Textiles: fiber preparation – Working – Carding
Patent
1997-02-18
1998-12-08
Crowder, C. D.
Textiles: fiber preparation
Working
Carding
19 98, D01G 1530
Patent
active
058453687
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a setting device for a carding engine having a main toothed cylinder and a revolving flats assembly comprising flats which are moveable along a working path adjacent to the outer periphery of the main cylinder to carry out a carding operation in cooperation with the teeth of the cylinder, and to a method of adjusting the setting of the clearances between the flats and the main cylinder.
The invention is particularly applicable to a "cotton card", though of course other fibrous feed stock than cotton can be carded on such carding engines, including synthetics.
It is very important to set-up and to maintain pre-set clearances between the tips of the teeth of the cylinder and the "flats" so that efficient carding operations can be carried out, and typical clearances for cotton feed stock may be of the order of 0.10 inches, whereas clearances of the order of 0.02 inches, for example, may be suitable for some synthetics.
It is also important to obtain substantially uniform clearance between all parts of the cylinder surface and the revolving flats as they cooperate along the working path, and this can only be achieved by the adoption of suitable manufacturing standards in the manufacture and assembly of the cylinder and the wire clothing thereon and also of the flats. However, the setting of any particular clearances required for any given operation is carried out at present by relatively unsophisticated techniques on site.
The working path of the revolving flat assembly is usually defined by a so-called "flexible bend" on which run support rollers or slides which support the movement of the flats. The flexible bend is curved to correspond with the curvature of the cylinder, but small adjustments along the length of the flexible bend in radial spacing from the axis of the cylinder are usually required to obtain desired clearances.
The setting of the clearances is usually carried out by use of "feeler gauges" inserted between the flats and the cylinder periphery at different positions along the working path, and necessary small radial adjustments of the flexible bend are then made along its length to obtain the required flats/cylinder clearances. However, inevitably the quality of the setting operation can vary from one operator to another, by reason of the nature of the task, in that the feeler gauge is being inserted into the gap between the tips of wire teeth and the way in which the operation is carried out can give different results of measured clearance between one operator and another, i.e. one operator may tend to force the gauge into the clearance gap whereas another may be satisfied with a looser fit. Also, the wires on the "flats" are usually more flexible than the wires on the cylinder, and therefore the setting operation is very much dependent upon operator skill and attention or individual "feel", and this makes the setting operations unpredictable, varying from one operator to another.
The adjustment usually takes place at setting points (usually five) acting between a fixed part of the carding engine, usually a so-called "fixed bend", and the flexible bend. Once the adjustments have been completed, the carding engine can then be operated for substantial periods. However, over a period of time, wear takes place (especially of the flats wires), and re-grinding then becomes necessary, and it then becomes essential to re-set the clearances to take into account the re-grinding which has taken place.
Furthermore, modern equipment may require closer settings, and there is therefore an additional need to de-skill the setting operations and take away the present reliance upon individual skill and attention or "feel" of the operative carrying out the setting operation.
Also, in the event of a requirement to adjust the clearances set for one type of feed stock, e.g. cotton, to say synthetics, a different clearance has to be set. Using existing techniques, this requires a complete re-setting operation using feeler gauges as described above. This is a tim
REFERENCES:
patent: 4580318 (1986-04-01), Varga
patent: 4738005 (1988-04-01), Fahmueller
patent: 4982478 (1991-01-01), Stahli et al.
patent: 5040272 (1991-08-01), Fritzsche
patent: 5398381 (1995-03-01), Schlichter et al.
patent: 5625924 (1997-05-01), Sauter et al.
Crowder C. D.
Womell, Jr. Larry D.
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