Method and apparatus for feeding fiber material to a plurality of fiber processing machines

A method of selectively supplying fiber material from an output of a fiber bale opener to a plurality of fiber processing lines each formed of a series of fiber processing machines, includes the steps of removing fiber by the bale opener sequentially from bales of different fiber types; supplying predetermined fiber processing lines with predetermined types of fiber by the bale opener; sensing a fiber quantity requirement of the fiber processing line while being supplied with fiber by the bale opener while the latter simultaneously performs fiber removal from the bales of a predetermined fiber type; interrupting the fiber removal at that location of the bale opener where it is situated when the fiber processing line then supplied with fiber, signals satisfaction of fiber requirement; and resuming fiber removal of the predetermined fiber type at the mentioned location upon a signal for fiber requirement by the fiber processing line supplied at the time of interruption.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for supplying fiber 
material to a plurality of fiber processing machines, such as fiber 
storing devices, fiber cleaners, mixers and the like. A fiber bale opener 
removes fiber tufts from a plurality of fiber bales having at least two 
types of fibers. Predetermined partial quantities of the individual fiber 
types are successively taken from the fiber bales and are admitted to the 
associated fiber processing machines. 
In a known process for operating a bale opener for fiber bales containing 
cotton fiber or chemical fiber or fiber waste and the like, a travelling 
fiber bale opener is used which has a carriage carrying a tower, which in 
turn, supports a horizontally projecting cantilever accommodating an 
opening device comprising, for example, a rapidly rotating toothed opening 
roller. The bale opener travels along the fiber bales and the opening 
device removes fiber tufts from the bale top. Frequently, different fiber 
types are processed and, for this purpose, two or more fiber bale groups, 
each comprising one or more fiber bales are positioned in a series. The 
bales within one group consist of one type of fiber material. Between the 
fiber bale groups there is provided an intermediate space which is void of 
fiber material. A separate fiber processing line, each formed of a 
plurality of serially arranged fiber processing machines is provided for 
each type of fiber material and is operatively connected with the bale 
opener. The fiber processing lines have, as a rule, different input 
requirements, or the fiber processing machines have a different storing 
capacity. Such fiber processing lines may involve the problem that they 
cannot take up excess fiber material from the bale opener beyond a certain 
limit. If, for example, in the processing of cotton A and chemical fibers 
B the two processing lines connected downstream of the bale opener require 
fiber material, first fiber material is removed from the fiber bale group 
A (in one pass of the bale opener) and thereafter fiber material from the 
group B is taken (during one pass) and thereafter again the group A is 
worked on. After a predetermined period, the material requirement of the 
fiber processing machines is satisfied. Dependent upon where the opening 
device is momentarily situated with respect to the bale series (that is, 
at the beginning, at the middle or at the end) there will be a continued 
delivery of some material amount since in the prior art arrangements the 
bale opener has to complete its pass once it has begun. On occasion, in an 
unfavorable case, when the opening device has just started a pass and no 
more fiber is needed, fiber material of the entire pass will still be 
delivered. The bale opener cannot discontinue fiber tuft removal from the 
bales in the course of the pass because otherwise steps would appear in 
the upper face of the fiber bales. Such step formations must be avoided 
for technological reasons. Thus, the fiber processing machines would need 
an excessively large material storing device which is capable of absorbing 
fiber material resulting from a complete pass. This circumstance, however, 
would, because of the need of undesired modifications, prevent the use of 
existing fiber processing machines in the above-described environment. 
Further, in case of a disproportionate bale arrangement, such as 
excessively large or excessively small quantities of one fiber type, may 
result in the disadvantage that the processing machines associated with 
the fiber type of small quantity is supplied only with an insufficient 
amount of fiber material. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved method and 
apparatus of the above-outlined type from which the discussed 
disadvantages are eliminated and which, in particular, makes possible the 
feeding of fiber material corresponding to the material requirement of the 
after-connected fiber processing machines and further, no steps are formed 
in the bale surface. 
These objects and others to become apparent as the specification 
progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly 
stated, the fiber tuft removal from a bale group having a particular fiber 
type is immediately discontinued at any location along the bale group as 
soon as the material requirement of the associated fiber processing 
machine is satisfied and further, in case of a renewed requirement for 
fiber material of the same type, the opening device resumes operation at 
the same location where the previous opening process for that fiber type 
has been discontinued. 
It is thus an important feature of the invention that the opening process, 
that is, the removal of fiber tufts from the fiber bales is immediately 
discontinued as soon as the requirement of the associated fiber processing 
apparatus is satisfied. In this manner it is avoided that excess fiber 
material is produced which cannot be stored or, in case of a continuous 
operation, cannot be processed. The opening operation is discontinued at 
any location of the fiber bale series. It is further of importance that 
the fiber tuft removal is resumed--if that type of fiber is again 
required--at the same location after fiber material of another type has 
been removed from another bale series to supply, in the meantime, another 
fiber processing machine. In this manner, only required quantities are 
supplied without, however, forming step-like surfaces in the top of the 
fiber bales. 
According to a further feature of the invention, the fiber removal process 
is discontinued only after a delay of, for example, three to five seconds. 
In this manner, an interruption of the material feed is effected with a 
time delay, that is, the information that fiber material is needed is 
processed only when the need persists for a predetermined period. In this 
manner, a short-period transitional actuation of the measuring device will 
not cause an interruption of the fiber removal process. Expediently, the 
fiber removing process is performed until the end of a bale group (one 
type of fiber material) in case the fiber opening device of the bale 
opener has exceeded a predetermined short distance from the end of the 
bale series. In this manner, no interruption in the fiber removal process 
will take place if the bale opener is situated at a presettable short 
distance from the end of the respective fiber bale group. This arrangement 
prevents a resumption of the fiber removing process in case of negligibly 
small remnants of the fiber bale top. 
The apparatus for performing the method according to the invention has 
measuring devices which determine the fiber quantities in the fiber 
processing machines and which are connected to a control device which 
controls the opening process. For determining the horizontal position of 
the carriage or the tower and for determining the vertical position of the 
opening device, the apparatus has separate measuring devices which are 
connected with the control device. In this manner, all motions in the 
working direction of the opening device (X-axis and Y-axis) are sensed by 
a measuring device. Further, the control device has a computer which is 
connected with the measuring devices and a memory and receives, by means 
of an interface, information concerning fiber material requirements by the 
fiber processing machines. If, during a pass no more material is required 
(for example, from the bale group A), the bale opener stops and the 
computer requests data of the X and Y position from the measuring devices 
and causes the received information to be stored. Thereafter, the opening 
device of the bale opener is raised off the bale surface and the bale 
opener travels to another bale group, for example, to bale group B from 
which fiber material is required by another fiber processing machine. If, 
at a later period, again material is needed to be removed from the bale 
group A, the bale opener travels to the position at which the earlier 
removal from group A has been interrupted, the opening device is lowered 
onto the bale of group A according to the stored height information and 
the fiber removing process is resumed. 
According to a further feature of the invention, the carriage or the tower 
of the bale opener is provided with a sensor which responds to a 
stationary marking element. Expediently, the drive for the height 
adjustment of the opening device is associated with a counter. Preferably, 
the control device is connected with a buffered memory to prevent loss of 
information from the memory in case of discontinuing the operating voltage 
of the bale opener.

DESCRIPTlON OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Turning to FIG. 1, the fiber processing system shown therein comprises a 
fiber bale opener which is generally designated at 1 and which may be a 
"BLENDOMAT" model, manufactured by Trutzschler GmbH & Co. KG, 
Monchengladbach, Federal Republic of Germany. The bale opener 1 removes 
fiber tufts from the top of fiber bale groups 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b. It is 
assumed that groups 2a, 3a consist of bales of the fiber type A, while 
groups 2b, 3b consist of bales of the fiber type B. The bale opener 1 has 
a tower 4 which is mounted on a carriage 5 for rotation about a vertical 
axis and the carriage is provided with wheels for a back-and-forth travel. 
The tower 4 supports a cantilever 7 which, as shown in FIG. 2, houses the 
opening device proper, designated generally at 7'. The cantilever 7, 
together with the opening device 7' is movable relative to the tower 4 in 
a vertical direction as indicated by a double-headed arrow Y. The opening 
device 7' comprises a rapidly rotating toothed opening roller 9 which 
removes fiber tufts from the upper face of the fiber bales. Underneath the 
tower 4 there extends a duct 8 for receiving and pneumatically 
transporting the removed fiber tufts. The duct 8 is adjoined by a conduit 
10 which branches into two conduits 10a and 10b. At the branch-off 
location a routing gate 11 is located. The conduit 10a leads to a fiber 
storing device 12 for the fiber type A while the conduit 10b leads to a 
fiber storing device 13 for the fiber type B. With each fiber storing 
device 12 and 13 there are associated fiber processing machines (not 
shown) such as mixers, openers, cleaners, tuft feeding chutes and carding 
machines. 
In operation, the carriage 5, together with the tower 4 travels 
back-and-forth along free-standing fiber bale groups as indicated by the 
double-headed arrow X. The gate 11 is set to direct fiber from the conduit 
10 to the conduit 10a. First, the bale opening device 7' travels from the 
beginning A1 to the end E1 of the bale series 2a. The removed fiber tufts 
of the type A are conveyed through the duct 8 and the conduits 10 and 10a 
to the storing device 12. As soon as no more fiber A is needed by the 
storing device 12, the opening process performed on the fiber material A 
of the bale series 2a is immediately suspended at the location where the 
cantilever 7 is momentarily situated. Thereafter, the bale opener travels 
to the bale series 2b, so that the cantilever 7 is positioned on the bale 
top of the group 2b and the fiber removing operation continues there. The 
gate 11 is switched to direct fiber from the conduit 10 to the conduit 
10b. The removed fiber tufts of the fiber type B are advanced through the 
duct 8 and the conduits 10 and 10b to the material storing device 13. As 
soon as the material storing device 13 needs no more fiber material of the 
type B, the removal of fiber tufts of the fiber type B from the bale 
series 2b is immediately interrupted at the location where the cantilever 
7 is momentarily situated. Thereafter, the opening device 7' is moved 
again to the bale series 2a where it will continue the opening process at 
the location where the previous opening process that removed fiber A was 
interrupted. Upon fully consuming the bale series 2a and 2b, the tower 4 
and the cantilever 7, together with the opening device 7' are rotated 
through an angle of 180.degree. about a vertical axis. In this manner, the 
opening device 7' will be positioned at the beginning A2 of the bale 
series 3b. From that position, the opening process of the bale series 3b 
and 3a in the direction E2 begins in a manner described in connection with 
the bale series 2a and 2b. 
Turning now to FIG. 3, the measuring devices 14 and 15 which determine the 
fiber material needs for the fiber types A and B, and which may be 
photocells installed in the material storing devices 12 and 13 are 
connected by means of an interface 16 with a control device 17 such as a 
microcomputer equipped with a microprocessor. The control device 17 may be 
a TMS Model with a Rockwell 6502 microprocessor, manufactured by 
Trutzschler GmbH & Co. KG, Monchengladbach, Federal Republic of Germany. 
Further, the measuring device 18 for determining the position (X-axis) of 
the carriage 5 is connected by means of an interface 19 and the measuring 
device 20 for determining the position (Y-axis) of the cantilever 7 is 
connected by means of an interface 21 with the control device 17, which, 
in turn, is connected to a memory 22. 
For determining the position of the bale opener along the X-axis, on the 
carriage 5 a sensor 23 is mounted which responds to a marking element 24, 
such as an apertured strip, mounted on the duct 8. For determining the 
height position (Y-axis) of the cantilever 7, with a drive 25, such as a 
drive motor for the raising and lowering of the cantilever 7, there is 
associated a counter 25' which may comprise a photocell with an apertured 
disc. If, during one pass over the bale series 2a no more fiber material 
of the type A is required, the bale opener stops upon command from the 
control device 17, based on a "full" report from the measuring device 14. 
Thereupon the control device 17 asks the location of the bale opener (X 
and Y positions) from the measuring device 18 (connected with the sensor 
23) and the measuring device 20 (connected with the counter 25'). 
Thereafter, the control device 17 stores the obtained information in the 
memory 22, and subsequently, controlled by the control device 17, the 
opening device 7' is lifted off the top face of the fiber bales and the 
carriage 5 is moved to the bale series 2b from which fiber material of the 
type B is obtained. If, at a later time, fiber material of the fiber type 
A is again needed, the carriage 5 moves to that location of the bale 
series 2a where precedingly the opening process was interrupted, lowers 
the cantilever 7 to the height earlier determined and stored in the memory 
22 and resumes the fiber opening process. 
It is noted that by fiber material there is meant such substance in its 
broadest sense and it may, apart from the pure fiber, contain impurities 
such as fiber waste. Fiber type, as the term is used here, designates the 
kind of fiber such as cotton, chemical fiber or the like. 
It will be understood that the above description of the present invention 
is susceptible to various modifications, changes and adaptations, and the 
same are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of 
equivalents of the appended claims.