Textile Spinning Machines

Abstract

In an open-end spinning unit for spinning textile yarns, there is provided a first housing containing opening means to open a sliver or roving fed thereto, a second housing containing spinning fibers delivered by said opening means, and a closure member for the spinning means mounted on the second housing, the first and second housings being movable between a first disposition in which the closure member is held thereby in a closed position and which they occupy during normal working of the machine, and a second disposition in which the closure member is not so held and moves or is movable to gain access to the spinning means.

Description

The present invention relates to machines for the open-end spinning of textile yarns.

Various types of open-end spinning machines are known, and in one type a sliver or roving is fed to opening and combing means from which the opened fibers are delivered in discrete form for transportation in an airstream to an internal fiber collecting surface of a spinning rotor which constitutes the spinning element of the machine. The fibers are removed from the fiber collecting surface of the rotor in the form of a spun yarn to be wound on a package.

It is a requirement with open-end spinning machines that maintenance of the spinning elements be carried out quickly and simply and it is also a requirement that this can be done in a safe manner.

According to the present invention, there is provided an open-end spinning unit for spinning textile yarns comprising a first housing containing opening means to open a sliver or roving fed thereto, a second housing containing spinning means for spinning fibers delivered by said opening means, and a closure member for the spinning means mounted on said second housing, said first and second housings being movable between a first disposition in which the closure member is held thereby in a closed position and which they occupy during normal working of the machine and a second disposition in which the closure member is not so held and moves or is movable to gain access to the spinning means.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a part sectional front elevation of a spinning unit of a multi-unit open-end spinning machine according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a part sectional end elevation taken on the line II--II in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a pneumatic circuit for use in the machine shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the main frame of the machine is designated by the reference numeral 1 and the fiber opening and spinning means for each unit is fixedly located within the main frame by a sub-frame 2. Attached to each sub-frame 2 are two pillars 3 and 4 on which are slidably mounted a housing 5 containing the fiber opening means and a housing 22 containing the spinning means.

Within the housing 5 is a fluted feed roller 6 fixed to a shaft 7 which is rotatably mounted in a pair of plain bearings 8 and 9. The drive for the roller 6 is obtained from a chain 10 through a chain wheel 11 and an electro-magnetic clutch 12. Co-operating with the fluted feed roller 6 is a pedal 13, pivotally mounted on a support member 36 at a point 14 and resiliently biased against the feed roller 6 by a spring 15. The support member 36 may be pivoted about a pivot pin 37 for access to the opening means.

Also mounted within housing 5 is an opening roller 16 suitably clothed with saw-tooth wire or needles on its peripheral surface. The opening roller 16 is fixed on one end of a shaft 17 which is rotatably mounted in a pair of anti-friction bearing 18 and 19 and the drive for the roller 16 is obtained from a driving belt 20 in frictional engagement with a pulley 21 mounted on the other end of the shaft 17. A cover 38 is fixed to the housing 5 in front of the opening roller 16.

A second housing 22 slidably mounted on pillars 3 and 4 is positioned below the housing 5 and serves to contain the spinning means. The spinning means consists of a rotor 23 fixedly mounted on one end of a shaft 24 rotatably supported within a bearing housing 25. The drive for the spinning rotor 23 is obtained from a driving belt 26 in frictional contact with a pulley 27 mounted on the other end of the shaft 24.

A closure member 28 is hingedly attached to the housing 22 by brackets 29 and hinge pin 55 and contains a fiber feed duct 30 and, on the axis of the spinning rotor, a yarn delivery tube 31, through which spun yarn 56 is withdrawn form the rotor by a pair of delivery rollers 32 and 33.

Suction is applied to the interior of the housing 22 through an opening 35 from an external source (not shown).

The drawing shows the housings 5 and 22 in their normal working positions, that is to say, at their uppermost positions, and they are held in these positions by supplying air to a pneumatic cylinder 39 positioned beneath the housing 22. A simple pneumatic circuit for the operation of this cylinder is shown in FIG. 3. A main pressurized air line 40, which serves all the spinning units of the machine, is tapped by an air line 41 and a valve 42 is employed for controlling the supply of air to the cylinder 39. In the position A of the piston of the valve 42, pressurized air enters through inlet port 43 and passes out through an outlet port 44 into air line 45 to move cylinder 39 to its uppermost position. To lower the cylinder 39, the piston of the valve 42 is moved to the position B, whereby inlet port 43 is closed, thus shutting off the supply of air, and exhaust port 46 is opened allowing air from cylinder 39 to be exhausted by the downward force applied to it by the housings 5 and 22.

In operation, a sliver or roving 57 from a supply, not shown, is fed between the nip provided by the fluted feed roller 6 and the co-operating feed pedal 13 to be delivered to the opening roller 16 for opening and combing thereby. The fibers are taken round on the periphery of the opening roller 16 until discharged into fiber delivery duct 47 formed in the housing 5. The fibers are transported in an airstream derived from suction developed in opening 35 and pass in discrete form down fiber feed duct 35 and pass in discrete form down fiber feed duct 30 to be deposited as a ring of fibers on fiber collecting surface 48 of the spinning rotor 23, from which they are withdrawn as the spun yarn 56 through yarn delivery tube 31 by the delivery rollers 32 and 33, and the yarn is then wound on a package in a conventional manner.

If it is desired to inspect the spinning rotor or if, for example, the spinning rotor requires cleaning, without interrupting the spinning of yarn at any of the other spinning units, the valve 42 is moved to the position B as shown in broken line, thus allowing air to be exhausted from the cylinder 39 through air line 45 and out through exhaust port 46 in the valve body. The housings 5 and 22 are thus lowered together on pillars 3 and 4 until the upper housing 5 comes up against stops 49 fixedly mounted on the pillars 3 and 4 and there comes to rest. At the same time, the chain wheel 11 is taken out of engagement with driven chain 10 and the clutch 12 is disengaged, thereby disengaging the drive to the feed roller 6. Similarly, the drive to the opening roller 46 is disengaged by the driving pulley 21 moving out of contact with belt 20. Braking of the opening roller 16 is effected by pulley 21 coming into contact with brake shoes 50.

After the upper housing 5 has come to rest, the lower housing 22 continues to move downwardly and the drive to the rotor 23 is disengaged by its driving pulley 27 being taken out of contact with the driving belt 26. Braking of the rotor 23 is effected by brake shoes 51 which are fixedly mounted on the machine frame and with which the pulley 27 engages upon the lowering of the housing 22. At the bottom of the stroke of the cylinder 39, the upper face of the closure member 28 is sufficiently clear of the lower face of the upper housing 5 that the closure member 28 can be swung forwardly on pivot brackets 29 to give clear access to the spinning rotor 23. A flexible connection 52 between the two rigid sections 53 and 54 of the suction duct is provided to allow for the downward movement of the lower housing 22.

On switching off the whole machine, the air supply to the cylinders 39 is cut off and all the housings 5 and 22 along the machine are simultaneously lowered.

It will be seen that maintenance of the spinning means can be simply and quickly carried out, while, from a safety view point, access to the spinning rotor 23 cannot be gained when the housing are in their normal working positions.

Claims

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An open-end spinning unit for spinning textile yarns, comprising first housing containing opening means to open a sliver or roving fed thereto, a second housing containing spinning means for spinning fibers delivered by said opening means, and a closure member for the spinning means mounted on said second housing, said first housing and said closure member being relatively movable between a first relative position in which the closure member is held by said first housing in a closed position, and which they occupy during normal working of the machine, and a second relative position in which the closure member is not so held and moves or is movable to gain access to the spinning means.

2. A unit according to claim 1 wherein said first and second housings are arranged for sliding movement between their first and second dispositions.

3. A unit according to claim 2, wherein said first housing abuts against the second housing in said first disposition of the housings, and wherein said first housing is held in spaced relation to said second housing in the said second disposition of the housings.

4. A unit according to claim 3 wherein said closure member is hingedly mounted on said second housing so as to be pivotal from the closed position to an open position in which access can be gained to the spinning means, wherein the first housing abuts against the closure means in said first disposition of the housings to prevent the said closure member from being moved from the closed position to the open position, and wherein the first housing is held sufficiently clear of the closure member in said second disposition of the housings as to permit the closure member to be pivoted to the open position.

5. A unit according to claim 4, wherein said closure member contains a fiber feed duct through which fibers from said opening means are transported in discrete form in an airstream to the spinning means housed in said second housing, and wherein said fibers are delivered to said fiber feed duct through a fiber deliver duct in said first housing and forming a continuation of said fiber feed duct when the first and second housings are in said first disposition with said first housing abutting against said closure member.

6. A unit according to claim 5, wherein said fiber feed duct and said fiber delivery duct lie in a straight line parallel to the direction of sliding movement of the said first and second housings.

7. A unit according to claim 6, comprising drive means for driving said opening means, said drive means drivingly engaging said opening means in the first disposition of the first housing and being drivingly disengaged from the opening means on said first housing moving to said second disposition.

8. A unit according to claim 7 comprising braking means for braking said opening means upon the said first housing moving to said second disposition.

9. A unit according to claim 8, wherein said opening means comprises an opening roller carried by a shaft, wherein said drive means comprises a drive pulley on said shaft drivingly engaged by a tangential driving belt in said first disposition of the housings, and wherein the pulley moves out of contact with said belt on the said first housing moving to said second disposition.

10. A unit according to claim 1 comprising drive means for driving said spinning means and being drivingly connected to said spinning means in said first disposition of said second housing and drivingly disengaged from said spinning means upon said second housing moving to said second disposition.

11. A unit according to claim 9 comprising braking means for braking said spinning means upon said second housing moving to said second disposition.

12. A unit according to claim 10, wherein said spinning means comprises a spinning rotor mounted in said second housing on a shaft supported thereby, wherein said drive means comprises a drive pulley on said shaft drivingly engaged by a tangential driving belt in said first disposition of the housings and wherein said pulley moves out of contact with said driving belt on the said second housing moving to said second disposition.

13. A unit according to claim 5, wherein said opening means comprises an opening roller lying in a plane containing the common axis of the fiber feed duct and the fiber delivery duct and wherein said fibers are delivered to said fiber delivery duct tangentially from said opening roller.

14. A unit according to claim 11, wherein said opening roller is arranged to be fed with fibers from a feed roller lying in said plane.

15. A unit according to claim 1, wherein said first and second housings are mounted for vertical sliding movement one above the other and with the first housing uppermost, wherein said second housing supports first housing in said first said disposition of the housings and wherein the housings are lowered to said second disposition, the first housing being brought to rest against a stop while the second housing is lowered to a position in which it is spaced from the said first housing.

16. A unit according to claim 1 wherein said first and second housings are supported in said first disposition by pneumatic means and released to move to said second disposition by operation of said pneumatic means.

17. A textile spinning machine comprising a plurality of units according to claim 16, wherein said pneumatic means are controlled by a control valve which is common to all said pneumatic means and which controls the supply of pressurized air thereto, whereby the closing of said control valve simultaneously causes the release of the pneumatic means of all the spinning stations of the machine.

18. A unit according to claim 1 wherein said first and second housings are relatively movable between a first disposition in which the closure member and the first housing are in the said first relative position, and a second disposition in which the closure member and the first housing are in the said second relative position.