Weft feeder with rethreading and braking devices

Weft feeder for gripper or projectile looms, comprising:

• a body means for housing a motor;
• a drum mounted on a motor shaft and held stationary, around which a winding arm rotated by the motor winds up a weft yarn reserve;
• an extension of said body means carrying sensors to detect and control the weft yarn reserve being wound on the drum;
• brake means, in the form of a ring with an annular brush, for braking weft yarn against an end surface of the drum;
• pneumatic means for restoring the continuity of the weft yarn from a feed spool to a loom, in case of yarn breakage or interruption;
• a first compressed air nozzle means, positioned at an inlet of the weft feeder, for introducing therein a new weft yarn fed from the feed spool;
• and
• yarn launching and guiding means for introducing the new weft yarn into a first yarn, guide eyelet centered on a longitudinal axis of the drum;
• characterized in that,
• downstream of said first yarn guide eyelet (10), there are mounted a separating element (28, 42) to open apart two brake leaves (23) of a double-leaf brake (21), and a second yarn guide eyelet (20), said separating element (28, 42) being controlled by an actuator (29, 39, 43) so as to form a duct (32) to guide the weft yarn (1) from the first yarn guide eyelet (10) to the second yarn guide eyelet (20).