Process and apparatus for winding yarns and the like
United States Patent 11 Landenberger et a1.  
 [ Apr. 29, 1975 1 PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR WINDING YARNS AND THE LIKE [73] Assignee: Metallgesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft,  
 Frankfurt am Main, Germany 221 Filed: Aug. 29, 1973 211 Appl. No.: 392,836  
 [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 22, 1972 Germany 2246721 52 us. Cl. 242/355 R; 242/18 PW [51] Int. Cl B65h 54/02; B6 5h 65/00 [58] Field of Search 242/355 R, 18 R, 18 PW, 242/18 DD [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2.998202 8/1961 Keith et a1. 242/18 PW Roberts .v 242/l8 PW Parry 242/18 PW Primary ExaminerStanley N. Gilreath Attorney, Agent, or F irm Burgess, Dinklage &amp; Sprung [57] ABSTRACT Two yarns or the like, preferably freshly spun yarns. are put onto a bobbin-winding device capable of rotating at high peripheral speeds. A movable guide means is positioned approximately midway between two yarn winding zones of the winding device to hold the two yarns together as they are put on the winding device. The guide is moved clear of the yarns releasing same after&#39;the yarns are connected to the winding device. The yarns are preferably wound on two cores or tubes detachably fitted on the winding device so as to form a butt joint between adjacent tube ends in the region in which the yarns are initially wound on the winding device, this region being defined by the movable guide means.  
 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR WINDING YARNS AND THE LIKE BACKGROUND This invention relates to a process of simultaneously putting two freshly spun yarns on a bobbin-winding apparatus which rotates at a high peripheral velocity and serves to receive two yarn packages.  
  It is known to put freshly spun yarn simultaneously on a bobbin-winding apparatus, which comprises two winding cores, so as to form two yarn packages, The two yarns may be put on the common bobbin-winding apparatus by hand with the aid of a compressed-airoperated vacuum device for moving the threads.  
  Considerable difficulties will arise when two freshly spun yarns are to be put simultaneously on two yarn tubes rotating in unison and a yarn reserve should be formed on each tube. Particularly when the yarn is to be wound up at high speed so that a thread length of 1000 meters and more is wound per minute, an uneven putting of two yarns on the apparatus will result in trouble during the early phase of the winding operation because the yarn which has been put on first must take up the full pressure of the drive roller and for this reason is often damaged.  
 SUMMARY These disadvantages are avoided by the invention. which resides in positioning movable guide means approximately midway between the zones in which the yarns are wound up to hold the two yarns together as they are put on, and moving the guide clear of the yarns when the latter have been connected to the winding means. By means of the guide means, the two yarns are put on the winding apparatus exactly at the same time. As the guide is moved away, the yarns are progressively released so that they are wound up along helices on which they move away from each other. The desired yarn reserve for each yarn package is formed during this phase of the winding operation. During the further processing of the yarn, the yarn reserve to each yarn package is connected to the leading end of the next following package so that any desired number of yarn packages can be subjected to further processing in a continuous operation without need to interrupt the process for a change from one package to the next. For this reason, the yarn reserves must be free of faults just as the yarn in a portion of the package.  
  The two package-winding zones are suitably formed by two tubes or winding cores. which are detachably mounted on the bobbin-winding apparatus and which at their confronting ends have annular peripheral recesses or are bevelled in mirror symmetry at their confronting ends to form a common recess. This recess or recesses form catching grooves for engaging the yarns as they are put on.  
 DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The process according to the invention and the apparatus required for it will now be explained by way of example with reference to the drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation showing a bobbin-winding apparatus,  
  FIG. 2 is a top plan view showing a thread guide as viewed in the direction of the arrow Pfl in FIG. 1, and  
  FIGS. 3 to are longitudinal sectional views showing the two abutting ends of two yarn packages.  
  The bobbin-winding apparatus shown in FIG. 1 serves to wind up the two yarns l and 2 and comprises an arbor 3, on which two yarn tubes 4 and 5 are detachably fitted. The two yarns 1 and 2 are wound on the tubes 4 and 5 to form yarn packages 6 and 7. The winding means are driven by a common drive roller 8, which is rotated by a motor, not shown. The roller 8 contacts the yarn packages 6 and 7 under pressure and is rotated at a constant speed to ensure a winding of the packages at a constant peripheral velocity as the radius of the packages 6 and 7 increases during the winding operation.  
  The two yarns l and 2 are formed in known manner, not shown on the drawing, in that sets of filaments spun from spinnerets are combined. The filaments may consist of any of a large number of synthetic thermoplastics, of which polyester is frequently used example. When the filaments have been spun, they are combined in bundles, each of which forms a yarn. Before the yarns l and 2 are moved through stationary annular guides 9 and 10, the yarns may have moved through different pretreating stages and. e.g., one or more galettes. It is difficult to put the two yarns 1 and 2 simultaneously on the associated tubes 4 and 5, which are still empty and rotate at the full peripheral speed of, e.g., 3000-6000 meters per minute. The tubes 4 and 5 are rotated by the motor-driven roller 8, which is in pressure contact with the tubes. The arbor 3 fits the tubes to rotate with them and is generally not driven by other means.  
  To be put on the tubes. the yarns l and 2 are guided along the two convergent dash-dot lines la and 2a and are pulled together through a thread guide 11. The thread guide is shown in a top plan view in FIG. 2 and to hold the two yarns together is provided with a slot 12, which merges into a divergent outlet 13. A push rod 14 is secured to the thread guide 11 and cooperates with a pneumatic or electromagnetic apparatus 30 by which the thread guide can be reciprocated in the direction of the double arrow Pf2.  
  The thread guide 11 may consist. e.g., of ceramic material or of hard-chromium-plated brass; alternatively. the thread guide 11 may consist of a U-shaped member of hard-chromium-plated wire in the form of a U- shaped member having a slot 12, an outlet 13, and a push rod 14.  
  To put on the two yarns l and 2. the latter are pulled down by means ofa vacuum device through the slot 12 of the thread guide 11 and are then contacted with the two tubes 4 and 5 so that the two yarns are engaged by the tubes adjacent to the buttjoint between the latter.  
  Adjacent to the butt joint between the tubes, the end portions of the latter are formed in the region in which the yarn is put on with a peripheral recess, which receives the yarns which have been pulled through the thread guide and are to be put on. These recesses 15 and 16 are shown in FIG. 1 on a greatly enlarged and exagerated scale for the sake of clarity.  
  As soon as the two yarns 1 and 2 have been engaged by the rotating tubes 4 and 5 in the recesses region of the latter, a certain length of yarn is wound up on that region; this length of yarn is subsequently eliminated as waste. Immediately there after, the thread guide I1 is disengaged from the two yarns. This accomplished in the simplest manner in that a switch is actuated to initiate the operation of a pneumatic or electromagnetic pulling device which pulls off the thread guide. The direction of movement of the thread guide 11 is at right angles to the plane of the drawing of FIG. I. As the thread guide is pulled off, the yarns which are tensioned because they have been connected to the bobbin-winding device slip out of the slot 12 and toward the enlarged outlet 13. While the yarns move outwardly along respective curves defined by the outlet 13, they move apart in mutually opposite directions because they are tensioned; as a result, the yarns move toward the respective package-winding zones and at the same time are further wound up on the tubes 4 and to form helices 1b and 2b, which constitute the desired yarn reserve. The velocity at which the threaded guide 11 is pulled off and the configuration of the curves of the outlet 13 may be selected to vary the number of turns per inch of the yarn reserve.  
  When after a few revolutions of the tubes the yarns have reached the zones in which they are to be wound up. they are reciprocated in these zones by means of traverse motions, not shown. This is indicated by the double arrows Pf3 and Pf4 in FIG. 1. As a result, the yarn packages 6 and 7 are formed, which progressively increase in thickness.  
  The yarn tubes are preferably made of cardboard and are discarded after a single use. FIGS. 3 to 5 are longitudinal sectional views taken through the abutting end portions of such tubes in a design in which they are particularly well adapted to cooperate with the thread guide 11 in the process according to the invention. Each of the tube end portions and 21 shown in FIG. 3 has a peripheral annular recess 17 or 18, which is V- shaped in cross-section. In their operating position, the two tubes fitted on the arbor 3 are disposed so that their abutting end portions 20 and 21, specifically the recesses 17 and 18, are disposed directly under the slot 12 of the thread guide 11. When the yarns which are to be wound on the tubes are put on the latter, the yarns 1 and 2 which have been pulled through the slot 12 can easily be moved so that one yarn is engaged in the recess 17 and the other in the recess 18. As a result, the yarns are initially wound up in the recesses 17 or 18 during the short time in which the yarns have been put on and the thread guide 11 has not yet been withdrawn. Before the recesses have been filled with wound-up yarn, the pull-off mechanism has been started by the operator to pull off the thread guide 11. As a result, the yarns 1 and 2 leave the slot 12 of the thread guide and move out through the outlet 13 so that the yarns are disengaged while the yarn reserve continues to be wound up on each tube end portion. As the winding of the yarns continues, the latter are quickly pulled away from the tube end portions and toward the respective package-winding zones.  
 Because the yarns which have been put on are initially wound up in recesses of the respective tubes, the  
 yarns are protected from the action of pressure. Without such recesses, the yarns would be pressed by the drive roller 8 which engages the tubes. Such pressure will be detrimental particularly if a relatively large length of yarn is wound up on one and the same portion of the tube and the yarn can not move along the tube as it is wound up. It is apparent that the recesses on the tube end portions serve to facilitate the operation in which the yarns are put on the respective tubes in order to improve the quick engagement of the yarns bythe tubes, and to protect the yarns from the pressure of the driving roller as the yarns are put on.  
  FIG. 4 shows two tube end portions 22 and 23 such as are intended for the tube 4 and 5 of FIG. I. The recesses 15 and 16 are formed by a step-shaped reduction of the outside cross-section. Each of the recesses 15 and 16 has a height or depth of about 5 millimeters; the recess 17 and 18 of FIG. 3 have similar dimensions. Tubes having steplike recesses 15 and 16 are intended to avoid a pressing of the yarn which are been wound in the recesses.  
  In the example shown in FIG. 5, each of the two tube end portions 24 and 25 has a bevelled surface 26 or 27. These bevelled surfaces are arranged with mirror symmetry and adjacent to the butt joint of the tubes form a common V-shaped annular recess, which has the same function as the steplike recesses 15 and 16 of FIG. 4. The bevelled surfaces of the tube end portions 24 and 25 may alternatively extend so that the tubes contact each other only with a very thin annular edge.  
 What is claimed is:  
  1. Process for simultaneously attaching two yarns on a bobbin-winding means which rotates at a peripheral velocity in excess of 1000 meters per minute and has two cores detachably fitted thereon in end-to-end relationship to form two yarn packages axially spaced along a common axis in a winding zone of each core,  
 which comprises a. feeding said yarns through separate stationary guides positioned above the winding zone of each core;  
 b. leading the two yarns together through a movable guide means positioned above the abutting ends of the two cores, said guide means being movable in and out of engagement with said two yarns;  
 c. attaching the two yarns on the rotating bobbinwinding means in the region of the abutting ends of the cores;  
 d. pulling the movable guide means out of engagement with the two yarns; e. moving the two yarns in opposite directions while winding each yarn on its respective core; and  
 f. reciprocating each yarn by means of traverse motions in their respective winding zones thereby forming said two yarn packages.  
  2. Process of claim 1 wherein the peripheral velocity of the bobbin-winding means during attachment of the two yarns according to step (c) is 3000 to 6000 meters per minute.  
  3. Winding apparatus for simultaneously winding-up two yarns at a velocity in excess of 1000 meters per minute comprising bobbin-winding means adapted to receive two detachably mounted winding cores in endto-end relationship along a common axis, each core having a winding zone axially spaced from the confronting ends of said cores the confronting ends of the cores including means for engaging and initially winding the yarns thereon, fixed guide means for each of said yarns positioned between the planes defining the axial confines of the winding zones, means to reciprocate the yarns in their respective winding zones and movable yarn guide means substantially in radial alignment with the confronting ends of the cores for simultaneously engaging and disengaging said two yarns adjacent the confronting ends of said cores.  
  4. Apparatus of claim 3 wherein the confronting ends of said Winding cores have peripheral recesses.  
  5. Apparatus of claim 3 wherein the peripheral recesses are a step, notch, or recess.  
  6. Apparatus of claim 3 wherein the movable yarn 8. Apparatus of claim 6 which includes electromagguide means comprises a transverse slot for retaining the yarns, said slot diverging towards an outlet.  
  7. Apparatus of claim 6 which includes pneumatic means for transversely moving said yarn guide means. 5  
 netic means for transversely moving said yarn guide means.