Claims
- 1. An apparatus for forming a blended yarn from a plurality of advancing yarn strands, and comprising
- means for guiding a plurality of advancing yarn strands in a generally parallel arrangement along a path of travel,
- a feed roll rotatably mounted along the path of travel so as to define a feed roll axis about which the feed roll is adapted to rotate, with the feed roll axis being oriented with respect to said path of travel so that the advancing yarn strands contact the surface of the feed roll in a side by side arrangement, and
- guide roll means positioned along said path of travel upstream of said feed roll for repeatedly moving at least one of the advancing yarn strands laterally from the path of travel and then returning the same to the original path of travel, and so that the moving yarn strand repeatedly crosses at least one other of the advancing strands on the surface of said feed roll, said guide roll means comprising a guide roll for each of said yarn strands, with each of said guide rolls being rotatably mounted about a common guide roll axis, and wherein said guide roll axis extends transversely to the path of travel of the yarn strands and crosses the feed roll axis when viewed in projection along the direction of the path of travel.
- 2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said guide rolls has a circumferential displacement portion which is located at a greater radial distance from said guide roll axis than the remaining circumferential portion.
- 3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said guide roll axis crosses the feed roll axis when viewed in projection along the direction of the path of travel at an angle of at least about 45 degrees.
- 4. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said guide roll axis crosses the feed roll axis at an angle of between about 45 and 90 degrees when viewed in projection along the direction of the yarn path of travel.
- 5. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein each of said guide rolls includes a circumferential groove for receiving its associated yarn strand, with each circumferential groove including a displacement portion which is located a greater distance from said guide roll axis than the remaining portion thereof.
- 6. The apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein all of said circumferential grooves are of like configuration and wherein the displacement portions of said guide rolls are equally distributed about the circumference of said guide roll means when viewed along said guide roll axis.
- 7. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein each of said guide rolls includes a circumferential groove for receiving its associated yarn strand, with each circumferential groove defining a circle which is eccentrically positioned about said guide roll axis.
- 8. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein each of said guide rolls includes a circumferential groove for receiving its associated yarn strand, with each circumferential groove defining an ellipse positioned about said guide roll axis.
- 9. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein each of said guide rolls includes a circumferential groove for receiving its associated yarn strand, with each circumferential groove including a circular portion which is concentrically positioned about said guide roll axis and a displacement portion which is radially outside said circular portion.
- 10. The apparatus as defined in claim 9 wherein said displacement portion of each of said guide rolls extends over a circumferential angle of at least about 60 degrees.
- 11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10 wherein said displacement portion of each of said guide rolls is radially spaced from a circle defined by said circular portion by a distance of about 5 to 10 mm.
- 12. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 further comprising means for collectively driving said guide rolls for rotation about said guide roll axis at an adjustable speed.
- 13. A method of forming a blended yarn from a plurality of yarn strands, and comprising the steps of
- advancing a plurality of yarn strands in a generally parallel arrangement along a path of travel,
- contacting the advancing strands with the surface of a rotatable feed roll which is positioned along the path of travel so as to define a feed roll axis, and with the feed roll axis being oriented so that the advancing yarn strands contact the surface of the feed roll in a side by side arrangement, and
- repeatedly deflecting at least one of the advancing yarn strands laterally from the path of travel and returning the deflected yarn strand to the path of travel at a location upstream of the feel roll and so that the deflected yarn strand repeatedly crosses at least one other of the advancing yarn strands on the surface of said feed roll, and including guiding each of the advancing yarn strands into contact with a separate rotatable guide roll and while radially deflecting at least one of the advancing strands with respect to the rotational axis of the associated guide roll.
- 14. The method as defined in claim 13 wherein said guide rolls are mounted for rotation about a common axis, and wherein at least one of said guide rolls has a circumferential displacement portion which is located at a greater radial distance from said common axis than the remaining circumferential portion.
- 15. The method as defined in claim 14 comprising the further step of rotatably driving each of said guide rolls at a predetermined rotational speed.
- 16. The method as defined in claim 15 comprising the further step of coordinating the speed of the advancing yarn strands with the distance between said guide rolls and said feed roll so that a yarn strand length deflected by its associated guide roll reaches the feed roll before a displacement of such yarn strand in the reverse direction is initiated as a result of returning the deflected yarn strand to the path of travel.
- 17. An apparatus for forming a blended yarn from a plurality of advancing yarn strands, and comprising
- means for guiding a plurality of advancing yarn strands in a generally parallel arrangement along a path of travel,
- a feed roll rotatably mounted along the path of travel so as to define a feed roll axis about which the feed roll is a adapted to rotate, with the feed roll axis being oriented with respect to said path of travel so that the advancing yarn strands contact the surface of the feed roll in a side by side arrangement, and
- guide roll means positioned along said path of travel upstream of said feed roll for repeatedly moving at least one of the advancing yarn strands laterally from the path of travel and then returning the same to the original path of travel, and so that the moving yarn strand repeatedly crosses at least one other of the advancing strands on the surface of said feed roll,
- said guide roll means comprising at least one guide roll mounted for rotation about a guide roll axis and so that said at least one yarn strand is adapted to contact the circumferential periphery of said one guide roll, and with said one guide roll having a circumferential displacement portion on its periphery which is located at a greater radial distance from said guide roll axis than the remaining circumferential portion.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
42 05 481.8 |
Feb 1992 |
DEX |
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Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/921,526, filed on Jul. 29, 1992, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (12)
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0133198 |
Apr 1984 |
EPX |
3941737 |
Jun 1991 |
DEX |
1534587 |
Dec 1978 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
921526 |
Jul 1992 |
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