Patent Publication Number: US-4320560-A

Title: Drive for a plurality of rotary carding components

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a drive for a plurality of rotatable components of a carding machine, such as the coiler shaft, the calender rollers, the squeezing rollers, the take-off roller, the doffer and the like. The drive includes a speed-variable motor and a gearing which drivingly interconnects the rotatable carding components. 
     In known carding machines the drive is, in the zone of the web doffing, divided, as a rule, in several branch drives and has a great number of driving elements. The output of the drive motor is, for example, divided into a first group comprising the take-off roller, the doffer and squeezing rollers and into a second group comprising the calender assembly, including the calender rollers and the coiler. While the motor rotates with relatively small rpm, the rpm is increased for the two above-noted groups. For this purpose, several step-up stages in the gearing are necessary; this leads to output losses and thus to a reduction of the efficiency of the drive. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the invention to provide an improved drive of the above-outlined type in which superior efficiency is achieved and in which the number of drive elements is significantly reduced as compared to prior art arrangements. 
     This object and others to become apparent as the specification progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly stated, the drive comprises a first gear connected to and driven by a motor, a second gear affixed to a shaft and connected slip-free to the first gear to rotate the shaft, a third gear affixed to the shaft, fourth and fifth gears connected to respective first and second rotary components of the carding machine and driven slip-free by the third gear, a sixth gear affixed to the shaft, seventh and eighth gears connected to respective third and fourth rotary components of the carding machine, an additional shaft connected to a fifth rotary component of the carding machine, a ninth gear affixed to the additional shaft; the sixth gear driving slip-free the seventh, eighth and ninth gears, a tenth gear affixed to the additional shaft; and an eleventh gear connected to a sixth rotary component of the carding machine and driven slip-free by the tenth gear. 
     According to the invention, the drive elements are reduced to the necessary number so that a significant economy is achieved. The mutual correlation of the drive elements with one another provides for a reduced number of power path branches, whereby mechanical losses are reduced. It is a particular advantage of the invention that the output power of the motor follows, in the power path, only a single direction, that is, from high rpm&#39;s to low rpm&#39;s. This permits to achieve at high rpm&#39;s a high power to thus significantly improve the degree of efficiency of the drive. 
     Preferably, the motor drives the coiler shaft by means of a gearing, such as a bevel gearing or a mechanical gear box. The driving gear is connected with the coiler shaft with the intermediary of the gearing. In such an arrangement of the motor the drive train starts with the highest rpm, namely the rpm of the coiler shaft. 
     In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention, the motor drives directly the driving gear, that is, without the interposition of a gearing. In this manner gear noises are practically eliminated. Expediently, the motor is coupled electrically with a further motor associated with the coiler shaft. The two motors are electrically coupled for synchronous operation, for example, by means of an adapter circuit to ensure that the rpm&#39;s of the two motors decrease or increase in an identical ratio. In order to ensure such a synchronous operation, for example, a generator as desired value transmitter may be provided which is associated with the doffer and which applies its signals to a regulator for the drive of the coiler shaft. 
     The force transmission between the drive elements is effected in a slip-free manner which may be achieved, for example, by meshing gears. Preferably a slip-free transmission element, such as a toothed belt is used. The use of such a transmission element is advantageous since it operates very silently, it needs no maintenance and it is inexpensive to manufacture. When a toothed belt is used, the driving gear and the driven gear constitute sprockets of the drive belt. Expediently, at least one tension roller is provided for the toothed belt in order to set an optimal belt tension for the transmission. Within the drive there are provided exchangeable and permanent toothed gears. Preferably, the permanent toothed gears. The nonexchangeable toothed gears are the transmission and drive elements. The exchangeable toothed gears have the purpose of setting the stretch delay which is dependent on the material have the same number of teeth; this is advantageous from the point of view of manufacture and stocking. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line II--II of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III--III of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV--IV of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 5 is sectional view taken along the line V--V of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 6 is a schematic top plan view of another preferred embodiment of the invention. 
     FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a component forming part of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Turning now to FIG. 1, a speed-variable motor 1 drives a gearing 2 with the intermediary of a clutch 4. The gearing 2 is drivingly connected to a coiler shaft 3 and also rotates a belt drive gear 5. As also seen in FIG. 2, a toothed belt 9 which has teeth only on its inner face, meshes with the gear 5 and with a further gear 6 mounted on an end 7a of a shaft 8. The toothed belt 9 is tensioned by means of tension gear 10. Also referring to FIG. 3, to the other end 7b of the shaft 8 there is mounted a belt drive gear 11 which is rotated by the shaft 8. Two driven gears 12 and 13 serve for driving respective calender rollers 14 and 15. For this purpose, a toothed belt 16 which has teeth on both faces, is trained about the drive gear 11, the driven gears 12 and 13 as well as a tension gear 17. 
     As seen in FIGS. 1 and 4, on the shaft 8, between the drive gears 6 and 11 there is mounted a further drive gear 18 which, by means of a toothed drive belt 25 (which has teeth on both faces), drives gears 19 and 20 which, in turn, are connected with squeezing rollers 21 and 22. The belt 25 further drives a gear 23 which is mounted on a shaft 28 of a take-off roller 24 for rotating the latter. The toothed belt 25 is tensioned by a tensioning gear 26. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 5, the shaft 28 also carries a drive gear 27 which drives, by means of a toothed drive belt 31 (which has teeth only on its inner face), a gear 29 associated with a doffer 30. The toothed drive belt 31 is tensioned by means of a smooth-faced tensioning roller 32. It is noted that the motor 1 has basically a greater rpm than that of the after-connected carding components. Preferably, the calender rollers 14, 15, the squeezing rollers 21, 22, the take-off roller 24 and the doffer 30 have respectively decreasing rpm&#39;s. 
     Turning now to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, this embodiment, as concerns the plurality of rotatable carding components, corresponds to the drive illustrated in FIG. 1. The drive gear 5 in the embodiment according to FIG. 6, however, is directly connected to a speed-variable motor 33. The coiler shaft 3 is driven directly by means of a further speed-variable motor 34. The motor 33 is electrically connected with the motor 34 by means of an adapter circuit 35 to ensure synchronous rotation. The motor 33 is associated with a tacho-generator 33a. A block diagram of the adapter circuit 35 is illustrated in FIG. 7. The adapter circuit 35 includes a presetting device 35b in which the speed of the coiler shaft is set and which is connected with the tacho-generator 33a. The adapter circuit 35 further includes a conventional electronic drive control (&#34;simoreg&#34;) 35a connected to the presetting device 35b and the motor 34. 
     It will be understood that the above description of the present invention is susceptible to various modifications, changes and adaptations, and the same are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims.