Patent GB-518002-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to filaturing or silk-reeling apparatus
IPC: D01B7/04
Filed: 1938-08-23
Abstract: 518,002. Reeling silk. STEVENS, A. H. (Universal Winding Co.). Aug. 23, 1938, 'No. 24781. [Class 120 (ii)] A machine for reeling silk from cocoons comprises mechanism for reeling a thread of predetermined size from filaments delivering from cocoons in a reeling basin, detector means contacting with opposite sides of the thread to detect a reduction in the thickness thereof and adapted to actuate means for feeding a fresh cocoon into the reeling basin when such a reduction below the predetermined size is indicated, a filament connecting means or gatherer for moving the filament from the fresh cocoon to the other filaments feeding to the thread and means for controlling the circulation of liquid through the reeling basin; the detector may actuate contacts which close an electric circuit to energize electrically-controlled means for operating the cocoon-feeding means. As shown the thread t, Fig. 1, is formed from filaments from cocoons c<1> in a reeling basin 45 in a tank 2, the filaments passing from the cocoons through a hollow spindle 189 of the filament connecting means 188, over a roller 212 on a pivoted arm 213, down and around a roller 217, around the stretch of the filaments passing to the roller 212 over a detector roller 219 around a roller 250 on a pivoted arm 251 and through the traverse guide 279 to the reel 268. The reserve cocoons are placed in a supply basin 10, Fig. 4, at the end of the tank 2 and are floated therefrom by heated water fed through a pipe 16 into a raceway 72 pivoted at the end of the basin 10, the sides of the basin 10 converge to the entrance of the raceway the sides of which also converge to a narrow passage along which the reserve cocoons pass with the ends of the filaments thereof attached to pins 108 on the arms 106 of a take-up member carried by a shaft 101 geared to a shaft 100 which is driven from a shaft 77 carrying a cam 76 supporting the pivoted raceway. A transfer bucket 80 has a slotted plate 84 engaging a pin 81 on the raceway and a pin 85 on a wall 33 dividing the basin 35 carrying the raceway from the reeling basin 45 and when a reduction in the size of the thread passing oven the roller 219 is detected, the shaft 77 is driven so that the cam 76 thereon lifts the raceway and causes the bucket'80 to tilt and deliver the foremost cocoon in the raceway into the reeling basin, the filament from the cocoon being engaged by arms 193 on the rapidly rotating shaft 189 of the filament gatherer or connecting means 188 and becoming twisted about the filaments feeding from the cocoons in the basin 45. As this fresh cocoon is delivered to the basin 45, a gate 87 pivoted to the bucket prevents other cocoons from passing from the raceway and a weighted member 92 pivoted on a support 90 and projecting through a slot in the raceway agitates the cocoons therein. The filaments from the cocoons in the basin 45 pass through a slit formed by a pair of converging wire 205 to free the filaments from water and foreign matter and as a fresh cocoon is delivered to the basin the wires 205, which are carried by a pivoted arm 206 linked to the bucket 80, are retracted and moved to engage the filament as the raceway moves back to its normal position. The shaft 77 is driven through a friction clutch 169 from the shaft 133, Fig. 2, one of the clutch members being normally held stationary by a projection 176 on a pivoted lever 171 engaging a lug on such clutch member, the lever being fast on a shaft 146 carrying a weighted arm 178; the lever 171 is pivotally connected by a pin 179 to a lever 180 carrying a weight 187 at its shorter end which maintains the lever horizontal with the longer end disposed below a toothed wheel 182 on the continuously rotating shaft 133. A pair of electromagnets 185 disposed beneath the weight 181 are connected to a current source and to a contact 239 carried by a lever 235 pivoted in a bracket 232 and having a bent portion 236 contacting with the thread passing over the detector roller 219; should the size of the thread become reduced by the breakage of an individual filament or its exhaustion, the lever 235 drops and the contact 239 engages a fixed contact 240 and completes the circuit through the electromagnets 185 which then draw down the weighted end of the lever 180, the longer end being then moved so as to be engaged by the rotating toothed-wheel 182 and the lever being moved thereby to shift the lever 171 and disengage the projection 176 thereon from the clutch 169 with the result that the shaft 77 is driven. The rotation of the shaft 77 causes the shaft 101 to be rotated and the pins 108 to take up slack in the filament of the cocoons as they move along the raceway. The basin 45 is supplied with heated water from a pipe 43 and this water with any spent cocoons is periodically cleared from the basin by the raising of a gate 57 dividing the basin from a flushing chamber 60 connected through an opening 52 at its bottom with an exhaust pipe 63 leading to the water-heating apparatus. The opening 52 is normally closed by a door 62 pivoted on a shaft 162 and held in the closed position by a weighted flap 164 on the shaft and when the gate 57 is raised to empty the basin 45 the shaft 162 is actuated to move the flap 164 from the door 62 ; the gate 57 and door 62 are actuated from cams on a shaft 128 and the gate can be held closed when starting reeling by a hand-lever 147 linked by a rod 149 to the gate-actuating lever 137, the lever 147 being moved so that a spring latch 150 thereon engages one of a pair of notches in the side of the tank 2. The top of the gate 57 is notched to allow the water to pass from the basin 45 slowly to the chamber 60 which has an overflow passage 54 leading to the exhaust pipe 63. The reel 268 is journaled in arms 265 pivoted in the standards 6 and carries a friction wheel 270 normally engaging a driving drum 271 on the shaft 272 which also carries a cam actuating the traverse guides 279 and one of the arms 265 of the reel has lugs 284 in which is pivoted a rod 285 carrying a sheet metal finger 296 extending horizontally beneath the cores of a pair of electromagnets 295 carried at the end of the arm 265, the finger being weighted to maintain the other bent end of the rod out of the path of an eccentric on the shaft 272. The circuit through the electromagnets 185 and 295 includes a mercury switch carried by an arm pivoted in the frame 6 with a projection engaged by the arm 265 in the reeling position to keep the switch in the closed position and when the reel is raised from the reeling position on breakage of the thread the switch drops to open the circuit and prevent the operation of the cocoon feeding means. When a thread breaks between the reeling basin and the roller 212, the arm 213 rises and closes contacts which causes the magnets 295 to be energized, thus lifting the finger 296 and causing the bent end of the rod 285 to move into the path of the eccentric on the shaft 272, the rod 285 and arms 268 are thus lifted to move the reel from driving engagement with the drum 271 ; if the thread breaks between the roller 250 the arm 251 drops and closes contacts which similarly cause the lifting of the reel from driving engagement with the drum 271.