Textiles: manufacturing – Textile product fabrication or treatment – Fiber entangling and interlocking
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-15
2001-03-06
Vanatta, Amy B. (Department: 3741)
Textiles: manufacturing
Textile product fabrication or treatment
Fiber entangling and interlocking
C028S107000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195855
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an apparatus for changing the needle boards of a needling machine, comprising a mounting guide for the needle boards to be coupled to each other in a tension-proof way on both sides of the needle bars disposed one behind the other in direction of the working width of the needling machine, to which needle bars the needle boards are replaceably fixed, comprising a feeding guide for the needle boards in extension of the mounting guide on one side of the needling machine, and comprising a step conveyor associated to the feeding guide, which step conveyor has engageable and disengageable carriers for the needle boards.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
To be able to easily perform the replacement of the needle boards of a needling machine, it is known (AT 395 323 B) to arrange the needle boards one above the other in a vertically adjustable magazine and to provide a feeding guide for the needle boards between this magazine and the mounting guide, so that the needle boards can be inserted from the magazine via the feeding guide into the mounting guide of the needling machine. For moving the needle boards there is provided a step conveyor associated to the feeding guide, which step conveyor has carriers which are adjustable along the conveying step via a toothed belt and which consist of swivelling levers engaging in a needle board in the vicinity of the feeding guide. Since the needle boards can be coupled to each other in a tension-proof way, the needle boards can be inserted in the needling machine one after the other along the mounting guide on both sides of the needle bars and can then be connected with the needle bars via corresponding clamping means. A major disadvantage of these known apparatuses for changing the needle boards is the fact that complex feeding and mounting guides must be provided for the needle boards, in order to ensure the required precise board alignment within the machine, which involves a comparatively high constructional effort.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the object underlying the invention to provide an apparatus as described above such that simple mounting and feeding guides will be sufficient without having to do without a precise positioning of the needle boards in a needling machine.
This object is solved by the invention in that the carriers of the step conveyor constitute centering pins which engage in centering bushes of the needle boards.
Since the carriers of the step conveyor serve as centering pins, the needle board being coupled to the step conveyor in the vicinity of the feeding guide is necessarily aligned with respect to the step conveyor due to the engagement of the carriers, which step conveyor can ensure with comparatively simple means a precise enough guidance of the carrier head provided with the centering pins, so as to align the individual needle boards and insert the same in the aligned position along the mounting guide into the needling machine. By means of the alignment of the respective needle board inserted into the feeding guide, the positive coupling of the needle boards disposed one behind the other necessarily leads to an alignment of the needle boards positively connected with this needle board and already inserted into the mounting guide, so that the guiding accuracy of the mounting guide and the feeding guide is not relevant for the alignment of the needle boards.
To be able to provide the apparatus for changing the needle boards with a comparatively short design, the needle boards may have two sets of centering bushes at a mutual distance corresponding to half the board length measured in direction of the working width of the needling machine, so that the step conveyor must be designed for a conveying step corresponding to half the board length. To move a needle board corresponding to its full length, two conveying steps of the step conveyor are therefore necessary, which in this case must necessarily be performed before another needle board can be coupled to the step conveyor.
Although the centering pins can each be actuated separately, particularly simple constructional conditions are obtained when the centering pins are disposed on a common support adjustable vertical to the guiding plane of the feeding guide. The centering pins can thus be adjusted together, which not only permits a simplification of the construction, but also involves certain advantages as regards the alignment accuracy.
To prevent that needle boards which undergo an inadequate alignment are inserted into the mounting guide of the needling machine, the step conveyor may be actuatable in dependence on the depth of penetration of the centering pins into the centering bushes of the needle boards. Since the centering pins have a conical leading end to support their alignment task, the alignment of the needle board may be insufficient when the centering pins only partly engage in the centering bushes of the needle boards. For this reason, the depth of penetration of the centering pins into the centering bushes is monitored, so that the actuation of the step conveyor is blocked in the case of an only partial engagement of the centering pins.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4884324 (1989-12-01), Stanislaw
patent: 5287604 (1994-02-01), Feyerl
patent: 6003215 (1999-12-01), St. Jacques
patent: 395 323 (1992-04-01), None
Collard & Roe P.C.
Textilmaschinenfabrik Dr. Ernst Fehrer Aktiengesellschaft
Vanatta Amy B.
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