DRAWING GRIPPER FOR LOOMS

Abstract: In a drawing gripper for shuttleless looms, of the type comprising a fixed member (1) with a hook end (2) and a mobile oscillating element (3), the end of which cooperates with said hook in order to retain the weft yarn, said hook extends in a vertical plane and opens downwards. A vertical fin (6) is also provided on the fixed member to act as a yarn protection element.

Description: 'DRAWING ZIPPER FOR LOOt1S" p o=o*o= This invention relates to a drawing gripper for shuttleless looms, designed to prevent or limit to a minimum those cases in which the gripper it self fails to grip the eft yarn at the moment of exchanging said yarn with the carrying gripper at the centre of the shed. The passage of the eft yarn from the carrying gripper to the drai ing gripper at the shed centre is Isnon to be extremely delicate and difficult in all shuttleless looms, because of the insufficiently precise mutual positioning of said grippers at the moment in which the yarn exchange takes place, especially at the increasingly high weaving speeds now in use. The various guide systems which have been studied and adopted so far, on the one hand do not give decisive results and, on the other hand, they form a considerable bulk at the shed centre and cause various inconveniences in the loom operation. The present invention provides a drawing gripper which, by virtue of its clever configuration - deriving besides from careful considerations as to the mechanics of the yarn exchange at the shed centre - provides an extremely satisfactory solution to the examined problem. This gripper, of the type comprising a fixed member with a hook end and a mobile oscillating element the end of which cooperates with said hook in order to retain the yarn, is characterized in that the hook at the end of the fixed member is disposed in a vertical plane and opens downwards. The invention is described hereinafter, in greater detail, by eay of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which represents a preferred embodiment of the drawing gripper according to the invention, and in which: Figure 1 is an overall perspective view of the gripper according to the invention; Figure 2 is a detailed side view of the hook end of the gripper of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a side view of the thole end of the gripper. With reference to the drawings, it can be seen that the drawing gripper according to the invention comprises a fixed member 1 with a hook end 2 and a mobile element 3 mounted oscillating about 4 on the memeber 1 and designed to cooperate in Icnown manner with the inner part of the hook of the end 2 in order to retain the weft yarn. According to the invention, the hook 5 of the illustrated gripper is disposed in a vertical plane and opens downwards, i.e. towards the sliding plane of the gripper and of the straps which control its movements, as clearly shown in the figures of the drawing and particularly in Figure 2. This arrangement of the hook 5 is combined, in the gripper according to the invention, with a special structure for protecting the warp yarns, constituted by a simple vertical fin 6 projecting from the member 1 carrying the hook 5, and disposed to the side of this latter. The downwardly open hook arrangement, adopted by the present invention, results from the fact that most of the inconveniences occuring at the moment of eft 3arn exchange between the carrying gripper and the drawing gripper, are determined by the rotation movements of the carrying gripper about its longitudinal axis such as to lift the side thereof close to the reed, these movements causing a lifting of that portion of weft yarn which has to be gripped by the drawing gripper. It is precisely under such conditions that the upwardly open hooks of conventional grippers, which lie below the weft yarn in order to grip it, are unable to grip said yarn which, if being lifted, tends to escape from the hook. Whereas, with the downwardly open hook arrangement according to the present invention, the grip is always reliable and immediate, because the weft yarn is gripped when the hook is above it, whereby any lifting of the yarn will not determine its escape. Furthermore, the vertical fin 6 for protecting the wXarp yarns forms a very efficient obstacle against any penetration of warp yarns towards the hook 5 and simultaneously reduces the overall vertical size of the gripper. It is understood that there may be other embodiments of the drawing gripper, differing from the one heretofore described and illustrated, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims: CLADIS 1) A drawing gripper for shuttleless looms, of the type comprising a fixed member with a hook end and a mobile oscillating element the end of which cooperates with said hook in order to retain the yarn, characterized in that the hoole at the end of said fixed member is disposed in a vertical plane and opens downwards. 2) A drawing gripper as in claim 1, wherein a vertical fin projecting from the fixed member and disposed to the side of said hook is provided to protect the warp yarns.

Inventors: PEZZOLI, NELLO
Applicants: VAMATEX S.P.A.
Application year: 1982
Main classification: D03D47
IPC codes: D03D47