DEVICE FOR FEEDING VARIOUS TYPES OF PIRNS TO AN AUTOMATIC CONER MACHINE

Abstract: Process and device for conveying and feeding different types of pirns to an automatic coner machine equipped with a plurality of winding units closely approached side-by-side to each other. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for the closed-loop continuous conveyance, equipped with discriminator means suitable for simultaneously feeding different types of pirns along the whole winding front. This latter results to be subdivided into a plurality of sectors prearranged for taking up threads different in count, colour or composition. Said device comprises a plurality of conveyor trays driven by a belt, or by a similar element, onto which they are fastened. Each tray, which is given a suitable shape for housing spinning pirns of various sizes, is equipped with a mechanical detector of striker-element type which indicates, with its position, the type of thread wound on the transported pirn.

Description: The present invention relates to a device for feeding types of pirns different in thread count, colour or composition to a plurality of winding stations, according to the preamble of claim 1. Pirns, which are formed by a spinning frame, in particular a ring spinning frame, are subsequently unwound, and the thread is rewound on rigid cones, to produce cones having suitable shape and dimensions for the following processing steps, such as: knitting, loom feeding, warping, dyeing, or the like. An automatic coner machine prearranged for the rewinding operation shows a working front constituted by a considerable number of winding stations positioned closely approached side-by-side to each other. The thread drawn from a full pirn in feeding step, and fed to a corresponding winding stations is wound in cross-turns mode on a cone made revolve at a high speed by a drive drum, and during such transfer, possible faulty portions of the thread are removed. When all of the thread of the pirn has been wound on the cone, a subsequent pirn is fed again, and the end of the thread on the cone side, as well as the thread end on the side of the new pirn are knotted to each other, to continue the winding operation, so that a cone is formed, which is completely filled with threads coming from a large number of pirns filled with the same thread type. On such an automatic coner machine, the whole winding front normally winds one type of thread. Thus, in this case, only one type of pirn is used, and the pirns, belonging to one single thread batch, can be randomly red, without any need for establishing a whatsoever relationship between the winding stations and the pirns to be fed to them. However, when different thread types are wound up by an individual winding front of the individual automatic coner machine, specific threads have to be respectively fed to specific winding stations, without mixing the fed pirns. In this case, coner machines are provided, each taking up more thread types. This makes it possible to optimize the usage rate of the winding stations, with said winding stations being advantageously grouped in sectors, whose extensions are related to the amounts, and to the characteristics of the individual thread batches which are simultaneously processed. It is advantageous as well to be able to operate by taking up two different thread types at the batch-end-change time. For example, for a long time, coner machines have been known in the art, which are equipped with a set of frontally predisposed storage units, a storage unit per each winding station, to contain the pirns which must be processed. The filling of the storage units is carried out by an attending workman. In order to eliminate such a manual operation, arrangements have already become known, wherein the pirns are fed and charged to the storage units by means of a conveyor tape. From said storage units, the pirns are transferred to the winding stations. Conveyance arrangements are also known, wherein the pirns are received inside trays fastened onto a conveyor belt which runs along a closed-loop path, along the whole working front. In some structural solutions, the working front of an individual automatic coner machine usually winds one thread type. Thus, in this case, only one type of pirn is fed to the individual coner machine, which can take up, on all of its winding positions, one type of pirn thread each time. In order to re-wind a plurality of pirn thread types, which are different in count, colour or composition, a plurality of coner machines have to be used, wherein each of said coner machines winds one thread type, or, when on an individual coner machine a plurality of thread pirn types have to be wound, a different thread type will be wound after the end of the winding of a particular, previously fed thread type. In other words, said above described systems are not suitable for simultaneously supplying and feeding different types of threads, which are generally in the form of small-size batches, along an individual winding front. On the other hand, it is also known, in some structural solutions, and, e.g., from JP - A - 143,565/83, to equip an automatic coner machine with conveyance routes which occupy a rather large surface area of the floor adjacent the coner machine. In such a structural solution, the conveyance routes extend on a floor surface area which is often larger than the surface area of the base of the same coner machine. Furthermore, such a solution is also disadvantageous from the view point of the increase in complexity of the base structure which becomes, due to its location at the floor level, an area wherein the building up occurs of dust, large amounts of which are always present in a textile factory. The build-up of dust causes the damaging to start of the drive mechanisms moving the pirn-holder plates and of the various running components of the machinery, due to the effect of an excess of dirt which is generated by the continuous building-up of said dust. All the above is furthermore a factor which considerably increases the contamination of the threads of the pirns, which are moved without being protected by any protecting trays. From US-A-3 774 859 there is known a pirn feeding device of the type defined in the preamble of claim 1, wherein the mechanical element is provided with a cam element and is fixed on each tray in one of four different angular positions. The cam element is provided for engaging actuating pins associated to delivery tubes for the pirns arranged below the trays at each winding station. Said pins are arranged according to four different angular directions so that the pins are selectively engaged only by the cams which are arranged according to a corresponding angular direction and are associated to trays transporting the type of pirns specific for the winding unit to which the pins are associated. In this known device, therefore, each type of pirn must be housed in a specific tray, prearranged therefor. This means that the conveyor constantly conveys a fixed sequence of pirn types and when the various winding stations operate at different production rates, as is often the case, an oversupply of one type of pirn and an undersupply of another needed type of pirn may occur. This may result in a substantial production slowdown of the coner machine because needed types of pirns may become available only with more or less delay.On considering the above, as well as analogous drawbacks and disadvantages affecting the known solutions, the present invention aims at the purpose of providing a solution capable of overcoming such drawbacks by a device wherein an automatic coner machine can simultaneously take up a plurality of different thread types belonging to batches different in count, colour or composition, according to the actual requests of the individual winding stations without any fixed sequence of the types of pirns fed to the machine. This purpose is achieved by a device as claimed in claim 1. The present invention, therefore, substantially consists of a conveyor device equipped with conveyor trays, which are different from one another in the position on them of a witness element, having a lever shape, or a pin shape, or similar shapes, which certifies the type of thread taken up on the pirn carried by the tray. Each tray houses the individual pirn coming from the preparation station. Said preparation station makes it possible to search for, extract and position, in the desired form, the end of the thread contained on the pirns. These latter, after being prepared for undergoing the unwinding, are transferred into their respective housing trays, which are conveyed, in continuous, along the working front, to the winding stations. Incidentally, it is known in the art to prepare the thread end, e.g., on the top of the pirn tube, or inside the hole of the tube of the same pirn; the device, or the station, for the timed search for the end of the thread of the pirns, in order to prepare them for the subsequent unwinding is known as well, and also known are lever systems for transferring the pirns from said pirn end search station to a tray on a conveyor. The device of the invention in no way alters the operating system and the equipment pieces composing the automatic coner machine, so that the traditional winding machine will be not described, but only reference to those parts thereof, which concern and clarify the present invention, will be made, and precisely reference will be made to the continuous belt or chain conveyor system, on which the trays housing the pirns are fastened, as well as to the chutes along which said pirns move from up downwards by gravity, in order to prepare them on their corresponding receiving pins. Furthermore, the station for the search for, and the charging, of the pirns to be unwound, will not be described: it is in fact already per se known in many structural forms, and a detailed description thereof is not necessary. To the end of the present invention, it is important that such station for pirn searching for, and charging should be equipped with lever systems, also already known from the prior art, to carry out the transfer of the prepared pirns into the trays of the conveyor system which makes it possible to automatically feed the pirns to the winding stations. A valuable advantage of the device of the present invention is its suitability for being applied both on working fronts of already existing machines, and on working fronts of the machines under way of assemblage. Futhermore, in no way operators attending the device, which operates in a completely automatic way, are necessary. The preferred form of practical embodiment herein illustrated is neither binding nor limitative as to the mutual position of the components and as to the consequent simplifications which could derive from it; said solution is herein illustrated in order to exemplify the device of the present invention in its entirety, precisely resorting to a preferential form of practical embodiment. Figure 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of an automatic coner machine equipped with a device of the present invention; Figure 2 is an elevation sectional view of a device according to the present invention taken across the tray conveyor; Figure 3 is a top plan view of the device of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a sectional view similar to that of Figure 2, but showing the relationship between the pirn housing tray, in its open configuration, and a chute by means of which said pirn is fed to a receiver pin integral with a pirn carrier plate at a winding station. In the Figures, equal components, or components performing an equal or equivalent function are indicated by equal reference mumerals. In them : 1 is an automatic coner machine producing cross-wound pirns; 2 is a conveyance tray housing an individual pirn; 4A is an automatic charging device suitable for drawing the A type of pirns, stored in bulk, prearranging them, in lined-up and parallel positions, on a conveyor belt, to convey them to operating means, such as pirn-orienting means, and means suitable for finding out the end of the thread on the same pirns; 4B is an automatic charging device suitable for drawing the B type of pirns, stored in bulk, prearranging them, in lined-up and parallel positions, on a conveyor belt, to convey them to operating means, such as pirn-orienting means, and means suitable for finding out the end of the thread on the same pirns; 4C is an automatic charging device suitable for drawing the C type of pirns, stored in bulk, prearranging them, in lined-up and parallel positions, on a conveyor belt, to convey them to operating means, such as pirn-orienting means, and means suitable for finding out the end of the thread on the same pirns; 6A is a container wherein the A type of pirns are contained in bulk; 6B is a container wherein the B type of pirns are contained in bulk; 8 is a pirn preparation station wherein the pirn orientation and the search for the end of the thread on the pirns take place, and wherein said pirns are then prearranged inside the conveyance trays 2, with a running path indicated by the arrow 7; 10 is a belt conveyor which individually transfers the pirns running in the direction shown by the arrow 9, which indicates the running direction of the upper conveyance stretch; 12 is a belt conveyor which individually transfers the pirns of A type to the station 8; 14 is a belt conveyor which individually transfers the pirns of B type, consigning them to the conveyor belt 10; 16 generally indicates a spinning pirn of 16A or 16B or 16C type, prepared and conveyed to feed the automatic coner machine 1; 18A, 18B, 18C are machine sectors, each including a plurality of winding stations, forming a group taking up a different thread type; 22A, 22B, 22C are the winding stations respectively handling pirns of A, or B, or C type, which, closely approached side-by-side to each other along the whole working front of the automatic coner machine; 20A, 20B, 20C are the thread collecting cones respectively of A or B or C type, having sizes as established by the production process; 24 is a cover of protection of the conveyor device equipped with the conveyance trays; 26 is a tray-holding conveyor belt which revolves in the direction shown by the arrow 25 in front of the winding stations; 28 is a pirn-holder plate driven to intermittently revolve in order to catch a pirn at each winding station and to simultaneously eject the empty tube by means of a mechanical system not shown in greater detail, which is anyway per se known; 30 is a pirn-holder pin receiving the pirns; 32 is a guide chute guiding, with self-centering, the spinning pirn 16 on to the receiver pin 30; 34 is a rigid chute along which the pirn slides from up downwards by gravity, according to the arrow 35, and which is adjacent to the self-centering chute 32; 36 is a movable bottom plate of the conveyance tray 2; 38 is a hinge around which the movable bottom plate 36 of the conveyance tray 2 is pivotable; 40 is a guide for the conveyance trays; 42 is a counter-guide for the conveyance trays; 44 are fastening screws for fastening the conveyance trays 2 onto the conveyor belt 26; 46 are fastening screws which fasten the guides 40 onto the front structure of the automatic coner machine 1; 47 Generically indicates a mechanical discriminator element in form of an angled lever associated to each Tray 2; 48 is a support element for the discriminator element 47; 50 is a wing, having a suitable shape, which supports and stops the movable bottom plate 36 of the conveyance tray 2; 52 is a release arm mechanically operated by a striker element 72, which shifts from its locking position the wing 50, allowing the bottom plate 36 to pivot into the open position of the tray; 54 is a safety elastic spring-element, constituting a safety means in the action of mutual mechanical interference between the release arm 52 and the striker element 72 associated with each winding station; 56 is an arm of the discriminator element 47, whose pre-arranged position witnesses the type of thread wound on the pirn 16 housed inside the tray 2; 58 is a positioning ball of the discriminator element 47; 60 is an elastic pusher element acting on the positioning ball 58; 62 is a hollow partially housing the ball 58, to keep the discriminator element 47 in a pre-established position of a number of positions corresponding to the types of pirns handled by the device; 64A, 64B, 64C respectively indicate positions of a roller at the end of arm 56 of the discriminator element 47 according to the type of thread taken up on the transported pirn 16; 66 is a substantially horizontal hinge of the discriminator element 47; 68 is a substantially vertical hinge of the discriminator element 47; 70 are guide elements for the hinge 68; 72 is a mechanical striker element associated with the winding stations and cooperating in the discriminating action with the release arm 52. The positions 72A, 72B or 72C of the element 72 are determined by the type of thread, A or B or C, being taken up on the corresponding winding stations. The operation of the device of the present invention is as follows. The containers inside which the pirns of A type, of B type or of C type are stored in bulk, feed the automatic charging devices suitable for collecting and conveying the spinning pirns of A type, or of B type, or of C type. At the upper end of the belt conveyor 14, the individually conveyed pirns are collected by the belt conveyor 10 which transfers said pirns to the station 8, suitable for orienting the pirn and finding out the end of the thread. In a similar way, the automatic charging device for the C type of pirns is equipped with conveyor belts, to convey said pirns to the station 8. For the sake of simpleness in the drawings, said belt conveyors are not shown. The pirns of A type, coming from the conveyor belt 12 are directly transferred to the station 8. During the winding operation of the operative winding front of the automatic coner machine 1, the automatic charging devices 4A or 4B or 4C feed, with the respective pirns 16A or 16B or 16C, the station 8 The charging on the station 8 of a spinning pirn of A type, or of B type, or of C type takes place following a request signal coming from a winding sector 18A or 18B or 18C. The station 8, upon receiving the spinning pirn 16, memorizes the type of pirn, and the position wherein said pirn is charged, such that, moment by moment, the operation of the same station, which is also a transfer device, is determined in its progressing by the knowledge of the location of the various pirn types it conveys. Once that it has found out the end of the thread of the pirn 16, the station 8 predisposes it and charges it, by a technique known in the prior art, into the proper conveyance tray 2 and simultaneously, by detecting and memorizing the type of pirn, 16A or 16B or 16C, which it is charging, the station 8 predisposes the discriminator element 47 in the A or B or C position namely with the end of the arm 56 in position 64A or 64B or 64C and the end of the arm 52 in position 52A or 52B or 52C, which witnesses the type of thread wound on the conveyed pirn. The tray-holder conveyor belt 26 continuously transfers the spinning pirns 16 along the winding front of the automatic coner machine. The automatic coner machine is subdivided into winding sectors 18A or 18B or 18C, wherein each winding station belonging to a winding sector is provided with a mechanical movable striker element 72 in position 72 A or 72B or 72C, located in height (see Figure 2) in accordance with the type of pirn 16A or 16B or 16C to be drawn. Normally, the mechanical striker element 72 is in its rearwards-moved position. When a winding station ends the unwinding of a spinning pirn 16, the pirn-holder plate 28 revolves through one step, putting under unwinding the pirn previously charged in reserve position on a receiver pin 30, and makes the mechanical striker element 72 come out, with a substantially horizontal shifting, to reach its position of mechanical interference with the corresponding release arm 52 in position 52A or 52B or 52C. Said release arm 52, running together with the conveyance tray 2 housing the pirn 16, yields by rotating during the interference step, around the vertical hinge 68 of the discriminator element 47, simultaneously causing the shifting, from its locking position, of the wing 50 which in its turn releases the movable bottom plate 36 of the conveyance tray 2. The spinning pirn 16, of the type as determined by the position of the above-said interference elements, by being free from its bottom support, starts sliding by gravity along the rigid chute 34, running along the direction indicated by the arrow 35, to come to slip, after running along the self-centering guide chute 32, on the receiver pin 30. Said spinning pirn 16 goes to constitute the reserve in the pirn-holder plate 28. The mechanical striker element 72 of the associated winding station is made re-enter through a substantially horizontal shifting by using means per se known, and the release arm 52 places itself, or remains placed, in a position of non-interference with possible subsequent striker elements positioned in position 72A or 72B or 72C at other winding stations which require a spinning pirn 16. The conveyance tray returns empty back to the station 8. Along the path length preceding the area wherein the spinning pirns 16 are charged to the conveyance trays 2, the movable bottom plate 36 of the tray comes back to its closed position, so driven by suitable driving means, not shown in the Figures, because they are per se known. The discriminator element 47 during the step of pirn charging to the tray, by pivotably actuating the discriminator arm 56 causes the release arm 52 to assume position 52A or 52B or 52C, corresponding to the type of pirn supplied to its own tray. The pivotal movement of the discriminator element 47 about the hinge 66 positions the ball 58 inside one of the hollows 62, with a stable and safe position of the discriminator element 47 and of the release arm 52 during their movement being obtained thanks to the urging by the spring 60. Said spinning pirn, delivered to, and housed inside, the conveyance tray 2, runs along the winding front, ready to be conveyed on a receiver pin 30, to feed a pirn-holder plate 28 of a whatever winding unit belonging to a winding sector 18A or 18B or 18C into which the automatic coner machine 1 is subdivided. In case from the conveyance trays 2 the pirn is not drawn, when this latter runs before the station 8, suitable optical detecting means or sensors, already known per se , provided in the area which precedes the area concerned by the pirn charging operation, recognize the presence of the pirn 16 in the conveyance tray 2, and inhibit the actuation of the cycle of pirn charging to the above said tray 2. The charging cycle will be actuated at the passage of a subsequent empty tray 2 running before the pirn preparation station 8. One should observe that although the invention has been disclosed by referring to the practical embodiment wherein the automatic coner machine is subdivided into three winding sectors, i.e., the A, B, C sectors, the number of such winding sectors can anyway be increased to four or more, by positioning the discriminator and detector elements in a plurality of positions, subtantially a position per each individual winding sector. A preferred solution has been herein disclosed with some variants thereof, but other solutions are anyway possible. Thus, positions of the operative lever systems can be varied; a tray-holder conveyor belt can be used, which is provided with an intermittent motion; shapes and dimensions of the discriminator element can be varied, together with the release lever and with the mechanical striker elements.

Claims: A device for feeding types of pirns (16A, 16B, 16C) different in thread count, colour or composition to a plurality of winding stations (22A, 22B, 22C) arranged side-by-side to each other along an automatic coner machine (1) and subdivided into sectors (18A, 18B, 18C) each processing one of said type of pirns (16A, 16B,16C), wherein the pirns (16) are fed inside respective trays (2) fastened to a conveyor (26) movable along the plurality of winding stations (22A, 22B, 22C) and the trays (2) each have a mechanical element (47) thereon for selectively cooperating with striker elements (72) associated to the winding stations (22A, 22B, 22C) for causing discharge from the trays (2) of the pirns (16) of the type requested by the winding stations (22A, 22B, 22C) according to the sector (18A, 18B, 18C) to which the winding stations (22A, 22B, 22C) respectively pertain, characterized in that said mechanical element (47) has one end (arm 56) for selectively setting said element (47) at a pirn preparation station (8) in one of a number of positions according to the type of pirn (16A, 16B, 16C) loaded in the respective tray (2) at said pirn preparation station (8), and another end (arm 52) for engaging said striker elements (72). A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said mechanical element (47) is an angled lever having said ends on respective arms (52,56) thereof. A device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said mechanical element (47) is pivotable about two substantially orthogonal axes (66,68) respectively when positioned into said number of positions and when engaging said striker elements (72). A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said striker elements (72) are arranged at a number of different levels (72A, 72B, 72C) corresponding to said types of pirns (16A, 16B, 16C) and are movable into the paths of said other end (arm 52) of said mechanical elements (47) upon request of the associated winding station (22A, 22B, 22C) when a fresh pirn (16) is needed. A device as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that said angled lever has a wing (50) cooperating with a tray bottom plate (36) to open the latter when said angled lever engages a respective striker element (72).

Inventors: BADIALI, ROBERTO, COLLI, LUIGI
Applicants: SAVIO S.P.A.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B65H54
IPC codes: B65H67