US3221775A

US3221775A - Method and apparatus for lubricating the wires of a pile wire loom

Info

Publication number: US3221775A
Application number: US374196A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles C Boley; David G Burnell; William M Kirby
Original assignee: Lees & Sons Co James
Current assignee: James Lees and Sons Co
Priority date: 1964-06-10
Filing date: 1964-06-10
Publication date: 1965-12-07
Anticipated expiration: 1982-12-07

Description

1965 c. c. BOLEY ETAL 3,221,775

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING THE WIRES OF A FILE WIRE LOOM Filed June 1.0, 1964 LUBRICANT INVENTORSZ SUPPLY ,4; CHARLES C. BOLEY DAVID G. BURNELL WILLIAM M. KIRBY ATTY.

United States Patent 3,221,775 METHOD AND APPARATUS FGR'LUBFJCATING THE WIRES (BE A PILEWIRE 1.90M

Charles C. Bfoley, Franklin, N.C., and David G. Burnell and William M. Kirby, Clayton, Ga, assignors to James Lees and Sons Company, Bridgeport, Pa, a corporation of Delaware Filed June '10, 1964, Ser. No. 374,196 8 Claims. (Cl. 139 -45) This invention relates to pile wire looms and more particularly to an improved lubricating system for the pile wires of broad carpet looms.

In the weaving of pile fabrics such as rugs and carpets, it is customary to employ a set of pile wires over which the pile warps are selectively carried to form either cut or uncut pile projections. Looms of this sort are used in the weaving of Wilton or velvet carpets. The width of the fabric varies from 27 inches to 15 feet and the pile wires are frequently of non-uniform height for the purpose of creating a sculptured effect in the fabric. Such pile wires are variously referred to as serrated, wavy, or profile wires. In addition, one or more knives may be mounted on the wires to provide complete or partial cutting of the pile projections as the pile wires are individually withdrawn. It will be understood that the force required to withdraw pile wires may be quite substantial and this is particularly so for a broad loom 12 feet or 15 feet in width which is weaving a serrated wire fabric. Without adequate lubrication, the wires cannot be withdrawn at all or they tear the pile yarns to such an extent that the fabric is damaged. Heretofore solid lubricants for the wires have been reasonably adequate and the lubricant commonly used was paraffin in the form of sticks which are inserted in one or more tubes to bear against the last pile wire in the set as it is withdrawn from the fabric.

Until recently, however, it has not been the general practice to piece dye Wilton or velvet fabrics woven with pile wires. When a fabric woven on a transverse wire loom is piece dyed it was discovered that the residual parafiin causes serious problems in the dye kettles. A scum forms which produces uneven dyeing and makes frequent changes of the dye bath essential. It was therefore desirable to provide an adequate lubricant for the pile wires which would not create problems when fabrics are piece dyed. We have found that a liquid spray applied to the pile wires as they are withdrawn lubricates the wires sufficiently to permit ready and easy removal of the wires from the fabric. Furthermore, a proper choice of liquid lubricant avoids any undesirable effects in the dye kettles. At first it was not appreciated precisely what caused the scum in the dye kettles but after considerable experimentation the subject matter of the present invention was evolved which not only permits satisfactory and efiicient weaving of broad fabrics on a Wilton or velvet loom with serrated pile wires but also does not cause any harmful or undesired conditions in the dye kettle.

A primary object of the invention, therefore, is to provide method and apparatus for applying a non-scumming lubricant to the pile wires in a Wilton or velvet fabric loom.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus for intermittently supplying liquid to a pile wire being withdrawn from a fabric in a pile wire loom.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary top view of a portion of a pile Wire loom (either Wilton or velvet) showing the wire table and a set of pile wires in position in a fabric being woven,

FIGURE is a section as seen at 22 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional detail as seen at 33 of FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 4 is a wiring diagram of a control system for the apparatus of FIGURE 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a conventional pile fabric loom is provided with a breast plate 5, a breast plate cover 6, and a side girt 7 which forms the bottom of the pile wire box 8. The wire motion used on a loom of this type is well known in the art and forms no part of the present invention. The pertinent portions of the wire motion aer shown to illustrate the manner in which the invention is applied thereto. A rope pulley 9 carries'a rope or cable 10 which is oscillated back and forth (left to right and vice versa) in FIGURE 1 by means of suitable driving elements and a quick return motion not shown. The ropell) is anchored in the rope holder 11 of the hopper plate 12 which reciprocates back and forth on the wire table 13. The hopper guide 14 is formed integrally with the hopper plate 12 and runs in a T-shaped way in hopperrail 15 as shown in FIGURE 2. The hopper plate carries a wire hook or catch 20 pivoted at 21 and spring loaded by means of a wire catch spring 22 which sequentially engages a notch on the head 4 of each of the pile wires W in the pile wire set.

As seen in FIGURE 1 the last wire W1 is in the process of being withdrawn from the Wire set by the hopper which is travelling in the direction indicated by the arrow. The wires in the wire set have been woven into the fabric F in accordance with conventional practice and the last wire in the set is withdrawn completely when the hopper plate reaches its fully retracted position at the outer end of the hopper rail. At this time the last wire W1 is positioned in the wire slide 23 that pivots as shown in broken lines in FIGURE 1 after the wire W1 is fully withdrawn. The wire slide then directs the wire W1 to the front portion of the wire set so that as the hopper plate 12 returns towards the loom the last wire is reinserted in the shed of the fabric being woven. The wire holder 25 maintains the wire heads in the proper relationship and is pivoted on pin 26. The wire set is retained in place and the last Wire inserted in its proper position by means of the wire box cap 27 adjustably mounted on girt 7 by means of cap screws 28, 28. It will be understood that the foregoing described pertinent parts of the loom are entirely conventional. It must be emphasized that the operation of the wire motion is probably the limiting factor which prohibits increasing the speed of a Wilton or velvet loom. Much effort has been expended to improve the operation of the wire motion with the object of increasing production and concurrently it is most important to avoid any condition which decreases the speed of the wire motion or specifically the speed with which the individual wires can be withdrawn and reinserted in the fabric.

A spray head 30 is adjustably mounted on an arm 31 by means of a'clamp 32. Arm 31 is in turn bolted to an angle bracket 33 by means of

lock nuts

34, 34 so that the spray head 30 can be positioned to direct a fine jet of lubricant onto the pile wire W1 as it is being withdrawn from the fabric F. A spray head of this type has been found to be important to avoid excess application of liquid and superior to the use of a sponge or felt wiper which is less positive and subject to wear. The liquid lubricant is supplied to the spray head 30 through the flexible line 35 and the other line 36 is used for the necessary air to direct and atomize the spray. In some installations it has been found that the ability to apply a thin spray continuously does not produce an excessive amount of liquid in the area of the wire table and therefore intermittent operation is not indicated. This feature was therefore an unexpected development in view of the fact that satisfactory operation can be achieved with a consumption of less than 1 quart of lubricant in a 24 hour operating period when weaving a nylon pile fabric.

In some looms it has been found desirable to employ a retaining element for the wires to insure that they do not jump out of place when being withdrawn. For this purpose a friction block 37 (FIGURES 1 and 3) is positioned to contact the last few wires W in the wire set. The block is preferably notched as shown in FIGURE 3 and supported by means of a bracket 38 secured at one end to breast plate cover 6 and to the block 37 by means of

screws

39, 39.

Where, however, intermittent operation is found to be desirable, we provide a timing mechanism for opening a valve only during the portion of the cycle that the last Wire W1 is being withdrawn from the fabric.

Referring to FIGURE 4, the main air supply line 40 carries air under approximately 30 p.s.i. to a reducing valve 41 which delivers air to conduit 42 at approximately 15 psi. The liquid lubricant is fed from a reservoir 43 by means of the pressure from line 42 which is bypassed to force liquid into line 44. Line 45 carries air at the 15 psi. pressure to a solenoid operated valve 46 which is in turn connected to

lines

35 and 36. A cam 48 may be independently driven to make one revolution per cycle of the hopper plate or it may be connected to any suitable moving mechanism on the loom for this purpose. A lobe 49 on cam 48 actuates a normally closed switch 50 and a normally open switch 51 connected to a relay 52. As the cam 48 turns in a clockwise direction, lobe 49 closes switch 51, which energizes the armature 53 of relay 52 through leads 54 and 55. This closes contact sets 56 and 57 to complete a circuit to solenoid valve 46 through leads 55, 58, contacts 57, lead 59 and lead 60. A holding circuit maintains the contacts 57 closed through normally closed switch 59 and leads 61 and 62 until the lobe 49 of cam 43 strikes switch 56 thus breaking the holding circuit to relay armature 53 to open contacts 56 and 57 which in turn de-energizes solenoid valve 46 to stop the spray after the last wire W1 has been completely withdrawn.

It will be understood that the lubricant used in the present invention depends to some extent on the width of the loom, whether or not serrated or plain wires are used, and the particular fiber or fiber blend being woven as pile in the fabric. We have found that a liquid polyalkylene glycol sold under the trade name of Ucon-50-HB-26O by Union Carbide and Chemical Corporation gives satisfactory results both from the standpoint of lubrication of the pile wires and absence of scumming in the dye kettle. Since it is soluble in the dye bath it is readily removed in the dye cycle and therefore eliminates a 45-minute pre-scour cycle which was formerly needed to remove the wax or parafiin residue from the fabric. As noted above the proper selection of liquid lubricant will be influenced by several factors including the fiber present in the pile yarn. A liquid which is soluble in the dye bath and is not extremely volatile in general meets the requirements.

It will thus be understood that we have provided an improved system for lubricating pile wires in a pile fabric loom which reduces pile wire breakage, provides improved lubrication for the pile wires thus reducing damage to the fabric, and at same time eliminates all undesired effects of the lubricant in subsequent fabric dyeing operations.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a transverse pile wire loom having a breast beam over which woven pile fabric is drawn, a set of pile wires for forming warp pile from yarns, means for inserting one of said pile wires into the shed of a fabric being woven, means for withdrawing one of said pile wires from a width of woven pile fabric, the improvement which comprises a nozzle supported on the loom, an adjustable bracket for holding said nozzle in a position to direct liquid lubricant against a pile wire being withdrawn from the fabric at a point beyond the selvedge thereof, and means for supplying liquid lubricant to said nozzle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 having means for retaining said pile wire being withdrawn in a substantially horizontal non-elevated position.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which the retaining means is a nylon block mounted on the loom.

4. In a transverse pile wire loom having a breast beam over which woven pile fabric is drawn, a set of pile wires for forming warp pile from yarns, means for inserting one of said pile wires into the shed of a fabric being woven, means for withdrawing one of said pile wires from a width of woven pile fabric, the improvement which comprises a liquid supply, a nozzle mounted on the loom positioned to direct liquid lubricant onto at least one of said set of pile wires, and conduit means between the nozzle and the liquid supply.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 having means for retaining said pile wire being withdrawn in a substantially horizontal non-elevated position.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 in which the retaining means is a nylon block mounted on the loom.

7. In a transverse pile wire loom having a breast beam over which woven pile fabric is drawn, a set of pile Wires for forming warp pile from yarns, means for inserting one of said pile wires into the shed of a fabric being woven, means for withdrawing one of said pile wires from a width of woven pile fabric, the improvement which comprises a nozzle adjustably mounted on the loom positioned to direct liquid spray onto at least one of said pile wires, a liquid supply, conduit means connecting the nozzle and the liquid supply, and cyclically operated valve means in said conduit means to interrupt the liquid spray in accordance with the position of one of said pile wires.

8. The method of weaving a pile fabric which cornprises inserting one of a set of pile wires into a shed, withdrawing the last pile wire of said set sequentially lubricant upon one of said pile wires at a point spaced from the selvedge of the fabric being woven.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 849,783 4/1907 Giles 139-45 DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner,

Claims

8. THE METHOD OF WEAVING A PILE FABRIC WHICH COMPRISES INSERTING ONE OF A SET OF PILE WIRES INTO A SHED, WITHDRAWING THE LAST PILE WIRE OF SAID SET SEQUENTIALLY AFTER INSERTION OF SAID FIRST PILE WIRE, AND SPRAYING A LIQUID LUBRICANT UPON ONE OF SAID PILE WIRES AT A POINT SPACED FROM THE SELVEDGE OF THE FABRIC BEING WOVEN.