Patent GB-564093-A (GB)
Title: A method and machine for combing cotton and other textile fibres
IPC: D01G19/02
Filed: 1942-11-23
Abstract: 564,093. Combing- machines. RAUBITSCHEK, F. Nov. 23, 1942, Nos. 16579 /42 and 8269/43. [Class 120 (i)] ' In combing cotton and other fibres, means for holding a tuft of fibres are moved continuously and uninterruptedly around stationary combing means, and include one pair, or spaced pairs, of rollers or equivalent rotatable members having curved cooperating peripheries, which are rotatable on their axes to grip and take a tuft of fibres from a lap, move it past the combing means and release it to delivery means and which are inserted or turned as a unit while the tuft is being moved past the combing means so that both ends of the tuft are combed and the tuft-holding means being caused to approach the combing means in order to present the ends of the tuft thereto and to move away therefrom after one end has been combed ; one or a pair of pivoted members may be operatively associated with each pair of rollers. As shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, the gripping-means consists of pairs, e.g. three, of rollers 10, 11 arranged to travel around a stationary combing cylinder 1 fixed on a tubular shaft 2 on which end discs 3 are rotatably mounted, each pair of rollers being rotatably mounted at their ends in boxes 16 carried by shafts 18 rotatable in bosses 19 on bars 21 slidably arranged-in guides 22 on the outer faces of the discs 3 ; each shaft 18 carries a disc 20 with four equidistantly-spaced pins P ... S projecting towards and engaging cam grooves in the end frames 6 of the machine and one or both rollers have an elastic covering and the ends of the rollers are resiliently pressed together by springs 15 while each roller 10 carries a gear 12 at one end and each roller 11 a gear 14 at the other end, which gears engage, during the rotation of the discs 3, with two toothed segments 23, 24 on the end walls of the cylinder 1, the segments being pivoted and held in position by springs. Disposed below the combing cylinder 1 are a feeding drum 27 and a delivery drum 46 covered with elastic material and fixed to rotatable shafts 28, 47 respectively, the shafts being geared together and the shaft 28 being driven from the driving means of the discs 3 ; a roller 36 is pressed by springs against each drum and is carried in slots in pairs of arms 33 loosely mounted on the shaft of the drum and connected to a braked pulley 31, while cams 37, 51 loosely mounted on the hubs of the arms have slotted arms 38, 52 by which they are adjustably fixed in a stationary bracket 39. A pin 41 fixed to one of the arms of the drum 27 carries a pivoted pawl 42 cooperating with a ratchet wheel 30 fixed on the shaft 28 and the pawl carries a pin 43 with a roller 44 engaging the cam 37, while the cam of the drum 46 is engaged by a roller 57 on an arm 55 pivoted to one of the arms 33 ; a roller 45 bears against each of the drums 27, 46. The lap 83, Fig. 5, to be combed is fed to the drum 27 between the drum and rollers 45, 36, the latter roller, owing to the action of the. braked pulley 31, moving towards the rollers 10, 11, at the position indicated by the pins P<0> ... S<0>, Fig. 4, at the speed of the drum, the rollers 10, 11, carried in a counterclockwise direction by the discs 3, engaging the arms 33 of the drum and pushing the roller 36 back on the drum while the roller 44 riding on the cam 37 lifts the pawl 42 off the ratchet wheel 30 ; meanwhile the end 84 of the lap passes beneath the roller 10 and is seized by the rollers 10, 11 which, due to the engagement of the pin P in a recess of the cam groove 71, coaxial with the arm 27, roll on the drum and then move away therefrom, by reason of the pins P and S engaging the cam grooves 72, 73, and detach a tuft of fibres from the lap 83. The rollers with the detached tuft are then turned so that the line connecting the pins P, S passes through the centre M of the combing cylinder and before the rollers reach the position P<3> ... T<3> where the pins R, S engage the cam grooves 74, 75, the gear 14 engages the segment and the rollers are rotated to present the leading end of the tuft to the pins 89 of the combing cylinder, the needles thereof being set more closely together in the direction of the movement of the rollers. After passing the segment 23 the rollers cease to rotate and the combing continues until the rollers leave the needled part of the cylinder, the rollers, due to the engagement of the pins P with cam grooves 76 and the swinging of the pins R, S, T about the pins P, being " inverted " or turned as a unit, while not rotating, about 180 degrees so that the trailing end of the tuft is presented to the combing cylinder. This action occurs at the position P<5> . . . T <5>, and at position P <6> ... T<6> the pins T are guided by a cam groove 77 and the pins R engage grooves 78 until the pins S engage a cam groove 79 with the pins P<7> engaging a guide 82. The gear 12 then engages the sector 24 to present the end of the tuft to the needles 92 of the combing cylinder and the rollers are again rotated and moved as before to complete the combing of the tuft, the rollers running on to the delivery drum 46 with the pins S engaging the groove 81 and the pins P the guide 82. Here, the roller 10 engages the drum and the end of the combed lap 93 already thereon while a part 94 at the ends of the rollers falls into a recess in the arm 55 of the arms 33 of the drum and moves the arms with the roller 36 around it to press the delivered tuft on to the lap 93 which is taken from the drum by the roller 45 ; the arm 55 is then disengaged from the part 94 by the cam 51 and the arms 33 move back to their initial position with the roller 36 under the action of the braked pulley, while the rollers continue their movement around the drum until the pins again reach the position P<0> . . . S<0> when the detachment of another tuft begins. The speed of the drum 27 and the relative speeds of the drums 27, 46 can be varied to suit the staple of the tuft being detached and to vary the overlap of the combed tufts also the thickness of the delivered lap 93. Brushes rotating around the combing cylinder remove noil from the needles and the noil may be delivered from the machine by suction through the tubular shaft 2. In a modification, Fig. 15, for fibres of shorter staple, pivoted nipper bars 96, 95 mounted in the disc 3, are actuated so that after the tuft is detached by the rollers 10, 11 it is held between one of the rollers and a nipper bar so that the nip is relatively close to the combing cylinder 1, the position of the rollers relatively to the cylinder being controlled by the shafts 18, which engage guides in the end frames 6, and the turning movement of the rollers being controlled by a pair of pins at the ends of a pair of radial arms diametrically arranged on the shafts, these pins also engaging guides in the end frames. After the rollers 10, 11 have detached a tuft 84 from the lap fed to the drum 27, the rollers as they move around the cylinder 1 gradually approach it and as they move from position 1 to position 2 the rollers are rotated to deliver the tuft to a nipper bar 95, extending between the end discs 3 and fixed to arms 96 pivoted to the discs. Each pair of arms is acted upon by springs 100 and have pins 101 engaging slots 102 in the discs so that as the rollers approach the cylinder 1, the bar 95 is forced to enter the nip of the rollers and press the tuft against the roller 10 ; if the staple is very short, the tuft may then be held only between the nipper bar and the roller 10. At the end of the combing by the segment 86 the rollers are rotated to take control of the tuft and at position 5 the rollers are " inverted " as a unit to present the uncombed end of the tuft to the cylinder 1 after which a similar sequence of operations is performed to effect the combing of the original trailing end 92 of the tuft and at position 8 the arms 96 return to their original position and the completely combed tuft is delivered to the drum 46. The rollers may be rotated on their axes during their movement about the cylinder 1 by U- shaped racks slidably mounted in the discs 3 and actuated by cam grooves to engage gears on the rollers, while they may be positively rotated to detach a tuft at the drum 27 and to deliver it at the drum 46 by the gears on the rollers engaging toothed sectors fixed on the shaft of the drums. In another form a pair of co-operating nipper bars are provided which take the tuft from the rollers for the combing operation and deliver it thereto for the " inversion " of the rollers ; modifications of the mounting of the rollers to facilitate removal thereof and for screening the gears from dust are also described. The combing cylinder may be adjustably mounted so that the number of needles engaging the tufts can be varied and so the amount of noil extracted. Drawing mechanism may be mounted on the machine at the feeding and delivery sides.