US3159881A

US3159881A - Doffer for carding machines

Info

Publication number: US3159881A
Application number: US140722A
Authority: US
Inventors: Reiterer Ferdinand
Original assignee: Whitin Machine Works Inc
Current assignee: Whitin Machine Works Inc
Priority date: 1960-09-28
Filing date: 1961-09-26
Publication date: 1964-12-08
Anticipated expiration: 1981-12-08

Description

Dec. 8, 1964 F. REITERER 3,

DOFFER FOR CARDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 26. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

FERDINAND REITERER ATTORNEYS Dec. 8, 1964 F. REITERER 3,159,831

DOFFER FOR CARDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 26. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. FERDINAND REITERER {BMZW QW hlS ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,159,881 BUFFER F02 IARBlNG MACHiNEh Ferdinand Reiterer, Rueil-lii'almaison, France, as-

signor, by direct and mesne assignments, to Whitin Machine Works, Whitlnwille, Mass a corporation of Massachusetts 7 Filed Sept. 26, 1961, gar. No. 149,722 tilaims priority, application France Sept. 28, 1966 Claims. (Cl. 19-106) This invention relates to dotlers for carding machines, and, more particularly, to a new and improved dofier arranged to remove impurities and foreign material from a lap of fibers which is being processed by the carding machine. This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending United States application Serial No. 774,056, filed November 14, 1958, now US. Patent No. 3,089,200, for Carding Apparatus, and Serial No.

56,545, filed December 1, 1959, for Card Clothing.

In conventional carding machines, the working members such as flat cards or the like which cooperate with the main card cylinder are effective to remove from the fibrous material being processed many of the impurities such as buttons, nits, fleas, or leaves which are carried into the machine by the fiber lap. Frequently, however, some of the impurities or foreign matter escape the clean ing action of these members and pass through the carding machine along with the lap of fibers, thereby reducing the quality of the product.

Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a carding machine including a new and improved dofier arrangement which is elfective to remove impun'ties from the material being processed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved dofier for a carding machine arranged to separate impurities from the fibers being processed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a dolfer of the above character having a new and improved clothing.

These and other objects of the invention are attained by providing a doffer with a toothed clothing wherein ings 3b to permit air to be drawn through the clothing and cylinder wall by an internal suction device 4. A pressure duct (not shown) may also be provided within the dotfer cylinder to assist in removing a lap of fibrous material from the clothing 3.

As in conventional carding machines, a lap 8 of fibers which has'been processed on the main cylinder 1 is transferred to the tips of the teeth 3a of the doffer as a result of the slower peripheral speed of the dofier than the main cylinder. In accordance with the present invention, however, the teeth 3a extend substantially higher than in conventional carding machines so that as best seen in FIG. 2, when the lap 8 of fibers, which is, for example, about two to three millimeters thick the maximum thickness being referred to herein as the selected value, is drawn against the base of the clothing, its outer surface lies at or below the tips of the teeth. To this end, the height of the dolfer teeth above the base of the clothing should be greater than the selected value, i.e., greater than about three millimeters and preferably within the range of three to four and one-half millimeters, whereas in conventional cardingmachines the dofier teeth are only about two and one-half millimeters high, which is the teeth have a height above the base which is equal to or greater than the maximum thickness of the lap of fibers being processed. in addition, the dofi'er is provided with an internal suction device or other means for forcing the lap of fibers to the base of the clothing while the bulkier and more dense impurities are retained at the tips of the teeth. In order to assist in removing the impurities from the tips of the teeth, a rotating brush having bristles closely adjacent to the teeth and turning in the direction opposite to that of the dofier at a'periph- 'eral rate of speed slightly greater than that of the doffer may be provided, the rotary brush being located beyond the position of the suction device with respect to the direction of rotation of the doffer.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary View, partly in section, of a carding machine having a typical doder arranged according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the dolfer shown in FIG. 1, illustrating its structure and operation in greater detail.

In the representative embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings a main cylinder or swift 1 having a toothed clothing 1a rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow adjacent to a dolier cylinder 2 which rotates on the opposite direction and at a lower peripheral rate of speed than that of the main cylinder 1. The dofier cylinder 2 has a perforated outer Wall 2a upon which is mounted a clothing 3 formed with teeth 3a and with openless than the maximum thickness of most fiber laps. in a particular example, the teeth have a height of from 3.4 to 4.4 millimeters. Preferably, the doffer clothing consists of a strip of clothing material having a base portion with a width of about five millimeters and wound helically around the cylinder 2. The turns of the strip are thus placed in an oblique relation with respect to the axis of the cylinder which makes cleaning of the clothing more efficient. The thickness of the base of the clothing is about one and one-half millimeters, as in conventional carding machines.

When the lap 8 of fibers is drawn to the bottom of the clothing by the suction produced at the duct 4, the bulkier,

coarser, and more dense impurities and foreign matter 9 tend to be retained at the tips of the teeth 3a, as indicated in the drawings, and with the extended teeth of the present invention substantially complete separation of the impurities 9 from the lap 8 is assured. On the other hand, with the conventional short dor'fer teeth, even if the lap often is drawn against the base of the clothing, the outer surface of the lap lies above the tips of the teeth so that the impurities cannot be completely separated from the lap.

Some of the impurities separated from the lap by the novel dofier arrangement of the present invention will fall by gravity from the tips of the clothing teeth or be thrown off by centrifugal force resulting from the rotation of the dofier. Those impurities which adhere more strongly to the teeth or the outer surface of the lap are removed by a rotating brush 5 which turns in the direction opposite to that of the dofier, as indicated by the arrow, and at a slightly higher peripheral speed. This brush which is made with straight bristles 6, preferably of flexible steel wire or the like, is mounted adjacent to the dofier so that the points of these bristles pass very close to the tips of the teeth 3a without touching them. A scraper knife 7 is provided to scrape the bristles 6 as the brush rotates so as to remove any impurities which may adhere to them.

In order to permit variation of the spacing between the brush bristles 6 and the tips of the dofler clothing teeth 3a, the axle 10 of the brush is adjustably mounted in a longitudinal slot 11 of a pivoted support arm 12 which can be held at any desired angular position by a movable stop 13. With this arrangement the location of the brush 5 along the dofier periphery with respect to the suction duct 4 can be varied. Preferably, the brush 5 is located slightly beyond the position of the suction duct 4 in the direction of rotation of the dotfer.

In operation, with the cylinder 1, the dofier 2, and the brush rotating in the directions indicated by the arrows and suction applied to the duct 4, a lap 8 of fibers is transferred in the usual manner from the main cylinder.

1 to the tips of teeth 3a of the doffer. As best seen in FIG. 2, the lap 8 is drawn inwardly to the base of the clothing 3 as it passes over the suction duct 4, thus separating the useful fibers from the bulkier impurities 9, which are retained at the tips of the teeth 3a. In the example illustrated in the drawings, the outer surface of the lap is substantially below the points of the teeth so that the separation of the impurities is complete. As the clothing 3 moves next to the rotating brush 5, the bristles 6 of the brush remove the impurities 9 from the tips of the teeth without disturbing the lap of fibers.

Even if the lap 8 is thick enough to extend up to the tips of the teeth 3a, however, the impurities are still held sufiiciently above the body of the lap so that they can be removed by the brush 5. In this event, because of the greater peripheral speed of the brush than the dofier, any fibers of the lap which come into contact with the bristles 6 will be subjected to an additional disentangling operation by the bristles Without being removed from the dotfer clothing. Afterm passing the brush 5, the lap 3 of fibers is removed from the doffer in the usual manner with the assistance, if desired, of a stream of air directed outwardly from the inside of the dofier through a pressure duct (not shown).

Although the invention has been described herein with reference to a specific embodiment may modifications and variations therein will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly all such variations and modifications are included within the intended scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a component for a fiber processing machine adapted to carry a lap of fibers having a maximum thickness which is generally no greater than a selected value comprising a rotatable hollow cylinder having a perforatedouter Wall, a toothed clothing mounted on the outer surface of the outer wall comprising a base provided with a plurality of openings to admit air into the cylinder and a plurality of teeth projecting outwardly therefrom and having a height above the base which is at least as great as the selected value, a suction duct mounted inside the cylinder for directing air inwardly through the clothing and the cylinder Wall into the cylinder so that a lap of fibers carried by the clothing is drawn against the base of the clothing with the outer surface thereof no farther from the base than the points of the teeth, whereby coarse impurities tend to beretained at the points of the teeth and thereby separated from the fibers of the lap, and a rotatable brush mounted closely adjacent to the points of the teeth to remove impurities therfrom, the rotatable brush being located beyond the position of the suction duct in the direction of motion of the clothing.

2. In a carding machine including a main cylinder adapted to process a lap of fibers and a dofifer adapted to remove the lap of fibers from the main cylinder wherein the lap of fibers on the doifer has a thickness which is generally no greater than a selected value, the dotler comprising a rotatable hollow cylinder having a perforated outer wall, a toothed clothing mounted on the outer surface of the wall comprising a base provided with a plurality of openings to admit air into the cylinder and a plurality of teeth projecting outwardly therefrom and having a height above the base which is at least as greatas the selected value, a suction duct located within the dofier cylinder at an angular position slightly beyond the point of transfer of the lap from the main cylinder to the dofier cylinder in the direction of rotation of the dotfer cylinder adapted to draw air through the clothing and the cylinder wall so as to draw the lap of fibers against the base of the clothing with the outer surface of the lap located no farther away from the base than the points of the teeth, whereby impurities in the fiber lap are selectively retained at the points of the teeth.

3. A carding machine according to claim 2 including a rotatable brush mounted closely adjacent to the points of the teeth at an angular position slightly beyond that of the suction duct in the direction of rotation of the doifer to remove impurities from the points of the teeth.

4. A car ing machine according to claim 3 including means for adjusting the angular position of the brush and means for adjusting the spacing between the brush and the points of the teeth.

5. A carding machine according to claim 3 including means for rotating the brush in the opposite direction as the doffer cylinder at a peripheral rate of speed slightly higher than'that of the dofier cylinder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,422,581 Laurency et al. July 11, 1922 2,398,732 Weber Apr. 16, 1946 2,871,770 Jackson Feb. 3, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,190,064 France Mar. 31, 1959 1,217,220 France Dec. 7, 1959 462,201 Great Britain Mar. 4, 1937

Claims

1. IN COMBINATION, A COMPONENT FOR A FIBER PROCESSING MACHINE ADAPTED TO CARRY A LAP OF FIBERS HAVING A MAXIMUM THICKNESS WHICH IS GENERALLY NO GREATER THAN A SELECTED VALUE COMPRISING A ROTATABLE HOLLOW CYLINDER HAVING A PERFORATED OUTER WALL, A TOOTHED CLOTHING MOUNTED ON THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE OUTER WALL COMPRISING A BASE PROVIDED WITH A PLURALITY OF OPENINGS TO ADMIT AIR INTO THE CYLINDER AND A PLURALITY OF TEETH PROJECTING OUTWARDLY THEREFROM AND HAVING A HEIGHT ABOVE THE BASE WHICH IS AT LEAST AS GREAT AS THE SELECTED VALUE, A SUCTION DUCT MOUNTED INSIDE THE CYLINDER FOR DIRECTING AIR INWARDLY THROUGH THE CLOTHING AND THE CYLINDER WALL INTO THE CYLINDER SO THAT A LAP OF FIBERS CARRIED BY THE CLOTHING IS DRAWN AGAINST THE BASE OF THE CLOTHING WITH THE OUTER SURFACE THEREOF NO FARTHER FROM THE BASE THAN THE POINTS OF THE TEETH, WHEREBY COARSE IMPURITIES TEND TO BE RETAINED AT THE POINTS OF THE TEETH AND THEREBY SEPARATED FROM THE FIBERS OF THE LAP, AND A ROTATABLE BRUSH MOUNTED CLOSELY ADJACENT TO THE POINTS OF THE TEETH TO REMOVE IMPURITIES THEREFROM, THE ROTATABLE BRUSH BEING LOCATED BEYOND THE