COMBINED YARN PRODUCING DEVICE

Abstract

 A combined yarn producing device capable of serially performing processes from spinning to production of a combined yarn is provided. A combined yarn producing device 3 includes: preheating rollers 11 to 13 configured to take up yarns Y; first drawing rollers 14 and 15 on which a yarn Y1 among the yarns Y is wound, the first drawing rollers 14 and 15 heating and feeding the yarn Y1 drawn between the preheating roller 13 and the first drawing rollers 14 and 15; a second drawing roller 16 on which a yarn Y2 among the yarns Y is wound, the second drawing roller 16 being lower in roller surface temperature than the first drawing rollers 14 and 15 and feeding the yarn Y2 drawn between the second drawing roller 16 and the preheating roller 13; and an interlacing device 26 combining the yarn Y1 and the yarn Y2.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a combined yarn producing device which is configured to produce a combined yarn by combining two types of yarns.

[0002] A combined yarn formed by combining two types of yarns which are different in physical properties or the like has been known. A representative example of such a combined yarn is a differential-shrinkage combined yarn produced by combining two types of yarns which are different in thermal shrinkage. A typical differential-shrinkage combined yarn is produced by combining, by air interlacing or the like, a thermally-treated yarn which is thermally treated (thermally set) after drawn and a non-thermally-treated yarn which is not thermally set after drawn.

[0003] In early days, differential-shrinkage combined yarns are produced by combining thermally-treated yarns and non-thermally-treated yarns which are produced independently. Later on, a technology of producing differential-shrinkage combined yarns simultaneously with drawing by using a drawing machine configured to draw material yarns such as undrawn yarns (UDY) and partially oriented yarns (POY) was developed (see, e.g., PTL 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 57-193543)). FIG. 8 shows an example of a known device for producing differential-shrinkage combined yarns. This device 100 is provided with a first roller 101 which is a heating roller, a second roller 102 which is a non-heating roller, a heater 103 provided between the first roller 101 and the second roller 102, a guide 104 provided to bypass the heater 103, and a combining section 105.

[0004] When a differential-shrinkage combined yarn is produced by this device, to begin with, two packages Pa and Pb on each of which a material yarn such as the undrawn yarn (UDY) and the partially oriented yarn (POY) is wound are prepared. The yarn Ya on one package Pa is arranged to run a yarn path which connects the first roller 101 with the second roller 102 via the heater 103. The yarn Ya is heated to a drawable temperature at the first roller 101, and is then drawn between the first roller 101 and the second roller 102. During the drawing, the yarn Ya is thermally treated by the heater 103. In the meanwhile, the yarn Yb on the other package Pb is arranged to run on a yarn path which connects the first roller 101 with the second roller 102 via the guide 104. The yarn Yb is heated to a drawable temperature at the first roller 101, and is then drawn between the first roller 101 and the second roller 102. Being different from the yarn Ya, the yarn Yb is not thermally treated during the drawing.

[0005] The yarn Ya thermally treated after drawn becomes a low-shrinkage yarn with low thermal shrinkage, whereas the non-thermally-treated yarn Yb becomes a high-shrinkage yarn with high thermal shrinkage. These two types of the yarns Ya and Yb are combined at the combining section 105 by air interlacing or the like, with the result that a differential-shrinkage combined yarn Yx is obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] In the above-described known device for production of the combined yarn, packages of material yarns such as UDY and POY are prepared in advance, and two types of yarns different in thermal shrinkage are produced from the material yarns. As such, a combined yarn is produced through at least two steps including a step of producing the packages of the material yarns and a step of producing the two types of yarns from the packages and combining the yarns, and this requires a lot of labor and cost.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide a combined yarn producing device capable of serially performing processes from spinning to production of a combined yarn.

[0008] According to the first aspect of the invention, a combined yarn producing device includes: a yarn feed roller configured to feed yarns spun out from a spinning apparatus; a first drawing roller on which a first yarn among the yarns fed from the yarn feed roller is wound, the first drawing roller being configured to be higher in yarn feeding speed than the yarn feed roller and to heat and feed the first yarn drawn between the yarn feed roller and the first drawing roller; a second drawing roller on which a second yarn among the yarns fed from the yarn feed roller is wound, the second drawing roller being configured to be higher in yarn feeding speed than the yarn feed roller, to be lower in roller surface temperature than the first drawing roller, and to feed the second yarn drawn between the yarn feed roller and the second drawing roller; and a combining section configured to combine the first yarn fed from the first drawing roller and the second yarn fed from the second drawing roller.

[0009] The combined yarn producing device of the present invention includes the yarn feed roller configured to feed the yarns spun out from the spinning apparatus 2 and the two drawing rollers which are higher in the yarn feeding speed than the yarn feed roller. Among the yarns, the first yarn is drawn between the yarn feed roller and the first drawing roller whereas the second yarn is drawn between the yarn feed roller and the second drawing roller. The second drawing roller is lower in the roller surface temperature than the first drawing roller. On this account, after being drawn, the first yarn drawn by the first drawing roller is heated by a higher temperature than the second yarn is. The first yarn and the second yarn after drawn are therefore different in physical properties such as thermal shrinkage. Thereafter, the first yarn and the second yarn are combined in the combining section and a combined yarn is produced.

[0010] In the present invention, two types of yarns which are different in physical properties are produced from yarns spun out from the spinning apparatus, and processes until the combination of the two types of the yarns are serially performed. In this way, because the processes from the spinning to the production of the combined yarn are serially performed, labor and cost are significantly reduced as compared to known arrangements.

[0011] According to the second aspect of the invention, the combined yarn producing device of the first aspect is arranged such that the first drawing roller is a heating roller heating the first yarn wound onto a surface of the heating roller, and the second drawing roller is a non-heating roller not heating the second yarn wound onto a surface of the non-heating roller.

[0012] In the present invention, the first yarn drawn between the yarn feed roller and the first drawing roller is heated by the first drawing roller which is a heating roller. In the meanwhile, the second yarn drawn between the yarn feed roller and the second drawing roller is wound onto the second drawing roller which is a non-heating roller, and hence the second yarn is not heated by the second drawing roller.

[0013] According to the third aspect of the invention, the combined yarn producing device of the first or second aspect is arranged such that the yarn feeding speed of the first drawing roller is higher than the yarn feeding speed of the second drawing roller.

[0014] The first yarn which is heated at a high temperature by the first drawing roller after drawn is a rigid yarn as compared to the second yarn. Such a difference in the rigidity is one of reasons why the two types of yarns are not easily interlaced at the combining section. In the present invention, because the yarn feeding speed of the first drawing roller is higher than that of the second drawing roller, there is a difference in the yarn tension at the time of the combination, and hence the tension of the first yarn is lower than that of the second yarn. With this, the rigid first yarn becomes easily bendable, and the interlacing of the first yarn and the second yarn in the combining section is facilitated.

[0015] In this regard, the difference in the tension between the first yarn and the second yarn at the time of the combination is preferably not excessively large. To be more specific, a difference between the yarn feeding speed of the first drawing roller and the yarn feeding speed of the second drawing roller preferably falls within the range of 0.25% to 2.5% of the yarn feeding speed of the first drawing roller (the fourth aspect of the invention).

[0016] According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the combined yarn producing device of any one of the first to fourth aspects is arranged such that the first yarn is wound onto the first drawing roller at a winding angle of less than 360 degrees, and the second yarn is wound onto the second drawing roller at a winding angle of less than 360 degrees.

[0017] In the present invention, the winding angles of the first yarn and the second yarn on the drawing roller are both less than 360 degrees. In other words each yarn is wound not more than once on each drawing roller, and hence the yarn placement on each drawing roller is easily done.

[0018] According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the combined yarn producing device of any one of the first to fourth aspects is arranged such that the first drawing roller and the second drawing roller extend in a predetermined direction, the first yarn before wound onto the first drawing roller and the second yarn before wound onto the second drawing roller run side by side in the predetermined direction, the first yarn is wound onto the first drawing roller at a winding angle of less than 360 degrees, a separate roller is provided in the vicinity of the second drawing roller, and the second yarn is wound at least once between the second drawing roller and the separate roller.

[0019] Being different from the first drawing roller, the second drawing roller does not heat a yarn to a high temperature and hence this roller can be short in diameter. However, when the diameter of the second drawing roller is short, the contact length with the second yarn is short and the gripping force is low. In this regard, in the present invention, the second yarn is wound at least once between the second drawing roller and the separate roller. The contact length between the second drawing roller and the second yarn is therefore long and the gripping force is increased, with the result that the second yarn is less likely to slip.

[0020] In addition to the above, in the present invention, the first yarn and the second yarn are lined up in the roller axial direction. The first yarn is wound onto the first drawing roller at a winding angle of less than 360 degrees, and hence the yarn path of the first yarn after wound onto the first drawing roller is unlikely to be shifted from the yarn path of the first yarn before wound onto the first drawing roller. In the meanwhile, the second yarn is wound between the second drawing roller and the separate roller at least once, and hence the yarn path of the second yarn after wound onto the second drawing roller is shifted from the yarn path of the second yarn before wound onto the second drawing roller. This makes it possible to cause the yarn path of the first yarn fed by the first drawing roller and the yarn path of the second yarn fed by the second drawing roller to converge, immediately before reaching the combining section.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] 

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a spun yarn take-up apparatus of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a heat retaining box, a preheating roller, a first drawing roller, and a second drawing roller.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of a spun yarn take-up apparatus of a modification.

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of a spun yarn take-up apparatus of another modification.

FIG. 5 is a front elevation of a combined yarn producing device of another modification.

FIG. 6 is a front elevation of a spun yarn take-up apparatus of another modification.

FIG. 7 is a front elevation of a spun yarn take-up apparatus of another modification.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a known combined yarn producing device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0022] Now, the following will describe an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a spun yarn take-up apparatus of the present embodiment. Hereinafter, the up-down direction and the left-right direction shown in FIG. 1 will be used as the up-down direction and the left-right direction of the spun yarn take-up apparatus. Furthermore, the direction orthogonal to the plane of FIG. 1 will be used as the front-back direction of the spun yarn take-up apparatus. The direction away from the plane of FIG. 1 toward the viewer is the frontward direction. As shown in FIG. 1, the spun yarn take-up apparatus 1 is provided with members such as a combined yarn producing device 3, a winding device 4, and a controller 5.

[0023] Above the spun yarn take-up apparatus 1, spinnerets 7 (7a and 7b) of a spinning apparatus 2 are provided. Although FIG. 1 shows only two spinnerets 7, in reality plural spinnerets 7 are provided to be lined up along the left-right direction. From the spinnerets 7, yarns Y (Y1 and Y2) made of synthetic fibers (e.g., polyester fibers) are spun out, respectively. Below each spinneret 7, an oil guide 8 is provided to apply oil to the spun-out yarns Y.

[0024] The combined yarn producing device 3 is provided with rollers 10 to 19 configured to take up the yarns Y on which the oil has been applied. While the rollers 10 to 19 take up the yarns Y, the combined yarn producing device 3 draws and thermally treats the yarns Y to produce two yarns Y1 and Y2 which are different in physical properties. Furthermore, a single combined yarn Ym is produced by combining the two yarns Y1 and Y2. The structure of the combined yarn producing device 3 will be detailed later.

[0025] The winding device 4 is configured to wind combined yarns Ym respectively produced by the combined yarn producing devices 3. The winding device 4 includes members such as a bobbin holder 21 and a contact roller 22. The bobbin holder 21 is long in the front-back direction (i.e., the direction orthogonal to the plane of FIG. 1) in shape, and is rotationally driven by an unillustrated motor. To this bobbin holder 21, bobbins 23 are attached to be lined up along the longitudinal direction of the bobbin holder 21. The winding device 4 rotates the bobbin holder 21 so as to wind the combined yarns Ym onto the respective bobbins 23, with the result that packages 24 are formed. The contact roller 22 adjusts the shape of each package 24 by making contact with the surface of each package 24 and applying predetermined contact pressure thereto.

[0026] The controller 5 is provided with a setting unit 25 for setting control parameters of various actions of the spun yarn take-up apparatus 1. Based on the parameters set by an operator through the setting unit 25, the controller 5 controls the sections of the combined yarn producing device 3 and the winding device 4. For example, the controller 5 controls the speed of a motor (not illustrated) by which the rollers 10 to 19 of the combined yarn producing device 3 are driven and the temperature of a heater 30 provide in each of the rollers 11 to 15.

[0027] Now, the structure of the combined yarn producing device 3 will be detailed. As shown in FIG. 1, the combined yarn producing device 3 includes a roller 10, a heat retaining box 20, preheating rollers 11, 12, and 13 (yarn feed rollers of the present invention), first drawing rollers 14 and 15, a second drawing roller 16, rollers 17, 18, and 19, and an interlacing device 26.

[0028] The rollers 10 to 19 are disposed so that the axial direction of each roller is along the front-back direction. The axial direction may not be in parallel to the front-back direction in at least one of the rollers 10 to 19. The axial direction of at least one of the rollers may be slightly deviated upward or downward relative to the front-back direction. The rollers 18 and 19 may be disposed so that the axial direction of each roller is along the left-right direction. The yarns Y spun out from the spinning apparatus 2 are fed by the rollers 10 to 19 and run side by side in the front-back direction.

[0029] Onto the roller 10, plural (e.g., eight) yarns Y spun out from the spinnerets 7 of the spinning apparatus 2 are wound to be side by side in the axial direction of the roller 10 (i.e., the direction orthogonal to the plane of FIG. 1). The roller 10 is driven by an unillustrated motor, and takes up the yarns Y spun out from the spinning apparatus 2 and sends the yarns Y to the heat retaining box 20.

[0030] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the heat retaining box 20, the preheating rollers 11 to 13, the first drawing rollers 14 and 15, and the second drawing roller 16. The heat retaining box 20 is made of a heat insulating material. Through a right wall member of this heat retaining box 20, a yarn inlet 20a, a first yarn outlet 20b, and a second yarn outlet 20c are formed. The yarn inlet 20a is formed at a lower end portion of the right wall member of the heat retaining box 20. The first yarn outlet 20b is formed at an upper end portion of the right wall member of the heat retaining box 20, whereas the second yarn outlet 20c is formed at a central portion in the up-down direction of the right wall member.

[0031] The yarns Y sent from the roller 10 are introduced into the heat retaining box 20 through the yarn inlet 20a. In the heat retaining box 20, five heating rollers in total, i.e., three preheating rollers 11 to 13 and two first drawing rollers 14 and 15 are housed. The three preheating rollers 11 to 13 are provided in a lower space in the heat retaining box 20, whereas the two first drawing rollers 14 and 15 are provided in an upper space in the heat retaining box 20.

[0032] The five heating rollers are each rotationally driven by an unillustrated motor. The yarn feeding speeds of the three preheating rollers 11 to 13 are V1, V2, and V3, respectively. To prevent the yarns Y from becoming slackened, the relationship between the yarn feeding speeds of the three preheating rollers 11 to 13 is V1<V2<V3. In this way, the running speed of the yarns Y is gradually increased across the three preheating rollers 11 to 13. In the meanwhile, the yarn feeding speeds of the two first drawing rollers 14 and 15 are V4 and V5, respectively, and V4 is substantially equal to V5. The yarn feeding speeds V4 and V5 of the two first drawing rollers 14 and 15 are higher than the yarn feeding speeds V1 to V3 of the three preheating rollers 11 to 13.

[0033] In each of the five heating rollers (the three preheating rollers 11 to 13 and the two first drawing rollers 14 and 15), the heater 30 is provided. The yarns Y wound onto each heating roller are heated on the surface of the roller which is maintained at a predetermined temperature by the heater 30. The three preheating rollers 11 to 13 are heating rollers for heating the yarns Y to a drawable temperature. The roller surface temperatures of the three preheating rollers 11, 12, and 13 are T1, T2, and T3, respectively. The roller surface temperature T3 of the preheating roller 13 is arranged to be equal to or higher than a glass transition temperature (e.g., 80 to 95 degrees centigrade in cases of polyester fibers). To efficiently increase the temperature of the yarns Y to the glass transition temperature in a short time, the relationship between the temperatures of the three preheating rollers 11 to 13 is arranged to be T1>T2>T3. A temperature difference between two neighboring preheating rollers is, for example, about 5 degrees centigrade.

[0034] In the meanwhile, the two first drawing rollers 14 and 15 are heating rollers for heating the drawn yarns Y and fixing the drawn state. Hereinafter, thermal treatment performed for drawn yarns may be referred to as "thermal setting". The roller surface temperatures of the two first drawing rollers 14 and 15 are T4 and T5, respectively. T4 and T5 may be equal to each other or different from each other. T4 and T5 are arranged to be higher than T3 (e.g., arranged to be 120 to 150 degrees centigrade).

[0035] The second drawing roller 16 is provided outside the heat retaining box 20 and to the right of the second yarn outlet 20c. This second drawing roller 16 is driven by an unillustrated roller. The yarn feeding speed V6 of the second drawing roller 16 is higher than the yarn feeding speeds V1 to V3 of the preheating rollers 11 to 13. In the present embodiment, the yarn feeding speeds V4 and V5 of the first drawing rollers 14 and 15 are arranged to be higher than the yarn feeding speed V6 of the second drawing roller 16. The reason of this arrangement will be given later.

[0036] The second drawing roller 16 is not provided with a heater. In other words, the second drawing roller 16 is a non-heating roller which does not heat yarns wound thereon. On this account, the roller surface temperature T6 of the second drawing roller 16 is substantially equal to an environmental temperature (e.g., 40 degrees centigrade), and is significantly lower than the roller surface temperatures T4 and T5 of the two first drawing rollers 14 and 15.

[0037] The yarns Y spun out from the spinning apparatus 2 and taken up by the roller 10 are introduced into the heat retaining box 20 through the yarn inlet 20a, and are wound onto the three preheating rollers 11 to 13 one by one. Thereafter, the yarns Y are divided into two groups in the heat retaining box 20, and the two groups of the yarns Y go out from the heat retaining box 20 through the two yarn outlets 20b and 20c, respectively.

[0038] Now, among the yarns Y, a yarn Y1 (a first yarn of the present invention) spun out from the left spinneret 7a in FIG. 1 will be described. To begin with, the yarn Y1 introduced into the heat retaining box 20 through the yarn inlet 20a is wound onto the front parts of the three preheating rollers 11 to 13, and are preliminarily heated to the drawable temperature by the lower three preheating rollers 11 to 13. The preliminarily-heated yarn Y1 is then wound onto the upper two first drawing rollers 14 and 15. At this stage, the yarn Y1 is drawn by the difference in the yarn feeding speed between the preheating roller 13 and the first drawing roller 14. The yarn Y1 is heated to a higher temperature while being fed by the upper two first drawing rollers 14 and 15, with the result that the drawn state is thermally set. The thermally-set yarn Y1 goes out from the heat retaining box 20 through the first yarn outlet 20b.

[0039] Now, a yarn Y2 (a second yarn of the present invention) spun out from the right spinneret 7b in FIG. 1 will be described. The yarn Y2 introduced into the heat retaining box 20 through the yarn inlet 20a is wound onto the back parts of the three preheating rollers 11 to 13, and is preliminarily heated to a drawable temperature by the preheating rollers 11 to 13. Until this stage, the yarn Y2 is treated in the same manner as the yarn Y1. However, the yarn Y2 is not wound onto the upper two first drawing rollers 14 and 15, and goes out from the heat retaining box 20 through the second yarn outlet 20c.

[0040] The yarn Y2 from the second yarn outlet 20c is wound onto the second drawing roller 16. At this stage, the yarn Y2 is drawn due to the difference in the yarn feeding speed between the preheating roller 13 and the second drawing roller 16. In this connection, the second drawing roller 16 is a non-heating roller not including a heater. For this reason, unlike the yarn Y1, the yarn Y2 drawn between the preheating roller 13 and the second drawing roller 16 is not thermally set after drawn. On this account, the two yarns Y1 and Y2 are different from each other in physical properties such as thermal shrinkage.

[0041] In regard to the thermal shrinkage, the yarn Y2 which is not thermally set after drawn has higher thermal shrinkage than the yarn Y1 which is thermally set. To put it differently, the thermally-set yarn Y1 is a low-shrinkage yarn with low thermal shrinkage, whereas the non-thermally-set yarn Y2 is a high-shrinkage yarn with high thermal shrinkage. The thermal shrinkage (boiling water shrinkage) of the yarn Y1 is, for example, 5 to 10%, whereas the thermal shrinkage of the yarn Y2 is, for example, 10 to 20%.

[0042] In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the yarn Y1 on the front side is wound at a winding angle of less than 360 degrees onto each of the three preheating rollers 11 to 13 and the two first drawing rollers 14 and 15. The yarn Y2 on the back side is wound at a winding angle of less than 360 degrees onto each of the three preheating rollers 11 to 13 and the second drawing roller 16. To put it differently, because each of the yarns Y1 and Y2 is wound onto each roller once at the maximum, yarn placement can be easily done. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, because the yarn Y2 runs on the back side whereas the yarn Y1 runs on the front side, the yarn placement of the yarn Y2 is performed first and then the yarn placement of the yarn Y1 is performed. The yarn Y1 may run on the back side whereas the yarn Y2 may run on the front side. In such a case, the yarn placement of the yarn Y1 is performed first.

[0043] When the winding angle on each roller is less than 360 degrees, the yarn paths of the yarn Y1 and Y2 after the yarns Y1 and Y2 are wound onto each roller are not deviated from the yarn paths before the yarns Y1 and Y2 are wound onto each roller, and hence the yarn Y1 and the yarn Y2 run side by side in the front-back direction. On this account, the yarn paths of the yarn Y1 and the yarn Y2 naturally converge when the yarn path of the yarn Y2 is shifted by slightly tilting the roller axial direction of the second drawing roller 16 relative to the front-back direction.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 1, the yarn Y1 coming from the heat retaining box 20 through the first yarn outlet 20b and the yarn Y2 coming through the second yarn outlet 20c and sent to the second drawing roller 16 are both wound onto the rollers 17 and 18.

[0045] On the downstream in the yarn running direction of the roller 18, the interlacing device 26 (a combining section of the present invention) configured to interlace the two types of the yarns Y1 and Y2 is provided. A nonlimiting example of the interlacing device 26 is a device having an interlace nozzle which is configured to blow air in the direction orthogonal to the running direction of the yarns Y to interlace filaments. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the number of each of the yarns Y1 and the yarns Y2 is four, the interlacing device 26 has four interlace nozzles. In each interlace nozzle, one yarn Y1 and one yarn Y2 are inserted. In each nozzle, filaments constituting the two yarns Y1 and Y2 are interlaced by the airflow. With this arrangement, four combined yarns Ym are produced by the interlacing device 26. The combined yarns Ym produced by the interlacing device 26 are sent to the winding device 4 by the roller 19, and are wound onto the respective bobbins 23 by the winding device 4.

[0046] In the explanations above, the yarn feeding speeds of the rollers including the preheating rollers 11 to 13, the first drawing rollers 14 and 15, and the second drawing roller 16 and the temperatures of the heaters 30 in the five heating rollers 11 to 15 are set by an operator through the setting unit 25. Based on the yarn feeding speeds and the temperatures set through the setting unit 25, the controller 5 controls the rotation speeds of the motors driving the rollers and the heating temperatures of the heaters 30.

[0047] In the present embodiment, among the yarns Y spun out from the spinning apparatus 2, the yarn Y1 is thermally set after drawn whereas the yarn Y2 is not thermally set after drawn, so that two types of yarns Y1 and Y2 which are different in physical properties are produced. Then processes are serially performed until the two types of the yarns Y1 and Y2 are combined. In this way, because the processes from the spinning to the production of the combined yarn Ym are serially performed, labor and cost are significantly reduced as compared to known arrangements.

[0048] The second drawing roller 16 on which the yarn Y2 is wound is not a roller which heats and thermally sets a yarn. On this account, the contact length of the yarn Y2 on the roller is not required to be long. The second drawing roller 16 is therefore only required to be a roller which is large enough to obtain gripping force with which the yarn Y2 is not slipped, and can be shorter in diameter than the first drawing rollers 14 and 15. As compared to known apparatuses, the second drawing roller 16 is additionally provided in the spun yarn take-up apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. The apparatus, however, is not very large as compared to the known apparatuses because the diameter of the second drawing roller 16 can be short.

[0049] The yarn Y1 which is thermally set at a high temperature is a rigid yarn as compared to the yarn Y2 which is not thermally set. Such a difference in the rigidity is one of reasons why the two types of the yarns Y1 and Y2 are not easily interlaced at the interlacing device 26. In this regard, in the present embodiment, because the yarn feeding speeds V4 and V5 of the first drawing rollers 14 and 15 are higher than the yarn feeding speed V6 of the second drawing roller 16, the yarns Y1 and Y2 are different in the yarn tension at the time of the combination, and the tension of the yarn Y1 is lower than the tension of the yarn Y2. With this, the rigid yarn Y1 becomes easily bendable, and the interlacing of the two types of the yarns Y1 and Y 2 in the interlacing device 26 is facilitated. In this regard, the difference in the yarn tension between the two types of the yarns Y1 and Y2 at the time of the combination is preferably not excessively large. On this account, the difference in the speed between the first drawing rollers 14 and 15 and the second drawing roller 16 is preferably 0.25% to 2.5% of the yarn feeding speeds V4 and V5 of the first drawing rollers 14 and 15.

[0050] The spun yarn take-up apparatus of the present embodiment can be used not only for producing the combined yarn Ym by combining the two types of the yarns Y1 and Y2 but also for producing only one type of yarns. For example, all of the yarns Y spun out from the spinnerets 7 of the spinning apparatus 2 are wound onto the two first drawing rollers 14 and 15, and no yarn Y is wound onto the second drawing roller 16. With this, all of the yarns Y are thermally set after drawn, so that only the yarns with low thermal shrinkage are produced. On the contrary, when all of the yarns Y spun out from the spinnerets 7 are wound onto the second drawing roller 16 and all of the yarns Y are not thermally set after drawn, only yarns with high thermal shrinkage are produced.

[0051] Now, various modifications of the embodiment above will be described. The members identical with those in the embodiment above will be denoted by the same reference numerals and the explanations thereof are not repeated.

[0052] 1] Between the yarn Y1 which is a low-shrinkage yarn and the yarn Y2 which is a high-shrinkage yarn, the yarn thickness (e.g., thickness of each filament and/or the number of filaments) may be different. When a wound combined yarn Ym is thermally treated in a later process, the yarn Y1 which is a low-shrinkage yarn is on the outer side and functions as a sheath yarn, whereas the yarn Y2 which is a high-shrinkage yarn is on the inner side and functions as a core yarn. On this account, when, for example, the yarn Y1 which functions as the sheath yarn is narrow whereas the yarn Y2 which functions as the core yarn is thick, a yarn which is tense and stiff but is gentle in touch is obtained, and such an arrangement is preferred in terms of the texture. To differentiate the yarn Y1 from the yarn Y2 in thickness, the arrangements (the size of holes spinning out filaments or the number of the holes) of the spinnerets 7 producing the respective yarns are differentiated, or the amounts of discharged polymer are differentiated.

[0053] 2] While in the embodiment above the second drawing roller 16 on which the yarn Y2 is wound is a non-heating roller not including a heater, the second drawing roller 16 may be a heating roller including a heater 31 as shown in FIG. 3. In such a case, the controller 5 controls the heater 31 so that the roller surface temperature of the second drawing roller 16 is lower than the roller surface temperatures of the first drawing rollers 14 and 15. With this arrangement, two types of yarns Y1 and Y2 which are different in thermal shrinkage are produced. Alternatively, the heater 31 of the second drawing roller 16 may be turned on or off by the controller 5 in consideration of the type of the yarn to be produced.

[0054] 3] As shown in FIG. 4, the separate roller 33 may be provided in the vicinity of the second drawing roller 16, and the yarn Y2 may be wound at least once between the second drawing roller 16 and the separate roller 33.

[0055] As described in the embodiment above, the second drawing roller 16 can be arranged to be shorter in diameter than the first drawing rollers 14 and 15 which thermally set the yarn Y1 after drawn. However, when the diameter of the second drawing roller 16 is short, the contact length with the yarn Y2 is short and the gripping force is low. In this regard, when the yarn Y2 is wound at least once between the second drawing roller 16 and the separate roller 33 as shown in FIG. 4, the contact length between the second drawing roller 16 and the yarn Y2 is long and the gripping force is increased, with the result that the yarn Y2 is less likely to slip. Because a main objective of this arrangement is to increase the gripping force, the number of times of the winding of the yarn Y2 is not required to be large, and once or twice is sufficient.

[0056] In addition to the above, as described in the embodiment above, the yarn Y1 before wound onto the first drawing rollers 14 and 15 and the yarn Y2 before wound onto the second drawing roller 16 run side by side in the front-back direction (see FIG. 2). The yarn Y1 on the front side is wound onto the winding angle of less than 360 degrees onto the first drawing rollers 14 and 15, and hence the yarn path of the yarn Y1 after wound onto the first drawing rollers 14 and 15 is not shifted from the yarn path of the yarn Y1 before wound onto the first drawing rollers 14 and 15. In the meanwhile, the yarn Y2 on the back side is wound at least once between the second drawing roller 16 and the separate roller 33, and hence the yarn path of the yarn Y2 after wound onto the second drawing roller 16 is shifted frontward as compared to the yarn path of the yarn Y2 before wound onto the second drawing roller 16. This makes it possible to cause the yarn path of the yarn Y1 fed by the first drawing rollers 14 and 15 and the yarn path of the yarn Y2 fed by the second drawing roller 16 to converge, before the combination by the interlacing device 26.

[0057] To be more specific, as the yarn Y2 is wound once onto the second drawing roller 16 and the separate roller 33, the yarn paths of the yarn Y1 and the yarn Y2 are converged. When the yarn Y2 is wound twice, the yarn path of the yarn Y2 is shifted in the direction away from the yarn Y1. The amount of the shifting, however, is small, and hence it is not difficult to cause the yarn path of the yarn Y2 and the yarn path of the yarn Y1 to be converged. When the yarn Y2 is wound more than twice, it becomes difficult to cause the yarn paths to be converged because of a large amount of the shifting from the yarn path of the yarn Y1. For this reason, the yarn paths of the yarn Y1 and the yarn Y2 are easily converged when the yarn Y2 is wound once or twice. Conversely, the diameter of the second drawing roller 16 may be determined so that required gripping force is obtained with the winding of the yarn Y2 once or twice. In FIG. 4, the yarn placement of the yarn Y2 on the back side is performed first, and the yarn Y2 is wound once or twice onto each of the second drawing roller 16 and the separate roller 33, from the back side to the front side. Thereafter, the yarn Y1 on the front side is placed.

[0058] 4] In the embodiment above, the yarn feed rollers (preheating rollers 11 to 13) feeding the yarns Y (both of the yarn Y1 and the yarn Y2) spun out from the spinning apparatus 2 are heating rollers. Alternatively, these yarn feed rollers may be non-heating rollers. For example, when the fiber material is nylon, preliminary heating before the drawing tends to be unnecessary because of the low glass transition temperature (about 40 to 50 degrees centigrade). In such cases, the yarn feed rollers may be non-heating rollers.

[0059] 5] The numbers of the rollers and the layout of the rollers may be suitably changed.

[0060] (1) As shown in FIG. 5(a), the second drawing roller 16 may be provided to the right of the roller 17. With this arrangement, the winding angle of the yarn Y2 on the second drawing roller 16 is large and hence the gripping force is increased. In addition to the above, in, for example, FIG. 1, the second drawing roller 16 is provided in a space between the yarn path from the spinnerets 7 to the roller 10 and the yarn path between the roller 17 and the roller 18. This space, however, is small in reality, and hence yarn placement is not easy and must be carefully done. In this connection, such a problem does not occur in FIG. 5(a), because the second drawing roller 16 is provided in a space to the right of the yarn path between the roller 17 and the roller 18.

[0061] In addition to the above, as shown in FIG. 5(b), the yarn Y2 sent by the second drawing roller 16 may be directly sent to the roller 18 without being wound onto the roller 17. In addition to the above, as shown in FIG. 5(c), the yarn Y2 may be directly sent to the roller 18 without being wound onto the roller 17 in the same manner as in FIG. 5(b), and may be wound at least once between the second drawing roller 16 and the separate roller 33.

[0062] (2) A spun yarn take-up apparatus 61 shown in FIG. 6 includes two preheating rollers 41 and 42 and two first drawing rollers 43 and 44 which are housed in a heat retaining box 40, and a second drawing roller 45 provided outside the heat retaining box 40.

[0063] The two preheating rollers 41 and 42 are provided in an upper space in the heat retaining box 40, whereas the two first drawing rollers 43 and 44 are provided in a lower space in the heat retaining box 40. These four rollers 41 to 44 are heating rollers each including a heater 50. In the meanwhile, the second drawing roller 45 is a non-heating roller not including a heater, and is provided below the heat retaining box 40.

[0064] The controller 5 controls the motors (not illustrated) and the heaters 50 for the two preheating rollers 41 and 42 and the two first drawing rollers 43 and 44 in the heat retaining box 40, respectively. The yarn feeding speeds V3 and V4 of the two first drawing rollers 43 and 44 are arranged to be higher than the yarn feeding speeds V1 and V2 of the two preheating rollers 41 and 42. The roller surface temperatures T3 and T4 of the two first drawing rollers 43 and 44 are arranged to be higher than the roller surface temperatures T1 and T2 of the two preheating rollers 41 and 42.

[0065] In addition to the above, the controller 5 controls the motor of the second drawing roller 45. The yarn feeding speed V5 of the second drawing roller 45 is arranged to be higher than the yarn feeding speeds V1 and V2 of the preheating rollers 41 and 42. Because the second drawing roller 45 is a non-heating roller, the roller surface temperature T5 of the second drawing roller 45 is lower than the roller surface temperatures T3 and T4 of the two first drawing rollers 43 and 44.

[0066] The yarns Y spun out from the spinning apparatus 2 are introduced into the heat retaining box 40 through the yarn inlet 40a. The yarn Y1 among the yarns Y is, to begin with, wound onto the two preheating rollers 41 and 42, and is preliminarily heated to a drawable temperature while being fed by the two preheating rollers 41 and 42. The yarn Y1 is then wound onto the two first drawing rollers 43 and 44. The yarn Y1 is drawn between the rollers 42 and 43 which are different in the yarn feeding speed, and is thermally set by being heated to a high temperature by the two first drawing rollers 43 and 44. Thereafter, the yarn Y1 goes out from the heat retaining box 40 through the first yarn outlet 40b and is wound onto the roller 47.

[0067] In the meanwhile, the yarn Y2 among the yarns is wound onto the two preheating rollers 41 and 42 and is preliminarily heated to a drawable temperature while being fed by the two preheating rollers 41 and 42. The yarn Y2 then goes out from the heat retaining box 40 through the second yarn outlet 40c and is wound onto the second drawing roller 45. The yarn Y2 is drawn between the rollers 42 and 45 which are different in the yarn feeding speed. The second drawing roller 45, however, is a non-heating roller, and hence the yarn Y2 is not thermally set after drawn. Thereafter, the yarn Y2 is fed by the rollers 46 and 47, and the yarn Y2 and the yarn Y1 are combined by the interlacing device 49 provided between the rollers 47 and 48. A combined yarn Ym produced by the combination is wound by the winding device 4.

[0068] (3) In the arrangement shown in FIG. 6, modifications similar to those in the arrangement above shown in FIG. 4 may be done. That is to say, as shown in FIG. 7, the separate roller 51 may be provided in the vicinity of the second drawing roller 45 and the yarn Y2 may be wound at least once between the second drawing roller 45 and the separate roller 51. In the arrangement shown in FIG. 7 in which the yarn Y2 is wound at least once onto the second drawing roller 45, the roller 46 shown in FIG. 6 may be omitted.

Claims

1. A combined yarn producing device comprising:

a yarn feed roller configured to feed yarns spun out from a spinning apparatus;

a first drawing roller on which a first yarn among the yarns fed from the yarn feed roller is wound, the first drawing roller being configured to be higher in yarn feeding speed than the yarn feed roller and to heat and feed the first yarn drawn between the yarn feed roller and the first drawing roller;

a second drawing roller on which a second yarn among the yarns fed from the yarn feed roller is wound, the second drawing roller being configured to be higher in yarn feeding speed than the yarn feed roller, to be lower in roller surface temperature than the first drawing roller, and to feed the second yarn drawn between the yarn feed roller and the second drawing roller; and

a combining section configured to combine the first yarn fed from the first drawing roller and the second yarn fed from the second drawing roller.

2. The combined yarn producing device according to claim 1, wherein,
the first drawing roller is a heating roller heating the first yarn wound onto a surface of the heating roller, and
the second drawing roller is a non-heating roller not heating the second yarn wound onto a surface of the non-heating roller.

3. The combined yarn producing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, the yarn feeding speed of the first drawing roller is higher than the yarn feeding speed of the second drawing roller.

4. The combined yarn producing device according to claim 3, wherein, a difference between the yarn feeding speed of the first drawing roller and the yarn feeding speed of the second drawing roller falls within the range of 0.25% to 2.5% of the yarn feeding speed of the first drawing roller.

5. The combined yarn producing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein,
the first yarn is wound onto the first drawing roller at a winding angle of less than 360 degrees, and
the second yarn is wound onto the second drawing roller at a winding angle of less than 360 degrees.

6. The combined yarn producing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein,
the first drawing roller and the second drawing roller extend in a predetermined direction,
the first yarn before wound onto the first drawing roller and the second yarn before wound onto the second drawing roller run side by side in the predetermined direction,
the first yarn is wound onto the first drawing roller at a winding angle of less than 360 degrees,
a separate roller is provided in the vicinity of the second drawing roller, and
the second yarn is wound at least once between the second drawing roller and the separate roller.

Drawing