Patent GB-550679-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in golf ball winding machines
IPC: A63B37/00
Filed: 1942-04-16
Abstract: 550,679. Winding golf balls. UNITED STATES RUBBER CO. April 16, 1942, Nos. 5051 and 5052. Convention dates, June 7, 1941, and June 27, 1941. [Classes 120 (ii) and 120 (iii)] A machine for winding golf balls comprises means for rotating a ball core, a source of thread supply, thread-tensioning mechanism supported in spaced relation to the core-rotating means for limited movement relative thereto in response to variations in the tensions of the thread being wound on the ball, and means, responsibe to the movement of the tensioning- mechanism, for continually balancing the pull of the thread on the mechanism and giving a continual and accurate indication of the tension. As shown in Fig. 2 the thread from a supply spool 17 is tensioned by passing over a braked pulley 18 mounted at the end of a lever 21 secured to a rotatable shaft 30 carrying an horizontal arm 35 connected by a rod 41 to the sliding bar 40 of a spring balance 37 suspended from a gallows 36 by a bolt 38 and adjustable nut 39. The pulley is braked by a band 23 passing around a drum 22 thereon and adjusted by a bolt and nut 28 and at the commencement of the winding the position of the balance is adjusted by the nut 39 to maintain the lever in an approximately vertical position; the tension on the thread is continually and accurately indicated by the reading of the balance and should this alter during winding the nut 28 is adjusted to vary the braking action of the band 23 and keep the reading of the balance, and so the tension on the thread constant. The weight of the lever 21 and pulley 18 are preferably counterbalanced by an adjustable weight 33 and the bell-crank lever formed by the lever 21, shaft 30 and arm 35 is prevented from oscillating unduly by a dash pot 42. The supply spool is mounted on the lever 21 so that the pull of the thread from the spool will not affect the movements of the lever and is preferably positioned adjacent the shaft 30 so that as it decreases in size it will not disturb the balance of the bell-crank lever; as shown the spool is rotatably supported in a bracket 46 bolted to the lever and to prevent overunning the thread from the spool passes around a freely rotatable roller 48 back around the spool and around the roller before passing to the pulley 18. In the form shown in Fig. 5 the braking action of the band 23 is automatically adjusted so that the reading of the balance remains constant, one end of the band being connected to a screw 47 slidably mounted in a sleeve in a casing 20 in which the shaft of the pulley 18 is mounted and which is mounted on the lever 21 and the screw engaging a nut carrying a worm gear 49 meshing with a pinion on a shaft 51, Fig. 7, journaled 'in spaced brackets 52 secured to the outer face of the casing. A frame 54 journaled on the ends of the shaft 51 extends into the casing and supports near its lower end a roller 55 carrying a pulley 56 connected by a belt 57 with a pulley 53 on the shaft 51, the roller being disposed between rubber rols 59, 61 carried respectively by pulleys 39, 40 rotatably supported in the casing and driven by a belt 38 from a small electric motor 36 mounted on the lever 21. The lever 21 carries the rotatably supported supply spool 17, is secured to a shaft 25 journaled in brackets 36, 41 is connected by an arm 27 to the vertical rod 41 connected to the sliding bar 40 of the spring balance 37, and carries a switch 67 having apivoted arm 68 adapted to engage an adjustable stop 69 on the machine frame. The switch is connected to a solenoid 64 in the casing 20, the solenoid having its core 65 connected by a blade spring 66 to a yoke 62 on the frame 54 which is urged by a spring 63 so that the roller 55 engages the roll 59, the worm gear 49 being then rotated to tighten the band 23 and when the solenoid is excited, by engagement of the switch arm 68 with the stop 69 on the tension in the thread increasing, the roller 55 is engaged with the roll 61 to rotate the worm gear in the opposite direction and lessen the braking action of the band. The outward movement of the lever 21 on the tension on the thread decreasing is limited by a stop 71 and a pivoted stop 70 is turned down to engage the lever and hold it spaced a definite distance from the winding head during the time the balance 37 is being altered to adjust the tension on the thread. Specification 125,721, [Class 120 (ii)], is referred to.