US3918248A

US3918248A - Mechanism for driving a spinning rotor of the open-end spinning apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3918248A
Application number: US435950A
Authority: US
Inventors: Yoshihisa Suzuki
Original assignee: Toyoda Automatic Loom Works Ltd
Current assignee: Toyota Industries Corp
Priority date: 1973-01-27
Filing date: 1974-01-23
Publication date: 1975-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 1992-11-11
Also published as: CH571582A5

Abstract

An improved mechanism is provided for driving the spinning rotor of each spinning unit of an open-end spinning apparatus. A pneumatic bearing is utilized for supporting the rotor shaft. In the preferred mechanism, a pneumatic turbine is utilized to drive the rotor shaft and the discharge air from the turbine is utilized for the pneumatic bearing. Further, it is preferred to use the discharge air from the bearing as a supply air which is fed into the spinning rotor.

Description

' United States Patent Suzuki Nov. 11, 1975 MECHANISM FOR DRIVING A SPINNING 2,659,193 11/1953 Hegedus 57/77.33 ROTOR OF THE OPEN-END SPINNING $111116 23 3 een APPARATUS 2,942,405 6/1960 Ward et al. 57/77.45 [75] Inventor: Yoshihisa Suzuki, Nagoya, Japan 3,416,300 12/1968 Schenkel 57/77 3,798,886 3 1974 R h' 1 57 58.89 X [73 Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda d a Jidoshokki Seisakusho; Daiwa Boseki Kabllshiki Kaisha, both 0 Primary E.\'anziner.1ohn Petrakes Osaka, pa Attorney, Agent, 01' FirmBurgess Ryan and Wayne [22] Filed: Jan. 23, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 435,950

[57] ABSTRACT [30] Forelgn Application Pnority Data An improved mechanism is provided for driving the Jan. 27, 1973 Japan 48-11409 i i rotor f h i i i f an OPerHmd Jan. 30, 1973 Japan 48-12359 Spinning apparatus A pneumatic bearing is utilized for supporting the rotor shaft. in the preferred mecha- [52] US. Cl.2 57/101; 57/58.89 rnism a pneumatic turbine is utilized to drive the rotor [51] '3 D0111 1/24; 1/12 shaft and the discharge air from the turbine is utilized [58] Fleld of Search "5758894891 for the pneumatic bearing. Further, it is preferred to 101 use the discharge air from the bearing as a supply air which is fed into the spinning rotor. [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Claims, 5- Drawing Figures 930,850 8/1909 DeFerranti 57/101 I U.S. Patent Nov.11, 1975 Sheet1of3 3,918,248

US. Patent Nov. 11,1975 Sheet2 of3 3,918,248

US. Patent Nov. 11,1975 Sheet3of3 3,918,248

MECHANISM FOR DRIVING A SPINNING ROTOR OF THE OPEN-END SPINNING APPARATUS SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in the mechanism for driving a spinning rotor of the openend spinning apparatus.

Due to recent expansion in the use of the open-end spinning system, a more rapid rotation of the spinning rotor has been desired so as to increase the productivity of the open-end spinning machine. However, if the spinning rotor of each spinning unit of the open-end spinning machine is driven by means of the so-called belt drive system, the high speed driving of the spinning rotor creates very serious problems such as degradation of the durability of bearings utilized to support the spinning rotor, creation of unpleasant noise, serious vibration of the spindle, etc.

Therefore, the principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved mechanism for driving a spinning rotor of the open-end spinning apparatus by which the above-mentioned difficulties can be perfectly eliminated.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved mechanism for driving a spinning rotor of an open-end spinning apparatus said mechanism being provided with an auxiliary device for supplying a pressurized air stream into the spinning rotor so as to carry out a stable spinning operation without disturbance from the above-mentioned troubles.

To attain the above-mentioned purposes, in the present invention, a so-called pneumatic bearing is utilized so as to rotatably support the shaft of the spinning rotor. Further, a pneumatic turbine is utilized so as to drive the shaft of the spinning rotor and the pressurized air supplied to the pneumatic turbine is discharged into the pneumatic bearing. The pressurized air discharged from the pneumatic bearing is utilized as supply air into the spinning rotor instead of supplying air into the spinning rotor from the atmosphere in the-spinning room.

Besides eliminating the above-mentioned problems, with the present invention the spinning unit can be compactly made and, in addition, loss of power in driving the spinning rotor can be minimized because grease, which is normally utilized for the conventional bearing of an open-end spinning unit, is not used. Consequently, the running durability of the bearing for sup-.

porting the shaft of the spinning rotor can be remarkably prolonged in comparison to that of the conventional bearing.

Further, as the pressurized air is supplied into the spinning rotor from the pneumatic bearing, instead of being supplied directly from the atmosphere, the undesirable introduction of fiber lint or dust into the spinning rotor can be suitably prevented and, thereby the possibility of damage to the yarn quality from such lint or dust is completely eliminated. Because of this feature of the present invention, the filter which is required for separating fiber lint or dust from the supply air into the spinning rotor in the conventional driving system can be omitted so that all maintenance operations related to the filter can be eliminated.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a spinning unit of the open-end spinning machine according to the present invention;

FIG.2 is a schematic side view of the spinning unit shown in FIG. 1 in a condition wherein a brake is applied to the spinning rotor;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-section view of the pneumatic bearing and the pneumatic turbine utilized for driving the spinning rotor shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the pneumatic turbine shown in FIG. 3, taken along a line IVIV in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the pneumatic bearing shown in FIG. 3, taken along a line VV in FIG. 3.

DETAILED ILLUSTRATION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, in the spinning unit according to the present invention, a frame 1 having a fiber supply means is supported on a fixed bracket 2 by means of a pivot shaft 3 so that the frame 1 is capable of turning about the pivot shaft 3 and an auxiliary bracket 4 is secured to the bracket 2. A rotor holder 5 is turnably mounted on the auxiliary bracket 4 by a pivot shaft 4a so that the rotor holder 5 is capable of turning about the pivot shaft 4a. An engaging pin 4b projects from the auxiliary bracket 4 and a hook member 9 is displaceably mounted on the frame of the spinning unit 1 in such a condition that when the hook member 9 is pushed inward, the hook member 9 catches a cap of the engaging pin 4b at a working condition shown in FIG. 1 where the normal spinning operation can be carried out. A spinning rotor I3 is rigidly mounted on a rotor shaft 22 which is turnably supported by the rotor holder 5 as hereinafter illustrated in detail. A casing 16a of the rotor holder 5 is turnably mounted on the pivot shaft 4a. A brake pulley 8 is rigidly mounted on the rotor shaft 22 in such a position that the brake pulley 8 is capable of contacting a brake member 10 when the bracket 2 turns about the pivot shaft 3 by disengaging the hook member 9 from the cap of the engaging pin 4b, and the rotor holder 5 turns about the pivot shaft 40 as shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, when the brake pulley 8 contacts the brake member 10 due to the turning of the holder 5 about the pivot shaft 4a, the rotation of the rotor shaft 22 is stopped. The above-mentioned respective turning motions of the bracket 2 and the rotor holder 5 about the

pivot shafts

3 and 4a are required when a spinning yarn is broken or a certain maintenance operation is required. In the above-mentioned embodiment, the rotor holder 5 comprises the casing 16a, which covers the spinning rotor 13 and a bearing 16b which rotatably supports the rotor shaft 22.

A hook member 7 is turnably mounted on the frame of the spinning unit 1 and a hook like projection 16c is projected downward from the casing 16a of the rotor holder 5 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 so that the rotor holder 5 is capable of holding by engaging the hook member 7 with the projection when the frame 1 of the spinning unit is turned about the pivot shaft 3 by its own-weight. According to the above-mentioned turning motion of the frame 1, the holder 5 is'forced to turn about the pivot shaft 4a and the brake pulley 8 is urged to the brake 10.

As a driving means for driving the rotor shaft 22, a pneumatic turbine is utilized. That is, a turbine 18 is secured to the rotor shaft 22 and compressed'air is supplied from a supply source into a cylindrical space 30 formed in the rotor holder 5 by way of

supply conduits

50, 51 and an inlet 17, and then the compressed air is accelerated by a nozzle 31 (see FIG. 4) so that the accelerated compressed air is ejected into a space surrounding the turbine 18. Consequently, the ejected compressed air impinges on blades 32 of the turbine 18 so that the rotor shaft 22 is turned in a direction represented by an arrow 33 in FIG. 4. According to the above-mentioned motion of the rotor shaft 22, the rotor 13 is turned in the same direction so that the yarn forming operation in the spinning rotor 13 can be carried out. In the present invention, other types of pneumatic turbines, other than the one described above, can be utilized with the same working effect as the abovementioned turbine.

The pressure of the highly compressed air which has been used for turning the pneumatic turbine 18 is low ered in the space surrounding the blades 32 of the turbine 18 and is discharged from a passage 19 which connects the space surrounding the blades 32 of the tur bine 18 with the pneumatic bearing 16b, and supplied into the pneumatic bearing 16b via a plurality of connecting passage 20 (see FIG. The compressed air in the passages is fed into spaces formed in the body of the pneumatic bearing 16b via the respective passages 21 and then carried into a small cylindrical space 23 formed between the rotor shaft 22 and the bearing through a plurality of inlets 36, for example, four inlets 36 in this embodiment. Consequently, the shaft 22 is held in a floating coaxial condition within the inside cylindrical wall of the bearing 40 by the static pressure of the air flow. A pair of flanges 27a and 27b are rigidly secured to the rotor shaft 22 in proximity to and outside the ends of the bearing 40 so as to bear the thrust forces 28a, 28b created by the turbine 18, and the pressurized air is ejected from ejection apertures 37a, 37b via the respective spaces 35, toward the inside surfaces of the flanges 27a. 27b so that very small clearances between the flanges 27a, 27b and the corresponding outside surfaces of the bearing 40 can be maintained. The pressurized air used as mentioned above is then introduced into a space 24 which is connected to the abovementioned air passages, and then discharged via a conduit 25 and discharge apertures 26a, 26b.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the pipe flow resistances between the inlet aperture 17 and the plurality of discharge apertures 31, and between the inlet aperture 19 and the plurality of apertures 35, are designed so as to attain uniform supply of the pressurized air into the spaces surrounding the rotor shaft 22 and the turbine 18. The air discharged from the spinning rotor 13 through an aperture or apertures 14 formed in the spinning rotor 13 is carried to a discharge duct (not shown) from a diffusion space 41 via a discharge conduit 15. As the air pressure in the bearing 16b is higher than that the diffusion space 41 of the casing 16a, the discharge air from the spinning rotor 13, which contains lint and/or dust, cannot be introduced into the bearing 16b and, consequently, there is no trouble from lints and/or dust deposited in the bearing 16b. However, to assure even greater protection in the present invention, the bearing 16b is sealed by a labyrinth packing 29a. It is also acceptable to utilize a taper labyrinth packing which permits a very weak air flow from the bearing 40 into the diffusion space 14. To prevent the discharge of the pressurized air from the turbine 18 into the atmosphere, a labyrinth packing 29b similar to the packing 29a is utilized as shown in FIG. 3. When it is required to turn the frame 1 from the spinning position thereof, which is shown in FIG. 1, it is acceptable to utilize a stop valve (not shown) which automatically closes the supply conduit 51 when the frame 1 is turned from the spinning position. However, as the spinning rotor 13 is driven by a very weak driving force created by a low pressurized air, even when the above-mentioned stop valve is omitted, the spinning rotor 13 can be stopped by contacting the brake pulley 8 with the brake member 10 while continuing to supply the pressurized air into the turbine 18.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a pneumatic turbine 18 is utilized to drive the rotor shaft 22, however, any other driving means such as a high frequency motor, etc. may be used. In this case, the pressurized air is directly supplied into the bearing 16b.

As already explained, in the present invention, as the pneumatic bearing 16b is utilized to rotatably support the rotor shaft 22, the difficulties which are obstacles to high speed rotation of the spinning rotor can be satisfactorily eliminated.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the discharged air from the outlet aperture 26a is fed into the spinning rotor 13 as hereinafter illustrated in detail. That is, the aperture 26a is connected, by means of a flexible connecting conduit 60, with an inlet conduit 61, which in turn is connected to an air supply inlet 11 of the spinning unit 1. The inlet 11 is connected with the spinning rotor 13 by a conduit 12. If, the quantity of the discharge air from the outlet apertures 26a is too large to be supplied into the spinning rotor 13, another outlet aperture 26b may be opened so as to discharge a part of the discharge air into the atmosphere. As the flexible connecting conduit 60 is utilized, the turning motion of the bracket 2 about the pivot shaft 3 can be carried out without any disturbance. In this embodiment, the air supplied from the pneumatic bearing 40 into the spinning rotor 13 does not contain lint and/or dust. Consequently, difficulties due to lint and/or dust, which are the basis for some of the major troubles in the conventional open-end spinning unit, can be suitably eliminated.

What is claimed is:

1. In a mechanism for driving the spinning rotor of each spinning unit of an open-end spinning apparatus wherein a shaft of said rotor is rotatably supported by a pneumatic bearing mounted in a rotor holder of said spinning unit, the improvement comprising a cylindrical bearing member mounted to project inwardly in said pneumatic bearing whereby said rotor shaft is rotatably pneumatically supported by means of said cylindrical bearing member, a pair of cylindrical chambers formed in said pneumatic bearing at positions axially beyond opposite ends of said cylindrical member, a pair of flanges rigidly secured to said rotor shaft in the proximity of and beyond the axial ends of said cylindrical bearing member whereby said flanges are positioned in separate said cylindrical chambers, means for supplying pressurized air into a space between said rotor shaft and said cylindrical bearing member and also into spaces between said flanges and said cylindrical bearing member in uniform condition, means for discharging said supplied air from said spaces to the outside of said pneumatic bearing, and means for sea]- ing a clearance between said rotor shaft and said pneumatic bearing at both ends of said pneumatic bearing.

2. An improvement of the mechanism for driving a spinning rotor of the open-end spinning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a pneumatic turbine coaxially connected to said rotor shaft, said pneumatic turbine being provided with an inlet conduit for receiving said pressurized air from a supply source and an outlet aperture for discharging said pressurized air therefrom, wherein said means for supplying pressurized air into said space between said rotor shaft and said cylindrical bearing member is connected to said discharging aperture of said turbine.

3. An improvement of the mechanism for driving a spinning rotor of the open-end spinning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said supplying means comprises a plurality of connecting passages connected to said outlet aperture of said pneumatic turbine, each of said connecting passages being connected to an inlet passage which is connected to said space between said rotor shaft and said cylindrical bearing member.

4. In a mechanism for driving the spinning rotor of each spinning unit of an op'en-end spinning apparatus wherein air is supplied into said spinning rotor via an inlet conduit mounted on said spinning unit and a shaft of said rotor is rotatably supported by a pneumatic bearing mounted in a rotor holder of said spinning unit, the improvement comprising a cylindrical bearing member mounted to project inwardly in said pneumatic bearing whereby said rotor shaft is rotatably pneumatically supported by means of said cylindrical bearing member, a pair of cylindrical chambers formed in said pneumatic bearing at positions axially beyond opposite ends of said cylindrical member, a pair of flanges rigidly secured to said rotor shaft in proximity to and beyond separate opposite axial ends of said cylindrical bearing member whereby said flanges are positioned in separate said cylindrical chambers, means for supplying pressurized air into a space between said rotor shaft and said cylindrical bearing member and also into spaces between said flanges and said cylindrical bearing member in uniform condition. means for discharging said supplied air from said spaces to the outside of said pneumatic bearing, means for sealing a clearance between said rotor shaft and said pneumatic bearing at both ends of said pneumatic bearing, saiddischarging means being connected to said inlet conduit so that the discharged air from said pneumatic bearing is fed into said spinning rotor.

5. An improvement of the mechanism for driving a spinning rotor of the open-end spinning apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a pneumatic turbine coaxially connected to said rotor shaft, said pneumatic turbine being provided with an inlet conduit for receiving said pressurized air from a supply source and an outlet aperture for discharging said pressurized air therefrom, wherein said means for supplying pressurized air into said space and said rotor shaft and said cylindrical bearing member is connected to said discharging aperture of said turbine.

Claims

1. In a mechanism for driving the spinning rotor of each spinning unit of an open-end spinning apparatus wherein a shaft of said rotor is rotatably supported by a pneumatic bearing mounted in a rotor holder of said spinning unit, the improvement comprising a cylindrical bearing member mounted to project inwardly in said pneumatic bearing whereby said rotor shaft is rotatably pneumatically supported by means of said cylindrical bearing member, a pair of cylindrical chambers formed in said pneumatic bearing at positions axially beyond opposite ends of said cylindrical member, a pair of flanges rigidly secured to said rotor shaft in the proximity of and beyond the axial ends of said cylindrical bearing member whereby said flanges are positioned in separate said cylindrical chambers, means for supplying pressurized air into a space between said rotor shaft and said cylindrical bearing member and also into spaces between said flanges and said cylindrical bearing member in uniform condition, means for discharging said supplied air from said spaces to the outside of said pneumatic bearing, and means for sealing a clearance between said rotor shaft and said pneumatic bearing at both ends of said pneumatic bearing.

4. In a mechanism for driving the spinning rotor of each spinning unit of an open-end spinning apparatus wherein air is supplied into said spinning rotor via an inlet conduit mounted on said spinning unit and a shaft of said rotor is rotatably supported by a pneumatic bearing mounted in a rotor holder of said spinning unit, the improvement comprising a cylindrical bearing member mounted to project inwardly in said pneumatic bearing whereby said rotor shaft is rotatably pneumatically supported by means of said cylindrical bearing member, a pair of cylindrical chambers formed in said pneumatic bearing at positions axially beyond opposite ends of said cylindrical member, a pair of flanges rigidly secured to said rotor shaft in proximity to and beyond separate opposite axial ends of said cylindrical bearing member whereby said flanges are positioned in separate said cylindrical chambers, means for supplying pressurized air into a space between said rotor shaft and said cylindrical bearing member and also into spaces between said flanges and said cylindrical bearing member in uniform condition, means for discharging said supplied air from said spaces to the outside of said pneumatic bearing, means for sealing a clearance between said rotor shaft and said pneumatic bearing at both ends of said pneumatic bearing, said discharging means being connected to said inlet conduit so that the discharged air from said pneumatic bearing is fed into said spinning rotor.