US3826417A

US3826417A - Apparatus for forming and moving vertical loops in a strip of material

Info

Publication number: US3826417A
Application number: US00232744A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Koster; H Jentzsch
Original assignee: Stork Amsterdam NV
Current assignee: Stork Amsterdam NV
Priority date: 1972-03-08
Filing date: 1972-03-08
Publication date: 1974-07-30
Anticipated expiration: 1991-07-30

Abstract

A festoon steamer comprising a set of supporting rods travelling through a closed circuit with a horizontal track in which the web is hanging down in loops from said rods, the loops being consecutively formed in a portion of the circuit ahead of said horizontal track and each loop being only picked up by a rod after its completion.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Koster et al. July 30, 1974 [54] APPARATUS FOR FORMING AND MOVING 2,814,192 11 /19s7 Brunner 226/105 x VERTICAL Loops IN A STRIP OF 2,831,677 4/1958 Elwood et al 226/107 x 3,1 l l SChlfiCht X [75] Inventors: Wolfgang Koster, Bad

Salzuflen-Schotner; Harald Jentzsch, Brackwede-Quelle, both of Germany [73] Assignee: Stork Amsterdam N.V.,

ArnstelveemNetherlands [22] Filed: Mar. 8, 1972 [21] Appl. No.1 232,744

[52] US. Cl. 226/107, 68/5 D [51] Int. Cl B65h 17/06 [58] Field of Search 68/5 D, 5 E; 34/157;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 578,008 3/1897 Gadd 68/5 E Primary ExaminerHarvey C. Hornsby Assistant Examiner-Philip R. Coe Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Allen D. Brufsky 5 7] ABSTRACT A festoon steamer comprising a set of supporting rods travelling through a closed circuit with a horizontal track in which the web is hanging down in loops from said rods, the loops being consecutively formed in a portion of the circuit ahead of said horizontal track and each loop being only picked up by a rod after its completion.

2 Claims, 16 Drawing Figures PATENIEDJuLsomu 26.411

sum 1 [1F 5 PAIENIEUmsomn 3,826,417

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APPARATUS FOR FORMING AND MOVING v VERTICAL LOOPS IN A STRIP or MATERIAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION of supporting rods suspended only at their outer ends are movable in circulation, with a horizontal track at. the beginning. The ends of the rods can be laid upon this track by means of the conveyor. The apparatus is further provided with a feed roll at a suitable offset from the track, on which the material of the strip is fed in the form of loops. The loops are supported on the rods moving between the feed roll and the track, while beyond the track, the rods return empty in a path under said track.

In the already known devices first of all a loop is formed, in which a supporting rod comes in contact with the strip of material at the outer end of the loop and lifts it up to the level of the track. The speed of the supporting rod conveyor thus corresponds with the speed of the advancing track, whereby the total length of the loop formed is maintained and the portion of the material between the feed roll and the supporting rod raising this loop remains rigid. One disadvantage of this arrangement is that at higher strip feed speed the conveyor places the supporting rods on the guide with an impact, for which reason the construction must either be very robust, or the strip feed speed must be kept very low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The apparatus for forming and advancing the loops is such that first of all the strip is allowed to form a complete loop and then a supporting rod is allowed to come into contact with the strip in order to advance this loop to the track whilst at the same time a new loop is formed which has the correct length at the instant at which the next supporting rod comes into contact with the strip of material. 'In this way a saving of time is achieved, which permits a reduction in the speed of circulation of the supporting rods.

In accordance with the invention the speed of the conveyor, the length of the span between the feed roll and the guide path and the pitch of the supporting rods in the conveyor are coordinated with one another and with the speed of the material of the strip in such a way that every time a supporting rod is laid on the track a following supporting rod makes contact with the strip of material. As a consequence the speed of the conveyor in proportion to the strip feed speed is a minimum.

SURVEY OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic elevation of a complete equipment according to a first embodiment of the invention,

FIGS. 2 to 7 show schematic elevations of a zone of the equipment as FIG. I, in different stages of the formation of a loop,

FIGS. 8 to 11 are elevations similar to FIGS. 2 to 7, with a zone of an equipment in accordance with another embodiment, in different stages of the formation of a loop,

FIGS. 12 and 13 show an elevation and a sectional plan of part of a supporting rod conveyor in which a supporting rod is being carried,

FIG. 14 is an elevation as FIG. 12 with an altered embodiment of a supporting rod,

FIG. 15 is a section along the line XVXV in FIG. 14, and

FIG. 16 is an oblique view partly broken away of a complete installation with an equipment as FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:

FIG. I shows schematically an equipment in accordance with the invention in an installation which is described as a festoon steamer". The material feed is situated at about one third of the height of the loops. It consists of a feed roll 1 which cooperates with a roll 2. A strip 3 of material is fed between these parts, that is into a loop-forming zone between the feed roll 1 and a rigid track 4. As shown, this can have two parallel rails pitched apart wider than the maximum width of the strip 3 of material. Cylindrical supporting rods 5 are provided at their outer ends with circular flanges which can be inserted exactly between the rails 4, so that the loops keep their separation but the supporting rods 5 touch at the flanges. At the entry 6 to the rigid track 4 the supporting rods 5 reach the guide. At the outer end 7 of the track 4 the supporting rods 5 are lifted from the guide by an endless supporting rod conveyor 8. This conveyor 8 has, for example, two endless parallel running chains which are guided by guide-flanges 9 and describe a circuit lying mainly below the track 4 on either side of it. One possible way of suspending the supporting rods 5 from the chains is explained below with the aid of FIGS. 12 to 15.

The conveyor 8 brings the supporting rods 5 to the entry 6 and lays them on the track 4. Then the conveyor follows a section 8' near to and below the rigid track 4 empty. At the outer end 7 it picks up the supporting rods 5 again and brings them back to the starting point 6 of the track. FIG. 1 illustrates how a supporting rod 10 comes close up to the feed roll 1 for cooperation with the strip 3 of material and picks up a loop 11 formed at this point, in order to move it away to the entry 6 to the rigid guide 4. g

The length of the low hanging loop 11 is equal to that of the other formed loops 12. The supporting rod 10 picks up the outer end 13 of the loop 11 without rotating as it does so and without causing slipping of the material 3 of the strip. The formation and picking up of the loop 11 proceeds according to the schematic elevations of FIGS. 2 to 7. It may be mentioned that the processed loops at 14, i.e., before the outer end 7 of the track 4 are rolled up and at 15 carried away out of the installation. The supporting rods 5 are therefore picked up empty at the end 7 and returned to the entry 6.

In FIG. 2 the situation according to FIG. 1 is again shown in detail. In FIG. 3 one observes that the supporting rod 10 picks up the loop 11 while maintaining the length of loop In FIG. 4 it already appears that in accordance with the priciple of the invention the feed speed V is greater than the conveyor speed V, so that directly behind the upwards moving loop 11 a new loop 16 starts to form. At the same time it is provided that the supporting rod 10 cannot rotate in the circuit and also that no slip between this supporting rod and the the next loop 16 are displayed. It should be observed from this that the supporting rod 10 is actually laid on the rigid track 4 in the downwards direction.

It must further be mentioned that in the embodiment according to FIGS. 2 to 7 the instant at which the supporting rod 10 is laid on the rigid guide 4 coincides with the instant at which the next supporting rod 17 comes in contact with the strip 3 of material in order to pick up the loop 16 just formed. Under these conditions the conveyor speed V can be the minimum for a given strip feed speed V.

It is nevertheless also possible within the scope of this invention to varythe speed V of the conveyor 8 so that, for example, the speed of the supporting rod in the upwards section is relatively high, whereas next at the entry 6 in the downwards section the conveyor speed drops to zero, so that an impact of the supporting rod 5 on the track 4 is avoided. At the same time the impact of the next supporting rod 17 on the strip 3 of material will likewise be zero, whereby slip is excluded. Under the last-mentioned assumption the conveyor speed V can also increase further when raising the supporting rod 10, if the clearance to the next supporting rod 17 is increased. In this case the conveyor speed when setting down the supporting rod 10 can. be zero.

7 At this instant the loop 16 is also not yet completely formed and the supporting rod 17 is not yet in contact with the strip 3 of material. Subsequently the conveyor with increasing speed can at the correct instant pick up the completely formed loop 16.

In illustration an altered embodiment is displayed in FIGS. 8 to 11, in which a feed roll 20 lies at the height of a rigid track 21. One advantage of this embodiment is that the overall height of the installation is com pletely determined by the length of the loops to be formed. In addition the length of the supporting rod conveyor 22 in the zone between the feed roll 20 and the track 21 is also less, so that the speed of this conveyor 22 can be correspondingly reduced.

Many kinds of construction are possible in which the supporting rods are suspended in the supporting rod conveyor in such a way and also cooperate with the rigid guide, that rotation is prevented. In FIGS. 1 to 11 constructional precautions of that kind are omitted for the sake of clarity. Instead an example is given in FIGS. 12 and 13 in which the supporting rods are held by their outer ends 23' in supports 25 open at the top, which are hinged to hang on the chain 24. Inside the zone of the supports 25 the supporting rods are provided at both sides near their outer ends with semicircular-flanges 26 which prevent rotation of the supporting rod and which at the same time can rest on the rails of the rigid track and thus prevent contact betwen the loops. Because of the hinged attachment of the supports 25 the chains can both lay the supporting rods on the rigid track 4 at the entry 6 (FIG. I) and also pick up the empty supporting rods at the end 7 of the track.

Yet another embodiment of the supporting rods is shown in FIGS. 14 and 15. In this embodiment, cylindricai supporting rods 27 are provided on both sides with an eccentrically forged-on round outer end 28 which cooperates with a hinged support 29 on the conveyor and at the same time projects into the interior so that it can be laid on the rigid guide, while the chain 30 with the supports 29 on both sides of this rigid guide can still be moved away. In this case, too, the loops of the material of the strip do not touch the rigid guide, because the diameter of the rods 27 proper is smaller than that of the eccentric round outer ends 28.

What we claim is:

1. An apparatus for forming and moving vertical loops in a strip of material in an installation for the steam treatment of textiles, comprising:

an endless conveyor in which a number of supporting rods suspended only at their ends are movable in circulation;

a horizontal track at the beginning of which the ends of the rods can be laid by the conveyor;

a feed roll on which the material of the strip is fed in the form of loops which are transported on the supporting rods from said feed roll towards said horizontal track where after being laid by the conveyor the rods are solely supported by and advanced on said track, said feed roll being offset from the track at a distance and location that permits formation of a complete loop of material prior to traverse of the distance from the feed roll to the track by the support rod traveling on the endless conveyor; and

means associated with said rods for preventing the rotation of said rods while being transported from the feed roll to the horizontal track.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 said last-named means includes wherein eccentric weights attached to the supporting rods adjacenttheir outer ends.

Claims

1. An apparatus for forming and moving vertical loops in a strip of material in an installation for the steam treatment of textiles, comprising: an endless conveyor in which a number of supporting rods suspended only at their ends are movable in circulation; a horizontal track at the beginning of which the ends of the rods can be laid by the conveyor; a feed roll on which the material of the strip is fed in the form of loops which are transported on the supporting rods from said feed roll towards said horizontal track where after being laid by the conveyor the roDs are solely supported by and advanced on said track, said feed roll being offset from the track at a distance and location that permits formation of a complete loop of material prior to traverse of the distance from the feed roll to the track by the support rod traveling on the endless conveyor; and means associated with said rods for preventing the rotation of said rods while being transported from the feed roll to the horizontal track.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 said last-named means includes wherein eccentric weights attached to the supporting rods adjacent their outer ends.