Textiles: weaving – Miscellaneous – Loom cleaning
Patent
1999-07-23
2000-08-15
Falik, Andy
Textiles: weaving
Miscellaneous
Loom cleaning
1393701, 28187, 242534, 348 88, 25055946, 382 11, D03D 5146, D03C 324, D03C 1706
Patent
active
061020796
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a diagnostic system for a jacquard machine, in particular, a jacquard machine for a weaving loom.
2. Description of the Related Art
Jacquard machines for weaving looms usually include a plurality of heald hooks arranged in rows extending in the weft direction, the rows being located side by side in the warp direction.
Each row of hooks is acted upon by a reciprocating knife such that selected hooks in the row are moved from one shed position to and held at another shed position during a pick in the weaving cycle. Depending upon the type of jacquard machine, the knife may move only selected hooks from said one shed position or may move all hooks from said one shed position such that selected hooks can be retained at said one shed position.
In order to ensure that fabric being woven has no faults caused by failure to select a chosen heald hook it is known to provide detection means which act to produce a signal should the chosen heald hook not be selected. Such detection means are usually in the form of mechanically operated electrical switches and these tend to be unreliable. In addition, in a Jacquard machine, there can be several thousand heald hooks and so the use of mechanical switches becomes increasingly more unsatisfactory and costly.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a diagnostic system for a jacquard machine having a plurality of heald hooks movable between at least two discrete shed positions, the system including visual sensing means for producing a visual image of hooks located at one of said shed positions during each weaving cycle, and control means for comparing said visual image with a predetermined shed pattern for each corresponding weaving cycle in order to determine whether or not all the appropriate hooks have been selected to define the required shed pattern.
Preferably, the visual sensing means comprises at least one video camera located to one side of the jacquard machine so as to view the heald hooks at an inclined angle.
Preferably, datum means are provided to enable the control means to determine the location of each heald hook. The datum means may be in the form of a pattern located around the periphery of the rows of heald hooks to thereby enable the control means to create an orthogonal virtual grid of imaginary lines, the location of each hook being at the intersection of said imaginary lines.
The heald hooks may be adapted to make them more visibly distinct, for example, by being coated with a suitable paint.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a diagnostic method for a jacquard machine having a plurality of heald hooks movable between at least two shed positions, the method including the steps of creating a visual image of hooks located at one of said shed positions during each weaving cycle, and comparing said visual image with a predetermined shed pattern for each corresponding weaving cycle in order to determine whether or not all the appropriate hooks have been selected to define the required shed pattern.
Various aspects of the present invention are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the upper part of a Jacquard machine including a diagnostic system according to the present invention; and
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the image viewed by the camera in FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A jacquard machine 10 is schematically shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 having a frame 12 in which a plurality of lifting knives 14 are mounted for reciprocal movement.
Each knife 14 co-operates with a row 15 of heald hooks 16, there being shown eight rows 15 of heald hooks and eight lifting knives. It will be appreciated that any number of knives 14 and corresponding rows 15 may be provided. Each row 15 contains the same number of heald hooks 16. The heald hooks 16 are
REFERENCES:
patent: 4019036 (1977-04-01), Hiramatsu et al.
patent: 4416310 (1983-11-01), Sage
patent: 4582095 (1986-04-01), Kronholm
patent: 4827986 (1989-05-01), Tanaka
patent: 5251673 (1993-10-01), Adachi et al.
Croucher Ewan
Sillem Robin Frank Hamilton
Falik Andy
Northern Electronic Technology Limited
Scapa Group PLC
LandOfFree
Visual diagnostic system for a jacquard machine does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Visual diagnostic system for a jacquard machine, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Visual diagnostic system for a jacquard machine will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1997184