US558353A

US558353A - cochrane

Info

Publication number: US558353A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1896-04-14
Anticipated expiration: 1913-04-14

Description

(No Model.) 3 Shets-Shet 2.

P. W.. OOCHRANE. MECHANISM FOR NAPPING PABRIGS 'No. 658,353. PatentedApryl 1-89.6-

' Fig.3.

WITNESSES: I 22 w 5164M ANDRE" B GRAHAM.FNOTO-UTNQWASNINGTDN DC.

3 t e e h S w e e h S 3 E N A R H C 0 O W R (No Model.)

MECHANISM FOR NAPPING FABRICS.

No. 558,353. P atented Apr. 14, 1896.

\\\\\ \\\wmuI ATTOR/VE UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PHILIP WV.- COOHRANE, OF SPRING CITY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HARRISON F. B. BOOTII AND WILLIS G. ROGERS, OF

SAME PLACE.

MECHANISM FOR N-APPING FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 558,353, dated April 14, 1896.

A plication filed December 10,1895. Serial No. 571,668. (No model.)

T0 or whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PHILIP W. CO'CHRANE, of Spring City, county of Chester, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mechanism for Nap ping Fabrics, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to a device for producing a napped surface on fabrics, and it relates more particularly to a napping attachment for circular-knitting machines acting to produce a tubular-knitted fabric, the object of the invention being to raise a uniform nap on the inner surface of the tubular fabric either during or after its formation.

To this end the invention consists,primarily, of a plurality of rotary napping wheels or brushes mounted on a casing or frame sustained within the tubular fabric in such position that the wheels or brushes will contact with the inner surface of the fabric.

The invention also consists in operating the napping brush or brushes through the medium of a driving-frame connected operatively to the napping-brush and adapted to be engaged and driven by the revolving fabric.

The invention also consists in the details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented my invention as applied to a knitting-machine of the well-known circular type, in which the work is produced in tubular form and during its formation revolved with the needle-cylinder; but it is to be understood that my invention may be used in connection with machines in which the work does not revolve and in other connections, the essential requirement being that the fabric will surround the napping device in such manner that its inner surface will be subjected to the action of the rotary napping-brushes.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a circular-knitting machine having my invention applied thereto, a portion of the tubular fabric being torn away to expose to view the napping device within. Fig. 2 is avertical longitudinal sectional elevation through the lower portion of the machine, showing particularly the construction of the napping device and the preferred manner of operating the same through the medium of a driving-frame engaged with the revolving fabric. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional elevation on the line 2 2 of Fig. 2, looking upward. Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of a modification.

In the drawings, 1 represents an annular ring or frame sustained at the top of standards 2, rising from a second ring 3, which is in turn mounted on the top of legs 4.

5 represents a needle-cylinder mounted to revolve in the ring 1 and driven by a pinion 6, engaging gear-teeth on the lower edge of the cylinder in the usual manner.

7 represents a dial sustained at the top of the cylinder to revolve therewith by a vertical hanger 8, fixed at its upper end to a crosstree 9, which is sustained at the outer ends of two posts 10, extending upward from the ring-frame 1.

The foregoing may be of the usual construc tion, and they constitute the principal parts of a knitting-machine of the well-known dial and cylinder type, the fabric knitted thereby being in tubular form an d revolving with the cylinder dnrin g its formation. It is usual to take up this fabric as fast as it is formed by a take-up mechanism, consisting of two rolls 1 11, geared together side by side in a take-up frame comprising two vertical arms 12, fixed at their upper ends to the needle-cylinder and at their lower ends to a disk or plate 13, mounted to revolve in the ring-frame 3, before alluded to. The work extends downward'between these rolls, which by their revolution draws the same downward, a rotary motion being imparted to the rolls by a suitable mechanism controlled by the rotation of the takeup frame.

In applying my invention to a machine of this nature I extend the hanger 8 downward some distance below the needlecylinder and firmly secure it to a casing 14, in the form of an inverted cup, which casing is closed at its top and open at its bottom. It is provided in its side with openings 15, through which the napping-brushes act on the surrounding fabric, as presently described. This casing gives support to napping brushes or wheels 16, in the present instance four in number, each consisting of a disk or wheel provided on its peripheral edge with closely-set metal brushing-teeth, these wheels having fixed to their upper sides pinions 1'7, and they are mounted loosely on journals 18, depending from the top of the casing. The diameter of the brushing-wheels and their location are such that they will project at their edges through the openings in the sides of the casing, as plainly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and will contact with the inner surface of the tubular fabric which surrounds the casing as it is drawn downward by the take-up rolls.

I prefer to rotate the napping-wheels in a direction opposite to that of the tubular fabric and by means of a central driving-pinion 19, mounted at the center of the casing and engaging the four pinions fixed to the napping-wheels. This central pinion is rotated through the medium of a driving-frame 20, fixed at its upper end to the pinion and diverging at its lower end,where it is somewhat wider than the diameter of the tubular fabric, the arrangement being such that the fabric will be drawn by the take-up rolls tightly around the lower portion of the frame and will grip or clamp the same, and when rotated will carry the frame around and impart a corresponding movement to the central drivingpinion, which, engaging the pinions of the napping-wheels, will rotate the same in the opposite direction. The wheels projecting through the openings in the casing will act on the moving fabric and will progressively raise on its inner surface a uniform and regular nap.

It is to be understood that the nappingwheels may be driven in other ways and in the same direction as the work moves. This is accomplished, as shown in Fig. 4, by providing two intermediate pinions or frictionwheels 21 in position to be engaged bya central driving-pinion or friction-wheel, each of the intermediate wheels driving the two adjacent napping-wheels by engaging frictionwheels thereon.

It will be understood that instead of locating the napping-wheels and their sustaining casing between the cylinder and take-up rolls they may be located beyond the take -up mechanism, the essential requirement being that the fabric will surround them, whether during its formation on a knitting-machine or whether it is sustained and guided in a special apparatus.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a napping device, the combination with a frame or casing adapted to be wholly inclosed by a tubular fabric, of a series of rotary napping-wheels mounted in said casing in position to act at different points on the inner surface of the fabric, and suitable mechanism for rotating said wheels simultaneously; whereby the inner surface of the fabric will be acted on at different points simultaneously by the wheels.

2. The combination with a casing adapted to be wholly inclosed by a tubular fabric, of napping-wheels journaled in said casing in position to act on the surrounding fabric, pinions fixed to said wheels, a central drivingpinion mounted in the casing and meshing with the pinions on the wheels, and means for rotating said central driving-pinion.

3. The combination with means for rotating a tubular fabric, of a frame or casing adapted to be wholly inclosed by the fabric, a movable napping-brush mounted in said casing in position to act on the inner surface of the fabric, a driving-frame operatively connected at one end to said brush and having its opposite end arranged to be inclosed and embraced by the fabric; whereby the rotation of the fabric will operate the brush through the medium of the connecting driving-frame.

4:. The combination with means for rotating a tubular fabric, of a frame or casing in position to be surrounded by the fabric, a series of napping-wheels mounted in said casing to act on the surrounding fabric, a driving-pinion adapted to rotate said wheels, and a driving-frame connected to said pinion and formed to be engaged and driven by the fabric.

5. The combination with a circular-knitting machine acting to produce a tubular fabric revoluble with the needle-cylinder, of a rotary take-up mechanism, a casing or frame sustained by the machine between its cylinder and the take-up mechanism, rotary napping-wheels mounted on the casing in position to act on the surrounding fabric, a driving-pinion geared to said wheels, and a driving-frame connected to the driving-pinion and arranged to be clamped or embraced by the fabric before it is grasped by the take-up.

6. The combination with a circular-knitting machine, acting to produce a tubular fabric revoluble with the needle-cylinder, of a rotary take-up mechanism comprising two rolls, acting to draw the work downward between them, a frame or casing sustained by the machine between the cylinder and the take up, a series of rotary napping-wheels mounted in the casing and arranged to act on the surrounding fabric, a central driving-pinion for rotating the napping-wheels, and a driving-frame connected at its upper end to the driving -pinion and terminating at its lower end adjacent to the take up rolls; whereby the rolls in drawing the fabric be tween them will cause it to tightly embrace the driving-frame and revolve the same.

7. The combination with a circular-knitting machine having the needle-cylinder, a dial sustained by a central post or hanger, and a take-up mechanism revoluble with the cylinder, of a frame or casing attached to the 558,353 I I a hanger, a rotary napping-brush mounted on the casing, and a driving-frame geared at its In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand, this 25th day of November, 1895, in the upper end to said brush and having its lower presence of two attesting witnesses. end terminating adjacent to the take up mechanism; whereby the latter in taking up the fabric will cause it to embrace the driving-frame.

PHILIP W. COCHRANE. Witnesses:

J AMES' ROGERS,

CHARLES MoGrNNIs.