Claims
- 1. A method of connecting ends of yarn to each other comprising providing a hand carried manually actuatable air nozzle connected to a pressurized air hose and having a yarn air splicer mounted on and communicating with the air nozzle, the air splicer having a housing with an open ended passageway therethrough surrounded by an air chamber in the walls of the housing communicating with the passageway through a series of circularly arranged openings, air splicing the ends of yarn by simultaneously placing with one hand the ends of yarn into the passageway extending through the air splicer with the ends of yarn being beside each other and facing in a common direction, and while with the other hand holding manually actuating the air nozzle to direct pressurized air into the air splicer and through the series of circularly arranged openings therein and into the passageway extending therethrough for subjecting the ends of yarn therein to air turbulences to effect an entanglement of the fiber components of the ends of the yarn with each other and to impart twist to the entangled ends of the yarn so as to form a commingled projection of entangled fiber components extending laterally from the joined ends.
- 2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the textile yarns being spliced are spun yarns and the fiber components being entangled are staple fibers.
- 3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the textile yarns being spliced are multifilament yarns and the fiber components being entangled are filaments.
- 4. A method according to claim 1 wherein the textile yarns being spliced are multifilament textured yarns and the fiber components being entangled are filaments.
- 5. A manually actuatable device for splicing yarn comprising a valve adapted to be connected to a source of air pressure, and an air operable yarn splicer connected to said valve; said valve including manually actuatable valve means resiliently held in closed valve position and manually movable to an open position to permit compressed air to pass therethrough and into said yarn splicer, said yarn splicer comprising a housing having an open ended passageway therethrough, said passageway having an inlet end and an exit end, the inlet end serving to receive yarns to be spliced with the ends of the yarns being positioned beside each other and facing in a common direction in the inlet end, the exit end serving for exhaust of the compressed air, said housing having inner and outer walls defining an air chamber therebetween, said valve being connected to said housing so that compressed air flows through the valve into said air chamber, and a series of openings for compressed air extending through said inner wall and serving to provide communication between said air chamber and said passageway for effecting air entanglement of the ends of yarn positioned in the passageway.
- 6. A manually actuatable device for splicing yarn comprising a flexible hose adapted to be connected to a source of air pressure, a manually actuatable hand held valve connected to said hose, and an air operable yarn splicer connected to said hand held valve; said hand held valve including manually actuatable valve means resiliently held in closed valve position and manually movable to an open position to permit compressed air to pass therethrough and into said yarn splicer, said yarn splicer comprising a housing having an open ended passageway therethrough, said passageway having an inlet end and an exit end, the inlet end serving to receive yarns to be spliced with the ends of the yarns being positioned beside each other and facing in a common direction in the inlet end, the exit end serving for exhaust of the compressed air, said housing having inner and outer walls defining an air chamber therebetween, said hand held valve being connected to said housing so that compressed air flows through the valve into said air chamber, and a series of openings for compressed air extending through said inner wall and serving to provide communication between said air chamber and said passageway for effecting air entanglement of the ends of yarn positioned in the passageway.
- 7. A device according to claims 5 or 6 including a second series of openings extending through said inner wall and also communicating with said air chamber and said passageway and positioned further away from said inlet end of said passageway than said first mentioned series of openings and thus being downstream of said first mentioned series of openings, and said second series of openings being inclined at an angle oriented toward the exit end of said passageway so that a suction effect is created in the passageway to draw the ends of the yarns therein.
- 8. An air operable yarn splicer adapted to be connected to a valve connected to a source of compressed air, said yarn splicer comprising a housing having an open-ended passageway therethrough, said passageway having an inlet end and an exit end, the inlet end serving to receive ends of yarn to be spliced with the ends of the yarn being positioned beside each other and facing in a common direction in the inlet end, the exit end serving for exhaust of the compressed air, said housing having inner and outer walls defining an air chamber therebetween, an opening in said outer wall connectable to a valve, a first series of openings for compressed air extending through said inner wall and communicating with said air chamber and said passageway for effecting air entanglement of the ends of yarn positioned in the passageway, and a second series of openings extending through said inner wall and communicating with said air chamber and said passageway and positioned further away from said inlet end of said passageway than said first mentioned series of openings and thus being downstream of said first mentioned series of openings, and said second series of holes being inclined at an angle oriented toward the exit end of said passageway so that a suction effect is created in the passageway to draw the ends of the yarn therein.
- 9. A yarn splicer according to claim 8 wherein the respective series of openings are circularly arranged around said inner wall.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application is a division of copending application Ser. No. 089,753, filed Aug. 26, 1987, now abandoned.
This invention relates to joining or connecting textile yarns of a variety of types to each other as when yarn is parted or broken and more particularly to splicing yarn to maintain continuous operation of a textile machine fed from packages of yarn in a creel as in the forming of pile carpets by tufting machines having relatively large creels associated therewith.
In the tufting of carpets the creels for the packages of yarn have the yarn packages arranged in cooperating pairs, one package being the running package of yarn and the other package adapted to serve as a reserve package. The trailing end of yarn from the running package is connected to the leading end of the reserve package as by the creel attendant manually tying the ends together or by the attendant using an adhesive to adhesively splice the yarns together.
Neither of these conventional techniques for connecting yarns has been entirely satisfying. The large size of knot resulting from the manually tied yarns has oftentimes presented critical problems in the form of tufting machine stoppage particularly for certain larger sizes of yarn due to yarn breakage resulting from snagging of the tied knots on the tufting needles preventing their passage through the eyes of the tufting needles. On the other hand the use of adhesive is messy to handle and necessitates the creel attendant always carrying a container of adhesive on their body.
Air splicers are also known in the prior art but are not widely used because of their bulky nature, high cost and tedious and time consuming method of operation. In these air splicers the ends of the yarns to be spliced are arranged within the bore or passageway of the splicer beside each other and facing in opposite directions. The bore is typically open-sided as by being provided with a slot extending along its length which may have a lid for closing the slot. In operation pressurized air is directed transversely into the bore to effect entanglement of the fibers or filaments of the ends of the yarn with each other.
With the foregoing in mind it is the primary purpose of this invention to provide a unique spliced yarn product and relatively simple method and apparatus for obtaining the same.
The spliced yarn product of this invention basically differs from the prior art by having the ends of yarn extending in a common direction beside each other instead of in opposite directions. Desirably the ends of yarn are coextensive with the fibers or filaments thereof being intimately entangled and forming a commingled projection of entangled fiber components extending laterally from the body of the yarn. It has been determined by extensive tests that this lateral projection of entangled fibers on the spliced yarns does not interfere with the passage of the yarns through the eyes of tufting needles as well as through various textile yarn guides, yarn tension devices and other instrumentalities associated with the handling of yarns and the processing thereof into various types of textile fabrics and products.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a manually actuatable air splicer that may readily be mounted on a conventional hand held valve of the type widely used throughout the textile industry connected to a relatively long air hose for blowing accumulated lint off of textile machinery and creels associated therewith. The air splicer of this invention takes the simple form of a housing having an open ended passageway therethrough and into one end of which the ends of yarn to be spliced are inserted with the ends of yarn facing in the same direction and beside each other and desirably having coextensive ends. One or more series of openings for compressed air extend through the housing and communicate with the passageway for compressed air to enter the passageway and effect air entanglement of the ends of yarn positioned in the passageway.
US Referenced Citations (26)
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
| 145075 |
Nov 1981 |
JPX |
| 956992 |
Apr 1964 |
GBX |
| 2074199 |
Oct 1981 |
GBX |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
89753 |
Aug 1987 |
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Patent Grant
4825630
