US3795945A - Apparatus for guiding and loading a weighting roll on spinning machines - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for guiding and loading a weighting roll at spinning machines comprising two rolls forming a nip for the fiber material and defining a material transporting plane. At least one of these rolls is a weighting roll vertically movable with respect to the material transport plane. According to the invention a support for the weighting roll is anchored directly or indirectly at the machine frame via two rigidly clamped flat springs arranged parallel or substantially parallel to the material transport plane, the springs possessing the same or substantially the same length.

Description

States Patent [191 [451 Mar. 12, 1974 APPARATUS FOR GUIDING AND LOADING A WEIGHTING ROLL ON SPINNING MACHINES [75] Inventor: Werner Naegeli, Winterthur,

Switzerland [73] Assignee: 'Pavena AG, Basel, Switzerland [22] Filed: Apr. 24, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 246,859

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 7, 1971 Switzerland 6735/71 [52] US. Cl. 19/282, 19/295 [51] Int. Cl D0lh 5/50 [58] Field of Search 19/267, 266, 272, 279-282, 19/295 [56] References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 829,829 3/!960 Great Britain 19/282 April 30, 1964 3/1960 Great Britain 19/279 2/1961 Great Britain 19/282 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Schubert, German Application 1,169,342 Printed Primary Examiner-Dorsey Newton Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wemer W. Kleeman [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus for guiding and loading a weighting roll at spinning machines comprising two rolls forming a nip for thefiber material and defining a material transporting plane. At least one of these rolls is a weighting i roll vertically movable with respect to the material transport plane. According to the invention a support for the weighting roll is anchored directly or indirectly at the machine "frame via two rigidly clamped flat springs arranged parallel or substantially parallel to the material transport plane, the springs possessing the same or substantially the same length.

9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a new and improved apparatus for guiding and loading a weighting or pressure roll unilaterally supported, that is, supported in an overhung fashion, and vertically movable with respect to the direction of material throughput of a pair of rolls of spinning machines.

With such pairs of transport rolls, the weighting roll generating the pressure upon the fiber material is usually guided in a plane common to both roll axes and movable vertically with regard to the direction of material throughput, so that the weighting roll adapts its positional orientation to the momentary thickness of the loaded either exclusively by its inherent weight or through the action of additional loading devices, such as weights, elastic bodies, and so forth.

In particular, guiding and loading devices are already known to the art in which the supported end of a unilaterally or overhung supported weighting or pressure load is hingedly connected with a guide arm at the plane common to both axes of the rolls. The guide arm ishingedly connected in turn to the machine frame and locked in its operating position so that the mobility of the weighting roll vertically with respect to the direction of material throughput is insured. Serving asthe means for loading the weighting roll there can be used, for example, springs acting upon the guide arm. Such type devices possess the drawback that owing to the radial and axial play which is necessarily present at both links or pivots, it is impossible to realize an exact guiding of the weighting roll parallel to the axis of the other roll of the same pair, and furthermore, due to friction at the links or pivots, it is not possible to realize equal load distribution. Notwithstanding continuous maintenance, it is impossible to avoid wear at the pivotand guide elements, so that an exact guiding of the weighting roll is further impaired, and generally the life of the guide elements is shortened.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Hence, from what has been stated above, it should be apparent that this particular technology is still in need 'of apparatus for guiding and loading a weighting roll at spinning machines which is not associated with the aforementioned drawbacks and limitations of the prior art constructions. It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide improved apparatus for such guiding and loading of a weighting roll which effectively and reliably fulfills the existing need in the art and is not associated with the aforementioned drawbacks and limitations of the prior art constructions.

Another and more specific object of the present invention relates to improved construction of apparatus for guiding and loading a weighting roll at a spinning machine in an accurate and reliable fashion, the apparatus being relatively simple in construction and design, requires a minimum of maintenance, and is not readily subject to breakdown.

Now, in order to implement these and still further objects of the invention, which will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, the inventive apparatus for guiding and loading two rolls forming a nip throughpassing fiber material. The weighting roll is 2 for the fiber material at a spinning machine and defining a material transport plane, and wherein at least one of the rolls is a weighting roll which is vertically movable with respect to the plane of material transport, contemplates the provision of a support for the I weighting roll which is directly or indirectly anchored at the machine frame through the agency of two rigidly clamped flat springs arranged in parallelism or substantial parallelism with respect to one another and with regard to the material transport plane, these flat springs having the same or substantially the same length.- The flat or plate springs can be anchored at the side facing the machine frame in a holder detachably and adjustably mounted at the machine frame. The flat springs are arranged to be displaced through a distance in a weighting plane extending through the axes of the two rolls and to load the weighting roll by a restoring force due to their elastic deformation acting in the direction of the weighting plane. It has also been found to be advantageous to apply an additional external load force to the bearing support. The direction of the load force can be selected such that, with respect to the axis of the weighting or pressure roll, it is inclined towards the outside and acts in the direction of the other roll upon the bearing support. It can also be advantageous to drive the roll from the machine frame through the agency of a flexible shaft extending through but clearing the bearing support, in other words, a flexible shaft which extends with play through the bearing support.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be better understood and objects otherthan those set forth above, will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side view, partly in section, of a first embodiment of inventive apparatus for guiding and loading a roll;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the guidingand loading apparatus of FIG. 1, taken substantially along the line II-II thereof;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side view of a modified embodiment of apparatus for guiding and loading a roll embodying the teachings of this invention;

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates details of an alternate embodiment from that shown in FIG. 3, and indicating the forces which are acting at such arrangement;

FIG. 5 is a force diagram of the arrangement depicted in FIG. 4; and

- FIG. 6 is a plan view of a further embodiment of guidingand loading apparatus for a weighting roll as contemplated by the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Describing now the drawings, in FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown a respective unilaterally or overhung supby referring to FIG. 1, the roll 1 is axially supported at the machine frame 3 and is driven through the agency of a suitable and therefore not particularly illustrated means via its axle or shaft portion 4.

The other roll or roller 2 is provided with a hub 5 rotatably supported at a bearing support 6. Axial guiding of roll 2 is insured on the one hand by a support member 7 of the bearing support 6 and, on the other hand, by an adjusting or positioning ring member 8. In the bearing support 6, i.e., in its support member 7 there are arranged at right angles to the weighting plane E and parallel to the plane F two flat or plate springs9 and 10 of equal length, these flat springs 9 and 10 being rigidly mounted at the support member 7 at the same mutual spacing d from one another. The opposite ends of these flat springs 9 and 10 are rigidly anchored at the same mutual spacing d in the machine frame 3. By virtue of this arrangement and owing to its geometry and as shown in FIG. 1, there is realized precise parallel guiding if, for instance, the bearing support 6 is displaced through a distance e on the weighting plane E with respect to the roll 1, whereas loading of the roll 2 is realized by the restoring force due to an elastic deformation of the blade springs 9 and 10 which are of course also displaced through the distance e. Naturally, the magnitude of the loading force is dependent upon the length, thickness and width of the flat springs 9 and 10 and upon the displacement distance e. Moreover, the width b of the flat springs 9 and 10 is advantageously a multiple of their thickness 0. In this manner there is achieved optimumeffectiveness of the guidingand loading apparatus for the roll 2, the bearing support 6 being movable entirely without friction in the weighting plane E while maintaining the parallelism of the roll axes, and on the other hand remains rigidly guided transverse to the weighting or loading plane E, in other words, in the direction of the plane F. Consequently, there is excluded displacement of the nip line formed by the rolls 1, 2 in the plane F, and hence the apparatus qualifies as a very precise transporting device for the throughpassing fiber material. A further advantage is realized in that ifa certain loading of the roller 2 is required, the mass of the roll 2 and its elements 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 can be kept small, hence the apparatus is particularly suitable for use in those applications requiring high throughput speeds of the fiber material.

Considering now the showing of FIG. 3 there is illustrated therein a modified embodiment of inventive apparatus for guiding and loading a weighting roll 11, this arrangement resorting to the technique of external load application as such is used, for instance, in drafting arrangements of spinning machines. It will be recognized that the weighting roll 11 is rotatably supported in an antifriction bearing 12 at the bearing support 13. Bearing support 13 is provided with an enlarged support member 14 at which there are rigidly mounted two flat or plate springs 15 and 16. Just as was the case for the first embodiment considered above, here also the width of the flat springs 15 and 16 is preferably much larger than their thickness. Both springs 15 and 16 are of substantially the same length and their other ends are rigidly anchored so as to be substantially mutually parallel to one another in a holder 17 which, in turn, is detachably and adjustably mounted at the machine frame 18. Suitable fixing means 19 are employed for attaching the holder 17 to the machine frame 18. As clearly indicated by referring to FIG. 3 and in contrast to the arrangement depicted in FIG. 1, here the rigidly mounted flat springs 15 and 16 in their relaxed position merely function as a guide element in the weighting plane disposed at right angles to the transporting plane F. For these reasons and owing to thesmall occurring displacement distances of the weighting roll 11 relative to the roll 20, and caused by the throughpassing fiber material, it is possible for both the length and the degree of parallelism of the flat springs 15 and 16 to vary within certain limits without overly impairing the parallel guiding of the bearing support 13. Naturally, such deviations are to be considered encompassed by the scope of the invention.

Furthermore, it should be recognized that holder 17 is provided with an extension 21 for guiding a loading pin 22 in a direction perpendicular to the transport plane F. An elastic loading or pressure element, for instance a loading or pressure spring 23, is supported at this loading pin 22. Now a disk 24 adjustably mounted at the loading pin 22 permits varying the load acting at the support member 14 or the bearing support 13 respectively. This loading force P, generated by the loading spring 23, and in contrast to the arrangement depicted in FIG. 1, constitutes an external loading force. The loading force P generates a reaction force P from the roll 20 which equalizes the loading force P, i.e., P P The moment produced by the forces P and P is compensated by a counter-moment generated by the flat springs 15 and 16, wherein flat spring 15 is subjected to a tensile force K and flat spring 16 is subjected to a compression force K These forces K and K of course are of the same magnitude.

As also best seen by referring to FIG. 3, the weighting roll 11, its guiding elements 13, 14, 15 and 16 and the loading elements 21, 22, 23 and 24 together with their common holder 17 form a unit which can be attached to or detached from the machine frame 18. The mounting work and the possible exchange of such apparatus is thus considerably simplified and the time required correspondingly shortened.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates in detail a variant embodiment from the one depicted in FIG. 3. In order to preserve clarity in illustration, there have only been depicted in such figure the external forces acting at the weighting plane upon the bearing support 25 and upon the fiat springs 26 and 27 rigidly clamped thereat, and which forces according to the laws of physics must form an equilibrium system.

Considering FIG. 4 more closely, it is to be recognized that reference character P represents an external loading force which is applied in a direction which is not vertical or perpendicular to the roll axis, whereas reference character P represents the force generated by the weighting roll, not here particularly shown, and acting in the plane of symmetry of such weighting roll. The straight line C connects the points of intersection of the pairs of forces P /K and F' /K Now if the direction of the loading force P starting from the straight line C as the boundary limit, is located in the sector B, then both flat springs 26 and 27 are subjected to tension by virtue of the action of the forces K and K; respectively, the magnitude of such tensile force being indicated in the force diagram of FIG. 5. If the external loading force P is permitted to act at a greater inclination upon the bearing support 25, as viewed from the machine frame towards the outside, for instance as indicated by the direction of the force P, represented with broken lines, then the action of such external loading force upon the bearing support causes both flat springs 26 and 27 to be subjected to tensile forces of the same magnitude, i.e., K. as best seen by referring to FIG. 5. If, however, the direction of the loading force, starting from the straight line C, is located at the sector A, then, the flat spring 27 is still subjected to a compressive force.

Hence-as should be apparent when using a given geometrical arrangement of the guidingand loading apparatus, it is possible to vary within wide limits the type and magnitude of the load exerted upon the flat spring 27. Of course, it is preferable to select condictions under which the flat spring 27 is also subjected to a tensile force analogous to the flat spring 26. Consequently, it is possible to design the flat spring so as to have a small thickness (small mass) without the danger of buckling during operation of the apparatus.

A further embodiment of the invention is shown in plan view in FIG. 6 and is in the form of an impregnation apparatus for textile fibers constituting the subject matter of my copending, commonly assigned, United States application Ser. No. -1 87,966, filed Dec. 10, 1971, entitled Apparatus for Impregnating Textile Fibers, and to which reference may be readily had. Of course, the important features of the embodiment of FIG. 6 necessary for fully understanding the underlying concepts of the invention will now be considered hereinafter.

Hence, a disk member 28, hereinafter conveniently referred to as a master disk is mounted and axially guided at the machine frame through the agency of its shaft 29. The master disk 28 is likewise driven via the shaft 29 by any suitable drive unit. Two cover plates 31 and 32 retained at a predetermined mutual spacing from one another, are guided by the master disk 28 in the disk plane and for radial, guidance rest upon any suitable and therefore non-illustrated supports. A disk 33 opposite the master disk 28 is axially guided in the disk plane by the cover plates 31 and 32, disk 33 being rotatably and axially movably supported through the agency of the needle bearing 34 upon a bearing support 35. Two flat springs 37 and 38 of substantially the same length are rigidly clamped at the enlarged end part 36 of the bearing support and the other ends of such flat springs are anchored in substantial parallelism withone another in a holder 39. This holder 39 is adjustably and detachably connected to the machine frame 30. Thus the disk 33 is displaceably guided in the horizontal plane and perpendicular to the transport plane F in accordance with a parallelogram guide system, whereas its axial position at the bearing support 35 is determined by the cover plates 311 and 32. The external loading of the disk 33 is generated, for instance, by means of a spring 46) acting via a loading pin 41 upon the end part 36 of the bearing support 35 and thus acts upon such bearing support.

in the case of impregnation apparatus for textile fibers, it has been found to be advantageous to positively drive both disks. For this purpose, a shaft 42 is axially guided and supported in any suitable manner in-the holder 39 and such shaft is driven via the drive elements 43 and M by means of the shaft 29. Drive elements 43 and 44 may be, for instance, gears. A conventional flexible shaft 45. is mounted in the shaft 42, flexible shaft 45 extending with play through a bore 46 of the bearing support 35. A gear 47 is provided at the end of the flexible shaft 45, as shown, and this gear 47 is axially shiftable and meshes with a gear 48 provided at the hub 49 of the disk 33. Hence, the drive of the disk 33 adapts through the agency of the gears 47 and 48 to the axial position of the disk 33 determined by the cover plates 31 and 32. a

The inventive guiding-and loading apparatus manifests itself by virtue of its extremely precise parallel guiding of the weighting roll without play in the weighting plane, and in ,spite of the absence of play functions completely without friction. Hence, any type of wear is precluded which might be caused by movement of the weighting roll in adapting its position to the thickness of the throughpassing fiber material. As a result, maintenance is not required, even over long periods of use. Furthermore, the inventive apparatus also permits maintaining the mass of the moving components small, something which is particularly suitable for high throughput speeds of the material undergoing processing.

While there is shown and described present preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood'that the invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims. Accordingly, What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for guiding and loading at least one roll of a spinning machine having a machine frame, comprising a pair of rolls forming a nip for fiber material and defining a material transport plane, at least one of said rolls of said pair of rolls defining a weighting roll vertically movable with respect to the material transport plane, support means for unilaterally supporting said weighting roll, and guiding and loading means for at least one roll including a pair of mutually spaced flat springs each having opposed ends, said flat springs having neighboring ends rigidly mounted to said support means and opposite neighboring ends rigidly connected with said machine frame for anchoring said support means at said machine frame, said flat springs having deflectable portions between their opposite ends, said flat springs being arranged at least with their ends substantially parallel to one another and to said material transport plane for parallelly guiding said support means with respect to the material transport plane, the deflectable portions of said pair of flat springs possessing substantially the same length.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including holder means adjustably and detachably connected with said machine frame for anchoring said flat springs at the machine frame.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim ll, wherein the flat springs are arranged to be displaced through a distance in a weighting plane extending through the axes of the two rolls and to load the weighting roll by a restoring force due to their elastic deformation acting in the direction of said weighting plane.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, said guiding and loading means further including means for generating an external loading force acting upon said support means of the weighting roll.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said generating means is arranged to generate said loading force so as to act with respect to the axis of the weighting roll in a direction inclined towards the outside in a direction towards the other roll and upon said support means of said weighting roll.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said pair of flat springs are arranged parallel to the material transport plane.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 1,- further including a holder supported by said machine frame and fixing means adjustably and detachably connecting said holder with said machine frame, said flat springs having neighboring opposed ends rigidly mounted to said holder.

Claims (9)

1. An apparatus for guiding and loading at least one roll of a spinning machine having a machine frame, comprising a pair of rolls forming a nip for fiber material and defining a material transport plane, at least one of said rolls of said pair of rolls defining a weighting roll vertically movable with respect to the material transport plane, support means for unilaterally supporting said weighting roll, and guiding and loading means for at least one roll including a pair of mutually spaced flat springs each having opposed ends, said flat springs having neighboring ends rigidly mounted to said support means and opposite neighboring ends rigidly connected with said machine frame for anchoring said support means at said machine frame, said flat springs having deflectable portions between their opposite ends, said flat springs being arranged at least with their ends substantially parallel to one another and to said material transport plane for parallelly guiding said support means with respect to the material transport plane, the deflectable portions of said pair of flat springs possessing substantially the same length.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including holder means adjustably and detachably connected with said machine frame for anchoring said flat springs at the machine frame.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the flat springs are arranged to be displaced through a distance in a weighting plane extending through the axes of the two rolls and to load the weighting roll by a restoring force due to their elastic deformation acting in the direction of said weighting plane.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, said guiding and loading means further including means for generating an external loading force acting upon said support means of the weighting roll.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said generating means is arranged to generate said loading force so as to act with respect to the axis of the weighting roll in a direction inclined towards the outside in a direction towards the other roll and upon said support means of said weighting roll.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including a flexible shaft for driving said movable weighting roll, said support means for said weighting roll comprising a bearing support, said flexible shaft extending from the machine frame with clearance through said bearing support.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein said flexible shaft is provided with an axially movable gear, a further gear provided for said weighting roll, said axially movable gear meshing with said further gear.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said pair of flat springs are arranged parallel to the material transport plane.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including a holder supported by said machine frame and fixing means adjustably and detachably connecting said holder with said machine frame, said flat springs having neighboring opposed ends rigidly mounted to said holder.

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