===oOo=== The present invention concerns devices to feed the yarn to machines making use thereof, and particularly a weft yarn feeder for gripper or projectile looms having improved characteristics.

It is well known in technique to feed the yarn to machines making use thereof, particularly the weft yarn to looms, by means of feeding devices or yarn feeders: such devices are positioned between the spool and the loom and are meant to temporarily store the weft yarn, facilita- ting its unwinding from the spool, and to subsequently feed it to the loom insertion members with optimal and preset yarn tension values.

The type of structure universally adopted at present for such feed¬ ing devices involves winding the yarn into successive turns around a winding unit or drum, kept motionless, by means of a winding arm moved by an electric motor. Means detecting the amount or reserve of yarn present on the winding drum are apt to control the running and rotation speed of the motor of the feeding device according to the amount of yarn drawn by the loom, so as to make the yarn unwinding speed from the spool as uniform as possible. When yarn feeders are used on gripper or projectile looms, they comprise at their outlet end yarn braking means, positioned downstream of the yarn winding drum and meant to feed the weft yarn to the loom with a specific desired tension. Many of the known yarn braking devices act directly on the outlet end of the drum and are positioned upstream of an outlet yarn guide of the feeder, meant to ensure a correct unwinding of the weft yarn "in defile".

Most yarn feeders make use of brake devices consisting of a plura¬ lity of natural or synthetic bristles, fixed to a support in the form of a closed ring carried by a bracket movable along the main axis of the yarn feeder, said plurality of bristles bearing - with a variable pres¬ sure apt to be preset by ε sting the axial position of said bracket - onto the outer periphery o: ^' e yarn reset-"e winding r >f the ^" ^der.

Other yarn braking devices have been conceived, as an alternative to the ones with bristles, and their use has proved advantageous to over¬ come the drawback of the rapid wear of the bristles. The braking element in said devices comprises a plurality of thin sheet-metal strips, posi- tioned side-by-side onto a frustoconical surface and pressing onto the outlet end of the feeder drum. To guarantee - by a self-ad ustment of the strips - an efficient and continuous contact of said strips with the win¬ ding drum, said braking element is preferably mounted onto a cup-shaped support with open bottom, carried by a bracket of the yarn feeder the po- sition of which is adjustable along the drum axis. A yarn braking device with sheet-metal strips of this type, which has proved satisfactory and has found a widespread use, is disclosed in EP-B1-49897 filed by the same Applicant. In said brake device, the sheet-metal strips are in the form of thin blades and the cup-shaped support is mounted on the movable bra- cket of the yarn feeder by way of a double articulation, so as to be able to perform limited oscillations about two axes perpendicular to each other and to the axis of the feeder drum.

More recently, brake devices for yarn feeders having still diffe¬ rent characteristics have been conceived, said devices comprising a con- tinuous braking band carried by a plurality of tongues with varying flexibility, said tongues being self-adjustable in that they are mounted movable into a fixed support. Examples of such brake devices are descri¬ bed in PCT/EP93/03086 and PCT/EP93/03262, both filed by the same Appli¬ cant. Due to the particular configuration of said devices and, above all, to their mounting - which allows the braking element to be widely deform¬ ed and to perform short movements in every direction in the support (thus acting like a universal joint, apt to guarantee all degrees of freedom) - a perfect adjustment of the braking element in respect of the drum is obtained in the tangent area of contact, particularly taking into account the deformations caused by the passage of the weft yarn, and this allows to guarantee a very regular yarn tension diagram.

Even further improvements in the behaviour of the brake device, in

its area of contact with the feeder drum - allowing to simultaneously obtain a yarn tension trend, during weft insertion, with no harmful peaks (so as to ensure a good result in the weft insertion process) - have been accomplished with the yarn braking device proposed by the Applicant in PCT/EP94/OO476. In this case said device, centred on the drum axis and adjustable along the same, comprises a frustoconical braking element with continuous surface and varying flexibility, carried by a stiff ring sup¬ port to which it is fixed close to its major circumference, said support being in turn fixedly mounted onto a bracket of the yarn feeder, the po- sition of which is adjustable along the drum axis. Similar brake devices - wherein the braking element consists of a continuous surface supported by a highly flexible member, such as to allow a self-adjustment of said continuous surface in respect of the outlet end of the winding drum - are described in EP-A1-534203 in the name of L.G.L. Electronics. From a careful consideration of the techniques described heretofore and their developments, it can be noticed that brake devices for yarn feeders have evolved towards the use of a braking element with continuous surface, which seems to be more suited than others to solve the more and more complicated problems having to be faced by the experts on account of the advanced state of technique in this field and its constant progress.

It can be noticed moreover that the already known types of brake devices for yarn feeders, including the most evolved ones, while allowing to obtain a satisfactory braking effect for weft yarn insertion purposes, are not apt to conveniently solve the problem of the proper adjustment of the braking element in respect of the outlet end of the winding drum, when - as it happens fairly often, for various reasons, in the industrial production process - in the brake devices which are introduced on the market (either new, or after a more or less long period of use), the braking element is not perfectly aligned with the wάnding unit of the yarn feeder.

The object of the present invention is to supply a yarn feeder, wherein the brake device - while providing the advantageous characte-

ristics resulting from the use of the latest types of braking elements (particularly, a frustoconical braking element with continuous surface, carried by a stiff ring support centred on the drum axis and adjustable along the same) - can be more easily adapted to any of the possible aforementioned misalignments, so as to allow, on one hand, to make the best use of yarn feeders produced with high precision and, on the other hand, to be able to produce yarn feeders having less characteristics of precision, with the certainty that they can equally be used for a very long time, with acceptable performances. For this purpose, the present invention supplies a device to feed the yarn to machines making use thereof, particularly the weft yarn to gripper or projectile looms, of the type in which the yarn to be fed is unwound "in defile" from a reserve wound on a drum, onto the outlet end of which - where a first yarn deviation takes place - there acts a brake device, which is centred on the drum axis and adjustable along the same, upstream of an outlet yarn guide - where a second yarn deviation takes place - characterized in that, the brake device comprises a frustoconical braking element with continuous surface and differentiated elasticity, carried by a stiff ring support to which it is fixed close to its major circumference, and in that, said stiff ring support is mounted so as to oscillate about two axes, which are perpendicular one in respect of the other and both in respect of the drum axis.

According to a preferred embodiment, said stiff ring support is hinged at the ends of a fork pivoted to a slide, the position of which can be adjusted along the drum axis.

The invention will now be described in further detail, by mere way of example, with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, illustrated on the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view, with some cutaway parts, of the improved yarn feeder according to the invention; fig. 2 is a detailed front view of the brake device mounted on the yarn feeder shown in fig. 1, from which some parts have been removed; and

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of a detail of the brake device shown in fig. 2.

As shown in fig. 1, the yarn feeder AT according to the invention receives in known manner the yarn F from a reel B or spool and feeds said yarn as weft T to a gripper or projectile loom (not shown).

Also in known manner, in said yarn feeder AT - comprising a body 1 with an arm IA projecting therefrom - a reserve R of yarn F is wound into successive turns, by a winding element 2, around a drum 3 kept motionless and the axis of which is parallel to the arm IA. The weft yarn T is fed to the loom by being unwound "in defile" from said reserve R, guided by an outlet yarn guide 4-. after having been braked in correspondence of the outlet end of the drum 3>

The yarn guide 4 is carried - downstream of the drum 3 and centred along its axis - by a bracket 4A, the position of which is adjustable along the upper arm IA of the yarn feeder AT.

In the aforedescribed yarn feeder, the braking of the weft yarn T at the outlet end of the drum 3 is obtained by means of a brake device FR comprising a braking element 5. which consists of an annular elastic mem¬ brane extending over a frustoconical surface and being fixed, with its outer edge of wider diameter, to a stiff ring 6. According to the inven¬ tion, the stiff ring 6 is carried by the arm IA of the yarn feeder AT with a double articulation system comprising a York 7 _. onto the ends of which the ring 6 is pivoted in 7A, and a slide 8 on which the fork 7 is pivoted in 8A, said slide being movable along the arm IA to allow regu- lating the contact pressure of the braking element 5 onto,the outlet end of the drum 3-

As shown more clearly in fig. 2 - which is a front view of the yarn feeder without the bracket 4A and yarn guide 4 - the fork 7 engages the ring 6 in correspondence of two hingeing points 7A positioned along a horizontal axis SI, while the fork 7 is in turn mounted on the slide 8 by way of the hinge 8A positioned on the vertical axis S2. The axes SI and S2 are thus perpendicular one in respect of the other and they are both

perpendicular to the axis of the yarn feeder.

Said mounting system with double articulation enables the stiff ring 6, supporting the braking element 5.- to perform oscillating move¬ ments about two axes SI and S2, so as to allow said braking element - having a frustoconical surface - to take up the most correct tangent position in respect of the outlet end portion of the drum 3- normally just in correspondence of the point of contact with said drum having a pseudo-toroidal surface.

Fig. 3 shows in detail a section of the brake device FR according to a preferred embodiment thereof. Said device consists of a stiff ring 6 and of a substantially frustoconical braking element 5 fixed thereto. The braking element 5 is formed by a continuous elastic membrane - preferably with differentiated elasticity, mainly thanks to the presence of a bent end portion 5 close to the stiff ring 6 - comprising, on the inner sur- face of its other free end portion, a wearproof metal element 9 which is also formed with a strictly continuous frustoconical surface and which extends tangentially to the outlet end portion of the drum 3.

A brake device like that described heretofore allows - thanks to the characteristic combination of the particular structure and shape of the braking element, with its mounting system comprising a double articu¬ lation - a prompt and easy adjustment of the braking surface of said element to the best conditions of tangency in respect of the end portion of the winding unit, even if said winding unit and the brake device are not perfectly coaxial. Said brake device is therefore apt to brilliantly solve any problems determined by a geometrically imperfect construction and/or mounting of the yarn feeder.