Textile yarn core with transfer ring
O Umted States Patent 11 1 1111 3,876,165  
 Comer 1 Apr. 8, 1975 TEXTILE YARN CORE WITI-I TRANSFER RING Primary ExaminerGeorge F. Mautz [75] lnventor: Tommy J. Comer, Danville, Va. Agem or f Shefte &amp;  
 [73] Assignee: Star Paper Tube, Inc., Rock Hill.  
  57 ABSTRACT [22] Filed: 1973 A core for supporting textile yarn having a generally 21 y 422 5 cylindrical body portion with a relatively smooth exterior surface and a transfer ring formed thereon for frictionally engaging a transfer tail of the yarn. The [52] US. Cl. 242/ 125.1 transfer ring comprises a shanow depression formed in [5 l] Iltt. Cl B65h 75/28 the exterior surface of the core, which depression has [58] held of Search 242/ 125.1, 1 18.32, 118.31, a Substantially greater width than depth and a bottom 242/1183 18 PW; 57/34 TT surface extending generally parallel to the smooth exterior surface of the core with the bottom surface [56] References cued being roughened throughout its extent, preferably by a UNlTED STATES PATENTS knurled configuration. The smooth exterior surface of 2,163,618 6/1939 Muller 242/1183 the core y be Provided y a parchment, glassine or 2,243,101 5/1941 Kinsella 242/125.1 kraft paper covering, with the knurled configuration 3.5 .03 2/1970 Jurney 242/ 1 18.32 of the bottom surface of the shallow depression 3,625,451 12/1971 Anderson 242/125.1 f rmed in the paper covering without penetration 3,752,414 8/1973 Urquhart 242/1 18.32 thereof FORElGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 253,745 6/1926 United Kingdom 242/l25.l  
  3.876.165 PATENTEUAPR ems TEXTILE YARN CORE WITH TRANSFER RING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In building a yarn package on a rapidly rotating core, it is generally desirable to cause incipient winding of the yarn on the core adjacent one end thereof and spaced from the main yarn package whereby a small number of initial yarn windings are isolated to provide a so-called transfer tail or end which can be tied to the yarn end of another yarn package and thereby permit any number of yarn packages to be connected in an endless yarn length. 7  
  One of the more serious problems encountered in connection with such transfer tails is the tendency of the yarn windings comprising such transfer tails to slip off the end of the yarn core, this condition being generally referred to as losing the tail, and, when the yarn core is covered with a smooth exterior paper covering to support the yarn package, the problem of transfer tail slippage becomes even more acute.  
  In an attempt to overcome this problem, there have been several prior art proposals designed to retain the transfer tails in place on the yarn core. A common prior art proposal has been to form a narrow indentation or ring in the exterior surface of the yarn core, and to then manually hold the yarn in contact with such indentation of a rotating yarn core until several yarn windings are retained in the indentation. However, such indentations are generally narrow and they are formed with a concave cross-sectional profile so as to avoid destroying the smooth paper covering by piercing it, and also to minimize the possible formation of a protruding pressure ring on the inside surface of the yarn core which can cause inbalance of the rotating yarn core and could result in improper mounting of the yarn core on its spindle. Thus, while such indentations have alleviated the problem of transfer tail loss to some extent, the yarn still has a tendency to slip out of the indentation because it is somewhat shallow and because it has a curved, smooth surface configuration. Additionally, the narrow width of these indentations make it difficult to manipulate the yarn into the indentation for incipient winding of the yarn.  
  In other prior art proposals, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,717,291, issued Feb. 20, 1973, U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,451, issued Dec. 7, 1971, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,284,023, issued Nov. 8, 1966, narrow transfer tail grooves are formed in a yarn core with specially designed groove configurations that include yarncatching fingers, and traps which catch and hold the yarn in the grooves. In addition to being expensive to manufacture, these specially formed grooves sometimes tend to grasp the yarn too securely whereby yarn breakage or snagging of the yarn filaments may be encountered when the transfer tail is removed from the yarn core during unwinding. Finally, as indicated above, it is often difficult to place the yarn in the grooves initially because they are extremely narrow.  
  By substantial contrast, the present invention provides a yarn core having a transfer ring which avoids the drawbacks of the prior art,discussed above while providing a reliable retention of the transfer tail on a yarn core.  
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, a textile yarn core is provided which comprises an elongated,  
 generally cylindrical body, the exterior surface of which is relatively smooth. A yarn transfer ring is formed in the exterior surface of the yarn core adjacent one end thereof, such transfer ring comprising a shallow depression which&#39;has a width that substantially exceeds the depth thereof, and which includes a bottom surface extending in generally parallel relation to the smooth exterior surface of the yarn core. Thebottom surface is roughened throughout its extent with discrete raised portions for frictionally engaging a transfer tail of the yarn supported on the yarn core. Preferably, the bottom surface of the shallow depression is knurled to obtain the aforesaid discrete raised portions.  
  In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the yarn core body consists of a base portion formed of a plurality of spirally wound layers of lowgrade paper, and an outer relatively smooth thin paper covering, such as parchment, glassine or bleached or unbleached kraft paper. In the shallow depression forming the transfer ring, the outer paper covering has imposed thereon the aforementioned knurled configuration and the outer paper is not penetrated by such knurled configuration so there is no danger of the outer covering tearing or otherwise separating from the base portion of the yarn core.  
  Thus, the transfer ring in the yarn core of the present invention is wide and shallow to facilitate the placing of the yarn thereagainstduring incipient winding of the transfer tail, and the knurled bottom surface of the shallow transfer ring will positively engage the yarn with sufficient purchase to catch and then hold the transfer tail and thereby insure proper winding of the yarn on the yarn core, while permitting the yarn to be readily separated from the transfer ring without breakage or other difficulty during unwinding of the yarn from the yarn core.  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a yarn core con.- structed in accordance with the present inveniton;  
 FIG. 2 illustrates a flat layout of one end of the yarn core shown in FIG. 1; and  
 FIG. 3 is an enlarged, partially sectioned, view of a portion of the transfer ring end of the yarn core of FIG.  
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT spirally wound layers of paper 14 and an outer paper covering 16 providing a relatively smooth exterior surface upon which a yarn package may be built on the yarn core 10.- Anysuitable paper may be used for the layers 14, although it is usually desirable for economic reasons to use a low-grade inexpensive paper, such as chip grade paperboard made from recycled waste paper. The outer covering 16 is preferably thin and relatively smooth so as not to snag or otherwise mar the fibers of the yarn which is wrapped thereon, being for example parchment, glassine or bleached or unbleached kraft paper. In one specific embodiment, the outer covering paper is a 0.003 caliper vegetable base parchment weighing between twenty-eight and fifty pounds per ream. A representative parchment of this type is sold by Brown Company, Kalamazoo, Mich., under the trademark Whalehide.  
  The transfer ring 12, as shown in FIGS. 1-3, is catedadjacent one end of yarn core 10 to catch and then hold the incipient yarn windings at a location spaced from the main yar&#39;r package which is built onto the yarn core 10 whereby a transfer&#39;tail is provided which can be tied or otherwise joined to the yarn end from another yarn package as previously described. As best seen in FIG. 3, the transfer ring 12 comprises a shallow depression in the exterior surface of the yarn core 10 which has a width that substantially exceeds the depth of the depression, the shallow depression being defined by curved end walls 18 and a configu rated bottom surface which extends across substantially the entire width of the shallow depression to form a wideyshallow and generally flat bottomed depression extending annularly around the circumference of the yarn core 10. Since the bottom surface 20 extends cir cumferentially around the yarn core 10, it is not flat in the sense that it has a flat planar extent, but it is flat in the sense that it extends in generally parallel relation to the exterior surface of the yarn core 10 as shown in cross-section in FIG. 3. This generally flat bottomed depression is to be contrasted with the previously prior art transfer ring configurations which are formed by a narrow curved bottom surface (i.e. concave in transverse cross section through the transfer ring), or by a narrow groove cut into the exterior surface of the yarn core and including fingers or the like which grasp the yarn which is placed into the narrow groove.  
  The generally flat bottom surface 20 is configurated throughout its circumferential extent with discrete raised portions (see FIG. 3) which effectively roughen the bottom surface 20 whereby a transfer tail, instead of being placed against the relatively smooth outer covering 16 over which it can slide and become lost, will be frictionally engaged by the roughened bottom surface 20 and held thereat. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, this roughening of the bottom surface 20 is obtained by impressing it with a knurled configuration that provides patterned, discrete raised portions which are extremely effective in frictionally engaging the transfer tail with sufficient purchase to hold the transfer tail in the transfer ring 12 while still permitting the transfer tail to be readily pulled away from the transfer ring 12 during unwinding, without any damage to the yarn fibers in the transfer tail.  
  Because the transfer tail is frictionally engaged by the knurled bottom surface 20, the depression of the transfer ring 12 can have a very shallow depth since the transfer tail need not be maintained within the transfer ring 12 solely by the end walls 18 thereof, and this shallow depth facilitates the proper forming ofthe knurled configuration of the bottom surface 20 because a knurled die or other forming tool need be pressed against the thin parchment covering 16 with only a light force that will result in a proper ltnurling ofthe parchment covering 16 without penetrating or otherwise tearing it and without forming a pressure ring on the interior surface of the yarn core 10. Additionally, the shallow depth of the transfer ring 12 has the advantage of permitting the transfer ring 12 to be placed very near the end of the yarn core 10 without pulling the outer covering 16 inwardly away from the yarn core end face and perhaps separating it from the paper layers 14.  
  Thus, it has been determined that if the depth of the transfer ring 12 is greater than 0.032-inch, the parchment outer covering 16 may be penetrated, and such penetration can result adversely in small tears in the outer covering 16 that catch or snag the transfer tail, or that ultimately cause a separation of the outer covering 16 from the paper layers 14} which form the base portion of the yarn core 10. Moreover, it has been determined thata transfer ring depth of at least 0.016- inch is desirable because the previously described end walls 18 will then have a corresponding upward extent with respect to the knurled bottom surface 20 and provide &#39;a slight barrier that is sufficient to maintain the frictionally held transfer tail from inadvertently slipping off the knurled bottom surface 20. Accordingly, a feature of the present invention is the formation of the transfer ring with a depth within the range of 0.0l6-0.032-inch.  
  In a typical yarn core embodying the present invention, the diameter of the yarn core is three-inches, and the transfer ring 12 is located Aa-inch from the end of the yarn core 10 and has a width of either Ar-inch, 3/ l 6- inch or /2-inch with a transfer ring depth within the aforementioned ring of 0.0l6-0.032-inch.  
  It is to be noted that the width of the transfer ring 12 substantially exceeds the depth thereof, and this wide, shallow and generally flat bottomed transfer ring 12 offers significant advantages over prior art yarn cores. More particularly, the wide transfer ring 12 offers a significant areaagainst which yarn can be placed to cause incipient winding of the yarn on the yarn core, and this advantage becomes even more significant when it is recognized that such yarn must be placed against a yarn core that is rapidly rotating. Moreover, the knurled configuration of the&#39;transfer ring bottom surface 20 will readily engage yarn applied thereto, whereby an operator need only hold the yarn against the transfer ring 20 for a short time, a portion of one full revolution of the yarn core 10 usually being sufficient to result in a proper yarn engagement as compared with prior art yarn cores which required the operator to hold the yarn against the yarn core for several revolutions to assure adequate engagement between the transfer ring and the yarn, or to physically engage the yarn in the fingers of a narrow transfer ring groove. Finally, the transfer ring 12 of the present invention provides a frictional engagement with the yarn that is entirely sufficient to assure that the transfer tail will not be lost, yet the yarn will readily separate from the transfer ring 12 during unwinding without snagging or otherwise marring the yarn or the fibers thereof.  
  The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise to exclude any variation or equivalent arrangement that would be apparent. from, or reasonably suggested by, the foregoing disclosure to the skill of the art. For example, various types of paper or other similar materials may be used and convolutely wound tubes could be used. It is intended that the invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.  
 I claim: i  
  1. A textile yarn core comprising an elongated. generally cylindrical body having a base portion consisting of spirally wound layers of paper and an outer covering Consisting of a thin material forming a relatively smooth exterior surface on said yarn core for supporting yarn thereon, and including a yarn transfer ring formed in said thin outer covering material adjacent an end of said yarn core, said yarn transfer ring comprising a shallow depression having a width which substantially exceeds the depth thereof and having a configurated bottom surface which extends circumferentially the entire width of said depression in generally parallel relation to said relatively smooth exterior surface of said yarn core, said bottom surface of said shallow depression being formed in said thin outer covering material without penetration thereof and being roughened throughout its extent with discrete raised portions for frictionally engaging a transfer tail of the yarn supment paper.  
 5 2%? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE &#39;OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3, 876, 165 Dated April 8, 1975 Inventor(s) Tommy J. Comer It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:  
 Column 2, line 40, delete &#34;inveniton&#34; and insert therefor invention Column 3, line 26, after &#34;previously&#34; insert described Column 3, line 56, delete &#34;of&#34;and insert therefor on Signed and sealed this 1st day of July 11575.  
 3 EAL) Attest:  
 r&#39;v V r flff A &#39;r f T7,: n l haslul 1..1-. L. .Jiil l RUTH C. HAS Commissioner of Patents :xttesting Officer and Trademarks