Rieter Machine Works, Ltd.

Heinz Clement

Oliver Wuest

Gian-Carlo Mondini

Fredy Wichtermann

Helmuth Langel

Giancarlo Mondini

Hansulrich Eichengerger

Emil Briner

Jurg Bischofberger

Walter Ackeret

Hansulrich Eichenberger

Hans-Ulrich Eichenberger

Kurt Ritz

Jean-Claude Allemann

David Broger

Christina Furrer

Heiner Eberli

The apparatus for receiving and forwarding a reserve lap roll employs a trough to receive the lap roll and pivotally mounted arms for pivoting the trough from the reserve position toward the working position. The arms may be pivoted by a piston and cylinder unit. Alternatively, a parallelogram arrangement of guide rods may be used for moving the trough from the reserve position toward the working position. In still another embodiment, pairs of pivotally mounted arms can be used to move the reserve lap roll from the reserve position directly into the working position. In each embodiment, the pivotal elements are spaced apart a distance greater than the length of an empty tube in the working position so that the empty tube can be ejected through the space between the arms to a position below the reserve position.

Apparatus for changing a lap

Drive for a comber

In order to open the start of a wadding from a wadding lap, a current of air is produced by a nozzle in the unrolling direction of the wadding lap substantially tangential of the wadding lap and with a spacing to the periphery of the wadding lap. The current of air is generated across the width of the wadding lap. In addition, a guide plate extends from the nozzle to guide the start of the wadding to a joining apparatus. The nozzle and guide plate are pivotally mounted about an axis of a lap roller to facilitate guidance of the opened start of wadding to the joining apparatus.

Method and apparatus for opening a wadding lap

A textile machine is provided with apparatus for preparing the trailing end of a lap and a leading end of a fresh lap so that each end has a reduced fiber mass per unit length of lap in the prepared end. These lap ends are thereafter superimposed and joined together for subsequent processing in a combing unit of a combing machine or a drafting unit of a ribbon lap machine. The respective ends of the two laps may be prepared by a tearing action caused by clamping of the respective lap end between two spaced apart nip lines which are moved away from each other and wherein the spacing is slightly more than the length of the longest fiber in the lap. Preparation of a lap end may also be accomplished using a suction head for clamping of a lap along a nip line in order to carry out tearing of the lap to produced a prepared end.

Textile machine

The detaching roller aggregate comprises two pairs of cylinders each consisting of a detaching roller and a printing cylinder which are pressed against each other by means of a contact pressure device. The contact pressure device is arranged in such a way as to press the two cylinders of the second pair against each other with a larger force than the force pressing the two cylinders of the first pair together. The ratio of the two forces may be approximately 1.2:1 to 2:1. Due to the larger force with which the cylinders of the second pair are pressed against each other, a more even top fleece is produced, in particular during the combing of relatively long fibers and/or at high processing speeds.

Detaching roller aggregate for a combing machine

The combing machine as provided with a nipper jaw unit in which a nipper lip is provided on the top nipper plate to project in overlapping relation to the lower nipper plate for clamping a wadding therebetween. In a fully closed position of the nipper plates, with the nipper plates in contact, the nipper lip projects into the plane of the needles of the combing segment of the combed cylinder. However, the combed segment is provided with raised bearing segments to lift the nipper lip away from the needles over a safety clearance. In other embodiments, stops can be provided on the lower nipper to limit the movement of the top nipper towards the closed position.

Combing machine with means for limiting movement of top nipper

The combing machine is provided with a plurality of combing devices for delivering a plurality of combed slivers as well as a drafting system for receiving and drafting the combed slivers for delivery to a can press. A measuring device is provided to measure the thickness of the sliver delivered to the drafting system and to deliver a signal to a control unit which, in turn, regulates the drafting of the sliver within the drafting system in accordance with the received signal in order to obtain an evened combed sliver.

Combing machine and process for forming an even combed sliver

The combing head has a pair of lateral guide elements mounted on the lower nipper part with each having a fiber guide surface disposed in front of the front edge of the lower nipper plate in order to laterally guide the fiber tuft extending from the lower nipper plate. The lateral guide elements are connected with a second pair of lateral guide elements on the lower nipper plate behind the front edge of the lower nipper plate. The second pair of guide elements also have fiber guide surfaces for guiding the lateral side edges of the fiber tuft. The pairs of guide elements each define a space therebetween of decreasing width in a perpendicular direction relative to the plane of the lower nipper plate.

Combing head with lower nipper plate guide elements

Comber lap joining device with suction head for preparing ends

The device for increasing the cohesion length of the slivers is embodied by a pair of calendar rollers. Each calendar roller has a plurality of transversely disposed protuberances of rounded shape for interengaging in spaced relation with each other in order to slightly crimp a sliver passing through the gap between the rollers. The protuberances are adapted to one another in gear-like manner.

Calendar rollers with rounded teeth for crimping sliver and increasing

Method and apparatus for automatic piecing of comber laps

The combing machine has at least one comber head which contains a continuously rotatable comb cylinder, a reciprocating nipper jaw unit and at least one detaching roller. The detaching roller is rotated during every revolution of the comb cylinder at first through a small angle in a backwards direction and then through a large angle in a forward direction. The rotations of the detaching rollers are produced by an electric motor which receives appropriate drive pulses fed from an electronic control unit.

Combing machine

The combing machine is provided with a plurality of workstations each of which is provided with a table containing a funnel through which a combed web is formed into a sliver. Each table is pivotally mounted on a fixed shaft and a monitoring unit is provided to detect the rotation of the table about the shaft in response to a thick or thin place in the combed web passing through the funnel.

Combing machine with workstations having a monitoring unit at each

The drive mechanism for the feed roll of a combing machine employs a freewheel having an inner member secured to the feed roll and a concentric outer member secured to the pivotal arm which mounts the top nipper. In addition, locking elements are disposed between the inner and outer members and the outer member provided with a sawtooth configuration so that the locking elements may lock during rotation of the outer member under the influence of the arm and may move into a released position during an opposite rotation of the outer member. The lost motion or idle travel in the changeover between the released position and the locking position is quite reduced. Thus, feeds are always of substantially exactly the same magnitude with a resulting improvement in the produced sliver.

Drive mechanism for a feed roll of a combing machine

The lap guide arrangements employs a pair of guide plates for guiding the lap from the lap roller to the feed roller on the nipper. The two guide plates are connected by a strip of flexible material which permits pivoting of the plates relative to each other. The strip of flexible material is made of a high tensile strength so as to accommodate a high nip number, for example, from 300 to 350 per minute.

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Winterthur, Switzerland

Heinz Clement