Mechanism and method for transferring yarn from a full package to an

Abstract

The winder includes pairs of rotatable chucks each supporting one or more bobbins. The two chucks of each pair include a top chuck and a bottom chuck operatively associated with a common drive roll, although the chucks may be driven otherwise. A traverse housing extends parallel to the chucks and has respective traverse guides for each bobbin. A yarn pickup or pusher is mounted on the housing for displacement longitudinally thereof by a cable cylinder. A respective yarn transfer device is associated with each chuck for swinging about the axis of the chuck between the retracted position and a yarn transfer position. Each device includes a bar or tube extending parallel to the associated chuck throughout substantially its entire length. While yarn packages are being wound at high speed on one chuck of each pair, the other chuck is in a retracted standby position. When the packages are nearly fully found, the standby chuck is brought up to speed, the yarn pusher disengages the yarns from the traverse guides and moves the yarns to the starting ends of bobbins on the standby chucks, and still rotating full packages are retracted from the drive roll. The transfer device of the standby chuck then swings its arm between the full packages and the drive roll to the transfer position to engage the yarns and move them to pick-up grooves at the starting points of the bobbins on the rotating standby chucks, where the yarns are caught by clamps or hooks, with the yarns then being severed. The yarn pusher then releases the yarns into the traverse guides, for winding on the standby chuck bobbins, the transfer device is retracted, and the full packages on the other chuck are removed and replaced by empty bobbins.