US3817465A - Winder traverse for filamentary material - Google Patents

Abstract

An elongated tubular housing has axially spaced open ends and accommodates in its interior a rotatable cylindrical cam. A removable closure closes one of the open ends and a pivot arrangement engages the housing in the region of the other open end so that the housing can pivot about an axis which is offset from but parallels the longitudinal axis of the housing. A motor is arranged adjacent the other open end and its output shaft is coupled by a disengageable coupling arrangement with the cam which it rotates.

Description

United States Patent 1191 [11] 3,817,465 Miller June 18, 1974 WINDER TRAVERSE FOR FILAMENTARY 3,042,324 7/1962 Kinney 242/18 DD MATERIAL 3,073,537 1/1963 Mackie 242/43 X 3,074,286 1/1963 Altice et al. 242/43 UX Inventor: Harry p l ,M 3,265,315 8/1966 Mueller 242/43 x 3,401,894 9/1968 Campbell, Jr 242/43 [73] Asslgnee. Industrle-Werke Karlsruhe gs g AG, a u Germany 3,690,579 9/1972 Porter et a1 242/43 [22] Filed: Nov. 6, 1972 Primary Examiner-Stanley Gilreath pp NO: 304,255 Attorney, Agent, or FzrmMlchael S. Strlker Related US. Application Data [5 ABSTRACT [63] Continuation-impart 6f Ser. N0. 262,973, June l5, An elongated tubular housing has axially spaced open 1972. 1 ends and accommodates in its interior a rotatable cyl 1 lindrical cam. A removable closure closes one of the [52] US. Cl. 242/43, 242/18 DD open ends and a pivot arrangement engages the hous- [51] Int. CI...... B65h 54/28 ing in the region of the other open end so that the [58] Field of Search 242/43, 43.1, 43.2, 158, housing can pivot. about an axis which is offset from 1 242/ 15813, 158.5, 18 DD but parallels the longitudinal axis of the housing. A motor is arranged adjacent the other open end and its [56] References Cited output shaft is coupled by a disengageable coupling UNITED STATES PATENTS arrangement with the cam which it rotates. 2,328,344 8/1943 Jones 242/43 x 7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures I 3 {7 2 a 7 l 5 5 /23 a* 25 .:z- 3Q I ll-.. 2 L l a, i Y\ V5 /0 M A? F 5 Irr 24 23 /9 Nil PA'TENTEDJIm we ran WINDER TRAVERSE FOR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 262,973, filed June 15, 1972.

- This invention relates generally to a traverse arrangement for filamentary material, and in particular to a winder traverse for such filamentary material.

Many types of winders for filamentary material, such as mono-filaments, threads, yarns and the like, are already known. The basic operation of all these winders is the same, namely they wind filamentary material onto a bobbin or core tube which is rotated for this purpose. Of course, in order to evenly distribute the layers of the filamentary material on the core tube,-the filamentary material must be moved axially to and fro over the tube, that is it must be traversed along the tube. If this were not done, a thickness of a number of layers of filamentary material would build up at one point of the tube and the remainder of the axial length of the tube would not be covered with the material. Even if the tube were subsequently shifted so that it would be covered in this manner incrementally, it is clear that there would be no even development of the filament package on the tube, and that in subsequent use of the thus-produced bobbin, for instance in automatic machines utilizing such bobbins, the operation (that is the withdrawal of the filament from the bobbin) would be uneven.

The traversing of the filament along the bobbin tube is effected by a winder traverse, that is an arrangement which receives the filament from whatever source is provided, and which moves axially to-and-fro along the bobbin tube, to thereby guide the filament so that it is bound about the bobbin tube in an essentially helical path. However, the prior-art winder traverse arrangements have certain disadvantages. The traverse arrangements have a tubular housing provided with an axially extending slot in its circumferential wall, and in the interior of the housing there is a cylindrical cam mounted for rotation, the cam having a guide track along which a finger which is journalledin the slot, is guided. Thus, the finger performs an alternate axial toand-fro movement in the slot, as its inner portion slides in the guide track of the rotary cam. The difficulty with all these winder traverse arrangements is that quite frequently the filamentary material will for one reason or another be able to enter through the slot into the interior of the housing, and will then wind around the rotary cam. At the speed at which yarn moves which is being wound onto a bobbin tube or core, sufficient yarn will become wound about the rotating cam within a very brief. period of time to preventfurther rotation of the cam so that the traverse arrangement must be shut down. Evidently, having to shut down the machine shutting down of the traverse arrangement necessitates shutting down of the remaining components of the machine with which the traverse is associated is very expensive, because these are high-speed machines in which even brief down-time means a considerable production loss. Once the machine is shut down, the cam must be removed from the tubular housing of the traverse, to clear it of the filamentary material which has become wound about it. This, however, is difficult to achieve in known traverse arrangements, and is therefore time-consuming and, in the final analysis, expensive because the more time spent on removing and clearing the cam, the longer will be the down-time of the entire machine.

Another problem with the prior-art arrangements is that sometimes at least filament will become wrapped around the drive roll to which the traverse arrangement supplies the filament, and which drive roll drives the filament package on the bobbin tube which in turn is mounted for rotation on a winder chuck. if this occurs, the increase in the diameter of the drive roll exerts a pressure upon the tubular housingin direction transversely to the longitudinal axis of the latter. Because in conventional winders both the housing of the traverse arrangement and the drive roll are mounted for rotation about fixed axes, the result is that a very significant pressure builds up which, as neither the drive roll nor the housing of the traverse arrangement can yield, becomes excessive, especially in the case of long cantilevered drive rolls, and may result in damage to or the destruction of drive roll or traverse arrangement bearings or other components.

Still another disadvantage of the prior art is the fact that the motor which drives the cam in the housing of the traverse is usually located off to one side of the axis of rotation of the cam, making it difiicult to disengage the cam from the motor if and when necessary, and exerting a substantial additional load on the bearings. This is particularly disadvantageous if the winder traverse arrangement, or rather the housing with the cam, is cantilevered so that it extends from one side of a support whereas the motor is also located on this one side,

with the resulting disadvantageous load distribution.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a general object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.

' An additional object of the invention is to provide such an improved winder traverse in which the drive motor for the cam is so located as to obtain an advantageous load distribution and to reduce the load on the various bearings.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an improved winder traverse in which the development of pressure acting transversely of the elongation of the tubular housing is prevented from causing damage to any component of the winder traverse or of machine elements associated therewith.

In keeping with these objects, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides in a winder traverse for filamentary material which, briefly stated, comprises an elongated tubular housing having axially spaced open ends, and a cylindrical cam mounted in this housing for rotation relative thereto. Removableclosure means closes one of the open ends and pivot means mounts the housing in the region of the other open end for pivotal movement about an axis which is offset from but parallels the iongitudinal axis of the housing. Motor means is located adjacent the other open end and has an output shaft, and disengageable coupling means releasably couples the output shaft with the cam for rotating the latter.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an axial section illustrating a winder traverse according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is an end view of FIG. 1, looking towards the right.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 it will be seen that reference numeral 1 identifies an elongated tubular housing having axially spaced open ends. The housing is provided in its circumferential wall with a non-illustrated axially extending slot through which a similarly non-illustrated guide finger for guiding the filamentary material, can extend into the interior of the housing where it is guided in the illustrated cam tracks of a cylindrical cam 2 which is mounted in the housing for rotation relative thereto. Reference numeral 3 identifies a motor mount which is itself pivotable relative to a stationary support 21, such as a machine frame or the like; motor mount 3 carries the diagrammatically illustrated drive motor 24 having the rotary output shaft 25. Secured to the housing 1 in the region of the righthand open end thereof is a tubular mount 5 into which extends a cylindrical pivot 9 the right-hand end of which is connected by the bolt or pin 19 to the frame 21. The pivot 9 is provided in its outer peripheral surface with a groove 22 which may entirely encircle its circumference or may extend over only a part of its circumference, and a bolt or screw 23 is threaded through a tapped opening provided in the wall of the tubular mount 5 so that its inner end extends into the groove 22, thus permitting relative pivotal displacement of the mount 5 with reference to the pivot 9, but preventing axial displacement until and unless the bolt 23 is removed. A mounting plate 10 is interposed between the tubular mount 5 and the housing 1, and the mount 5 and housing 1 are connected fixedly with one another by means of bolts or screws 20 extending through their respective circumferential walls and the interposed plate 10.

The cam 2 is mounted for rotation in the housing 1, and for this purpose is journalled at its opposite axial ends. At the right-hand axial end it is journalled by a bearing which is accommodated in a bearing housing 15a which prevents it from sliding towards the right in axial direction but which permits it to slide towards the left in axial direction of the hosuing 1, under the condition that the cam 2 is withdrawn to the left. The left-hand axial end of the cam 2 is journalled by a hearing 18 which is seated on a projection 13a of a removable closure element 13, the latter being held on the housing 1 by the removable screws 14. Thus, if it is necessary to gain access to the cylindrical cam, for instance to clear the same of filamentary material which may have become wound about it, it is simply necesary to remove the screws 14 and withdraw the closure element 13, whereupon the cam 2 can be withdrawn through the left-hand open end (see FIG. '1) of the housing 1. In so doing, the bearing 15 will also slide axially towards the left-hand open end and can be withdrawn therefrom.

When the cam 2 is in place, as shown in FIG. 1, it is driven by the output shaft 25 of the motor 24, for which purpose the output shaft 25 carries one section of a disengageable coupling, the other section 12b of which is mounted on the shaft of the cam 2. The sections 12a and 12b can interengage in any known manner, for instance by means of claws or the like, and will become disengaged when the cam 2 is moved towards the left in FIG. 1. The section 12b is fixedly mounted by means of a screw 11 or analogous devices, on the shaft of the cam 2, and the section 12a is similarly fixedly mounted on the output shaft 25 of the motor 24.

The novel winder traverse also is provided with an adjustable traverse box locator and detent. There is provided a set screw 8 which adjusts the distance of the traverse TG to the drive roll D, so as to permit selection of the optimum operating distance. The entire housing and cam pivot about the pivot 9, as previously indicated. If, now, wrapping of filamentary material about the drive roll D occurs, this can build up in a matter of seconds to a considerable thickness of filamentary material on the drive roll D, increasing the diameter thereof to the point where the filamentary material on the drive roll will exert very strong pressure in transverse direction upon the housing. As pointed out earlier, in the prior-art constructions this can cause damage or destruction of bearings and other components. In the present winder traverse, however, no such damage will occur because the transverse pressure which is exerted upon the housing 1 acts upon the same from the drive roll D via the plate 16 of the traverse T, with the plate 16 exerting such transverse pressure upon the housing 1. The housing 1 is held in place against pivotal movement about the pivot 9 by a spring-loaded detent member 6 which is mounted in one arm of an angle bracket 4, in the upper arm of which the set screw 8 may be mounted. The inclined lower end face of the detent member 6 cooperates with the inclined end faces of an abutment 7 and under normal operating conditions the force exerted by the biasing means acting upon the detent 6 is sufficient to prevent pivoting of the arrangement about the axis of the pivot 9. However, when the pressure exerted in transverse direction upon the housing 1 builds up to a sufficient level, it will overcome the biasing action'of the biasing means acting on the detent 6, causing the detent 6 to retract (move upwardly in FIG. 2) so that the abutment 7 will clear its inclined end face. Actually, it should be noted that the free end face of the abutment 7 has two mutually inclined surface portions, one of which is engaged by the detent 6 when the arrangement is in the normal operating position as shown in FIG. 2. If, however, the detent 6 is forced to retract then it will exert pressure upon the other inclined face of the abutment 7, thereby causing the entire arrangement to be forced away (in clockwise direction in FIG. 2) from the drive roll D by pivoting about the pivot 9. Thus, the danger of damage to the bearings or other components is avoided, at least in most instances. The arrangement can also be provided with a suitable switch, relay or the like which, when the housing 1 pivots about the pivot 9, will become activated and will trigger a circuit which switches off the drive for the winder to thereby permit clearing of the filament wrapped about the drive roller.

Reference numeral 17 designates a connection by means of which access may be had to the interior of the cam 2, for instance for introduction of a fluid if necessary.

The provision of the motor 24 to be pivotable on the stationary support 21 for the winder traverse, and the in-line positioning of the motor with respect to cam 2, provides not only for a simple and economical construction, but also assures that the cantilevered housing 1 and cam 2 are counterbalanced, at least to some extent, thereby removing considerable strain from the bearing for the pivot 9. Also, the motor will of course under these circumstances always be in line with the cam, irrrspective of their positions and movement, for instance about the pivot 9.,

It will thus be seen that the construction according to the present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art, and provides for av substantial improvement in this field.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a winder traverse for filamentary material, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constituted essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letter Patent is:

l. A winder traverse for filamentary material which is to be wound onto a bobbin that is surface-driven by a drive roll rotating closely proximal to and in axial parallelism with the bobbin and the traverse, comprising an elongated tubular housing having axially spaced open ends; a cylindrical cam mounted in said housing for rotation relative thereto; removable closure means closing one of said open ends; motor means adjacent the other open end and having an output shaft; disengageable coupling means releasably coupling said output shaft with said cam for rotating the latter; and pivot means mounting said housing in the region of said other open end for pivotal movement about an axis offset from but paralleling the longitudinal axis of said housing, so that said traverse may pivot about said axis away from the drive roll in the event the traverse is subjected to pressure acting transversely of said longitudinal axis and resulting from an increase in the diameter of said drive roll due to undesired wrapping of filamentary material about the same.

2. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1, wherein said output shaft is in axial alignment with the axis of rotation of said cam. 3. A windertraverse as defined in claim 1; further comprising first and second bearing means provided in said housing and journalling opposite ends of said cam for rotation of the latter.

4. A winder traverse as defined in claim 3, said first bearing means being carried by said closure means, and said second bearing means being mounted in said housing in the region of said other open end and for movement axially of said housing towards said one open end in response to withdrawal of said cam through the same.

5. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1; and further comprising a stationary support with reference to which said motor means is pivotally mounted.

6. A winder traverse as defined in claim 5, said pivot means comprising a tubular element fixed to and coaxial with said housing, and an at least substantially cylindrical pivot received in said tubular element and having an exposed end fixedly connected to said support, so that said tubular element is free to turn about said pivot.

7. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1; and further comprising biased detent means normally preventing said housing from said pivotal movement, but permitting such movement in response to development of a predetermined magnitude of said pressure acting transversely to said longitudinal axis.

Claims (7)

1. A winder traverse for filamentary material which is to be wound onto a bobbin that is surface-driven by a drive roll rotating closely proximal to and in axial parallelism with the bobbin and the traverse, comprising an elongated tubular housing having axially spaced open ends; a cylindrical cam mounted in said housing for rotation relative thereto; removable closure means closing one of said open ends; motor means adjacent the other open end and having an output shaft; disengageable coupling means releasably coupling said output shaft with said cam for rotating the latter; and pivot means mounting said housing in the region of said other open end for pivotal movement about an axis offset from but paralleling the longitudinal axis of said housing, so that said traverse may pivot about said axis away from the drive roll in the event the traverse is subjected to pressure acting transversely of said longitudinal axis and resulting from an increase in the diameter of said drive roll due to undesired wrapping of filamentary material about the same.

2. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1, wherein said output shaft is in axial alignment with the axis of rotation of said cam.

3. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1; further comprising first and second bearing means provided in said housing and journalling opposite ends of said cam for rotation of the latter.

4. A winder traverse as defined in claim 3, said first bearing means being carried by said closure means, and said second bearing means being mounted in said housing in the region of said other open end and for movement axially of said housing towards said one open end in response to withdrawal of said cam through the same.

5. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1; and further comprising a stationary support with reference to which said motor means is pivotally mounted.

6. A winder traverse as defined in claim 5, said pivot means comprising a tubular element fixed to and coaxial with said housing, and an at least substantially cylindrical pivot received in said tubular element and having an exposed end fixedly connected to said support, so that said tubular element is free to turn about said pivot.

7. A winder traverse as defined in claim 1; and further comprising biased detent means normally preventing said housing from said pivotal movement, but permitting such movement in response to development of a predetermined magnitude of said pressure acting transversely to said longitudinal axis.

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