US2283802A - Fabric making machine - Google Patents

Description

May 19, 1942. c. H. GINGHER FABRIC MAKING MACHINE Filed Sept. 20, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I a E May 19, 1942. c. H. GINGHER FABRIC MAKING MACHINE Filed Sept. 20, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 19, 1942.

c. H. GINGHER FABRIC MAKING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 20, 1941 um an l JUI 'IHHL I Va-II v/ I in! g W11: "a; LHII lggn mm mlllhl ssii May 19, 1942. c. HqGINGHER FABRIC MAKING MACHINE 5 SheetsSheet- 5 Filed Sgpt. 20, 1941 Patented May 19, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Claims.

This invention relates to cloth making apparatus characterized by the absence of a shed.

One of the objects of the invention is the method of producing a cloth having a primary warp with upper and lower wefts laid against the warp on opposite sides, the upper and lowerwarp being tied together between the threads of the primary warp by a secondary warp produced by sewing needles and which enmeshes the fills of the respective wefts, drawing them more or less tightly together according to the te-nsion'of the sewing threads.

Another object of the invention is a fabric, the product of the above method, characterized by its being nonstretchable and nonshrinkable in a warpwise direction when made with inelastic warp yarns, through the fact that the primary warp yarns extend rectilinearly through the fabric without the undulations incident to interweaving, said fabric being more freely stretchable than woven fabric in the event that the primary warp is'made of elastic yarns, since the warp yarns pass freely through the fabric Without the localized constrictions produced by the interweaving of the filling. The fabric of the subject invention is further characterized by the fact that after having been distorted biaswise in one direction, it may readily be restored to its original condition by being pulled lengthwise in the opposite bias direction, this being due to the fact that the upper and lower filling threads have free turning points on the primary warp yarns to which they are unattached. This gives the fabric a nonwrinkling quality. By the selection of sewing threads of different gauge, working at different tensions, various qualities in the nature of the fabric are readily produced. For instance, if the sewing thread is fine and stitched under considerable tension the secondary warp will be com pletely buried in the fabric and the surface char acteristics will be solely those incident to the na ture of the wefts. Furthermore, the fact that the wefts and the primary warp yarns are not tied togethergives the fabric a natural soft and limp nature which adapts it especially for draperies. v

Another object of the invention is the provi sion of apparatus for manufacturing fabric of the character described.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings which accompany and form a part of the following specification and throughout the several figures of which the same characr ters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of apparatus embodying the principles of the invention;

Figure 2 is a side sectional view of part of the apparatus including the upper weft feeder, upper weft gathering conveyor and upper weft condensing conveyor; 7

Figur 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a section taken along the lin .4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a vertical side sectional view of the apparatus, parts being omitted;

Figure 6 is a vertical section taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 5; 1

Figure 7 is a horizontal section taken along the line 11 of Figure 5;

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the weft laid about the pins of the chains of the gathering conveyor; Figure 9 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating the upwardly convex position assumed by the" transverse portions of the upper weft where unsupported, on the anterior. portion of the gathering conveyor;

Figure 10 is a perspective view showing the structure of the fabric.

Before proceeding with a, detailed description of the apparatus, it may be said that the general method employed isto provide a continuously longitudinally moving primary warp comprising a plurality of parallel yarns, continuously laying a sinuous upper weft and a sinuous lower weft having parallel transverse portions respectively on upper and lower moving supports which continuously bring the wefts towards opposite sides of the warp. For practical reasons it is necessary to lay the convolutions of the wefts farther apart than they will be in the finished fabric, so that the method includes the transfer of the wefts from the moving supports to slower moving c'onveyors which condense the transverse portions, bringing them together into the positions of adjacency which they will occupy in the fabric.

The condensing conveyors bring the wefts against the opposite sides of the primary warp and, traveling at the speed of the primary-warp,

they hold the wefts in place against the warp un-' The primary warp Referring now in detail to the several figures, the warp I is derived from the cops 2 carried by the cop rack 3 shown in Figure 1.

The warp threads pass over the warp beam 4, but at this point the warp is diverted into two parts 5 and v6, the upper part 5 passing rectilinearly through the apparatus, while the lower part 6 consisting, let us say, of alternate warp threads is diverted downwardly, passing about the roll I and then upwardly, joining the rest of the warp at the region a. From this point the entire warp travels in the direction of the arrows, Figure 5, toward the cloth beam'8. The necessity of diverting the lower part of the warp will presently be explained. The warp I is referred to as the primary warp to distinguish it from a secondary stitched warp, which is later incorporated into the fabric.

The upper weft The upper weft or filling comes from acop 9 on the cop frame 3, and passes with suitable tension through the eye of an upper weft feed needle III which has a compound oscillating movement, as will appear.

This needle oscillates trans 'ersely in a plane perpendicular to the bed of the upper weft gathering conveyor. This gathering conveyor II in its anterior portion, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, comprises a pair of parallel chains I2 spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the width of the warp and each carrying a series of pairs of pivoted pins I3, weighted so that normally they swing down to a position below the upper edges of the chains. The pairs of pins on opposite chains are in staggered relation as diagrammatically shown in Figure 8.

Supporting tracks I4 underlie the chains I2 throughout that portion of the upper flight of said conveyor extending from the point at which the needle I0 lays the weft to the point at which the weft is transferred to the condensing conveyor I5. In the downward travel of the gathering conveyor II the weighted ends I6 of the pins I3 become tilted by engagement with said tracks, throwing the pins I3 into upright position andholding them upright while the weights travel supported by said tracks. The tracks I4 terminate adjacent the condensing conveyor I5, at which points the pins automatically tilt back into inoperative position, due to failure of support for the weighted ends I6. While in upright position the pins are kept from tilting forwardly by short projections or stops II which bear against the tracks I I.

Figure 8 shows that the upper weft I8 is laid in a sinuous pattern about the staggered pairs of pins I3 of the opposite conveyor chain I2, forming the parallel transverse portions I9. In order that these portions shall be truly parallel, the second pin of a pair on one side and the first pin of the next pair on the opposite side are relatively'staggered for a slight distance equal to the thickness of the weft thread.

In the anterior part of the gathering conveyor, the weft, as shown, bridges the open space between the two chains of the conveyor.

In laying the weft upon the gathering conveyor, the end of needle III, as shown in Figure 3, describes an are which in the intermediate range of its amplitude sinks below the plane of the chains I2 and at its extremes it intersects the path of travel of the chains I 2 of the respective chains so as to engage them with the weft yarn.

' As the gathering conveyor is continuously traveling in the direction of the arrow in Figure 8, the needle Ill must while moving transversely across the gathering conveyor in either direction, also move diagonally in the direction of travel of the conveyor so as to overtake the pin which is transversely opposite the one last served by the needle, and the latter must quickly move longitudinally of the gathering conveyor, counter to the direction of travel thereof, in order to bring the yarn about the next pin on the same side.

This compound needle motion is accomplished through the correlated mechanism, best shown in detail in Figures 2, 3 and 4, in which the base of the needle has a universal joint I9 mounted on a fixed support 20. The needle passes through the slot 2I in an oscillating plate 22 having rollers 23 at its opposite ends riding in the fixedly mounted arcuate tracks 24. The plate 22 is oscillated by a set of cams 25 which bear against its opposite sides adjacent the corners, being synchronously driven as by the chain 26 which passes around the sprockets 21 on the cam shafts 28, one of which sprockets is driven.

The respective phases of the cams is shown in Figure 4, from which it will be noted that the plate 22 is held in a fixed inclined position with respect to the transverse direction of the gathering conveyor, while the needle is traversing the intermediate portion of the slot 22, but when the needle has reached its extreme portion in the slot the plate is suddenly oscillated to a position of reverse inclination as it rides from the low cam surface 29 to the high cam surface 30' on one side, and simultaneously from the high cam surface 30, the low cams surface 29 on the opposite side.

The needle is oscillated in the slot.2I by means such as that shown in Figure 3, comprising a crank pin 3| on a driven shaft 32 connected to the needle I0 near its base by a pitman 33 having an articulation 34 to allow for oscillation of the plate 2|.

Due to the fact that the conveyor chains I2 travel downward at a fast speed, the inertia of the transverse unsupported portions of the weft threads causes them to assume an upwardly convex form as diagrammatically depicted in Figure 9. It is obvious that they must be brought into a rectilinear condition before being transferred to the condensing conveyor and to the warp.

This is accomplished by a plurality of spaced parallel supporting-pin chains 35 which enter the gathering conveyor and become a part thereof, between the gathering chains I2 and below the region across which the needle I0 oscillates. The chains I2. pass about a sprocket 36 into the plane of the gathering pins I3, and in common with the latter chains they pass around a driven sprocket 31 at the lower end of the gathering conveyor so that they travel at the same speed as the gathering chains.

The chains 35 carry pivoted weighted pins 38 which normally assume a gravitational position in which they lie below the upper surface of the chains, but which ride upon the supporting tracks 39, being maintained by said tracks in erect operative position. The supporting tracks 39 terminate in the same transverse line as the supporting tracks I4, so that the pins 38 like the pins I3, swing to inoperative position adjacent the point of transfer of the upper weft to the condensing conveyor I5.

It has already been explained that the gathering chain pin I3 at the opposite ends of each transverse portion I9 of the weft are staggered a distance equal to the thickness of the weft yarn, this being so that the transverse weft portions will lie in a true transverse direction. The pins 38 of the supporting pin chains 35 are so arranged that they align themselves with that one of the staggered pins 38 which is higher, with reference to the direction of the anterior end of the gathering conveyor. This transverse row of spaced pins 38 come up between successive transverse weft portions and push said portions into true rectilinear transverse position, and maintain them in such position until they are transferred to the condensing conveyor. The upper weft gathering conveyor extends obliquely to the plane of the warp so as to obtain the benefit of gravity in supporting the upper weft.

The condensing conveyor is a transverse series of spaced endless belts 40, each having undulating recesses 4| on its outer face, the recesses of all the belts being in the same phase so that each transverse series of recesses forms a seat for a transverse weft course. The recesses of each of the belts 40 are as closely spaced as the weft courses will lie in the fabric and are more closely spaced at the pinsof the gathering conveyor.

The condensing conveyor |5 travels at the same speed as the warp and in the direction of travel thereof. It moves slower than the gathering conveyor. It has a flight 42 parallel with the gathering conveyor, lapping the lower end portion thereof and moving in substantially the plane of the upper face of said conveyor. Thepins I3 and 38 lie down just before they reach the point of substantial contact of the two conveyors, and therefore, present no interference to the cooperation of said conveyor. The belts of the condensing conveyor are staggered between the chains of the gathering conveyor. The two conveyors are so juxtaposed and synchronized that the pins of the gathering conveyor recedes at a point within'the receptive scope of a transverse series of the recesses 4|, transferring one of the transverse weft courses to the condensing conveyor, and the speed ratios of the two conveyors are such that each successive transverse row of pins comes to the transverse point simultaneously with successive rows of the recesses 4|.

The condensing conveyor I5 also has a flight 43 parallel with the primary warp and traveling substantially in contact therewith. This flight extends toward the cloth beam at least as far as the zone where the stitching together of the two wefts takes place. The recesses of the condensing conveyor throughout this flight 43 are filled with the transverse weft courses which are .imprisoned in said recesses by the close proximity of the underlying warp and which travel on the top of the warp at the same speed as the warp.

It will be observed that the lower end of the gathering conveyor II, including the side chains and the supporting chain mechanism terminates above the plane of the warp, so that there would ordinarily be a region, indicated by the bracket 44 in Figure 5, where the transverse weft courses would be unsupported and liable to fall out of the recesses of the condensing conveyor by gravity. To prevent this, a transverse series of keeper belts 45 is provided, said belts lying between the side chains I2 and supporting chains 35 of the gathering conveyor, and in the vertical planes of the belts 40 of the condensing conveyor.

The keeper belts pass about grooved rolls 46 and 41 so located as to hold the keeper belts against the condensing conveyor belts from the point at which the transfer of the transverse weft courses to the condensing conveyor is made, to a point in the flight 43 of the condensing conveyor. 1

The keeper belts necessarily pass through the warp below the plane thereof, in order to retain the weft courses on the condenser conveyor while it passes around the roll I5 within the apex of the angle formed by the intersection of the plane of the flight 42 with that of the warp. The roll 41 is driven and drives the keeper belts at the same speed as that of the associated condensing conveyor.

The upper part of the active flight of the keeper belts 45 holds the transverse weft courses which arein the recesses of the lapping portion of the condensing conveyor away from the more rapidly moving chains of the gathering conveyor, avoiding friction against the threads, while that portion of the keeper belts which bridges .the space between the gathering conveyor and the warp holds the transverse weft courses in place on the condensing conveyor until they reach the plane of the warp and come under the retaining influence of the warp.

The lower weft The lower Weft 48 is laid, gathered, transferred, condensed and applied to the under side of the warp by means which, in general, are counterparts of the means which perform these several functions in connection with the upper weft. The needle 49, drawing yarn from the cop 50 oscillates between the upwardly moving side chains 5| of the lower gathering conveyor 52, located beneath the warp, looping the weft yarn about pairs of pivoted pins 53 in a sinuous pattern forming the transverse courses 54. The lower gathering conveyor, like the upper gathering conveyor, is inclined so as to take advantage of gravity in supporting the weft.

Inasmuch as the lower gathering conveyor 52 is moving upward at a fast speed, the inertia of the weft yarn would ordinarily cause the middle parts of the transverse courses to sag downwardly, the sag being augmented by gravity. The supporting pin chains 55 with the pivoted supporting pins '56 enter between the gathering chains 5| in the region of tangency of the sprocket roll 51 to the gathering conveyor and become a part of the latter, supporting the-transverse Weft courses in truly rectilinear position. The pins 53 and 56 are held upright by the respective guide tracks 58 and 59 upon which their weighted ends ride throughout the weft engaging range of travel of said pins. The supporting chains 55 are driven by the sprocket roll 60, driving them at the same speed as the gathering chains 5|.

The lower gathering conveyor comes into weft transferring relation to the lower condensing conveyor 6| in the same manner as do the corresponding upper weft conveyors. The condensing conveyor 6| which is structurally similar to the upper condensing conveyor 40 has a flight 62 which laps the upper end of the gathering conveyor, the belts of the condensing conveyor being staggered with respect to the chains 5| and 55 by lying substantially in a common plane. The condensing conveyor also has a flight 63 which warp, being driven by the roll 64.

parallels the warp l, contacting the under side thereof and traveling at the same speed as the The condensing conveyor, therefore, carries the weft coures 54 with the warp. The upper and lower condensing conveyors are so positioned as to hold the upper and lower weft courses in staggered phase, as shown, and to prevent relative slippage they are preferably geared to their respective driving rolls by the intermeshing gear connections indicated at 13 in Figure 1.

A keeper belt unit 65 is provided, comprising a plurality of spaced parallel keeper belts 68 moving withthe speed of thecondensing conveyor 6|, and being driven by the roll 61. The keeper belts 66 pass between the conveyor chains and lie in the same vertical planes as the belts of the condenser conveyor, making contact therewith and imprisoning the weft courses in the recesses 68 of the belts of the condensing conveyor, from the point at which the weft courses are transferred to the condensing conveyor to the point at which they have been moved into the plane of the diverted portion 6 of the warp. As was the case with the keeper belts for the upper weft courses, it is true also of the keeper belts 86, that they must pass through the warp in order to retain the weft courses on the condensing conveyor until they reach the plane of the warp. Manifestly, if a portion of the warp were not diverted, the keeper belts 66 could not pass through the warp l, on account of the position of the overlying weft and the upper condensing conveyor. This accounts for the necessity for diverting a portion of the warp, as shown, and the diverted warp serves to hold the weft courses to the condensing conveyor 6| while it is passing over the roll 64 from the plane of the flight 62 to that of the flight 63.

A warp guide beam 61 extends transversely between the 'undiverted and the diverted warp portions close to their angle of juncture, having guide grooves 68 and 69, respectively, above and below, engaged by the yams of the respective ;warp' portions, and being relatively staggered.

The upper and lower condensing conveyors travel in common vertical planes and give each other mutual support.

A gang of suitably operated sewing needles is positioned adjacent the posterior ends of the condensing conveyors. This is preferably divided into two banks of needless so as to provide the requisite number of needles and at the same time to give suflicient room between the needles. The anterior bank of needles 10 operates through the upper and lower condensing conveyors between belts thereof .and engages the two wefts between the warp threads of alternate pairs, tying them together by progressively enmeshing them in chains of stitching, as shown at I2 in Figure 5. This sufiiciently integrates the fabric to hold the wefts in place after they pass from the control of the condensing conveyors.

The posterior gang of needles 11 then similarly stitches together, the two wefts between the warp yarns of the alternate pairs skipped by the bank of needles 10. Thus, the wefts are securely tied wise direction where the primary warp threads are inelastic, and in which the warp yarns are most freely stretchable when made of elastic material. The upper and lower tied together wefts are, in fact, an independent fabric structure freely embracing the primary warp, permitting biaswise stressing in either direction without permanent distortion of the fabric.

It will be understood to those skilled in the art that other spacings of the secondary warp than that herein specifically described are within the purview of the invention, and that the apparatus herein disclosed is merely illustrative of any apparatus that can be employed to accomplish the desired result.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Method of making a textile fabric comprising providing a primary warp of parallel threads moving toward a stitching station, preforming separate upper and lower wefts, initially displaced from their fabric position with respect to the warp, by continuously laying certain wefts each in a serpentine pattern with transverse substantially parallel courses, the latter being spaced apart farther than they will be in the finished fabric, condensing said wefts by bringing the transverse courses as close as they will be in the finished fabric, bringing the condensed wefts into contiguity respectively with the upper and lower sides of said warp, moving them with the warp toward the stitching station, and progessively stitching the upper and lower wefts together between primary warp threads, independently of said primary warp threads, the rows of stitching constituting a secondary warp.

2. Apparatus for making textile fabric of that type in which a warp is overlaid and under-laid by separate wefts stitched together between the warp without involving the warp in the stitching, comprising a gang of sewing needles positioned to determine a sewing station in operative relation to a warp movable past said station, upper and lower gathering conveyors on opposite sides of said warp movable toward said warp and said sewing station, means for continuously laying separate wefts upon said gathering conveyors in serpentine pattern including transverse courses spaced wider than they will be in the fabric, said gathering conveyor having means for holding said wefts in position, condensing conveyors above and beneath said warp and between said gathering conveyors and. said sewing station having a portion of each in operative proximity to the respective gathering conveyors, said gathering and condensing conveyors being so cooperably related as to effect the transfer of the wefts from the gathering conveyors to the condensing conveyors, means for moving said condensing conveyors at aslower speed than said gathering conveyors and at the same speed as said warp, in the direction of movement of said warp, said condensing conveyors having seats for the transverse rows of the wefts, spaced as closely as the weft will be in the fabric, said condensing conveyors having parallel flights substantially contacting the warp on opposite sides thereof to a point at least as far as said sewing' station, whereby the transverse courses in said seats are held to said warp and carried therewith to said sewing station, said needles operating between threads of the moving. warp to progressively stitch said upper and lower wefts together.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, said holding means comprising retractable pins, normally extended throughout the weft holding length of said gathering conveyor and with-' drawing below the plane of the weft at the points of transfer, progressively freeing the weft courses at said points of transfer, the condensing conveyors being so synchronized with the gathering conveyors that the successive weft seats of the former engulf and capture the successively freed weft courses, efiecting their transfer.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, including keeper means closely conforming to the contour of the condensing conveyors between the points of transfer of the weft courses to said condensing conveyors, and the points at which said condensing conveyors begin to parallel the plane of the warp. 1

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, said holdallel the plane of the ing means comprising retractable pins normally extended throughout the weft holding length of said gathering conveyors, and withdrawing below the plane of the weft at the points of transfer progressively freeing the weft courses at said points of transfer, the condensing conveyors being so synchronized with the gathering conveyors that successive weft seats of the former engulf and capture the successively freed weft courses, effecting their transfer, said apparatus including keeper means closely conforming to the contour of the condensing conveyors between the points of transfer of the weft courses to said condensing conveyors, and the points at which said condensing conveyors begin to parwarp.

CLAlR H. GINGHER. I

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