DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to spinning machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to ring spinning and twisting machines. Still particularly the present invention relates to ring travellers used in textile ring spinning and twisting machines.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In textile industry, cotton staple fibres or pre-defined cut length of man-made fibres or combination of both cotton and man-made fibres of synthetic, cellulose, other fibres are used for yarn production. Ring based spinning, doubling, twisting and plying machines need a traveller for circular rotation on the ring to insert twist for the spun yarn and to wind the yarn over a ring cop or bobbin package for the subsequent process. Traveller is needed for the textile industry wherever the ring is being used in yarn forming technology. Travellers of various types are available like, C shaped, J shaped, Ear shaped and Oblique travellers for various applications of textile industry. The travellers can be either made out of metals or non-metals in different forms as detailed above. Traveller is a continuously changeable component on a periodical basis and its life is depended upon various parameters like, wear-out due to constant rotation, contact area and heat generation. The spindle speed and yarn parameters are the main external factors which affects the traveller’s life.

During yarn spinning, the traveller wear-out happens due to the rotation over the ring which has comparatively higher hardness than the traveller. The stable running of the traveller facilitates for better yarn running performance which in-turn results in lesser yarn breaks and uniform wear-out. The existing type of traveller does not have any provisions for self-balancing during running over the ring. Air currents flowing opposite to the direction of traveller during running results in imbalance and lowers the life of the traveller over a period of time due to high wear. This also results in faster weight loss of the traveller, which in turn results in poor performance of the traveller and higher yarn breaks. Further this leads to replacing the traveller due to wear and thus adds to the cost.

Generation of heat due to friction between ring and traveller surfaces while running at higher speed for example 20000 revolutions per minute is one of the major reasons for traveller wear out. Traveller contact area on the surface of the ring determines the traveller speed, heat generation, traveller fly and most importantly traveller burn out. Increasing the width of the traveller is one of the common method to increase the contact area. Increase in traveller width affects the speed and yarn quality which is disadvantageous.

US patent 4107913 describes an invention to dissipate the heat generated in the yarn guiding portion. A vertical flange ring is provided with a J shaped traveller in which said J shaped traveller is provided with a curved yarn guiding portion extending about the upper edge of said vertical flange and a J-shaped anchor portion to provide maximum dissipation of frictional heat. This method is not suitable for C shaped travellers.

Japanese patent application number JPS62180035 discloses a patent application which describes a method for increasing the hardness of the traveller which is capable of holding high hardness even if subjected to frictional heat produced at the time of high-speed revolution. The traveller is made up of alloy tool steel consisting of the metal elements C, Si, Mn, and Cr, Mo + 1/2W and Nb + Ta. The major disadvantage in this method is, increasing the hardness may abrade the contact area of the ring and affects the Ring’s life.

It is to be noted that, frequent replacement of the traveller is not desirable in the industry and there exists a need to overcome the above problems. The present inventors have found that a traveller can be provided with an improved surface which would provide solution for the above mentioned problems as explained in the foregoing description.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above mentioned drawbacks of the existing traveller.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved traveller for ring spinning or twisting machines, which will have better Aerodynamic Harmonising of traveller.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved traveller with longitudinal or cross sectional imprints on the outer surface.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved traveller with better cooling effect, which provides more life, better wear-out and less traveller weight loss.

These and other advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

The present invention relates to an improved traveller design for ring spinning and twisting machines.

In one aspect the traveller of the present invention, the traveller is designed aerodynamically towards self-balancing during running over the ring. The outer top surface of the traveller comprises imprints, which resists the air current flowing opposite to the traveller running direction and transfers towards its full surface of the traveller and stabilizes. Imprints on the top outer surface of the traveller enhances to settle down faster which in-turn lower yarn breaks and traveller fly-outs. Due to better wear-out pattern and traveller cooling effect because of the Imprints, life of the traveller is extended and traveller weight loss is lowered.
According to the main aspect of the invention, ring traveller for ring spinning and twisting machines comprises a plurality of grooves and said grooves are being provided on the outer portion of the ring traveller. Said grooves are imprinted either on longitudinal or cross-sectional direction. The number of grooves is at least two and the maximum number of grooves is being variable in accordance with the width of the traveller. The length of said groove is being imprinted either to the entire length or width of the traveller wire. The shapes of the imprints may be in form of triangular, semi-circular or square or alike.
In accordance with the main aspect of the invention, an aerodynamic ring traveller for ring spinning or twisting machines is provided with a plurality of grooves, said grooves portion has at least one recess and at least one ridge. The width in the top and bottom portion of said recess is between 0.25 mm to 1.50 mm and the depth of said recess is between 0.10 mm to 0.50 mm. Width of the top and bottom portion of the ridge is also between 0.25 mm to 1.50 mm. Maximum number of grooves is variable depending upon size of groove and the width of the traveller.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the width of the recess is at least 0.25 mm and radius of curvature is at least 0.03 mm and distance between the two grooves is at least 1.0 mm especially for the widthwise grooves which are provided in transverse direction.
Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 and 1a depicts the ring traveller according to the prior art.

Figure 2 depicts the ‘C’ shaped ring traveller in accordance with present invention.

Figure 3 depicts the cross-sectional view of the traveller wire section according to the present invention.

Figure 4 and 5 depicts the cross-sectional view of the traveller according to the various embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 6 depicts the oblique flange travellers in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 and 7a depicts the ‘C’ shaped ring traveller in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 8 depicts the ‘C’ shaped ring traveller in accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 depicts the oblique flange travellers in accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.

Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

Figure 1 and 1a shows the existing design of the Traveller (1) which is well known in the art. The travellers are mostly made up of flattened steel wires which are bent in a form like “Bow”. The height of the traveller is referred as Bow height (2) and the width of the traveller is referred as bow width (3). The outer portion (4) has a flat surface and the inner portion (5) is modified based on the shape of wire section (6) required for example, flat, round, Half-round etc. The end portion (7) of the travellers is referred as either Toes or Horns and the gap between the toes is known as Toe gap (8). The thickness (9) and width (10) of the wire also determines the weight and profile of the traveller. The bow height, Toe gap, wire width, wire section and the shape of the travellers are major criteria which determines the performance of the travellers and yarn quality.

Figure 2 shows the elliptical type traveller (11) according to the main aspect of the present invention. The traveller (11) consists plurality of grooves (13) especially on the outer portion (12). Said grooves (13) are provided at the longitudinal direction of the traveller with a predetermined distance. Number of grooves shall be at least two and the maximum number of grooves is variable in accordance with the width (10) of the traveller. The grooves are imprinted to the entire length of the traveller wire.

Figure 3 depicts the cross-sectional view of the traveller wire section (10) according to the present invention. The width (10) of the said wire shall be 0.6 to 4.0 mm. The thickness (9) of the said wire shall be 0.24 to 0.68 mm. The groove (10) portion has at least one recess (14) and one ridge (15). The width in the top portion (16) of recess (14) shall be 0.25 to 1.50 mm and the width of bottom portion (17) of the recess shall be 0.25 to 1.50 mm. The depth (18) of the recess shall be 0.10 mm to 0.50 mm. The top portion (19) of the ridge (15) shall be 0.25 mm to 1.50 mm. The bottom portion (20) of the ridge (15) shall be 0.25 mm to 1.50 mm.

As shown in Figure 4, the shapes of the imprints shall be in any form for example, triangular, semi-circular or square. As shown in Figure 5, the number of imprints (grooves) shall be at least two and above. The maximum number of grooves are variable depending upon the size of the grooves and the width of the traveller. As shown in Figure 6, the grooves shall also be imprinted in the oblique flange travellers (21). The measurements and shape of the imprints are similar to the C shaped travellers.

Figure 7 and 7a shows the elliptical type traveller (31) according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring more specifically to the Figure 7, the outer side (32) of the traveller consists plurality of grooves (33) especially on the upper part of the bow. Number of grooves (33) on the upper part of the bow is at least two and they can be placed in a predetermined distance (34) between each other. The length of the groove is arranged to the entire width of the traveller wire. The width (35) of the said recesses shall be at least 0.25 mm and the radius of the recess curvature (36) shall be at least 0.03 mm. The distance (34) between the two grooves shall be at least 1.0 mm especially for the widthwise grooves.

Figure 8 shows the C shaped traveller (41) according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. The grooves (43) shall be provided to the entire upper surface (42) of the traveller (41) with a predetermined distance (44).

Figure 9 shows the travellers used in the bevelled or oblique flanged rings according to another embodiment of the present invention. The traveller (51) for the bevelled rings consists a lengthy wire portion (52) and a curved portion (54). The lengthy portion (52) is always in contact with the ring’s surface and the curved portion (54) is used to carry the yarn for winding on to the bobbin. Plurality of grooves (53) are provided in the outer part of the lengthy wire portion (52). Alternatively, the grooves (53) shall be provided on the whole outer portion of the traveller (51).

Ring and Traveller metal contact will generate excessive heat of above 300 deg C and the heat will be dissipated by the use of Imprints on the traveller surface, which is always in contact with the air current during rotational movement. Cooling of traveller happens with the effect of Imprints on the surface, which extends the traveller life. Due to the cooling effect of the Imprints, the traveller wear-out reduces and weight loss also lowers, which has a direct influence on the traveller life.

In view of the present disclosure which describes preferred and best modes for providing Imprints over the traveller surface in textile machines, modifications and variations would present themselves to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Any modifications and variations coming within the meaning and range of equivalency are considered within the scope.
,CLAIMS:1. A ring traveller for ring spinning and twisting machines comprises a plurality of grooves (13, 33); said grooves are being provided on the outer portion of the ring traveller.
2. The ring traveler as claimed in claim 1, wherein said grooves are provided on longitudinal or cross sectional direction of said traveller.
3. The ring traveller as claimed in claim 1, wherein number of grooves is at least two.
4. The ring traveller as claimed in claim 1, wherein grooves (13, 33) are being imprinted either to the entire length or width of the traveller wire.
5. The ring traveller as claimed in claim 1 to4, wherein the shapes of the imprints are in the form of triangular, semi-circular, square or alike.
6. The ring traveler as claimed in claim 1, wherein said grooves portion (13) has at least one recess (14) and at least one ridge (15),wherein;
- width of the top portion (16) of said recess (14) is between 0.25 mm to 1.50 mm;
- width of the bottom portion(17) of the said recess is between 0.25 mm to 1.50 mm;
- depth of the groove (18) is between 0.10 mm to 0.50 mm;
- width of the top portion (19) of the ridge (15) is between 0.25 mm to 1.50 mm;
and, width of the bottom portion (20) of the ridge (15) is between 0.25 mm to 1.50 mm.
7. The ring traveller as claimed in claims 1 to 6, wherein maximum number of grooves is variable depending upon size of groove and the width of the traveller.
8. The ring traveller as claimed in claims 1 to 7, wherein the width of the said recess is at least 0.25 mm and radius of curvature is at least 0.03 mm and distance between the two grooves is at least 1.0 mm especially for the widthwise grooves.
9. The ring traveller as claimed in claims 1 to 8, wherein the imprints are formed in any type of travellers like, C shaped, J shaped, Ear shaped and Oblique travellers.