Device for picking up and preparing the skein end for rejoining in an open-end spinning machine

Abstract

An apparatus for delivering a skein end of a thread wound on a reel to an apparatus for returning the skein end to a spinning machine. The apparatus for delivering the skein end comprises a device for unwinding a reel on which the thread is wound, a capturing device for capturing the skein end of the thread, a transferring device to transfer the thread from the capturing device to a device that returns the thread to the spinning machine, and a detecting device for detecting the presence of the thread in the transferring device. Another aspect of the invention generally features an apparatus for rejoining the skein end of a thread wound on a reel, the thread having been disconnected from the reel due to one of a plurality of different events. The apparatus comprises an unwinding device for unwinding the reel; a capturing device for capturing the skein end of the thread wound on the reel, a cutting device for cutting a portion of the thread captured by the capturing device. The size of the cut portion varies in response to which of the plurality of different events caused the thread to become disconnected from the spinning machine; and a rejoining device from rejoining a skein end of the thread remaining on the reel to the spinning machine.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.