Carrier for weft insertion
United States Patent 1191 Mackie Apr. 1, 1975 CARRIER FOR WEFT INSERTION Primar Examinerl-lenr S. Jaudon 75ltzWllDGll Y men or gg gxl ggm ifiit gg Attorney, Agent, or F irmPollock, Ph1lp1tt &amp; Vande Sande [73] Assignee: James Mackie &amp; Sons Limited,  
 Belfast, Northern Ireland [22] Filed: Dec. 6, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl&#39; 422505 A weft inserter or spear for a shuttleless loom the inserter having a hook mounted on its leading end to en- [30] Foreign Application Priority Data gage weft thread wherein a warp deflector member is Dec. 14, 1972 United Kingdom 57821/72 Provided movable betWeen an inoperative Positien in which it acts to deflect warp yarn from the hook on 52 US. Cl 139/122 N Withdrawal of the ihserter from the Shed ef the 100m 51 Int. Cl. D03D 47/20 and an Operative position in which it enables Weft y 158 Field of Search 138/122 R, 122 N, 127 R 21 in the P of the hook to be engaged y the [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 3,665,975 5/1972 Kokkinis 139/122 N PATENTED H975 3,874,421  
 sum 2 DF 2 CARRIER FOR WEFT INSERTION This invention relates to shuttleless looms of the transfer type, i.e., looms in which the weft thread is car ried through the warp shed by means of two spears or rapiers each being reciprocated into and out from the shed from opposite sides of the loom respectively one spear gripping the weft thread to carry the weft into the shed, the thread being then transferred at the centre of the shed to the other spear which is then driven outwardly to carry the thread through the remainder of the shed.  
  One form of weft inserter or spear (hereinafter referred to as an inserter of the type described) comprises a hook which is mounted (preferably pivotally) on the leading end of the inserter. A yarn clamp surface is preferably but not necessarily provided adjacent the hook so that yarn can be trapped between the hook and the clamp surface.  
  Such inserters have hitherto been provided with a back plate which acts to deflect warp threads from the hook during withdrawal of the inserter from the shed. This back plate is comparatively deep and extends to the front of the inserter spaced sideways from the hook to enable the other inserter to pass between it and the hook. Consequently the inserter in use had to be mounted on a bridge member so that the bottom of the back plate was above the top of the guide for the inserter drive tapes, which, together with the height of the plate, acted to increase the necessary height of the shed.  
  The general object of this invention is to reduce the height of the shed of a loom using an inserter of the type described, so as to reduce the movement needed during shed changeover and beat up.  
  This object is achieved in accordance with this invention by providing an inserter of the type described with a member movable between an inoperative position in which it acts to deflect warp yarns from the hook on withdraw] of the inserter from the shed, and an operative position in which it acts to help guide weft yarn into the path of the hook.  
  The inserter may have a fixed hook, or a hook which is pivotally mounted to be lifted when it is desired to engage weft yarn but preferably the inserter is similar to that forming the subject of our co-pending U..S. application Ser. No. 392,906 which comprises two levers, one carrying the hook at its outer end and being pivotally mounted on the leading end of the inserter at a point adjacent the hook and the other being pivotally mounted between its ends and having its leading end movably connected to the trailing end of the first lever. In this case the leading end of the said other lever is provided with a nose which extends beyond the point of connection of the two levers and which has a surface located alongside the hook and preferably above it, to act to deflect warp yarns from the hook on withdraw] of the inserter from the shed.  
  As the nose extension of the lever lies within the confines of the inserter it does not require the use of a bridge member to lift it above the tape supports so the shed height can be reduced.  
  Preferably the free leading edge of the nose portion is curved downwardly so as to be below the level of the upper surface of the hook to form a substantially smooth deflector.  
 &#39; When the lever is pivoted to pivot the hooked lever, the nose portion cocks upwardly to help to cause the weft yarn carried by the other inserter, to be led into the hook. To help this effect the underside of the nose portion is preferably curved upwardly towards the leading edge.  
  The invention will now be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:  
  FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an embodiment of a right-hand inserter in accordance with the present invention;  
  FIG. 2 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 but showing the hook open to receive a weft thread from a lefthand inserter;  
 FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the inserter; and  
  FIG. 4 is a sketch showing the inserter in position on its drive tapes.  
  The inserter shown in the drawings comprises a hooked arm 2 pivoted at 4 adjacent its leading end and adjacent, but forward of, the hook 6. The rear end 8 of the arm 2 is engaged in a notch 10 in a second arm 12 which is pivoted to the spear at 14 at a point between its ends. The rear end of the second arm is urged by a spring 16 to a position in which the lower face of the hook is held against a shoulder 18 of the spear to provide a clamp.  
  The pivot 14 also carries a bowed lever 20 secured to the pivot and which operates to pivot the lever 12.  
  The nose portion 22 of the lever 12 extends alongside the hook 6 with its upper surface lying above that of the hook.  
  When the right-hand spear shown in the drawings meets a conventional left-hand inserter (not shown) at the centre of the shed a length of weft thread carried by the left-hand spear to lie transversely across the path of the right hand inserter is carried above the hook.  
  At the position where the spears meet the bowed lever 20 is engaged by a fixed plate 24 (see FIG. 2) which extends down from the loom frame over the warp threads. The plate acts to depress the lever 20 and hence causes the lever 12 to pivot in a clockwise direction about the pivot 14 depressing the spring 16. This movement causes the trailing end 8 of the lever 2 to be raised and the hook 6 to be pivoted in an anti-clockwise direction to the open position shown in FIG. 3. The nose 22 of the lever 12 is cocked up with its under surface 26, which curves up towards its leading edge, forming a deflection member to cause the weft thread to pass over the back of the hook and into the groove 28 between the hook and the lever 2.  
  In order to ensure that when the hook is opening the nose portion 22 is lifted the required height from the position shown in FIG. 1 to that shown in FIG. 3, the width of the notch 10 may be comparatively large so that the nose will rise the required distance in advance of the hook.  
  On reversal of the spears the right-hand spear moves to the right as shown in the drawings and as the bowed lever 20 emerges from beneath the plate 24 the spring 16 causes it to move back to the position shown in FIG. 1 in which the weft thread is trapped between the hook 6 and the shoulder plate 18. The nose portion 22 of the lever 12 then lies alongside the hook and as the upper surface of its leading edge slopes downwardly to a point below the level of the hook a smooth upper deflecting surface is provided to prevent warp yarns from being accidentally caught in the hook.  
  The warp yarns are deflected above the bowed arm by means of a deflection plate 30 located between the bowed arm 20 and the lever 12 at the rear portion of the inserter.  
  As the nose portion 22 which acts to deflect warp yarn from the hook 6 and the deflection plate 30 lie within the confines of the width of the inserter there is no need for the inserter to be connected to its drive tapes through a bridge or platform as would be the case if the deflector plate extended along the whole length of the inserter to protect the hook 6 as well as the lever 20.  
  It will be appreciated that the deflector plate 30 does not have to be spaced sideways from the body of the inserter since it is present only at the rear end of the inserter and does not have to permit the interposition of a left-hand inserter between it and the hook. No bridge member is therefore necessary and the overall height of the inserter is reduced so that the size of the shed of the loom with which the inserter is to be used, can also be reduced. The warp threads are shown at W.  
 I claim:  
  1. A weft inserter or spear for a shuttleless loom the inserter having a hook mounted on its leading end to engage weft thread wherein a warp deflector means is provided moveable between one position in which it enables weft yarn lying in the path of the hook to be engaged by the hook and another position in which said warp deflector means acts to deflect warp yarn from the hook on withdrawal of the inserters from the shed of the loom.  
  2. A weft inserter as recited in claim 1 in which said warp deflector means guides weft yarn into the path of said hook when said warp deflector means is in said one position.  
  3. The weft inserter as claimed in claim 1 in which the hook is pivotallymounted on the leading end of the inserter and in which weft yarn clamp surface means is provided adjacent the hook for trapping weft yarn between the hook and the clamp surface means.  
  4. A weft inserter as claimed in claim 3 in which the hook is provided at one end of a first lever which is pivotally mounted at the leading end of the inserter at a point adjacent the hook, a second lever, said second lever pivotally mounted between its ends with its leading end moveably connected to the trailing end of the first lever, the leading end of the second lever comprising said warp deflector means having a nose which extends beyond the point of connection of the two levers and which has a surface located along side the hook to deflect the warp yarn from the hook when in said other position with the hook lying against said clamp surface means.  
  5. A weft inserter as recited in claim 4 in which the free leading end of the nose portion of the second lever is curved and located below the level of the upper surface of the hook when in said other position to form a substantially smooth deflector.  
  6. A weft inserter as claimed in claim 5 in which the nose portion of the second lever, when said second lever is pivoted its one position, cocks upwardly to cause weft yarn carried by the second inserter to be let into the hook.  
  7. A weft inserter as claimed in claim 6 in which the nose portion of the second lever has an underside which is curved upwardly towards its leading edge.