Patent Issued for Yarn Feed Assembly to Relieve Yarn Hang Ups Having a Variable Yarn Pull-Off Angle and Method of Using Same (USPTO 9688504)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews journalists, a patent by the inventors Shirley, IV, Lewis Albert (White, GA), filed on May 12, 2015, was published online on June 27, 2017.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 9688504, is COLUMBIA INSURANCE COMPANY (Omaha, NE).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "A standard creel has a frame provided with a plurality of vertical rows of holders each adapted to hold a respective bobbin comprised of a tubular core and a mass of filament--yarn or thread--wound on the core. A filament is pulled from each bobbin and guided through a respective eye, whence it passes to a warp or weft system of a loom or the like. A standard creel can hold hundreds and even thousands of bobbins, thus space requirement is a problem. Additionally, conventional creel design requires that the tufting machine be placed out of operation during the times an operator is required to change the bobbins on the creel in order to change yarns.

"Unfortunately, it is common for yarn to hang up as it is pulled off of the bobbin, which requires the operation to be shut down until the hang up is cleared. It is not uncommon to have inefficiencies because of such hang ups and shutdowns that can undesirably exceed 50%."

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, VerticalNews editors also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "The invention relates to a yarn feed assembly for directing yarn from a wound yarn source to a yarn feed tube that is configured to automatically dear yarn hang ups. In one aspect, the yarn heed assembly comprises a frame member positioned adjacent to the wound yarn source. In one aspect, the frame member defines at least one elongate interior chamber and a parallel elongate slot that has a bottom end and an opposed top end and is in communication with at least a portion of the elongate interior chamber.

"In another aspect, the yarn feed assembly can also have a weighted member that is configured to be slideably received in the elongate interior chamber. In one aspect, a bore is defined in the weighted member that is sized and shaped to operatively received yarn therethrough. In operation, and upon pulling one yarn off of the wound yarn source, through the bore of the weighted member and into the yarn feed tube, the weighted member is configured to be axially movable along a longitudinal axis of the frame member such that, in response to tension applied to the yarn as a result of yarn hang ups on the wound yarn source, the bore of the weighted member can be axially movable about and between a bottom end and a top end of the elongate slot.

"In a further aspect, under tension, the yarn extending from the wound yarn source to the bore of the weighted member is at a variable yarn pull-off angle that is minimized when the weighted member is at the bottom end of the elongate slot of the frame member and is maximized when the weighted member is at the top end of the elongate slot of the frame member. In operation, the variable yarn pull-off angle will increase to the angle that allows the yarn hang up to automatically clear. Upon clearing of the hang up, which results from the increased variable yarn pull-off angle, and the subsequent decrease in tension applied to the yarn, the weighted member will drop to the bottom end of the elongate slot and the variable yarn pull-off angle will be minimized.

"In one aspect, the yarn feed assembly can be coupled to a creel for organizing wound yarn sources and directing yarn to a tufting machine. In one aspect, the creel can have an outer frame and an inner frame, which can be selectively movable relative to the outer frame. The inner frame is configured to hold a plurality of wound yarn sources and the outer frame comprises a plurality of yarn feed tubes configured to direct the yarn from the plurality of wound yarn sources to a header that, in turn, directs the yarn from the creel to specific portions of a tufting machine.

"In one aspect, the outer frame of the creel can comprise a plurality of substantially upright support members and define an enclosure. In another aspect, the enclosure can be open at one end and define an interior volume. The creel may also have a header mountable thereon a portion of the outer frame. In one aspect, the header can define a plurality of openings configured to direct yarn to a predetermined position on the tufting machine.

"In a further aspect, the creel further comprises a plurality of yarn feed tubes, each having a distal end portion that is mounted thereon at least a portion of at least some of the substantially upright support members of the outer frame. In this aspect, each of the yarn feed tubes extends to and is in communication with a respective opening on the header.

"In another aspect, the creel also comprises an inner frame that is configured to be matingly positionable within the interior volume of the enclosure. The inner frame may have a plurality of upright elements and a plurality of yarn holders extending therefrom each upright element. The yarn holders are configured to hold a wound yarn source or bobbin. In a further aspect, each of the yarn holders is spaced from the elongate slot of a frame member and the respective bore of the weighted member that is operative received therein the frame member of the yarn feed assembly when the inner frame is operably positioned within the interior volume of the enclosure.

"In one aspect, a portion of each of the yarns that had previously been fed through the tubes and connected through the header to the tufting machine remains exterior to the proximal end of each of the tubes. In this manner, an inner frame may be released from the interior volume and replaced with another inner frame. At this point, and in operation, each of the yarn packages may be connected to the respective yarn end that extends therefrom the respective rube and tied off."

For more information, see this patent: Shirley, IV, Lewis Albert. Yarn Feed Assembly to Relieve Yarn Hang Ups Having a Variable Yarn Pull-Off Angle and Method of Using Same. U.S. Patent Number 9688504, filed May 12, 2015, and published online on June 27, 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=9688504.PN.&OS=PN/9688504RS=PN/9688504

Keywords for this news article include: COLUMBIA INSURANCE COMPANY.

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