Spindle-driving and band-tension device for spinning-machines.

Application filed Octoter 5, 1900. Serial No. 32,135, iNo model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Joseph E. Phillips, a citizen of the United States, residing at Carlisle, in the county of Cumberland and State 5 of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Spindle-Driving and Band-Tension Device for Spinning-Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawio ings.

This invention relates to spindle-driving and band-tension devices for spinning-machines, one object in view being to provide a simple, efficient, and reliable driving device 15 receiving its power from the main drivingshaft of the machine, which is located above the plane of the spindle-rails, the said driving device serving to simultaneously actuate spindles at opposite sides of the driving-shaft. 20 Another important object of the invention is to provide, in connection with a single endless driving-band, means for automatically exerting the requisite tension on the drivingband to insure its constant frictional driving 25 engagement with the spindles and pulley on the driving-shaft.

A further object of the invention is to provide a means whereby the tension-pulley may be adjusted or tilted to any desired angle or 30 inclination in order to enable the drivingband to run free at the several points where it crosses.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the course of the sub35 joined description.

The invention consists in spindle-driving and band-tension devices for spinning-machines embodying certain novel features and details of construction and arrangement of 40 parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings, and incorporated in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section through a sufficient 45 portion of a spinning-machine frame toillustrate the application of the present improvements thereto. Fig. 2 is a detail vertical longitudinal section taken adjacent to one end of the machine in line with the driving-shaft.

Fig. 3 is a detached perspective view of the driving-band, showing the manner of reeving the same around the several pulleys and spindles. Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section showing the manner of adjusting the tension-pulley bracket. Fig. 5 is a detail view showing 55 a driving-cylinder for use in place of a shaft and pulleys.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the 60 frame of a spinning-machine, which may be of the usual construction, in which the main driving-shaft 2 is located in a plane above the spindle-rails 3, 4 designating the spindles located at opposite sides of the machine and 65 5 indicating the band-receiving pulleys of the spindles, or, in other words, the spindle-pulleys.

In carrying out the present invention I employ a single endless driving-band 6 for a 70 plurality of spindles 4. In order to actuate the driving-band 6, the shaft 2 is equipped with driving-pulleys 7, one of such pulleys being employed for each driving - band 6. Each pulley 7 is further provided with two 75 peripheral grooves 8, in which different portions of the driving-band are received. The diameter of the pulley 7 is such that the lowest portion of its periphery is in the same horizontal plane with the band-receiving pul- 80 leys 5 of the spindles 4, or substantially so, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3. In this way the portion of the band traveling between the spindles is tangential, or substantially so, to the driving-pulley 7, thus ena- 85 bling the band to run freely from or upon the driving-pulley.

Arranged beneath the driving-pulley 7 is a tension device, consisting of a pulley 9, peripherally grooved to receive the driving- 90 band 6, and a bracket 10, which serves as a guide and housing for the tension - pulley. The bracket 10 comprises parallel upright portions or arms 11, united by a base or connecting portion 12, which receives a clamping 95 and adjusting screw 13, passing through a slot 14 in a horizontal bar 15, forming part of the frame of the spinning-machine. The arms or portions 11 of the bracket 10 are terI minally and longitudinally slotted, as shown 100

665,265 at 16, to admit of the up-and-down play of the journals or trunnions 17, projecting laterally from opposite sides of the tension-pulley 9.

By the construction just above described 5 the pulley 9 is hung freely in and suspended by the driving-band 6, and the entire weight of the pulley 9 is utilized for exerting tension on the driving-band sufficient to insure the effective engagement of said band with the io spindles and driving-pulley. As the driving-band stretches or lengthens the tensionpulley 9 gravitates, the journals 17 being free to move downward in the slots 16 of the bracket 10. As the downwardly-moving por15 tion of the band 6 rests in one of the grooves of the driving-pulley 7 and as the upwardlymoving portion of said band runs in the other groove of the driving-pulley, it is advisable, in order to secure reliability in operation, to 20 set the tension-pulley slightly at an angle, as illustrated in Fig. 2, wherein it will be observed that the axis of the tension-pulley is not exactly parallel with the axis of the driving-shaft 2. By setting the tension-pulley at 25 the proper angle one side of the tension-pulley may be brought into alinement with one of the grooves of the driving-pulley, while the opposite side of the tension-pulley is brought into alinement with the other groove in the 30 driving-pulley. Further than this, the upward/⁷ and downwardly moving portions of the driving-band are caused to pass between the oppositely-moving horizontal portions of such driving-band without bringing the cross35 ing portions of the band in injurious chafing contact with each other. It may be also desirable to tilt the tension-pulley 9 to an angle from the vertical, as shown in Fig. 4, in which case the screw 13 may be loosened and a 40 wedge 18 or piece of wood, metal, or other material inserted under one side of the bracket, as shown in said figure, such adjustment being useful for lining up the upwardly and downward/⁷ moving portions of the driving45 band with the grooves in the driving-pulley, while at the same time dodging the horizontally-moving portions of the driving-band. The manner of mounting the tension-pulley bracket, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, also ad50 mils of the axial adjustment of the bracket and the additional adjustmentof said bracket longitudinal/⁷ of the bar 15 and in a direction parallel with the driving-shaft 2. By reeving the driving-band in the manner above 55 described the spindles at opposite sides of the machine are simultaneously driven at equal speed, and by the arrangement of tension-pulley a uniform tension is given to the band at all times, and said band has the same driving engagement with both spindles. By reason of the fact that the driving-shaft is arranged above the spindle-rails and the tension-pulley located beneath the driving-pulley a very compact arrangement is obtained. I

The tension-pu Iley, as stated, may be adj listed 65 to any desired angle or inclination, and \vhen properly adjusted the adjustment may be fixed. The tension device is self-regulating and requires no attention after being primarily adjusted. 70

Instead of the construction employing the shaft 2 and separate driving-pulleys 7 a plain cylinder, as in Fig. 5, may be employed, extending the entire length of the machine, with or without grooves. 75

It is also within the scope of this invention to construct the pulleys 7 without grooves, although ordinarily thegroovesare preferred, as they prevent the crossed portions of the band from chafing against each other. 80