US3304582A - Carding machine operating control means - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 21, 1967 J. E. ONEAL ETAL 3,304,582

CARDING MACHINE OPERATING CONTROL MEANS Original Filed Oct. 2, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS Q JAMES era/as Tr oweu,

N 10:5; mun 0114mm a y (0L IE W44 ra/v awmm Feb. 21, 1967 J ONEAL ETAL 3,304,582

CARDING MACHINE OPERATING CONTROL MEANS Original Filed Oct. 2, 3.964 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 A I! 1 f 33 P EL; 3. v r F INVENTORS 1 JAMES srzmrr awsu. 36 Jester x404 cam/ran a CDL/E WALTON GUIYTER Feb. 21, 1967 QNEAL T 3,304,582

CARDING MACHINE OPERATING CONTROL MEANS Original Filed Oct. 2, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS .mMss ave/Parr awe-41.,

.7055! 614M. sun/r54 a BY can 14 41. TON 606 761? United States Patent Office 3 Claims. (Cl. 19-min This is a division of copending application Serial No. 401,274, filed October 2, 1964.

This invention relates to carding machines and in particular to improved arrangements of certain operating elements of such machines that greatly facilitate high operating speeds and substantially improve the results obtained by the carding operation.

Generally described, the present invention is characterized first by an improved crush roll arrangement for acting on the carded welb prior to gathering it into sliver so that any trash remaining therein is crushed to a condition in which it tends to be freed from the fiber during subsequent processing. The crush roll arrangement provided by the present invention is uniquely weighted by magnetic means to apply an exceptionally even crushing action across the entire carded web for dealing effectively with trash therein while handling the web to good advantage.

This crush roll arrangement is additionally notable in that one of its elements is disposed to serve also as a rotating take-01f means for removing the carded web from the dot-fer roll of the carding machine.

In this latter connection, the present invention is further characterized by the use of a dolfer roll of considerably smaller diametric size than has heretofore been conventional, and which acts by reason of its smaller size to doff the carded web from the carding cylinder with much less tendency toward nep formation and to provide a much increased extent of travel for the carded web as it is gathered into sliver so that the gathering angle of the web selvages is much more gradual than is commonly the case with consequent better formation of the sliver both from the standpoint of uniformity and toleration of high operating speeds. All of the foregoing features are disclosed and claimed in the previously noted copending application.

Additionally, the present invention provides uniquely for controlling the troublesome air currents produced by the carding cylinder in relation to the slower rotating doffer roll and the faster rotating lickerin roll operating thereat and for dealing with the fly generated by these air currents as disclosed and claimed in our continuation-inpart application Serial No. 489,590, filed September 23, 1965; as well as providing a particularly advantageous means as claimed herein for controlling the operation of the doffer roll in the manner described at further length below in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a carding machine incorporating the improved arrangement of operating elements provided by the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation detail of the doifer roll arrangement;

FIG. 3 is a further side elevation detail of the related crush roll arrangement;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section of the magnet roll structure employed for weighting the crush roll arrangement;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation detail, partly in section, of the magnet units employed in the FIG. 4 roll structure; and

m 3 2,394,582 Patented Feb. 21, 1367 FIG. 6 is a section detail of the means provided for controlling operation of the doffer roll.

Referring now in detail to the drawings and more particularly at first to FIG. 1, the reference character R indicates a lap roll of the fiber to be carded resting on a carrier roll 19 to have the lap L delivered therefrom over a feed plate 11 and beneath a feed roll 12 to a lickerin roll 13 for transfer to a carding cylinder 14 in suitable form for carding beneath an endless series of flats, as indicated generally at 15, and subsequent removal by a dotfer roll 16, in the general manner that has been conventional carding practice for many years.

Handling of the fiber for carding in this manner requires rotation of the lickerin roll 13 at a relatively high speed in order to comb the leading edge or fringe of the lap L being fed and transfer fiber therefrom to form a considerably thinner layer on the cylinder 14 for carding beneath the flats 15; while the doifer roll 1-6 is required to rotate so that its surface speed is substantially slower than that of the cylinder 14 in order to condense the carded web at doffing to prepare it with sufficient substance for subsequent taking-01f and gathering into sliver.

By reason of these speed relations there are troublesome air currents created in the zone at which the faster rotating lickeri-n roll 13 diverges from the cylinder 14 and in the zone of convergence of the slower rotating dolfer roll 16; the lickerin roll 13 acting in this respect somewhat in the nature of a pump, while the doifer roll 16 has a damming effect, to product high pressure conditions at both zones as a result of the air currents created or induced thereat.

To control these air currents it has heretofore been usual first to fit the cylinder 14- with arcuate cover plates (corresponding generally to those indicated at 17 and 18 in FIG. 1) so as to shroud the cylinder beyond the lickerin roll 13 to the flats 15 and from the flats 15 in advance of the do'rfer roll 16; and, secondly, to dispose further arcuate cover plates (corresponding generally to those indicated at 19 and 2:0 in FIG. 1) over the lickerin and doffer rolls respectively, with a make-up piece or bonnet resting (generally as at 21 and 22 in FIG. 1) between the adjacently related cover plates 17 and 19, and 18 and 2-1 to enclose and contain the respective high pressure zones thereat. Under the best of circumstances, however, such an arrangement has allowed a certain amount of blow out from these zones with a resulting objectionable distribution of fly on and about the carding machine, and this condition worsens substantially at the higher operating speeds towards which carding practice has been tending in recent years.

According to the present invention, the difiiculty with these high pressure zones above the lickerin and doifer rolls, respectively, is eliminated by terminating the adjacently related cover plates 17 and 19, and 18 and 20, short of converging abutment so that substantial slots are left between their adjacent edges, as at 23 and 24 in FIG. 1; by providing outlet openings, as at 25 and 26 in FIG. 1, in the bonnets 2i and 22 to relieve the high pressure zones enclosed thereby; and by fitting the outlet openings 25 and 26 with conduit connections, as at 27 and 28 in FIG. 1, to receive and carry off for orderly collection all fly borne by the air exhausted through openings 25 and 26 from the high pressure zones being controlled.

To convey the entrained fly that is thus received by the conduit connections 27 and 28 a relatively low capacity blower unit may be employed as represented at 29 in FIG. 1 in relation to the connection 28. A blower unit 29 having a capacity of cubic feet per minute at 3400 rpm. has been found to serve the foregoing conveying function quite well when operated by a suitable drive connection from the cylinder 14, as indicated at 30 in FIG. 1, at a ratio providing about 100 cubic feet per minute through the blower 29 when the cylinder speed is in the order of 250 r.p.m. The exhaust from the blower 29 may be handled in any convenient way for collecting the fly entrained therein. A suitable arrangement is to direct the blower exhaust through a further conduit connection (not shown) to a waste bin located Within the base portion of the carding machine frame. Similar provision (not shown) is made for conveying and collecting the entrained fly received by the conduit connection 27 from the high pressure zone above the lickerin roll 13.

It should also be noted that the arcuate cover plate 19 at the lickerin roll 13 preferably has a hinged cover member 31 extending therefrom over the feed roll 12 in place of the usual scavenger roll employed thereat; and that the arcuate cover plate 20 shrouding the doffer roll 16 extends thereover away from the point of doffing toward the point of take-off with a disposition forming a converging throat in relation to the doffer roll surface toward the take-off point (compare FIGS. 1 and 2) so that any tendency toward blow out beneath this cover plate 20 is directed to assist take-off.

Additionally, the previously mentioned smaller size of doffer roll 16 that is provided according to the present invention should be considered in particular at this point. Carding machines conventionally employ a cylinder 14 of 50-inch diameter operating in relation to a 9-inch lickerin roll 13 and a doffer roll 16 having a diameter in the order of 24 to 27 inches. The present invention, however, reduces the doffer roll 16 to a diametric size of 12 inches, or about one-fourth that of the cylinder 14, and this reduced doffer roll size provides at least two advantages of exceptional significance over conventional practice.

In the first place, the condensing action of the slower rotating doffer roll 16, that takes place in doffing the carded web from the cylinder 14, is performed with a greatly reduced tendency toward the nep formation that commonly occurs at this stage. Such nep formation is induced by the necessity for causing the dofier roll 16 to condense the carded web at doffing to prepare it with sufiicient substance for subsequent handling as previously mentioned. -In effecting this condensation of the carded web, the slower rotating doffer roll 16 applies what may be thought of as a damming action to the fiber of the carded web that is presented thereto on the cylinder 14, and the action by which the dofiing condensation thus takes place necessarily results in a significant reorganization of the carded web fiber during which the fiber is prone to tangle and produce the undesirable neps that are counted as an inverse measure of carding quality. The smaller size doffer roll 16 appears to reduce nep formation significantly during dofiing condensation by reducing substantially the extent of the arcuate doffing roll area that is active at any one time to effect doffing. That is to say, because the doffer roll 16 has a diametric size that is smaller than conventional by at least onehalf, its rotating surface approaches the cylinder 14 later and moves away sooner than is conventionally the case. Accordingly, the dofiing condensation is accomplished more rapidly so that the carded web fibers are apparently given less time and less opportunity to tangle and the result, in any event, is surprisingly lessened nep formation even at higher than usual carding speeds.

Secondly, the smaller size doffer roll 16 employed according to the present invention increases considerably the space available at the front of the carding machine for gathering the web W into sliver S following take-off. The significance of this increased space is the more gradual gathering angle that is allowed and the consequently lessened gathering strain at the selvages of web W which not only improves sliver uniformity but also allows the gathering to take place satisfactorily at higher operating speeds.

The smaller size doffer roll 16 is furthermore arranged according to the present invention to have take-off effected therefrom by a relatively small-diameter, rotating roll 32 that is operated uniquely in combination with an adjacent roll 33 as will be described in detail presently. For doffing and take-off action in accordance with the present invention, the dotfer roll 16 is fitted with metallic wire clothing (rather than fillet clothing) and the teeth of the wire clothing, as indicated at 34 in FIG. 2, are formed with a leading face angle that is inclined outwardly away from the direction of doffer roll rotation and is selected so as not to pass tangent alignment with the rotating take-off roll 32, as indicated at X in FIG. 2, until take-off from each passing tooth has been substantially completed. In other words, the path of fiber take-off, which is generally represented at T in FIG. 2, should be located below the tangent alignment axis X so that the doffer clothing teeth 34 shed the fiber readily at takeoff, and a take-off path of this sort is maintained by imposing a slight draft (i.e., about 1.10) at taking-off through an appropriate speed relation of a nip which is formed with the rotating take-off roll 32 by the previously mentioned adjacent roll 33.

The relative arrangement of these rolls 32 and 33 as indicated in FIGS. 1 .and 2, and further illustrated in FIG. 3, is characterized by a disposition allowing the carded web to be trained at doffed width through the nip formed thereby immediately following take-off and before being delivered, as at W in FIG. 1, for gathering into sliver S. Such disposition of the rolls 32 and 33 is provided for by means of mounting brackets 35 arranged to support them at each end in relation to the mounting structure 36 provided for carrying the doffer roll 16 at each end from a footing, as at 36', at the sides of the carding machine frame F (see FIG. 2); suitable relative setting of the mounting brackets 35 with respect to the doffer mounting structures 36 being afforded by lead screw means 37 just as comparable setting of the latter is commonly provided for as indicated at 38.

Additional provision for setting the rotating take-off roll 32 independently in relation to the doffer roll 16 is made through hanger plates 39 that are pivoted on the mounting brackets 35 at eccentric mountings 40 made adjustable for this purpose; the take-off roll 32 being carried by these hanger plates 39 at clearance slots 41 in the mounting brackets 35 so as to ride the adjacent roll 33 at the setting determined by the eccentric mountings 40. The adjacent roll 33 is carried by the mounting brackets 35 for rotation about a fixed axis, as to 33 in FIG. 3, and is provided with a doctor blade at 42, while comparable doctoring means 43 is arranged on the hanger plates 39 for the rotating take-off roll 32.

Nip contact of the opposing rolls 32 and 33 is maintained according to the present invention by incorporating magnetic means in one of these rolls. If it is synthetic fiber that is to be carded, so that no trash crushing function is needed at the roll nip, the magnetic means may be incorporated in the smaller take-off roll 32. But as this roll 32 must be no larger than about l-inch in diameter, or about one-twelfth the size of dofi'er roll 16, the extent to which it may be arranged for magnetic weighting of the nip with roll 33 is rather limited, and the larger roll 33 must be employed for this purpose in order to provide the relative heavy loading that is needed for the trash crushing that is desirable when natural fiber, such as cotton, is being carded. Accordingly, FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate the manner in which the larger roll 33 is equipped with magnetic means for nip loading.

For this purpose, the body member 44 of roll 33 is made tubular in form so as to provide a housing for the magnetic means between stub shafts 45 and 46 fitted at each of the body member ends as seen in FIG. 4. FIG. 5

illustrates a suitable arrangement of a unit assembly for use in forming the magnetic means housed within the tubular body member 44 of roll 33; the unit assembly shown comprising a permanent alnico magnet 47 of cylindrical form nested coaxially between circular pole pieces 48 and 49 of larger diameter and initially provided with a keeper sleeve, as indicated at 50 in FIG. 5, for use in preparing and handling the assemblies prior to installation in the roll 33. Any other type of permanent magnet might alternatively be used, and the magnetic means might be electro-magnetic in character if desired, but alnico magnets have been found to be entirely suitable and are therefore noted specifically in exemplifying the invention.-

Having provided a supply of unit assemblies such as are shown in FIG. 5, the FIG. 4 roll assembly is prepared by removing one of the stub shaft fittings, such as 45, to open the tubular body member 44 fully at one end, and then successively inserting unit magnetic assemblies through the open end of body member 44 while stripping the keeper sleeves 50 therefrom in the course of sliding them into place. As indicated in FIG. 4, the pole pieces 48 and 49 are sized in diameter to fit the inner diameter of the tubular body member 44, and the coaxially nested magnet members 47 being of smaller diameter are carried between the pole pieces 48 and 49 concentrically within the body member 44.

It should be noted additionally that the successive insertion of the unit magnet assemblies is effected with alternate endwise reversal so that the installed magnet unit series that eventually extends throughout substantially the entire axial length of the tubular body member 44 is characterized by an arrangement of pole pieces 48 (or 49) of like polarity in adjacent pairs throughout the series. As a result, the magnet member 47 of each unit in the series generates a flux circuit through its pole pieces 43 and 49 that exerts a localized attractive pull on the takeoff roll 32 riding the magnet roll 33 to weight the nip between these rolls with exceptional effectiveness and uniformity throughout the length of the nip. This nip and the rolls 32 and 33 that form it must have substantial elongation in order to receive and act on the carded web at doffed width, and there has heretofore been troublesome difficulty encountered in maintaining roll members properly weighted for crushing action on carded fiber because of the tendency toward lengthwise flexure of the rolls when the considerable weighting needed for crushing was applied by usual means. The magnetic weighting provided by the present invention entirely eliminates all tendency towards roll flexure, and because this is so the magnetic weighting additionally makes possible the use of the relatively small diameter roll 32 for take-off purposes as well as for crushing in combination with the magnet roll 33.

To obtain these advantages, the magnets 47 should be proportioned for installation in the roll 33 so that the adjacent pairs of pole pieces 48 and 49 are regularly spaced at relatively short intervals throughout the magnet series in relation to the length of roll 33. For example, in a magnet roll 33 for a 40-inch carding machine it has been found advisable to employ seven magnets 47 in forming the magnet series within the roll to weight a nip of sufficient length to handle the doffed width of the carded web. With a magnet series of this order it has been found possible to provide more than enough nip weighting for crushing action, and an adjustable shunt bar structure 51 (see FIG. 3) is therefore preferably arranged on the mounting brackets 35 adjacent the roll 33 for modulating the magnetic weighting suitably to avoid fiber damage during the crushing action.

The magnetic weighting of the take-off and crush roll pair 32-33 also has the auxiliary effect of eliminating any need for driving the small take-off roll 32 because the magnet roll 33 causes this roll to rotate therewith, and it is therefore only necessary to drive the magnet roll 33 which may be done suitably by a connection running from the doffer roll 16 as indicated at 52 in FIG. 1. The doffer roll 16 is also connected as at 53 to drive the usual calendar roll stand 54 for receiving the sliver S as it is gathered thereat through a trumpet 56 for delivery to a coiler mechanism 56 by which it is deposited in a sliver can 57 for subsequent processing.

The foregoing arrangement for driving the front end take-off and sliver gathering through the connections 52 and 53 from the doffer roll 16 is utilized according to the present invention to provide for speed control of the front end operation so that carding production is maintained at operating speed through mean which allows selective slowing of the operation readily to a low speed whenever this is necessary or convenient, as when the end needs to be put-up. The speed control means provided for this purpose is indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 1 at 58, and the details of its structural form are shown in FIG. 6. Considering first the arrangement indicated diagrammatically in FIG, 1, the speed control means 58 is seen to be connected for driving the dotfer roll 16, as represented at 59, while having a driving connection 60 running thereto from the lickerin roll 13 which is conventionally driven from the cylinder 14 as indicated at 61.

Turning next to the FIG. 6 detail, the speed control means 58 is illustrated as comprising a stationary stud shaft 62 that is shouldered at 63 to form a shank portion 64 at which it is fixed on the carding machine frame in any suit-able manner. (not shown). Adjacent the shoulder 63, a bushing 65 is disposed for rotation on the stud shaft 62. This bushing 65 in turn carries a driving element 66, a first pulley member 67, and a first gear mem ber 68. Both the driving element 66 and the first pulley member 67 are fixed by key means 69 for rotation with the bushing 65 and form the train through which the doffer roll 16 is driven at operating speed; the driving element 66 being incorporated in the drive connection 59 running from the speed control means 58 to the dotfer roll 16, suitably as a sprocket chain drive, and the first pulley member 67 having a flanged periphery serving as a flat pulley surface to receive the drive connection 60 from the lickerin roll 13 in belt form, so that a direct drive coupling is effected through pulley member 67 and driving element 66 when the drive connection 60 is riding this first pulley member 67.

The first gear member 68 that is additionally carried on the bushing 65 has an overrunning clutch means 70 fitted centrally therein and arranged so that the gear member 68 idles on the bushing 65 when the first pulley member 67 is being driven, but acts to rotate the bushing 6-5 whenever it is alternatively driven in the same direction. This overrunning arrangement of gear member 68 allows it to be employed as an element of a change speed drive train that includes a second pulley member 71, at least one set of second and third gear members 72 and 73 coaxially mounted on the second pulley member 71 in planetary fashion, and a fourth gear member 74 mounted on the stud shaft 62. The fourth gear member 74 is fixed by keying as at 75 to remain stationary with the stud shaft 62 while engaging the third gear member 73 of the planetary set to require its rotation whenever the drive connection 60 is shifted to ride the second pulley member 71, while the second gear member 72 is secured (as indicated at 76 in FIG. 6) for rotation with the third gear member 73 and in turn engages the first gear member 68 to complete a drive coupling through the overrunning clutch means 70 for driving the dolfer roll 16 alternatively at a suitable low speed whenever desired.

The speed control means 58 finally comprises a third pulley member 77 forming an idler on the stud shaft 62 and allowing the doffer roll 16 to be stopped by shifting the drive connection 60 to ride thereon. Provision for selectively shifting the drive connection 60 between the three pulley members 67, 71 and 77 may be made in a variety of ways. An arrangement that is preferred according to the present invention as diagrammed in FIG. 1 as comprising a control lever 78 located at the front of the carding machine for convenient manipulation from the position adjacent the calender roll stand 54 at which an operator stands in putting-up an end, with suitable articulation extending therefrom, as indicated at 79 to operate a belt shifting means 80 for three-position selection in relation to the pulley members 67, 71 and 77 which are peripherally flanged to present outer fiat pulley surfaces of common diameter, and the disposition of said pulleys is adjacently arranged so that the flat pulley surfaces are substantially contiguous. In a comparable manner a second control lever (not shown) may be arranged adjacently to operate engagement and disengagement of the drive gearing conventionally provided at the doffer roll 16 for driving the feed roll 12 and allowing the feed to be stopped whenever desired. In this way a control center of substantial convenience and advantage is provided at the front of the carding machine for effective tending of the carding operation at the high speeds facilitated by the present invention.

This invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a carding machine having a doffer roll, means for controlling the operation of said dofier roll comprising a stationary stud shaft mounted on said machine, a bushing disposed for rotation on said stud shaft, a driving element fixed on said bushing for rotation therewith to drive said dofier roll, a first pulley likewise fixed on .said bushing for causing rotation thereof, a first gear carried by an overrunning clutch means on said bushing for causing rotation thereof in only one direction, a second pulley mounted on said stud shaft for rotation, at least one set of second and third gears coaxially mounted in planetary fashion on said second pulley with said second gear engaging said first gear and said second and third gears being secured for rotation together, a fourth gear fixed on said stud shaft and engaging said third gear, and a third pulley mounted on said stud shaft in idling relation to said driving element.

2. In a carding machine, the structure defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said first, second and third pulleys are peripherally flanged to present outer fiat pulley surfaces of common diameter, and the disposition of said pulleys is adjacently arranged so that said flat pulley surfaces are substantially contiguous.

3. In a carding machine, the structure defined in claim 2 and further characterized in that shiftable means is provided at said control means for guiding a drive belt to ride at the flat pulley surface of a selected one of said pulleys, and manipulating means is arranged adjacent the front of said carding machine for positioning said shift able means selectively in relation to any one of said pulleys.

No references cited.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

D. NEWTON, Assistant Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. IN A CARDING MACHINE HAVING A DOFFER ROLL, MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF SAID DOFFER ROLL COMPRISING A STATINARY STUD SHAFT MOUNTED ON SAID MACHINE, A BUSHING DISPOSED FOR ROTATION ON SAID STUDE SHAFT, A DRIVING ELEMENT FIXED ON SAID BUSHING FOR ROTATION THEREWITH TO DRIVE SAID DOFFER ROLL, A FIRST PULLEY LIKEWISE FIXED ON SAID BUSHING FOR CAUSING ROTATION THEREOF, A FIRST GEAR CARRIED BY AN OVERRUNNING CLUTCH MEANS ON SAID BUSHING FOR CAUSING ROTATION THEREOF IN ONLY ONE DIRECTION, A SECOND PULLEY MOUNTED ON SAID STUD SHAFT FOR ROTATION, AT LEAST ONE SET OF SECOND AND THIRD GEARS COAXIALLY MOUNTED IN PLANETARY FASHION ON SAID SECOND PULLEY WITH SAID SECOND GEAR ENGAGING SAID FIR GEAR AND SAID SECOND AND THIRD GEARS BEING SECURED FOR ROTATION TOGETHER, A FOURTH GEAR FIXED ON SAID STUD SHAFT AND ENGAGING SAID THIRD GEAR, AND A THIRD PULLEY MOUNTED ON SAID STUD SHAFT IN IDLING RELATION TO SAID DRIVING ELEMENT.

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