Tension measuring device and method for filamentary material

An apparatus for measuring the tension in continuously moving fibers and/or strand that is formed from a plurality of fibers, comprising:

• a. a housing having a high resistance to the flow of heat that forms an enclosure with an opening at one end,
• b. a team that is cantilever-mounted within said housing to extend near the opening in the housing, where the beam is substantially surrounded by the housing except for the opening in which the beam can radially deflect,
• c. at least two target means located on the beam in the housing in relation to each other along two different axes in the same plane,
• d. at least two sensing means mounted to extend through the housing so that each one sensing means is in sensing engagement with one of the target means to sense a cantilever deflection of the beam, where the sensing means are adapted to produce a signal in response to the deflection of the beam,
• e. gas supply means connected to the housing to produce a flow of gas within the housing to exit through the opening in the housing in order to retard entrance of liquids into the housing,
• f. strand engaging means mounted at the distal end of the beam away from the point of cantilever-mounting of the beam to the housing and beydnd the opening in the housing to allow the strand which is under tension to engage the beam to produce strand tension, force components to deflect the beam and the target means on the beam which movement is sensed by the sensing means which produce a signal in response thereto,
• g. a conducting means connected to the sensing means to permit the sensing means to initiate signals and to convey the signal produced by the sensing means, and
• h. one or more indicating means to indicate the output from the signals of the sensing means which can be calculated into the magnitude of the tension and/or the coefficient of friction.