Abstract:
A flat bar is provided for use in a carding machine having a roller with clothing. The flat bar is for arranging opposite the clothing on the roller. The flat bar has a flat bar support body having a recess, a clothing support having a first side, the first side being positioned in the recess, flat bar clothing attached to a second side of the clothing support, the second side being opposite the first side, and at least one fastening element that secures the first side of the clothing support in the recess.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/247,746, filed Sep. 20, 2002 now abandoned. This application claims priority to German Patent Application No. 101 46 534.3, filed Sep. 21, 2001, and German Patent Application No. 102 14 390.0, filed Mar. 30, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a device on, for example, a carding machine for cotton, synthetic fibers and the like. The device comprises at least one flat bar with flat bar clothing, where the flat bar clothing is attached to the flat bar and is positioned opposite clothing on, for example, a main carding cylinder of the carding machine. 
     The flat bar of a known device has of a back part and a support body with an underside. A clothing strip (flexible clothing) that extends in a longitudinal direction of the underside is attached to the underside. The clothing strip comprises a support element having several textile layers in which a plurality of small wire hooks or clothing needle points are fastened. The clothing strip is attached with the aid of two clamps, straps, or clips along the longitudinal sides of the support body. With one end, the clamps encircle the longitudinal edge regions of the clothing strip and, with the other end, they engage recesses in the support body. In practical operations, the clamps consist of a sheet-metal strip, one longitudinal edge of which is punched into the textile material. During assembly, the textile material of the clothing strip is attached with considerable tension and is form fitting to the support body of the flat bar. In the process, the clamps exert tensile stresses in such a way that the textile material is deformed spherically away from the underside. Thus, the clothing needle points are also arranged in an undesirable manner along a convex enveloping curve, pointing toward the outside. 
     A set of flat bars produced in this way has an accuracy of 0.05 mm in height and evenness when not in use. As a result of use, the height differences in the set will increase to approximately 0.2 mm. The accuracy is improved only insignificantly through a re-sharpening of the clothing on the machine. Following a fiber-material throughput of approximately 400 t, the flat bar clothing is worn to such a degree that it must be replaced. The flat bar is clamped in for dismantling the sheet metal straps and the form-locking connection is reversed with the aid of a lever and pliers. The considerable forces required for the assembly and dismantling negatively effect the dimensional stability of the flat bar. Added to this are undesirable tolerances resulting from the production of the flat bar body. As a result of the aforementioned disadvantages, the clothing needle points of the clothed flat bar must be leveled by grinding. 
     According to a previous solution (shown in European Patent 0 887 445), the clothing strip is attached to a support, for example the base of a steel band. The flat steel band base is inserted between guide grooves that open toward the inside, in the edge regions of the flat bar underside, thus fastening the clothing strip to the flat bar. The production of this flat bar is quite involved with respect to production technology and assembly. It is particularly bothersome that the steel band underside and the guide grooves must be produced to exact dimensions to offer sufficient support during the operation. In addition, this makes replacement more difficult. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In contrast to the above, it is an object of the invention to create a device of the above-described type that avoids the aforementioned disadvantages. In particular, the invention makes it possible to produce a clothed flat bar with inherently stable form and makes it easier to produce the flat bar and replace the clothing strip. 
     The production and replacement of the clothed flat bar is simplified because the outside of the support and the support body for the flat bar fit together form-fittingly and the support is furthermore secured in the recess with an additional fastening element. Tolerances resulting from the production of the flat bar and the clothing as well as assembly (including dismantling) are thus reduced or eliminated. With the clothed flat bar according to the invention, an addition of the tolerances resulting from the assembly and dismantling of the flat bar clothing, the technologically damaging leveling and the decrease in the accuracy during use are advantageously avoided. 
     Particular embodiments of the invention provide a flat bar for use in a carding machine having a roller with clothing. The flat bar is for arranging opposite the clothing on the roller. The flat bar has a flat bar support body having a recess, a clothing support having a first side, the first side being positioned in the recess, flat bar clothing attached to a second side of the clothing support, the second side being opposite the first side, and at least one fastening element that secures the first side of the clothing support in the recess. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention is explained below in further detail with the aid of exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation view of a device in accordance with the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a partial side elevation view showing clothed flat bars, a sliding guide and a flexible bend, as well as the distance between the clothing on the flat bars and the clothing on the main carding cylinder; 
     FIG. 3 a  is a side elevation view of a section through a flat bar with elongated slots, openings, bores and a longitudinal groove in the support body; 
     FIG. 3 b  shows a threaded pin; 
     FIG. 3 c  is a side elevation view of the support; 
     FIG. 3 d  is a side elevation view showing a section through a clothing strip; 
     FIG. 4 shows a flat bar with a device according to the invention and an equalizing layer in the assembled state; 
     FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the support with two projections and an embodiment of the support body with two longitudinal grooves; 
     FIG. 6 a  is a side elevation view of an embodiment of the device according to the invention, with a mechanism for aligning the flat bar for attaching the equalizing layer; and 
     FIG. 6 b  is a sectional view along section line I-I in FIG. 6 a.   
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1 shows a carding machine, for example a High-Performance Card DK 903 by the company Trützschler in Mönchengladbach, Germany. The aforementioned carding machine comprises a feed roller  1 , a feed table  2 , licker-ins  3   a,    3   b,    3   c,  a main carding cylinder  4 , a doffer  5 , a stripping roller  6 , crushing rollers  7 ,  8 , a sliver guide element  9 , a web trumpet  10 , withdrawing rollers  11 ,  12 , a set of traveling flats  13  with clothed flat bars  14 , a can  15  and a can holder  16 . Curved arrows indicate the rotational direction of the rollers while the letter A refers to the operating direction. Stationary carding elements  33  and  34  are arranged opposite clothing of the main carding cylinder  4 . 
     FIG. 2 shows a flexible bend  17 , provided with several adjustment screws, which is arranged on each side of the carding machine frame. The flexible bend  17  has a convex outside surface  17   a  and an underside  17   b.  A sliding guide  20 , for example made of a plastic with sliding ability, with a convex outside surface  20   a  and a concave inside surface  20   b  is provided above the flexible bend  17 . The concave inside surface  20   b  rests on the convex outside surface  17   a  and can slide along this surface in the direction of arrows B, C. Each flat bar, for example designed according to European Patent 0 567 747 A1, has a back part  14   a  and a support body  14   b.    
     As shown in FIG. 3 a,  the support body  14   b  has an underside  14   c  and two side surfaces. Each flat bar  14  is provided on its two ends with respectively one flat bar head  14 ′,  14 ″ (see FIG. 6 a ) with respectively two steel pins  14   1 ,  14   2  or  14   3 ,  14   4  (see FIGS. 6 a  and  6   b ). These pins are fastened with a section, for example glued, in an axial direction in recesses of the support body  14   b.  As shown in FIG. 2, the sections of the steel pins  14   1 ,  14   2  that project over the front surfaces of the support body  14   b  slide along the convex outside surface  20   a  of the sliding guide  20  in the direction of arrow D. 
     A clothing strip  18  is attached to the underside  14   c  of the support body  14   b.  As shown in FIG. 3 d,  clothing strip  18  has a support element  23  of, for example, a textile material and flat bar clothing  19  having a plurality of points. Support element  23  has a thickness f. The flat bar clothing, for example wire needles,  19  extends through the surface of, and are attached in, the support element  23 . The points on the other end of the clothing  19  are exposed. A circle  21  defined by the points of the flat bar clothing  19  is shown in FIG.  2 . The main carding cylinder  4  is provided along its circumference with a clothing  4   a,  for example a saw-tooth clothing. A circle  22  defined by the points of the cylinder clothing  4   a  is shown in FIG.  2 . The distance between the circle  21  and the circle  22 , for example, amounts to {fraction (3/1000)}″ and is given the reference a. The distance between the convex outside surface  20   a  and the circle  22  is given the reference b. The distance between the convex outside surface  20   a  and the circle  21  is given the reference c. The radius for the convex outside surface  20   a  is r 1  and the radius for the circle  22  is r 2 . The radii r 1  and r 2  intersect in the center M of the main carding cylinder  4 . 
     According to FIG. 3 a,  the support body  14   b  of the flat bar  14 , which is, for example, extruded from aluminum, is provided across its width with two elongated slots  14   d  and  14   e  that are open toward the outside. These slots widen toward the center of the flat bar  14  to become hollow-cylindrical openings  14   f  and  14   g.  The respective region for fastening the flat bar pins  14   1 ,  14   2 ,  14   3 ,  14   4  is shown in the openings  14   f,    14   g.  The center of the flat bar  14  contains a longitudinal groove  14   i  that is open toward the underside  14   c  and extends, for example, over the complete width of the flat bar. A plurality of through bores  14   h  exist between the opening  14   g  and the longitudinal groove  14   i  and extend essentially parallel to the underside  14   c.  The bores  14   h  are oriented perpendicular to the longitudinal groove  14   i.  The bores  14   h  are provided with internal threads that engage external threads of threaded pins  28  according to FIG. 3 b.    
     A support  26  according to FIG. 3 c  has two sheet-metal strips  26   a,    26   b,  the end regions of which are respectively bent at a right angle in the same direction. For example, the sheet-metal strip  26   a  is bent counter-clockwise and the sheet-metal strip  26   b  is bent clockwise. The bent regions  26   I  and  26   II  of sheet-metal strips  26   a  and  26   b  are, for example, laser-welded together and thus form an extension  26   c  that is fastened inside the longitudinal groove  14   i  (FIG. 3 a ). The bent regions  26   III  and  26   IV  serve to additionally hold the support element  23  of clothing strip  18 . 
     FIG. 4 shows the flat bar  14  according to FIGS. 3 a  to  3   d , but in the fully assembled state. The clothing strip  18  is attached to one side  26   2  of the support  26 , for example by gluing it on. The extension  26   c  of the support  26  is inserted into the longitudinal groove  14   i  of the support body  14   b,  so that the other side  26   1  of the support  26  and the support body  14   b  are connected. The screwed-in threaded pins  28  push the extension  26   c  against the opposite positioned inside wall of elongated slot  14   i.  As a result, the support  26  is attached to the flat bar  14 . In addition to the elements shown in FIGS. 3 a  to  3   d,  FIG. 4 shows that an equalizing layer  24 , for example made of a hardened synthetic resin or the like, is arranged between the inside surface  26   2  of the support and the support element  23 . This equalizing layer  24  can equalize differences in the distances between the flat bar  14 , namely the underside  14   c,  and the flat bar clothing  19 , that is to say the enveloping curve for the exposed wire needle points. 
     In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the support body  14   b  contains two longitudinal grooves  14   i   1  and  14   i   2 , into which two extensions  26   c1  and  26   c2  of support  26 ′ engage. Extensions  26   c1  and  26   c2  are fastened with threaded pins  28   a  and  28   b.  The threaded pins  28   a  and  28   b  extend from opposite sides through the bores  14   h   1  and  14   h   2 . 
     FIG. 6 a  shows a leveling device for use in assembling the invention. A cube-shaped support element  27   a  with parallel and level surfaces and a height h is arranged between the flat bar pins  14   1 ,  14   2  and a surface  25   a  of a level plate  25 . An additional cube-shaped support element  27   b  of the same height h is secured locally on the plate  25  and is arranged between the flat bar pins  14   3  and  14   4  and the plate  25 . With this device and additional web elements on the side (not shown herein) or the like (for example, displaceable delimiting surfaces for the equalizing layer  24  and/or the support element  23 ), the points of the clothing  19  of the clothing strip  18  can be positioned on the plate  25  and the flat bar  14  with the pins  14   1 ,  14   2 ,  14   3 ,  14   4  can be positioned on the support elements  27   a,    27   b.  The equalizing layer  24  is installed between the support  26  and the support element  23 , for example by pouring it in, spraying it in, scraping it in, inserting it or the like. The equalizing layer  24 , which may be doughy, distributes itself through the intermediate space and fills out this space for equalizing the distances. 
     With the embodiment of the invention according to FIGS. 6 a  and  6   b , the bores  14   h   1  and  14   h   2  are arranged offset to each other. Opposite sides of the support body  14   b  are respectively provided with a plurality of threaded pins  28  which secure the extension  26   c  inside the longitudinal groove  14   i  (see FIG.  4 ). 
     The invention has been described in detail with respect to preferred embodiments and it will now be apparent from the foregoing to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects. The invention, therefore, is intended to cover all such changes and modifications that fall within the true spirit of the invention.