Title of Invention

A DEVICE TO MAINTAIN AND IMPROVE THE SURFACE TEXTURE AND STRUCTURE OF MOUNTED CARD WIRE

Abstract

A device to maintain and improve the surface texture and structure of a card wire mounted on a carding machine. The device comprises a movable head (1) with a roller (2) slidably mounted on a cross spindle (3). An abrasive strip holder (9) with an abrasive strip (10) is hinged to a bracket (6) for engaging and disengaging the abrasive strip with card wire (11) mounted on a carding roller (12) and said bracket (6) is attached to said movable head (1).

Full Text

A DEVICE TO MAINTAIN AND IMPROVE THE SURFACE TEXTURE AND STRUCTURE OF MOUNTED CARD WIRE FIELD OF THE INVENTION Carding is an integral part of yarn making process from fibres and the carding wire, the texture and its geometric structure, form a vital role in the optimization of the same. The carding machine has essential parts called cylinder, doffer and licker in and the carding wires are mounted on this dram shaped parts. The wires are of saw toothed type with sharp edges and the tip may have fine points or end up in flat surface called "land" as per the typical end use. In its life cycle these wires engage themselves in close contact with fibres which they are supposed to process. The essential role of the wires is to parallize the fibres. When the carding engine is geared for higher production these wire tips, which are sharp and some flat, have to pass through the fast moving web of fibres. When an intimate contact and somewhat like a combing and shearing process goes on, an abrasion process exists between the carding wires and fibres and in course of time the tip of the wires wears out in a random way. The efficiency of the carding process depends upon the sharpness and surface fidelity and structure of the card wire tips. They have to be resharpened periodically to retain their surface texture and structure so that the carding process can be carried out under optimal condition. The resharpening process thus helps to achieve suitable sharpness, shape and surface contour for the wires, which would have been altered during the progress of the carding process. Also there is a likely hood that the wire tips may have worn out in such a way so as to alter the fine concentricity of the drum surface, which is an essential and integral condition of an ideal carding process. Therefore resharpening of the card wire or reconditioning the tip for optimal performance periodically is a needed activity during the life cycle of the card wire. Thus the object of resharpening is to restore the shape and surface contour of the card wire so that it can exert the necessary and desirable combing and gripping power on the fibres to be carded. During resharpening the card wire wound drum rotates and it will be made to have a light contact with an abrasive strip of the resharpening device. The shaft of the device will be mounted in the same horizontal plane and will be parallel to the axis of the carding drum. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a device to maintain the structure and texture of the card wire mounted on the drum. The invention provides a device and a method to achieve the desired structure and texture of the mounted wire. The method is executed under dynamic conditions when the drum is on motion about a horizontal axis. The conventional set up has a rotating grinding wheel, which runs on the rotating drum. Since the drum surface has to maintain its circularity the conventional arrangement needs careful mounting of the stone and its traverse has to follow the contour of the rotating drum. It needs careful monitoring by an experienced technician. The drum is made to rotate and the reshaipening element is in the form of a strip and is allowed to follow the contour of the drum on a horizontal axis so that the desired resharpening is done on each wire tip. Thus the material removal from the wire will be in such a way that the tip of the wire points on the mounted drum gains the necessary and desired sharpness needed to perform its function. With the known grinding process, the material removal is judged by the skill of the technician and the material removed is judged by judging spark level, which will vary from material to material of the card wire and is a subjective assessment Further the noise emanating during the process used in prior art has also been used, as a parameter to judge the grinding level and this assessment is also subjective. The alignment of the abrasive wheel axis with regard to the drum axis is very important and the effectiveness of the process depends on the drum condition, which is a limiting factor The apparatus for resharpening according to the invention provides a device that eliminates all the above drawbacks. By using the apparatus according to the invention the material removal is very minimal and just necessary and therefore, the chance of excess reshaipening is avoided. A disengaging mechanism of the abrasive strip holder is incorporated in the apparatus. This facility is very useful during the time of any patchwork being carried out on the drum. Thus any particular region of the drum can be precisely resharpened with the help of this engaging and disengaging mechanism of the abrasive strip holder and the surface fidelity of the wire tips can be maintained to the desired level. At the time of the material removal during the structure and texture alteration of the card wire the abrasive strip will float on the drum with the assistance of the gravity and hence it exerts equal amount of pressure on every tip. The abrasive strip assembly will fly out from the drum and gets disengaged at the time of any eventuality caused by the drums carrying foreign element. The entire card wire sharpening and shaping is achieved, by way of moving the abrasive strip assembly parallel to the axis of the drum, with uniform speed. The horizontal traverse mechanism of the abrasive strip is done with the help of a precisely machined cross spindle and an electric motor provides the traverse movement. The traverse speed also can be set according to the requirement of the resharpening and reshaping process and this will vary from machine to machine depending on the condition of the card wire. This stepless variation of traverse speed is precisely facilitated by means of an inverter, which controls the electric motor speeds to any desired level. The apparatus according to the invention is provided with a precise cross spindle for the horizontal traverse of the abrasive strip. The angle of the skew is designed in such a way that the rate of movement of the abrasive strip is exact in any position. While changing the direction of the resharpening at the ends, the sudden acceleration and deceleration problem that may happen in a motor drive mechanism are overcome by a suitable mechanical design. A carefully designed cross spindle eliminates the variation and the reverse movement at the end of traverse takes place smoothly and without any change in traverse speed. The abrasive resharpening tool namely the abrasive strip is mounted on a convenient assembly so that it can be engaged and disengaged at will. Depending upon the surface finish needed one could change the abrasive strip of appropriate grain size. The grain size decides the level of surface finish on the wire and also it will control the sparking and this is a desirable requirement With suitable modification multiple abrasive strips can also be mounted. Also the abrasive strips are designed in such a way that once the abrasive strip touches the card wire it aligns itself parallel to the axis of the card drum. For emergency use an electromagnetic remote switch has also been provided to engage and disengage the abrasive strip assembly so that the process interruption can be achieved quickly and from a distance. During the operation the whole devise is mounted on the carding engine with suitable supporting elements. This setup is detachable and therefore the portability of the entire mechanical setup is possible. The device can be transported from carding engine to carding engine when required. Provision has also been made on this assembly to inspect the tip of card wire with the help of a microscope. This is an additional advantage and it ascertains the progress of the resharpening and reshaping process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows the side view of the device according to the invention with the mounted abrasive strip engaged position. Figure 2 shows the side view of the device according to the invention with the mounted abrasive strip disengaged position. Figure 3 shows the total assembly of the device according to the invention. Figure 4 shows the sectional view along "AA" shown in figure 3. The Figures 1 and 2 shows the abrasive strip (10) with the card wire (11) mounted on the drum (12) of a carding machine. The abrasive strip holder (9) holds the abrasive strip and is hinged by means of hinge bolt (14) with the bracket (6). The abrasive strip assembly is capable of moving forward and backward while resharpening since it is floating on the drum surface. The abrasive floating strip holder is capable of moving in all possible directions by a self aligning device. The positioning of the abrasive strip assembly at any angle depending on resharpening requirement in addition to the appropriate weight of abrasive strip with the holder decides the gravitational force required to resharpen the card wire. The travel of the abrasive strip is limited by means of slot (20) on the bracket (6) and dowel (21) on the abrasive strip holder (9). The abrasive strip holder (9) and the bracket (6) with the whole assembly are mounted on the movable head (1) by means of socket head cap screws (7). The movable head (1) will be sliding over the roller (2) at the time of traverse movement. The movable head (1) is connected to the cross spindle (3) by means of a fork (4). The fork (4) traverse through the grooves provided in the cross spindle (3) with independent axial relation with the cross spindle (3). This facility is to avoid the influence of cross spindle (3) tolerance on the movable head movement. Figure 3 shows the total assembly. The cross spindle (3) has a mounting extension through right hand flange (15). This extension is coupled with a gear box (22) connected with an electric motor (19). The coupling is facilitated by means of Lovejoy coupling (18). The two side flanges provided on left side (16) and on right side (15) are to attach the device on the brackets provided on a carding machine. The special purpose gear box (22) coupled with the electric motor (19) is controlled by an inverter arrangement, through which the traverse speed is regulated and also switching on and off of the device is controlled. Figure 4 shows the cross sectional view of the movable abrasive strip along with the cross spindle. The fork (4) is positioned by means of a key (5) on the movable head (1). The fork (4) travels along the axis of the cross spindle. The cross spindle is provided with a return cam arrangement at both the ends to facilitate a smooth return without any jerk. The roller (2) has an axial slot on it through which the fork assembly traverses left and right 1 A device to maintain and improve the surface texture and structure of a card wire mounted on a carding machine, said device comprising a movable head (1) with a roller (2) slidably mounted on a cross spindle (3), an abrasive strip holder (9) with an abrasive strip (10) being hinged to a bracket (6) for engaging and disengaging the abrasive strip with card wire (11) mounted on a carding roller (12) and said bracket (6) being attached to said movable head (1). 2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said movable head (1) with roller (2) is slidably mounted on the cross spindle (3) by means of a fork (4) fitting into a groove provided in the cross spindle (3) and a key (4). 3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said abrasive strip holder (9) is hinged to the said bracket (6) by means of a hinge bolt (14) and a self aligning device (8) for allowing the strip holder to float and move in all directions. 4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said abrasive strip holder (9) floats on cylinder surface on its own weight with the natural gravitational force to exert a definite resharpening force generating required friction for a controlled resharpening. 5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bracket (6) with the abrasive strip holder (9) is mounted on the said movable head (1) by means of a socket head cap screws (7). 6. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said cross spindle (3) is provided with a right hand flange (15) and a left hand flange (16) for attaching to a carding machine and an extended portion in the right hand flange (15) for coupling to a drive.

Documents:

2011-chenp-2005 abstract-duplicate.pdf

2011-chenp-2005 claims-duplicate.pdf

2011-chenp-2005 description (complete)-duplicate.pdf

2011-chenp-2005 drawings-duplicate.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-abstract.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-claims.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-correspondnece-others.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-correspondnece-po.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-description(complete).pdf

2011-chenp-2005-drawings.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-form 1.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-form 18.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-form 26.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-form 3.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-form 5.pdf

2011-chenp-2005-pct.pdf