Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Loom for producing woven material with an incorporated cover thread
Technical field
The invention relates to a loom for producing woven material with an incorpo-
rated cover thread.
Prior art
A loom of the above mentioned type is known from CH 490 541. Therein, at-
tachment threads are arranged by means of feed needles while weaving a rib-
io bon. There are no suggestions whatsoever as to how the ribbon needle loom
could carry out in advantageous manner the weaving in of a conductive thread,
particularly of an antenna thread. A similar technology has been independently
disclosed in US 3 796 234.
From WO 2007/071077 Al it is known to incorporate a conductive thread in dis-
parate ways by having the feed needle arranged on a shaft that is oriented
transversely to the warp direction, the shaft being connected to a first
driving
device for performing a pivoting movement of the shaft and further being con-
nected to a second driving device for effecting a displacement in axial
direction.
As a result of pivoting, the blade dips into and out of the shed. As a result,
the
blade can be moved across the width of the ribbon.
From JP 2005/015954 A, there is known a loom for weaving in an effect thread
that can be incorporated in the backing fabric or that lies on the top of the
back-
ing fabric. The loom of JP 2005/015954 A is equipped with a shedding device
for
the warp threads which allows selecting individual warp threads. In this case
the
effect thread is a selected, additional warp thread. Thereby, both the effect
thread and any additional warp threads are guided within the shed. As a
result,
the effect threads of the chain that is fed in from above the additional warp
threads and the selected effect thread, are tied off by these warp threads
upon a
transverse movement of the effect threads. This means that the effect threads
are not applied above the backing fabric, but rather become a part of the
backing
fabric and thus modify the structure.
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Description of the invention
It is an object of the invention to provide a loom that is suitable for
producing
woven material with an incorporated cover thread. Thereby, the loom shall be
useful for applying a cover thread onto a woven material without noticeably
changing the woven material.
The object is achieved in the loom mentioned above by the device according to
claim 1. At the outset, the measures of the invention have the result that, on
the
one hand, a cover thread can be tied off even with a transverse movement of
the
to cover thread guide - in weft direction. Moreover, and this is especially
advanta-
geous, by a distribution of movements, namely the binding and the weft-laying -
to two movements, there is no visible tying off on the face of the ribbon
fabric.
In this manner the loom is able to apply a cover thread without noticeably
changing the woven material - in contrast to the loom of JP 2005/015954 A. Due
to the fact that the loom comprises - in addition to and independently of the
lay-
ing device for the at least one cover thread - a warp-laying device with a
plurali-
ty of warp-laying elements arranged adjacent to each other for laying
additional
warp threads, the disadvantage of JP 2005/015954 A that the cover threads be-
come a part of the backing fabric and thus change the structure is avoided.
It is also very advantageous that the cover thread can be moved and laid out
in
any laying position on the ribbon fabric between the warp-laying elements.
Advantageous embodiments of the loom are described in the dependent claims.
It is advantageous if the warp-laying device also comprises transverse moving
means by means of which it can be moved transversely to the warp threads
when it is not dipped into the shed.
3o According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the
laying
device comprises at least one further cover thread guide that is arranged - in
respect of the direction of the warp thread - behind said cover thread guide
and
is movable transversely to the direction of the warp thread.
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According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the device compris-
es at least one retaining hook that can hold the cover thread when the reed is
stopped. Thereby, the retaining hook is guided in such a way that after laying
of
the cover thread it is movable away from the ribbon fabric to a starting
position.
The aforementioned embodiments primarily relate to ribbon looms. In the case
of
wider looms, the technique according to the invention can be used advanta-
geously in that several warp-laying devices are arranged parallel to the
selvage
and adjacent to each other at a defined distance. Preferably, the warp-laying
de-
Jo vices are driven in a coupled manner. However, for certain applications it
can
also be advantageous if individual drives are provided so that the warp-laying
devices are driven individually and independently of each other.
The aforementioned elements as well as those claimed and described in the fol-
lowing exemplary embodiments, to be used according to the invention, are not
subject to any particular conditions by way of exclusion in terms of their
size,
shape, use of material and technical design, with the result that the
selection
criteria known in the respective field of application can be used without re-
strictions.
Brief description of the drawings
Examples of the loom will hence forth be described in more detail by reference
to
the drawings, wherein are shown:
Figure 1 a loom according to a first example of the present invention as a
schematic view to explain the basic movement;
Figure 2 the loom according to figure 1 as a schematic view to explain the
laying movement of the cover thread guide;
Figure 3 a loom according to a second example of the present invention with
several cover thread guides, as a schematic view;
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Figure 4 a loom according to a third example of the present invention with a
retaining hook, as a schematic view;
Figure 5 a loom according to an example with three parallel operating warp-
laying devices laying adjacent to each other.
Modes for carrying out the invention
Figure 1 shows a loom according to a first example of the present invention as
a
schematic view to explain the basic movement. In a gripper loom, the warp
io threads 2 for producing a ribbon fabric 10 form an upper shed 5 and a lower
shed 4 for inserting a weft-thread by means of a weft-insertion needle 7 or a
gripper. A reed 1 is arranged in a conventional manner in order to rest
against
the inserted weft-threads against the previously produced woven material 10.
The warp-laying device 9 is dipped in through the upper shed 5 into the lower
shed 4. At the same time the reed 1 moves backward. The warp-laying device 9
can be moved in the direction of the reed 1 and also downwards into the lower
shed 4. In the embodiment presented here, the warp-laying device 9 follows the
movement of the reed 1. However, the warp-laying device can also be switched
off or it can be dipped in at variable frequencies depending on the bonding.
The weft of the weft-insertion needle or of the gripper 7 intersects the
additional
warp threads 8 if the warp-laying elements are in the lower shed. In the embod-
iment shown, the weft of the weft-insertion needle 7 or of the gripper is
seized
by means of an auxiliary thread. The warp-laying device 9 raises the warp-
laying
elements from the lower shed 4 and the upper shed 5 and moves into the start-
ing position 11 together with the reed 1. Thereafter, the additional warp
threads
8, which in the embodiment presented here are attachment threads, are stopped
by the reed 1. The warp-laying has to be arranged in such a way that it is
never
3o bonded to the covering wefts.
The additional laying by means of a cover thread guide is explained in figure
2.
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The cover thread guide 13 for the cover thread 12 can be brought into any
laying
position between the warp-laying elements 14 by means of a transverse move-
ment. There follows the above described basic movement according to figure 1.
The cover thread 12 can be an effect thread, e.g. wires, ropes of pearls,
elastic
threads etc. or also a functional thread, e.g. a LED thread, a conductive
thread
etc.
When the warp-laying device 9 is in the starting position 11, the cover thread
guide 13 can be moved through the warp-laying elements 14 to reach the new
io laying position e.g. by means of a linear motor, a cam mechanism etc.
Depend-
ing on the desired effect and function, this can occur periodically or
according to
a freely defined pattern.
With the additional warp threads, i.e. the attachment threads 8, the cover
thread
12 is tied down to the ribbon fabric 10, particularly also in weft direction.
Alter-
natively or as an additional effect, the additional warp threads 8 - which are
at-
tachment threads in the described embodiment - can also be constituted by a
chain of effect threads.
The warp-laying device 9 can also be moved in a transverse movement by one or
several warp-laying elements 14 in order to lay and tie down a cover thread 12
along the warp thread direction of the ribbon fabric 10. This allows for new
pat-
terns and effects. The warp-laying elements 14 are arranged adjacent to each
other at a fixed mutual distance, which is equidistant in the embodiment pre-
sented here.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention that is shown in
fig-
ure 3, several cover thread guides can be lined up one behind the other.
3o Each cover thread guide 13, 16 is driven by an individual drive and can be
moved independently from the others in a transverse direction.
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On this loom the cover threads 12 and 15 can cross, and thus new effects can
achieved.
A further embodiment of the present invention is shown in figure 4. In this em-
bodiment, a retaining hook is used.
The retaining hook 17 holds the cover thread in order to reduce the load of
the
additional warp thread 8 - which in the embodiment presented here is an at-
tachment thread. The movement of the retaining hook can be effected via rota-
io tion, but also via a linear movement. Regarding the retaining hook, two or
a plu-
rality of members 18 can be used in one weaving stroke. As soon as the cover
thread 12 has been laid out, the retaining hook 17 is moved back away from the
ribbon fabric 10 into its starting position or it remains in its position
until the
cover thread 12 has been tied down.
Figure 5 shows a loom according to an embodiment based on three warp-laying
devices 9 arranged adjacent to each other and operating in parallel. The warp-
laying devices correspond to those of the embodiment described above, and for
better clarity they are not shown in figure 5. On such a wider loom the
technique
of the present invention is advantageously implemented in that several warp-
laying devices 9 - in the embodiment presented here just three - are arranged
parallel to the selvage and adjacent to each other at a defined mutual
distance.
In the embodiment presented here it is indicated that several ribbons are pro-
duced in parallel. If the ribbons - just for increasing the production rate -
are of
equal type, the respective warp-laying devices 9 are driven in a coupled
manner.
For certain applications, e.g. if differently configured ribbons shall be
produced
adjacent to each other or if different applications shall be produced on a
wide
ribbon fabric 10, it can also be advantageous to provide individual drives so
that
the warp-laying devices 9 are driven and controlled individually and
independent-
ly of each other.
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List of reference numerals
1 reed
2 warp threads of a ribbon fabric
3 shed
4 lower shed
5 upper shed
6 seizing needle or needle for crocheting off
7 weft-insertion needle or weft-insertion gripper
8 additional warp threads as attachment threads or as effect threads
9 warp-laying device
10 ribbon fabric
11 starting position of the warp-laying device
12 cover thread
13 cover thread guide
14 warp-laying elements
15 second cover thread
16 second cover thread guide
17 retaining hook
18 members of the retaining hook
