US3457964A - Shuttleless loom - Google Patents

Description

July 29, 1969 JQE. BURBANK SHUTTLELESS LOOM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 16, 1968 z 2 z E z: w

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rbank ATTORNEY July 29, 1969 J. E. BURBANK 3,457,964

,SHUTTLELESS LOOM Filed Jan. 16, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR JohnEBurbank.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,457,964 SHUTTLELESS LOOM John Emerson Burbank, Middlebury, Conn., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, C0nn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Jan. 16, 1968, Ser. No. 698,182 Int. Cl. D03d 41/00 US. Cl. 13911 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A shuttleless loom for weaving a preformed zipper fastener strip into the edge of a tape imparts motions to the laying needle which will move the weft thread alternately over and under the fastener strip so as to avoid any high frequency up and down movement of the fastener strip. Preferably also a tilting movement is simultaneously imparted to the needle so as to bring the weft loop always to the same place when the needle is projected through a shed from above or under the fastener strip to permit the formation of a selvage edge by a single knitting needle in the usual way.

This invention relates to shuttleless looms, which are sometimes called needle looms, for weaving a fastener strip into one edge of a tape thus avoiding a separate sewing operation. It is intended primarily for fastener strips made of filamentary plastic material formed into a serpentine shape or more commonly a coil. Such strips are quite flimsy and difficult to control before they are secured to a tape.

One example of a loom for weaving coils into a tape is shown in the Hendley Patent No. 3,123,103. Here, a complicated mechanism is required for feeding and guiding the coil because it must have a shedding movement imparted to it at every cycle of the laying needle. It is an object of this invention to avoid the necessity for moving the coil in this manner whereby the loom may not only be made to operate more smoothly but, what is more important, the coil itself does not have to be shaken and bent While it is being woven into the tape.

Instead of moving the coil up and down, the weft laying needle is shifted up and down while it is out of the shed to carry the filler threads around the coil. Since the weft laying needle moves up and down, it can also move over and under some of the warp threads, thus reducing the number of heddles required because such warp threads may move straight into the loom just as the coil.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will occur to those skilled in the art after an understanding of one specific embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a loom showing my improved laying needle actuating means;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation looking at the left side of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a detailed cross-section on line -44 at the extreme right side of FIG. 1 on a larger scale;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the laying needle carrier and some associated parts, and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic plan views showing the weaving operation at the shedding area of the upper and lower positions respectively of the weft needle.

In general, the weaving operation is similar to that of other needle looms wherein a needle 8 has, at is free end, an eye 9 for carrying the weft thread 10 into a shed of wrap threads generally indicated by the numeral 11, a knitting needle 12 picks up each projected double weft and loops it through the preceding double pick to form a knitted selved-ge edge in the usual manner. One exception to the general practice is that only a portion of the warp threads indicated at 11a in FIG. 4 requires to be moved by heddles whereas another group indicated at 11b may be fed into the loom without any shedding movement.

The fastener strip herein shown in the form of a coil 13 is guided into position alongside the edge of the woven tape by any suitable means such as a stationary tube 14. Where the group 11b of warp threads is not being shedded, the coil would be fed into position in transverse alignment with those warps.

The needle 8 is formed at the end of a shaft 15 which extends through bearings 16 and 17 of a needle carrier generally designated 18. Bearings 16 and 17 are designed to allow shaft 15 rotatable movement only. Up and down movement of the needle 8 between positions over and under the coil 13 and warps 11b takes place about the axis of a pin 19 which is received in bearings 20-21 on oppo site sides of an opening 22 in the carrier 18. Mounted in this opening 22 and also pivoted on the pin 19 is an actuator block 23 having a vertical hole 24 into which fits a crank pin 25. This crank pin is fixed to a gear 26 which is power-driven from any suitable source of power through drive shaft 27. Since the crank pin is offset with respect to the center line of the drive shaft, the actuator block 23 receives a circular motion as indicated by the dot and dash lines in FIG. 1, which, of course, drives that portion of the needle carrier at the center line of the bearings 20 and 21 in a circular path.

To obtain the rise and fall motion of the needle 8, the carrier 18 is oscillated as a lever about the pin 19. This action is derived from an outer plate cam 28 on the top surface of a gear 31 mounted on a stud shaft 31a and meshing with gear 26. The low portion 29 and the high portion 30 of the cam 28 against which the rounded end 32 of the cam follower pin 33 rides, causes up and down movement as indicated by the arrow 34 in FIG. 5, which is transmitted to the needle carrier 18 through the cylindrical end 35 fitting into hole 36 of the carrier. This portion of the carrier is held in position on a shoulder 37 of the pin 33 by means of a spring 38 attached at one end to an arm 39 and at the other end to the frame 40 of the machine.

The pin 33 is tethered to a link 41 by means of spherical central portion 42 engaging in a spherical bearing 43 at the free end of link 41. The other end of the link 41 has a spherical bearing 44 connecting it to a stationary ball-shaped projection 45 mounted on the end of stud shaft 31a. The pin 33 and thus the left end of the carrier 18 as seen in the drawings, is constrained to move in an arcuate path as indicated by the arrow 46 in FIG. 1. It will be seen that this combination of a circular movement at the central portion of the carrier 18 and an arcuate movement of the left end will produce an elliptical movement of the needle 8 which projects beyond the right end of the carrier. A layout of the positions of the crank pin 25 indicated by the letters a, b, c, d, will correspond to positions of the needle eye 9 as indicated by the same letters a, b, c, and a.

With the mechanism so far described, a weaving operation could be accomplished but it would complicate the problem of knitting the successive loops of weft thread. While this might be done by a vertical needle, it is preferred to impart to the needle 8, a tilting action so that always the needle eye will approach the same level at the selvedge side of the tape whether it is projected from above or below the coil. For this purpose I provide means for tilting the needle about the axis of its shaft 15 in the bearings 16 and 17. This is accomplished by a second plate cam 47 operating and a follower 48 which extends upwardly through a clearance opening 49 in the link 41. This follower 48 is attached to a lever arm 50 which in turn is keyed to the needle shaft 15. By means of a suitable timing design of the plate cam 47, the needle 8 can be tilted so that it approaches the inner end of its stroke at the correct angle to bring the weft thread into line with the knitting needle 12. This is accomplished by high portions 47a and low portions 471). A spring 51 connected between pins 52 and 53 on the needle shaft and carrier resepectively serves to hold the follower 48 always against the surface of its claim 47.

I claim that:

1. In a shuttleless loom for weaving a preformed zipper fastener element strip (of the continuous filament type) into one edge of a tape, the combination of:

(a) stationary means for guiding the fastener element strip alongside a shedding area of Warp threads in substantially a constant horizontal plane;

(b) a weft laying needle having a thread receiving eye near its free end;

(c) means for projecting said needle through and withdrawing it from each shed;

(d) means for imparting a second movement to said needle while in its withdrawn position so as alternately to position it and the weft thread carried thereby, over and under said fastener element strip; and

(e) means for catching loops of weft thread as projected by said needle and forming a selvage along the other edge of said tape.

2. The combination defined in claim 1, together with means for imparting a third movement to the weft laying needle which will make the path of the needle eye angle toward a common point as it is projected either from its position over the fastener element strip or from its position under the fastener element strip.

3. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein the needle actuating means of clause (c) and ((1) included a needle carrier, means for driving an intermediate portion of said carrier in a circular path, a link free to pivot about one end with its other end tethered to said needle carrier at a point spaced a substantial distance from said intermediate portion, and means for rocking or oscillating said carrier about an axis extending through said intermediate portion transverse to the axs of said circular path.

4. The combination defined in claim 2 together With a shaft on which the needle is mounted and means for tilting the needle about the axis of said shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,651,330 9/1953 Mostertz 139-11 3,123,103 3/1964 Hendley 139-11 3,186,442 6/1965 Gale 1391 18 HENRY S. JAUDON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 139124

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