DESC:FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
[39 of 1970]
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
[See Section 10 and Rule 13]

TITLE: “AN AUTOMATIC PIECING ASSEMBLY FOR A TEXTILE RING SPINNING MACHINE”

Name and Address of the Applicant: LAKSHMI MACHINE WORKS LTD., Perianaickenpalayam, Coimbatore - 641020, Tamilnadu, India

Nationality: INDIAN

The following specification particularly describes the nature of the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to textile spinning machines. Particularly, the disclosure relates to an automatic yarn piecing assembly for broken yarn ends in textile ring spinning machines. Further embodiments of the disclosure deals with an improved mounting assembly in the automatic piecing assembly of textile ring spinning machines.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

In textile industry, ring spinning machines are generally employed for spinning of fibers, such as cotton, flax or wool, to produce a yarn. Fiber material may be supplied to the ring spinning machines in the form of rovings. Further, the ring spinning machine draw the rovings to the desired degree of fineness and imparts sufficient twist, and finally forms a continuous yarn, which is then wound onto the bobbins for storage. Yarn breakage is an unavoidable plight in the ring spinning machines during the spinning operation. Hence, piecing of the broken yarns is required for efficient and continuous operation of the ring spinning machine. This process is called as yarn piecing. Yarn piecing is a process in which the broken yarns are joined/assembled. Hence, this process aids in restarting the yarn spinning sequence at a swift rate. Yarn piecing process may be crucial in yarn spinning operation, that determines the rate of productivity.

Conventionally, piecing of the broken yarns may be performed manually, while the operator of the spinning machine may move around the spinning zones and identify the broken yarns to piece them together. In the manual piecing operation, the operator may have to periodically check throughout the length of the frame which may normally be of about 75 meters long and may include about 1600 spindles. In addition to periodic monitoring, the broken yarns have to be pieced and the corresponding yarn spinning sequence has to be restarted timely, in order to avoid wastage of yarn. Since, several ring spinning machines of this kind are installed in one spinning mill close to each other, it becomes tedious for the operator to access into the gangways for monitoring the ring spinning machine.

With the advent of modern technology, automatic piecing assemblies have been employed in the spinning mills to overcome some of the limitations associated with the manual piecing operation. Generally, automatic piecing assemblies are mounted on guide rails / floors / wheels provided in vicinity of frame of the ring spinning machines. The automatic piecing assemblies may employ automatic piecing equipment like robotic arms or may be configured to accommodate an operator for piecing. The automatic piecing assemblies may traverse over the guide rails / wheels throughout the length of a frame of the ring spinning machine and carryout piecing operation. The piecing assemblies may be mounted on a platform, which traverse on the mill floor for carrying the piecing assembly throughout the length of the ring spinning machine for performing piecing operations.

Generally, automatic piecing assembly comprises plurality of modules for yarn pickup from cop, yarn inserting into the traveller, yarn suction and yarn piecing at drafting zone etc.Orientation / alignment of the various modules i.e. yarn pickup module, yarn inserting module, yarn suction module and yarn piecing module, with respect to each other may be very critical and important in the automatic yarn piecing assembly. The abovementioned modules in conventional automatic piecing assemblies are often oriented along different surfaces which may lead to improper alignment of the modules. As a result, movement of the above mentioned modules with respect to each other is asynchronous and occurs along different planes. The improper alignment of modules affects the piecing operation and leads to ineffective piecing of the yarns.

The present disclosure is directed to overcome one or more limitations stated above or any other limitations associated with prior arts.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

One or more shortcomings of the conventional assembly or systems are overcome, and additional advantages are provided through the provision of the device as claimed in the present disclosure.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure.

In one non-limiting embodiment of the disclosure, an automatic piecing assembly for a textile ring spinning machine is disclosed. The assembly comprises of a plurality of housings. Each of the plurality of housings comprises one or more modules including a lifting module , a inserting module, a suction module and a piecing module, where the modules are mounted on a common frame of the automatic piecing assembly.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, at least one of the plurality of housings is slidably mounted on a guide rail of the frame and at least one of the plurality of housings is fixedly mounted on the frame.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the plurality of housings comprising the modules are aligned along a common axis of the frame.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the plurality of housings includes a first housing and a second housing.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the first housing is configured to accommodate the lifting module, and the inserting module, and the second housing is configured to accommodate the suction module.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the plurality of housings includes a third housing, configured to accommodate the piecing module.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the first housing and the second housing are slidably mounted on the guide rail of the frame and the third housing is fixed to the frame.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the common axis of the frame is a vertical axis with respect to a support member supporting the frame.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the third housing is configured for swiveling the piecing module towards the drafting unit of the ring spinning machine, preferably in an axis perpendicular to the common axis.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, first and second housings comprising the lifting module, the inserting module and the suction module slide along the common axis.

Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING

The novel features and characteristics of the disclosure are set forth in the appended claims. The disclosure itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing. One or more embodiments are now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein like reference numerals represent like elements and in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a schematic view of an automatic piecing assembly for ring spinning machine, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The figure depicts embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The foregoing has broadly outlined the features and technical advantages of the present disclosure in order that the description of the disclosure that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the disclosure. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other devices for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the disclosure, as to its organization, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present disclosure.

In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.

The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a system that comprises a list of components does not include only those components but may include other components not expressly listed or inherent to such mechanism. In other words, one or more elements in the device or mechanism proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the mechanism.

Conventionally, the automatic piecing assemblies that comprise of plurality of modules were mounted on a platform, which traverses on the mill floor. The modules in conventional automatic piecing assemblies are often oriented along different surfaces or planes or frames which may lead to improper alignment of the modules. As a result, movement of the above mentioned modules with respect to each other is asynchronous and occurs along different planes. The improper alignment of modules affects the piecing operation and leads to ineffective piecing of the yarns.
In order to overcome the above shortcomings, the present disclosure provides an improved mounting assembly for the automatic piecing assembly of textile ring spinning machines.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure disclose, an automatic piecing assembly. The assembly comprises of a frame defined with a guide rail. Further, a first, second and third housings are provided where, the first housing comprises of a lifting module and an inserting module. The second and third housings are provided with a suction module and a piecing module respectively. The first and the second housings are slidably mounted on the guide rail and the third housing is fixedly mounted on the frame. Further, the plurality of housings comprising the plurality of modules are aligned along a common axis of the frame, such that the all the modulus can be synchronously operated for the piecing of yarns. This improves accuracy of piecing, and reduces the time required for piecing.

The following paragraphs describe the present disclosure with reference to Figure. 1.

Figure. 1, illustrates a schematic view of an automatic piecing assembly (1) for a textile ring spinning machine (11). The assembly (1) as shown in Figure 1 may include various modules for performing the piecing operation. In an embodiment, the various modules may include but not limiting to a yarn lifting module (2), a yarn inserting module (3), a yarn suction module (4) and a yarn piecing module (5). Herein above and below ‘yarn lifting module’ and ‘lifting module’; ‘yarn inserting module’ and ‘inserting module’; ‘yarn suction module’ and ‘suction module’; ‘yarn piecing module’ and ‘piecing module’ maybe interchangeably used. The yarn piecing assembly (1) travels along the rows of a ring spinning machine (11) where the supply fibre federation is spun into yarn by way of linear stretching using a drafting unit (13). Thus, the produced yarn is then wound on to a ring cop (12) before further processing. The yarn lifting module (2), yarn inserting module (3), yarn suction module (4) and the yarn piecing module (5) are mounted on a common frame (10) of the automatic piecing assembly (1). The plurality of modules (2, 3, 4 and 5) mounted on the vertical frame (10) lie along a common vertical axis (A-A). In an embodiment, the frame (10) extends along the vertical axis (A-A) with respect to the support member of the automatic piecing assembly (1).

The yarn lifting module (2) may be provided with a blowing means for lifting the yarn from ring cop (12). Further, the yarn inserting module (3) may be provided with a gripping means for inserting the yarn into a ring traveler of a ring. The yarn lifting module (2) and the yarn inserting module (3) are mounted on a first housing or a bracket (6) which is slidably mounted on a guide rail (9) of the automatic piecing assembly (1). Further, the guide rail (9) is fixed to the frame (10) of the automatic piecing assembly (1).

The yarn suction module (4) is mounted on a second housing (7) that slides along the guide rail (9) of the automatic piecing assembly (1). The second housing (7) slides above the first housing (6) and the second housing (7) may also be fixed to the common guide rail (9) of the common frame (10). The yarn suction module (4) comprises top suction bell unit [not shown] to suck and hold the picked yarn end from the cop (12) for subsequent piecing.

Further, the yarn piecing module (5) is provided with a piecing arm arrangement. The piecing arm arrangement may be used to bring the yarn held by the yarn suction module (4) towards the drafting unit (13). The yarn piecing module (5) is mounted in a third housing (8). The third housing (8) may be rigidly fixed on the frame (10) of the auto piecing unit (1) at the top portion of the frame (10). The piecing arm provided in the yarn piecing module (5) is capable of moving towards the drafting arrangement (13) for piecing the yarn end held in the yarn suction module (4).

Thus, the whole set of yarn lifting module (2) and the yarn inserting module (3) that are provided in the first housing (6) and the yarn suction module (4) that is provided in the second housing (7) are movable along the guide rails (9). Therefore, the whole assembly with the plurality of modules (2, 3, 4, 5) and the guide rail (9) are accommodated in the common frame (10) along a common vertical axis (A-A) of the automatic piecing assembly (1). The yarn lifting module (2), the yarn inserting module (3) and the yarn suction module (4) are mounted on their respective first and second housings (6, 7) in such a way that they move to and fro with respect to the ring spinning machine (11). This movement of the first and the second housings (6 and 7) may be achieved by suitable devices or actuators like pneumatic / hydraulic / electric / linear cylinders (not shown). Similarly during yarn piecing operation, the piecing arm of the yarn piecing module (5) may be actuated using suitable pneumatic / hydraulic / electric / linear actuators / cylinders in such a manner that it may be swivelled towards or away from drafting system (13) of the ring spinning machine (11). The axis at which the yarn piecing module (5) may swivel towards the drafting system (13) may be perpendicular to the axis at which the plurality of modules (2, 3, 4 and 5) are oriented.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the plurality of modules (2, 3, 4 and 5) may be oriented along a horizontal axis. In another embodiment of the disclosure, the plurality of modules (2, 3, 4 and 5) may be oriented at any suitable angle such that all the modules (2, 3, 4 and 5) lie on a common axis.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the first and the second housings (6 and 7) may move together for providing the broken yarn to the yarn piecing module (5).

In an embodiment of the disclosure, a controller may actuate an actuator for providing a sliding movement of the first and the second housings (6 and 7). In an embodiment of the disclosure, the controller may also actuate the swiveling action of the third housing (8).

Since, the first housing (6) and the second housing (7) are mounted on the same guide rail (9) of the common frame (10), the blowing means of the yarn lifting module (2), the gripping means of the yarn inserting module (3) and the suction means of the yarn suction module (4) may work in an aligned manner during piecing operation. Thus, a better result of piecing may be obtained, because of synchronous alignment between the plurality of modules (6, 7 and 8). The piecing arm of the yarn piecing module (5) is also mounted collinear to all the other modules at the top portion in the common frame (10) of the auto piecing unit (1).

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the present invention provides an improved mounting assembly for various modules like yarn pickup module, yarn inserting module, yarn suction module and yarn piecing module of automatic yarn piecing assembly of textile ring spinning machines.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the present invention provides a proper alignment and synchronous movement for yarn pickup module, yarn inserting module, yarn suction module and yarn piecing module of automatic yarn piecing assembly during operation.

Equivalents

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "includes" should be interpreted as "includes but is not limited to," etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding the description may contain usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and/or "an" should typically be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, and C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, or C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, or C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase "A or B" will be understood to include the possibilities of "A" or "B" or "A and B."

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated in the description.

Referral Numerals:

Referral numeral Description
1 Automatic piecing assembly
2 Lifting module
3 Inserting module
4 Suction module
5 Piecing module
6 First housing
7 Second housing
8 Third housing
9 Guide rail
10 Frame
11 Ring spinning machine
12 Ring cop
13 Drafting unit
,CLAIMS:We claim:

1. An automatic piecing assembly (1) for a textile ring spinning machine (11), the assembly (1) comprising:
a plurality of housings (6, 7 and 8), each of the plurality of housings (6, 7 and 8) comprises one or more modules (2, 3, 4 and 5) including a yarn lifting module (2), a yarn inserting module (3), a yarn suction module (4) and a yarn piecing module (5); wherein, the modules (2, 3, 4 and 5) are mounted on a common frame (10) of the automatic piecing assembly.

2. The assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of housings (6, 7 and 8) is slidably mounted on a guide rail (9) of the frame (10) and at least one of the plurality of housings (6, 7 and 8) is fixedly mounted on the frame (10).

3. The assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the plurality of housings (6, 7 and 8) comprising the modules (2, 3, 4 and 5) are aligned along a common axis of the frame (10).

4. The assembly (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of housings (6, 7 and 8) includes a first housing (6) and a second housing (7).

5. The assembly (1) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the first housing (6) is configured to accommodate the yarn lifting module (2), and the yarn inserting module (3) and the second housing (7) is configured to accommodate the yarn suction module (4).

6. The assembly (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of housings (6, 7 and 8) includes a third housing (8)configured to accommodate the yarn piecing module (5).

7. The assembly (1) as claimed in claims 4 and 6, wherein the first housing (6) and the second housing (7) are slidably mounted on the guide rail (9) of the frame (10), and the third housing (8) is fixed to the frame (10).

8. The assembly (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the common axis of the frame (10) is a vertical axis (A-A) with respect to a support member supporting the frame (10).

9. The assembly (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third housing (8) is configured for swiveling the piecing module (5) towards the drafting unit (13) of the ring spinning machine (11), preferably in an axis perpendicular to the common axis.

10. The assembly (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second housings (6 and 7) comprising the lifting module (2), the inserting module (3) and the suction module (4) slide along the common axis.

Dated 16th day of May 2019

GOPINATH A S
IN/PA 1852
OF K&S PARTNERS
AGENT FOR THE APPLICANT