DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[001] The present invention relates to Rings and Travellers which are used in textile applications. More particularly the present invention relates to a coating or plating for rings and travellers for providing diamagnetic levitation to reduce the friction between spinning ring and travellers and thereby improving the Ring and Traveller life.

BACKGROUND OF THE ART
[002] Spinning machines for twisting and winding yarn has been known for some time. This apparatus generally consists of a spindle which supports the yarn bobbin, a ring surrounding the bobbin and a C-shaped traveller supported by the ring and capable of travelling about its circumference. With this structure the yarn which is supplied from an upper portion of the apparatus is fed to the bobbin via the traveller. The twisting and winding of the yarn are effected by tension on the yarn due to the winding operation which causes the traveller to move at relatively high speeds about the ring. In conventional spinning and twisting operations, the limiting factor with respect to increased speeds has always been the wear force between the traveller and the ring. The wear force between rings and travellers would results in friction. Increase in friction results in traveller wear out. As the polished surfaces of the traveller wear, they become roughened, increasing the coefficient of friction between the traveller and the ring. Such increased friction results in heat build-up. It is not uncommon for the toes of travellers to burn off, which in addition to loss of production time for replacement of the traveller, can cause damage to the yarn and the ring.

[003] Further, in addition to heat build-up, a roughened traveller will fray and eventually break the yarn, causing lost production time and a low quality end product. And such roughened travellers tend to become loaded with excess fibres resulting from such fraying, or fly, and again decrease production as they must be cleaned or replaced.

[004] Travellers are generally made of hardened steel wire and usually finished with a variety of coatings including nickel plates, oxidation finishes, ceramics, and Teflon composites. Each of the coatings attempts to solve problems of corrosion resistance or wear resistance. Presently, nickel-phosphorous plating is one of the most common processes used for coating the travellers. The present finishes, however, are insufficient to resolve all the problems associated with the wear of travellers and rings used in high speed spinning operations to increase the traveller life and to improve its performance.

[005] Magnetizing the rings and/or travellers are one of the alternative methods to reduce the ring – traveller contact and thereby increasing the frictional resistance. Various methods and apparatus have been used to develop magnetic levitation between the rings and travellers. Either the spinning Ring or traveller is magnetised or sometimes both rings and travellers are magnetised to generate the magnetic levitation.

[006] In the Japanese patent JPS5729616, a coating and process method is described to improve the initial compatibility of a metallic traveller and to improve its magnetic characteristics, by means of a Ni-Co-P alloy layer on the inner surface of the metallic traveller. By means of this coating, the traveller can be readily magnetized due to the improved magnetic characteristics of the alloy plating layer. The travellers manufactured and coated in this method requires an external magnetization process.

[007] In the British patent GB807964, a method and apparatus is disclosed to retard the traveller in textile ring spinning. The ring is magnetized in the direction of its axis and has an annular air gap in which an electrically conductive non - magnetic vane on the traveller may project, so that eddy currents are set up in the vane while it travels round the ring. The magnet may be made in one piece or it can be assembly of an annular magnet. This method is complicated and it cannot be used for the flanged rings and the elliptical or C type travellers.

[008] To overcome the disadvantages, present in the existing art, the present invention describes a process method to generate a diamagnetic levitation between the ring and traveller to improve the frictional resistance and thereby to improve the working performance and traveller life.

OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION
[009] It is an object of the present invention is to provide magnetized rings and/or travellers for use in textile spinning applications.

[010] It is an object of the present invention to provide a ring and/or traveller coated with an element which gives diamagnetic levitation effect that results in a traveller or ring surface having sufficient wear resistance for high speed spinning and twisting operations.

[011] It is further object of the present invention to provide pyrolytic graphite coating to the Ring and/or Traveller to introduce levitating properties while running in the spinning machines.

[012] It is further another object of the present invention to magnetize the rings made up of a ball bearing steel material.

[013] These as well as other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a coating for travellers and rings with super conductor material such as Pyrolytic graphite. Alternatively, The Nickel alloy coating may be applied to the rings made up of permanent magnet material such as Ferro magnets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[014] 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 or delineates 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.

[015] According to the main aspect of the present invention, the friction between the rings and travellers in spinning machines is reduced. Said Ring consists of a flange which is mounted over the web and said web is extended from the bottom part of the Ring so called Rim. Said Traveller is in the form of Polygon which has at least 5 sides. The surface of either Ring or Traveller consists of pyrolytic graphite material layer whereas the other Ring or Traveller is made up with ball bearing steel and magnetized. As a result, the pyrolytic graphite material layer helps to provide a diamagnetic effect and allow the traveller to levitate especially with magnetic fields. The pyrolytic graphite material layer coating is applied using Physical vapour deposition coating (PVD) method. Said pyrolytic graphite is an Annealed pyrolytic graphite (APG) material or Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[016] Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of polygon shaped Ring known in the existing art.

[017] Figure 1a is a cross sectional view of the flange part of polygon shaped Ring known in the existing art.

[018] Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of a coated spinning ring in accordance with the present invention.

[019] Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a coated traveller in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[020] The present invention is directed to rings and travellers for use in textile applications which require the winding of yarn onto a rotating carrier such as spinning, twisting and the like. The invention encompasses both vertical and horizontal rings including reversible and non-reversible (single-flanged) horizontal rings. Similarly, all types of travellers suitable for use on such rings in guiding the yarn onto the rotating carrier are within the scope of the present invention including elliptic, "C" shaped and vertical travellers. For the convenience of describing the invention, Ring with polygon shaped flange and polygon shaped travellers are taken as examples for description.

[021] Figure 1 and 1a illustrates polygon shaped spinning Ring (1) and Traveller (2) according to the present invention. Referring more specific to Fig – 1, the flange (3) is mounted over the web (4) of the Ring (1). Said web (4) is extended from the bottom part of the Ring so called Rim (5). Cross section of said flange (3) is in the form of polygon. The bottom portion of the flange (3) is connected with the web (4). Said Ring (1) is made up of ball bearing steel material.

[022] Referring to Fig – 1a, the polygon shaped traveller (2) is used in the coated Rings. Said Traveller (2) is in the form of Pentagon which has at least 5 sides (a, b, c, d, e) and the dimensions of each side are equal. The thickness (T) of the Traveller is varied depending upon the weight of the Traveller.

[023] Figure 2 illustrates polygon shaped spinning Ring (1) and Traveller (2) according to the present invention. According to the main aspect of the present invention, the surface of the Ring (1) consists pyrolytic graphite material layer (11). Said layer (11) is applied in the surface of Ring (1) to a desired thickness in a range from 0.10 mm to 1.00 mm. The Traveller (2) is made up with ball bearing steel and said Traveller (2) is magnetized and mounted in the Ring (1). Due to the levitating property of pyrolytic graphite, the Traveller will be levitated while running on the Rings especially during highspeed running.

[024] Figure 3 illustrates polygon shaped spinning Ring (1) and Traveller (2) according to another embodiment of the present invention. The Ring body (3) is made up with ball bearing steel and magnetized. The outer surface (4) of the ring (1) is coated with Nickel coating which is known in the art. The Traveller (2) is coated with pyrolytic graphite material layer (21). Said layer (21) is applied in the surface of Ring (1) to a desired thickness in a range from 0.10 mm to 1.00 mm. This coating helps to levitate the Traveller from the Ring (1).

[025] Said pyrolytic graphite shall be an Annealed pyrolytic graphite (APG) material or Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) material. The Pyrolytic carbon material acts as thermal conductive material to transmit the heat generated due to Ring and traveller friction and ensures better heat transfer. Also, the pyrolytic graphite material layer (11) helps to provide a diamagnetic effect and allow the traveller to levitate especially with magnetic fields.

[026] The pyrolytic graphite material layer is applied as coating on either Ring or Travellers using the coating methods known in the existing art. The coating shall be applied on the surface using electro plating or electroless plating. Preferably, the pyrolytic graphite material layer coating shall be applied using Physical vapour deposition coating (PVD) method.

[027] The Ring and Traveller manufactured according to the present invention have several advantages when compared with existing art. This coating helps to reduce the friction between Ring and Travellers while running in Ring spinning machines. Due to the levitating Traveller, there will be NO or minimum contact between Ring and Traveller and this helps to reduce the friction and thereby results in reduction of wear and tear of Ring and Traveller and as a result, the life of Travellers increases. Presently, the Travellers are replaced once in every 10 days. If the pyrolytic graphite material layer coating is used, the life of the Traveller shall be extended up to 25 to 30 days. Additionally, this pyrolytic graphite coating provides a better heat dissipation effect which results in reduction of wear and tear. ,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM:
1. A magnetized Ring and Traveller for spinning machines, said Ring (1) consists of a flange (3) which is mounted over the web (4), said web is extended from the bottom part of the Ring so called Rim (5), said Traveller (2) is in the form of Polygon which has at least 5 sides (a, b, c, d, e), characterized in that, surface of said Ring (1) or Traveller (2) consists of pyrolytic graphite material layer (11, 21).

2. The Magnetized Rings and Travellers as claimed claim 1, wherein, the surface of the Ring (1) consists pyrolytic graphite material layer (11) and said layer (11) is applied in the surface of Ring (1) with a thickness in a range from 0.10 mm to 1.00 mm.

3. The Magnetized Rings and Travellers as claimed claim 1, wherein, said Traveller (2) is made up with ball bearing steel and magnetized.

4. The Magnetized Rings and Travellers as claimed claim 1, wherein, the Ring (1) is made up with ball bearing steel and magnetized.

5. The Magnetized Rings and Travellers as claimed claim 1, wherein, said Traveller (2) is coated with pyrolytic graphite material layer (21) and said layer (21) is applied in the surface of Ring (1) to a desired thickness in a range from 0.10 mm to 1.00 mm.

6. The Magnetized Rings and Travellers as claimed claim 1, wherein, said pyrolytic graphite is an Annealed pyrolytic graphite (APG) material or Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) material.

7. The Magnetized Rings and Travellers as claimed claim 1, wherein, said pyrolytic graphite material layer (11, 21) coating is applied using Physical vapour deposition coating (PVD) method.

8. The Magnetized Rings and Travellers as claimed claim 1, wherein, said coating (11) is applied on the Ring with polygon shaped flange and polygon shaped travellers.