US3918128A

US3918128A - Device for setting the intervening space between a bottom roller and a top roller of a roller assembly

Info

Publication number: US3918128A
Application number: US425932A
Authority: US
Inventors: Takashi Katoh; Yoshiaki Yamaoka
Original assignee: Toyoda Automatic Loom Works Ltd
Current assignee: Toyota Industries Corp
Priority date: 1973-12-18
Filing date: 1973-12-18
Publication date: 1975-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 1992-11-11

Abstract

Device for setting the intervening space between a fluted bottom roller and a fluted top roller rotatably supported by a pair of roller stands by way of respective bearings. Each bearing supporting the top roller is disposed in a housing being held by one of the roller stands in slidable condition toward the bottom roller, a stopper secured to each roller stand restricts the displacement of the housing toward the bottom roller. Each housing is provided with a regular square or polygonal transverse cross section and the distances between the longitudinal axis of the housing and the surfaces of abutments formed on the longitudinal surfaces of the housing are different from each other so that the above-mentioned intervening space can be changed by changing the abutment which contacts the stopper.

Description

United States Patent [191 Katoh et al.

[ Nov. 11, 1975 [54] DEVICE FOR SETTING THE INTERVENING SPACE BETWEEN A BOTTOM ROLLER AND A TOP ROLLER OF A ROLLER ASSEMBLY [75] Inventors: Takashi Katoh; Yoshiaki Yamaoka,

both of Kariya, Japan [73] Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho, Kariya, Japan [22] Filed: Dec. 18, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 425,932

[52] US. Cl 19/260; 19/295 [51] Int. Cl. D01I-l 5/74 [58] Field of Search 19/260, 261, 258, 295, 19/294 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 460,083 9/1891 Dunh'am et al. 19/260 2,621,372 12/1952 Wilkie 19/294 X 2,944,301 7/]960 Blalock 19/294 Primary E.\aminerD0rsey Newton [5 7] ABSTRACT Device for setting the intervening space between a fluted bottom roller and a fluted top roller rotatably supported by a pair of roller stands by way of respective bearings. Each bearing supporting the top roller is disposed in a housing being held by one of the roller stands in slidable condition toward the bottom roller, a stopper secured to each roller stand restricts the displacement of the housing toward the bottom roller. Each housing is provided with a regular square or polygonal transverse cross section and the distances between the longitudinal axis of the housing and the surfaces of abutments formed on the longitudinal surfaces of the housing are different from each other so that the above-mentioned intervening space can be changed by changing the abutment which contacts the stopper.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures US. Patent N0v.11, 1975 Sheet10f2 3,918,128

Fig. Fig. 2

PRIOR ART PRIOR ART ll 9)) 5 9 US. Patent Nov. 11, 1975 Sheet 2 of2 3,918,128

DEVICE FOR SETTING THE INTERVENING SPACE BETWEEN A BOTTOM ROLLER AND A TOP ROLLER OF A ROLLER ASSEMBLY SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device for setting an intervening space between a fluted bottom roller and a fluted top roller of a roller assembly such as a calender roller of a card or a draft mechanism, for imparting mechanical crimps to individual fibers of silver after the silver is condensed by a trumpet.

Generally, speaking, as cotton fiber has so-called natural convolutions or twists and, on the other hand, artificial fibers such as rayon fibers or synthetic fibers are provided with artificial twists, these fibers have a potential property of shrinking longitudinally between the two ends of each individual fiber along the sliver axis while the sliver is being transported to the subsequent process after the individual fibers are straightened by a carding or drafting operation. Furhter, when processing a fiber material which has a low coefficient of friction, the fibers easily slip against each other and, consequently, the sliver composed of the fibers is often separated or the sliver is easily elongated. The abovementioned undesirable conditions become more and more pronounced as the transportation speed of the sliver is increased. To prevent these troubles, a pair of fluted rollers are utilized as the top and bottom rollers of a roller assembly or a pair of roller assemblies, such as a draft mechanism. As these fluted rollers or fluted calender rollers are provided with a plurality of grooves formed on their peripheral surfaces in parallel with the longitudinal axes thereof, when the sliver is passed through the nip of these rollers, suitable crimps can be imparted to the individual fibers of the sliver. Consequently, the above-mentioned trouble caused by undesirable slippage between fibers can be effectively prevented. However, as there is a large variation in the natural convolution of the cotton fibers or artificial twists of man-made fibers, it is necessary to change the shape of the fiber crimps in accordance with the kind of fiber being processed.

To change the shape of the fiber crimps, the following method for adjusting the intervening space between the fluted top roller and the fluted bottom roller has been applied. In this method, the intervening space be tween the top roller and the bottom roller is fixed by a thin gauge plate displaceably disposed between an abutment surface of a housing holding a bearing for rotatably supporting a top roller and a stopper secured to each roller stand for restricting downward displacement of the top roller toward the bottom roller which is rotatably supported by the roller stands. Therefore, the above-mentioned intervening space can be adjusted by changing the gauge plate to one having a different predetermined thickness. However, it is naturally necessary to prepare several gauge plates having different thicknesses for each roller assembly and, consequently, the above-mentioned method is very troublesome in practice.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel device for adjusting the intervening space between a fluted top roller and a fluted bottom roller of a roller assembly by which the abovementioned drawbacks can be satisfactorily eliminated.

In the apparatus of the present invention, the device for adjusting an intervening space between a fluted top roller and a fluted bottom roller, supported by a pair of roller stands, comprises: a pair of housings, each housing holding a bearing which rotatably supports one end portion of a boss of the top roller; a supporting means for supporting each of the housings in slidable condition toward the bottom roller, and; a stopper secured to each of the roller stands at a position below the supporting means. The downward displacement of the top roller within the supporting means is restricted by the engagement of the bottom surface of the housing with the stopper and a predetermined intervening space between the top roller and the bottom roller can be set when the mechanism for loading the top roller urges the top roller toward the bottom roller. The supporting means comprises a pair of vertical guide walls projected inside from each roller stand. The lateral crosssection of each housing is perpendicular to the roller axis of the top roller and is a regular square of polygon and the distance between the opposite edges thereof is so selected as to be identical to the distance between the vertical guide walls of the supporting mechanism. At the position of each longitudinal surface facing the stopper, an abutment is provided. In a typical embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned abutment is formed by a gauge plate secured to the longitudinal surface. That is, the same number of gauge plates as the number of longitudinal surfaces are secured to the housing. These gauge plates have different thicknesses. Consequently, the above-mentioned intervening space between the top roller and the bottom roller can be easily adjusted by selecting a particular gauge plate secured to the longitudinal surface of the housing, in cooperation with the loading mechanism.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a conventional device for adjusting the intervening space between a fluted top roller and a fluted bottom roller of a roller assembly;

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a device for adjusting the intervening spacebetween a fluted top roller and a fluted bottom roller of a pair of roller assemblies according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the device shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view, partly in section, of a mechanism for loading a roller assembly according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the housing illustrated in FIG. 4 modified by providing indentations in place of the gauge plates of FIG. 4.

DETAILED EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION For the purpose of clarification, before describing the detailed composition of the present invention, the conventional device for adjusting the intervening space between a top roller and a bottom roller of a roller assembly is briefly explained. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in the above-mentioned conventional device, an end portion of a boss of a bottom roller 3 is rotatably supported by a bearing 4 which is mounted on a roller stand 1; a horizontal stopper 7 is projected inside from the roller stand 1, and; a pair of

vertical guide projections

5 and 6 are rigidly secured to the roller stand 1 so as to form a pair of guide walls which receive a housing 9 having a square lateral cross section perpendicular to a longitudinal axis X-X of the top roller 11. An end portion of a top roller 11 is rotatably supported by a bearing 12 which is mounted in the housing 9. The housing 9 is closely engaged to the side walls and 6 in such a condition that a bottom surface of the housing 9 contacts an upward projection formed at an end of a horizontal projection via at least one gauge plate 13. Therefore, the above-mentioned intervening space is set by adjusting the thickness of the gauge plate(s) 13 so as to adjust the creation of crimps on the individual fibers. However, in the above-mentioned device, as one or more gauge plate(s) 13 must be stocked, it is troublesome to prepare them for adjusting the intervening space between the top roller and the bottom roller,

The present invention was created so as to solve the above-mentioned drawback of the conventional device. The detailed construction and function of the device according to the present invention is hereinafter explained in detail.

Referring to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, a roller stand 1 is provided with an aperture 2 for holding a bearing 4 which rotatably supports an end portion of a fluted bottom roller 3. The roller stand 1 is further provided with a horizontal projection 7 projected towards the top roller 11 and a pair of

vertical projections

5 and 6 projected towards the bottom roller 3 in parallel with each other so as to form a pair of vertical guide walls. The horizontal projection 7 is extended outside the

vertical projections

5 and 6 and this extended portion is formed as a stepped end portion 7a which is projected upwards so as to provide an abutment 7b formed on the stepped end portion 7a. The

vertical projections

5 and 6 provide an intervening space 8 therebetween which permits a housing 9 to be slidably held therein. The housing 9 is provided with a horizontal aperture 10 for holding a bearing 12 which rotatably supports an end portion of a boss of a top roller 11. The housing 9 is provided with a square lateral cross section, which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis YY of the top roller 11. And the distance between the opposite edges of the lateral cross section, is predetermined so as to be substantially identical to the above-mentioned distance between the

vertical guide projections

5 and 6, such that any pair of the longitudinal surfaces of the housing can be slidably held by the guide projectionsS and 6.

Gauge plates

13a, 13b, 13c and 13d are secured to the

longitudinal surfaces

9a, 90, 9b and 9d respectively at locations corresponding to the abutment 7b of the step 7a. The thickness of these

gauge plates

13a, 13b, 13c and 13d are different from each other and so designed that, when the housing 9 holding the top roller 11 is inserted into the space 8, the intervening distance between the top roller 11 and the bottom roller 3 becomes a predetermined suitable distance for use with the textile fiber which is to be processed. Therefore, in this embodiment, the intervening space between the top roller 11 and the bottom roller 3 can be changed to any one of four different distances. When the intervening space between the bottom and

top rollers

3 and 11 is to he set at a desired value, a pair of housings 9 are required for insertion into the respective spaces 8 at both end portions of the top roller 11. These two housings 9 are inserted into the spaces 8 in such a way that

identical surfaces

9a, 9b, 9c or 9d are selectively used.

As shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, as a roller assembly, a draft mechanism which comprises a front top roller 110, front bottom roller 3a, and a back top roller 11b and a back bottom roller 3b, is utilized. To simplify the explanation, only one of the loading mechanisms is explained hereinafter. In this embodiment, a

supporting arm 17 is pivotably mounted to a frame 15 by a pin 16 and a pair of suddles 18a, 18b are secured to the supporting arm 17 at respective positions facing the corresponding top rollers 11a, 11b. Loading pins 190 and 19b are slidably mounted in the respective ap ertures formed at the top portions of the respective suddles 18a, 1817. These pins 19a, 1% are provided with abutment pieces 20a, 20b secured to the bottom end portion thereof and helical springs 21a, 21b are mounted on the pins 19a, 1% at portions between the i inside top walls of the suddles 18 a, 18b and the abutment pieces 20a, 20b in compressed condition respectively.

A pin 23 is secured to a free end portion of the suptoward their engageable directions. When the hook 27 j of the lock lever 26 holds the pin 22, the top rollers 1 1a, 1 1b are urged toward the respective bottom rollers.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a trumpet shaped sliver guide 28 is mounted to the frame 15 as shown in FIG. 5, so as to lead the sliver into the draft mechanism wherein the intervening spaces between the fluted top roller 11a and the fluted bottom roller 3a, top roller 11b and the bottom roller 3b, are set by the

guide plates

13a, 13b, 13c or 13d.

When a change in the intervening space between the top roller and the bottom roller is required, first, the engagement of the hook 27 of the lock lever 26 with the pin 23 is released and, next, the supporting lever 17 is turned about the pin 16 so as to free the top rollers 11a, 11b from the loading mechanism. Then the disposition of the housings 9 of each of the top rollers 11a, 11b are changed to the preferred condition. After the above-mentioned operation, the supporting lever 17 is again turned toward the engagement condition of the hook 27 of the lock lever 26 with the pin 23.

It will now be apparent that with the present invention the intervening space between the top rollers and the respective bottom rollers can be easily and precise-. ley adjusted in the simple manner which has been de-.

scribed above.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the lateral cross section of the housing 9 is square. However, a. housing having regular polygonal cross sections can be utilized for the present invention if a relationship to the abutment surface 7b of the step 7a that is similar to the,

above-mentioned embodiment can be satisfied.

It is also possible that, instead of applying the engage ment of the

gauge plates

13a, 13b, or 13d with the abutment surface 712 of the upward projection 7a, re-

cesses

30a, 30b, 30c and 30d, as shown in the modifica-- tion of FIG. 6, having different depths which correspond to the above-mentioned thicknesses of the

gauge plates

13a, 13b, 13c and 1311, are formed on the

longitudinal surfaces

90, 9b, 9c and 9d at the positions facing the abutment surface 7b of the upward projection 7a. Based on our mill test of such a construction, a similar result to that of the above-mentioned embodiment can be attained.

For convenience, in actual practice it is advisable to paint the gauge plates different colors so that it is very easy to identify the desired surface of the housing 9.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the device for adjusting the intervening space between a top roller and a bottom roller is applied to a draft mechanism provided with two pair of roller assemblies, each comprising a top roller and a bottom roller. However, this device can be satisfactorily applied to a roller assembly comprising a fluted top roll and a fluted bottom roll, such as a calender roll of a carding machine.

What is claimed is:

1. In a roller assembly of a spinning machine comprising at least-a combination of a fluted bottom roller rotatably supported by a pair of roller stands and a top fluted roller spaced and disposed above said bottom roller with a predetermined very small intervening space between said rollers, and a loading mechanism for urging said top roller toward said bottom roller, a device for setting said intervening space in cooperation with said loading mechanism comprising, a pair of housings, each housing holding a bearing which rotatably supports one end portion boss of said top roller, means for supporting each of said housings in slidable condition toward said bottom roller at an inside position of each roller stand above said bottom roller, a stopper secured to each of said roller stands at an inside position below said supporting means, the extent of the sliding motion of said housing toward said bottom roller being defined by said stopper, intervening gage means having engaging surfaces provided on each of a plurality of longitudinal surfaces of said housing substantially along a longitudinal axis of said top roller and arranged to selectively contact said stopper, which engagement results in the establishment of an intervening space between said top roller and said bottom roller, the distances between each of said engaging surfaces of said gage means and said longitudinal axis of the top roller being respectively different in predetermined amount, whereby said intervening space between said top roller and said bottom roller can be easily changed by engaging said gage means of a desired longitudinal surface of said housing with said stopper under pressure created by said loading means.

2. A device for setting an intervening space between a top roller and a bottom roller of a roller assembly according to claim 1, wherein said supporting means comprises a pair of vertical guide members projected inside from each of said roller stands in parallel condition to each other, each of said housings provided with a regular square or polygonal lateral cross section perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of the top roller, providing pairs of parallel longitudinal surfaces, the intervening distance between said vertical guide members being identical to the intervening distance between each of said pairs of parallel longitudinal surfaces of said housing with respect to said longitudinal axis of said top roller.

3. A device for setting an intervening space between a top roller and a bottom roller of a roller assembly according to claim 1, wherein said stopper is provided with an upward projection, said gage means provided on each of said plurality of longitudinal surfaces of said housing is formed as a gauge plate secured on the respective longitudinal surface of said housing at a position facing said upward projection of said stopper, and said gauge plates have predetermined thicknesses different from each other.

4. A device for setting an intervening space between a top roller and a bottom roller of a roller assembly according to claim 1, wherein said stopper is provided with an upward projection, said gage means provided on each of said plurality of longitudinal surfaces of said housing is formed by providing a recessed surface formed on the respective longitudinal surface of said housing at a position facing said upward projection of said stopper, and the depths of said recessed surfaces from said longitudinal surfaces of said housing being different from each other.

5. A device for setting an intervening space between a top and a bottom roller of a roller assembly according to claim 1, wherein said housing is provided with a square lateral cross section perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of the top roller.

Claims

1. In a roller assembly of a spinning machine comprising at least a combination of a fluted bottom roller rotatably supported by a pair of roller stands and a top fluted roller spaced and disposed above said bottom roller with a predetermined very small intervening space between said rollers, and a loading mechanism for urging said top roller toward said bottom roller, a device for setting said intervening space in cooperation with said loading mechanism comprising, a pair of housings, each housing holding a bearing which rotatably supports one end portion boss of said top roller, means for supporting each of said housings in slidable condition toward said bottom roller at an inside position of each roller stand above said bottom roller, a stopper secured to each of said roller stands at an inside position below said supporting means, the extent of the sliding motion of said housing toward said bottom roller being defined by said stopper, intervening gage means having engaging surfaces provided on each of a plurality of longitudinal surfaces of said housing substantially along a longitudinal axis of said top roller and arranged to selectively contact said stopper, which engagement results in the establishment of an intervening space between said top roller and said bottom roller, the distances between each of said engaging surfaces of said gage means and said longitudinal axis of the top roller being respectively different in predetermined amount, whereby said intervening space between said top roller and said bottom roller can be easily changed by engaging said gage means of a desired longitudinal surface of said housing with said stopper under pressure created by said loading means.