US3599413A

US3599413A - Apparatus on a double twist spindle frame for supplying the spindles with bobbins and for carrying away the empty yarn carriers

Info

Publication number: US3599413A
Application number: US879708A
Authority: US
Inventors: Klaus Nimtz; Gustav Franzen
Original assignee: Palitex Project Co GmbH
Current assignee: Palitex Project Co GmbH
Priority date: 1968-12-06
Filing date: 1969-11-25
Publication date: 1971-08-17
Anticipated expiration: 1988-08-17
Also published as: ES372830A1; DE1813110B2; DE1813110A1; CH504551A; GB1286548A; FR2025542A1

Abstract

A textile machine comprising a plurality of spindles is provided with a track above the spindles, into which track there is insertable and removable a chain carrying means to hold yarn packages or yarn package supports whereby the spindles may be provided with fresh yarn packages and the yarn supports of the exhausted packages may be removed. Moreover, removal of the exhausted yarn supports from the spindles and supplying of the fresh yarn packages can be accomplished automatically by providing the chain with expanding mandrels to grip the yarn packages or yarn package supports when not positioned to service the spindles and to be freely retractable from or insertable into the yarn package or yarn package supports when positioned to service the spindles.

Description

United States Patent APPARATUS ON A DOUBLE TWIST SPINDLE FRAME I'UR SUPPLYING THE SPINDLES WITH ROBBINS AND FOR CARRYING AWAY THE EMPTY YARN CARRIERS 15 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. 1. 57/53, 57/54 lnt.C| .1 D0lh9/l8, DOlh 9/04 Field of Search 57/34,

Primary Examiner-- Donald E Watkins Attorney-None and Nolte ABSTRACT: A textile machine comprising a plurality of spin dles is provided with a track above the spindles, into which track there is insertable and removable a chain carrying means to hold yarn packages or yarn package supports whereby the spindles may be provided with fresh yarn packages and the yarn supports of the exhausted packages may be removed. Moreover removal of the exhausted yarn supports from the spindles and supplying of the fresh yarn packages can be accomplished automatically by providing the chain with expanding mandrels to grip the yarn packages or yarn package supports when not positioned to service the spindles and to be freely retractable from or insertable into the yarn package or yarn package supports when positioned to service the spindles.

PATENTED AUG! 1 um SHEEI 1 or 4 l/Y/E/YTORS KLAUS NIMTZ GUSTAV FR ANZEN ATTORNEYS PATENTED M181 7 l9?! SHEU 3 [IF 4 'h/rsflons KLAUS NIMTZ GUSTAV FRANZEN PATENTEUAUBI'IIQ?! Q 3,599,413

l/VEMI BS KLAUS NIMTZ GUSTAV FRANZEN ATTORNEYS APPARATUS ON A DOUBLE TWIST SPINDLE FRAME FOR SUPPLYING THE SPINDLES WITH ROBBINS AND FOR CARRYING AWAY THE EMPTY YARN CARRIERS 5 This invention relates to apparatus in textile machines comprising a plurality of spindles.

More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus on a double twist spindle frame for supplying the spindles with bobbins and for carrying away the empty yarn carriers by means of a chain provided with bobbing receivers in the same spaced arrangement as the spindles, which is guided on a chain guiding rail extending above the spindles.

Apparatuses of this kind are the subject of, for example, US. Pat. No. 3,429,l l3 and of applicant s application Ser. No. 825,300, filed and now US. Pat. No. 3,534,539 These apparatuses are' addressed to the problem of making arrangements on a double twist spindle frame to permit the bobbins to be carried to the spindles from one end of the machine as well as to permit the empty yarn carriers to be carried away at the same end of the machine, so that no manual work is needed in order to distribute the individual bobbins to the individual spindles. Instead, the bobbins are brought from one end of the machine into the working area of the individual spindles by means of a circulating endless chain, so that the bobbins'merely need to be placed on the spindles by the operator. The same endless chain can be used to bring the winding tubes to the spindles and to bring the empty tubes back to the one end of the machine. In addition to facilitating operation, these arrangements permit the serving aisles between the individual machines to be kept very narrow, since it is no longer necessary to carry bobbins and tubes along the machine in vehicles. The reduction of the aisle width results in an appreciable saving ofworking space.

It is a principal object of the invention to set out from the basic idea of the aforementioned arrangements and to modify and improve those arrangements in such a manner that it will no longer be necessary to serve the bobbing receivers on the chain with bobbins directly at the double twist spindle frame. The operator is relieved of this work. In addition placing of the bobbins on the spindles and the removal of the empty tubes from the spindles can be performed automatically, so that the bobbins and tubes no longer have to be grasped and moved by the person operating the machine.

In the apparatus of the invention a chain guiding rail, into which the chain can be inserted from one end of the machine and can be taken out in the same direction or the opposite direction, extends in a straight line above each row of spindles, and the bobbin receivers on the chain are in the form of mandrels over which the top ends of the bobbins and tubes can be placed.

In this manner, the receiving mandrels on the chain can be mounted with bobbins away from the machine, at a central station where all the chains are prepared, if one so desires, and the chain'thus prepared can be brought to the one end of the machine and inserted into the chain guiding rail, so that all of the bobbins will be brought automatically into the ready position above the spindles onto which they are to be placed. After the bobbins have been removed from the mandrels, the empty tubes can be taken from the spindles and placed on the mandrels. The chain carrying the empty tubes can then be carried away from the machine and the empty tubes replaced with full bobbins at the preparation station.

The chain guiding rail in conjunction with the insertable chain makes possible simplification of the mounting of the full bobbins on the spindles and automation of that mounting by means of further measures.

Provision can be made according to the invention for the chain guiding rail to be disposed pivotingly between two end positions about an axis extending parallel to the rail, and for downwards. Owing to the pivoting of the chain guiding rail from the aforementioned first position to the aforementioned second position, the bobbins need only a downward movement to place them on the spindles.

The placing of the bobbins on the spindles can be made performable in a completely automatic manner due to the fact that, according to the invention, the expanding mandrels on the chain consists of a mandrel and retractable dog which can be pivoted back into the mandrel against the force of a spring and which is provided with an operating arm extending outward. By the pivoting of the dog back into the mandrel the mandrel releases the full bobbin it is carrying so that the bobbin automatically drops down onto the spindle.

According to a further aspect of the invention, for the automatic operation of the arm'that operates the expanding mandrel, provision can be made for a stop rail extending beneath the chain guiding rail and parallel thereto, against which the expanding mandrel operating arm comes to rest when the expanding mandrel is directed downward, thus retracting the dog into the mandrel; this releases the full bobbin which has been held on the mandrel by the grip of the dog, and the bobbin can slide downward onto the spindle.

For reasons concerning space it may be expedient according to the invention for the stop rail to be displaceable horizontally from a position of rest to the position associated with the operating arm of the retractable dog when the expanding mandrel is directed downward.

The feature last mentioned can also be used when provision is made according to the invention for the chain guiding rail and the stop rail to be commonly displaceable vertically. This makes it possible for the expanding mandrels to be brought first from the traveling position into the delivery position, and then to be lowered towards the spindles to such an extent that the bobbin is seated on the spindle, so that the release of the 4 mandrel from the bobbin takes place only when this position is reached. Then the expanding mandrel is drawn out of the bobbin by the elevation of the chain guiding rail together with the stop rail.

It may be expedient for the pivoting movement of the chain guiding rail to be performed, not on a circular arc, but on a trajectory differing therefrom, which can also include a lowering movement of the chain guiding rail, in order thus to make it possible for the full bobbin not to be released from the expanding mandrel until it is in its working position on the spindle. An inverse course is required for the lifting of the empty tubes from the spindle and their removal from the reach of the spindles so that they can be taken out of the machine by means of the chain. In order to make these movements possible, provision can be made according to the invention for the chain guiding rail to be borne by four-point linkages which can pivot in common perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the machine, and by whose pivoting the chain guiding rail can be pivoted from the first, i.e. chain insertion, end position to the position in which the expanding mandrels on the chain are pointed downward over the spindles and in axial alignment with the spindles.

In detail, according to the invention, the four-point linkage member can be articulated to a slide that is mounted so as to be vertically displaceable on the machine frame, can bear the chain guiding rail on a portion extending beyond the second joint, and can be connected by two additional members to a rocking shaft which is stationarily mounted parallel to the chain guiding rail and can be rocked back and forth. Thus, in order for the full bobbins to be placed on the spindles, the chain guiding rail pivoting procedure requires that the rocking shaft be rocked towards the spindles, thereby swinging the chain guiding rails down over the top of the spindles, followed by a downward movement of the slide, which results in a lowering of the chain guiding rail toward the spindles, so that the expanding mandrels can place the full bobbins on the spindles; after the mandrels release the bobbins-,=the chain guiding rail is swungback'againp" If the empty tubes are to be removed from the spindles, the expanding mandrels are lowered down onto the spindles by means of the chain guiding rail by the pivoting of the latter; the mandrel grip the empty tubes and are then pulled away from the spindles by the pivoting of the chain guiding rail in the opposite direction. The empty tubes can then be removed from the machine by taking the chain out of the chain guiding rail and then they can be carried away with the chain.

f In the embodiment last mentioned, the operation of the expanding mandrels can be made possible by mounting directly on the chain guiding rail a rotatable shaft which contacts a contact surface on the operating arm of the dog of the expandling mandrel in each case, so that its rotation produces a retraction of the dog into the expanding mandrel against the action of a spring, and thus releases the tube or the bobbin that is being held by the dog on the mandrel.

' As already mentioned, the chain guiding rail combined with the chain that can be inserted from one end of the machine and removed therefrom, creates the possibility of providing the bobbin receivers with bobbins at a location remote from the machine, especially at a special chain preparing station. The insertion of the chain can be performed automatically according to the invention by providing at least at one insertion end of the chain guiding rail a sprocket which meshes with the chain and can be driven in either direction, and which, when rotated in one direction pushes the chain into the chain guiding rail, and when rotated in the other direction pulls it out of the chain guiding rail.

For the insertion and removal of the chain, according to the invention at least one additional chain guiding rail opening tangentially to the sprocket can be placed in front of the chain guiding rail and can deliver the chain equipped with bobbins into the chain guiding rail on the machine and can receive the chain carrying the empty tubes. This additional chain guiding rail can be disposed in a stationary manner and can extend all the way to the chain preparing station and the chain can be transported in the additional chain guiding rail by means of driven sprockets and can be brought to the machine itself from the chain preparing station by means of the additional chain guiding rail.

Another feature of the invention is that a chain switch can be placed ahead of the sprocket and can serve to connect the chain guiding rail of the machine alternately with one or two additional guiding rails aligned with the sprocket in different directions. In this manner a plurality of chain guiding rails can in the ready position to deliver chains of fresh bobbins and rficeive the chain emerging from the machine and bearing empty tubes to be carried away. The chain switch system permits either of the chain guiding rails to be brought into transfer alignment with the chain guiding rail on the machine.

In another aspect of the invention, provision can be made for at least one additional chain guiding rail to extend longitudinally through the machine underneath the spindle area, the chain of this guiding rail being capable of insertion into the machine and removal from the machine by means of a driven sprocket, a perpendicular connecting rail, and the driven sprocket at the insertion end of the chain guiding rail on the machine. In this manner use is made of the generally free space that is available below the spindles to accommodate at least one chain that is equipped with full bobbins and which can be inserted directly into the chain guiding rail on the machine after the chain carrying the empty tubes has been passed into another chain guiding rail placed in front of the machine.

According to another feature of the invention, a chain guiding rail that can be placed in front of the chain guiding rail on the machine can becurved in a spirallike manner in a vertical plane and arranged on a transport car, so that a chain equipped with full bobbins can be brought to the machine on this transport car. Conversely, the transport car can serve to ge a ,chaipmyhiqmhasheen.ejectedsfrom;thezchaini guiding a rail orithe machine for the remoyamfemptg yarrucarriers Instead of this, or in addition thereto, provision can be made according to yet a further feature of the invention for a stationary chain guiding rail to be placed in front of the chain guiding rail of the machine, which stationary rail will guide the chain down from overhead onto the driven sprocket at the insertion end of the chain guiding rail on the machine. A stationary chain guiding rail of this kind can extend all the way to a chain preparing station, thus eliminating the need for transport vehicles for the transport of the chains.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial section through a double twist spindle frame with a pivoting chain guiding rail with chain;

FIG. 2 is a section on a larger scale through the guiding rail and the chain with bobbin receivers according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial section through a double twist spindle frame having a pivoting chain guiding rail of a different construction, in several positions;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of the insertion end of a double twist spindle frame with chain switches and a chain transport car placed before it; and

FIG. 5 shows the chain switch of FIG. 4 in another position.

In a double twist spindle frame according to the invention, spindles 2 are mounted in a longitudinally extending spindle beam 5 supported by the machine frame 1, and are driven by a tangential drive belt 3, which bears against a whorl 4 in each case. Each spindle 2 has a thread storage disk 7 and a bobbin pot 6. A thread guide 8 is disposed axially above each spindle 2. A lead roll 9, a friction roll 12, a traversing thread guide 10, a bobbin frame I] and a takeup spool 13 constitute parts of the takeup system associated with each spindle.

A chain guiding rail 14 extends along the side of each machine, into or from which rail a chain 15 can be inserted and or removed from one end of the machine, as will be described subsequently in connection with FIG. 4. The chain 15 carries bobbin receivers in the form of expanding mandrels 18, in the same spaced arrangement as the spindles. This can be seen especially in FIG. 2. The top ends of the bobbins can be placed over the mandrels, where they are held releasably by a dog 24 (FIG. 2).

The chain guiding rail 14 runs from one end of the double twist spindle frame to the other, and as shown in FIG. 1, it is disposed so as to be pivotable parallel to its longitudinal axis about the shaft 19; in the one end position of the chain guiding rail 14, represented in solid lines, the chain 15 bearing fresh bobbins 17 can be inserted into the chain guiding rail 14, and in the second pivoted end position represented in phantom at from the first end position the expanding mandrels 18 with the full bobbins 17 are perpendicularly disposed above the spindles 2 in axial alignment therewith.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the chain guiding rail 14 is disposed at the free end of a horizontally disposed arm of a rail support 20, which rail support can be moved up and down on the machine frame 1 by means of a rack-andpinion assembly 21 associated with its vertical arm, the lower portion of the vertical arm comprising the rack 20a of the rack-and-pinion assembly 21. In this manner provision is made for the full bobbins to be lowered with rail support 20 and forced onto the spindle 2.

As can be seen in detail in FIG. 2, the expanding mandrel 18 on chain 15 comprises a shaft 16 equipped with a dog 24 which pivots at point 22 in the shaft 16 so as to be retractable into the shaft 16 against the force of a spring 23, and which has an outwardly extending operating arm 25. When the chain guiding rail 14 swings into the position represented in phantom and the button 26 of operating arm 25 comes into contact with the stop rail 27, which is also visible in FIG. 1 and extends underneath the chain guiding rail 14 along all of the spindles of the machine, the operating arm 24 pivots against the force of spring 23 into the shaft 16, so that the full bobbin 17 is swings from the horizontal into the vertical position because the stop rail has been backed off. The stop rail 27 is displaced downwardly together with the rail support 20 parallel to the spindle axis, and not until the chain guiding rail 14 has been lowered to the spindle serving position is it advanced to the operating arm of dog 24 so as to release the hold which the latter has on the bobbin 17*. The displacement of the rail 27 is performed by means of a push rod 28, which is held in a horizontally displaceable manner on the rail support 20. The push rod 28 is driven by means of a lever 30 fastened on a shaft 29 and engaging the free end of the push rod 28.

Accordingly, in order to provide the spindles of a double twist spindle frame with fresh bobbins 17, the following must be done. The operator removes the yarn feed tubes with the yarn guides from the hollow shafts of the spindles and'sets them aside on stationary holders. If desired, these holders are mounted on the machine frame at the level of the spindle beam as indicated in phantom in FIG. 1. A chain 15, which has been provided with fresh bobbins, is inserted from the feed end of the machine that can be seen in FIG. 4, into the chain guiding rail 14 to such an extent that a new bobbin is located directly above each spindle. Then, from the head end of the machine, t he yarn guides 8 are moved away from the position represented in solid lines to the position shown in phantom, so that the'chain guiding rail 14 can be pivoted 90 without interferenceand thus the bobbins 17 can be brought into a position perpendicularly above the spindles. From the head end of the machine, the rail support 20 together with the chain guiding rail 14 is moved downward by means of the rack-and-pinion system 21, and in the bottom end position the stop rail 28 acts to release the grip which the expanding mandrels 18 have on the bobbins 17, and thus all of the spindles on one side of the machine are supplied simultaneously with fresh bobbins. After the chain guiding rail has been pivoted back again,'the yarn guides 8 are brought back into the working position, the yarn feed tubes are mounted again on the hollow shafts of the spindles andthe yarns from the bobbins are threaded into the takeup tubes.

In FIG. 3 there is shown an embodiment in which the same thing is achieved as with the one in FIG. 1. In this case the chain guiding rail 14 is supported. not directly above the spindles, but in a position set back from the spindle row, on fourpoint linkages 31, which can be operated from the head of the machine. The four-point linkages 31 each consist of an operating arm 32, a connecting rod 33 and a support arm 34. The operating arm 32 is affixed at one end to the shaft 35 mounted in the machine frame 1 and can turn therewith. The support arm 34 has at its extremity 65, which extends beyond joint 64, an angle-iron 36 in which the chain guiding rail 14 is located, and its other extremity is articulated to a slide 37. In the starting position the support arm 34 rests against a stop 38 on a bracket 39, while in the serving position of the chain guiding rail 14, which is indicated in phantom, the free extremity of the support arm 34, extending beyond the articulation on slide 37 comes to rest against the stop 40 of the slide 37.

In addition to the displacement of the chain guiding rail 14 held in angle iron 36 from the starting position to the spindle serving position by means of the four-point linkage 31, the fresh bobbin 17 is lowered into the guard pot 6 of the spindle 2 by means of the four-point linkage. For this purpose the slide 37 is fastened at one end to a rack 41 passing through the bracket 39, and the rack 41 is held so as to be vertically displaceable by the pinion which is not shown and which is driven by a shaft 42 from the front end of the machine. The lengths of the individual members, especially the length of the connecting rod 33, are such that in the final position the shaft of the expanding mandrel 18 extends into the spindle shaft.

The bobbin dog 24 in mandrel 18, which is shown in FIG. 3, is similar to the one in FIG. 2. However, it is made to pivot in the shaft 16 not by a stop rail but by a shaft 43 carried on the chain guiding rail and having an angular groove 44 as a contact surface; this shaft is rotatable counterclockwise by about 90, which causes the operating arm 25 and the dog 24 to pivot against the force of the spring 23, as in FIG. 2, resulting in the release of the bobbins 17 from the expanding mandrel! 18 ofchain 15.

As it was explained above, chain 15 can be inserted into the chain guiding rail 14 and removed therefrom together with the bobbin receivers and the bobbins 1'7 placed thereon, at the rear end, shown in FIG. 4, of the double twist spindle-frame. At a chain insertion guide 45 in front of the chain guiding rail 14 there is disposed a sprocket 46, which can be driven in either direction, and whose teeth engage the links of the chain 15 that is to be inserted or extracted. When chain 15 has been driven all the way into the chain guiding rail 14, a device which is not shown in detail lifts the end of 'chain 15 out of engagement with the sprocket 46 into the position indicated in phantom, so that the end of the chain can be pivoted together with the chain guiding rail 14 without interference from the sprocket 46.

In order to bring the chain 15 to the chain insertion guide 45 of the chain guidingrail 14, or to carry the chain away, a transport car 47 can be provided, which carries one or more chain guiding-rails which are bent about in a spirallike fashion in one plane and which serve to receive chains 15. The outfeed end of the chain guiding rail 48 of transport car 47 is disposed horizontally and at such a height that the outfeed end is opposite the chain insertion guide 45 of the chain guiding rail 14 of the double twist spindle frame. in this manner it is possible without difficulty to push the chain off the transport car 47 into the chain insertion guide 45 of chain guiding rail 14, by hand if desired, to such an extent that the chain 15 is engaged by the sprocket wheel 46 and is then injected further by the latter into the chain guiding rail 14 of the double twist spindle frame.

Another method of feeding a chain 15 to the double twist spindle frame consists in installing stationary overhead guide rails in the factory, each rail terminating at the insertion end of a double twist spindle frame and starting, if desired, in a room in which the chains of all machines on hand are centrally provided with new bobbins. A guiding rail 49 with a driven or undriven sprocket 50 are illustrated as a fragment of this system.

To permit a double twist spindle frame to be supplied with fresh chains both by means of the transport car 47 and by means of the overhead guiding rails 49, a switch 52 it provided, which can be seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, and which pivot about a pivot pin 51. FIG. 4 shows a first switch position, which is for the transport car 47, and FIG. 5 shows a second switch position for the overhead rails 49. The switch 52 consists of a curved rail section 53 disposed on the perpendicular pivot pin 51; one end of the rail section 53 is at the height of the chain insertion guide 45 and its other end terminates, at right angles to the first end, at the height of the extremity of the stationary guiding rail 49. In this manner, in order to couple the curved guiding rail section 53 to the chain guiding rail 49, the curved section 53 need merely be pivoted by 90 from the position shown in FIG. 5.

it is also possible tov provide one or more guiding rails beneath the spindle area on the machine for receiving chains,

especially chains equipped with bobbins, for example. In order to replace the chainthat is in the chain guiding rail above the spindle row with one which, for example, has been inserted into rail 54 with fresh bobbins, a switch as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is provided also at the front end of the machine.

The chain insertion guide 45 together with switch 52 must be shifted upwardly by means of an eccentric 55 into the position indicated in phantom in FIG. 5. To this end, switch 52 together with chain insertion guide 45 is guided vertically in tracks in a bracket 56 fastened to the machine frame 1, and is displaceable therein. When the chain insertion guide 45 is displaced upwardly, the arcuate bottom edge of chain insertion guide 45 facing the sprocket 46 forms a guiding edge for chain 15, which is pushed by means of the sprocket 46 into a downwardly leading rail 57 and is inserted into the empty guiding rail 54 with the aid of a driven or undriven sprocket 58 and a curved guide 59 serving as a switch. Then the curved haunt: Jill marl .n'utiww s at; {gm-1.19 ti e guide 59 has to be pivoted horizontally by about 90 with the aid of the pivot 60, thereby opening the path for chain 62 with the full bobbins on it, which are not shown, so that the chain 62 can be displaced upwardly by means of a driven sprocket 63. An additional curved guide at the bottom end of the pivoting means 60, which is not seen in FIG. 4, has to be pivoted into the plane of the guiding rails 61 and 57 when the curved guide 59 is pivoted by the pivoting means 60, in a manner similar to the switch 52, so that rail 61 will then be connected to rail 57 and chain 62 can be displaced upwardly.

By means of the apparatus described above, therefore, it is possible to replace the empty chain situated above the spindle row with a chain that is situated underneath the spindle row in one of the guiding rails 54 or 61 and carries bobbins, so that neither the transport car 47 nor the overhead rails 49 have to be used for the exchange.

. The bobbin transporting element referred to as a chain" hereinabove and described as such can also be replaced by a band which, being appropriately constructed, performs the function of the chain; accordingly, the term chain" is in- V tended to encompass such equivalent elements.

What we claim is:

'1. In a textile machine comprising a plurality of serially arranged spaced spindles each adapted to carry a yarn package, the improvement comprising a guide rail having a longitudinal portion extending substantially parallel to the spindles, a chain having at least one free end, mounted on said chain in the same spacing as the spindles a plurality of means each for carrying a yarn package or a yarn package support, a free end of the chain being insertable into the guide rail at an end of said portion thereof, the chain thereafter being movable along the guide rail to a position at which the carrying means are adjacent the spindles, and a free end of the chain being removable from the guide rail at an end of said portion of the guide rail and the chain thereafter being movable away from said portion of the guide rail.

2.'A textile machine according to claim 1, in which each of said carrying means comprises a mandrel and said portion of the guide rail is pivotably mounted for reversible rotation about an axis parallel to said portion from a first position to a second position when the chain is supported by the guide rail with the mandrels adjacent the spindles, the first position being one in which the mandrels are positioned incipiently to release yarn packages onto the spindles or incipiently to grip yarn package supports on the spindles and the second position being one in which the mandrels are positioned to carry yarn packages toward the spindles or to be in rest after having delivered yarn packages to the spindles or to hold yarn package supports taken from the spindles.

3. A textile machine according to claim 2, in which each of the mandrels is an expanding mandrel which in its expanded condition can grip and thereby carry the yarn package or yarn package support and in its nonexpanded condition cannot grip the yarn package or yarn package support.

4. A textile machine according to claim 3, in which each of said expanding mandrels comprises a shaft having a recess, a dog pivotally mounted on the shaft, being pivotable into the recess and having an operating arm, and a spring urging the free end of the dog away from the shaft. the dog thus being adapted to assume a first position in which the free end of the in which the free end of the dog is retracted into the recess and the nonexpanded condition of the mandrel is thus defined.

5. A textile machine according to claim 4, further comprising a stop rail parallel to and longitudinally substantially coextensive with said portion of the guide rail, said stop rail being so positioned that when the mandrels are to release yam packages onto the spindles the stop rail engages the operating arm of each of the dogs thereby moving each of the dogs to the position thereof in which the dog is retracted into the recess in the mandrel shaft to define the nonexpanded condition of the mandrel and when the mandrels are to grip yarn package supports on the spindles the stop rail disengages from the operating arm of each of the dogs thereby permitting each of the dogs to extend its gripping portion outwardly from the mandrel shaft to define the expanded condition of the mandrel.

6. A textile machine according to claim 5, in which the stop rail is displaceable from a rest position substantially horizontally into a position associated with the operating arms of the dogs when the mandrels are positioned to deliver yarn packages to the spindles or to remove the yarn package supports from the spindles.

7. A textile machine according to claim 6, in which the guide rail and the stop rail are commonly displaceable in height.

8. A textile machine according to claim 2, in which the pivotable mounting of the rail comprises a four-point linkage.

9. A textile machine according to claim 8, in which behind the spindles on the frame of the machine is mounted a substantially vertically displaceable slide, articulated to said slide is a first member of said four-point linkage, said first member being articulated to a second member of the four-point linkage, at the point of articulation of the first and second members an extension member fixed to the first member and extending beyond the point of articulation, said rail being fixed to said extension member, a third member of the four-point linkage articulated at one end to the second member, and stationary but reversibly rotatable a rocker shaft axially parallel to the rail, the other end of the third member being articulated to the rocker shaft.

10. A textile machine according to claim 4, further comprising a shaft defining a camming surface, said shaft being rotatably mounted on the rail, said shaft being so positioned relative to the operating arms of the dogs that when the mandrels are to release yarn packages onto the spindles the camming surface engages the operating arms and moves the dogs to the position thereof in which each dog is retracted into the recess in the shaft of its mandrel to define the nonexpanded condition of the mandrel and when the mandrels are to grip yarn package supports on the spindles the camming surface permits the dog to extend its gripping portion outwardly from the mandrel shaft to define the expanded condition of the mandrel.

11. A textile machine according to claim 1, further comprising at an insertion end said portion of the guide rail a sprocket for engagement with the chain and means for reversibly driving the sprocket.

12. A textile machine according to claim 11, further comprising an additional guide rail adapted to carry said chain and having an insertion end, said guide rail being positionable in tangential alignment with said sprocket whereby the chain can be transferred between the two guide rails.

13. A textile machine according to claim 12, further comprising at least a second additional guide rail, and a chain switch interposed between the first mentioned guide rail and the additional guide rails, said chain switch being positionable to interconnect operatively any selected one of the additional guide rails with the first guide rail thereby to permit transfer of the chain between the first guide rail and the selected additional guide rail.

14. A textile machine according to claim ll, further comprising an additional guide rail adapted to carry said, chain, said additional guide rail being positioned longitudinally along the machine beneath the spindles, and a vertical intermediate rail operatively interconnecting the first mentioned guide rail and the additional guide rail whereby the chain can be transferred between the first guide rail and the additional guide rail.

15. A textile machine according to claim 12, further comprising a transport car and in which said additional guide rail is in the configuration of a spiral lying in a vertical plane and is mounted on said transport car o an; :zaauao rluiriw

Claims

1. In a textile machine comprising a plurality of serially arranged spaced spindles each adapted to carry a yarn package, the improvement comprising a guide rail having a longitudinal portion extending substantially parallel to the spindles, a chain having at least one free end, mounted on said chain in the same spacing as the spindles a plurality of means each for carrying a yarn package or a yarn package support, a free end of the chain being insertable into the guide rail at an end of said portion thereof, the chain thereafter being movable along the guide rail to a position at which the carrying means are adjacent the spindles, and a free end of the chain being removable from the guide rail at an end of said portion of the guide rail and the chain thereafter being movable away from said portion of the guide rail.

2. A textile machine according to claim 1, in which each of said carrying means comprises a mandrel and said portion of the guide rail is pivotably mounted for reversible rotation about an axis parallel to said portion from a first position to a second position when the chain is supported by the guide rail with the mandrels adjacent the spindles, the first position being one in which the mandrels are positioned incipiently to release yarn packages onto the spindles or incipiently to grip yarn package supports on the spindles and the second position being one in which the mandrels are positioned to carry yarn packages toward the spindles or to be in rest after having delivered yarn packages to the spindles or to hold yarn package supports taken from the spindles.

4. A textile machine according to claim 3, in which each of said expanding mandrels comprises a shaft having a recess, a dog pivotally mounted on the shaft, being pivotable into the recess and having an operating arm, and a spring urging the free end of the dog away from the shaft, the dog thus being adapted to assume a first position in which the free end of the dog is extended outwardly from the shaft and the expanded condition of the mandrel is thus defined and a second position in which the free end of the dog is retracted into the recess and the nonexpanded condition of the mandrel is thus defined.

5. A textile machine according to claim 4, further comprising a stop rail parallel to and longitudinally substantially coextensive with said portion of the guide rail, said stop rail being so positioned that when the mandrels are to release yarn packages onto the spindles the stop rail engages the operating arm of each of the dogs thereby moving each of the dogs to the position thereof in which the dog is retracted into the recess in the mandrel shaft to define the nonexpanded condition of the mandrel and when the mandrels are to grip yarn package supports on the spindles the stop rail disengages from the operating arm of each of the dogs thereby permitting each of the dogs to extend its gripping portion outwardly from the mandrel shaft to define the expanded condition of the mandrel.

11. A textile machine according to claim 1, further comprising at an insertion end of said portion of the guide rail a sprocket for engagement with the chain and means for reversibly driving the sprocket.

14. A textile machine according to claim 11, further comprising an additional guide rail adapted to carry said chain, said additional guide rail being positioned longitudinally along the machine beneath the spindles, and a vertical intermediate rail operatively interconnecting the first mentioned guide rail and the additional guide rail whereby the chain can be transferred between the first guide rail and the additional guide rail.

15. A textile machine according to claim 12, further comprising a transport car and in which said additional guide rail is in the configuration of a spiral lying in a vertical plane and is mounted on said transport car.