Glass fiber strand winding apparatus

Abstract

An apparatus for winding a strand of glass fibers drawn from a bushing, having a rotatable turret and at least two winding collets mounted on the turret and adapted to be brought into a winding position one by one upon rotation of the turret. Each winding collet is provided at its free end with a waste strand winding portion having a frusto-conical strand guide surface coaxially extending with the collet and converged towards its free end, an annular strand stopping wall radially outwardly extending from the free end of the frusto-conical guide surface, at least one crescent-shaped wall surface extending radially inwardly from a portion of the outer periphery at the free end of the guide surface and formed thereon with a plurality of parallel grooves extending at a right angle to the diameter of the guide surface, and a crescent-shaped flat portion extending from a portion of the outer periphery of the stopping wall in confronting spaced relationship with the crescent-shaped wall surface. Upon the transferring of the strand from the full collet to the empty collet, when the strand is brought onto the frusto-conical guide surface, it is moved along the guide surface toward its free end, then slipped down along the crescent-shaped flat portion and finally caught by one of parallel grooves. The strand thus caught is automatically cut at a point in contact with the edge of the groove during subsequent rotation of both of the full and the empty collets.