Apparatus for selectively resisting the rotation of spindles of a textile machine

A textile machine comprising:

• a spindle bank;
• a frame supporting the spindle bank and a plurality of spindles extending in a line along the spindle bank, each spindle supporting a tube onto which a yarn package is built and being rotatably supported on the spindle bank;
• and
• a rotation preventing apparatus including a plurality of drive motors each being associated with a respective spindle for driving rotation thereof and each drive motor being selectively activated to drive its respective associated spindle and de-activated to cease driving rotation of the spindle thereby permitting the rotation of the spindle to diminish and ultimately stop as the spindle comes to a standstill, and means acting individually on each spindle for resisting rotation of the spindles to prevent rotation of the yarn packages supported on the spindles when the drive motors of the spindles are de-activated, said rotation resisting means including an expansion member, means for supporting said expansion member, and an expansion control means, said expansion member having a chamber for receiving a fluid, said chamber being expandable upon introduction of a fluid therein, said expansion control means including means for selectively supplying fluid to, and permitting release of fluid from, said chamber to cause selective expansion and contraction of said expansion member, and said expansion member being expandable into rotation preventing engagement with the spindles to prevent rotation thereof and contractable out of rotation preventing engagement with the spindles to permit rotation thereof.