This invention relates to a braiding apparatus and relates particularly to a braiding apparatus having a track assembly capable of executing a two-point interweaving operation.
Referring to
When the transmission unit 14 is actuated, the strand carriers 16 move under a guiding motion of the track unit 15. In other words, the rotating discs 151 cooperate with the notches 152 to convey the strand carriers 16 so that the strand carriers 16 travels between the rotating discs 151 through the intersections 153 for shuttling on the internal route “b1” and the external route “b2” continuously. Meanwhile, each carrier strand “c” fed by each strand carrier 16 is incessantly pulled in different directions under the continuous shutting motion of the strand carriers 16. Therefore, the carrier strands “c” are crowdedly interwoven with each other to execute a crowded braiding operation whereby a braided layer is formed. The braided layer is provided with multiple convolutions and wrapped around the core strand “a”, thereby producing a complete rope 2 shown in
Because the intersections 153 are formed based on the circular arrangement, the braided layer formed by interweaving the carrier strands “c” shows a crowdedly-interwoven pattern wound around the core strand “a”. However, the application of this crowded pattern is still limited. For example, too many crossing points 21 are formed because of the above interweaving mode, with the result that too many interstices are left between the carrier strands “c” and the core strand “a”, and the contact surface between the carrier strands “c” and the core strand “a” is also reduced. These conditions affect the heat conduction and limit the efficiency of dissipating heat while using the rope 2 in terms of heat dissipation. Thus, the conventional crowdedly-interwoven pattern formed by the crowded braiding operation is difficult to meet practical demand and still needs to be improved.
An object of this invention is to provide a braiding apparatus capable of generating a two-point interweaving operation, a track assembly of which defines a first braiding route and a second braiding route meeting at two intersections whereby a complete rope with a braided layer different from the conventional crowded pattern is produced, especially each convolution of the braided layer provides two crossing points to increase the practicability of the rope.
The braiding apparatus of this invention includes a platform, a base plate disposed on the platform, a core unit adapted to supply a core strand, a transmission unit disposed below the base plate, a track assembly arranged on the base plate, and a plurality of strand carrier shuttling on the track assembly and adapted to supply carrier strands. The track assembly includes a plurality of transmission discs disposed on the base plate and driven by the transmission unit. Each transmission disc has a plurality of notches formed thereon and adapted to carry the strand carriers. The transmission discs are connected to each other to thereby divide the track assembly into a first braiding track group and a second braiding track group. Both of the first braiding track group and the second braiding track group are arranged around the core unit when the core unit is centered on the base plate, and the first braiding track group is encircled by the second braiding track group. The transmission discs of the first braiding track group and the transmission discs of the second braiding track group are sequentially connected to each other, thereby defining a first braiding route and a second braiding route which meet to form two intersections. The two intersections are spaced at 180 degrees from each other. The transmission discs on the first braiding route and the transmission discs on the second braiding route are rotated in different directions, namely in opposite directions. According to the above, the strand carriers are allowed to shuttle on the first braiding route and the second braiding route respectively and incessantly to execute an incessant shuttling motion whereby the core strand is wrapped in the carrier strands fed by the strand carriers. During the incessant shuttling motion, the carrier strands are interwoven with each other on an outer surface of the core strand when the strand carriers travel through the two intersections. Therefore, a full braided layer with multiple convolutions is created and wrapped around the core strand to thereby complete a braided rope, especially each of the convolutions has two crossing points to provide the rope with a special braided arrangement different from the conventional crowdedly-interwoven pattern. This special braided arrangement can promote the practicability of the rope.
Preferably, in one preferred embodiment, the first braiding route and the second braiding route intersect to form the two intersections, thereby assuming a state of double interlinking circuits.
Referring to
The track assembly 35 is arranged around the core unit 33 by taking the core unit 33 as a center. Specifically, the track assembly 35 includes a plurality of transmission discs 351A, 352A disposed on the base plate 32 and arranged around the core unit 33 when the core unit 33 is centered on the base plate 32. The transmission discs 351A, 352A are driven by the transmission unit 34. Each of the transmission discs 351A, 352A has a plurality of notches 353 formed thereon for receiving and carrying the strand carriers 36. Accordingly, when the strand carriers 36 embedded into the notches 353 experience rotations of the transmission discs 351A, 352A, the strand carriers 36 are smoothly transported to shuttle on the track assembly 35 continuously, which thereby executes an incessant shuttling motion.
The transmission discs 351A, 352A of the track assembly 35 are connected to each other, which allows the transmission discs 351A, 352 to be grouped. In other words, the track assembly 35 is divided into a first braiding track group 351 and a second braiding track group 352, so the transmission discs 351A belong to the first braiding track group 351, and the transmission discs 352A belong to the second braiding track group 352. When the core unit 33 is centered on the base plate 32, both of the first braiding track group 351 and the second braiding track group 352 surround the core unit 33 by taking the core unit 33 as the center. The first braiding track group 351 is encircled or surrounded by the second braiding track group 352, so the transmission discs 352A of the second braiding track group 352 surround the transmission discs 351A of the first braiding track group 351.
Furthermore, the rotations of the transmission discs 351A of the first braiding track group 351 are actuated by the transmission unit 34. The transmission discs 351A are, but not limited to, sequentially connected to each other, spaced from each other, or partially connected to each other. In the drawings, it is taken as an example that the first braiding track group 351 has six transmission discs 351A which are spaced from each other. The rotations of the transmission discs 352A of the second braiding track group 352 are actuated by the transmission unit 34. The transmission discs 352A are, but not limited to, sequentially connected to each other, spaced from each other, or partially connected to each other. In the drawings, it is taken as an example that the second braiding track group 352 has fourteen transmission discs 352A which are sequentially connected, namely connected one after another. The arrangement and the number of the transmission discs 351A, 352A can be adjusted to meet need.
The transmission discs 351A, 352A of the first braiding track group 351 and the second braiding track group 352 are sequentially connected to each other to thereby define different braiding routes D1, D2. For example, two sides of one transmission disc 351A are respectively connected to two transmission discs 352A which are adjacent to this transmission disc 351A, and other transmission discs 351A are also adapted to the same connecting mode. Meanwhile, the transmission discs 352A are connected in sequence. The above shows an alternate connection, so a first braiding route D1 (shown in
The first braiding route D1 and the second braiding route D2 intersect or meet each other. Preferably, it is assumed that the first braiding route D1 is defined as a circuit having a first circuitous style while the second braiding route D2 is defined as another circuit having a second circuitous style, and the two circuits not only sit next to each other but also cross partially to assume a chain-like interlinking state, namely double intersecting circuits as shown in
The operation of this invention is described with the aid of
Regarding the braided layer as shown in
To sum up, the braiding apparatus of this invention divides the transmission discs of the track assembly which are disposed around the core unit into a first braiding track group and a second braiding track group and also takes advantage of the connection between the above transmission discs to define a first braiding route and a second braiding route on which strand carriers can shuttle respectively and incessantly for executing an incessant braiding action, especially the two braiding routes meet to form two intersections. Carrier strands fed by the strand carriers are interwoven with each other when the strand carriers pass through the two intersections. Thus, a braided layer having two crossing points on each convolution is created and wrapped around an outer surface of a core strand. Finally, the incessant braiding action of the strand carriers around the core strand produces a complete rope with the special braided layer whereby the practicability of the rope is increased.
While the embodiments are shown and described above, it is understood that further variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of this invention.