Patent GB-884250-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to the mechanical doffing and donning of spinning cops
Filed: 1957-12-31
Abstract: 884,250. Doffing and donning apparatus. PRAT, R. E., and SERRA, J. H; Dec. 31, 1957 [Jan. 5, 1957], No. 40404/57. Class 120(2) Means for doffing bobbins from spindles arranged in an upright row in a spinning &c. machine comprises an inclined cam-track for breaking the driving-connection between the bobbins and their spindles and then doffing the bobbins, and means for supporting the track for movement along the row whereby the bobbins are successively engaged and removed; the track may have a leading portion of smaller inclination that the rear portion to provide a large lifting- component as the track moves under the bobbins to break the driving-connection, whereby, after the latter step, the bobbins are removed, or the track may comprise a pair of spaced inclined members to be located on opposite sides for simultaneously engaging the same bobbin, the inclination of the members being such that the rear portions are higher than the leading portions by a distance corresponding to the height of the spindles, so that a bobbin supported on the rear portions is removed from its spindle after being loosened by the leading portions. Two forms of track unit are described. In Fig 8 opposite track elements 17, are carried by a pivotable member 16; when used with paper &c. bobbins they are arranged to engage the winding as shown; with stronger bobbins they engage beneath them. In Fig. 11, single, pivotable, elements 24 are provided. The camtrack may consist of a single large unit of the kind shown in Fig. 8, or of a number of these units arranged side by side (Fig. 15, not shown), the leading elements being of smaller inclination than the rear elements. In Fig. 1, the first three units are as in Fig. 8 and the rest as in Fig. 11, the leading elements again being of smaller inclination. The members 16, 24 are pivoted on bars 15, 25 secured to a carriage on fixed rails 3 and mounted at the side of a trolley 34 by a pin-and-slot connection 37, 38 which prevents irregularities in the shop floor being communicated to the carriage. Between each spindle is a balloon-separator 6, Fig. 2, which is connected to a rod 9 slidable in the ring-rail 4 and which is moved into operative position as parts 5, 10 engage when the ring-rail 4 is raised; when the ring-rail is lowered at the completion of a set, the rod 9 is carried with it so that the separator is moved to inoperative position when rod 9 strikes a fixed part 2. When the bobbins are filled and the separators lowered, the front wheels 14 of the carrier are placed on the rails 3 on the left of the machine so that the first unit 16 can be rotated to an upright position in the space 22 between the first bobbin and the end-frame 21; as the trolley moves along the machine, the threads are separated by a part 46, and successive units are rotated into operative position in the space 22, so that the bobbins are first loosened by the elements 17 and gradually raised by the elements 24 until they topple into the trolley, the threads being severed by a knife 148. Also carried by the trolley, is a donning device comprising a shoot 32 to which empty bobbins are conveyed one at a time by a rotating drum 40, being turned to a vertical position by engaging a stop. A lever 48, Fig. 14, pivoted at 248 and linked to pivoted levers 50, 52 tends to rotate clockwise under the influence of a compression spring 54 between a fixed point and a pivoted lever 30a pivotally linked to lever 48 at 53. Lever 48 is however prevented from moving by a detent 47 while an arm 29 engages a spindle 20. When the carriage moves to take arm 29 clear of a spindle, lever 48 is free to move and lever 50 is pivoted to withdraw a detent 50a to allow a fresh bobbin 118 to fall on to a spindle beneath it; lever 30a pivots for a hammer 30 to descend and drive the bobbin on to a spindle, and a member 31 is moved into the shoot 32 to stop the descent of the following bobbin. The spring 54 is energized and the parts restored to the positions shown by the pressure of lever 47 on arm 48 as the carriage continues to move for arm 29 to engage the next bobbin. The members 16, 24 are automatically moved to inoperative position as they reach the space between the last bobbin and the end-frame of the machine. If the machine has no end-frame 21, the form of doffer may be employed having a single member as in Fig. 3 which in this case need not be pivotally mounted.