FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a reeling machine and more particularly a simple, low cost and efficient Tasar silk yarn reeling machine adapted to produce un-twisted reeled silk yarn of consistent superior quality wherein inserting twist can be need based, driven only by electric motor at high speed with reduced power consumption.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known in the related art that Silkworm cocoons are the protective shell made by the silkworm to overcome the adverse weather and are alive for a period of more than one year that is used as the source of raw material for silk filaments for producing yarn. It is made of a single continuous silken filament (a protein, fibroin in the core, serecine in the outer layer) and some gummy substances.

It is also known in the art of producing silk yarn from cocoons, reeling is the process of unwinding of the filament from the cocoon and inserting twist optionally according to requirements in filaments drawn together from equal number of cocoons. It is common process to carry out pre-reeling treatment of cocoons to remove the gummy substances and thus the treated cocoons have only the continuous single filament left. Only whole-cocoons with continuous filament are used for reeling for producing yarn. Single filament from a. cocoon is too thin and weak to use as such, thus one single filament each from 8-10 cocoons are un- winded from the cocoons and twisted, if required, together to form reeled yarn which is thicker and stronger than individual filaments.

The producer/operator has to de-floss the discontinuous filaments at the surface of the cocoon and find the single end of the continuous single filament, for feeding them together in the machine at the beginning or as and when required, if one is cut in between, to maintain the number of filaments to 8-10 throughout the reeling process and of course operating the machine.

The machine drags the individual filament from each cocoon continuously after feeding of that cocoon in the machine by the producer/operator, inserting twists, if required, in such 8-10 filaments together, spreading the yarns throughout the bobbin while wrapping the yarns in the bobbin in a cris-cross manner so that the fine yarns are not mingled with each other that help in further unwinding from the bobbin during weaving or further processing.

In earlier days this entire operation was done manually by using thigh and palm and the Latai in place of bobbin.

With the advent of mechanization of reeling process for producing yarn, the prior art machines of size having 990 mm wide, 970 mm deep and 1570 mm high and the weight of 75 kilograms had been in use. In this machine, the filaments are guided through a thread guide, where the filaments come together. After going to the thread guide, the filaments are going to the crosier pulley, which is held by the crosier pulley holder. After passing the crosier pulley the thread goes behind the synthetic cot roller and is guided in front of the hindelium roller. The cot roller is held in a holder which prevents the twist below to pass beyond it. A ring rail contains four rings of 5 centimetres diameter. In conjunction with a traveller the yarn is twisted and wounded on the bobbins, which are mounted on the spindle. Because of the moving ring rail the yarn is uniformly spread onto the bobbin over six inches (15 cm). The motion to the flywheel is provided by two split pedals and levers or by a 190W motor with speed of 1440 revolutions per minute at a voltage of 240V, connected to pulleys. The flywheel is beard by two rolling bearings and is driving the aluminium spindle drive wheel (back pulley) by a polypropylene cord of diameter 4mm. The spindle drive wheel is fixed in the machines with bolts and runs smoothly on rolling bearings. A little pulley fixed on the same axis as the flywheel is driving the compound pulley, which is also done by a polypropylene cord. However, the prior art machines suffer from problems relating to production at slow rate, poor and inconsistent yarn quality and complexity of the reeler operation. Such problems lead to low profitability compared to the time invested. The earnings out of reeling per day are much lower compared to the local wage rate.

1608/CHE/2005 is a prior Indian patent that talks about a hand operated yarn re-reeling mechanism in which a traverse mechanism is positioned in front of a horizontal swift. The invention relates to a re-reeling machine to produce better quality yarn for making a skein/hank wound with diamond pattern for unreeling during subsequent use. The yarn passes from the bobbins to the fixed thread guides and traversing thread guides and then to a tension roller. The yarn to be re-reeled is kept in a plurality of bobbins passes through fixed thread guides and traversing thread guides and then on to the swift to form skein/hank. The yarn of this prior patent is the source material that is wound in bobbins whereas in the present invention the yarn is produced from multiple filaments from cocoons as the source. Further, the feature of the cited patent comprising of a swift for presetting the diameter does not fall within the scope of the present invention.

Such problems of the prior art comprised poor efficiency and loss of energy, failure of fiber materials/parts, higher operating costs relating to the machine. Problems inherent to production process comprised Time loss due to slow rate or idling of machine, generation of huge Silk Wastes, inability to produce untwisted yarns or to selectively introduce twist in yarn according to need. Moreover, the yarn quality suffered from inconsistent quality or deterioration of quality due to non-uniform thickness and colour of yarns produced. The reeler/producer was not in a very comfortable position to use the reeling machine for lack of ergonomic design considerations. This caused back problems and muscle pain although, all parts of the yarn guided through are easily reachable by the reeler/producer. The prior art machine created excessive noise so that long exposure to such noise may cause hearing problem of the producers.

There has thus been a need in the art to developing a reeling machine to produce untwisted reeled silk yarn of consistent quality in a simple, cost effective yet highly efficient manner using motor powered drive to run the machine with improved productivity. The machine would be capable of eliminating the problems of the prior art relating to productivity, quality and economy of operations. Advantageously, the device of the present invention is also intended to favor delivering good yarn uninterruptedly taking care of problems relating to a yarn break, knots or thicker yarns maintaining desired quality. There has been widespread demand also for such machine, which would be motor driven eliminating operator's interference and operational hazards and adapted to produce better quality yarns through independently driven spindles. The machine would be able to ensure smooth reeling of a plurality single filaments together to form thick and stable un-twisted filament/thread to produce yarn and means for selective provisioning of twist as necessary as well as combining the plurality of filaments drawn from independent treated cocoons while passing through the thread guide in efficient manner without compromising with quality.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The basic object of the present invention is thus directed to providing a cost effective, simple and high effect reeling machine cost effective, simple and high effect adapted to produce un-twisted reeled quality silk yarn wherein inserting twist can be need based.

Another object of the present invention is directed to providing a reeling machine to produce untwisted silk yarn wherein the twisting part has been separated and made optional, thus the machine can produce un-twisted reeled yarn.

A further object of the present invention is directed to providing a reeling machine to produce untwisted silk yarn wherein the device is run by electric motor eliminating the problem relating to pedaling or other hazards related to manual operation.

A further object of the present invention is directed to providing a reeling machine to produce untwisted silk yarn wherein the silk filaments from a plurality of cocoons are passed through thread guide buttons so as to maintain the thickness of the silk yarn thread even when there is a yarn break, knots or thicker yarns pass through the same.

A still further object of the present invention is directed to providing a reeling machine to produce untwisted silk yarn wherein the silk yarn passes through the crosier pulley unit, which fixes individual filaments, which are the wet yarns together to some extent in the yarn without inserting any twist in it.

A still further object of the present invention is directed to providing a reeling machine to produce untwisted silk yarn wherein a spreading mechanism is provided which oscillates up and down to spread the yarns over the bobbin vertically mounted over spindles as "fishing net like appearance' that helps the reeler to unwind the yarns from the bobbin easily. A still further object of the present invention is directed to providing a reeling machine to produce untwisted silk yarn wherein the spindle drive is very smooth and having less friction so as to consume less power.

A still further object of the present invention is directed to providing a reeling machine to produce untwisted silk yarn wherein a break mechanism is connected with individual bobbin so that in case of a problem of break cable with one of the spindle, that particular bobbin can be disengaged from the spindle immediately by pressing the break button, while the other spindles would be working normally and after mending the disengaged spindle, the same break button is pressed to restart that particular bobbin.

A still further object of the present invention is directed to providing a reeling machine to produce untwisted silk yarn wherein said machine is adapted to reduce the power consumption to 25 watt (both AC and DC).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The basic aspect of the present invention is directed to a silk yarn reeling machine to produce untwisted quality reeled silk yarn, comprising: thread guiding buttons through which the filaments are passed to maintain uniform thickness of the silk yarn thread even when there is a yarn break, knots or thicker yarns pass through the same; a crosier pulley unit which fixes individual wet filaments from a plurality of treated cocoons together to form a single filament yarn without inserting any twist in it; a drive unit comprising a plurality of spindles wherein each of the spindles are fixed vertically and connected with the motor through pulleys and belts; a spreading mechanism, which oscillates up and down to spread the yarns into the each bobbin vertically mounted over spindles and then finally wrapped in specially developed wooden bobbins; break mechanism which is connected with individual bobbin such that any particular bobbin can be disengaged from the spindle immediately by pressing the break button in case of a breakage in the yarns in that bobbin, while the other spindles work normally and the same break button can be pressed to restart that particular bobbin after mending the yarn in the disengaged spindle; and a frame assembly to house the said units/mechanisms and the electric drive motor.

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to a silk yarn reeling machine to produce un- twisted quality reeled silk yarn, wherein the yarn spread mechanism comprising the thread guides mounted on a horizontal plate connected through two vertical connecting rods with two vertical, circular pulleys, fixed at two ends of a horizontal shaft. This shaft is attached to the main vertical shaft through a bevel gear. The horizontal plate along with the thread guides, each in front of a bobbin oscillate up and down makes the spreading mechanism smoother to thereby wind the filament evenly on each bobbin of desired pattern and thickness.

A further aspect of the present invention is directed to a silk yarn reeling machine to produce untwisted quality reeled silk yarn, adapted to enhance the speed of spreading of yarn on bobbin wherein said spreading mechanism comprising: a bevel gear fitted on horizontal shaft receiving power from vertical spindle shaft driven by motor connected with belt pulley; two round shaped pulleys mounted at two ends of said horizontal shaft rotating vertically; each of said pulleys are connected with a vertical shaft through small connecting rods so that on rotation of the horizontal shaft, said vertical shafts oscillate up and down very fast; and a horizontal plate, mounted at the top of said two vertical shafts, carrying specially designed thread guide situated close to each bobbin to ensure spreading of the yarn over bobbin at faster speed.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention is directed to a silk yarn reeling machine to produce un-twisted quality reeled silk yarn, wherein during running of the machine the same is adapted such that the yarn get inside the specially designed thread guide automatically and move up and down very fast to favour spreading of the yarn over bobbin winded with fishing net appearance. A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to a silk yarn reeling machine to produce un-twisted quality reeled silk yarn, wherein said break mechanism comprises the shape of the individual vertical spindle tapering upwards and the bobbin having similar groove inside such that by pulling operatively the bobbin slightly upwards by the bobbin pusher of the break mechanism with pressing of break button corresponding to a bobbin, the bobbin get disengaged from the spindle and stops.

Importantly, in said silk yarn reeling machine to produce un-twisted quality reeled silk yarn, said vertical spindles are booster with spindle adapted to run smoothly with minimum friction consuming less power.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention directed to said silk yarn reeling machine to produce un-twisted quality reeled silk yarn the same is optionally comprising means adapted for generating the twisting part.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to a silk yarn reeling machine to produce un-twisted quality reeled silk yarn comprising rheostat means adapted to favour the user of the machine to fix the maximum speed of the machine through rheostat in case of DC supply so that the machine can be handled comfortably.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to a silk yarn reeling machine to produce un-twisted quality reeled silk yarn, wherein the device is adapted to reduce the power consumption to 25 watt, both AC and DC.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to a silk yarn reeling machine to produce un-twisted quality reeled silk yarn, wherein the reeling machine comprised a plurality of units, preferably four units, comprising said different mechanisms/assemblies for reeling of silk yarn.

Advantageously, said silk yarn reeling machine to produce un-twisted quality reeled silk yarn according to the present invention, is adapted such that the twist can be inserted in filaments according to need. The present invention and its objects and advantages are described in greater details with reference to the following accompanying non limiting illustrative drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

Figure 1 : is the schematic illustration of an embodiment of the reeling machine according to the present invention showing the assembly of the different functional units and components of the device having bevel gear drive and their respective locations in the arrangement.

Figure IA: is the schematic illustration of another embodiment of the reeling machine according to the present invention showing the assembly of the different functional units having bevel gear drive system for faster reeling operation.

Figure 2: is the schematic illustration of the drive unit showing the disposition of the motor drive shaft, the spindle shafts, the cam-shaft, the pulleys, V-belts and the disc cam for providing required motion to the spindle/bobbin for producing yarn and winding on bobbin.

Figure 3: is the schematic illustration of the break mechanism for engaging/disengaging of the spindle drive for a particular bobbin in case of break filament problem by the operation of break button.

Figure 4: is the schematic illustration of the frame assembly used in the reeling machine showing the different components and their respective positions in the assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS The present invention is directed to providing a device for producing un- twisted reeled silk yarn adapted to inserting need based twist ensuring cost effective, simple and high effect operation of such a device driven by an electric motor to produce quality silk yarn. The device is capable to produce un-twisted silk yarn, wherein the twisting part has been separated and made optional, thus the machine can produce un-twisted reeled yarn.

Reference is first invited to the accompanying Figure 1, that schematically illustrate an embodiment of the reeling machine of the present invention capable of producing untwisted reeled silk yarn, wherein the device is run by an electrical motor (1) of suitable rating, free of any manual operation and related hazards. It is evident from the accompanying Figure 1 that the device utilizes a bevel-gear (2) drive for the yarn spreading mechanism (3) for uniform winding of yarn on bobbin mounted on independent vertical spindles.

The device is run only by an electric motor (1) to produce un-twisted silk yarn eliminating the requirement of conventional pedaling. After de-gumming treatment of the raw cocoons and subsequent de- floss, the cocoons are kept in tray and single filaments from 8-10 cocoons passes through thread guides operated by thread guiding buttons(4) which maintains the thickness of the silk yarn thread even when there is a yarn break, knots or thicker yarns pass through the same.

The silk yarns are made to pass through the crosier pulley unit (5), which fixes individual filaments together to some extent in the yarn as the yarns are wet, without inserting any twist in it. Then the yarn passes through the spreading mechanism (3), which oscillates up and down at very fast speed to spread the yarns uniformly over the bobbin to produce a fish net type of winding, vertically mounted over spindles (6) and then finally wrapped in specially developed wooden bobbins (7).

According to said embodiment of the reeling machine of the present invention, the bevel-gear (2) fixed on the vertical spindle-shaft (13) rotates two circular pulleys/cam (14), fixed at the two ends of a horizontal shaft (15). The two cams are connected with two vertical shafts in its bottom through connecting rods that ensures up and down oscillation of the spreading mechanism faster

According to another embodiment of the reeling machine as illustrated in accompanying Figure IA, the yarn spreading mechanism has been modified for higher speed and low power consumption. It has been observed that the up and down movement of the thread guide mounted on horizontal plate that oscillate up and down being driven by means of worm gear drive connected to two heart shaped pulleys, the spreading of yarn is slow and consuming more power. Thus the worm gear drive is changed to have a Bevel gear (18) fitted on a horizontal cam shaft (17) receiving power from the drive shaft (22) of motor. The horizontal shaft having two round shaped pulleys (19) mounted at its two ends rotating vertically. Each of these pulleys are connected to a vertical shaft (20) fitted vertically through small connecting rods(21) such that due to rotation of the horizontal shaft(17), the vertical shafts (20) oscillate up and down very fast. A horizontal plate carrying the specially designed thread guide (23) situated close to each bobbin has been mounted at the top of these two vertical shafts. When the machine is in running condition, the yarn get inside the specially designed thread guide automatically and moves up and down very fast so as to ensure spreading of the yarn over bobbin in fishing net like appearance. This helps the reeler to unwind the yarns from the bobbin easily. Also, the spindle drive has been modified wherein booster with spindle is used to replace earlier spindles to achieve smooth drive with less friction consuming less power. Advantageously, the device for reeling silk yarn has reduced the power consumption to 25 watt (both AC and DC).

The plurality of vertical spindles with pulleys mounted thereon is driven by the motor spindle with drive pulley connected to said spindle pulleys (11) by belts (12). The drive unit of Figure 2 shows the arrangement of the motor driven spindles for providing rotary motion to the bobbins for reeling of yarn.

According to the embodiment of the device of Figure IA, to accommodate a break cable, a break mechanism (8) is connected with individual bobbin (9). If there is a problem with one of the spindle, immediately by pulling the break button (10), that particular bobbin (9) can be disengaged from the corresponding spindle (6) while the other spindles would be working normally. After mending a disengaged spindle/broken yarn, the same break button (10) can be pressed to restart that particular bobbin.

Further to achieve this, the shape of the individual spindle (6) is tapering upwards and the groove of the bobbin (9) is having similar taper, such that by pulling the bobbin (9) slightly up with the break mechanism (8) by the operation of the corresponding break button (10), the bobbin (9) get disengaged from the spindle (6) and stops. The break mechanism has been illustrated in the accompanying Figure 3. Each of the spindles (6) is fixed vertically on shafts connected with the motor (1) through pulleys (11) and belts (12).

Reference is now invited to the accompanying Figure 4 that schematically illustrates the Frame assembly of the machine and its different components. It is clearly apparent that the frame is composed of plates and L-shaped angles. The frame comprise a front plate, a back plate, a top plate, a base plate, two side plates and a level 1 plate placed intermediate to top plate and the base plate, assembled in position supported by means of L-shaped angles. The plates are having provisions for mounting of the different components/mechanisms e.g. crosier pulley unit, break mechanism, spindles, horizontal and vertical shaft, threads guide mechanism etc. of the reeling machine.

The reeling machine according to the present invention is having four units, each working in the same manner wherein the each single filament from 8-10 tasar cocoons made to pass through a yarn gatherer and then through a small slit to the crosier pulley assembly. Once the machine runs, the thread gets into the specially developed thread guide mounted on the plate which moves up and down very fast and finally reach to the rotating bobbin where the yarn gets winded with 'fishing net' appearance. One can stop any of the bobbins to rotate by pressing the break button and can stop the machine by pressing the switch fixed on the machine. The user of the machine can fix the maximum speed of the machine according to requirement by adjusting a Rheostat used for DC supply so that the machine can be handled comfortably.

It is thus possible by way of the present invention to developing a high-speed silk yarn reeling machine that is simple, cost effective and efficient device consuming less power. Importantly, the silk yarn reeling machine of the present invention would favour winding/reeling silk yarn free of twisting on the bobbin or inserting need based twisting, favoring easy unwinding during subsequent use in weaving. Advantageously, the silk yarn reeling machine using multiple filaments drawn from a plurality of treated cocoons combined to form a single fiber/thread wherein in case of a filament break, the corresponding spindle with bobbin can be immediately stopped and disengaged for mending and it can resume operation after recombining with other filaments and thus ensuring uniform thread thickness and consistent quality of yarn. Further, low friction spindle drive enable reducing power consumption of the device while still performing reeling/winding of yarn at very high speed. The device of the invention is thus capable of wide scale use and application in the silk yarn producing/processing industry with significant economic advantage.