Apparatus for supplying spinners with bobbin material

Abstract

 In the apparatus for supplying continuous spinners with reeled material - comprising: a framework (5) longitudinally developing along the corresponding spinner (1) a carriage (9) movable along said framework (5) stations for the storage of full bobbins (27) and for the withdrawal of the reeled off pipes (25) and on said carriage means (19, 23, 30) for handling the full bobbins and the reeled off pipes - each of said stations comprises a first support (11) for receiving the feeding bobbins, i.e. the bobbins from which the rove is drawn for the spinning and a second support (13) for receiving full, stand-by bobbins (27) to be successively replaced; and said means for handling the full bobbins and reeled off pipes on the carriage comprise for eachj front of the spinner to be supplied, a support (30) for receiving a set of bobbins during the phase of replacement of the same bobbins.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to an apparatus for supplying continuous spinners (so-called ring-spinning machines) with material in bobbins - which are held in a position above the work groups of the spinner and made to hang down - comprising: a framework longitudinally extending along the corresponding spinner; on said framework guide means for a carriage movable along said framework; for each section of the work groups of each front fed by said apparatus a station for the storage of the full bobbins and the withdrawal of reeled off pipes; and on said carriage means for handling the full bobbins and the reeled off pipes.

[0002] Apparatuses of this type are known in which, for each work group, transfer and overturning means are provided in order to move mandrels for the support and retention of the rove bobbins from a position in which said bobbins are handled over by the handling means located on the carriage, to the individual mandrels, to a feeding position at the underlying work groups. These apparatuses therefore require relatively complex mechanisms for a considerable number of work groups, as each spinner front can be provided with more than 200 spindles.

[0003] One object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the above mentioned type, which has substantially simpler and less expensive mechanisms ensuring, however a high degree of automation of operations for the supply and replacement of the bobbins.

[0004] Substantially, according to the invention, an apparatus of the above mentioned type is characterized in that each of said stations comprises a first support for receiving feeding bobbins, i.e. the bobbins from which the rove is drawn for the spinning, and a second support for receiving full bobbins standing by for a successive replacement and that said means on the carriage for the handling of bobbins and of reeled off pipes comprise, for each spinners front to be supplied, a support for receiving a set of bobbins during the replacement phase of said bobbins.

[0005] Practically, said support rigidly connected to the carriage is placed at the same height as said first support of the station for the storing and unwinding of the bobbins, in which the bobbins feeding the rove to the work groups are disposed.

[0006] Advantageously, the full bobbins and/or the reeled off pipes of the exhausted bobbins are borne by mandrels provided with retractable expansion means for the engagement and disegngament of the bobbins and/or the pipes, said mandrels being carried by a supporting frame which is moved by said handling means disposed on the carriage. On each frame mandrels are predisposed in a number and position corresponding to the number and position of the bobbins to be disposed in each section of the work groups of the spinner front to be supplied.

[0007] In a particularly simple embodiment, said first and said second support for receiving the feeding bobbins and the full bobbins standing by for a subsequent replacement, and said support on the mobile carriage comprise supporting profiles for the frame.

[0008] Said support for receiving the full bobbins standing by for their replacement may be disposed above and in correspondence of the receiving support for the feeding bobbins, and the supporting profiles of the upper support are in such case able to be withdrawn.

[0009] In practice, the means for handling the bobbins and the reeled off pipes may comprise at least a cylinder-piston system for the motion of said frames, said system being displaceable in transverse direction with respect to the supplied spinner. and further means for the displacement of a frame provided with mandrels from the support located on the carriage to the support for receiving the feeding bobbins. said means being operable independently of said cylinder-piston system. The means for the displacement of the frame may comprise, e.g. a chain or the like able to slide in sliding guides.

[0010] The framework of the apparatus according to the invention may be disposed in central and symmetrical position relative to the spinner to be supplied between two fronts of said spinners, said carriage carrying two supports, symmetrically located with respect to the framework, for receiving a set of bobbins during the replacement phase of the same bobbins. Alternatively, said framework may be disposed between opposite fronts of two spinners extending parallel one to the other.

[0011] The invention will be better understood by following the description and the attached drawing, which shows a practical, non limitative exemplification of the same invention. In the drawing:

Figs.1 to 5 show the apparatus according to the invention in five subsequent phases concerning the supply of full bobbins and the replacement of reeled off pipes in a substantially cross-section view;

Fig.6 shows a side partial view of the apparatus according to the invention;

Fig.7 shows a reeled off pipe collection phase; and

Fig.8 shows a full bobbin supply phase.

[0012] The following description refers to an apparatus symmetrically disposed with respect to a spinner, capable of supplying the two fronts of spindles of the same spinner. However, it is not excluded. that an apparatus of similar type may be disposed between two side-by-side disposed spinners for the supply of bobbins to the work groups of two facing fronts of said spinners.

[0013] According to what is illustrated in the attached figures, to a spinner 1 having two fronts of spindles 3A and 3B respectively, there is combined a framework 5 carrying a guide 7 longitudinally extending throughout the spinner; on said framework a carriage 9 is able to move for the supply of bobbins to the work groups of the spinner 1. Said carriage 9 is able to slide in the direction of arrows f9 (Fig.6) along the whole extension of the spinner while picking up from a carriage or other stacking device, disposed at one end of same spinner, the bobbins to be fed to the various work groups, and picking up from each work group the reeled off pipes to store them in a suitable container located at the opposite end or at other suitable position with respect to the spinner 1. The work groups or spindles 3A and 3B of the two work fronts of spinner 1 are grouped into sections, the spindles of each section being supplied simultaneously with rove bobbins. In the example of the drawing, each section of spindles or work groups comprises four of said spindles (see Fig.6). Supports 11 and 13 able to support a frame 15 carrying a set of mandrels (eight in the drawing) are combined to each section of work groups. Said mandrels 17, of known type, have snap retractable expansion means, for example elastic flyers, for the engagement and the release of bobbins and/or pipes to be picked up from or feed to the work groups of spinner 1.

[0014] On the carriage 9, a slide 21 is movable transversally to the longitudinal extension of the guide 7 for each front of spindles 3A, 3B, said slide carrying a cylinder-piston system 19 for the handling of frames 15 in a manner described below. In the drawing, one of said slides and one of said cylinder-piston system are indicated in greater details, the other slide and the other system are only roughly indicated being symmetrical to the first ones. It is also possible to use a single slide 21 and a single cylinder-piston system. The carriage 9 carries also supports 23 for each of the two fronts of spinner 1 to be supplied, said supports 23 being disposed at the same height as the supports 11 of the framework 5.

[0015] Herebelow the phases of supplying full bobbins to the individual sections of spinner 1 are described with reference to Figs.1 to 5. As shown in Fig.1, on the frame 15 located on the lower support 11, substantially reeled-off rove bobbins 25 are borne by the corresponding mandrels 17. Therefore the replacement of the feeding bobbins must be carried out. On the upper support 13 is a similar frame 15 whose mandrels carry full rove bobbins 27. Said frame 15 has been laid down in this position by the carriage 9 upon a previous supply stage. To carry out the replacement of frame 15 which carries the reeled off pipes with the frame carrying the full bobbins, the carriage 9 moves in correspondence to the section in which the replacement is to be performed and picks up the frame 15 together with bobbins 27, located on the supports 13, by means of the cylinder-piston system 19. Through a transverse displacement of slide 21 in direction of arrow f1 (Fig.2), the full bobbins 27 are brought in correspondence of support 23, which is rigidly connected to carriage 9, and released on said support upon lowering of the cylinder-piston system 19 in the direction of arrow f2 (Fig.3). After the frame 15 with full bobbins 27 has been laid down on the carriage support 23, the joining of the free ends 29 of the roves wound on bobbins 27 with the terminal portions of the rove which is reeling off from bobbins 25, and then the cutting of the reeled off rove may be performed. The joined roves are shown in Fig.3. As the spinning operation performed by the corresponding work group or spindle 3B goes on, the free ends 29 of the new roves carried by bobbins 27 are introduced into the corresponding spindle 3B, so that the feeding of the rove to the spindle 3B takes place with continuity.

[0016] Fig.4 shows how the new rove from the bobbins 27 has replaced the rove reeled off from bobbins 25. The reeled off pipes 25 may at this point be collected by the cylinder-piston system 19 of carriage 9 which to this end, after having placed frame 15 with bobbins 27 on support 23, moves transversally in direction of arrow f3 towards the center line of carriage 9, and lowers down again according to arrow f4 to pick up the frame with the reeled off pipes from the support 11.

[0017] Fig.5 shows the following phase of displacement of frame 15 carrying the full bobbins 25 from the support 23 solid to the carriage, to the lower support 11 of the framework 5. While the cylinder-piston system 19 causes the reeled off pipes to raise according to arrow f6, thrust members 30 carried by carriage 9 push the frame 15 carrying the full bobbins 27 from the support 23 to the support 11 according to arrow f8. To allow the lifting of the frame carrying the reeled off pipes 25 by the cylinder-piston system 19, the upper support 13 solid to framework 5 is provided with supporting flyers as those shown in Fig.6, which may take up a withdrawn position (shown in hatched lines in said Fig.6) to allow the transit of the frame 15 to be picked up. The lower support 11 may instead be made up of fixed flyers.

[0018] The thrust members 30 may consist in particular of a chain or the like, sliding within guide members carried by the carriage 0 and by the support 23.

[0019] After having lifted the frame 15 carrying the reeled off pipes 25, and pushed the frame carrying the full bobbins 27 into the feeding position, i.e. onto supports 11, carriage 9 is able to carry the reeled off pipes 25 from the just supplied work group section to a pipe collector located at one of the ends of the spinner to be fed or at any other suitable position. To this purpose (see Fig.7), the cylinder-piston system is moved by the slide 21 in the direction of arrow fl0 transversally with respect to spinner 1 up to be positioned outside the set of supports 11, 13. Carriage 9 is thus free to move along guides 7 up to the position in which the reeled off pipe collection point is located, where cylinder-piston system 19 is able to lower according to arrow f12 (see Fig.7) and thus release the reeled off pipes 25. Since the mandrels 17 are provided with snap retractable expansion means, by pressing the lower portion of the reeled off pipes on a reference plane, the retraction of the expansion means and then the release of said pipes is obtained, while the frame remains engaged to the cylinder-piston system 19 for subsequently drawing a set of full bobbins.

[0020] Referring now to Fig.8, when carriage 9 has performed the operations for the replacement of reeled off pipes, it can carry out the positioning of a set of bobbins 32 also borne by a frame 15, which are positioned into the support 13 above the feeding bobbins 27. To this end, carriage 9 moves in correspondence of the position wherein the full bobbins are stored, e.g. to one end of spinner 1, where small carriages in which the full bobbins coming from the previous workings are predisposed in positions corresponding to those of mandrels 17 on the relevant frames 15. When cylinder-piston system 19 carrying a frame 15 moves downwards against a set of bobbins predisposed to be drawn, the pressure exerted by same bobbins onto the snap members of the expansion means of mandrels 17 causes the extraction of said expansion means and the consequent engagement of the bobbins with the relevant mandrels, so that frame 15 can be lifted and moved by carriage 9 in correspondence of the section to be supplied. Bobbins 32 will then be moved, during a subsequent replacement phase of the reeled off pipes picked up by the cylinder-piston system 19, above supports 23, through a transversal displacement manoeuvre by means of members 30, to take the place of the reeled off pipes on support 11.

[0021] It should be evident that, in order to permit the travel of carriage 9 along the spinner 1, due to the presence of supports 11 and 13 of the framework 5, the cylinder-piston system 19 will have to be located, during the transfer phase of frames 15 (either they carry pipes or full bobbins) at the outer position on carriage 9, i.e. at the position shown in Fig.7. Once the carriage 9 has been moved in correspondence of the section of work groups 3 to be supplied, cylinder-piston system 19 carried by slide 21 will move according to arrow f14 (Fig.8) in order to place the new bobbins 32 in the proper position on supports 13.

[0022] It is evident that carriage 9 can carry one or two cylinder-piston systems 19, in the latter case each cylinder-piston system serving one of the two fronts of spinner 1. The use of two cylinder-piston systems 19 and of corresponding slides 21 allows the simultaneous supply of opposite sections of work groups 3A, 3B with a reduction of work time. The system shall be provided with sensors able to detect the reeling off condition of the feeding bobbins to allow an automated supply of new bobbins to the individual sections of the work groups 3A, 3B. As the time required for the working of the individual feeding rove bobbins is relatively long, there is time available to allow the carriage 9 and the other relevant equipment for the handling of frames 15 to supply the various supports 13 with stock bobbins 32.

[0023] As will be evident to those skilled in the art, the described apparatus, even allowing an elevated automation of the supply operations in a continuous spinner, has an extremely simplified structure as it does not require bobbin and pipe handling mechanisms for the individual sections or for the individual work groups of the spinner 1. On the contrary, according to the present invention, the only handling members and mechanisms are disposed on the carriage 9, while framework 5 does not have any auxiliary mechanism. This allows great saving and simplifications of the apparatus, as all the handling mechanisms are single or at the most double in case carriage 9 is equipped with two slides 21 and relevant cylinder-piston systems 19, while only fixed supports 11 and 13 are disposed in correspondence of the work groups of spinner 1.

[0024] By means of the apparatus according to the invention it is also possible to replace the bobbins without interrupting the supply of spinner 1. In fact, when the reeled off pipes 25 and the full bobbins 27 which shall substitute the latters are arranged side-by-side as shown in Fig.3, it is possible to carry out the tailing between the end portions of the roves unwinding from pipes 25 and the free ends 29 of the roves wound up on bobbins 27. As the spindles 3A and 3B continue the spinning operation, the end portions of the roves unwinding from the reeled off pipes 25 will drag along the initial free ends 29 of bobbins 27 towards the entry of the relevant work groups. Owing to the low speed with which the roves are unwound from the relevant bobbins, this joining operation is particularly handy as it can be carried out easily and with enough time before the rove unwinding from the pipes 25 is completely reeled off. This is allowed by the fact that the apparatus according to the invention provides for the temporary side-by-side arrangement of pipes which are about to be completely reeled off and of bobbins to be replaced. After having performed the joining of the free ends 29 of the roves wound on bobbins 27, the end portions of the roves unwinding from the reeling off pipes 25 can be cut away.

[0025] Thus, a further advantage of the apparatus results evident from what has been illustrated. As the reeling off time of a bobbin 25 being fed to the spinner is very long (possibly taking even two days), the carriage 9 for the transfer of frames 15 with bobbins 27 has sufficient tine to fill the supports 13 solid to the framework 5 with frames 15 and relevant full bobbins 27. A real stocking store is thus formed in correspondence of spinner 1 for the bobbins standing by to be worked by spinner 1. Therefore the need of stocking these bobbins in especially provided carriages located in rooms for intermediate storing use (with evident waste of space and high transfer costs for moving the bobbins from the stocking store to the spinner) is eliminated; with the apparatus according to the invention the stocking takes place directly in correspondence of the zone in which the next working of the rove is carried out.

Claims

1. Apparatus for supplying continuous spinners (so called ring spinning machines or similar) with material in bobbins, which bobbins are held in a position above the work groups of the spinner and made to hang down, comprising: a framework longitudinally extending along the corresponding spinner; on said framework guide means for a carriage movable along said framework; for each section of work groups of each front supplied by said apparatus, a station for the storage of full bobbins and the withdrawal of reeled off pipis; and on said carriage means for handling the full bobbins and the reeled off pipes, said apparatus characterized in that each of said stations comprises a first support (11) for receiving feeding bobbins (25), i.e. the bobbins from which the rove is drawn for the spinning, and a second support (13) for receiving full bobbins 27) standing by for a successive replacement, and that said means (on the carriage) for handling the bobbins and the reeled off pipes comprise, for each spinner front to be supplied, a support (23) for receiving a set of bobbins during the replacement phase of said bobbins.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said support (23) rigidly connected to the carriage (9) is placed at the same height as said first support (11) of the station for the storing and unwinding of the bobbins, in which the bobbins (25) feeding the rove to the work groups (3A, 3B) are disposed.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the full bobbins and/or the reeeld off pipes of the exhausted bobbins are borne by mandrels (17) provided with retractable expansion means for the engagement and disengagement of the bobbins and/or the pipes, said mandrels being carried by a supporting frame (15) which is moved by said handling means disposed on the carriage; and that on each frame mandrels are disposed in a number and position corresponding to the number and position of the bobbins to be disposed in each section of work groups of the spinner front to be supplied.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that said first and said second support (11, 13) for receiving the feeding bobbins and the full bobbins standing by for a successive replacementk, and said support (23) on the mobile carriage (9) comprise supporting profiles for said frame (15).

5. Apparatus according to the preceding claims, characterized in that said support (13) for receiving the full bobbins standing by for a successive replacement is located above and in correspondence of the receiving support (11) for the feeding bobbin;, and that the supporting profiles of the upper support are able to be withdrawn.

6. Apparatus according to the preceding claims, characterized in that said means for handling the bobbins and the reeled off pipes comprise at least a cylinder-piston system (19) for moving said frames, which is displaceable in a direction transverse to the supplied spinner.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that said handling means further comprise members (30) for the displacement of a frame (15) provided with mandrels from the support (23) located on the carriage to the support (11) for receiving the feeding bobbins, said members (30) being operable independently of said cylinder-piston system (19).

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that said further members (30) for the displacement of the frame comprise a chain or the like able to slide in corresponding sliding guides.

9. Apparatus according to the preceding claims, characterized in that said framework is disposed in central and symmetrical position with respect to the spinner to be supplied, between the two fronts of same spinner, said carriage carrying two supports (23), symmetrically located with respect to the framework, for receiving a set of bobbins during the replacement phase of the same bobbins.

10. Apparatus according to claims 1 to 8, characterized in that said framework is disposed in an intermediate position between two spinners extending parallel one to the other, said carriage being provided with two supports (23) for receiving a set of bobbins during the replacement phase of same bobbins, each support serving for one of the opposite spindle fronts of the two spinners.

11. Apparatus according to the preceding claims, characterized in that the means located on said carriage for handling the bobbins and the pipes comprise two cylinder-piston systems (19).

12. Apparatus according to the preceding claims, characterized in that said second support (13) forms a stocking store for the bobbins (27) standing by to be worked by the spinner (1).

13. Method for the replacement of reeled off or almost reeled off pipes with full bobbins in a continuous spinner by the use of the apparatus according to claims 1 to 12, characterized by predisposing of a frame (15) on said support (23) provided on carriage (9), said frame (15) carrying a set of full bobbins, joining of the free end (29) of the rove of said bobbins (27) with the end portion of the rove as it unwinds from the feeding bobbins (25) during the reeling-off phase.

14. Method according to claim 13, characterized in that the end portion of the rove in the reeling-off phase is cut away after its tailing with the free end of the rove of bobbins (27).

Drawing