Crimping apparatus
United States Patent 1 Fleissner [451 Apr. 29, 1975 CRIMPING APPARATUS [75] lnventor:  
 [73] Assignee: Vepa Aktiengesellschaft.  
 Riehen-Basel, Switzerland [22] Filed: Oct. 9, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 404,401  
 Hans Fleissner, Egelsbach, Germany [30} Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 6. 1972 Germany 2249122 [52} U.S. Cl. 28/l.6 [51] Int. Cl D02g 1/12 [58] Field of Search 28/13. 1.6. 1.7, 72.14  
 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 175L471 3/1930 Campbell 28/].6 2.753.357 8/1956 Goodhuc 28/17 2.793.418 5/1957 Pfau 28/16 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Peters. Def. Pub. Search Copy of Serial No. 753132. filed Aug. 16, 1968, published in 861 0.6, 705 on Apr. 15. 1969.  
 Primary E.\&#39;unu&#39;!1erMervin Stein Attorney, Agenl, 0r Firm-Craig &amp; Antonelli [57] ABSTRACT A crimping apparatus including more than one stuffer box crimping device including a crimping chamber formed from two chamber plates arranged in spacedapart relationship. and a pair of driven feed rollers disposed in front of the chamber and a stand on which the crimping devices are disposed. One of the crimping devices is disposed in an operating position for crimping of a textile material and the other crimping devices are in non-operating positions.  
 7 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure CRIMPING APPARATUS This invention relates to a crimping apparatus including a crimping device of the stuffer box-type consisting of a crimping chamber. formed from two spaced-apart chamber plates arranged on a support stand, and a pair of feed or delivery rollers arranged in front of the chamber, which pair of rollers is driven.  
  The above-mentioned crimping devices must always operate exactly and uniformly. If the feed rollers do not rotate steadily, and grooves are thus ground into their surfaces, fiber residues or the like are accumulated in the crimping chamber, especially at the stuffer nip, and the crimping result is nonuniform in such cases. This is true particularly if the feed rollers supply the textile cable to be crimped no longer into the crimping chamber at a speed which is uniform over the width of the feed rollers. An adjustment of a delivery roller by grinding same or a cleaning of the chamber space is, therefore, unavoidable from time to time. Such a cleaning or repair step requires that the entire fiber manufacturing train is shut down, which train consists of a plurality of machines. Since an interruption of the production train for a longer period of time would cause great losses, it is customary to arrange, downstream of the first crimping device, a second such device in alignment with the cable guidance. If the first device must be shut down, the cable is guided, by means of a transfer unit, to the second stuffer box crimping device which then takes over the work of the first.  
  Not considering the fact that the arrangement of two stuffer box crimping devices lengthens the machine plant by about 3 meters, the expenses for such additional machinery are likewise increased. Therefore, this invention is directed to an apparatus providing features avoiding a lengthening of the machine plant by a second stuffer box crimping device and furthermore ensuing in a reduction of the costs for machinery.  
  This problem is solved, in accordance with the invention, by providing more than one crimping device on the support stand. In case of two crimping devices, they are aligned in the conveying direction of the cable in opposition to each other. The stand is then supported rotatably about an axle, provided, in the case of two devices, in the center betwen both crimping devices.  
  By means of this provision, it is not only easy to exchange one crimping device for a second crimping device, if the first becomes inoperable, but the space requirement in the direction of cable travel for two crimping devices is furthermore the same as for only one, and the expenses for both are less than if two devices were provided separately one behind the other. This is true, in particular, if the standas furthermore provided by this inventionis disposed separately from the drive means of each crimping device, preferably including the gear system and the speed control, and if the drive means is releasably connected with the crimping device by means ofa coupling. Thus, in accordance with this invention, the drive means for one feed roller pair, representing a considerable expense factor for a stuffer box crimping device, serves two stuffer box crimping devices, of which, of course, only one is in operation.  
  The connection between the feed roller pair and the drive means can readily be disengaged by a coupling and, after the stand has been pivoted by 180, if two stuffer box crimping devices are disposed on the stand.  
 the drive can be easily joined with the device which has now been pivoted into the operative position. The axis of the stand is disposed outside of the cable transport plane, which will be described in greater detail below with reference to the accompanying drawing.  
  The drawing shows one embodiment of the crimping apparatus according to the present invention in a plan view.  
  A stuffer box crimping device of conventional design consists of the crimping chamber 1, consisting of two chamber plates, one of which is pivotable on the other so that the chamber volume can be reduced. For the sake of simplicity, the individual details thereof are not illustrated in this embodiment. In front of the crimping chamber, a feed roller pair 2 with two superimposed rolls is provided which presses the cable 3 at a high pressure into the crimping chamber 1.  
  The crimping chamber with the feed roller pair is attached to a base plate 4 which, in turn, is arranged on a support stand 5. The stand 5 carries two crimping devices of the above-described type and is pivotably mounted on a vertical support about a vertical axis 6 in the center between the two devices, so that the stand can be pivoted in the direction of the arrow. The chamber, the roller pair and the base plate of the crimping device in a non-operating position (i.e. the reserve unit) are designated, respectively, by l, 2&#39; and 4&#39;. The arrangement of the chamber 1 on the stand is such that the reserve unit does not impede the other crimping device during operation in the train of machinery. For this purpose, the alignment of the stand in its length is tilted by 45 with respect to the cable conveying direction. i.e. the travel direction of said cable.  
  The drive means 7 for both of the crimping devices is arranged at right angles to the transporting direction of the cable at the level of the stuffer box crimping device pivoted into the train of machinery. The drive means comprises the motor and the speed control unit of the device. A drive rod 8 establishes the connection between the drive means 7 and the feed roller pair 2&#39;, this rod can be readily detached from the device by means of a coupling element or means 10.  
  If the crimping device inserted in the train becomes defective, a rapid replacement can be provided with the aid of the illustrated arrangement. For this purpose, the connection between the drive means and the crimping device must be interrupted, the stand 5 must be pivoted about the axis 6 by l, and thereupon the crimping device, aligned on the stand in opposition to the first, i.e. the reserve unit is then placed into the operating position. In order to be able to start up the machine system, it is merely necessary to join the feed roller pair of the second crimping device again with the drive means 7 with the aid of the drive rod 8 and the coupling element 10&#39;.  
  lt will be appreciated that the coupling element or means l0, [0&#39; has been schematically shown and that this element is a conventional device for effecting a connection between a drive rod and a pair of driven rollers.  
  Furthermore, it will also be appreciated that in accordance with this invention the stand 5 pivotally or rotatably mounted on the vertical support, is moved in a substantially horizontal plane manually by an operator to dispose one of the crimping devices in an operating position or mechanical means is provided for moving the stand to the required position.  
  While the novel embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be understood that various omissions. modifications and changes in these principles may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.  
 What is claimed is:  
  l. A crimping apparatus which comprises a stuffer box crimping device including a crimping chamber formed from two chamber plates arranged in spacedapart relationship, a pair of driven feed rollers disposed in front of said chamber and a displaceable stand for supporting said crimping device. said apparatus being further characterized in that more than one of said crimping devices is disposed on the stand and said stand is displaced to position one of the crimping devices in an operating position in a train of an apparatus for continuously crimping textile material and to posi tion the other crimping devices in a reserve-out-of-theway position.  
  2. The apparatus according to claim l, in which the stand is rotatably mounted about an approximately vertical axis.  
  3. The apparatus according to claim 2, in which two crimping devices are disposed on the rotatable stand.  
  4. The apparatus according to claim 3, in which the crimping devices are aligned in mutual opposition in the transporting direction of a textile cable being crimped by said one of said crimping devices.  
 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, in which the aixs of rotation is arranged in the center between the two crimping devices.  
  6. A crimping apparatus which comprises a stuffer box crimping device including a crimping chamber formed from two chamber plates arranged in spacedapart relationship. a pair of driven feed rollers disposed in front of said chamber and a stand for supporting said crimping device. said apparatus being further characterized in that more than one of said crimping devices is disposed on the stand and the stand is disposed separately from a drive means for each crimping device, said drive means including a gear system and a speed control. and being releasably connected with each of said crimping devices by a coupling means.  
  7. A crimping apparatus which comprises a first stuffer box crimping device including a crimping chamber formed from two chamber plates arranged in spaced-apart relationship, and a pair of driven feed rollers disposed in front of said chamber; at least one other box crimping device similar to said first stuffer box crimping device and a rotatable stand on which the crimping devices are disposed, said stand being displaced to position one of the crimping devices in an operating position in a train of an apparatus for continuously crimping a textile material and to position the other crimping devices in a reserve out-of-the-way position.