Textile yarn winding apparatus

A yarn winding machine for alternately winding two bobbins at first and second positions in a continuous sequence, each bobbin having a barrel to receive yarn and a flange at each end of said barrel, a fully wound bobbin being replaced by an empty bobbin while an adjacent bobbin is being wound, said machine comprising

• substantially axially aligned spindles on which said bobbins are mounted end to end,
• spindle drive means connected to said spindles for rotating said bobbins,
• a yarn guide connected to said machine, said yarn guide extending over that bobbin barrel being wound so as to guide the yarn onto that barrel and lay it progressively thereover,
• motion means connected with said yarn guide for moving the yarn guide along a linear path parallel to said bobbin's axis at each of said first and second positions,
• return means connected with said yarn guide at each of said first and second positions for reciprocating said guide along said linear path between two axially spaced planes defined by a bobbin's flange,
• transfer means engageable with said yarn guide for transferring said yarn guide from its reciprocal path along the length of a fully wound bobbin to its reciprocal path along the length of an adjacent empty bobbin while both bobbins are in rotation, the yarn being led from said full bobbin over the adjacent two flanges of said full and empty bobbins onto the barrel of said empty bobbin adjacent said flanges in a manner for forming a yarn tail on said empty bobbin,
• yarn severing means connected to said machine for cutting said yarn tail at a predetermined position adjacent said two adjacent flanges of said full and empty bobbins but between the flanges of said empty bobbin,
• first control means for controlling said yarn severing means so that said yarn tail is cut only after the first yarn turns on said empty bobbin's barrel have been overlaid by later yarn turns resulting from reciprocal movement of said yarn guide,
• first yarn tensioning means connected with said spindle, said first tensioning means cooperating with the yarn as it moves from a supply source to that bobbin being wound for controlling the speed of that bobbin's spindle so as to maintain tension on the yarn being wound within predetermined limits,
• second control means for controlling said transfer means, said second control means being responsive to a predetermined quantity of yarn wound on a full bobbin to cause the transfer of said yarn guide to an empty bobbin, and
• second yarn tensioning means connected with said spindles, said second tensioning means being operable to adjust the rotation speed of an empty bobbin so as to increase tension in the yarn until such time as said yarn guide moves axially over said empty bobbin's barrel to a position adjacent that empty bobbin's flange which is next to said wound bobbin.

A textile yarn winder comprising two substantially axially aligned rotatable bobbins, each bobbin being defined by a barrel mounted between two end flanges,

• a yarn guide operatively connected with said bobbins, said yarn guide being reciprocable along the barrel length of each of said bobbins for winding yarn on said bobbins one at a time until each is filled,
• transfer means connected to said yarn guide for moving said yarn guide from its reciprocal path along the barrel length of a full bobbin to a reciprocal path along the barrel length of an adjacent empty bobbin when it is desired to transfer the yarn from said full bobbin to said empty bobbin, the yarn being led from the barrel of said full bobbin over adjacent flanges of said full and empty bobbins to a position along the barrel of said empty bobbin which is adjacent said flanges so that a connecting portion of the yarn extends at an angle between the outer edges of said flanges and said empty bobbin's barrel,
• lay down means connected with said yarn guide for causing said yarn guide, after transferring the yarn from said full bobbin to said empty bobbin, to lay yarn on said empty bobbin's barrel while moving toward that flange of said empty bobbin which is adjacent to that flange of said full bobbin over which the yarn has been led, and
• severing means connected with said machine, said severing means being oriented in a predetermined plane, generally parallel to and adjacent said empty barrel's flange for cutting the yarn within its angled portion, said severing means being movable in said plane between a storage position out of contact with said angled portion and a cutting position where it intercepts the rotating path of said angled portion of yarn and severs it as a consequence of the rotation of said empty bobbin.