US3268056A - Automatic bobbin gate system - Google Patents

Description

g- 1966 J. K. M COLLOUGH, JR 3,268,056

AUTOMATIC BOBBIN GATE SYSTEM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 26, 1964 OJTO 28 2 6 28 24 3O INVENTOR. 7 JOHN K. MCCOLLOUGH,JR. BY

ATTORNEY Aug. 23, 1966 J. K. M COLLOUGH, JR 3,268,056

AUTOMATIC BOBBIN GATE SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 26, 1964 FIG. "2-

INVENTOR.

JOH N K. MCCOLLOUGH,JR BY Lam ATTORN EY 23, 1966 J. K. M COLLOUGH, JR 3,268,056

AUTOMATIC BQBBIN GATE SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 26, 1964 INVENTOR.

PHOTOCELL RELAY HLL HEB- L ilodyag TWA/ ic ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,268,056 AUTOMATIC BOBBIN GATE SYSTEM John K. McCollough, Jr., Spartanburg, S.C., assignor to Deering Milliken Research Corporation, Spartanburg, S.C., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 26, 1964, Ser. No. 378,099 14 Claims. (Cl. 19826) This invention relates generally to bobbin handling apparatus and more particularly to an improved system to automatically transfer bobbins from a moving conveyor to a bobbin transfer apparatus and to automatically maintain a preselected supply of bobbins in the bobbin transfer apparatus.

In recent years the textile industry has been developing and using automatic and semi-automatic bobbin dofling and donning apparatus for textile processing machines such as spinning frames. In order to more fully automate such doffing and donning apparatus, it is desirable to have a mechanized bobbin transfer arrangement for transferring bobbins from a central source to a plurality of user stations, such as loading stations for loading the empty supply bobbins onto the doffing and donning apparatus. To effect such transfer efficiently, transfer cone arrangements such as that shown in US. Patent No. 3,090,476, Sanders, May 21, 1963, have been employed to transfer the empty bobbins from a conveyor to a receiving belt at the loading station. To most efiiciently use such a system it is necessary to automatically maintain a constant supply of bobbins in the chute which supplies bobbins from the conveyor to the transfer cone.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an automatic bobbin supply system in which the bobbin feed chute is automatically supplied bobbins from the bobbin supply point.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic article handling apparatus which automatically and efficiently maintains a constant supply of articles in the feed system to an automatic transfer mechanism.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a bobbin transfer system in which the supply of bobbins in the feed mechanism to the transfer apparatus is automatically controlled by the number of bobbins in the feed mechanism.

Other objects and advantages will be clearly apparent as the specification proceeds to describe the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation view of the chute feed control mechanism;

FIGURE 2 is a partial top view of the conveyor shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional elevation view taken on line 3-3 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 44 in FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a schematic control circuit showing the preferred control circuit for the bobbin feed control mechanism.

Looking now at the drawings and in particular to FIG- URE l, the general arrangement of the herein disclosed apparatus is shown. Bobbins, quills, or the like B are delivered from a common supply source, such as a hopper or bin to an endless conveyor belt 12 traveling in the direction indicated by the arrows with the upper belt portion 14 supported on a platform 16 and the lower belt portion 18 supported on the lower platform 20. The conveyor belt 12 delivers empty bobbins B to a plurality of discharge stations 22 in a manner generally similar to that shown in copending application Serial No. 143,421, filed October 6, 1961, now US. Patent No. 3,173,543. Bobbins B are carried on the conveyor belt 12 normal to the direction of movement of the belt between cleat ice members 24 suitably connected to the belt 12. For reasons hereinafter set forth selected cleats 24 have apertures 26 provided therein. Also for reasons set forth hereinafter certain recesses 28 between the cleats 24 have been filled with a cleat member 30.

As indicated above bobbins B are conveyed from the bin 10 on upper belt portion 14 of the endless conveyor 12 between the cleats 24. The conveyor then reverses direction and conveys the bobbins B toward the bin 10 with the bobbins B laying on the platform 20 in the recesses 28 between the depending cleat members 24 to a plurality of discharge stations 22, only one of which is shown for the sake of illustration. At the discharge station the desired amount of bobbins B is automatically delivered from the lower belt portion 18 to the bobbin feed chute 32 from which bobbins B are supplied to a transfer mechanism, not shown. From the transfer mechanism bobbins B are supplied to a receiving belt, not shown, in any suitable manner, such as that disclosed in US. Patent No. 3,090,476, supra.

The chute 32 is defined by a pair of side plates 36 and 38 which can be integral with or suitably connected to the side walls 40 of the conveyor system. The back of the chute 32 is formed by a sheet metal member 42 connected between side walls 36 and 38 in any suitable manner. The front portion of the chute 32 is formed by a pair of angle iron members 44 riveted or otherwise secured to the side walls 36 and 38. Sheet metal members 42 and 44 are flared outwardly adjacent the conveyor 12 in order to more readily accommodate bobbins dropped therein. Openings 48 and 50 are provided in sheet metal member 42 to allow actuators 52 and 54 of microswitches 56 and 58, respectively, to project therethrough for reasons hereinafter explained.

Mounted on each side of the conveyor belt 12 are motor driven gate members 60 and 61 to control the flow of bobbins into the chute 32 from the lower belt portion 18 of the conveyor 12. Suitably connected to side walls 40 are upstanding wall members 62 which support horizontally extending platemember 64. Integrally connected to plate member 64 is an L-shaped motor support plate 66 (FIG- URE 1) on which is mounted motor 68. Angle iron members 70 are welded or otherwise secured to wall members 62 and plate member 64 to provide rigidity thereto.

Gate members 60 and 61 are rotated in the direction indicated by arrows thereon by motor 68 so that they rotate toward the direction of movement of the lower belt portion 18 of the conveyor belt 12 in order to lessen the possibility of jamming a bobbin between the blades 72 of gate member 60 or blades 74 of gate member 61 and the bobbin slot 76 cut out of the lower platform 20. To allow rotary movement of the gate members so that the blades 72 and 74 do not contact the lower platform 20 arcuate portions 78 and 80 are also cut out of the platform 20 to allow the blades to rotate in the indicated direction.

Gate members 60 and 61 are driven through shaft members 82 suitably journalled in plate member 64 and plate member 84 rigidly secured to upstanding wall members 62 by angle irons 86 welded or otherwise secured thereto. Rigidly attached to the top of each shaft 82 is a sprocket member 87 suitably rotated by an endless chain member 88 driven by sprockets 90 and 91. Gate member 61 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction directly from motor shaft 92 through sprocket 91 while gate member 60 is rotated in a clockwise direction by motor shaft 92 through suitable gears 94 and 96.

To actuate the electrical circuit to the motor 68 a photocell 98 and a light source 100 are located upstream of the gate members. If the actuator 54 connected to microswitch 58 indicates a need for bobbins in the chute 32, photocell 98 receives light from light source 100 at periodic intervals through apertures 26 spaced along the certain preselected recesses 28.

conveyor belt 12 and actuates the motor 68 to rotate gate members 60 and 6 1 to allow bobbins to drop into the chute 32.

The location of the photocell 98, light source 1% and the apertures 26 depends on the number of bobbins that you desire to drop into the chute 32 at one time. In the preferred embodiment it is desired to drop three bobbins into the chute 32 at a time. To enhance this operation it is preferred that each series of three bobbins be separated by a distance approximately equal to three cleats. As pointed out previously cleat 30 was provided to fill The filling of such recesses provides the preselected distance between each set of three bobbins. This preselected closed area allows time for the gate members 60 and 61 to rotate the blades out of the path of travel of bobbins falling through the slot 76 in the platform 26 to alleviate the possibility of catching a bobbin between the blades and the conveyor belt 12. Further, this preselected closed area allows the gate members to close without jamming a bobbin which has been only partially dropped from the recesses 28 into the chute 32.

As previously pointed out an actuator 52 of microswitch 56 is provided in chute 32. In normal operation there will be suflicient bobbins in the chute 3:2 to maintain actuator 52 in the down position. If for some reason, such as a lack of a sufi icient number of bobbins in the conveyor 12, actuator 52 will rise to the position shown in FIGURE 1 when the supply of bobbins in the chute is below the actuator 52, thereby breaking the circuit to the transfer mechanism and bobbin loading station drive means until such time that an additional supply of bobbins is supplied to the chute 32 and closes actuator 52 due to the weight thereof.

It should be noted that blade members 72 on gate member 60 are Wider than blade members 74 on gate member 61. In apparatus of this type the bobbins B are oriented prior to the discharge station 22 so that they lie parallel with all the large ends on the same side of the conveyor. Therefore, since in the illustrated embodiment the large ends of the bobbins are on the right hand side of the conveyor belt and the small ends on the left hand side, the blades 72 are larger than the blades 74 so that the bobbin will be positioned properly and firmly in the bobbin recess 28.

For reasons hereinafter explained a switch member 102 is rigidly mounted to the angle iron member 86 and is contacted by rivets or projections 104 on each 180 rotation of the gate member 60. Rivets or projections 104 are located above and in line with blades 72. Switch 102 is shown in operative relationship with gate member 60 but obviously can be used with gate member 61, if desired.

Looking at the drawings and in particular to FIGURE the circuit diagram will be explained initially when the chute 32 is full and the actuator 54 is down due to the weight of bobbins thereon. Microswitch 58 will then be in the open position as indicated in solid lines in FIGURE 5. The control relay coil .106 and the timer relay coil 108 will be de-energized, thereby maintaining the motor 68 de-energized. Stop switch 110 will be open and timer relay 112 will be closed as indicated in solid lines. It can readily be seen that regardless of the light impulses received by the photocell 98 that the motor 68 will not be energized to rotate the blades 72 and 74 to drop bobbins into the chute 32. The blades 72 and 74 will therefore remain in the dotted line position shown in FIGURE 4.

Assume now that the bobbin level in the chute 32 drops below the actuator 54 allowing the actuator 54 to assume the solid line position in FIGURE 1 so that the microsw-itch 58 will close assuming the dotted line position shown in FIGURE 5. The circuit in FIGURE 5 is now ready to activate the motor 68 when the next light pulse from light source 100 pulses the photocell 9% through the aperture 26 in the cleat 24.

When the next light pulse hits the photocell 98 the resistance of the dark resistant photocell 98 Will decrease, thereby completing the circuit to line 1 14 through the photocell relay 11-5, thereby energizing the control relay coil i196 and the timer relay coil 198 to close control relay 1%? and open timer relay switch :112, thereby energizing the motor 68 to initiate rotation of the gate members 60 and 61. Gate members 60 and 61 will rotate 180 until switch member 192 rotating therewith engages rivet member or projections 104 to open stop switch i and tie-energize control relay coil 106 to open control relay 107 and de-energize motor 68 and stop rotation of gate members 60 and 61 if microswitch 58 is not closed by the demand actuator 54. If the demand actuator 54 is still in the up position as shown in FIGURE 1 calling for more bobbins the next light pulse will almost simultaneously re-energize the motor to continue to rotate the gate members 66 and 61 until such time that the chute is full and the switch 102 can de-energize the circuit by engaging the rivet or projection 104 to open the stop switch 110.

The time delay switch 112 and the timer relay coil 168 are not necessary components of the control circuit but are preferably used to provide better control. The light pulse to the photocell is of a very short duration and it has been found that the stop switch 110 could de-energize the circuit to the motor 68 before it moved off the rivet or projection 134 after the circuit was energized by the microswitch 58 and the light pulse. Therefore, the time delay switch 112 is momentarily held in to by-pass the stop switch 110 in order to maintain the control relay 167 closed until the switch .102 has cleared the rivet or projection i194 on its rotational path. Then the time delay switch will open and stay open until the timer relay coil is de-energized by the stop switch 110.

It can readily be seen that the gate members 60 and 61 and associated blades provide a windmill effect in that as one blade uncovers the slot 76 the other blade is being rotated into position to close the slot after a certain predetermined number of bobbins have fallen therethrough. As disclosed it is preferred to rotate the blades and therefore only use two blades on each gate member. It is obvious, though, that other numbers of blades and corresponding angles of rotation can be employed within the scope of the invention depending on the speed of the conveyor belt 12 and the number of bobbins required.

The herein disclosed bobbin supply system operates efiiciently and with a minimum of supervision automatically maintains a supply of bobbins in a feed mechanism which is supplying such bobbins to an automatic loading station. Such disclosed apparatus has a minimum number of moving parts which require very little maintenance and attention to maintain them in efficient Working condition. Furthermore, the herein disclosed system is inexpensive to manufacture, install and maintain.

Although I have described in detail the preferred embodiments of my invention, I contemplate that many changes may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of my invention, and I desire to be limited only by the claims.

That which is claimed is:

1. A bobbin transfer mechanism comprising an endless belt having bobbin receiving pockets on the outer surface thereof, means supplying bobbins to said pockets, said belt having at least one run in which said pockets open downwardly, belt guiding means operably associated with said one run and preventing said bobbins from dropping out of said downwardly opening pockets, means forming an opening in said belt guiding means of sufficient size to allow a bobbin to fall through, a gate member rotatably supported adjacent said opening, said gate member having a plurality of blade members operably associated therewith with at least one of said blade members being under said opening preventing bobbins from falling through said opening from said one run, bobbin receiving and guiding means located below said opening, and means operably associated with said bobbin receiving and guiding means and said gate member to rotate said blade member under said opening away from said opening to allow bobbins to drop through said opening into said bobbin receiving and guiding means in response to the level of bobbins in said bobbin receiving and guiding means.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said means to rotate said gate member includes a means to deactivate said means to rotate said gate member when said gate member has rotated through a predetermined angle and said bobbin receiving and guiding means does not require further bobbins.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein one of said plurality of blades will be located under said opening when said means to rotate said gate member is deactivated.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein means operably associated with said bobbin receiving means and gate member includes a photocell and light source.

5. The structure of claim 4 wherein said pockets are formed by cleat members spaced from one another on said endless belt, means forming apertures through certain preselected cleat members, said photocell being mounted on one side of said cleat members and said light source being mounted on the other side of said cleat members in line with said .photocell whereby a light beam from said light source will pulse said photocell when said apertures in said cleat members pass therebetween.

6. A bobbin transfer mechanism comprising: an endless belt, means forming pockets on the outer surface of said endless belt, means supplying bobbins to said pockets, said belt having at least one run in said pockets opening downwardly, belt guiding means operably associated with said one run and preventing said bobbins from dropping out of said downwardly opening pockets, means forming an opening in said belt guiding means of sufiicient size to allow a bobbin to fall therethrough, a first gate member rotatably mounted on one side of said endless belt adjacent said opening, a second gate member rotatably mounted on the other side of said endless belt adjacent said opening, each of said g-ate members having a plurality of blade members attached thereto, each gate member having at least one of blade members projecting under the respective portion of said opening adjacent thereto to prevent bobbins from falling therethrough, bobbin receiving and guiding means mounted below said gate members, drive means operably associated with said gate members to rotate said gate members, and control means operably associated with said drive means to rotate said gate members to allow bobbins to drop through said opening in response to the level of bobbins in said bobbin receiving and guiding means.

7. The structure of claim 6 wherein said drive means when actuated rotates said gate members in the direction of travel of said endless belt.

8. The structure of claim 6 wherein said control includes a detecting means in operative relationship with said bobbin receiving and guiding means to detect the absence of bobbins in a certain predetermined area of said bobbin receiving and guiding means, and further includes an actuating means to actuate said drive means to rotate said gate members when said detecting means has detected the absence of bobbins.

9. The structure of claim 8 wherein said actuating means is a photocell and light source.

10. The structure of claim 9 wherein said pockets are formed by cleat members spaced from one another on said endless belt, means forming apertures through certain preselected cleat members, said photocell being mounted on one side of said cleat members and said light source being mounted on the other side of said cleat members in line with said photocell whereby a light beam from said light source will pulse said photocell when said apertures in said cleat members pass therebetween.

11. The structure of claim 10 wherein said control means further includes a stop means to deactivate said drive means when said gate members have rotated through a predetermined angle and said detecting means is not detecting a need for bobbins in said bobbin guiding and receiving means.

12. The structure of claim 11 wherein one of said plurality of blades on each of said gate members will be under the respective side of said opening when said drive means is deactivated.

13. The structure of claim 12 wherein the blades attached to said first gate member are wider than the blades attached to said second gate member.

14. The structure of claim 13 wherein said drive means a rotates both of said gate members toward the direction of travel of the portion of said endless belt adjacent thereto.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,777,269 9/ 1930 Webber.

2,141,044 12/1938 Rassmann 198-140 2,402,144 6/1946 Baker 198-20 2,572,164 10/ 1951 Lehmann 19826 2,889,073 6/1959 Nogle 221-10 2,902,186 '10/ 1959 Pollmann 22110 2,969,883 1/1961 Cargill et al. 193-40X 3,055,481 10/ 1962 Austin 19840 EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner.

HUGO O. SCHULZ, Examiner.

R. WALKER, Assistant Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A BOBBIN TRANSFER MECHANISM COMPRISING AN ENDLESS BELT HAVING BOBBIN RECEIVING POCKETS ON THE OUTER SURFACE THEREOF, MEANS SUPPLYING BOBBINS TO SAID POCKETS, SAID BELT HAVING AT LEAST ONE RUN IN WHICH SAID POCKETS OPEN DOWNWARDLY, BELT GUIDING MEANS OPERABLY ASOCIATED WITH SAID ONE RUN AND PREVENTING SAID BOBBINS FROM DROPPING OUT OF SAID DOWNWARDLY OPENING POCKETS, MEANS FORMING AN OPENING IN SAID BELT GUIDING MEANS OF SUFFICIENT SIZE TO ALLOW A BOBBIN TO FALL THROUGH, A GATE MEMBER ROTATABLY SUPPORTED ADJACENT SAID OPENING, SAID GATE MEMBER HAVING A PLURALITY OF BLADE MEMBERS OPERABLY ASSOCIATED THEREWITH WITH AT LEAST ONE OF SAID BLADE MEMBERS BEING UNDER SAID OPENING PREVENTING BOBBINS FROM FALLING THROUGH SAID OPENING FROM SAID ONE RUN, BOBBIN RECEIVING AND GUIDING MEANS LOCATED BELOW SAID OPENING,

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