Claims
- 1. A yarn spool packaging station, comprising:
- a yarn staging station having multiple yarn spool staging locations;
- a yarn boxing station spaced apart from said yarn staging station and having multiple yarn boxing locations extending along a longitudinal direction; and
- a translatably movable yarn bagging station for supporting preformed bags located between said yarn staging station and said yarn boxing station, said yarn bagging station translatably movable in a direction parallel to said longitudinal direction of said yarn boxing station in the area immediately adjacent said yarn staging station;
- wherein by translatably moving said yarn bagging station, the yarn spool staging location from which yarn spools may be selected from said staging station and boxed at said boxing station can be varied.
- 2. The yarn packaging station according to claim 1, wherein said yarn staging station comprises:
- an inclined table, said inclined table having upper and lower ends; and
- a rim at said lower end of said inclined table.
- 3. The yarn packaging station according to claim 2, wherein said inclined table further comprises a vibrator attached to said inclined table.
- 4. The yarn packaging station according to claim 3, wherein said table is made of a material having a very low coefficient of friction.
- 5. The yarn packaging station according to claim 4, wherein said material comprises waxed or polished wood.
- 6. The yarn packaging station according to claim 2, further comprising a yarn analyzing device positioned over said inclined table.
- 7. The yarn packaging device according to claim 6, wherein said yarn analyzing device comprises a black light emitter.
- 8. The yarn packaging device according to claim 2, further comprising a conveyor adjacent said top end of said inclined table for feeding yarn spools to said yarn packaging station.
- 9. The yarn packaging device according to claim 8, further comprising at least one TEFLON track positioned on said top end of said inclined table adjacent said conveyor.
- 10. The yarn packaging station according to claim 9, wherein said at least one TEFLON track comprises two TEFLON tracks positioned adjacent each other.
- 11. The yarn packaging station according to claim 1, further comprising a track positioned on a floor of the yarn packaging station between said yarn staging and boxing stations and said movable yarn bagging station being movable along said track.
- 12. The yarn packaging station according to claim 11, wherein said yarn bagging station comprises:
- a plurality of casters, at least two of said casters being positioned in said track;
- a leg extending out of each caster;
- a platform supported on said legs;
- at least one stack of bags supported on said platform; and
- a bag opener supported by said platform.
- 13. The yarn packaging station according to claim 12, wherein said bag opener comprises a source of pressurized air.
- 14. The yarn packaging station according to claim 12, wherein said at least one stack of bags comprises two side-by-side stacks of bags.
- 15. The yarn packaging station according to claim 1, wherein said yarn boxing station comprises:
- an inclined rollerway, said inclined rollerway having a rim at its lower end;
- said inclined rollerway having the ability to support a plurality of boxes for holding bagged spools of yarn.
- 16. A method of packaging yarn spools, comprising the steps of:
- providing a staging station, a translatably movable bagging station for supporting preformed bags, and a boxing station;
- providing said boxing station extending along a longitudinal direction with a supply of boxes;
- feeding yarn spools to said staging station;
- letting said yarn spools at said staging station form a predetermined configuration having multiple locations from which yarn spools may be removed from;
- moving said bagging station in a direction parallel to said longitudinal direction of said yarn boxing station in the area immediately adjacent said yarn staging station and until said bagging station is adjacent one of said multiple locations of said predetermined configuration;
- automatically opening at least one bag provided at said bagging station;
- removing at least one yarn spool from said one of said multiple locations of said predetermined configuration formed on said staging station;
- placing said at least one yarn spool in said automatically opened bag to obtain a bagged spool, removing said bagged spool from said bagging station, causing another bag to be automatically opened; and
- placing said bagged spool in one of the boxes in said supply of boxes.
- 17. The process according to claim 16, wherein said steps of placing said at least one spool in automatically opened bag, removing said bagged spool from said bagging station, causing another bag to be automatically opened, and placing said bagged spool in one of the boxes in said supply of boxes can be done in one fluid motion of an arm.
- 18. The process according to claim 16, wherein said step of providing a staging station comprises:
- providing an inclined table having upper and lower ends and a rim at said lower end of said inclined table.
- 19. The process according to claim 17, further comprising the step of causing said inclined table to vibrate.
- 20. The process according to claim 16, wherein:
- said step of removing at least one yarn spool comprises removing one yarn spool with each hand;
- said step of automatically opening at least one bag comprises automatically opening two bags;
- said step of placing said at least one spool comprises placing each of said two spools in one of said two automatically opened bags;
- said step of removing said bagged spool comprises removing two bagged spools from said bagging station, causing another two bags to be automatically opened; and
- said step of placing said bagged spool comprises placing said two bagged spools in one of the boxes in said supply of boxes.
- 21. The process according to claim 16, wherein said step of feeding yarn spools comprises feeding a series of side-by-side yarn spools along a conveyor and said step of letting said yarn spools form a predetermined configuration comprises letting said yarn spools form two side-by-side generally triangular configurations.
- 22. The process according to claim 16, wherein said predetermined configuration comprises a generally triangular configuration.
- 23. The process according to claim 16, wherein after said at least one yarn spool is removed from its position in said predetermined configuration, another yarn spool is moved to occupy said position.
- 24. The yarn packaging station according to claim 1, wherein the entire yarn bagging station is translatably movable in said direction parallel to said yarn boxing station.
- 25. The method according to claim 16, wherein:
- said step of providing a translatably movable yarn bagging station comprises providing an entirely translatably movable yarn bagging station; and
- said step of moving said bagging station in a direction parallel to said yarn boxing station comprises moving the entire said bagging station in said direction parallel to said yarn boxing station.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/370,627, filed Jan. 10, 1996 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (24)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
N. 431144 |
Feb 1948 |
ITX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
370627 |
Jan 1996 |
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