. 1. Thereafter, new cop cores or quills are stuck upon the spindles 2 so that the spinning machine can repeat the spinning operation from the bobbins of roving material 2a to the spindles 2. As soon as the feeler 6 abuts against a stop 6a, the motor 4 is switched on and the spinning cops 7 are thus conveyed by belt 3 from the left toward the right in FIG. 1.

Located at the end of the belt 3 is a guiding structure 8 of sheet metal opposite which another feeler 11 of a switch 12 is located. The feeler 11 controls the switch 12 to energize a drive motor 13 of a winding machine portion 14 whenever any spinning cops 7 are present in the interspace between the feeler 111 and the guiding structure 8. When no cops are present in this interspace the feeler 11 controls the switch 12 to deenergize the motor 13.

The winding machine portion 14 has a plurality of winding stations S-l, S-2 and S3. The motor 13 drives the component devices of the winding machine, particularly a shaft 15a on which is mounted, at each winding station, yarn-guiding drum 15. Take-up spools 16, which form the completed yarn packages, are so journalled as to have their periphery resting upon the respective yarnguiding drums 15 so as to be frictionally driven thereby, thus winding the yarn from a spinning cop 27 through tensioner 16a, and through guide drum 15 onto the take-up spool 16. A transmission 17, such as a belt and pulley arrangement, which can be switched off in any conventional manner, such as by a clutch or friction drive (not shown), is operably connected from shaft 15a to rotate the drive shaft 18 of a conveying device generally designated by the numeral 19. The drive shaft 18 imparts rotation to the

vertical shafts

29 and 21 of conveyor 19, which shafts are geared by respective pairs of bevel gears 18a and 18b to the shaft 13. The vertical shafts 20 and 21 carry respective rollers 21!: (FIG. 2) which operate an endless conveyor belt 22. The belt 22 carries a number of angle pieces 37 to which are attached respective troughs 23 for the reception of spinning cops. Each trough 23 is provided at its lower end with a pivoted closure member or flap 24- which can be individually turned about its respective pivot 4 24a toward the rear of the trough so as to open the trough and permit the cop to slide down out of the trough, such opening motion being imparted to each fiap 24 by a proper signal which may issue at a location corresponding to any of the individual winding stations 8-1, 8-2 or S3.

Located beneath the trough 23 (FIG. 2) at the side toward the winding machinery and located at each individual winding station S1, 8-2, S3 is a trough shaped slide 25 into which the spinning cop will drop, when released from the trough 23 of conveyor 19. The slide 25 is provided with a movable stop lever or abutment 26 against which the cop dropping out of the trough 23 will come to rest. The stop 26 is opened to release the cop 27 after the preceding cop 27 in the respective winding station has been completely unwound and is empty. The cop 27 then resting against the stop 25 can then slide downward to the dot-dash line position 27, thus passing upon a peg or mandrel 28 which at that moment is positioned in axial alignment with the tubular core or quill of the cop 27.

When the cop 27 is thus speared upon the peg 28, it is subsequently pivoted together with peg 23 and an entrainer 29 for catching the yarn end P about pivot shaft 28a and thus swings into the yarn unwinding position represented by cop 27". The pivoting action of peg 28 is described in Us. Patent 2,936,130 of Reiners et a1., issued May 10, 1960, and is further illustrated in FIG. 2 of previously mentioned co-pending application Serial No. 808,381 of Reiners et al. Therefore it is not described here in further detail since it does not form part of the claimed invention.

As long as the cop is retained in position by the stop member 26 it is in the sensing range of a feeler 30 which is mounted on the machinery unit, together with its associated

parts

32, 33, 34, 34a, 35 and 36, separately from the moving conveyor 19. When a cop in a trough 23 passes by the winding station, in order to ascertain whether the position of the slide 25 is occupied, the feeler 30 is moved against the cop 27 in this position which is retained in this position by stop member 26. This motion of the feeler 3% is actuated by a projection 31 (FIG. 2) of the angle piece 37 which carries the trough 23. The projection 31 has a slanting front face which presses against a double-

armed lever

32, 33 whose motion is transmitted through a spring 34 loosely mounted on control rod 35 between lever portion 33 to an end collar 34a of the control rod 35. A shoulder ring 36 is fixedly mounted on rod 35 beneath a bifurcated portion of closure member 24. When a cop 27 is located against stop 26 in slide 25, the spring 34 takes up the motion transmitted from

lever

32, 33. However, when no cop is located in that position, the feeler 39 can move down further, making possible a more lengthy axial motion of rod 35 to the right, thus permitting shoulder ring 36 to open flap 24. The shoulder ring or collar 36 thus abuts against a lug of theclosure flap 24 and pivots the flap to the rear, whereby a new cop is released from trough 23 and drops onto the slide 25 to be stopped as above described in the position by the stop member 26.

The respective spinning and winding machinery according to the invention is particularly advantageous when arranged as shown in conjunction with automatic winding machines which are equipped with a device for taking the spinning cops out of the feeding conveyor belt 3, also with a device for seeking the starting end of the yarn on the spinning cop taken from the conveyor, and with a device for joining this yarn end with the yarn .coming from the take-up spool at the winding station. In

such winding machines, provision is made to keep at each winding station at least one individual cop ready for immediate issue to the winding station, so that upon the expulsion of a cop previously unwound a new cop can immediately be supplied in order to keep the winding operation continuously effective. Since the further work, particularly the seeking of the yarn starting end and the joining of the yarn from the new cop with the yarn end coming from the take-up spool, can be performed automatically, the winding operation can be supervised by the personnel attending the spinning machinery.

The seeking of the yarn end coming from the new cop to be unwound can be simplified, particularly if a device for forming a reserve winding (bunch) at the tip of the cop is interposed between the spinning machinery and the winding machinery. Such a device operates to unwind yarn from the new cop for a short interval of time and subsequently rewinds the yarn onto the tip of the cop in order to form a tip bunch whose presence considerably simplifies the yarn-end seeking operation.

Located in the interspace between the guide sheet 8 (FIG. 1) and the feeler 11 is also located a device for forming a reserve winding or tip bunch at the tip of the spinning cops 7 coming from the spinning machine. This tip-bunch forming device is further illustrated and described in the co-pending application Serial No. 750,373 of Stefan Fiirst, filed July 23, 1953, now US. Patent 3,043,529. The bunch-forming device comprises a copsupporting member 41 positioned opposite a pusher 42, which is linked to an actuating lever 43 controlled by a motor-driven controlled cam disc (not shown), further described and illustrated in my copending application now issued as the above-mentioned Patent 3,043,529. A pair of rollers 44, 45 is driven alternately in one or the other direction from another motor through a suitable gear transmission. The pusher 42 pushes a cop from position 50 on supporting member 41 onto the roller pair 44, 45. Located between the rollers 44, 45 is an elongated slot nozzle 46 having a. length parallel to the rollers an amount approximately equal to the length of the cop 50a. Mounted near the lower end of the slot nozzle 45 is a cam-controlled scissors-type cutter (not shown), further described and illustrated in the above-mentioned Patent 3,043,529. The scissors is attached by levers to arm 43 to be actuated by movement thereof. The nozzle 46 is connected to a source of negative pressure. Each cop has a tubular core with a foot portion of larger diameter at one end and a tip portion at the other end.

At the beginning of the preparatory operation, the particular cop 50a resting upon the rollers 44 and 45 is turned by the rollers in the yarn-unwinding sense, and the suction tube 46 then sucks the length of yarn being unwound from the cop. The open end of the pivoted slot nozzle 46 is moved over the cop foot to unwind by suction the yarn end wound on the cop foot. Thereafter, the scissors are turned inward and the yarn is cut 01f. The cop is then further rotated in the same direction on rollers 44, 45 and the suction is shut off in the suction nozzle. The shape of the cam disc determines the period of time during which the cop is driven in the unwinding direction. After elapse of this period, the rotational direction of roller pair 44, 45 is reversed, and the cop is turned forward, i.e. in the wind-up direction. During reverse motion of the roller pair 44, 45, the yarn end is sucked into the nozzle 46, and now after dissolution of the turns, passes to the tip of the cop 50:: with a large angle of pitch. The yarn thus places itself against the most rearward edge of the suction nozz.e 45. Located opposite this edge is the tip of the cop core which is vacant for receiving this reserve winding (tip bunch). During the subsequent winding-up operation, the yarn which had been pulled into the suction tube as is thus again wound up to form a tip bunch on the core tip.

After completion of the intermediate operation for forming the tip-bunch, the cop is displaced from position Silt: toward the right when the tappet 42 pushes the next following spinning cop from position 54 on the supporting member 41. The ejected cop 58a then passes from rollers 44, 45 into an inclined chute 47 and glides into a "scant trough 23 of the conveyor 22.

The troughs 23 of conveyor belt 22 continuously convey the cops along the winding machinery, and these cops are dispensed at the individual winding stations S1, S-Z,

8-3 in the manner already described in order to be further processed into yarn packages. If, for example, due to trouble at one of the winding stations, the winding machinery cannot process all of the cops supplied, the cops remain stored in the circulatory travel path of the conveyor belt 22. When this situation occurs, a trough 23, when located immediately opposite the chute 47, would still contain a cop and hence would not be receptive to another cop from the chute 47. In such a case the cop 50a then located on the roller pair 44, 45 is prevented from being dispensed from the tip-bunch forming device into the chute 47. For this purpose, the machine is provided with a feeler 40 which checks the travelling troughs 23 of the conveying device 19, 22 for the presence of a full spinning cop in the respective troughs 23. The feeler 40 moves upwardly in synchronisrn with the travel of conveyor belt 22. When the feeler 46 abuts against a cop in the particular trough 23 located at the feeler, then the feeler 40 acts through a linking rod 39 to keep a coupling (not shown) disconnected, with the result of disconnecting the lever arm 43 from its reciprocating drive. As above explained, arm 43 when connected causes the tappet 42 to move toward the right to push cop 54). Consequently, the cop 59a located on the rollers 44, 45 remains in this position until the feeler 40 ascertains the absence of a cop in the respective trough 23 opposite feeler 40, and this feeler then acts through the linking rod 39 to close the coupling, whereafter the arm 43 with the tappet 42 can again perform its normal operation to push cops from positions 50 and 50a as above described.

In order to secure proper cooperation of the spinning machinery 1 with the winding machinery 8-1, 8-2, 8-3 of the plant, the feeler 11 is positioned with respect to guiding structure 8 so that the feeler acts upon the switch 12 to turn off the motor 13 upon absence of a cop between feeler 11 and guide structure 8. Although at this moment a few spinning cops are located in the troughs 23 of conveyor 19, 22, this is desirable because the winding machinery then always possesses as many cops and hence as much yarn in operative condition as is desirable for the subsequent automatic continuation or" the winding operation. A complete exhaustion of the winding operation relative to the available yarn quantity is generally permitted only when the yarn to be processed is to be changed from one kind or size to another. In such a case the feeler 11 is kept arrested in the active position in order to obtain the desired yarn depletion in the machinery. However, when the only reason for the stoppage of the winding machinery is because it has completely processed the number of spinning cops then available and hence can continue to operate as soon as further cops have been supplied from the spinning machinery, then the winding machinery is continuously in condition ready for immediate operation which can be started again instantaneously at any moment by energizing the drive motor 13. Such continued operation takes place, for example, when the motor 4 for conveyor 3 is again switched on after exchanging the spinning cops on the spindles in thespin-ning machinery 1.

The motor 13 of the Winding machine is energized from a current supply line 51 through the switch 12 and the cables 52. The motor 4 is energized from a current source through the switch 5 and the cables 53.

The proper cooperation of the [two machinery components, namely the spinning and winding components, is secured by virture of the fact that the presence of a few cops is continuously checked in the interspace between the feeler 11 and the guide sheet 8. Thus, the feeler 6 responds to insuflicient supply of new spinning cops and then actuates the drive of the conveying device 3 by switching-on the motor 4; and the feeler 11 responds to absence of the cops at approximately the same location, by deenergizing the motor 13 of the winding machine components. The utilization of this interspace above guide sheet 8, between the winding machinery and the spinning machinery with feelers 6 and 11, for the purpose of determining and maintaining a sutficient supply of cops to be rewound in the Winding machinery takes care of securing a good time sequence and coordination in the cooperation of the two machinery components which otherwise are difficult to adapt to each other.

The spinning machinery used may be similar to that known, for example, from US. Patent No. 317,607 of Abbott, issued May 12, 1885.

Further details of winding machinery preferably applicable for the purpose of the present invention are disclosed in the aforementioned co-pending application Serial No. 808,381 of Reiners et al., filed August 19, 1958. This particular design, relative to which the present invention constitutes an improvement, is most f avorably applicable, and illustration and further description of details, if desired, are available by reference to that application. The winding machinery is provided With respective means for seizing the yarn end of the spinning cop and the yarn end of the take-up spool or package, and with a knotter shown in FIG. 2 below and adjacent the guide drum 15 for joining these two ends, as illlustrated and described in US. Patent 2,769,599 of S. Piirst, issued November 6, 1956.

The combination of Winding machinery with spinning machinery according to the present invention aliords the possibility of immediately supplying to the Winding stations the yarn spun on the spinning machine. The transportation of the yarn masses to be fabricated need no longer, as heretofore, be effected after each spinning of a given number of cops to be stored in a magazine. According to theinvention, the cops can rather new be supplied directly to the Winding stations for turther processing in the Winding machine. As above mentioned, the operating capacity of a Winding machine is up to about 86 times greater than that of a spinning machine, comparing spindle by spindle. For that reason, and particularly when using automatic winding stations which automatically exchange the supply cops and automatically eliminate other disturbances such as yarn breakage, a considerable simplification and increased eificiency in the fabrication of spinning material into finished yarn packages is thus achieved.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the v t, upon studying this disclosure, that devices according to my invention can be modified in various respects and hence may be embodied in devices other than particularly illustrated and described herein, Without departing from the essential features of my invention and Within the scope of the claims annexed hereto.

I claim:

1. A yarn Winding machine for automatically spinning and winding yarn into yarn packages from bobbins of material, comprising spinning apparatus having spindles for spinning said material into yarn and Winding the same onto spinning cops, Winding apparatus. having spindles for Winding yarn from said spinning cops into said yarn packages, conveying and storing means for transferring said spinning cops from said spinning apparatus to said winding apparatus, drive means for driving said conveying and storing means, and control means responsive to the absence of cops in said conveying and storing means and operably connected to said drive means for actuating the latter to drive said conveying and storing means when said control means is in responded condition due to said absence of cops, the Winding capacity of the spindles of said Winding apparatus per unit of time being from one to eighty times the maximum spinning capacity of the spindles of said spinning apparatus, comparing spindle by spindle.

2. A yarn Winding machine for automatically Winding yarn into yarn packages from spinning cops, comprising Winding apparatus for Winding yarn from said spinning cops into said yarn packages, first conveying and storing means for transferring said spinning cops to a dispensing location at said winding apparatus, first drive means for driving said first conveying and storing means, second conveying and storing means for transferring spinning cops from said dispensing location of said first conveying and storing means to said winding apparatus, second drive means for driving said second conveying and storing means, and control means located at said dispensing location and responsive to the absence of spinning cops in at least a portion of said first conveying and storing means, said control means being operably connected to said first drive means for actuating said first drive means to drive said first conveying and storing means when said control means is in responded condition due to said absence of spinning cops.

3. A yarn winding machine according to claim 2, said Winding apparatus further comprising a plurality of winding stations and having winding station drive means for driving the respective Winding stations, switch means responsive to presence of cops in said dispensing location and operably connected to said Winding station drive means to drive said winding stations when cops are present in said dispensing location and to switch off the winding stations in response to absence of cops in said dispensing location.

4. A yarn Winding machine for automatically spinning and winding yarn into yarn packages from bobbins of material, comprising spinning apparatus for spinning said material into yarn and winding he same onto spinning cops, winding apparatus for Winding yarn from said spinning cops into said yarn packages, first conveying and storing means for transferring said spinning cops from said spinning apparatus to a dispensing location at said Winding apparatus, first drive means for driving said first conveying and storing means, second conveying and storing means for transferring spinning cops from said dispensing location of said first conveying and storing means to said Winding apparatus, second drive means for driving said second conveying and storing means, control means located at said dispensing location and responsive to the absence of spinning cops in at least a portion of said first conveying and storing means, said control means being operably connected to said first drive means for actuating said first drive means to drive said first conveying and storing means when said control means is in responded condition due to said absence of spinning cops, and a bunch-forming device disposed between said dispensing location and said second conveying and storing means for unwinding a length of yarn from each spinning cop and rewinding said length in the :form of a reserve Winding bunch at a given location of the same cop.

5. A yarn winding machine according to claim 4, said bunch-forming device being provided with a magazine having a capacity for simultaneously holding a plurality of spinning cops, said magazine being located at said dispensing location. i

6. A yarn winding machine for automatically spinning and Winding yarn into yarn packages from bobbins of material, comprising spinning apparatus for spinning said material into yarn and Winding the same onto spinning cops, Winding apparatus for Winding yarn from said spinning cops into said yarn packages, first conveying and storing means for transferring said spinning cops from said spinning apparatus to a dispensing location at said Winding apparatus, first drive means for driving said first conveying and storing means, second conveying and storing means for transferring spinning cops from said dispensing location of said first conveying and storing means to said Winding apparatus, second drive means for driving said second conveying and storing means, separate control means located at said dispensing location and responsive to the absence of spinning cops in said dispensing location, one of said control means being operably connected to said first drive means for actuating said first drive means to drive said first conveying and storing means when said control means is in responded condition due to said absence of spinning cops and another of said control means being connected to said second drive means to drive said second conveying and storing means when there are cops in said dispensing location, a bunch-forming device disposed between said dispensing location and said second conveying and storing means for unwinding a length of yarn from each spinning cop and rewinding said length in the form of a reserve winding bunch at a given location of the same cop, and automatic discharge means for discharging a spinning cop from said second conveying and storage means to a respective winding station, said Winding apparatus being provided With means for seizing the starting end of the yarn on the spinning cop being supplied to the winding station from said second conveying and storing means, said winding apparatus further having knotting means for automatically joining said starting end With the yarn end of a yarn package being wound.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,355,488 McKenney Oct. 12, 1920 2,570,057 Haythornthwaite Oct. 2, 1951 2,707,546 Fu'rst May 3, 1955 2,769,599 Furst Nov. 6, 1956 2,936,130 Reiners et a1 May 10, 1960 3,023,974 Furst Mar. 6, 1962 3,043,529 Furst July 10, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 738,615 Great Britain Oct. 19, 1955

Claims

1. A YARN WINDING MACHINE FOR AUTOMATICALLY SPINNING AND WINDING YARN INTO YARN PACKAGES FROM BOBBINS OF MATERIAL, COMPRISING SPINNING APPARATUS HAVING SPINDLES FOR SPINNING SAID MATERIAL INTO YARN AND WINDING THE SAME ONTO SPINNING COPS, WINDING APPARATUS HAVING SPINDLES FOR WINDING YARN FROM SAID SPINNING COPS INTO SAID YARN PACKAGES, CONVEYING AND STORING MEANS FOR TRANSFERRING SAID SPINNING COPS FROM SAID SPINNING APPARATUS TO SAID WINDING APPARATUS, DRIVE MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID CONVEYING AND STORING MEANS, AND CONTROL MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE ABSENCE OF COPS IN SAID CONVEYING AND STORING MEANS AND OPERABLY CONNECTED TO SAID DRIVE MEANS FOR ACTUATING THE LATTER TO DRIVE SAID CONVEYING AND STORING MEANS WHEN SAID CONTROL MEANS IS IN RESPONDED CONDITION DUE TO SAID ABSENCE OF COPS, THE WINDING CAPACITY OF THE SPINDLES OF SAID WINDING APPARATUS PER UNIT OF TIME BEING FROM ONE TO EIGHTY TIMES THE MAXIMUM SPINNING CAPACITY OF THE SPINDLES OF SAID SPINNING APPARATUS, COMPARING SPINDLE BY SPINDLE.