US3383745A

US3383745A - Method for crimping yarn

Info

Publication number: US3383745A
Application number: US562410A
Authority: US
Inventors: Mattingly Denis Albert Edward
Original assignee: Klinger Manufacturing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Klinger Manufacturing Co Ltd
Priority date: 1964-06-10
Filing date: 1966-05-17
Publication date: 1968-05-21
Anticipated expiration: 1985-05-21

Description

May 21 1968 D. A. E. MATHNGLY 3,383,745

METHOD FOR CRIMPING YARN Original Filed June lO. 1964 MPN W///DP/wml 5MG YAPA/ F El' D minata/rrp (0V/M Mid/Vf United States Patent O 3,383,745 METHOD FOR CRIMPING YARN Denis Albert Edward Mattingly, London, England, as-

signor to The Klinger Manufacturing Company Limited, London, England, a British company Original application June 10, 1964, Ser. No. 374,045, now Patent No. 3,287,783, dated Nov. 29, 1966. Divided and this application May 17, 1966, Ser. No. 562,410

4 Claims. (Cl. 28-72) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Synthetic filament yarn to be non-uniformly crimped is fed to a crimping chamber and longitudinally compressed in the chamber to form a plug of crimped yarn while varying the relation between the rate of removal of the plug from the chamber and the rate of feed. A conveyor wheel used to remove the plug can be driven at variable speed or the wheel may have variable yarn conveying properties. Alternatively a variable speed drive for the yarn feed can be used.

This application is a division of copendiug application Ser. No. 374,045, filed June 10, 1964, now U.'S. Patent 3,287,783, granted Nov. 29, 1966, and entitled, Yarn Crimping Apparatus.

This invention relates to apparatus for crimping yarn by compression so that it assumes a sinuous or zig-zag formation and particularly for crimping yarns formed from organic synthetic material including polyamides, polyester-s, and material sold under the trade name nylon and Perlon and under the registered trademark Terylene and which apparatus is of the kind comprising a wheel having its periphery so formed that the yarn will cling to it and a part of whichl periphery projects into a groove in a member so as to leave a space between those parts, means for heating the yarn whilst in said groove or before reaching the groove, or after reaching the groove or for heating the yarn at any of these locations, feed rollers arranged to force the yarn into one end -of said space, means for driving said wheel at such a speed in relation to the feed rollers that the yarn is compressed in said space and so that the resulting plug of compressed yarn travels round with said wheel and means for withdrawing said yarn at a controlled rate from the head of the plug and for winding it into a package. Two forms of such apparatus are described in my prior patent applications Ser. No. 240,551, tiled Nov. 1l, 1962, now U.S. Patent 3,212,157, granted Oct. 19, 1965, and Ser. No. 270,448, now yU.S. Patent No. 3,174,- 206, granted Apr. 3, 1963.

An object of the invention is to enable the extent of crimp to be varied along the length -of the yarn whereby an article formed from the yarn has a non-uniform appearance over the area thereof.

The invention is particularly applicable to yarn of large denier and which is subsequently cut into lengths forming tufts in carpets. By the use of the invention the yarn in different tufts may have different degrees of crimping or the tufts may be made up of lengths of yarn having different crimping according to the appearance of the carpet which is required.

According to this invention an apparatus of the kind referred to in the above referenced applications is modified in that means are provided for periodically varying the rate of travel of the yarn through the space in which it is compressed in relation to the rate of feed of the yarn and/ or in relation to the rate of withdrawal of the yarn from said space.

In one form om improved apparatus means may be M1ce provided for periodically varying the rate of rotation of the feed rollers whereas the rate of -rotation of said wheel and the rate of driving of said withdrawing means remain substantially constant.

Alternatively the rate of rotation of the feed rollers and the rate of drive of the withdrawing means may be maintained substantially constant and said wheel is so driven that its rate of rotation is periodically varied.

In yet another alternative arrangement in which the yarn is subjected to heating and cooling steps after being withdrawn from said wheel, the rate of rotation of the feed rollers and of said wheel are maintained substantially constant and the rate of withdrawal of the yarn from said plug on the wheel is periodically varied.

In any of the arrangements referred to above instead of the speed of the various parts being periodically varied they may be arranged so that they are constantly varying at a predetermined periodicity.

In the case where the speed is periodically varied certain stretches of the yarn will have a uniform crimp of one predetermined extent and other stretches of uniform crimp of another extent whereas when the speed is continually changing the extent of crimp will vary continuously along the length of the Iyarn.

In any of the arrangements where the speed of drive is to be varied this may be effected by change speed gear having automatically actuated controlling mechanism.

In yet another alternative arrangement the irate of drive of said feed rollers, and 4of said wheel and of the withdrawing means may be maintained substantially constant and the periphery of said wheel is so formed as to have varying yarn clinging properties around its periphery.

For example, in the case where the wheel is provi-ded with teeth around its periphery certain portions of the periphery may be left clear of the teeth so that when this part of the wheel is opposite the compressed yarn it traverses it at a lesser rate than when the toothed part of the wheel is opposite the yarn.

Alternatively certain portions of the periphery may have different toothed forms.

Yet again certain portions of the periphery may have different height of teeth than others. For example, the tips of the teeth may lie on the same circumference whereas the base portions of the teeth may be disposed on circumferences of different diameters.

In yet another arrangement portions of the periphery wheel may be polished whereas other parts of the periphery may be roughened.

The invention includes within its scope a yarn in which the extent of crimping varied in an ordered and predetermined manner along the length thereof.

Other objects and arrangements of the invention will become apparent and the invention will be fully understood from the following description and drawings in which FlG. 1 is a schematic view partially in cross section of a composite embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view of an alternate embodiment of feed wheel;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing a further embodiment of feed wheel;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing still another embodiment of feed wheel; and

FIG. 5 is a View similar to FIG. 2 showing still another embodiment of feed wheel.

Referring to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1, the invention as embodied includes a stuffing box crimper in substantial accordance with applicants prior application Ser. No. 240,551. The specific construction details and functioning of the elements designated 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 24a and 72 need not be specifically elaborated on herein as these conform to applicants prior aforementioned application and are fully disclosed therein in connection with the description of the figures and particularly Fig. 4 of that application. However, the present invention includes a novel combination of programmed variable speed control means 100 for altering the speed of the means 102 for driving the yarn input feed wheels 19, 19; the feed wheel 14; and/or yarn withdrawal and take up means which may be operated in accordance with the preceding description to produce a yarn having varying degrees of crimp therein. As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, when the relative speeds of the respective drive means shown in FIG. 1, are maintained constant, a uniformly crimped product will result. In the practice of the invention herein disclosed, a product having varying degrees of crimp may readily be obtained by the programmed speed variation, either gradually, periodically or abruptly of one or more of the drive means.

In FIG. 2, an alternate form of toothed feed wheel designated 14a is disclosed. The peripheral portion designated 50 is void of teeth, which will alter the clinging properties of the yarn plug in this portion of the wheel, thereby altering the crimping conditions at the bight of the feed rollers 19, 19, during its passage across the end of the crimping chamber 21.

The alternate feed wheel designated 1411 of FIG. 3 includes a plurality of teeth 52 of rounded or otherwise different form from the remainder of the teeth upon the wheel to accomplish similar results as those obtained from the wheel of FIG. 2.

Likewise, the wheel designated 14e in FIG. 4 includes a peripheral portion having shallow root teeth designated 54, 54, which also in relationship to the adjacent teeth alter the crimping conditions at the bight of the feed rollers 19.

FIG. 5 is yet a further extension of FIGS. 2-4 and includes a feed wheel designated 14d having a roughened peripheral portion designated A adjacent a polished peripheral portion designated B. Again, as in the previous figures, the different co-eicient of friction between the various peripheral portions of feed wheels 14a to 14d is effective to periodically alter the crimping character istics to thereby produce a non-uniformly crimped yarn. While it will be understood that a non-uniformly crimped yarn may be obtained by the use of the feed wheels of FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 inclusive, without the use of the programmed variable speed control means of FIG. 1, it should be appreciated that the present invention contemplates the individual use as well as the combined use of 4any one of the disclosed condition varying means to obtain the desired crimped yarn product.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the inventive principles, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

What I claim is:

1. In a method for crimping yarn, which comprises feeding the yarn into confining means to form a plug, engaging the plug of yarn and conveying the plug away from the discharge end of said confining means through enclosure means, the improvement comprising varying the rate of travel of the plug from the discharge end of said confining means relative to the rate of feeding the yarn to thereby produce a yarn of non-uniform crimp.

2. In the method for crimping yarn according to claim 1, wherein the rate of feeding of the yarn is varied.

3. In the method of crimping yarn according to claim 1, wherein the rate of the conveying of the plug is varied.

4. In the method for crimping yarn according to claim 1, wherein the plug of yarn is engaged by clinging to a conveyor, and wherein the yarn clinging property of the conveyor is varied.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,758,358 8/1956 Shattuck 28-1 3,121,935 2/1964 Shattuck et al. 28-1 3,248,770 5/1966 Shattuck et al. 28-72 X 3,259,953 7/1966 Baer 28-1 LOUIS K. RIMRODT, Primary Examiner.