Method of setting up a beam winder

Abstract

An apparatus and method for winding a sheet of aligned parallel yarns onto a beam is described. The beam winder utilizes a circularly arced yarn spool rack that feeds each yarn with air flow to an alignment comb through associated guide tubes. The distance between each spool of yarn and the alignment comb is substantially the same for all spools of yarn, thereby equalizing the force necessary to pull them to the comb. Next, the aligned sheet of material is preshrunk using heated rollers and wound onto a beam. Multiple speed controlled stepper motors are utilized to maintain a constant low level of tension in the sheet during the shrinking process. After shrinkage, the tension level of the yarn sheet is increased as it is wrapped onto the beam. A turntable that supports two or more beams is provided to facilitate the rapid switching of beams once one beam has become full.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.