Textiles: weaving – Weft manipulation – Weaving with stationary weft supply
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-29
2001-06-05
Falik, Andy (Department: 3765)
Textiles: weaving
Weft manipulation
Weaving with stationary weft supply
Reexamination Certificate
active
06240976
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tuck-in apparatus for a shuttleless loom, and more particularly, to an improved tuck-in apparatus for guiding the end portion of weft into a shed, by means of air squirted from a plurality of nozzles located on the side of the row of warps.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a tuck-in apparatus for a shuttleless loom, after a pick of weft, the end portion of the beaten-up weft is folded back into the next shed, to thereby form a selvage structure In a known tuck-in apparatus (described in, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No.Hei.1-174645 and Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No.Hei.6-16952), a tuck-in nozzles are disposed on the side of the row of warps and are directed to the row of warps, and the end portion of weft is blown into a shed by means of a jet of air squirted from the tuck-in nozzles.
In such a tuck-in apparatus of known type, the tuck-in nozzles are oriented in parallel with or toward a cloth fell.
In the case of a conventional tuck-in apparatus, the jet of air squirted from tuck-in nozzles acts on the end portion of weft (hereinafter referred to as “weft end”) while being oriented in parallel with or toward a cloth fell. Immediately after release of the weft end, the weft end is folded back in the direction in which the air is squirted. As a result, loosening becomes likely to arise in the vicinity of an area where the thread of weft is to be folded back, or a portion of the weft end that has been folded back may interfere with a cloth fell, thereby rendering the fold of weft incomplete. Accordingly, there may arise defects in a woven fabric; for example, loosening or a fray arising in the vicinity of a selvage of a woven fabric.
Further, in the conventional tuck-in apparatus, the tuck-in nozzles are oriented toward an area which is close to a cloth-fell and at which a shed is narrow (hereinafter called a “narrow shed”). The weft end is blown into the narrow shed by means of the squirted air, and the weft end becomes readily caught by the warp, thereby resulting in occurrence of failures of salvage formation in a woven fabric.
Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No.Hei.6-16952 describes a tuck-in apparatus, in which two tuck-in nozzles (i.e., a first tuck-in nozzle and a second tuck-in nozzle) are disposed side by side with each other along a warp line. The second tuck-in nozzle, which is positioned close to the cloth fell, is oriented toward a side from which the warps are supplied (hereinafter referred to simply as a “warp supply side”) with respect to the cloth fell.
In such a tuck-in apparatus, the first tuck-in nozzle, which squirts the jet of air to the weft end before the second tuck-in nozzle does, is oriented toward a cloth fell and is liable to cause the same problem as that of the above-mentioned conventional tuck-in apparatus. Further, the tuck-in apparatus squirts the air simultaneously from the first and second tuck-in nozzles such that the jet of air squirted from the first tuck-in nozzle and the jet of air squirted from the second tuck-in nozzle cross each other. Consequently, the jet of air squirted toward the warp supply side is canceled, and the confluence of two jets is directed toward the cloth fell. For this reason, the tuck-in apparatus fails to solve the drawback of the conventional tuck-in apparatus, and the drawback still remains unsolved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been conceived to solve the drawback of the background art and is aimed at providing a tuck-in apparatus for a shuttleless loom, which folds back and blows the weft end into a shed, to thereby stably form a selvage, by means of a jet of air squirted from a nozzle disposed on the side of the row of warps while preventing occurrence of loosening in the vicinity of an area where the weft end is to be folded back, and occurrence of a failure, which would otherwise be caused during formation of a selvage when the weft is caught by the warp.
To this end, the present invention provides a tuck-in apparatus for a shuttleless loom, for blowing an end portion of a weft into a shed, including: a plurality of nozzles located on a side of the row of warps for jetting air, the plurality of nozzles including: a tuck-in nozzle located in the vicinity of a cloth fell and oriented in substantially parallel with the cloth fell; and at least one auxiliary tuck-in nozzle oriented by an acute angle toward a warp supply side with respect to the cloth fell.
The expression “in substantially parallel with” covers both the case where the tuck-in nozzle is disposed in parallel with the cloth fell and where the tuck-in nozzle is disposed to incline by a predetermined angle toward a cloth fell side or toward a warp supply side. In a case where the tuck-in nozzle is inclined toward the cloth fell side, the expression “a predetermined angle” means the range of inclination in which the jet of air from the tuck-in nozzle can sufficiently act on the tip end of the end portion of weft to be folded back. Alternatively, in a case where the tuck-in nozzle is inclined toward the warp supply side, the expression “a predetermined angle” means the range of inclination in which the end portion of weft is folded back such that the end portion of the weft is woven into a woven fabric in parallel with the cloth fell without the occurrence of a bend through a beating operation. More specifically, in a case where the tuck-in nozzle is excessively inclined toward the cloth fell side, the jet of air fails to sufficiently act on the tip end of the end portion of weft, which may cause the weft yarn to be woven while the tip end is bent. In a case where the tuck-in shuttle is excessively inclined toward the warp supply side, a large angle is formed between the end portion of the folded weft and the reed. The weft end becomes bent in association with beating action of the reed, which may in turn cause the weft yarn to be woven while the end portion of the weft is bent. Thus, the expression “a predetermined angle” means an angle at which the tuck-in nozzle is to be oriented with respect to the cloth fell so as not to-cause any of the foregoing problems.
Preferably, the auxiliary tuck-in nozzle is oriented such that the jet direction of the auxiliary tuck-in nozzle does not cross a jet direction of the tuck-in nozzle.
In a case where two or more auxiliary tuck-in nozzles are employed, the auxiliary tuck-in nozzles may be oriented such that jets of air squirted therefrom do not cross each other. Further, the two or more auxiliary tuck-in nozzles may be oriented at different angles with respect to the cloth fell, so as to form, with respect to the cloth fell, angles which are greater than that formed by the tuck-in nozzle with respect to the cloth fell, and may be caused to perform squirting action in sequence from the auxiliary tuck-in nozzle that squirts a jet of air at the largest angle with respect to the cloth fell.
By means of the previously-described configuration of the tuck-in apparatus according to the present invention, after the weft has been picked and beaten, the end portion of weft (called a “weft end”) is guided from the range in which the weft end is susceptible to squirting action of an auxiliary tuck-in nozzle to the next shed while being blown toward a warp supply side, by means of the jet of air squirted by the auxiliary tuck-in nozzle. At this time, the weft end is driven toward the warp supply side from a folded portion in which a weft yarn is folded back, without the occurrence of loosening in the folded portion of the weft yarn. Further, the jet of air is squirted toward an area which is distant from a cloth fell and at which a large shed is formed. Accordingly, the weft end is blown into a shed without being caught by the threads of warp. Subsequently, the weft end is blown into the shed in substantially parallel with the cloth fell without involvement of any slack, by means of the jet of air squirted from the tuck-in nozzle. As a result, the weft end is fol
Satoh Takeshi
Sawada Shigeharu
Falik Andy
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Tsudakoma Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
LandOfFree
Pneumatic Tuck-in apparatus for shuttleless loom does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Pneumatic Tuck-in apparatus for shuttleless loom, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Pneumatic Tuck-in apparatus for shuttleless loom will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2462284