US1864478A - Method and apparatus for making pile fabrics - Google Patents

Description

June 2l, 1932. E. H. WARD METHOD AND APPARATUS` FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed ug. 16, 1928 16 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY June 2l', 1932. E. H. 4WARD 1,864,478,

I METHOD AND APPARATUS FR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug.`16,1928 1e sheets-sheet y2 ATTORNEY E. H. WARD June 21, 1932.

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METI'OD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS 16 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 1e

l NVENTOR ATTQRNEY `June 2l, 1932. E. H.' WARD 1,864,478

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16,-1928 1s sneets4sheet '4 INVENTOR ERNEST /om MRD ATroRNEY I Vv2444 INVENTOR ERNEsr/mn/Klm 16 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORN E. H. WARD Filed Aug. 16

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E. H. WARD METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16,1928

16 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR wfsr #Aram #f4/m ATTORNEY June 21,1932. E, H, -WARD 1,864,478,

' METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16 Sheets-Sheet 7 June 21, 1932. E. H.wARD

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16 Sheets-Sheet 8 mai Mmm- ATroREY 16 Sheets-Sheet 9 `une 2l, 1932. E H, WARD METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16. 192s fidi v E. H. WARD June 21, 1932.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PIL FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928A 16 SheetS-Sheet 10 ATTORNEY June 214, 1932. E. H. WARD 1,864,478

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PIL FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16 Sheets-Sheet ll E. H. WARD June 2l, 1932.

METHOD AND APPARAIus FOR MAKING PILE FARIcs Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16 Sheets-Sheet 12 NA f INVENTOR [PA/E67 HAROLD M1/e0 ATTORNEY June 2l, 1932. E WARD 1,864,478

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed'Aug. 1e, 1928 1e sheets-sheet 13 Y INVENTOR ERA/E57 #ARQ/.0 MRD ATTORNEY E. H. WARD `lune 21, 193.2.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 1928 16 Sheets-Sheet 14 0 RR w u .M

ATTORNEY June 2l, 1932. E. H. WARD 1864,478

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug. 16, 192e 1e sheets-sheet 15 l ik ATTORNEY June 21, 1932.

E. H. WARD METHOD AND APPARATUS Fon MAKING PILE FABRICS Filed Aug.`16, 1928 16 Sheets-Sheet 16 lm 7 ,TA

Patented .lune 21, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ERNEST H. WARD, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO LEA INC., OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILE FABRICS Application filed August 16, 1928. Serial No. 299,902.

This invention relates to a pile fabric material, and to a method and apparatus for making the same. More particularly theinvenflexed in all directions `Without gapping or the showing of lines or openings Whereas products heretofore made show lines or openings which are more marked in one direction than another, and moreover, the product of my invention is made in a manner so that there is substantially no loss of pile material, and a very considerable economy is thus affected over processes heretofore employed for the making of analogous products. By the use of my invention, the pile element material upon the backing element may be originally produced of substantially even height so that substantially no shearing is required in order to complete the product. The process whichl I hayel disclosed is also adapted to form a carpet or upholstery material in which the amount of pile forming material employed per unit of area may be less than is possible with any other process, and the amount of pile element material may be re duced to a minimum by employing-a minimum pile height and by evenly distributing the material over the backing surface to duce the desired low pile density.

One of the objects of the present invention is to'provide a new and useful pile fabric.

product which may be made Witha higher pile density and with greater uniformity of pile than products heretofore produced and which has certain novel characteristics adapt twine, strands or fibres 1n the form of a batt,

ing; it particularly for upholstery material.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method for making a pile fabric material by cementing suitable pile elements to a backing in a manner so as to be evenly and uniformly distributed over the surface of the backing, and to provide a method of making a cemented pile fabric in which the pile elements may be made any desired length, and which is particularly adapted for the making of upholstery and other pile fabrics in which the pile material is comparatively short and of uniform density.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of making a cemented pile fabric in which any character of fibre or specifically, to provide, a method adapted for the use of spun or/unspun fibres which may be attached to a flexible backing material in such a manner that the ends only of 'pile element material ,may be used; or more the spunstrands or the unspun fibres are atl tached to the backing, and furthermore, in a manner to obtain a uniform distribution of the pile elements over the surface to which they are attached. Y

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and useful apparatus which is particularly adapted for the making of cemented pile fabrics from yarn or other form of spun fibres or from looseor unspun fibres, .and which is adapted for the making of cemented pile fabricof substantially any de-l sired pile density and pile height, With uniform distribution of the pile elements over the surface to Which they are connected.

, Another object of. the invention is to provide a form of machine which is applicable to the making of cemented pile fabrics from veither spun or unspun fibres, and'which is particularly adapted for'the making of cemented pile fabric by the use of a batt composed of loose fibres of any kind, including the varieties unadapted for spinning, such as goat hair, for example.

Another objectof the invention is to provide a. machine which is applicable to the making of cemented pile fabrics from p-ile elements which are to be cut or obtained from elemental material such as yarn, cord,

or individualfibres associated in any other Way, and which serves to cut or separate fibre elements and arrange them in fixed relation 'with substantially all of the ends of the libres exposed so as to permit their attachment to a backing, while rigidly held 1n lace.

p Another object of the invention is to p ro- 5 vide a form of apparatus for the production of cemented 'pile fabric material which lis ada ted for cementin 'a mass of substantial arallel upstan ing fibres either to a sing e acking on one surface of the fibre mass, or to two backin s which are attached1 on the opposite expose surfaces of the mass,-

to the endsof the fibres, whereby the pile element-s may be cut in a plane between the two backing elements to obtain two separate pile fabric products.

, Another object of the invention is to provide a form of machine which is particularly adapted for feeding a material, from which pile elements are to be obtained, in such a manner as to maintain the material under control, so that each individual section or fibre portion which is to be severed from the material, may be maintained in fixed position during the cutting or severing action and maintained under control thereafter, so as to prevent disturbance of the fibres until it is attached to a backing; and to provide means for advancing cut sections in a manner to maintain the fibre ends on each side of the sections in substantially a single plane and to advance the severed sections in a mass, without disturbing the relative position of the fibres with respect to each other, whereby a backing material may be attached to either one or both ends of the fibres.

Another object of the' invention is to provide a form of apparatus particularly adapted for controllably feeding a body or mass of material from which pile elements are to be formed, and for outtin or severing sections orportions of the bo y or mass of material in substantially a single plane while.

maintaining the remaining mass under automatic control, and while maintaining the severed material in controlled fixed relation by being clamped or securely held during and subsequent to the cutting or severing operation until the severed material is cemented to a backing member.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus adapted to controllably feed a pile element forming material and to cut sections from such material in a sequence of operations in which the severed sections are collected side by side to present the fibre ends in substantially two parallel planes, the fibres of the mass lying Vat substantially right angles to the planes; such apparatus including means for feeding the mass of fibres into contact with backing elements and for cementing the backing elements to the fibre ends by means of a vulcanizable cement, together with means for' vulcanizing the cement material, whereby the fibre elements become '65 permanently attached to the backing mem-` Another object of the invention is to pro- 7 vide a form of apparatus which is adapted for either the use of separators to controlla' bly feed sections of cut material through the machine in contact with a backing or backing element to be applied to the fibres, or for use without separators in such a manner that. the fibres of the cut sections may be maintained under control in passing through the apparatu's, and cemented to a backing element on each surface of the mass of cut sections, whereby after the fibres are permanently cemented to backing elements the fibres may be readily cut in a plane between the backing elements to provide two separate and distinct pile fabric products.

Another object of the invention is to provide means ywhereb sections or unit masses of libres having their ends exposed and maintained in substantially parallel planes maybe packed under pressure into a chamber, and means to permit withdrawal of the packing means without ,releasing the packing pressure on the mass of fibres is the chamber.

In accordance with this object, I preferably provide a packing plunger having recesses or grooves extending inwardly from the face of the plunger at an angle and provide means for replacingthe plunger pressure, or substituting for the plunger a series of pins which are moved angularly into place in the grooves or recesses inthe face of the plunger, permitting it to be withdrawn leaving the pins in pressure contact with the mass of fibres at the entrance end of the cut-section chamber, thus permitting the batt or pile element material to be fed into place for the next cutting operation, and permitting a cycle of operations to take place, including cutting the batt material, inserting the cutsection into the out-section chamber by means no of the plunger, and withdrawing the pins when the plunger has moved up to the entrance end of the cut section chamber so as not tov block `lche entrance to the chamber, thereafter substituting the pins for the plunger when it has moved into its extreme forward position without releasing the pressure on the mass of cut sections in the chamber, so as to hold the cut sections therein. and withdrawing the plunger to permit the feeding of the batt into place for the next cutting operation and permitting the feeding of separators into place when separators are employed in the preferred mode of carrying out the invention. With these and other objects in view which will be apparent from the following description, the invention comprises the various features hereinafter described and more particularly defined in the annexed claims.

In carrying out my invention I preferably employ the form of machine shownin detall in the accompanying drawings although it is to be understood that various parts thereof may be modified in a'manner as lWill be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing fromv the invention as hereinafter defined in the claims. By means of the form of machine illustrated in the drawings, the various method steps hereinafter fully described, may be carried out and the product of my invention may be made.

The form of machine hereinafter fully described -oferates to feed the elemental material which is to constitute the pile elements of my product, and to rigidly hold the pile elements in the desired relation subjected to lateral pressure to provide the desired pile density, the material being preferably fed into contact with flexible backing members, one on each side of the mass of pile elements, the pile elements being cemented thereto, preferably by the use of a vulcanizable rubber cement, which is subsequently vulcanized to permanently attach the ends of the pile elements to the backing Amembers, and the pile elements being cut in a plane-between the backing' members to obtain two pile fabric products. l I

In the Operation of the machine above referred to, the pile elements are referably formed by cutting a batt into suitable sections to provide pile elements of the desired lengths in the making of the pile fabric product. Although the operation of my apparatus will be described mainly in connection with the use of a batt or body of loose fibre elements, it is to be-understood that the machine is equally applicable to, or operative with, yarns or `other suitable material as above stated, and I do not desire to be limited in any manner with reference to the use of any specific material, except as hereinafter defined in the claims.

If a batt comprising goat hair, for eX` ample, is employed in the making of my pile fabric product, the fibres, before belng fed to the-machine, may -be arranged in a general longitudinal direction of the batt` by a drawing or straightening opera-tion, or obv10usly the fibres coming from the dofer of a carding machine, for example, maybe laid in a general parallel direction longltudlnally of the batt by means of a suitable form of lapper.

After a battof a suitable widthand thickness has been formed, it is fed into the machine of my invention by any suitable feeding mechanism, and is brought into position in connection with the cutting element thereof to be cut into the desired lengths. In the operation of the machine it is practically essential that the batt portion to be severed be held adjacent the point of cutting during the cutting operation, and maintained under control thereafter to prevent relative displace- 'ment of the libres until after vthe section has been pas/sed into place in contact with the remainmg mass ofiibres'. The batt is preferably rigidly held at the portion to be cut both below and above the point of cutting, and preferably both-the cut section and the remaining batt portion are rigidly held thereaft-er so as to prevent disarrangementof the libres and to maintain the batt feeding under positive control.

After a batt section has been severed from the remaining body of the batt, the section 'is preferably maintained in upright or upstanding position and is then united under controlled lateral pressure to the/main body of fibres which is to be connected to the backing, and is then transferred into contact with a backing material preferably on both sides of the pile element body in contact with the exposed ends of the fibre elements and is cemented thereto by' means of cementing material so that the pile elements are individually united tothe backing at both ends thereof.

After the pile elements have been permanently fastened to the backing material, the libre elements are cut by any suitable cutting means in a plane parallel to the backing and the usual finishing operations may be carried out to obtain the desired pile height upon the backing members to form the finished product.V

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of my machine:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side vieu7 of the pile fabric forming apparatus of my invention showing the essentialy elements thereof for forming the cemented pile fabric product, comprising a part of the means for feeding the batt or'pile 'forming material into the machine, means for cutting the material, means for feeding cutsections of material into a chamberbetween separators to hold the fibres in place, means for applying a cementing material to the ends of the fibres, means for applying a fabric or other fiexible material to the ends of the fibres or pile elements, means for applying heat and pressure to produce-H4 vulcanization of the cementing material to` permanently attach the fibres to the backing, and means for cutting the pile elements and for carrying out the finishing operations to produce the pile fabric product.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view in velevation taken on section line 2 2 of Fig. 5 showing the front end of the machine asV it appears from the right, and showing the detailed arrangement of the cams and cam levers operating the feeding jaws, plunger and other associated parts of the mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view in elevation of the parts of the mechanism for cutting sections of the batt or pile forming material and for feeding thev cut sections of tion pressure upon the ends of the pile elements;

Fig. pile forming machine, a portion thereof being in section, showing the cam systems and levers for producing the desired movement of the various parts of the machine operatively connected therewith; L

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a portlon of the pile fabric forming machine showing p0rtions of the feed mechanism and a portion of the conveyor belts and parts connected therewith, a portion of the upper belt, associated rollers and top pressure plate being removed to show underlying parts of the machine;

Fig. 7 is a detailed sectional View, of the machine taken o n the section line 7 -7 of Fig. 5, showing thc cooperating parts which serve to feed the pile clement material into4 the machine and to cut the material into sections together with parts cooperating therewith. This ligure shows also the cams and associated' levers for actuating the separator feed pinsE and for operating the cut-section holding pins which serve to hold the cut-sections in the cut-section chamber while the plunger is withdrawn tofpermit yfeeding of the pile element material;

' Fig. 8 is a detailed View in section showing the position of the cooperating parts of the machine during the cutting operation;

Fig. 9 is a Vertical sectional view taken on the section line 9 9 of Fig. 5 in the direction of thevarrows, thisview showing the cut-section holding pins in retracted position as in Fig. 8, but showing the plunger advanced from the intermediate position shown in Fig. 8 to its extreme forward position in which the last severed section with its holding separator has I been forced into the cut-section chamber;

Fig. 10 is a 'detailed sectional View showing the plunger advanced to its eXtreme forward position and the cut section holding pins 7 moved 'into their` 'raised `position through openings in the plate 77 formingthe floor at the entrance to the cutsection chamber, and passing into the corresponding grooves or openings 53 in'the face of the plunger, thereby permitting Athe plunger to be withdrawn without disturbing the position of the cut sections fin. the cut-section chamber;

5 is a front view in elevation of they 4of the arrows;

which they serve to hold the front separator and cut sections in place in the forward end of the cut-section chamber;

Fig. 13 is a detail sectional view of a por-` tion of the cut-section chamber showing the position of the cut-sections of batt or libre elements in the chamber between the belts for applying back pressure;

Fig. 14 is a plan view of a portion of the machine for effecting movement ofthe cutting rollers transversely across the machine, a part thereof being in section to show the rollers, the view being taken on the section line 1,4-14 of Fig. 11 in the direction of the arrows; this View shows the cutting rollers at the left of the machine at the completion of a cutting stroke and brought out of engagement with the pile element material;

Fig. 15 is a plan View of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 14, a part thereof being in section, showing the cutting rollers in contact with the batt or pile element material at the beginning of a cutting stroke;

Fig. 16 is a front elevation of a portion of the machine showing the preferred form of means by which the cutting rollers are operated, together with parts associated therewith for controlling the sequence or time of operation relative to other parts;

Fig. 17 is a detailed sectional view of the operating valve 49 in which the direction of passage of air to and from the cylinder in the position of the parts shown in Figs. '16 and 18 is indicated byfarrows;

Fig. 18 is a view in side elevation of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 16, being taken on the section line 18-18 in Fig. 16, in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 19is a detailed sectional View of the operating valve 49 showing the position of f the valve in which exhaust takes place from the head end of the operating cylinder 40 and in which compressed air` is admitted into the crank end thereof, the direction of the passage of air to and from the cylinder being in- V dicated by arrows;

Fig. 2O is a section plan view taken on the section line 20--20 of Fig. 11 in the direction Fig. 21 is 'a fragmentary sectional eleval tion taken on the section line 21-21 of Fig.l 11 in the direction of the arrows showing the separator magazine and guides for slidably holding the separators therein;

Fig. 22 is a detailed sectional view in ele-

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