Patent GB-695921-A (GB)
Title: Feeder mechanism for textile machines
Inventor: BURESH FRANCIS MATTHEW
IPC: D01G23/00
Filed: 1951-08-28
Abstract: 695,921. Feeding-apparatus for textile machines; opening fibres; mixing and blending fibres; lap-forming apparatus. CURLATOR CORPORATION, and BURESH. F. M. Aug. 28. 1951, No. 20245/51. Classes 120(i) and 120(iii) A feeder mechanism for a textile machine comprises a hopper for fibrous material, an endless conveyor mounted to travel through the material in the hopper and having pins' thereon to pick up tufts of material and carry them to an air bridge into which the conveyer projects, a movable foraminous screen at the opposite end of the air bridge from the conveyer, and means for directing an air stream through the bridge and through the screen to pick material off the pins and carry it on to the screen. In one embodiment, Fig. 1, fibre in such form as cotton balls or packed bunches as might come from a bale or bag is delivered or dumped into a shopper 51 from where it is lifted by pins 55 of an endless apron :56 from which excess fibre is pulled and retained fibre is opened by the action of pins 67 on a rotating stripper roll 65 which is itself stripped of excess material by an oscillating stripper roll 70 the ,pins of which are automatically cleaned as they pass through slots in a stripper plate 72: small bunches of tufts of fibre retained on the pins 55 and 67 are presented to an air stream or " bridge," which passes through an opening 69, between a portion of a bridge plate 75 and partition 74, under the plate 75, and over strippers 70 and 65 and the upper end of apron 56 and a hinged plate 78, and is delivered thereby to a screen box 80 wherein the fibre is caught between the lower side of an endless foraminous, screen 31<SP>1</SP> and freely-rotatable rollers 25<SP>1</SP> converging therewith and passed therethrough to a bed plate 21 from where it is fed by a feed roller 42<SP>1</SP> into the textile machine. The air stream continues through the screen 31<SP>1</SP>, another screen 37' into a duct 34<SP>1</SP> communicating with a fan 85 the suction effect of which may be adjusted to control the weight of fibre, i.e. the size of the tufts, lifted off the pins 57, 67, and is such that the air stream is not of sufficient intensity to carry heavy impurities, e.g. "tramp".metal, wood, burrs, which descend into a tray 110: once such a predetermined adjustment has :been made tthe air stream conditions within the hopper and screen box will automatically vary according to the degree and arrangement of fibre packing at the entrance to the box 80 and between the screen 31<SP>1</SP> and rolls 25<SP>1</SP> to regulate crosswise and longitudinally the quantity and disposition of the fibre and so produce a uniform web. The apron 56 and strippers 65, 70 act continuously on the fibre until it is in such state and/or the feed conditions are such that the fibre can be accepted by the air stream. A combined motor and gear reduction unit drives the driving roller 58 of the apron 56, the stripper 65, and link mechanism for oscillating the stripper 70: the feed screen 34<SP>1</SP> and the roller 42<SP>1</SP> are driven from a shaft of the machine on which the feeding apparatus is used. The modification illustrated in Fig. 5 provides two series of working pin members which coact with the downfliglit of the elevating apron to intensify the opening and cleaning of the fibres. Within a hopper 130, fibrous material is fed by an apron 125 to an elevating apron 135 which is set at an angle of less than 90 degrees thereto so as to tumble stock back for mixing and blending, and pins 167 of which are stripped by a motor-driven roll 145 which is rotated at high speed so that its teeth 147 are cleaned by centrifugal action. During its passage through a channel formed between a plate 170 and the apron 125, the fibre is subjected to the cooperative action of the pins 167 and pins 173 which latter are mounted on shafts 172 geared together in pairs, the shafts of each pair being so positioned and oscillated that the pins alternately catch and hold fibres from the pins 167 and subsequently release them, i.e. the two shafts are oscillated in opposite directions simultaneously, each shaft moving through approximately 90 degrees, and by so timing and synchronizing the oscillation of consecutive shafts that at the moment of release of the fibre by any row. of pins 173 the next row below is rising in its stroke to further retain the fibre for action by the descending pins 167; additional pins 175 on shafts 174 oscillate similarly to pins 173 but may be set closer thereto and driven at a faster speed. An air stream passes through adjustable louvres 176 over the pins 175 to assist in the separation of the fibres from any impurities or " trash " which drops on to the apron 125 and is discharged thereby into a trash box 179: an air " bridge which accepts tufts of fibre when they are reduced to suitable form is established and its boundaries are defined by a plate 182, sifting bars 183, a plate 184 and an upper bridge plate 180 shaped to provide an expansion chamber wherein the velocity of the air may be reduced to further eliminate " trash," e.g. the fibre tufts may be allowed to tumble over the bars 183 on their way to the plate 184 and thence to the screen box 80. Instead of the pins 173, 175 being oscillated they may be reciprocated rectilinearly toward and away from the apron 135, the pins being spring controlled and cleaned by their passage through holes in a fixed plate, Fig. 10 (not shown). A motor and gear reduction unit drives the driving rollers 137, 127 of the aprons 135, 125 and crank-lever and link mechanism whereby the pins, as at 173, 175, are oscillated or reciprocated.