US 5,544,677 AGranted

Robotic apparatus for automatic cop changing for a weaving machine

AssigneeNippon Felt Co., Ltd.

InventorHiroyuki Okubo

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Abstract

An apparatus for replacing a cop in an automated weaving machine is provided. A single, multi-joint robot is situated near the cop replacing position of a shuttle which is reciprocated between warps. A hand stand is provided for supporting first through third hands which can be detachably mounted on the robot arm. The first hand is provided with fingers for individually handling the new cop and the new weft. The second hand includes fingers for handling the old cop and the old weft. The third hand is provided with a suction pad for engaging the shuttle with vacuum suction when transferring the shuttle, and with a hook for raising and lowering the bobbin fitted on a tong of the shuttle. The three hands allow various work steps to be carried out each in an optimum fashion without requiring additional hands to be carried by the robot arm at the same time.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A cop changing device for a weaving machine in which a shuttle, carrying a cop consisting of a bobbin around which weft is wound, is reciprocated between shuttle boxes at opposite ends of warps so as to weave said weft between said warps, said cop changing device comprising:

a base for positioning adjacent a shuttle box having a shuttle retention means for selectively retaining a shuttle with a cop;
a new cop stand, an old cop stand, and a hand stand mounted on said base;
a robot positioned on said base for being in spaced-apart relationship with said shuttle box, said new cop stand, said old cop stand, and said hand stand;
a plurality of hands positioned on said hand stand, said hands adapted to be interchangeably and selectively mounted on said robot, said plurality of hands including at least one cop hand having bobbin fingers and weft fingers for positioning cops and wefts, and a shuttle hand having a shuttle finger for positioning the shuttle and a hook for raising and lowering the cops from the shuttle;
weft tying means mounted on said base for tying an old weft from an old cop mounted on the old cop stand with a new weft from a new cop mounted on the new cop stand to form a continuous weft;
and
a control means in communication with the shuttle box, said robot, and said weft tying means for controlling the operations in changing cops and tying wefts.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.