Doffing and donning machine

A doffing and donning machine for doffing a full package from a winding unit and donning an empty bobbin onto said winding unit, wherein a plurality of said winding units is arranged in several rows, said rows being disposed in a common vertical plane, each row being mounted on a stage within a package stand of a textile machine, comprising:

• a trolley frame mounted for horizontal movement along said package stand;
• a plurality of subtrucks mounted on said trolley frame for movement relative to said frame toward and away from said rows of winding units;
• and
• one doffing and donning mechanism mounted on each of said subtrucks;
• each said doffing and donning mechanism comprising
• a yarn passage controlling means for controlling and positioning the yarn in a predetermined yarn path extending from a yarn passage deflecting guide of a winding unit to the bobbin via a traverse guide,
• a cutting means for holding and cutting a yarn in said predetermined path between the deflecting guide and the traverse guide,
• a sucking and holding means for sucking in and holding the cut yarn end extending from the deflecting guide;
• and
• a cradle swinging means for turning cradles on the winding units after said yarn passage is controlled, and said yarn is cut by said cutting means and held by said sucking and holding means, so that said cradles doff a full package being held by said cradles from said winding unit and don a fresh bobbin onto said winding unit.