Apparatus for driving and supporting a spinning element
United States Patent Canzler 1 Apr. 15, 1975 [54] APPARATUS FOR DRIVING AND 2,947,580 8/1960 Fisher 308/172 X SPINNN ELEMENT 3,126,697 3/1964 Cizek et al..... 57/58.89 SUPPORTING A G 3,368,339 2/196 8 Negishi 57/58.89 [75] Inventor: Rolf C e ngo s Germany 3,662,532 5/1972 Stahlecker 57/58.89 Assignee: Schubert &amp; Salzer Maschinenfabrik 3,805,506 4/1974 Stahlecker 57/105 X Aktiengesellschaft, lngolstadt, FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Germany 1,913,728 /1970 Germany 57/58.89 [22] Filed: Jan- 22, 1973 2,012,490 10/1970 Germany 57/5889 [211 pp No: 325,503 I OTHER PUBLICATIONS American Suessen Corp. Advertisement, November 1972, Textile World Magazine, page 58. Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 26, 1972 Germany 2203586 Prim ry Examiner john W. Huckert Assistant ExaminerCharles Gorenstein [52] U.S. C1- 57/100; Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert W, Beach; 308/172 Van Winkle [51] Int. Cl D01h l/20 [58] Field of Search 308/163, 172, 171; 57 ABSTRACT 575889-5895 133 The rotor of an electromotor which directly drives a spinning element is arranged in the extension of the [56] References cued shaft of the rotating spinning element. The shaft on UNITED STATES PATENTS which the motor rotor is mounted is supported by 135,295 1/1873 Taylor et a1. 308/172 X means of supporting discs. At each supporting loca- 676,471 6/1901 Pessano 308/172 tion at lea t two upporting discs are provided on 771,993 10/1904 Metlgerm- 308/172 X which the shaft unrolls. The diameter of the support- 1930310 5/1927 308/172 X ing discs is several times the diameter of the shaft. 2,842,933 7/1958 PUJOI 57/58.89  
 1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures APPARATUS FOR DRIVING AND SUPPORTING A SPINNING ELEMENT The present invention relates to an apparatus for driving and supporting a spinning element, and more particularly to such an apparatus in which the spinning element is directly driven by an electromotor, the rotor of which is arranged in the extension of the shaft of the spinning element.  
  It is well known in the art to directly drive a spinning element by means of an electromotor; such a device has also been proposed for open end spinning mechanisms (see US. Pat. No. 3.126.697) However, due to the high working speed, there arise serious difficulties as to the bearing of the electromotor. Such drives therefore are only employed for spinning elements having slow rotational speeds. On the other hand, it is true, such individual driving arrangementsoffer extraordinary advantages as to the control and maintenance of the different spinning elements and the noiselessness compared with belt drives.  
  To overcome these bearing problems, it has been proposed in DT-Gbm 7,131,067 to drive the spinning element by an electromotor by intermediary of a transmission so that the motor is not charged with the full rotational speed. However, as the motor ran slowly it was necessary to develop a higher torque, the result of which was that the motors had to be substantially larger and, more expensive and became uneconomical.  
  For this reason such drive mechanisms have been proved to be useless.  
  Therefore, one object of the present invention is to overcome these disadvantages and to achieve an apparatus for supporting a spinning element which is driven directly by an electromotor and which is not sensitive to the required high rotational speeds.  
 It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus for supporting a spinning ele-&#39; ment that is compact.  
  Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus for supporting a spinning element which is adapted to be adjusted so as to compensate for wearing.  
  Still another object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus for supporting a spinning element that is adapted to be lubricated in a simple manner.  
  With this in mind the present invention is embodied in an apparatus having an electromotor for directly driving a spinning element, the rotor of which is supported by a shaft connected to the spinning element; this shaft being supported by means of idler supporting discs at at least two supporting locations, each supporting location having at least two. supporting idler discs on which the shaft counterrotates; the diameter of the supporting discs being a multiple of the diameter of the shaft. The latter is radially retained in contact with these supporting discs by means of at least one retaining means.  
  In order not to limit the size of an electromotor to be employed and to facilitate the installation of the motor, the latter is cantilever-mounted. In a space-saving execution the electromotor is arranged between the supporting locations. The mounts for the supporting discs are radially adjustable relative to the shaft in order to allow compensation for wear of the supporting discs. The axial fixation is assured in that the shaft bears against a supporting means adapted to convey a lubricant. In a preferred execution of the present invention the supporting means is a rotating disc which engages a circumferential groove provided on the shaft. Further details and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent as the invention becomes better understood from the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.  
  FIG. 1 shows in section one embodiment of the present invention with a cantilever-mounted electromotor.  
  FIG. 2 shows in a diagrammatic representation another embodiment with an electromotor mounted between two support locations.  
  The apparatus in accordance with the invention is described herein after in connection with an open end spinning turbine. However, this apparatus can also be employed with success in connection with other spinning elements such as open end spinning mechanisms with rotatable twisting elements or false twist spinning mechanisms.  
  The spinning turbine 1 as shown in FIG. 1 has a shaft 2 which, at its end remmote from the spinning turbine is provided with a section 20 of smaller diameter. On this section is mounted the rotor 30 of an electromotor 3. The stator 31 of the electromotor 3 is fixed to the motor housing 32 and is detachably mounted on the bearing housing 4 of the spinning device. The shaft bearing the rotor 30 is supported in the region between the spinning turbine 1 and the electromotor 3 by means of idler supporting discs 5 and 6. The diameter of the supporting discs 5 and 6, which are rotatably mounted on part 41 of the bearing, is a multiple of the diameter of shaft 2. At each supporting location are provided two coplanar supporting discs 5 or 6, but at each supporting location there can also be provided more than two supporting discs, if desired.  
  A retaining magnet 42 which is mounted on part 41 between two pairs of supporting discs 5 and 6 pulls shaft 2 into the notch formed between each pair of discs and securely retains the shaft in this position. In this way rotor 30 is always maintained in a coaxial position with the stator 31.  
  Part 41 bearing the supporting discs 5 and 6 is detachably mounted on bearing housing 4 of the spinning mechanism. For example, there may be provided a screw 43 for this purpose, that is, in a direction toward and away from the axis of stator 30. Preferably part 41 is adjustable in a vertical direction that is, in a direction toward and away from the axis of stator 30. Such an adjustment is made possible by providing a slot 44 in part 41 and thus permits compensation of a diminution of the diameters of supporting discs 5 and 6 due to gradual wear or grinding.  
  The shaft 2 of the spinning turbine 1 and the shaft section 20 bearing the rotor 30 are axially retained by means of an abutting element which can be in the form of a rotatable disc 7. In order to achieve abutment of the end of section 20 of shaft 2 on disc 7, an axially shifting movement is given to the shaft. This shifting movement may for example be obtained by skewing at least one disc of one pair of coplanar supporting discs 5 or 6 so that the disc axes intersect at a small angle. When the shaft 2 is driven by the electromotor 3 or, more precisely, its rotor 30 mounted on shaft 2, the latter counterrotates on discs 5 and 6 and simultaneously rotates disc 7. During rotation disc 7 conveys a lubricant upwardly from a reservoir or container which forms a lubrication film between disc 7 and the end of section 20 bearing on disc 7.  
  The described cantilever-mounting of electromotor 3 on the outside of the space between discs 5 and 6 is extraordinarily advantageous in that the diameter of the motor is not limited by the supporting discs or their bearings, respectively; moreover, by mounting the rotor 30 on the reduced area of shaft 2, the full magnetic field becomes effective.  
  Naturally, it is also possible to arrange the electromotor 3 between the supporting locations, each being constituted by a pair of supporting discs 5 or 6 and, in that way, to save space. As can be seen in FIG. 2 the stator 31 with motor housing 32 is once more fixed to the bearing housing of the spinning mechanism, and rotor is mounted on shaft 2 of the spinning turbine 1. Instead of a retaining magnet, the shaft 2 can be retained in the notches between the pairs of supporting discs 5 and 6 by means of one or more retaining discs 8 having their axes at the side of shaft 2 substantially opposite the axes of discs 5 and 6, the rotor 30 being radially secured in that way. In order to prevent axial shifting, there are provided on shaft 2 two rings 21 and 22 in an predetermined distance one from the other. In the groove thus formed between rings 21 and 22 is received the margin of thrust bearing disc 71 which is rotatably mounted on the bearing housing and is rotated by rotation of shaft 2 due to frictional engagement with the rmgs.  
  During rotation of disc 71 a lubricant is conveyed upwardly. Thus, shaft 2 is axially secured against shifting in both directions. The provision of an axial shifting movement, as required in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, in thus not necessary in this embodiment.  
  The electromotor for driving of the spinning element can be executed in any desired manner, for example in the form of an asynchronous motor, a synchronous motor or a D. C. motor. It is also possible to provide a motor with a bell-type armature, the moment of inertia being extremely low for such a motor.  
  The supporting of the electromotor according to the present invention allows a silent and direct driving of the spinning element and enables a long working life as the shaft of the spinning element bearing the rotor of the motor only rolls on the supporting idler discs; there is only a small wear of the discs even when the spinning element is braked or blocks.  
 I claim:  
  1. Apparatus for driving and supporting a spinning element having a shaft, comprising an electromotor having a rotor for driving said spinning element, said rotor being fixed on a part of said shaft, at least two shaft-supporting locations each having at least two supporting discs for rotatably supporting said shaft, the diameter of each supporting disc being a multiple of the diameter of the supported shaft, rotatable disc means for preventing axial shifting of said shaft and circumferential groove means carried by the shaft for receiving said rotatable disc.