DEVICE FOR VERTICALLY POSITIONING AND ORIENTING ROD-SHAPED TUBES, IN PARTICULAR CONICAL TUBES FOR TEXTILE MACHINES

Abstract: The present invention relates to a device for vertically positioning and orienting rod-shaped elements having diffeent-diameter ends, in particular conical tubes for spinning frames, or analogous machines. Said device comprises pusher actuators (2), which drive their stems (26) to move in a substantially horizontal direction, tube-supporting plates (10) having an angular shape, each fastened to the end of said stems (26), and frontal contact sensors (16, 18), or similar elements, which are enabled in the presence of the smallest diameter of the rod-shaped conical tube (12). At least a stationary tube-stop plate (14) is provided, whose frontal position relatively to the contact sensors can be adjusted. Also the presence is envisaged as well, of one single contact sensor (16) enabled in the presence of the smallest diameter of the rod-shaped conical tube.

Description: In the textile sector, the conical tubes for spinning frames, or for similar machines, which have their ends of different diameters, must be correctly positioned and oriented on the automatic loading devices. By the term "orientation", it is herein meant that the tubes must all be conveyed and positioned with their axis, and their direction of conicalness, oriented according to a same direction. Devices which orient rod-shaped tubes having ends of different diameter are already known per se , and they are frequently used for the automatic replacement of the pirns on spinning frames, or similar machines. When said devices are used, it is enough to store the tubes inside the purposely provided storage container, only taking care that they are positioned side-by-side, parallel to one another, without worrying about the orientation as regards the direction of conicalness, or according to the smallest-diameter end. For the sake of simplicity, in the following only tubes will be discussed, always conical tubes being meant; this assumption, however should not be assumed as being limitative. The rod-shaped body need not necessarily have by itself a conical shape, nor has it to be necessarily hollow, but it only must be provided with ends having different diameter, or thickness. Devices are known from the prior art, which draw the tubes one by one from the storage container, and deliver them to the vertically positioning device. A device of this kind, as defined in the preamble of claim 1, is disclosed in DE-A-2 003 594. The tube supporting and transferring means of this known device consist of a stationary supporting plate and of a transporting member provided with an oblong rectangular opening for freely housing a tube length, said transporting member being able to be reciprocated by means of an actuator above and along said supporting plate. Along the trajectory of movement of the tube there are disposed guiding means having lateral contact sensors. During movement of the tube along said trajectory, while the tube is housed in said opening of the transporting member and is supported by said supporting plate, the largest-diameter end of the tube comes in contact with one of said lateral contact sensors so that the tube is axially shifted in the direction of its smallest-diameter end, which comes to lay under the opposite contact sensor. In this shifted position and at the movement in which the tube becomes free from the lower supporting plate, the tube passes in free fall through the opening in the transporting member and its smallest-diameter end hits against one of two opposite stop members disposed at the entrance of a channel into which the tubes are to be discharged in vertical position, while its largest-diameter end rotates downwardly in such a manner that this largest-diameter end enters at first in said channel. Operation of this known device is principally based on the axially shifting action of said lateral contact sensors, which are constituted by inclined converging plates disposed at a fixed distance from each other along the trajectory of movement of the tube. Small differences in the end diameters of the tubes to be handled, such as it is the case in spinning tubes, can result in insufficient axial shifting strokes of the tubes obtained by means of said lateral contact sensors and hence in uncertainty of the smallest-diameter tube end to hit in free fall against the relevant stop member which has to cause the downward rotation of the largest-diameter tube end. Furthermore, said type of solution shows the drawback that changes in the tube length and/or in the tube diameters imply the replacement of the device by another matching the different dimensions. The solution is therefore rigid in its usage. The main purpose of the present invention is therefore to ensure an ordered running of the whole step of loading of the tubes on the pins of the conveyor means, such that defects and disadvantages typical of the present arrangements as proposed by the prior art, together with those as hereinabove listed, may be overcome. A further purpose of the present invention is to provide a device having a simple structural shape, and which is so shaped that the process of tube vertically positioning and orientation can be carried out quickly and with no troubles. In the following discussion, for the sake of simplicity, reference is made to the use, of the present invention for the ring spinning frames, it is anyway understood that what is said for said ring spinning frames applies also to any textile machines wherein for the automatic loading a tube vertically positioning and orienting device is required, in that on the device those differences which characterize the various types of said textile machines, do not have any influence. The above mentioned purposes are attained according to the present invention by the device as defined in the characterizing portion of claim 1. Further advantageous features of the invention form the subject-matter of sub-claims 2 and 3. A preferred form of practical embodiment of the invention, which is neither binding nor limitative as to the mutual position of the components and as to the consequent simplification which may derive therefrom, is shown in the hereto attached drawing tables and is disclosed in the following, by reference to the following Figures: Figure 1 shows an axonometric perspective view of the device of the present invention, showing the configuration at the point in time of beginning stem motion, in the action of tube pushing against the stationary tube-stop plate, while the same tube is supported by the angle plates; Figure 2 shows an axonometric perspective view of the device of the present invention, showing the configuration at the point in time of stem motion end, in the action of tube pushing against the stationary tube-stop plate, with a sensor being enabled by the angle plate which is supporting the smallest-diameter end of the rod-shaped conical tube; Figure 3 shows an axonometric perspective view of the device of the present invention, showing the configuration due to the advance in re-positioning of the angle plate supporting the smallest-diameter end of the rod-shaped conical tube, whilst the angle plate supporting the largest-diameter end of the tube shows a delay in repositioning, performing the operative function of causing an over-turning of the tube under the action of gravity, positioning it in a vertical position, with the largest diemeter being directed downwards; Figure 4 shows an axonometric perspective view of the device of the present invention, showing the restoration of the initial configuration thereof after the re-positioning of both angle support plates, by means of the return stroke of the stems, waiting for the subsequent operating cycle to be repeated, when enabled by the request for another rod-shaped conical tube. In the figures, similar parts, or parts performing similar functions are indicated by same reference numerals. In the figures: 2 is the drive source, which actuates the stem 26, and is practically constituted by a pneumatic or hydraulic or electrical actuator, or by a combination of two or more of such actuator types; 4 is the the guide rod, guiding the translation generated by the actuator 2; 6 is the support base for the actuator 2 and the guide rod 4; 8 is the stationary flange for the front connection of the actuator 2; 10 is the angle-profile plate fastened onto the end of the stem 26, which acts as a support, and as a movable saddle for the rod-shaped conical tube 12; 12 is the rod-shaped conical tube which, once drawn from its housing placed on a conveyor means, must be oriented and vertically positioned, with its largest diameter being directed downwards; 14 is the stationary tube-stop plate or blade, against which the rod-shaped conical tube 12 is pushed; 16 is the contact sensor, known from the prior art, which is frontally enabled by the angle-profile plate 10 when this latter supports the tube length in the nearby of the tube smallest-diameter end; 18 is the contact sensor which is not enabled (see Figure 2) by the angle-profile plate 10 when this latter supports the tube length in the nearby of the largest-diameter end; 20 is the power supply lead for the contact sensor 16; 22 is the power supply lead for the contact sensor 18; 24 is the arrow showing the direction and the progressing of the angle-profile plates 10 when they perform their simultaneous pushing action, moving the tube 12 against the fixed stop plate 14. The operation of the device according to the present invention is now disclosed. When the pin-bearing conveyor belt running along the operating front of the spinning frame, of a proper structural type, and known from the prior art, requests empty tubes 12, the loading unit is enabled, which draws said tubes 12 from a container, of a type known from the prior art, in order to transfer them, one by one, into trays, or similar housings, belonging to a lifting and conveyor means, known from the prior art, and therefore not herein disclosed. Said lifting means delivers, by a stepwise indexing, the individual tube 12, in a perfectly frontal position, to the angle-profile plates 10 fastened onto the ends of the stems 26. Simultaneously to the frontal positioning, the drive sources 2 are simultaneously enabled, e.g., by means of actuator means 28, said drive sources 2 driving the stems 26 integral with the corresponding angle-profile plates 10, to move. The angle-profile plates 10 move frontally towards the rod-shaped conical tube 12, draw it from its housing, and translate it, supporting it, towards the stationary stop plate 14. The angle-profile plates 10 advance in perfect synchronism and operate, during said motion step, as if they were one single, rigid, mobile transfer saddle. The arrows 24 indicate the trajectory and direction of advancement during said movement for tube 12 translation (see Figure 2). The rod-shaped conical tube 12 is pushed against the stationary stop plate 14. At the time of contact between the tube 12 and the front surface of the stationary stop plate 14, or in the nearby of said point in time, the sensor 16 is enabled (see Figure 2), by the contact pressure applied by the front thickness of the angle-profile plate 10, which supports the tube 12 portion close to the smallest-diameter end. The enabling of the sensor 16 causes the inhibition of the advancement of the stems 26 by the drive sources, or actuators 2. It derives therefrom that the pushing of the tube against the front surface of the stationary stop plate 14, by the angle-profile plates 10, ends, preventing any possible jammings of the tube 12 between the above-aid elements from occurring, and leaving the tube 12 free to perform the following step of rotation, necessary for it to be posed in the vertical position. At the time point immediately following the actuation of the sensor 16, by the front thickness of the angle-profile plate 10, which supports the tube 12 portion close to the smallest-diameter tube end, only the drive source 2, corresponding to the angle-profile plate 10 which supports the tube 12 length close to the largest-diameter end, is enabled. This latter angle plate 10 moved by its relevant stem 26, moves backwards, with a movement whose trajectory and direction is shown by the arrow 27 (see Figure 3). It derives therefrom that, after a short shift of the angle plate 10, the support is removed from under tube 12, so that the same tube 12 turns, in free fall under the action of gravity, around the only remaining support, which is constituted by the other angle plate 10, opposite to the contact sensor 16, and in stand-by position (see Figure 3). Said tube 12 moves downwards, reaching a vertical position, in order to vertically enter the feed well or channel (not shown in the figures), only due to its own weight, such that its largest-diameter end comes to be directed downwards, and its smallest-diameter end comes to be directed upwards. Immediately after serving as the fulchrum for the tube 12, the angle-shaped plate 10 moves rearwards, by a movement whose path and direction are shown by the arrow 29 (see Figure 4). At the end of this latter movement step, both the angle support plates 10 result to have reached their initial configuration, waiting for the subsequent operative cycle, enabled by the request for another rod-shaped conical tube 12, to be repeated. It is immediately evident that, because of the symmetrical arrangement of the hereinabove disclosed elements, and of the parts which compose the device of the present invention, and of the operating way thereof, the tube 12 is always vertically positioned with its largest-diameter end being directed downwards, even if said tube 12 comes to rest on the angle-profile plates 10 with its ends being inverted relatively to the position as shown in the hereto attached drawing tables, and hereinabove disclosed. As a consequence, any further disclosure of the operative steps in the presence of a rod-shaped conical tube 12 frontally delivered to the angle-profile plates 10 with its largest-diameter and smallest-diameter ends being inverted, is unnecessary.

Claims: Device for correctly orienting and vertically positioning rod-shaped tubes (12) having different-diameter ends, in particular conical tubes for textile machines, comprising saddle-like supporting and transferring means (10) for supporting an individual tube at least at portions close to its opposite ends and for drawing said tube from a tray or from a similar housing to transfer it towards contact sensors (16,18) which, sensing the different-diameter ends of the tube, enable it to become free and without support only at its largest-diameter end and to rotate around the support at its opposite smallest-diameter end so as to reach in free fall under the action of gravity a vertical position with its largest-diameter end being directed downwards, characterized in that said saddle-like supporting and transferring means consists of two angle-profile plates (10) fastened to the ends of the stems (26) of two actuators (2) disposed at a mutual distance parallel to each other to drive and move their stems (26) and said angle-profile plates (10) in a direction substantially perpendicular to the position of the tubes (12) in said trays or housings, so that the tube to be transferred is supported by said angle-profile plates (10) only at portions close to its largest and respectively smallest-diameter ends, that said contact sensors (16,18) are disposed frontally relative to said angle-profile plates (10) to be activated by the contact pressure applied by the front thickness of said plates, that in a frontal position relative to said contact sensors (16,18) a stationary tube-stop plate (14) is disposed, against which a tube (12) transferred by said angle-profile plates (10) is pushed by the action of said two actuators (2), said tube-stop plate (14) being so positioned relative to said contact sensors (16,18) that at the time of contact between a tube (12) and said plate (14), or in the nearby of said point in time, only the contact sensor can be activated, which is disposed frontally relative to the front thickness of the angle-profile plate (10) supporting the tube length in the nearby of its smallest-diameter end, while the other contact sensor is prevented from being activated, whereby said activated contact sensor enables only the actuator (2) corresponding to the angle-profile plate (10) supporting the tube length close to its largest-diameter end to withdraw said angle-profile plate (10) under said largest-diameter tube end. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that to provide the re-positioning of said angle-profile plates (10), by means of the return stroke of the stem (26) of the two actuators (2), the actuator corresponding to the angle-profile plate supporting the tube length close to its smallest-diameter end is enabled with a time delay with respect to the enabling of the other actuator. Device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the frontal position of said tube-stop plate (14) relative to said contact sensors (16,18) is adjustable.

Inventors: FONTANA, MARIO, SARTONI, SANDRO
Applicants: SAVIO S.P.A.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B65H67
IPC codes: B65H67