US3626679A - Chenille yarn fabricating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

APPARATUS FOR FABRICATING CHENILLE YARN EMPLOYS A RECIPROCATING INNER DIE HAVING AT LEAST ONE YARN CORD PASSING THERETHROUGH. AN OUTER GUIDE ROTATES ABOUT THE INNER GUIDE AND CONTINUOUSLY WRAPS A FILL THREAD THEREAROUND THE FORMED FILL LOOPS BEING PERIODICALLY SEVERED BY A CAM ACTUATED KNIFE ELEMENT. TAKE-UP APPARATUS IS PROVIDED TO TWIST TWO CHENILLE YARN CORDS DURING A COLLECTION OPERATION, WITH THE TWISTED CORDS FORMING LOOPS WHICH ENTRAP THE SEVERED, HALF-TURN FILL LOOPS.

Description

Dec. 14, 1971 M. SCHWARTZ 3,626,679

CHENILLE YARN FABRICATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 30, 1969 v I2 Shocts5hout 1 INVENTOR. lmre Mew Schwartz FIG. 3

TTNEYS 1971 M. SCHWARTZ CHENILLE YARN FABRICATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 30, 1969 BY AQW United States Patent 3,626,679 CHENILLE YARN FABRICATING APPARATUS Imre Meir Schwartz, 566 Broadway, Paterson, NJ. 07514 Filed Oct. 30, 1969, Ser. No. 872,640 Int. Cl. D02g 3/42 US. Cl. 57-24 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for fabricating chenille yarn employs a reciprocating inner die having at least one yarn cord passing therethrough. An outer guide rotates about the inner guide and continuously wraps a fill thread therearound, the formed fill loops being periodically severed by a cam actuated knife element. Take-up apparatus is provided to twist two chenille yarn cords during a collection operation, with the twisted cords forming loops which entrap the severed, half-turn fill loops.

This invention relates to textile yarn production and more specifically to apparatus for producing chenille yarn.

Chenille yarn, shown in FIG. 1 in greatly enlarged scale, comprises two twisted cords 5 and 6 which define the long dimension or length of the yarn. Disposed transverse to the yarn length are a plurality of relatively short fill fibers 7 which are entrapped by, and secured within the loops of the twisted cords 5 and 6. The fill and cords may comprise any natural or synthetic material, e.g., silk, cotton, rayon or the like.

It is an object of the present invention to provide improved apparatus for producing chenille yarn.

More specifically, an object of the present invention is the provision of continuously operative apparatus for reliably producing chenille yarn at a rapid rate of speed, and wherein the yarn configuration (i.e., fill thread per cord loop) may be readily controlled.

It is another object of the present invention to provide chenille yarn fabricating apparatus which may simulta neously produce plural runs of the desired yarn.

The above and other objects of the present invention are realized in illustrative chenille yarn fabricating apparatus wherein at least one cord strand passes through an aperture in a central (inner) reciprocating guide member. An outer guide is rotatably driven about the inner guide, and wraps multiple turns of continuous fill thread about the lower periphery of the inner guide. At least one additional cord is drawn outside of the wrapped fill threads.

The reciprocating inner guide action compacts the multiple fill turns, and a cam actuated reciprocating cutting edge periodically severs the fill turns.

The cord strands are twisted and gathered by a rotating pick-up spool and attendant drive and collection apparatus. The twisted, formed cord loops entrap and carry off the severed fill pieces, thus completing the yarn manufacturing operation.

The size of the cord loops may be controlled by adjusting the speed of the take-up apparatus. The number of fill cords in each loop may be varied by effecting an appropriate adjustment of the rotating outer guide speed relative to that of the take-up apparatus.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention are realized in a specific, illustra tive embodiment thereof, described hereinbelow in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 (prior art) depicts chenille yarn as above discussed;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of chenille yarn producing apparatus embodying the principles of the present invention; and

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FIG. 3 is a partial orthogonal view of the apparatus depicted in FIG. 2 more fully illustrating selected subassemblies of the FIG. 2 arrangement;

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, there is shown chenille yarn fabricating apparatus including a support frame 10 illustrated in pertinent part only for clarity. A sleeve bushing 18 is mounted on the frame 10, and an inner guide 12 is adapted to vertically reciprocate within the sleeve 18. The inner guide 12 includes two longitudinal, vertical apertures for passing two cord thread strands 27 and 29 from spools 2'6 and 28, respectively, which are mounted on the frame 10, and further includes a tapered and elongated lower portion 15 having planar lower side walls 15a and 1512.

An outer (fill thread) guide 30 is mounted as by antifriction roller bearings 32 and 34 for rotation about the inner guide 12. The outer guide 30 is rotatably driven, as by a belt and sprocket 40- and suitable gearing apparatus 41 which are coupled to a rotating drive shaft 45.

An antifriction bearing 50 is attached to the sleeve bushing 18. The outer race of the bearing 50 supports on its outer periphery a spool 52 containing a fill thread 55 which, as discussed below, is transformed by the apparatus of FIGS. 2 and 3 to comprise the short fill pieces 7 of the chenille yarn. The fill thread 55 passes through apertures in the inner race of the bearings 32 and 34; through an aperture in the drive coupling 40; and through a guide eyelet 56 mounted on the guide 30. The thread 55 is wrapped around the lower faces 15a and 15b of the inner guide 12 as the guide 30 is driven around the guide 12.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the apparatus of FIGS. 2 and 3 is adapted to simultaneously fabricate two (or more) runs of chenille yarn, one yarn run comprising the cords 27 and 61 (from spools 26 and 60 respectively), and the second chenille run comprising the cords 29 and 63 (from spools 28 and 62). The runs are respectively collected on take- up spools 82 and 84 included in composite take-up apparatus 81. Accordingly, the cords 27 and 29 pass through apertures inside the inner guide 12, and thereby also inside the fill 55 loops coiled on the lower guide portion 15, while the cords 61 and 63- pass over idling rollers and 72 about the outside of the coiled fill thread.

An inclined knife blade is employed to periodically sever the fill 55 coiled about the lower guide portion 15, as by having the upper active cutting surface of the blade 80 effectively move vertically (and laterally) upward abutting the guide face 15a. To this end, a curved cam member 86 is eccentrically secured to the drive shaft 45 and an arm 82', having the knife 80 at one end thereof, is pressed against the cam 86 as by a spring 85. The arm is secured for sliding translation to the frame member 10 (as by a sleeve bushing, sliding channel or the like). The knife 80 is thus adapted to sever the coil 55 into plural half-loop length pieces when the long diameter of the cam 86 is periodically oriented towards the guide 12 (and when the reciprocating guide 12. is in appropriate, corresponding vertical orientation, the relative timing being adjusted by controlling the angular relationship between cams 86 and 88).

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the coiled fill 55 wrapped on the guide portion 15 may advantageously be vertically compacted before the fill is severed by the knife 80 to effect a tight or dense chenille yarn. To accomplish this, the inner guide 12 is vertically reciprocated such that the expanded guide 12 shoulder portion 15 above the guide faces 15a and 15b periodically bears downward on the fill loop to vertically compact these loops. The guide 12 is reciprocally driven by a cam arm 24 which is pivotally mounted on the frame 10. The arm 24 bears at one end against the roller 20 secured atop the guide, the guide 12 being biased upward towards the cam 24 by a spring 25. A cam 88 is eccentrieally secured to the rotating drive shaft 45, and a rigid connecting rod 90 is pivotally connected to the cam 88 and to the arm 24, as by spherical (ball and socket) bearings 92 and 94. As the cam 88 rotates, the connecting arm 90 pivots the operator arm 24 up and down, thereby causing the guide 12 to vertically reciprocate within the sleeve 18, hence compacting the coiled fill.

Finally, the take-up apparatus 81, of any well known construction, includes the take- up spools 82 and 84 which are rotated by a drive motor 110 acting through a coupling 100. The formed chenille yarn runs are supplied to the rotating spools 82 and 84 via eyelets 106 and 108 which may freely slide about spool apertures in a recip rocating plate 104. The plate 104 vertically translates along the height of the take- up spools 82 and 84 to distribute the newly formed chenille yarn about the spool to avoid knotting and collapsing problems. As the freely sliding eyelets 106 and 108 orbit about the spools 82 and 84 during the take-up operation in a manner similar to a ring and traveler system, the paired cord threads 27-6-1 and 29 63 are continuously twisted to form the requisite loops in the chenille yarn (see FIG. 1). The plate 104 may illustratively be driven by a reversible motor 98 and screw gear 102, the motor 98 being periodically reversed by limit switches in the known manner.

With the above structure in mind, an illustrative sequence of operation for the dual run chenille yarn fabricating apparatus of FIGS. 2 and 3 will now be considered. The drive shaft 45 is continuously rotated by the motor 110 via the coupling 101. The geared coupling 40- 41 between the shaft 45 and the outer guide 30 is such that the guide 30 makes plural turns about the inner guide 1'2 for each revolution of the shaft 45. As the outer guide 30 rotates about the inner guide 12, fill yarn 55 is continuously drawn from the spool 52 and translates down through the elements 32, 40, 34 and 56 to be wrapped around the nonrotating lower guide portion 15. The freely idling spool 52 makes such rotations about the stationary sleeve 18 as are required to release the withdrawn fill threads, the spool 52 being free to rotate under action of the supporting antifriction bearing 50. The cam 88 next rotates to a position where the cam arm 24 forces the guide 12 downward acting against the spring 24, the shoulder of the lower guide portion acting to compact the coiled fill turns. Following this, the cam 86 extends the follower arm 82 to the left in FIG. 3 while compressing the spring 85, thereby urging the upper edge of the knife 80 against the guide face 15a to sever the greater portion of the coiled fill loops.

During the entire operation, the take-up apparatus 81 collects and twists the yarn cord pairs 27-61 and 2963. In particular, the rotating spool 82 and orbiting eyelet 106 on the reciprocating plate 104 continuously withdraw the cords 27 and 61 from the spools 26 and 60 and twist the cords along a gathering length which includes the area about the lower guide 12 portion 15. Similar operation 1s performed by the spool 84 and associated orbiting eyelet 108 to twist the cords 29 and 63.

When the fill loops about the guide faces 15a and 15b are severed, the multiple half-turn lengths disposed about the guide face 15b are secured within a newly formed twist-loop in the cords '21 and 61 thereby forming a fillloop arrangement as desired for chenille yarn. This newly formed chenille yarn segment is soon gatheredup by the spool 82. Similarly, the half-loop fill pieces disposed on the guide face 15a are captured and locked within a twisted loop and of the cords 29 and 63, and taken up by the spool 84. In the final portion of an operative cycle, corresponding to one complete rotation of the drive shaft 45, the earns 88 and 86 rotate to raise the guide 12 and to withdraw the knife 80, respectively, cooperating with the previously compressed springs and 85.

The above-described cycle of operation is continuously repetitive, and thus the two runs of chenille yarn are continuously fabricated and gathered up on the spools 82 and 84 for any desired end use, e.g., weaving or knitting for fabrics or the like. Thus, the apparatus of FIGS. 2 and 3 has been shown by the above to rapidly and reliably produce chenille yarn. The configuration of the yarn (number of fill elements per cord loop) may be readily varied by controlling the relationship between the rate of rotation of the outer guide 30 (corresponding to the rate at which fill loops are deposited on the guide 15) and the rate of rotation of the take-up spools 82 and 84 which controls the cord twisting (loop formation).

The above-described arrangement is only illustrative of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications and adaptations thereof will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, the sleeve, bushing 18 may be extended for the greater portion, or all, of the length of the guide 12, and the outer guide 40 adapted for rotation about the extended bushing.

Also, additional runs of chenille yarn may be coincidentally fabricated. In general, to fabricate n coincident runs, n cords are drawn through n longitudinal apertures in the reciprocating guide 12; n second yarn cords (corresponding to the cords 61 and 63) are drawn about the formed fill loops, )1 take-up spools with orbiting eyelets are employed for twisting and yarn collection; n-1 cutting elements are utilized to sever the fill loops into 11 segments.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination in apparatus for fabricating chenille yarn from first and second sources of cord threads and from a source of fill thread, said apparatus comprising an inner guide having an aperture therethrough, said first cord thread passing through said aperture in said inner guide, means adapted for rotation about said inner guide and for wrapping said fill thread about said inner guide, means for supplying said second cord thread about the outside of said wrapped fill threads, twisting means for twisting said first and second cord threads, means for periodically serving said wrapped filled thread into plural fill pieces, said severed fill pieces being entrapped by loops in said twisted cord threads, said twisting means comprising take-up apparatus, said take-up apparatus comprising a rotating take-up spool, take-up spool, further comprising a plate having an aperorbiting guide means for orbiting about said rotating ture therein for vertically reciprocating along said takeup spool, and wherein said orbiting guide means comprises an eyelet, and mounting means for mounting said eyelet for free translation about said aperture in said reciprocating plate.

2. In combination in apparatus for fabricating chenille yarn from first and second sources of cord threads and from a source of fill thread, said apparatus comprising an inner guide having an aperture therethrough, said first cord thread passing through said aperture in said inner guide, means adapted for rotation about said inner guide and for wrapping said fill thread about said inner guide, means for supplying said second cord thread about the outside of said wrapped fill threads, twisting means for twisting said first and second cord threads, and means for periodically severing said wrapped fill thread into plural fill pieces, said severed fill pieces being entrapped by loops in said twisted cord threads, further comprising means for reciprocating said inner guide, and wherein said inner guide comprises a first portion adapted to receive said wrapped fill thread, and an expanded portion disposed adjacent said wrapped fill thread receiving portion.

3. A combination as in claim 2 further comprising sleeve means disposed about said inner guide, and idling rotational means for supporting a source of said fill threads about said sleeve means.

4. A combination as in claim 2 wherein said rotating fill wrapping means comprises means adapted for rotation about said guide means, antifriction bearing means for rotationally mounting said rotating means, and aper-- tures in said antifriction bearing means for translating said fill thread to said inner guide.

5. A combination as in claim 4 further comprising an idling roller located in the area of said wrapped fill for receiving said second cord thread.

6. A combination as in claim 5 wherein said severing means included a cutting edge, and cam means for periodically translating sad cutting edge into contact with said wrapped fill.

'l'. A combination as in claim 2 for fabricating at least one additional run of chenille yarn formed of third and fourth cord threads, further comprising at least one addi- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,585,357 5/1'926 Anderson 57--24 1,687,942 10/ 1928 Kriegl 57-24 2,408 ,8 98 10/ 1946- Wilmsen 5724 2,534,039 12/ 1950 Lemoine 5724 2,551,986 5/ 1951 Weller 5724 JOHN PE'IRAKES, Primary Examiner UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No, 3,52 7 HD'ated {mak r 14, 1:11

' Inventor( Imre Meir Schwarts It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4, line 42, "serving" should read *s'eVeri-n gQ --r line 43, "filled" should read fill lines 47 and 48 I should be reversed.

Signed and sealed this..l4th day of November 1972,

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. 1 ROBERT GO'I'TSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORM PO-1050 (10-69) USCOMM-DC wave-P69 fl' ll.$. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE I969 0-366-334,

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