US3020930A - Heald frames and guides therefor in looms for weaving - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 13, 1962 E. PFARRWALLER 3,020,930

HEALD FRAMES AND GUIDES THEREFOR IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING Filed June 20, 1960 ar/l/ W/lg l/l/l/l/u/r was. '///'//////////////////,7//

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BY [ll 4 TT'OIPNEK United States Patent Gflflee 3,020,930 Patented Feb. 13, 1962 3,020,930 HEALD FRAMES AND GUIDES THEREFOR 1N LGOMS FGR WEAVING Erwin Pfarrwaller, Winterthur, Switzerland, assignor to Sulzer Freres, S.A., Winterthur, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Filed June 20, 1960, Ser. No. 37,264 Claims priority, application Switzerland Mar. 31, 1960 4 Claims. (Cl. 139-82) The present invention relates to heald frames and guides therefor in a loom for weaving. Each heald frame includes an upper and a lower frame bar and lateral stays interconnecting the ends of said bars. Guides are provided engaging the stays for guiding the vertical up and down movement of the heald frames.

In conventional heald frames, the stays connecting the ends of the upper and lower frame bars are formed by a solid rod which extends into grooves of a stationary guide element. The number of grooves in the guide element corresponds to the number of heald frames to be guided.

In another conventional heald frame, the lateral stays are provided with bores which are parallel to the upper and lower frame bars and through which a spindle of a tool for accurately positioning the healds prior to threading the healds may be inserted. These bores necessitate a widening of the stays so that their rigidity is not impaired by the bore. Stays of this type which are rather thick are placed adjacent to one another and contact one another so that the vertical movement of the heald frames is not guided individually. A package of heald frames is usually vertically guided whereby the guide can be adjusted to take care of a greater or lesser number of juxtaposed heald frames.

The heald frames according to the invention are provided with stays which have a groove or recess for receiving corresponding protuberances on a stationary guide element. The stays preferably have a U-shaped cross sectional configuration whereby a bore can be provided in the web portion of the stay without substantially impairing strength and rigidity of the stay and without requiring widening of the stay and abandoning individual vertical guidance of the stay. With the structure according to the invention, it is not necessary to increase the spacing between the heald frames. It is desired that the entire package of heald frames in a loom for weaving is as thin as possible. With the structure according to the invention, a package containing a rather large number of heald frames is not unduly thick, because the spacing between the individual heald frames is very small. Individual guidance of the heald frames is desired because, in this case, movement of the frames is not affected by the juxtaposed frames. There is no frictional engagement between the stays at the ends of the frames and no premature wear of the latter which is of particular importance in modern weaving machines which operate at a very high speed. If the vertical movement of each individual heald frame is guided, the accuracy of the guiding effect is improved. If individual guidance for the heald frames is provided, individual frames may be removed or added to suit different requirements when weaving different types of fabric. It is not necessary to provide adjusting means for the guide as is required when the guide is used for guiding a plurality of juxtaposed and adjacent stays.

In the conventional structure in which the stays at the ends of the heald frames are rather thick in order to permit insertion of a heald positioning device as is necessary when using a machine for threading the healds, the stays may be individually guided in gaps between the teeth or ribs of a comblike guide element. This,

however, would require an increase of the distance between juxtaposed heald frames which is not desired, and would require rebuilding of existing machines to be adapted to the widened stays. With the arrangement according to the invention, merely the lateral stays of the existing heald frames must be changed when it is desired to provide bores for a heald alignment tool in an existing loom, without abandoning individual guidance of the heald frames or increasing the distance between the frames.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the lateral stays have a U-shaped cross sectional configuration whereby the legs of the U are flared in the direction from the web of the stay towards the free ends of the lateral parts thereof. The ribs of the co-mblike guide element which extend into the grooves of the stays have a corresponding wedge shaped cross sectional configuration. When producing a U-profile of the type described, the punch, for example of a press for making the stays, can be easily removed from the finished stay. Manufacture of the guide comb is also facilitated by the wedgelike cross sectional configuration of the teeth or ribs of the comb. According to the invention, the latter is preferably made of synthetic material, for example polyplast, as for instance a polyamide which may be used pure or provided with filling material.

The novel features which are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, and additional objects and advantages thereof will best be understood from the following description of embodiments thereof when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a package of heald frames vertically guided according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a large scale horizontal sectional view of the left end of the heald frame package shown in FIG. 1, and of a guide therefor, the section being made along line II-II in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional illustration of a modifled end stay and guide therefor according to the invention.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, numeral 1 designates a heald frame or shaft consisting of an upper frame bar 2, a lower frame bar 3, and stays 4 and 5 interconnecting the ends of the bars 2 and 3. The bars 2 and 3 are also interconnected by means of an intermediate stay 6. Shaft staves 8 for supporting healds 9 of which only a few are shown, are individually connected to the bars 2 and 3 by connectors 7. The warp threads are drawn through eyes, not shown, in the healds 9 which eyes are all located along the center line 1-1 of the heald frame. The heald frames are individually supported by elements 12 connected to the lower frame bar 3 and actuated by a shedding mechanism, not shown.

The stays 4 and 5 at the ends of the heald frame are formed of channels, a bore 13- being provided in the web 14 at the elevation of the line II-II in FIG. 1 for inserting a spindle 15 for positioning the healds so that the threading can be done by machine. The flanges 16 of the channels are flared in the direction from the web 14 toward the free ends 17. Ribs 18 forming part of a comblike guide element 19 and having a wedge-shaped cross sectional configuration extend into the channels. The distance 0 between the center lines of two juxtaposed heald frames 1 should be as small as possible. This distance is defined by the type of the weaving machine, particularly by the type of the shedding mechanism actuating the heald frames and cannot be changed without considerably rebuilding the machine.

It is obvious that the flanges 16 of the channels forming the end stays of the heald frames need not be flared as shown in FIG. 2 but can be arranged parallel, if desired. In this case, the ribs 18 of the comb 19 would have to have a rectangular cross sectional configuration which can be obtained by milling the gaps between the ribs of the comb.

FIG. 3 illustrates a modified cross sectional configuration of an end stay 4' which has substantially the shape of an H and whose flanges 22, 23 are parallel. The groove formed by the outer flanges receives a rib 18 having parallel lateral surfaces 21' of a cornblike guide element 19. The lower and the upper heald bars are inserted in the recess formed by the inner flanges 23.

I claim:

1. In a weaving machine, a plurality of heald frames, each frame including an upper and a lower frame bar and lateral stays interconnecting the ends of said bars, and comblike guides for vertically guiding said stays, said stays having at least a portion of U-shaped cross sectional configuration, said guides having rib portions individually extending into the grooves formed by said portions of U-shaped cross sectional configuration.

2. In a weaving machine as defined in claim 1 and wherein said stays have a U-shaped cross sectional configuration, the legs of the U being flared, the rib portions of said comblike guides having a correspondingly shaped wedge-shaped cross sectional configuration.

3. In a weaving machine as defined in claim 1 and wherein said comblike guides are made of a synthetic polymeric plastic material.

4. In a weaving machine as defined in claim 1 and wherein said stays have a web portion connecting the legs of the U, a bore being provided in said web portion for introducing therethrough a tool for positioning the healds prior to threading the healds.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,510,404 Lake et al. June 6, 1950

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