A heald retention system for a jacquard system

Abstract: A heald retention system has a retention bar (1) which provides a recess and lateral openings (2) adjacent to an upper portion of the recess which contains a retention mechanism to extend from the lateral openings (2) and a solenoid (26) for actuating the retention mechanism. A spacing member (5) is spacedly positioned beside the retention bar to form a gap with the retention bar, and a heald rod (4) reciprocates along a rectilinear path in the gap and provides a receiving hole (41) at an upper portion thereof to engage with the retention mechanism at an end of an upper movement thereof.

Description: This invention relates to a heald rod retention system. Typically, referring to Fig. 4, a heald rod retention bar 80 of an electronic jacquard system provides one or more electromagnets 81 and a latch 82 thereon. As a heald rod or hook 90 reciprocates along a lateral surface of the retention bar, the electromagnets may be energized so as to deflect the heald rod upward, such that the retention bar may perform retention by engaging the tilted heald rod with a latch thereof. European Patent No. EP-A-0 119 787 discloses a heald rod retention device for selectively engaging the terminal end portion of a reciprocating heald rod. The retention device includes an electrically actuatable magnet for laterally deflecting the terminal end portion from its path of reciprocation. The magnet includes north and south poles located side by side and extending along the path of travel of the heald rod so as to create a magnetic flux path across the width of the heald rod. European Patent No. EP-A-0 099 254 discloses a retention device for a heald rod which is reciprocated in a linear path. The retention device includes an arm including at one end a latch formation for co-operating with said rod and being hinged to a support so that the latch formation is movable between a latch position and a non-latch position. An electromagnet includes at least one pole positioned adjacent to the arm to be co-operable with a pole piece mounted on the arm. Biasing means are used for biasing the arm so as to be normally spaced from said pole. In such cases, the heald rods must be made of resilient and magnetically conductive material. After continued use, the heald rods may become worn and malfunction because of elastic fatigue, and need to be replaced. Further, the deflection of the heald rod is completed by magnetic attraction of the electromagnet deposited in the retention bar. In a jacquard system, there are hundreds of heald rods, thus the requirements of electricity are very substantial to energize the electromagnets to deflect all of the heald rods. It is the purpose of this present invention, therefore, to mitigate and/or obviate the above-mentioned drawback in the manner set forth in the detailed description of the preferred embodiment. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the primary objective of this invention to provide a heald rod retention system including a retention bar including an upper portion defining two lateral walls, a recess between the two lateral walls and two openings through the lateral walls. Each of the lateral walls includes an inner surface declining from each of the openings. A fixing block is received in the recess defined in the retention bar. A retention means is received in the recess of the retention bar having two retention plates electro-magnetically actuatable to extend through the openings in the lateral walls. A spacing bar is separately mounted beside the retention bar, thereby defining a gap between the retention bar and the spacing bar. A heald rod for reciprocation along a rectilinear path includes an upper end and a lower end within the gap. The heald rod includes an upper portion defining a receiving hole to engage with the retention plate of the retention means when the heald rod is at the upper end of the rectilinear path. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a heald rod retention device in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a front view of a heald rod retention device, wherein the retention means is in a retracting position; Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 2, wherein the retention means is in an activated position; and Fig. 4 shows a diagrammatic representation of a heald rod retention device in parts according to prior art. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to Fig. 1, a retention bar according to the present invention is indicated at 1. A depression is provided in an upper portion of the retention bar 1, and has two lateral openings designated by 2 at an upper portion thereof. A suspended fixing block 21 is received in the depression and is connected with a lower portion of a back wall thereof, defining a receiving channel 25 between a top surface of the fixing block 21 and the depression and a receiving slot 24 between a bottom of the fixing block 21 and the depression. On both lateral inner walls of the depression, there is provided an outward sloped surface 23, so that from a front view, the inner wall of a lower portion of the depression will be U-shaped with an enlarged opening. A retention means according to this invention includes a magnetic supporting plate 31 and two magnetically conductive light-weight retention plates 32 and 33. The magnetic supporting plate 31 is inserted into the receiving slot 24 defined by a bottom of the fixing block 21 and a bottom surface of the depression. A solenoid 26 is deposited in the receiving channel 25 defined by a top surface of the fixing block 21 and a top surface of the depression for activating the retention plates 32 and 33. A spacing member 5 is positioned beside the retention bar 1 and defines a gap with the retention bar 1, allowing reciprocating movement of a heald rod 4. At an upper portion, the spacing member 5 provides a recess 51 on each lateral side thereof, which correspond to the openings 2 of the retention bar 1. Further, there is provided a cover 34 to protect the recess against dust. Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, where a combination of all elements above-mentioned is shown in operation, heald rods 4 reciprocate along a rectilinear path defined by the retention bar 1 and spacing member 5 in a conventional manner. Since the retention plates 32 and 33 contact the magnetic supporting plate 31, the ends of the retention plates 32 and 33 will be magnetized to be different magnetic Poles from each other. Magnetic attraction causes the retention plates 32 and 33 attract each other and connect to opposite ends of the solenoid 26, respectively, and thus to be in a retracted position (FIG. 2). When the heald rod 4 travels to a top end of the rectilinear path, then the solenoid 26 is electrically energized to produce a reversed magnetic field against the magnetic supporting plate 31, which creates magnetic repulsion and causes the retention plates 32 and 33 to repel thereby coming to a position against the lateral sloped surfaces 23 of the recess of the retention bar 1, respectively (FIG. 3). This will cause the top end of the retention plate to protrude through the lateral opening 2 and penetrate a receiving hole 41 of the heald rod 4 and continue into the recess 51 on the spacing member 5. Thereby, the heald rod 4 is held in an "up" position. The heald rod 4 is retained until the current energizing the solenoid is interrupted, at which time the retention plates 32 and 33 attract each other through the solenoid 26 and retract from their holding positions to release the heald rod 4. Since it is not necessary to deflect the heald rod 4, the material of the heald rod is not restricted to be a magnetically conductive material. The required magnetism of the solenoid for repelling the retention plates is weaker than that of the conventional device. Therefore, there is the advantage in saving the number of electromagnets used and electricity consumed. It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the description is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail within the scope of the claims.

Claims: A heald rod retention system comprising: a retention bar (1) including an upper portion including two lateral walls formed thereon, a recess defined therein between the lateral walls and two openings defined through the lateral walls; a retention means received in the recess defined in the retention bar (1) to project through the openings (2) defined in the lateral walls; a spacing bar separately mounted beside the retention bar (1), thereby defining a gap between the retention (1) bar and the spacing bar (5); a heald rod (4) for reciprocation along a rectilinear path including an upper end and a lower end within the gap, the healt rod (4) including an upper portion defining a receiving hole (41) to engage with the retention means, when the heald rod (4) is at the upper end of the rectilinear path, characterised in that the retention means comprising electromagnetically actuable retention plates (32,33), which engage with the receiving hole (41) of the heald rod (4), when the heald rod is in the upper end of the rectilinear path, and that the lateral walls includes an inner surface declining from the openings (2) definded through it and that a fixing block (21) is disposed between the lateral walls. a heald retention system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the retention means has a magnetic plate (31) with two lateral ends and two pivotable magnetically conductive retention plates (32,33) each residing on one of the lateral ends.

Inventors: CHENG YU HSIU HSIA, CHENG, YU HSIU HSIA
Applicants: CHENG YU HSIU HSIA, CHENG, YU HSIU HSIA
Application year: 1991
Main classification: D03C3
IPC codes: D03C3