Patent Issued for Methods and Systems for Regulating Tension in Warping (USPTO 9683316)

Journal of Engineering

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering -- A patent by the inventors Honeycutt, Mark Avery (Cartersville, GA); Goble, Keith (Cartersville, GA), filed on March 14, 2013, was published online on June 20, 2017, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews correspondents.

Patent number 9683316 is assigned to Columbia Insurance Company (Omaha, NE).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: "The invention relates in general to the winding of yarn onto beams. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and systems for regulating and/or reducing the tension of yarn as it is wound onto a beam."

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, VerticalNews journalists also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "The present invention is generally directed to a warping system for reducing tension in a plurality of yarn ends wound by the warping system onto a beam. The warping system is configured to minimize the number of contact points (which create tension in the yarn) as yarn is pulled off of yarn packages in a creel and wound onto the beam. In one aspect, the system comprises a warper that is conventionally configured to rotate the beam. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, upon threading of yarn through the system, the rotation of the beam will pull yarn off of the packages, through the system and eventually onto the beam.

"In one aspect, the system further comprises a roller positioned above at least a portion of the warper and an expansion comb positioned between the roller and the warper. The roller can be configured to redirect yarn supplied from the creel towards the warper, and the expansion comb can be configured to position each yarn end in a predetermined position relative to the other yarns ends. Thus, according to another aspect, yarn traveling over the roller can be wound onto the beam after contacting the warping system at only one other contact point (the expansion comb).

"A yarn plane can be defined between a circumferential edge of the roller and an outer diameter of wound yarn on a beam positioned in the warper. In one aspect, when the warping system is in use, yarn extending from the roller to the outer diameter of wound yarn on the beam can be positioned substantially in the yarn plane. Thus, when the system is viewed in a side elevational view, the yarn can extend from the roller, through the expansion comb and to the beam substantially linearly. In another aspect, the yarn plane can be positioned at an angle of about 90 degrees relative to the floor on which the warper sits.

"In one aspect, the system can further comprise a plurality of tubes extending from the creel to a position above at least a portion of the warper and/or beam positioned in the warper. Each tube has a lumen extending therethrough that is sized and shaped to allow for the free passage of one yarn.

"The system can further comprise at least one end-out detection device. In one aspect, the at least one end-out device can be positioned near the creel. In various optional aspects, the end-out detection device can be a non-contact sensor, or a low or no friction detection sensor such as a conventional optical sensor that is configured to sensor or otherwise identify broken yarn ends without physically contacting the yarn.

"One skilled in the art will appreciate that a reduction in tension in yarn being processed through the warping system can allow for faster processing times without leading to extra broken yarn ends. For example, the warping system of the current application can be operated at higher speeds than conventional warpers while still maintaining a lower yarn tension. Thus, a method for increasing the processing speed of a warping system is also provided herein."

URL and more information on this patent, see: Honeycutt, Mark Avery; Goble, Keith. Methods and Systems for Regulating Tension in Warping. U.S. Patent Number 9683316, filed March 14, 2013, and published online on June 20, 2017. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=9683316.PN.&OS=PN/9683316RS=PN/9683316

Keywords for this news article include: Columbia Insurance Company.