System for producing wound warps

A method of making wound warps comprising the steps of:

• producing a model wound warp by:
• a) pulling a multiplicity of warp filaments off respective supplies and winding them around a first warp beam by rotating the first warp beam while pressing the filaments against the beam with a predetermined packing force by a packing roller such that the packing roller is deflected outward from the beam by the filaments as same are wound on the beam;
• b) regularly producing a first-beam rotation output representing the rotation of the beam;
• c) regularly producing a first-beam deflection output representing the outward deflection of the roller from the first beam;
• and
• d) recording the outputs as set points;
• and
• producing a subsequent wound warp by
• a) pulling a multiplicity of warp filaments off respective supplies and winding them around a second warp beam while pressing the filaments against the beam with a variable packing force by the packing roller such that the packing roller is also deflected outward from the second beam by the filaments as same are wound on the second beam;
• b) regularly producing a second-beam rotation output representing the rotation of the second beam;
• c) regularly producing a second-beam deflection output representing the outward deflection of the roller from the second beam;
• and
• d) comparing the second-beam outputs to the first-beam outputs;
• and
• e) varying the force with which the roller bears against the filaments on the second beam such that second-beam outputs are generally equal to the respective first-beam outputs.

An apparatus for making multiple wound warps, the apparatus comprising:

• means for rotating a succession of warp beams;
• supply means for pulling a multiplicity of warp filaments off respective supplies and wound around the warp beams;
• a packing roller inwardly engageable with a packing force on the filaments on the beams, whereby the packing roller is deflected outward from the beam by the filaments as same are wound on the beam;
• means for generating an output representing the rotation of the beam;
• means including a sensor assembly responsive to outward deflection of the packing roller for generating an output representing the rectified length of the filaments wound on the beam;
• control means comparing set points constituted by the outputs from a first wound warp with actual values constituted by the outputs from a subsequent wound warp and for varying the packing force such that the actual values of the subsequent wound warp are made generally equal to the set points.