US3270980A

US3270980A - Spool for threads, yarns and the like

Info

Publication number: US3270980A
Application number: US442737A
Authority: US
Inventors: Michael R Philips
Original assignee: JONATHAN TEMPLE AND CO Inc
Current assignee: JONATHAN TEMPLE AND CO Inc
Priority date: 1965-03-25
Filing date: 1965-03-25
Publication date: 1966-09-06
Anticipated expiration: 1983-09-06

Description

Sept. 6, 1966 M. R. PHILIPS 3,270,980

OR T

VVVV NTOK MICHAEL R. PHILXPS QTTOENEY United States Patent 3,270,980 SPOOL FOR THREADS, YARNS AND THE LIKE Michael R. Philips, Park Ridge, N.J., assignor to Jonathan Temple & Co. Inc., Hackensack, N.J., 'a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 25, 1965, Ser. No. 442,737 9 Claims. (Cl. 242118.7)

My invention relates to an improved spool for threads, yarns and the like, and particularly to expendable spools for the wire serving industry.

Wire service is the process of wrapping a wire with an insulating fibrous material to provide a continuous covering or coating for the wire. The most important of these fibrous materials is fibre glass.

In serving a yarn of filamentary thread of the fibrous material onto the wire, the spool that carries the yarn is mounted on a hollow, rotating, spindle through which the wire is drawn in an axial direction. The spindle and spool are rotated at a high speed as, for example, 4000 revolutions per minute while the wire passes axially through the spindle so that the yarn of fibre glass is drawn from the spool to be wrapped evenly onto the wire. When the yarn has been drawn completely from a spool the empty spool is destroyed and a new spool is moved from a reserve to replace it so that the winding may be continued without cutting the wire.

Spools currently available for this use are of two types. In one type the core and flanges forming the spool are of cardboard. In this type the spool is loaded by winding the yarn of fibre glass onto the core by cross winding and then the flanges are pressed onto the core.

One of the disadvantages of a package comprising the spool and thread or yarn thereon is that the cross winding (which is necessary for the proper building of a stable package) is somewhat injurious to the fibre glass because of the rapid angular changes in direction and the brittle nature of the material. Moreover, a parallel wind packs more of the yarn into a given volume. The assembly of cardboard flanges after the winding necessitates leaving space outside the flanges for security of grip. This space is wasted from the standpoint that it would be better filled with yarn.

The other type of spool is one with a cardboard core and plastic flanges molded in place on the core. This avoids some of the disadvantages and problems of the first mentioned type by permitting parallel winding of the yarn and omitting the wasted space outside of the flanges.

The second type of spool, however, creates a problem when the spool is emptied and is to be replaced because the plastic sides are diflicult to break. When the flanges are broken loose pieces tend to fly about. Also the core cannot be made to fit exactly on the spindle so that it usually requires reaming or shimming to make it fit.

The spool of my invention avoids and eliminates these and other disadvantages and problems of the prior spools.

The spool of my present invention is made in one piece of molded plastic and is so constructed as to facilitate breaking when the spool is emptied and is to be removed. The cores of the spools of my invention are provided with inner surfaces which will fit securely spindles of winding machines having outer, spool-bearing, surfaces varying within permissable tolerances without the necessity of shimming or reaming and without risk of slipping on the spindles during rotation.

The spools of my invention are in one piece of molded organic plastic, such as a polystyrene or other similar plastic. The inner surface of the core is slightly tapered from one end to the other, which permits ready removal of the spool from the core of the molding machine. A number of ridges or vanes spaced circumferentially about 3,270,980 Patented Sept. 6, 1966 the inner surface of the core of the spool and extending axially are formed on the inner surface of the core. The inwardly projecting apices of these ridges are substantially equidistant from the axis of the spool. At the smaller diameter end of the spool core they are preferably flush with and merge into the inner surface of the core and project radially inwardly from the tapered surface progressively toward the opposite end. When the spool is mounted on a winding spindle these ridges or vanes are compressed slightly, the plastic being sufliciently resilient, to grip the spindle and to accommodate spindles of slightly different diameters.

To enable the spools to be broken easily and cleanly from the winding spindle grooves, preferably two diametrically opposite axially extending grooves, are formed in the inner surface of the core and are continued radially outwardly on the outer surfaces of the flanges. These groove do not weaken the spool when it is loaded with yarn but, when it is empty provide lines of fracture which cause the spool to separate into two easily removable halves, for example, when the spool is fractured for removal from the spindle.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an end view of a spool embodying a preferred from of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the spool shown in FIG. 1, a part being broken away to show the construction;

FIG. 3 is a section of the core on the line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section of the core on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section on a larger scale of a portion of the core of the spool taken on line 55 of FIG. 1'; and

FIG. 6 is a section similar to that of FIG. 4 showing the distortion of the ridges or vanes when pressed onto the spindle.

Referring to the drawings, the spool comprises a hollow tubular core 10 molded integrally with apair of side flanges 11 and .12. The core and the flanges are molded of a plastic, such as polystyrene, in a single molding operation to form a spool without seams, or separate parts joined together. Other organic plastics may be employed which have a suitable stiffness and rigidity, the chemical compositions of the plastic being immaterial.

The inner surface of the core 10 is slightly tapered, particularly if the spool is molded with a tapered core to enable the core to be withdrawn after the molding operation. Thus in the embodiment shown in the drawings the inner surface of the core will increase slightly from the left-hand end, as viewed in FIG. 2, to the right-hand end as, for example, by a slope of 0.010". This is indicated by comparison of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 and is shown in a larger scale in FIG. 5.

In the inner surface there are also provided in the molding operation a number of ridges or wings 13, four being shown by way of example, extending in an axial direction from one end of the spool to the other and spaced uniformly about the circumference of the core. At the left-hand end these ridges may merge with the inner surface of the core or may rise very slightly from the inner surface of the core. This is indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the ridges 13 being larger in FIG. 4 than in FIG. 3.

The apices of the ridges are equidistant from the axis of the core, that is, they all lie in a cylindrical surface centered on the axis of the core. Consequently when the spool is forced onto a spindle these ridges or wings are slightly flattened, as indicated in FIG. 6, the spindle being indicated at 14. This insures that the spool will engage the supporting spindle l4 uniformly and tightly throughout the entire length of the spool so that no shimming or other adjustment is required to obtain a tight fit. In this connection it may be noted that the plastic will have a slight resilience which permits it to flatten sidewise, as shown in FIG. 6, as the spool is mounted on the spindle. A further advantage of this construction is that the spool will tightly grip the spindle and thus avoid a slippage between the spool and the spindle.

In the core there is also formed at least two

longitudinal grooves

15 and 16 preferably spaced diametrically opposite. These grooves extend from one end of the spool to the other. The flanges 11 and 12 have grooves 17 and 18 extending from the ends of the

grooves

15 and 16 to the outer periphery of the flanges. As is also shown in FIGS. 1 land 2, the thickness of the flanges decreases from the inner periphery to the outer periphery. The grooves 15-18 form lines of fracture for the spool when it is being broken to remove it from the spindle after all of the yarn or filamentary material has been withdrawn. The grooves do, however, cause the spool to break on the lines of the grooves when it is fractured for removal.

It will be evident that more than two sets of grooves may be provided but there is no advantage in this as the two sets of grooves shown are suflicient.

The invention, therefore, provides a spool of inexpensive construction on which yarn or thread or filaments may be wound with a parallel winding and with a maximum space for the windings and which may be readily fractured into halves which may be readily held and removed from the spindle to permit a succeeding spool from a supply to be slipped in place. This enables the spools to be quickly replaced with a minimum stoppage of the serving apparatus.

What I claim is:

1. A spool for serving thread or yarn to a wire, said spool being a molded thermo-plastic organic composition and comprising a hollow cylindrical core and a pair of flanges one at each end of said core, the inner surface of said core being slightly tapered from one end to the other and having ridges directly on said tapered surface spaced circumferentially about the inner surface of said core and extending approximately from end to end of said core, said ridges tapering complementary to the taper of the inner surface of said core, the inner edges of said ridges lying in a cylindrical surface to rest on the outer surface of a supporting spindle and being distortable to accommodate a spindle of slightly larger diameter than that of a cylindrical surface tangent to the inner edges of said ridges.

-2. The spool of claim 1 in which the inner edges of said ridges merge with the inner surface of said core at the smaller diameter end of the inner surface of said core.

3. The spool of claim 1 in which said ridges are triv angular in cross section with their apices lying in a cylindrical surface.

4. The spool in claim 1 in which said core has at least two grooves spaced circumferentially about the inner surface of said core and each of said flanges has grooves in its outer surface extending from said grooves in said core to the outer peripheries of said flanges.

5. The spool of claim 4 in which there are two diametrically opposite grooves in the inner surface of said core and a pair of aligned grooves in the outer surface of each of said flanges extending radially from the ends of said grooves in said core to the outer perimeter of said flanges.

6. The spool of claim 5 in which the outer surfaces of said flanges taper from their inner peripheries to their outer peripheries and in which the depths of said radially extending grooves in said flanges decrease toward said outer peripheries of said flanges.

7. A spool for serving thread or yarn to a wire passing axially through the spool which comprises a hollow cylindrical core and a pair of flanges, one flange at each end of the core, of rigid thermoplastic organic composition molded into an integral structure, each of said flanges having at least two grooves extending radially, each groove of one flange being parallel with a groove of the other flange to form pairs of grooves, said core having grooves one for each pair of said grooves of said flanges and extending uninterruptedly from one flange to the other in alignment with the grooves in said flanges, all of said grooves being of suflicient depth to provide lines of weakness along said grooves for fracturing said spool into fragments.

8. The spool of claim 7 in which said grooves of said core are in the inner surface of said core and said grooves of said flanges are in the outer surfaces of said flanges.

9. The spool of claim 7 in which said grooves of said core join the respective grooves of the flanges.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,195,240 3/1940 Chaplin et al 242118.32 2,615,650 10/1952 Betner et al 24246.3 X 2,978,202 4/1961 Morin 242118.7 3,105,655 10/1963 Park et al 242-118.7 3,106,363 10/1963 Epstein 24268.5

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

O GEORGE F. MAUTZ, Examiner.

Claims

1. A SPOOL FOR SERVING THREAD OR YARN TO A WIRE, SAID SPOOL BEING A MOLDED THERMO-PLASTIC ORGANIC COMPOSITION AND COMPRISING A HOLLOW CYLINDRICAL CORE AND A PAIR OF FLANGES ONE AT EACH END OF SAID CORE, THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID CORE BEING SLIGHTLY TAPERED FROM ONE TO THE OTHER AND HAVING RIDGES DIRECTLY ON SAID TAPERED SURFACE SPACED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY ABOUT THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID CORE AND EXTENDING APPROXIMATELY FROM END TO END OF SAID CORE, SAID RIDGES TAPERING COMPLEMENTARY TO THE TAPER OF