Pick finder connected to color selector
Apr. 8, 1975 3.095.015 6/1963 Cuiengnet.1......................... 139/1 E 10/1968 139/324 PICK FINDER CONNECTED TO COLOR SELECTOR [75] Inventor: Francis S. Duprey, Cherry Valley.  
 Mass.  
 Primary Examiner-Henry S. Jaudon [73] Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation,  
 Pittsburgh, Pa.  
 ABSTRACT 1221 Filed: on. 23, 1973 Appl 408692 An improved connecting means for operably connecting a loom drive to a harness controlling and a color controlling selector dobbies wherein axially moveable 3 139/324 clutch and spline connections are used to disengage (511 int. D03c 13/00 the main loom drive while permitting the dobbies to 139/1 R. I be simultaneously operated by other means. such as by a hand wheel or crank.  
 [58] Field of Search.............  
 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Claims. 4 Drawing Figures PICK FINDER CONNECTED TO COLOR SELECTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION During weaving operations and particularly on those types of looms where the weft insertion yarn is with drawn from the stationary source or sources located outside of the end limits of the loom. it is not unusual for an improper weft insertion to occur. For example. the weft yarn may break due to tension or it may enter too far into the shed because of the natural resiliency of the yarn when released. This particular problem is especially troublesome with the type of looms where insertion is made by wheel driven tapes or similar types of mechanical insertion apparatus. When there is a defective insertion ofa weft yarn. or pick. it becomes necessary. to insure acceptable quality of cloth. that the loom be stopped and turned backwards to remove the improper pick of weft and the loom once again started. Obviously this is not a difficult problem when only one type or color of weft yarn is being used but when an intricate pattern is being woven with a plurality of colors or types of yarns. it is necessary that not only the harness controlling dobby be backed to the position where the faulty pick occurred. but also that the color controlling dobby be identically reversed. Obviously with a plurality of weft yarns it requires operator time and great skill to insure that both of the dobby mechanisms have been returned to the location where the original defective weft pick occurred.  
  It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide an improved means for operably connecting the loom drive to both the harness controlling and the color controlling dobby so that both can be reversed and the improperly inserted weft yarn corrected.  
  It is an additional object of this invention to provide an improved means for operably connecting the drve to the two loom dobbies in a way that an unskilled operator can easily correct any defects that have occurred during the insertion of a given weft yarn and make appropriate correction.  
  Other objects and advantages ofthis invention will be in part obvious and in part explained by reference to the accompanying specification and drawings, in which:  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. is a partially schematic perspective view of a typical loom showing both the color selector and harness controlling dobbies together with the improved connecting mechanism of this invention;  
  FIG. 2 is a front perspective showing the improved connecting mechanism;  
  FIG. 3 is a front perspective of the improved connecting mechanism showing the parts in the position where the loom drive has been rendered ineffective; and  
  FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line for FIG. 3.  
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT For a more complete understanding of the nature of this invention reference is made to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. I. In FIG. I the numeral indicates the overall loom which also includes the first dobby II that controls the harness frames, which are shown in phantom by and are indicated by the numeral I2. The first dobby I1 is controlled by means of the punched tape 15 while the second dobby is controlled by means of the punched tape 16, both in conventional manner. The loom also contains a suitable drive means which is here indicated as being a bevel drive 17 that is connected to a motor (not shown) located on the lower right hand side of the drawing in FIG. I. The bevel drive I7 has an output drive shaft I8 around which is entrained a drive chain 19.  
  The improved connecting means 25 of this invention comprises a main dobby drive shaft 26 which is mounted for rotation in the journals 27 and 28 located adjacent to each end of the drive shaft 26. The main dobby drive shaft 26 includes splined connection 29 located between the two journal points to allow for axial movement between cooperating parts of the shaft. for reasons which will be subsequently explained.  
  Mounted for rotation on the main dobby drive shaft 26 is a first means 30 that is here shown as a gear or a sprocket and which is operably associated with a clutching device that will be more fully explained hereinafter and is connected to the bevel drive I7 by means of the previously mentioned drive shaft [8 and drive chain 19. The second means 31 fixed on main dobby drive shaft 26 is also here shown as a sprocket although other means could as well be used. The second means 31 drives a chain 32 and this chain is responsible for operating the first dobby II, which is in turn controlled in its operation by means of the dobby tape 15. The third means mounted on and for rotation with shaft 26 is a gear or sprocket 33 that cooperates with a chain 36 which in turn is connected through appropriate gearing to the gear reduction box 35. The gear reduction box, which contain a driving worm gear. is responsible for rotation of the connecting shaft 37. The connecting shaft 37, through the linkage just mentioned before is driven by bevel drive 17, and in turn effects the movement of chain 39 through sprocket 38. Chain 39 is operably connected to the second dobby l3 and thereby effects operation of this part of the apparatus.  
  The next element ofthe improved connecting means that is rotated by means of main dobby drive shaft 26 is the gear means 40 which is clearly shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings. The gear means 40 is itself mounted on a collar 41 which is secured to the main drive shaft 26. The collar 41 also includes a flange 42 on its left most end and a clutching dog 43 on the end which is furthest to the right (as seen in the Figures). The clutching dog 43 cooperates with a corresponding dog 44 that is formed on the first driving gear means 30. When the two dogs are engaged in the fashion shown in FIG. 2 rotation of the drive sprocket 30 will, through the dog. cause corresponding rotation of the main dobby drive shaft 26 and all of the related apparatus to which it is connected.  
  The last element carried on collar 41 is the timing plate 45 which has the configuration shown in FIG. 4. It can be seen that plate 45 has a relieved or removed portion 46 but otherwise has a substantially larger diameter than the diameter of the gear means 40. In order for collar 41 to be moved axially away from the drive sprocket 30, it will be necessary for the timing plate to be in the position shown in FIG. 4. In any other position the enlarged portion of plate 45 will contact the end wall of the smaller of the two gears shown in FIG. 4 and axial movement will not be possible.  
  Additional means are operably included in the improved connecting means. Specifically and again referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 there is provided an elongated shaft which extends substantially co-axially with the main dobby drive shaft 26. This shaft is constructed in two sections, the first being an enlarged tubular section 50 of a preselected inner diameter and the second being a smaller solid shaft 52 having an outside diameter that can be inserted into the tubular shaft 50. The larger of the two shaft portions, 50, is shown as having a hand wheel 51 mounted on its end while the smaller of the two shaft portions, 52, is shown as having gear means 56 attached to it for rotation with that shaft member. There is also a spline element 55 which has outwardly extending portions that fit around the collar 41 and which abuts against the flange 42. This spline is secured to the tubular member 50.  
  In order that the portion 50 might move axially with respect to portion 56 the two parts of the shaft are assembled together with a key that requires both shaft members to rotate simultaneously but which key fits in an elongated slot formed in the shaft member 50 so that this part of the shaft combination can be moved axially back and forth without requiring similar movement of portion 52 of the shaft combination. However. before axial movement of the shaft 50 and its related parts can be effected, it will be necessary for the operator to in sure that the relieved portion 46 of timing plate 45 is in the clear position, as indicated in FIG. 4. lfa portion of the timing plate 45 overlaps gear means 56 then the operator must turn the loom by hand until the angular position of the shaft 26 is such that the cutaway portion 46 will be adjacent to the gear means 56. When this has been accomplished and the operator pulls wheel 51 toward himself, then axial movement of spline 55, flange 42, and collar 41 will cause the gear 40 to be moved from the position shown in FIG. 2 to that indicated in H0. 3. That is, collar 41 will slide toward the left on the splined connection 29 of the main dobby drive shaft 26 and this will of course result in leftward movement of gear 40 to mesh with the gear means 56. This axial movement of the collar 41 and parts carried thereon will result in the dog means 43 being moved out of operational engagement with the dog 44 of the driving means 30 which leaves the latter to be rotated freely on the main dobby drive shaft 26. At this point, the principal source of motive power, i.e., the bevel drive 17 that is connected to the drive motor is isolated from the dobby operating mechanisms.  
  The operator upon effecting the axial movement of the shaft 50 and spline 55 and gear means 40 can manually turn the shaft 50 and through the means that keys it to the shaft portion 52 and turn the gear means 56. Rotation of gear means 56 results in movement of gear means 40 and this in turn will cause movement of the harness frames and also of the yarn controlling fingers 14. The operator need only back the loom up to the point where the missing pick is located. remove the pick. and then once again commence operation of the loom. Since the color dobby l3 and the frame dobby 11 are directly interrelated by means of the present mechanism, it will automatically assure that the tape controls 15 and 16 are again synchronized to present the proper weft yarn for insertion into the warp shed.  
  When the defective weft has been removed the hand wheel 51 is returned to its original position and all of the parts of the connecting mechanism again assume the cooperative relationship shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings. That means that the dogs 43 and 44 are once again engaged so that rotation of chain 19 and the first drive means 30 will result in rotation of main dobby shaft 26 and operation of the color and harness dobbies.  
  Although the present invention has been described inconnection with a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as those skilled in the art will readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of the invention and the appended claims.  
 I claim:  
  1. In combination with a shuttleless loom having a first dobby for selectively controlling operation of the warp yarn harness frames. a second dobby for sequen tially controlling selection of a weft yarn for insertion into the warp shed and having drive means for operating the loom. said combination comprising improved means for operably connecting the drive means to the first and second dobbies. in such a way that the drive means can be disconnected and the dobbies still operated, said connecting means including means for disen gaging said means from the drive means and for providing for operation only of the first and second dobbies.  
  2. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said improved connecting means includes means for disengaging the drive means therefrom.  
  3 The combination as defined in claim 2 wherein said disengaging means is a clutch.  
  4. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said improved connecting means includes gear means mounted for axial movement therealong and wherein said means operatively connected with said improved connecting means includes gear means for mating with said axially movable gear means to effect rotation thereof.  
  5. The combination as defined in claim 4 wherein at least a part of said means operatively connected with said improved connecting means is mounted for axial movement and is operably connected to said axially moveable gear means to effect the axial movement thereof.  
  6. The combination as defined in claim 4 wherein said axially moveable gear means includes means requiring that said gear be in a predetermined angular position to mate with gear means on said means operatively connected with said improved connecting means.  
  7. In combination with a shuttleless loom having a first dobby for selectively controlling operation of the warp yarn harness frames, 21 second dobby for sequen tially controlling selection of a weft yarn for insertion into the warp shed and having drive means for operating the loom, said combination comprising improved means for operably connecting the drive means to the first and second dobbies in such a way that the drive means can be disconnected and the dobbies still operated, said improved means comprising a. a main dobby drive shaft,  
 b. first means mounted on said main drive shaft said first means being operably connectable to the drive rotation therewith and for axial movement therealong to be engaged with and disengaged from said first means as desired,  
 . and means operably connected to said gear means to effect axial movement of said gear means also including means for effecting rotation of said gear means while said gear means is disconnected from said first means.