US3239154A - By-pass type spooler - Google Patents

Description

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 2, 1964 T'zg. 1.

INVENTOR.

llllll ATTORNEYS C. B- CRANDALL BY-PASS TYPE SPOOLER March 8, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 2, 1964 ATTORNEYS March 8, 1966 C. a. CRANDALL BY-PASS TYPE SPOOLER 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 2, 1964 2 INVENTOR.

C har/es B. Cranda/l Jar 0M A T TO RNE Y5 United States Patent 3,239,154 BY-PASS TYPE SPOOLER Charles B. Crandall, Rockford, Ill., assignor to Barber- Colman Company, Rockford, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Mar. 2, 1964, Ser. No. 348,452 8 Claims. (Cl. 24235.6)

This invention relates to a Barber-Colman type C spooler such as that originally disclosed in Patent No. 1,267,977 in which a so-called traveler moves around an endless path past successive winding units in each of which the cheese or cone on the free end of a rearwardly projecting arm is pressed down against a traversing drum during the winding. Upon breaking or exhaustion of the supply thread, the arm is swung upwardly, overcenter and downwardly to a horizontal idle position from which the traveler operates to find the thread end on the cheese, tie on the thread of a new supply bobbin and swing the cheese arm upwardly and rearwardly back onto the traversing drum to resume the winding.

Preparatory to such servicing, a cam on the traveler comes into play to release the arm support so that the cheese will come into proper engagement with the braking and end fining rolls of the traveler. Such release mechanism includes spring means which, when a winding unit is operating properly, performs the additional function of urging the cheese arm downwardly thus holding the cheese, regardless of its size, against the drum under proper pressure.

In the type C spooler, the speed of the traveler is slow enough to insure that the thread of each winding unit will be broken or exhausted as a result of which a unit whose thread is broken before exhaustion of the supply bobbin may remain idle for an objectionably large part of the time.

The primary object of the present invention is to facilitate adaptation of a swinging arm type spooler of the above character for so-called by-pass operation in which the speed of the traveler is increased and the traveler operates only on the cheeses of idle winding units while passing idly by those units in which the supply thread is running properly to the cheese.

A more detailed object is to control selectively the action of the traveler on each winding unit and prevent release of the downward pressure on the cheese being wound while the traveler is passing a winding unit which is operating properly.

The invention also resides in the novel and simple character of the structure used to sense the presence or absence of each cheese arm in winding position and controlling the by-passing action.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary vertical section taken approximately along the line 11 of FIG. 2 of a spooler incorporating the novel features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are fragmentary sectional views taken along the lines 33 and 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are sections similar to FIG. 3 showing different positions of the parts.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 8-8 of FIG. 2.

In the type C spooler, a multiplicity of winding units 10 are arranged side by side along one side 11 of and within an endless path around which a so-called traveler or tender 12 moves and operates on idle ones of the units to resume winding thereby. Each unit is mounted on a bracket 13 upstanding from a frame 14 and includes an elongated arm 15 clamped at one end to a pivot shaft 16 which is journaled in bearings 17 at the upper end of the bracket. A spindle 18 projects laterally from the opposite or free end of the aim and rotatably supports the core 20 of a cheese or cone 21 onto which the thread 22 of a supply bobbin 23 is wound to form a package of the desired size. Such winding occurs while the supply thread remains unbroken with the cheese resting on the top of a continuously rotating drum 24 carried by a shaft 25 paralleling the traveler path. The drum is grooved to traverse the thread back and forth across the cheese. In the winding position, the arm 15 projects generally horizontally and rearwardly from the pivot 16 as shown in full in FIG. 1.

When the thread being wound breaks or becomes exhausted, a pull wire 26 suspended from a short projection 27 on the hub of the cheese arm is swung rearwardly and in beneath a hook 28 on the free end of an arm 29 fast on a shaft 30 which is rocked up and down continuously within the U-shaped lower end 31 of the pull wire. As a result of the downward pull, the cheese arm is swung upwardly from the winding position and overcenter past a vertical position from which the arm gravitates to the idle position shown in phantom in FIG. 1, the arm then projecting forwardly and generally horizontally from its pivot 16. In this movement, a roller 32 on a lateral projection 33 of the cheese arm pivot shaft rides up the face of an upstanding arm 34 of a bell-crank lever 35 fulcrumed at 36 on the bracket 13 and having a forwardly projecting arm or lug 37 to which is attached one end of a con tractile spring 38. The other end is attached to the horizontally projecting arm 40 of a latch 41 pivoted on the frame at 41 and having an elongated upright arm which is engageable at its upper end 42 in either of two notches 43 and 44 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. When the arm 42 is engaged with either of the two notches 43 or 44, it prevents the bell crank 41 from transmitting the force of the spring 38 to the cheese arm and applying downward pressure to the cheese as it is being restored to the drum until the cheese has been accelerated to the drum speed. Pressure is restored in the type C spooler by a roller cam 73 (FIGS. 3 and 8) on the plate 53 trailing behind the end finding roll 55 with its lower edge positioned to engage and depress the arm 46 thus rocking the bell-crank clockwise to carry its upper end 42 away from the notches 43, 44.

When the cheese arm in rocking upwardly from its winding position reaches the position shown in FIG. 5, the bell-crank 35 will have been rocked counterclockwise far enough to allow the end 42 of the latch to move into the notch 43. Then, as the cheese arm swings overcenter and gravitates downwardly, the end 49 of a lug 45 on the side of the pivot 16 opposite the roller 32 comes against a shoulder 46 on the bell-crank and rocks the latter counterclockwise as permitted by extension of the spring 38. The latter thus cushions the stopping of the arm and the latter comes to rest in the idle position shown in FIG. 6. When the cheese is substantially less than full size and therefore light in weight, the bell-crank is not rocked far enough counterclockwise to allow the latch end 42 to escape from the notch 43. The inertia of a larger or full cheese will, however, rock the bell-crank farther and allow the latch to enter the second notch 44 maintaining the spring 38 in its extended position and preventing the release of its stored energy from causing the cheese to rebound upwardly. In the present instance, the cheese in its final idle position is supported by the latch through the engagement between the surfaces 46 and 49 on the bell-crank and cheese arm (see FIG. 6).

The traveler 12 for servicing each idle winding unit includes a frame 47 supported from an overhead track 48 on upstanding frame arms 50 and is advanced along the path 11 through a power rotated gear 51 meshing with rack teeth on the track. Arranged in succession on the traveler along the path of advance thereof are various devices for operating on the cheese, its supporting arm and the parts associated therewith including a cam 52 on the leading end of an upright plate for raising the cheese arm from the position determined by the supporting surfaces 46 and 49 and then depositing the cheese, regardless of its size, on a braking roll 54 for arresting the turning of large size cheeses. Lowering of the cheese onto the braking roll 54 is timed by the inclined cam 52 which rides under and picks up the idle cheese arm (see FIG. 7) and raises the cheese far enough to allow the largest size cheese shown in full in FIG. 7 to pass over the top of the braking roll and be lowered onto the latter as the trailing end 74 (FIG. 8) of the cam passes the cheese arm. With a large size cheese resting on the braking roll 54, the surfaces 46 and 49 are separated. Thereafter, in the continued advance of the traveler, the cheese is further lowered and engaged by an end finding roll 55 and its thread tied by a knotter 56 to a new supply thread after which the cheese arm is swung upwardly and overcenter and back to winding position.

In the case of a small size cheese whose supporting latch 41 is disposed in the first notch 43 when the cheese reaches the idle position shown in phantom in FIG. 1, it is necessary to remove the support by the surfaces 46 and 49 after the cheese arm 15 has been engaged and supported by the traveler cam 52 allowing the cheese to be lowered properly onto the braking roll so that it may be further lowered onto the end finding roll 55, as shown in dotdash outline in FIG. 7 as this roll is presented beneath the cheese. In the type C spooler, this is accomplished by a roller 57 of substantial diameter mounted on the plate 53 of the traveler in a position to engage the projection 37 at the proper time and then, in the continued advance of the traveler, raise this projection to permit engagement of the latch end 42 in the second notch 44 and leave the parts positioned as shown in FIG. 7 with the supporting surfaces 46, 49 separated by an amount which permits the smallest cheese to contact the end finding roll.

It will be observed from the foregoing that when the cheese arm 15 is in the winding position (FIG. 3), the latch 41 is out of the notches 43 and 44 with its end 42 held against the front side of the bellcrank by the spring 38 whose upper end exerts a downward pull on the projection 37. The bell-crank is thus biased clockwise with the arm 34 thereof bearing against the roller 32 to urge the cheese arm counterclockwise and press the cheese thereon downwardly against the winding drum. At the same time, the projection 37 is disposed in the path of the roller cam 57 on the traveler so that if this cam were allowed to raise the projection as it does in the servicing of an idle winding unit, the bell-crank would be rocked counterclockwise and engaged by the latch in the notches 43 and 44, thus preventing the spring from continuing to exert the desired downward winding pressure to the cheese.

To permit the traveler to by-pass each active winding unit while leaving the winding pressure applied to the cheese, the present invention provides for disabling the traveler cam 57 as it is passing the projection 37 of such unit thus preventing the cam from raising the projection and rocking the bell-crank counterclockwise far enough to allow the latch to move into the notches 43 and 44. Such disabling is accomplished in the present instance by mounting the cam roller for downward yielding when it engages and passes the projection 37 of a winding unit while positively holding the normal position of the roller when it passes the projection of an idle winding unit whose cheese arm is projecting forwardly.

To these ends, the roller is disposed adjacent the rear side of the plate 53 on the traveler and is journaled on one end of a stud 58 which projects through a vertically extending slot 60 in the plate and is fixed at its other end in the free end of a bar 61. The latter lies along the outer side of the plate and is supported near its other end by a pivot 62 secured to the plate, the bar projecting horizontally from the pivot in a direction opposite to the traveler advance. Beyond the pivot, a contractile spring 63 acts continuously on the bar to swing it clockwise as viewed in FIG. 4 thus normally maintaining the stud 58 at the upper end of the slot 60 as shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 8 and the roller positioned for normal engagement with the next projection 37 along the row of winding units. In this condition, the roller and the bar are adapted to yield downwardly as permitted by extension of the spring, the roller being pressed downwardly as it comes into contact with the projection and passing idly beneath the latter in the continued advance of the traveler.

The presence of a cheese arm in idle position and the need for holding the roller 37 against such downward yielding is sensed by a feeler in the form of a rectangular plate 64 (FIGS. 2 and 3) disposed adjacent and beyond the trailing end of the braking roll 54 so as to be engaged and depressed by the cheese just before the cam roller 57 reaches the associated projection 37. The feeler plate is wide enough in the direction of the traveler mo tion to remain in engagement with the cheese until the roller has passed out of effective contact with the projection. Herein, the feeler is on the free end of a lever 65 extending transversely of the traveler path and fast at its opposite end on a rockshaft 66 journaled in bearings 67 on the front of the traveler plate. A torsion spring 68 around the shaft urges the feeler upwardly to a normal position (see FIG. 1) slightly above the level of the braking roll 54 as determined by engagement of an arm 70 depending from the rockshaft with a stop 70 on the plate 53. The leading edge 71 of the feeler plate is beveled to guide the plate in beneath the cheese whose weight is always sufficient to depress the feeler to the position shown in phantom in FIG. 4.

Projecting laterally from the lower end of the arm 70 is a stop 72 disposed slightly below the lower edge of the lever 61. In the normal position of the feeler, the stop is swung out from under the bar as shown in full in FIG. 3 thus freeing the bar and the cam roller 57 for downward movement when the roller encounters the projection 37 of an idle winding unit. But when the feeler is depressed as it passes beneath an idle cheese as shown in FIG. 8, the stop 72 is swung in beneath the bar 61 as shown in phantom in FIG. 3 thus blocking the bar against downward movement so that the roller is held positively in its upper active position as it passes the projection 37 of the winding unit. The projection is thus raised by the cam 57 to allow the latch 41 to move into the second notch 44 and remove the support for the cheese arm 15 so that, regardless of the size of the cheese, it is free to move downwardly into proper contact with the end finding roll in the further advance of the traveler.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a by-pass type spooler of the character described, the combination of, a winding unit including a grooved winding drum rotatable about a horizontal axis, an arm supporting a rotatable cheese at one end, means at the opposite end providing a pivot parallelling the drum axis and supporting the cheese arm for swinging back and forth in an upright plane between a winding position against said drum and an idle generally horizontal position on the opposite side of the pivot, means acting on said arm and yieldably urging the latter in a direction to hold said cheese against said drum under a winding pressure including a member disposed in a predetermined position when said arm is in said winding position and adapted when moved to a second position to release the pressure on the arm, a traveler movable transversely of said plane and operable in passing the winding unit to service the cheese thereof disposed in said idle position, and mechanism on the traveler selectively operable to maintain said member in said predetermined position as the traveler passes the winding unit with the cheese arm thereof in said winding position and to move the member to said second position when the cheese arm is in said idle position as the traveler passes.

2. A by-pass type spooler as defined in claim 1 in which the selective action of said mechanism is controlled by a feeler mounted on said traveler for up and down movement and disposed in a position to ride under the cheese of said winding unit during passage of the traveler while said cheese arm is in said idle position.

3. A by-pass type spooler as defined in claim 1 in which said mechanism includes an element carried by said traveler and held in an active position for effective engagement with said member and movement thereof to said second position while said cheese arm is in idle position during passage of the traveler but free for movement by said member out of such active position as the traveler passes the winding unit with the cheese arm thereof in said winding position.

4. A by-pass type spooler as defined in claim 3 including means yieldably urging said element toward and normally maintaining the same in said active position, and means operable as the traveler passes the winding unit with said cheese arm in said idle position to block said element against yielding whereby to cause the same to move said member to said second position.

5. A by-pass type spooler as defined in claim 4 in which said element is a cam and said member is a follower therefor.

6. A by-pass spooler as defined in claim 5 in which said blocking means comprises a stop movable into and out of the path of yielding of said element.

7. In a by-pass type spooler of the character described, the combination of, a winding unit including a grooved winding drum rotatable about a horizontal axis, an arm supporting a rotatable cheese at One end, means at the opposite end'providing a pivot paralleling the drum axis and supporting the cheese arm for swinging back and forth in an upright plane between a winding position against said drum and an idle generally horizontal position on the opposite side of the pivot, means releasably supporting said cheese arm in the idle position including a member adapted when moved out of a normal position to permit lowering of the support from said arm and the idle cheese thereon, a traveler movable transversely of said plane and past said winding unit and operable on the idle and unsupported cheese to find the thread thereon, tie on a new thread and return the arm and cheese to the winding position, an element on said traveler operable in the advance thereof past the winding unit to effectively engage said member and move the same out of said normal position, and sensing means operable during advance of the traveler to the winding unit to prevent elTective engagement of said element and said member when the cheese arm is in said Winding position while causing effective engagement of said element and said member when the cheese arm is in the idle position.

8. In a by-pass type spooler of the character described, the combination of, a winding unit including a grooved winding drum rotatable about a horizontal axis, an arm supporting a rotatable cheese at one end, means at the opposite end providing a pivot paralleling the drum axis and supporting the cheese for swinging back and forth in an upright plane between a winding position against said drum and an idle generally horizontal position on the opposite side of said pivot, means acting on said arm and yieldably urging the same in a direction to hold said cheese against said drum under a winding pressure including a member disposed in a predetermined position when said arm is in said winding position and adapted when moved to a second position to release the pressure on the arm, a traveler movable transversely of said plane and operable in passing the winding unit to service the cheese thereof when the latter is disposed in said idle position, and element on said traveler yieldably urged to a normal position and operable during the advance of the traveler when held in such position to engage and actuate said member and thereby release said winding pressure, and a feeler mounted on the traveler for engagement with the cheese of said unit in said idle position and operable to hold said element in said normal position while element is passing said member, said feeler acting, when the arm of said unit is in said winding position, to free said element for yielding out of said normal position and thereby prevent the passing traveler from actuating said member to release the winding pressure on said cheese.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,175,710 3/1916 Colman 24235.6 1,267,977 5/1918 Colman 242-35.6 1,268,684 6/1918 Colman 242-35.6 2,757,874 8/1956 Marcellus 242-356 3,042,328 7/1962 Mahoney 24235.6

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. IN A BY-PASS TYPE SPOOLER OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, THE COMBINATION OF, A WINDING UNIT INCLUDING A GROOVED WINDING DRUM ROTATABLE ABOUT A HORIZONTAL AXIS, AN ARM SUPPORTING A ROTATABLE CHEESE AT ONE END, MEANS AT THE OPPOSITE END PROVIDING A PIVOT PARALLELING THE DRUM AXIS AND SUPPORTING THE CHEESE ARM FOR SWINGING BACK AND FORTH IN AN UPRIGHT PLANE BETWEEN A WINDING POSITION AGAINST SAID DRUM AND AN IDLE GENERALLY HORIZONTAL POSITION ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE PIVOT, MEANS ACTING ON SAID ARM AND YIELDABLY URGING THE LATTER IN A DIRECTION TO HOLD SAID CHEESE AGAINST SAID DRUM UNDER A WINDING PRESSURE INCLUDING A MEMBER DISPOSED ON A PREDETERMINED POSITION WHEN SAID ARM IS IN SAID WINDING POSITION AND ADAPTED WHEN MOVED TO A SECOND POSITION TO RELEASE THE PRESSURE ON THE ARM, A TRAVELER MOVABLE TRANSVERSELY OF

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