US3241572A - Apparatus and method for cleaning textile machines - Google Patents

Description

March 22, 1966 P. F. MAGUIRE, JR, ETAL 3,241,572

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CLEANING TEXTILE MACHINES Original Filed May 22, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS PHIL F. MAGUlRE,JR. ARTH MAGSON BY,/ c [CA/1,1 p''/ I ATTORNEY FIG.

March 22, 1966 P. F. MAGUHRE, JR, ETAL 3, 7

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CLEANING TEXTILE MACHINES Original Filed May 22. 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS PHILIP E MAGUIRE ARTHUR M ATTORNE March 1966 P. F. MAGUIRE, JR, ETAL 3,241,572

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CLEANING TEXTILE MACHINES Original Filed May 22, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 g j C] Zamora PH GUIRE,JR ARTHUR MAGSQN ATTORNEY United States Patent fiFice 3,241,572 Patented Mar. 22, 1966 APPARATUS AND METHQD F912 CLEANING TEXTELE IWAQHTNES Philip F. Magnire, in, Providence, and Arthur Magson, Cumberland, Rl, assignors to Grinnell Corporation, Providence, Til, a corporation of Delaware Original application May 22, 196i, Ser. No. 111,539, now Patent No. 3,156,264, dated Nov. ltl, 1964. Divided and this application Dec. 6, 1963, Ser. No. 323,555

11 Claims. (Ci. 139-1) This application is a division of application Serial No. 111,519, which was filed May 22, 1961, and entitled Apparatus and Methods for Cleaning Textile Machines, and which was issued on November 10, 1964, as Patent No. 3,156,264.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus and methods for cleaning textile machines or the like and for improving the operation of such machines. More particularly it has to do with apparatus employing a novel collection member which acts as a shield to certain moving air currents and which has a surface whereon lint, discharged into the air by the machine and shielded from said currents, is deposited. It also has to do with a method for blocking such air currents and for collecting such lint in a novel way.

For many years textile manufacturers have had difficulty in preventing lint from accumulating on the surfaces of their textile machines and thereby interfering with the proper operation of these machines or impairing the quality of the product. Thus in their operation on the textile material in its various stages of manufacture, textile machines cause small pieces of fiber (lint) to be pulled away or broken ofl from the main body of the material, whereupon air currents and gravity forces cause this lint to move throughout the air in the area where the machines are located. Inevitably a substantial amount of this lint comes to rest upon the machinery and other objects in the room to which it is likely to adhere because of the coating of sizing on the lint made tacky by the high relative humidity normally maintained.

Over a period of time, this lint accumulates to such an extent that thick matted clumps of it appear on the machinery and on the other objects in the room. There is danger that bunches of this accumulated lint will be dislodged onto the textile material being processed and spoil it and further danger that the lint will clog the maohinerys moving parts. In addition this lint presents a fire hazard, so that it is desirable to have methods and equipment for retarding such lint accumulations.

In aggravation of this lint accumulation problem it frequently happens that mechanical components which are in the lower regions of textile machines and therefore usually below the textile material being processed by such machines, create appreciable updrafts of air. These drafts tend to carry upward each lint particle which they encounter, so that instead of falling downward from the point where it was produced (as it would if there were no air currents) the lint particle has an opportunity to reach surfaces higher or considerably to one side of said production point. An example of such a machine component is the jack-shaft and cam unit for the heddles of a loom. This unit, which is located near the floor, generates a substantial amount of heat during operation and thereby creates convection currents which rise upward through the warp strands. Another example of such a machine component is the lay of a loom which, by its oscillatory motion, produces a fanning action and causes air currents to pass through the heddles and again upward through the warp strands. These updrafts greatly increase the problem of preventing lint accumulation because they ccatter the lint from the points where it is primarily produced into the air above the machine from which it may continue to rise, or move to the side, or fall back again. The difiiculty is that while it is in the air above the machine the gathering or conducting of the lint is very difficult and requires equipment to be located where it is likely to interfere with machine operation.

To solve the lint accumulation problem there have been numerous past proposals ranging from hand-held air hoses to overhead traveling blower units to rigid vacuum hoods mounted on the machinery. Some of these past proposals have been very successful and are widly used today, but none of them combines in one unit all the desirable features which characterize the present invention.

For example, in textile machine cleaning apparatus it is desirable: to gather the lint into a container from which it cannot again escape to collect on the machinery or on the floor under the machinery; to gather lint with apparatus which does no rely on the conduction of the lint by moving air to a container inlet; to gather the lint from an area of the machine which is not limited by the air moving abilities of a vacuum system of reasonable size; to gather the lint with apparatus which effectively cleans those portions of itself which are particularly subject to becoming clogged with lint; to provide apparatus which can readily fit in limited available space and in space which differs from one machine to another; to block upwardly moving air currents and prevent them from passing directly through the textile material being handled; and to provide apparatus which is simple in construction and easily installed.

One object of the invention is the provision of textile cleaning apparatus having an extensive, flexible, aircurrent barrier which has a lint collecting surface whereby the blocking of rising air currents and the receiving of lint on the surface are simultaneously achieved.

Another object is the provision of textile cleaning apparatus employing a movable member which is extensive in area, which is arranged to block rising air currents, which has a surface for receiving thereon lint moving through the air, and which has apparatus for concentrating the lint so received.

Another object of the invention is the provision of textile cleaning apparatus having a moving, continuous belt mounted between two supports, having one surface portion of the belt presented to lint moving through the air, and having an air intake manifold with an intake opening defined in part by the belt at one of the supports.

Another object of the invention is the provision of textile cleaning apparatus having a moving continuous belt encircling a pair of supporting rods and driven therearound by advance of the textile material While in frictional engagement with the belt mechanism, having one surface of the belt presented to lint falling through the air, and having a suction manifold at the other roller with an intake opening defined in part by the belt.

Another object of the invention is the provision of textile loom cleaning apparatus having a moving continuous belt encircling a pair of supporting rollers and driven therearound, having one belt portion beneath the Warp strands and substantially parallel thereto to present a moving, lint-collecting surface to lint falling from the warp strands, and having a suction manifiold at the roller toward which this belt portion moves with an elongated suction intake opening defined in part by the belt passing over such roller.

Another object of the invention is the provision of textile cleaning apparatus having a moving belt mounted on a pair of supporting rods, having one surface of the belt presented to lint falling through the air and having a suction manifold which is adjacent the belt and which has an intake opening with an improved scraper engaging a surface of the belt.

Another object is to provide an improved method for gathering lint from the air in one region of a textile machine involving the arresting of lint moving through such air, the supporting of such lint and the carrying of such arrested and supported lint to a station independently of air movement, and the removing of such lint from such station.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The best mode in which it has been contemplated applying the principles of the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, but these are to be deemed primarily illustrative, for it is intended that the patent shall cover by suitable expression in the appended claims whatever of patentable novelty exists in the invention disclosed.

in the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation view of the invention with portions of the loom omitted and other portions broken away to simplify the showing;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective view of one belt roller of FIG. 1 and the belt driving mechanism therefor;

FIGURE 3 is a view like FIG. 2 showing another belt driving mechanism;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation view showing an embodiment in which a belt in the front of the loom encircles rollers parallel to the heddles and in which the belt is driven by the cloth;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the arrangement shown in FIG, 4.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a belt 4-8 is located at the front of the loom beneath the part of the warp strands 14, which extend from heddles 18 to the cloth 50. More particularly this belt is mounted on a pair of parallel rollers 52 and 54, one of which (52) has its ends journalled on a bracket 55 mounted on a frame portion 56 and the other of which (54) has its ends journalled on a suction manifold 58. This manifold 58 is mounted on another frame portion 6t} by a bracket 62.

The rollers 52 and 54 are at opposite sides of the loom, as shown, and are positioned so that the lay 64 with the race board 66 and reed 68 oscillate above the rollers and manifold and above the upper belt layer 48a. The distance under the shed formed by the warp strands between the heddles 18 and the cloth 541 approaching the cloth roll 7 11 is not great, and, accordingly, the belt 48 running across the machine in the direction shown is narrow. However, a considerable amount of lint is formed from the warp strands in the region of the shed, and the belt 48, though comparatively narrow, will catch and carry to the suction manifold 58 substantial quantities of such lint. This use of a narrow belt, which results from run ning it in the direction shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, has the advantage that the manifold 58 is short and consequently the suction force along the slot is greater for a given suction pump motor than it would be if the manifold extended parallel to the heddles.

To drive the roller 52 a friction wheel 72 is journalled on a lever arm 74 pivoted to bracket 55. A spring 76 urges the friction wheel against the belt 48 where it passes over the roller 52, and the friction wheel has a rubber tire 72a to insure a satisfactory friction drive. The wheel 72 is rotated by a flexible drive shaft 78 which in this embodiment is in the form of a flexible cable connected at one end to the wheel axle 72b and at the other end to a reduction gear box St'l which is mounted on the loom frame and receives its input from some convenient part such as the loom drive shaft 82.

Conduit 34 connected to a manifold nipple 581' conducts air anti lint from the manifold 58 to a container 34.

FTC-Ur E 3 shows another way of driving the belt 48 which involves driving the roller 52 rather than a friction wheel. In this case the flexible cable 78 is connected to the axle of roller 52 at and thereby rotates the roller Accordingly, the belt must be kept tight enough on the rollers to provide driving friction between the belt 43 and the roller 52. This is accomplished by providing a belt tightcner which in this embodiment involves the bracket with a swinging portion 55a on which the roller 52 is journalled and which is pivoted to the fixed bracket portion 55!) on an axis 550 by aligned pivots 5511. A spring 556 interposed between the fixed and swinging bracket portions urges portion 55:: in a clockwise direction (in MG. 3) to maintain the belt 4.3 taut between its rollers.

FIGURE 4 shows another embodiment in which a belt is located under the lay 64 between the heddles 18 and the cloth 5'9 approaching the cloth roll 7%, this belt be'ng mounted on rollers 112 and 114 which differ from those in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 in that they are parallel to the heddles. One of these rollers (112) is located adjacent the heddles under the lay 64 and the other (11%) is located toward the front of the loom adjacent the cloth 5h approaching the cloth roll 70. The roller 114 is somewhat above the roller 112 so that the upper belt layer llfla slants at an angle from the front of the loom downward toward the heddles. The manifold 116 in this case is located at the roller 112 which is journalled in the end plates 116a, and the belt is driven by a friction roller 118 mounted on brackets 120 which are secured to a bar 119. This bar is in turn pivoted to the loom frame by hooks 119a so that the weight of the friction roller swings the bar and brackets counterclockwise (in FIG. 4) and presses the friction roller 118 against the cloth 5i At the same time, a weight roller 12?. resting on the lower belt layer 11%, and connected to the bracket 12%? by flexible bands 124, acts as a belt tightener by pressing the lower belt layer 11% against the friction roller at 118C. With this arrangement movement of the cloth 5b in its normal manner (as indicated by arrow 126) drives the belt 111i? and advances the upper belt layer 11% from roller 114 to roller 112 where the manifold is located. Roller 114 is journalled in the same brackets 12f) as the friction roller 118.

Although in one of the above embodiments the belt will move as long as the textile machine is running because the belt is driven by the textile machine, it will be understood than an intermittent drive is within the scope of the present invention,

Provision for stopping and starting the belt movement may be desirable in a textile mill where the amount of lint generated is not relatively great and Where it is preferred not to run the air suction pumps continuously. if the pump for a loom is turned off the belt should also be stopped. Then after lint has collected to some extent on the surface of the stationary upper belt layer the pump can be started and the belt moved until the collected lint has been all drawn off at the manifold.

Although the air suction pump, motor and container are shown permanently mounted on the textile machine, it is within the scope of the invention to have some or all of these items separable, for example to have the pump motor, container and conduit on a conveyor which wheels along the floor of the mill room in which many machines are located or which is suspended from an overhead rail in such a room and to have a belt and manifold on each machine. By bringing the conveyor to each machine in turn, connecting the conduit to the manifold on that machine, moving the belt on that machine and simultaneously operating the air suction pump on the conveyor the lint which has collected on the belt surface since the previous visit to that machine may be collected.

We claim:

1. In combination with a textile loom having an upper region which is bounded by the cloth roll and the beddles, through which the lay passes and in which lint is generated from the warp strands and filling by operation of said loom, and having in a lower region, below said warp strands, components producing during loom operation air currents which move upwardly into said upper region and through said warp strands therein, apparatus for simultaneously blocking said air currents and gathering said lint, said apparatus comprising a first horizontal roller adjacent the heddles and below said lay, a second roller parallel to said first roller and adjacent said cloth roll, said second roller also being below said lay, a flexible belt passing around said rollers in contact therewith and extending therebetween below said lay to separate said upper and lower regions, said belt being substantially impervious to moving air currents, whereby said upwardly moving air currents are prevented from entering said upper region and from carrying said lint upwardly through said warp strands, said belt having one surface presented upwardly toward said upper region, whereby said lint falling downwardly from said warp strands is arrested by said surface and is supported thereon, means for driving said belt around said rollers to move said presented belt surface edgewise from one of said rollers toward the other, and means adjacent a portion of said belt surface for cleaning therefrom lint supported thereon, said belt surface portion extending across the path of belt movement and having a dimension measured along said path of belt movement which is substantially less than the corresponding dimension of the entire presented belt surface.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said means for driving said belt is the cloth roll.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which said second roller is adjacent the cloth which is produced by the loom and in which said means for driving said belt includes means connecting said cloth to said belt for transmitting to said belt the motion of said cloth.

4. The combination of claim 1 in which said second roller is adjacent cloth which is produced by the loom and in which said means for driving said belt is a friction roller engaging both said belt and said cloth.

5. The combination of claim 1 in which the axes of said rollers form a plane, in which there is a belt tightener between said rollers and spaced from said plane, and in which a belt portion between said rollers is engaged by said belt t-ightener and held thereby spaced from said plane.

6. The combination of claim 1 in which the axes of said rollers form a first plane at a substantial angle to the vertical, in which there is a weighted roller between said rollers and spaced from said plane, in which a belt portion between said rollers is engaged by said weighted roller and held thereby spaced from said plane, in which said second roller forms a second plane with said weighted roller, and in which there is a friction roller between said second roller and said weighted roller and intersected by said second plane, whereby said weighted roller holds the belt part which is between said second roller and said weighted roller firmly against the surface of said friction roller.

7. The combination of claim 1 in which there is a station through which cloth made by the loom passes, in which said means for driving said belt comprises a friction roller which is at said station on one side of said cloth and which has an axis of rotation, said means further comprising a member pivotally connecting said friction roller to the loom on a second axis spaced from said first axis, said first and second axes forming a plane at an angle to the vertical, whereby the weight of said friction roller urges it to swing about said second axis and to maintain a pressure on the cloth at said station.

8. In combination with a textile loom having an upper region which is defined in part by the cloth roll and the heddles, through which the lay passes and in which lint is generated from the warp strands and filling by operation of said loom, and having in a lower region, below said warp strands, components producing during loom operation air currents which move upwardly into said upper region and through said warp strands therein, apparatus for simultaneously blocking said air currents and gathering said lint, said apparatus comprising a first roller below said lay and with an axis in a vertical plane which is perpendicular to said heddles, a second roller also below said lay spaced from said first roller and parallel thereto, an endless belt encircling said rollers in contact therewith and extending therebetween below said lay to separate said upper and lower reg-ions, said belt being substantially impervious to moving air currents, whereby said upwardly moving air currents are prevented from entering said upper region and from carrying said lint upwardly through said warp strands, said belt having one surface presented upwardly toward said upper region, whereby said lin-t falling downwardly from said warp strands is arrested by said surface and is supported thereon, means for driving said belt around said rollers to move said presented belt surface edgewise from one of said rollers toward the other, and means adjacent a portion of said belt for cleaning therefrom lint supported thereon, said belt surface portion extending across the path of belt movement and having a dimension measured along said path of belt movement which is substantially less than the corresponding dimension of the entire presented belt surface.

9. The combination of claim 8 in which said means for driving said belt comprises a friction wheel engaging said belt, a flexible drive shaft having one end connected to said friction wheel, and means connected to the other end of said flexible drive shaft for rotating said flexible drive shaft.

10. In combination with a textile loom having an upper region which is bounded by a cloth roll and heddles, through which the lay oscillates from said cloth roll to said heddles, down through which lint falls and up through which air currents rise, apparatus for simultaneously collecting said lint and blocking said air currents, said apparatus comprising an impervious flexible belt extending from a point adjacent said cloth roll to a point adjacent said heddles, said belt being beneath and substantially as wide as the length of said lay, and means for holding said belt taut.

11. The method of gathering lint from theair adjacent a textile loom which:

(I) has heddles, a lay, cloth, and drive mechanism,

(II) has a shed extending from the heddles to the cloth,

(III) produces in a first lower region of said loom by the operation of said heddles, lay and drive mechanism air currents which rise upwardly toward said shed,

(IV) agitates said shed to produce lint which:

(A) tends to fall downwardly from said shed in a second higher reg-ion covered thereby, (B) is subject to being carried upwardly through said second region by said air currents, said method comprising the steps of:

(V) blocking said rising air currents:

(A) over an area substantially equal to the area of said shed,

7 (B) before they enter said second region, References Cited by the Examiner (VI) arresting the downward movement of said lint UNITED STATES PATENTS from Bald shed 1,850,502 3/1932 Hilker.

(A) over an area substantially equal to the area f 2 400 792 5/1946 Turner X Of Said Shed, 2,480,690 8/1949 Ancet 139- 1 X (B) before said lint enters said first lower region, 2,481,197 9/1949 Caille 5734.5 X (VII) supporting said arrested lint in said second higher 2,582,0 2 1/1952 Ancet 139l X region, 2,622,626 12/1952 Fletcher 139-7 (VIII) carrying said supported lint slowly across said 10 FOREIGN PATENTS second higher region to a station, 1 198 217 6/1959 France (IX) removing said lint from said second region at said tation, DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A TEXTILE LOOM HAVING AN UPPER REGION WHICH IS BOUNDED BY THE CLOTH ROLL AND THE HEDDLES, THROUGH WHICH THE LAY PASSES AND IN WHICH LINT IS GENERATED FROM THE WARP STRANDS AND FILLING BY OPERATION OF SAID LOOM, AND HAVING IN A LOWER REGION, BELOW SAID WARP STRANDS, COMPONENTS PRODUCING DURING LOOM OPERATION AIR CURRENTS WHICH MOVE UPWARDLY INTO SAID UPPER REGION AND THROUGH SAID WARP STRANDS THEREIN, APPARATUS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY BLOCKING SAID AIR CURRENTS AND GATHERING SAID LINT, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A FIRST HORIZONTAL ROLLER ADJACENT THE HEDDLES AND BELOW SAID LAY, A SECOND ROLLER PARALLEL TO SAID FIRST ROLLER AND ADJACENT SAID CLOTH ROLL, SAID SECOND ROLLER ALSO BEING BELOW SAID LAY, A FLEXIBLE BELT PASSING AROUND SAID ROLLERS IN CONTACT THEREWITH AND EXTENDING THEREBETWEEN BELOW SAID LAY TO SEPARATE SAID UPPER AND LOWER REGIONS, SAID BELT BEING SUBSTANTIALLY IMPRERVIOUS TO MOVING AIR CURRENTS, WHEREBY SAID UPWARDLY MOVING AIR CURRENTS ARE PREVENTED FROM ENTERING SAID UPPER REGION AND FROM CARRYING SAID LINT UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID WARP STRANDS, SAID BELT HAVING ONE SURFACE PRESENTED UPWARDLY TOWARD SAID UPPER REGION, WHEREBY SAID LINT FALLING DOWNWARDLY FROM SAID WARP STRANDS IS ARRESTED BY SAID SURFACE AND IS SUPPORTED THEREON, MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID BELT AROUND SAID ROLLERS TO MOVE SAID PRESENTED BELT SURFACE EDGEWISE FROM ONE OF SAID ROLLERS TOWARD THE OTHER, AND MEANS ADJACENT A PORTION OF SAID BELT SURFACE FOR CLEANING THEREFROM LINT SUPPORTED THEREON, SAID BELT SURFACE PORTION EXTENDING ACROSS THE PATH OF BELT MOVEMENT AND HAVING A DIMENSION MEASURED ALONG SAID PATH OF BELT MOVEMENT WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN THE CORRESPONDING DIMENSION OF THE ENTIRE PRESENTED BELT SURFACE.

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