US3452947A - Modular creel - Google Patents

Description

July 1, 1969 H. D. THURMAN' MODULAR CREEL Filed July 7, 1967 INVENTOR Hoyt D. Thurman ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,452,947 MODULAR CREEL Hoyt Dean Thurman, Chattanooga, Tenn., assignor to The Singer Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed July 7, 1967, Ser. No. 651,867 Int. Cl. D02h 1/00; B65h 49/02; D03j 5/08 US. Cl. 242-131 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to creels for use with textile machinery or the like. Creels of the type disclosed herein are normally used for supporting a plurality of yarn cones in order to provide a supply of yarn for a textile machine in a manner which permits substantially continuous operation of the machine by feeding the yarns from the storage space provided by the creel in a predetermined orderly fashion. When such creels are used with textile machinery, such as tufting machinery or the like, the creels may store as many as two thousand yarn cones. The disclosure particularly relates to a creel which is of novel and improved construction and serves to increase the efliciency of the textile processes to which it is related.

Brief summary of invention This invention relates to creels for use with textile machinery, such as tufting machines or the like, and particularly relates to a novel and improved creel construction which is easily and relatively rapidly assembled and occupies a minimum amount of floor space. The creel of the invention is of modular construction containing individual modules selected from standard sizes and which are readily detachable from one another. Due to the novel construction of the creel of the invention, a relatively large creel can be assembled on site in a relatively short time as opposed to prior known creels which required custom engineering and installation at the location. Further, the creel of the invention provides a novel yarn cone support arrangement and yarn feed arrangement which permits a substantially reduction in the overall space required for the creel assembly, as compared to prior known creels containing like numbers of yarn cones. Thus, through the present invention, a creel can be relatively rapidly assembled in a minimum amount of space at the location without requiring a substantial amount of custom engineering at the location prior to construction thereof.

Accordingly, it is one object of the invention to provide a novel and improved creel construction for use with textile machinery.

It is another object of the invention to provide a novel and improved modular creel construction.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel and improved creel construction which is made up of individual modules and can be relatively rapidly assembled.

It, is still another object of the invention to provide a novel and improved creel construction wherein the yarn supporting and feed arrangements are such that the space occupied by the creel construction is minimized.

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It is an additional object of the invention to provide a novel and improved creel wherein the construction and arrangement of the creel is such that maximum convenience is provided for loading or unloading yarn cones from the yarn suporting means carried by said creel.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be best understood when reading the following detailed description with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Brief description of the drawing FIGURE 1 is a partial exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the creel of the invention; and

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged partial perspective view of the creel shown in FIGURE 1.

Detailed description of the invention Referring to FIGURE 1, the creel shown therein is made up of a plurality of individual interconnected modules comprising a pair of upright or vertical support members 10, horizontal interconnecting support members 12 and a vertical creel post 14 including a plurality of yarn cone holders 16. The vertical support members 10 and the horizontal support members 12 are interconnected by readily detachable connecting members 18 through which the individual support members may be snapped together in a readily detachable fashion. If desired, the connecting members 18 may include set screws or the like to insure tight interconnection between said support members or may comprise known-type snap connection means. Each module may be interconnected with a second module by horizontal support members 20 to provide an individual creel section.

As illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2, the yarn creel post 14 may contain a single stack of yarn cone holders 16 or a double stack of yarn cone holders facing in opposite directions, such as illustrated by the yarn creel post 14'. As further shown in FIGURE 1, a yarn creel section comprising two interconnecting modules may be constructed to include a stack of 6 vertically spaced yarn cone holders 16 or may comprise a creel section including a yarn creel post having three vertically stacked yarn cone holders 16 as illustrated at the upper portion of FIGURE 1. Obviously, the stacks may be constructed in other members of cone holders, if desired. In the creel shown in FIGURE 1 it will be apparent that each of the horizontal support members 12 and 20 for both the six cone holder creel section or the three cone holder creel section will be standard components with only the length of the vertical support members 10 and the yarn creel post 14 varying in size. Also, the connecting members 18 will be standard for all size creel sections.

Again referring to FIGURE 1 it will be seen that when a plurality of modules are assembled into interconnecting creel sections, an aisle way A is provided between adjacent and parallel creel sections for permitting easy access to said creel sections so that the yarn cone holders 16 may be readily loaded with yarn cones 24 for storing yarn to be used by the associated textile machine. Further, it will also be seen that each of the creel sections made up of the individual modules has its sides, parallel to the aisle way completely open for easy access to the yarn cone holders 16. As is known for example in the tufting industry the yarn cone holders are often serviced by women who must continually replenish the supply of yarn to the yarn cone holders. Further, the yarn cones themselves may weigh as much as eleven pounds a piece or more which may present some difficulty if easy access to the yarn support holders 16 is not available. In the prior art type creels, easy access was not always available and presented some difficulty for the person servicing the creel who is required to lift the heavy yarn packages and replenish the supply thereof. In the present invention, as pointed out above, the creels are completely open at each side and the person servicing the creels may walk through the aisleway and have easy access to one side of each of the adjacent creel sections without requiring the bending over or reaching between any support members which may represent obstacles in replenshing the yarn supply.

Referring to FIGURE 2, it will be seen therein that each yarn cone holder 16 comprises a substantially U- shaped member fixedly connected by suitable means to a yarn creel post 14 or 14. Each yarn cone holder 16 is adapted to receive two yarn cones 24 thereon (FIG. 2). If desired, the leg portions 26 of the yarn cone holders 16 may include a yarn package holder for further supporting the yarn cone 24, as for example that shown in United States Patent No. 3,111,288, issued on Nov. 19, 1963.

The creel of the invention also provides a novel yarn cone suporting arrangement and feed arrangements which permits a substantial reduction in the overall space required by the creel. Referring to FIGURE 2, it will be seen that in each creel section, yarn creel posts 14 and 14' are respectively disposed at each end thereof with their yarn cone holders disposed in facing relationship. Preferably, the yarn cone holders 16 of one creel post are vertically spaced such that they are in slight overlapping relationship with the yarn cone supporter holders 16 of the yarn creel post at the other end of the creel section. As shown in phantom lines in FIG. 2 the yarn cones 24 are disposed in pairs on each yarn cone holder 16 with the forward or lead end of the yarn of one of the yarn cones 24 being fed to a yarn creel post 14 or 14' at the opposite end of the creel section and then passes through a yarn guide and up the creel post to the tufting machine in a known maner. The trailing end of the yarn on the feeding yarn cone 24 is attached to the lead end of the other yarn cone 24 of the pair supported on each yarn cone holder 16. In this manner, as one yarn cone holder is depleted of its supply the second yarn cone will immediately begin to feed to the machine. Thus the operator merely need replace the depleted yarn cone and attach the lead end to the trailing end of the yarn cone now being fed to the tufting machine. Further, with reference to FIGURE 2, it will be seen that the yarn cones are fed in opposite directions to each other and in overlapping facing relationship. By this arrangement, each creel section can support oposite facing pairs of yarn cones in relatively close relationship so that each creel section occupies a substantial less space for feeding the same amount of yarn than compared to prior known creels in the art. As pointed out and seen in FIGURE 2, the cone arrangement of the invention not only saves substantial amounts of space, but the arrangement places the yarn cones relatively close to the creel operator for ease and convenience of loading the yarn cones on their respective cone holders.

Prior to the invention of the present creel embodiment, it was necessary that much engineering time be spent at the location wherein the creel was to be installed for measuring the provided space for the creel and then designing a creel to fit the location as a custom installation. Due to the standarzation of many of the parts of the creel invention herein and the fact that the creel may be readily easily assembled because of its modular and detachable construction, a supply of creel parts may be shipped to the location and assembled in relatively rapid time in the allocated space.

Further, and of prime importance, because of the arrangement of the yarn supports and feed, the creel of the invention may be assembled in relatively minimum space thus permitting a substantial reduction in engineering tme and occupation of prime floor space.

While the invention has been described in its preferred embodiment, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

1. A creel for use with tufting machines or the like including a plurality of creel modules disposed in assembled relationship to form a creel section, a plurality of vertically spaced cone support members fixed to a support member of each module and disposed on each end of each said creel section with the cone support members disposed on each end thereof facing the cone support members on the other of said ends and extending in a direction substantially toward the center of said creel section, and said creel section having its sides substantially parallel to the direction of extension of said cone support members free from any obstruction for providing free access to each of said cone support members from each side of said creel section.

2. A creel is recited in claim 1 wherein said creel section is composed of a plurality of readily detachable support members.

3. A creel is recited in claim 1 wherein said creel section includes a plurality of horizontal and vertical support members with each horizontal and vertical support member being of the same length as each of the other respective horizontal and vertical support members.

4. A creel as recited in claim 3 wherein said horizontal and vertical support members are interconnected by means of interconecting members with said interconnecting members each having equal sized receiving openings therein for receiving the respective horizontal and vertical support members.

5. A creel as recited in claim 1 further including a plurality of said creel section disposed in assembled relationship and an aisleway disposed between adjacent creel sections and extending in a direction parallel to the facing sides of the adjacent creel sections.

6. A creel as recited in claim 1 wherein the cone support members on each end of said creel section are vertically spaced with the vertical spacing of the cone support members of one end being disposed such that yarn cones supported thereon will be spaced intermediate of the spacing of the yarn cones supported on the other end thereof.

7. A creel for use with tufting machines or the like comprising a plurality of vertical and horizontal support members, a plurality of vertically Spaced cone support members supported at each end of said creel with said cone support members being disposed in facing relationship in a direction toward the center of said creel, each said cone support members being adapted for receiving a yarn cone thereon, and each end of said creel including yarn receiving means for receiving a yarn end from a yarn cone disposed on a cone support member at the other of said ends, said yarn receiving means at each end being vertically spaced and spaced from the cone support members at its respective end such that the yarn feed from each end of said creel will be in overlapping relationship with the yarn feed from the other end of said creel whereby the cone support members at each end of said creel may be placed in relatively close relationship while providing an orderly feed of yarn from said creel.

8. A creel as recited in claim 7 wherein said vertical and horizontal support members are disposed relative to one another so that each side of said creel is free of any obstruction for providing easy access to said cone support members.

9. A creel as recited in claim 7 wherein each vertical and horizontal support member is of equal size as each other respective vertical and horizontal support member.

10'. A creel as recited in claim 7 wherein said creel is of modular construction including a pair of interconnected modules.

11. A creel as recited in claim 9 further comprising readily detachable connector means for interconnecting said vertical and horizontal support members with said connector means being adapted for receiving additional vertical and horizontal support members so that the size of said creel may be readily enlarged.

6 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,013,770 9/1935 Stein et al 242-131.1 3,150,845 9/1964 Pool 242l31 LEONARD D. CHRISTIAN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 242-l39

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