Needle loom for weaving plush fabric

Abstract

A pair of weft inserting needles is supported at one side of the loom and a pair of weft drawing needles is supported for reciprocation at the opposite side of the loom for reciprocating movement into and out of upper and lower sheds formed by warp threads. Stationary weft thread supply sources are supported at one side of the loom for supplying a weft thread to each of the pair of weft inserting needles to be carried thereby to the medial portion and transferred to the weft drawing needles so that the weft threads are inserted as picks in the upper and lower sheds. A slide bearing block is supported adjacent each side of the loom for guiding the pairs of needles along the front side of the reed and slide pads of anti-friction material are fixed on the inner end portions of the needles to ride against the reed. Pressure pads are provided in the slide bearing blocks for resiliently maintaining the slide pads against the front side of the reed as the needles move in and out. A pair of weft thread positioning pins is supported between the slide block on one side of the loom and the adjacent edge of the fabric and operate to position the weft threads in the inner ends of the weft inserting needles as they start their inward reciprocation. A shear blade is supported between the weft positioning pins and the adjacent edge of the fabric for cutting the threads after they are positioned in the weft inserting needles. A scissors type cutter is provided adjacent the other edge of the fabric for cutting the ends of the weft threads extending beyond the corresponding edge of the fabric. A suction nozzle is supported adjacent the scissors type cutter for withdrawing and removing the cut weft thread ends.

Description

This invention relates generally to a needle loom for weaving plush fabrics and more particularly to a loom of this type which employs a pair of weft inserting needles supported for reciprocation at one side of the loom and a pair of weft drawing needles supported for reciprocation at the opposite side of the loom.

For many years, it was the general practice to weave plush fabrics on looms having a pair of shuttles which were thrown back and forth to form upper and lower layers of woven fabric with pile yarns extending between the two layers of fabric. This fabric was slit on the loom to provide separate plush fabrics. In recent years, it has been proposed to replace the shuttles with needles or rapiers for carrying the weft thread from one side to the other. This type of loom has the advantage that large supply sources of weft thread can be mounted in a stationary position adjacent the loom and do not require the frequent replenishing which has been the case with shuttle type looms. However, it is difficult to accurately position the weft thread in the needles and difficult to control the position of the needles, particularly when the loom utilizes weft inserting needles on one side and weft drawing needles on the other side with the weft thread being transferred from one to the other in the central portion of the loom.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a needle loom for weaving plush fabrics which employs a pair of weft inserting needles at one side and a pair of weft drawing needles at the opposite side and includes means for accurately positioning the weft threads to be engaged by the weft inserting needles as they move inwardly and for maintaining accurate alignment of the needles to provide positive transfer of the weft thread in the central portion of the loom.

In accordance with the present invention, a slide bearing block is supported adjacent each side of the loom for guiding the inner ends of the pairs of needles along the front surface of the reed as the needles move in and out of the upper and lower sheds of warp threads. Slide pads of anti-friction material are fixed on the inner end portions and on the sides of the needles adjacent the reed for sliding engagement with the front of the reed. Pressure pads are carried by each of the slide bearing blocks and resilient spring means is provided in the slide bearing blocks for urging the pressure pads against the needles to resiliently maintain the slide pads of anti-friction material against the front surface of the reed as the needles move in and out of the open sheds. A pair of weft thread positioning pins is supported between the slide block on one side of the loom and the adjacent edge of the fabric. These weft thread positioning pins are operatively connected together for simultaneous operation.

Weft thread positioning pin operating means is provided for positioning the weft threads, extending from the respective supply sources to the edge of the fabric, in the inner ends of the weft inserting needles as they start their inward reciprocation. A shear blade is supported between the pair of weft thread positioning pins and the adjacent edge of the fabric for cutting the thread between the edge of the fabric and the inner ends of the weft inserting needles as they move inwardly and as the reed moves rearwardly from the beat-up position. Weft thread cutting means in the form of a scissors type cutter is supported adjacent the other edge of the fabric and is operable to cut the weft threads extending beyond the edge of the fabric. A suction nozzle is supported between the scissors type cutter and the weft drawing needles when they are in withdrawn position so that the cut weft ends are removed by the suction nozzle.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the needle loom of the present invention, with the upper portions of the frame and harness control being broken away;

FIG. 2 is a somewhat schematic enlarged plan view taken substantially along the line 2--2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the slide block at one side of the loom, being taken substantially along the line 3--3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 4--4 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional plan view taken substantially along the line 5--5 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a somewhat schematic vertical sectional view through the inner end of the weft inserting needle and illustrating the inner end of the weft drawing needle moving toward the weft inserting needle to effect transfer of the end of the weft thread thereto;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary isometric view showing the weft thread positioning pins, the shear blade and the operating linkage therefor, looking in the direction of the arrow 7 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary isometric view looking inwardly from the rear of FIG. 7, in the direction of the arrow 8, and with the rear support plates of the slide block being removed for purposes of clarity; and

FIGS. 9-11 are views similar to FIG. 8 but showing the successive steps carried out in positioning the threads in the inner ends of the weft inserting needles, and the cutting of the threads by the shear blade as the slide block is moved rearwardly and the needles begin their inward movement.

The loom includes opposite side frames 10, 11 (FIG. 1) and a rock shaft 12 extending between and beyond opposite side frames 10, 11 and being supported in bearings 13, 14. Swords 15, 16 are supported at their lower ends on the rock shaft 12 and their upper ends support an oscillatable reed 17 (FIGS. 2, 4 and 7). Warp threads, indicated at W in FIG. 2, are withdrawn from warp beams, not shown, and pass through the usual needles, not shown, which form upper and lower open sheds for introduction of weft threads therethrough. The reed 17 oscillates forwardly and rearwardly between a forward or beat-up position against the fell of the fabric, indicated at F in FIG. 2 and a rearmost or open-shed position.

A pair of weft inserting needles 20, 21 is supported at one side of the loom for reciprocating movement into and out of the upper and lower sheds and a pair of weft drawing needles 22, 23 is supported for reciprocation at the opposite side of the loom for reciprocating movement into and out of the upper and lower sheds. A pair of stationary weft thread supply sources, in the form of yarn supply packages S-1, S-2 (FIG. 1) is supported at one side of the loom for supplying a first weft thread T-1 to the upper weft inserting needle 20 and a second weft thread T-2 to the lower weft inserting needle 21, in a manner to be presently described. The weft inserting needles 20, 21 carry the weft threads to the medial portion of the upper and lower sheds where they are transferred to the weft drawing needles 22, 23 so that the weft threads are inserted as picks in the upper and lower sheds.

The mechanism for reciprocating the needles at opposite sides of the loom is identical. The mechanism on the right-hand end of the loom in FIG. 1 will be described in detail and like reference characters with the prime notation added will be applied to the corresponding parts of the mechanism on the left-hand side of the loom. A spacer support block 24 connects together the outer ends of the needles 20, 21 and is suitably connected to the upper end of an operating lever 25, the lower end of which is supported in a vertical slide block 26 in the lower end of a support plate 27. The lower end of the support plate 27 is supported on the rock shaft 12 and the upper end pivotally supports the medial portion of a bell crank 30. One leg of the bell crank 30 is connected to the medial portion of the operating link 25 and the other end of the bell crank 30 is connected to the upper end of a connecting rod 31.

The lower end of the connecting rod 31 is connected to the forward end of an operating lever 32 which is provided with a cam follower, not shown, riding in a cam groove in a cam wheel 33 which is fixed on a drive shaft 34. The drive shaft 34 is rotated in time relationship to operation of the loom and rotates the cam wheel 33 so that the needles 20, 21 are reciprocated back and forth into and out of the open sheds.

Identical slide bearing blocks, broadly indicated at 35 and 35', are supported adjacent each side of the loom and are held in fixed position at the upper ends of the swords 15, 16 by respective retaining plates 36, 36' and bolts 37, 37'. Since the slide block 35 supporting the weft inserting needles 20, 21 is identical to the slide bearing block 35' supporting the weft drawing needles 22, 23, only the slide bearing block 35 will be described in detail and corresponding parts of the slide bearing block 35' will bear the same reference characters with the prime notation added.

As will be noted in FIG. 2, slide pads 40 of anti-friction material are provided on the inner ends of the needles 20-23 and on the rear sides thereof adjacent the reed 17. The slide pads 40 are positioned to engage and slide along the front face of the reed 17 as the needles move in and out of the upper and lower sheds.

As best shown in FIG 3, the slide bearing block 35 is provided with upper and lower needle guide grooves 44, 45 which extend longitudinally thereof. Pressure pads 46, 47 are supported in the respective grooves 44, 45 and engage the forward sides of the needles 20, 21 and opposite the side of the needles on which the slide pads 40 are fixed. Resilient means, in the form of springs 50, is carried by the slide bearing block 35. A pair of these springs 50 engages each of the pressure pads 46, 47 (FIG. 5) to resiliently maintain the slide pads 40 of anti-friction material against the reed 17 so that they bear against and slide with low friction against the front face of the reed 17 as the needles move in and out of the shed. Adjustment means, in the form of set screws 52, is provided for varying the amount of resilient pressure which is applied to the pressure pads and the needles so that the slide pads 40 may be urged against the reed with varying amounts of pressure.

A pair of weft thread positioning pins 54, 55 is supported at one side of the loom and between the slide block 35 and the adjacent one edge of the fabric F. The forward end of each of the weft thread positioning pins 54, 55 is fixed in the free ends of respective lever arms 56, 57. The inner ends of the lever arms 56, 57 are fixed on pivot bushings 58, 59 having outwardly extending relatively short operating arms thereon. Means is provided for operatively connecting together the pair of weft thread positioning pins 54, 55 for simultaneous operation. This connecting means is illustrated in the form of an operating link 60 which interconnects the pivot bushings 58, 59. The bushings 58, 59 are pivotally supported in the upper portion of a support bar 61, the lower end of which is fixed to a support bracket 62 (FIG. 7) which is in turn secured to a fixed portion of the loom, not shown.

The weft threads T-1 and T-2 extend from the respective supply sources or packages S-1, S-2, through thread guide eyes 64, 65 (FIG. 7), and then through upper and lower thread guide eyes 66, 67 (FIGS. 8-11) positioned closely adjacent the weft inserting needles 20, 21. The upper and lower weft threads T-1 and T-2 extend from the guide eyes 66, 67 to the edge of the fabric F. The operating means for positioning the weft threads in the inner ends of the weft inserting needles 20, 21 includes a cam shaft 70 (FIG. 7) rotating in timed relationship with operation of the loom. A cam 71 is carried by the shaft 70 and is engaged by a cam roller 72 on one end of a bell crank 73 which is pivotally supported on a shaft 74. The other end of the bell crank 73 has the lower end of an operating link 75 fixed thereto and the upper end of which is connected to the lower end of the connecting link 60 (FIGS. 8 and 11). A spring 76 (FIG. 7) is connected to one arm of the bell crank 73 and the other end is connected to a fixed portion of the loom, not shown, to resiliently maintain the cam roller 72 in engagement with the cam 71. The operation of the weft thread positioning pins 54, 55 will be presently described.

An L-shaped shear-blade 80 is supported between the pair of weft thread positioning pins 54, 55 and the adjacent edge of the fabric F. Shear blade operating means is provided to operate in timed relationship to operation of the weft thread positioning pins 54, 55 for positioning the shear blade 80 to cut the threads T-1 and T-2 between the edge of the fabric and the inner ends of the weft inserting needles 20, 21 as they move inwardly and as the reed 17 begins its rearward movement from the beat-up position. One leg of the L-shaped shear blade 80 is sharpened and the other leg is fixed on an arm of a bushing 81 (FIG. 7) which is pivotally supported on a support bracket 82, fixed on the support block 61.

An operating arm extends outwardly from the bushing 81 and has the upper end of an operating link 84 connected thereto, the lower end of which is connected to the forward leg of a bell crank 85. The bell crank 85 is pivoted on the shaft 74 and has a cam roller 86 fixed on the other arm thereof (FIG. 7) and in engagement with a cam 87 fixed on the cam shaft 70. One end of a tension spring 88 is connected to one arm of the bell crank 85 and the other end of the spring is connected to a fixed portion of the loom, not shown, to resiliently maintain the roller 86 against the cam 87. The operation of the shear blade 80 will be presently described in connection with the description of the operation of the weft thread positioning pins 54, 55.

The inner end of each of the weft thread inserting needles 20, 21 is provided with a hollow thread receiving tip (FIG. 6) including resilient means for gripping the thread placed in the thread receiving tip 90. The resilient means for gripping the thread includes a lever 91 which is pivotally supported on the inside of the hollow tip 90 and is urged to a closed or thread gripping position by a compression spring 93. The weft thread drawing needles 22, 23 are each provided with an inner yarn receiving tip in the form of a hook 95 which is provided with a thread holding latch member 96 for picking up the thread held by the hollow tip 90 as the receiving tip 95 moves inside of the hollow tip 90 so that the thread T-1 will be carried back across the loom and through the open shed to the opposite edge of the fabric F. As the needle 22 is retracted into the slide block 35', the latch member 96 is opened to release the end of the thread.

Cutter means is provided for severing the weft threads between the other edge of the fabric and the thread receiving tips of each of the needles 22, 23 after the threads are released by the weft drawing needles 22, 23. The weft threads which extend beyond the other edge of the fabric F are cut by the weft thread cutting means which includes a fixed blade 100 (FIG. 4) and a blade 101 movable relative to the fixed blade in a scissors-like action. The blade 101 is reciprocated by a link 102 which may be operated by any rotating part of the loom.

A suction nozzle 104 (FIG. 2) is supported between the weft thread cutting means and the weft drawing needles 22, 23, when in withdrawn position, and is connected to a suitable vacuum source 105 so that the weft thread ends are removed when they are cut by the blades 100, 101.

METHOD OF OPERATION

Assuming that the loom has just completed a beat-up with the reed 17 in a forward position against the fell of the fabric F and with the parts shown in the position illustrated in FIGS. 2, 7 and 8, the weft threads T-1 and T-2 will extend from the edge of the fabric F and through the yarn guide eyes 66, 67 so that the weft threads extend in alignment with the yarn receiving openings in the hollow needle tips 90 of the needles 20, 21. With the parts in this position, the weft thread positioning pins 54, 55 and their operating arms 56, 57 will be in substantially a horizontal position and above the level of the respective needles 20, 21. As the cam shaft 70 rotates, (FIG. 7) the cam roller 72 will ride up on the high point of the cam 71 and raise the operating link 75 and the connecting link 60 so that the operating arms 56, 57 swing downwardly to the vertical positions shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. As the pins 54, 55 swing down, the weft threads T-1 and T-2 are positively drawn into position in the yarn receiving slots in the inner ends of the needles 20, 21 and are gripped therein by the gripping lever 91 as the needles 20, 21 start their inward movement.

While the pins 54, 55 are swinging to the position shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the shear blade moves from the upper position shown in FIG. 9 to the lowered position shown in FIG. 10. As the cam roller 86 moves up onto the high portion of the cam 87 (FIG. 7) and the operating link 84 is raised, the shear blade 80 is lowered so that the sharpened leg is positioned rearwardly of the upper and lower threads T-1, T-2, as shown in FIG. 10. As the slide block 35 and the supporting sword 15 move rearwardly, the yarns T-1 and T-2 are cut adjacent the edge of the fabric F, as illustrated in FIG. 11, and the needles 20, 21 begin to move inwardly into the upper and lower open sheds. The hollow tips 90 of the needles 20, 21 are penetrated by the hooked inner ends of the needles 22, 23 at the medial portion of the loom and the ends of thread held by the needles 20, 21 are transferred to the needles 22, 23 and taken to the other side of the loom where the threads are released by the needles 22, 23.

As the needles 20, 21 and 22, 23 move inwardly, the slide pads 40, carried on the rear side of each of the needles, slide along in engagement with the reed 17 to thereby prevent vibration of the inner ends of the needles. This aids in maintaining alignment to insure that the needles properly mate at the medial portion of the loom so that the ends of the threads are properly transferred from the weft inserting needles 20, 21 to the weft drawing needles 22, 23. Thus, the proper positioning of the weft threads in the weft inserting needles 20, 21 insures that the threads will be carried to the medial portion of the fabric and the slide pads 40 engaging the front surface of the reed 17 insures that the transfer of the weft threads takes place in the central portion of the loom.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims

That which is claimed is:

1. In a loom for weaving plush fabric of warp and weft threads and including a reed movable between a forward or beat-up position where successive weft threads are moved against the fell of the fabric and a rearmost position where the warp threads form upper and lower open sheds for introduction of respective weft threads therethrough, a pair of weft inserting needles supported at one side of said loom for reciprocating movement into and out of the upper and lower sheds, a pair of weft drawing needles supported for reciprocation at the opposite side of said loom for reciprocating movement into and out of the upper and lower sheds, and a pair of stationary weft thread supply sources supported at said one side of said loom for supplying a weft thread to each of said pair of weft inserting needles to be carried thereby to the medial portion of the upper and lower sheds and transferred to said weft drawing needles so that the weft threads are inserted as picks in the upper and lower sheds, the combination therewith of

a. a slide bearing block supported adjacent each side of said loom for guiding said pairs of needles along the front of said reed as said needles move in and out of the upper and lower sheds,

b. slide pads fixed on the inner end portions and on the sides of said needles adjacent said reed, said slide pads being formed of anti-friction material for engagement with said reed as said needles move in and out of the upper and lower sheds,

c. pressure pads carried by each of said slide bearing blocks and engaging the side of said needles opposite the side of said needles on which said slide pads are fixed,

d. resilient means carried by said slide bearing blocks and urging said pressure pads against said needles to resiliently maintain said slide pads of anti-friction material against said reed so that they bear against and slide with low friction against the front of said reed,

e. a pair of weft thread positioning pins supported between said slide block on said one side of said loom and the adjacent one edge of the fabric,

f. means operatively connecting said pair of weft thread positioning pins together for simultaneous operation,

g. weft thread positioning pin operating means for positioning the weft threads extending from the respective supply sources to said one edge of the fabric in the inner ends of said weft inserting needles as said weft inserting needles start their inward reciprocation,

h. a shear blade supported between said pair of weft thread positioning pins and the adjacent edge of the fabric,

i. shear blade operating means operable in timed relationship to operation of said weft thread positioning pins for positioning said shear blade to cut the threads between said one edge of the fabric and the inner ends of said weft inserting needles as they move inwardly and as said reed moves rearwardly from said beat-up position,

j. weft thread cutting means supported adjacent the other edge of the fabric and being operable to cut the wedt threads extending beyond said other edge of the fabric, and

k. a suction nozzle supported between said weft thread cutting means and said weft drawing needles when in withdrawn position, said suction nozzle being operable to remove the weft thread ends when cut by said weft thread cutting means.

2. In a loom according to claim 1 including a pair of lever arms pivotally supported at their one ends and fixedly supporting said respective pair of weft thread positioning pins in their other ends, and wherein said connecting means (f) includes an operating link operatively connecting said pair of lever arms.

3. In a loom according to claim 2 wherein said weft thread positioning pin operating means (g) includes a shaft rotating in timed relationship to operation of said loom, a cam carried by said shaft, and linkage operable by said cam and connected to said operating link for moving said weft thread positioning pins to position the weft threads in said weft inserting needles.

4. In a loom according to claim 1 wherein said shear blade (h) is L-shaped with one leg thereof being sharpened, the other leg of said L-shaped shear blade being pivotally supported, and wherein said shear blade operating means (i) includes a shaft rotating in timed relationship to operation of said loom, a cam carried by said shaft, and linkage operable by said cam and connected to said shear blade for moving the sharpened leg of said shear blade to a position rearwardly of the weft threads extending from the edge of the fabric so as to cut the weft threads as said weft inserting needles and said reed begin their rearward movement.

5. In a loom according to claim 1 wherein said weft thread cutting means (j) includes a fixed blade and a blade movable relative to said fixed blade in a scissors-like action to cut the weft threads extending beyond said other edge of the fabric.

6. In a loom for weaving a width of plush fabric and including a reed movable between a rearmost or open shed position and a forward or beat-up position, a pair of weft inserting needles supported for reciprocation on at least one side of said loom, drive means for moving said needles inwardly along the front of said reed as said reed is moved to the rearmost position and for moving said needles outwardly along said reed and to a position spaced from one edge of the fabric as said reed is moved to the forward position, and guide means for directing weft threads from respective supply sources to said needles, the combination therewith of

a. a thread receiving tip carried by the ends of each of said needles and including resilient means for gripping thread engaged by said tip.

b. a pair of interconnected weft thread positioning members including weft thread engaging pins extending transversely of and being supported for movement in arcuate paths across the paths of travel of said needles to engage and position the weft threads in the path of travel of said tip of each of said needles as said needles are moved toward said one edge of the fabric, and

c. cutter means for severing the weft thread between said one edge of the fabric and said thread receiving tip of each of said needles after the weft threads are gripped by said resilient means in said tip of each of said needles and as said reed starts moving back to the rearmost position.

7. In a loom according to claim 6 including

h. cam means for operating said weft thread positioning pins (b) in timed relationship to operation of said needles and said reed, and

i. cam means for operating said cutter means (c) in timed relationship to operation of said needles and said reed.

8. In a loom according to claim 6 including

d. a slide pad of anti-friction material secured on the rear side of said thread receiving tip of each of said needles for sliding engagement against said reed as said needles are reciprocated,

e. a slide bearing block supported for movement with said reed for guiding said needles along the front of said reed as said needles move into and out of the shed,

f. pressure pads carried by said slide bearing block and engaging the needles passing through said slide bearing block, and

g. resilient means carried by said slide bearing block for urging said pressure pads into engagement with said needles to resiliently maintain said slide pads against said reed.

9. In a loom according to claim 8 wherein said resilient means (g) in said slide bearing block comprises a pair of springs engaging each of said pressure pads and supported in said guide block, and adjustment means for varying the amount of pressure applied by said springs to said pressure pads to thereby vary the pressure with which said slide pads are urged against the front of said reed as said slide pads move along said reed.