US3500519A - Strand treatment - Google Patents

Description

March 17, 1970 I R. K. STANLEY 3,500,519

I STRAND TREATMENT Filed April 1, 1968 TENS\ON CONTROL TENSION CONTROL I I l DRAWING CR\MPING awavme P0136??? STA/VLF) A Trams/5K:

United States Patent 3,500,519 STRAND TREATMENT Robert K. Stanley, Media, Pa., assignor to Techuiservice Corporation, Kennett Square, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 600,986, Dec. 12, 1966. This application Apr. 1, 1968, Ser.

Int. Cl. D02j 1/22 US. Cl. 28-71.3 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Textile strands are fed into and are removed from a strand-drawing zone and/or a strand-crimping zone through a tension-control step wherein the tension is controlled by passing the strand in essentially non-slipping contact with two or more rolls rotating together and retarding the roll rotation by frictional contact with one thereof.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application, Ser. No. 600,986, filed Dec. 12, 1966 now abandoned.

In supplying a textile strand to a drawing zone in which it is extended to permanently increased length or to a crimping zone in which it is distorted in configuration and thereby effectively shortened overall, or in withdrawing a drawn or crimped textile strand therefrom, product uniformity is favored by operating at uniform tension, which is difiicult to obtain. Many types of tension control and controlling devices are known, but they are either erratic or impositive in their action or complex and expensive to acquire or to maintain.

A primary object of the present invention is positive, precise, readily adjustable control of strand tension in treatment of textile strands as by drawing or crimping.

Another object is improved quality of drawn textile strands and of improved draw-crimping of textile strands.

Other object of the present invention, together with means and methods for attaining the various objects, will be apparent from the description herein and the accompanying diagrams.

FIG. 1 is a schematic indication of examples of use of the present invention in conjunction with strand drawing and strand crimping;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of apparatus useful in practicing the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a rear elevation of the same apparatus.

In general, the objects of the present invention are accomplished by passing a textile strand in essentially nonslipping relationship with a plurality of rolls and thereby rotating the rolls, and retarding rotation of the rolls by application of an opposing frictional force thereto. Specific means for doing so and for adjusting the frictional force so applied are described and illustrated.

FIG. 1 shows, in schematic form, textile strand 10 being unwound from supply package 11 and passing through guide 12 and through four steps or zones, numbered 13, 14, 15, and 16 and shown in block form, before being wound up on windup package 18 rotated by surface contact with drive roll 17, which may be of self-traversing type. The first and last of the numbered steps or zones (i.e., 13 and 16) are labeled Tension Control, while the intermediate two (i.e., 14 and 15) are labeled Drawing and Crimping, respectively. Broken line 19 extending vertically between the symbols for the last two indicate that the output from drawing step or zone 14 need not be to a crimping step or zone, and that the input to the latter step or zone need not be from a drawing step or zone, although such a combination may be employed, and that 3,500,519 Patented Mar. 17, 1970 ice like Tension Control may be employed at such location(s).

FIGS. 2 and 3 show in elevation, from the front and rear, respectively, specific apparatus for accomplishing strand tension control according to this invention. First roll 21 on axle 21a and third roll 23 on axle 23a are both contiguous with minor cylindrical portion 22 of second roll 22, which is mounted on axle 22a parallel to the other two axles. The first and third rolls do not touch one another. Strand 10 passes about slightly less than half of each of the first and third rolls and about three-fourths of the minor portion of the second or intermediate roll, passing between the nip formed by each of the first and third rolls with the latter. Belt or strap 32 extends about a quadrant of the major portion of roll 22 from fixed location 31 at one end to stop 33 at the other end, upon which are supported weights 34, thereby biasing the belt or strap into frictional contact with the roll surface.

Strand 10 is pulled, as by the windup means shown in FIG. 1 (or by draw rolls, etc.) in essentially non-slipping contact with first roll 21, minor portion 22' of the second roll, and third roll 23, thereby rotating them in the directions indicated by the arrows. The major portion of roll 22 rotates in slipping frictional contact with belt or strap 32, which counters the positive rotation and thereby tensions the strand. The tension can be increased by adding weights, and reduced by subtracting weights, carried by the belt or strap. The relative sizes of the major, strandsupporting portion of roll 22 and minor belt-supporting portion 22 thereof may be changed for a like or other purpose, as by press-fitting collars of various sizes thereon.

The resulting tension in the strand is essentially constant at a maximum value determined by the frictional contact just described, which tends to smooth out preexisting tension irregularities in the strand. As the control is passive, rather than active, it cannot superimpose additional tension variations upon the strand. Adjustment is simplicity itself, and maintenance is practically nil.

The advantages and benefits of the apparatus and process of this invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the arts of strand-drawing and strand-crimping. Such crimping may include any art-recognized method of altering the configuration of a textile strand to impart bulk, crimp or texture thereto, regardless of the means employed to do so, whether blades, gears, jets, stutter-boxes, twisting heads, or temperature-differential (or other stressditferential) devices. Of special interest, as suggested above, is any method in which the drawing and crimping steps occur so closely related in time that the strand may be said to have been draw-crimped. A preferred example thereof in which the strand is stufier-crimped is set forth in my copending patent application Ser. No. 302,758, filed July 31, 1963 and scheduled to issue as Patent No. 3,376,622.

If desired, in one embodiment of this invention, roll 23 may establish the beginning of a drawing zone. As is customary in such zone, the strand passes in essentially non-slipping contact with each of a first set of rolls rotating at a given surface speed and with each of a second set of rolls rotating at a second surface speed sufiiciently greater than the first to draw the strand to increased length. Instead of being one of a first set of draw rolls, roll 23 may be located ahead of and be rotated at substantially the same surface speed as the first rolls in the d awing zone. Additionally, if desired, in an embodiment of the invention, roll 22 may act to withdraw crimped strand from a crimping zone or may receive the crimped strand from a roll that withdraws it from the crimping zone. In a preferred embodiment, tension control means of the present invention are located both at the entrance to a strand-drawing zone and at the exit from a strand-crimping zone.

Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described and illustrated herein, modifications may be made therein, as by adding, combining, or

sub-dividing parts or steps. Moreover, viscous fluid-damping means or a hysteresis brake (deemed to be frictionally retarded within the terminology of this application) may be employed in place of belt or strap 32. One or more of such modifications may be made while retaining all or some of the advantages and benefits of this invention, which is defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In strand-drawing apparatus including a first set of draw rolls rotatable at a given surface speed and a second set of draw rolls rotatable at a sufliciently greater speed to draw to increased length a textile strand passing thereover, strand-tensioning means located in advance of the draw rolls and comprising a pair of rolls, a third roll forming a nip with each of the first two rolls, and means for applying a frictional retarding force to the third roll to oppose rotation of all three rolls by contact with strand moving thereover.

,2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for applying the frictional retarding force comprises a belt contiguous with the third roll and having one end free and supporting a weight for biasing the belt into frictional contact with the roll.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rolls in the strand-tensioning means are rotatable at substantially the same surface speed as the first set of draw rolls.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first set of draw rolls comprises at least one of the rolls in the strand-tencrimping means and the withdrawal rolls and comprising a pair of rolls, a third roll forming a nip with each of the first two rolls, and means for applying a frictional retarding force to the third roll to oppose rotation of all three rolls by contact with strand passing thereover in essentionally non-slipping contact therewith,

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the rolls in the strand-tensioning means are rotatable at substantially the same surface speed as the set of withdrawing rolls.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the set of withdrawing rolls comprises at least one of the rolls in the strand-tensioning means.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for applying the frictional retarding force comprises a belt contiguous with the third roll and having one end free and supporting a weight for biasing the belt into frictional contact with the roll.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,289,232 7/1942 Babcock 2871.3X 2,329,374 9/1943 Holden 242 151 2,499,888 3/1950 Taylor 2871.3X 2,768,057 10/1956 Friederich 28-595 2,807,863 10/1957 Schenker 2871.3X 2,846,752 8/1958 Lessig. 2,851,043 9/1958 Slovin 28-71.3X 2,988,799 6/1961 Atwell. 3,145,947 8/1964 Stanley.

JAMES KEE CHI, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 281

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