US3323751A

US3323751A - Forming tube for glass fibers

Info

Publication number: US3323751A
Application number: US586910A
Authority: US
Inventors: Mccleery B Cunningham; Jr Charles K Dunlap
Original assignee: Sonoco Products Co
Current assignee: Sonoco Products Co
Priority date: 1966-09-15
Filing date: 1966-09-15
Publication date: 1967-06-06
Anticipated expiration: 1984-06-06
Also published as: BE700322A; DE1596662A1; NL6711294A

Description

June 1967 MCCLEERY B. CUNNINGHAM E'TAL 3,32

FORMING TUBE FOB GLASS FIBERS Filed Sept. 15, 1966 bevmz-T l INVENTORS: MQCLEEEH/ B. CUNNINGHAM N %M 5 E M C W m United States Patent 3,323,751 FORMING TUBE FOR GLASS FIBERS McCleery B. Cunningham and Charles K. Dunlap, Jr.,

Hartsville, S.C., assiguors to Sono'co Products Company, Hartsvilie, S.C., a corporation of South Carolina Substituted for abandoned application Ser. No. 478,718,

Aug. 10, 1965. This application Sept. 15, 1966, Ser. No;

Claims. (Cl; 242-11832) This invention relates to glass fiber manufacturing and more particularly to a carrier or formingtube for use in the winding of freshly spun glass filaments or fibers.

In the spinning of glass fibers to be processed into textile material such as yarn and the like, glass in a molten condition is drawn through small openings or orifices in a plate commonly referred was a spinneretinto the form of continuous filaments which solidify upon contact withthe air. These continuously drawn filaments are wound onto a tubular carrier in the form of aflexible' cylindrical sleeve which is generally referred to as a forming tube. In a glass fiber spinning operation, this forming tube is slipped onto a spindle or the like which is rotated at very high speeds, frequently around 8;000 to 10,000 rpm. and up, and the glass filaments are drawn from-the spinneret and wound on the tube at a relatively high linear speed generally 10,000 to 12,000 feet per minute and'more. These forming tubes are used not only for such a'winding operation but for subsequent winding and unwinding operations as Well.

Due to the high speed at which the forming tubeis rotated and the rugged conditions ofuse to which it is subjected, these tubes must meet rigid standards and preferably should be of a suitable design and material so as not only to be inexpensive in initial costbut to be capable of repeated use. Furthermore, these forming tubes must be provided with external surface characteristics specifically suitable for-the glass fiber winding and unwindingoperations for which they are used. In general, it can be said that such tubes are required to have a relatively smooth peripheral surface to permit the glass fibers to be readily unwound from the tube and at the same time this peripheral surface should be' sufficiently rough so'that satisfactory winding of the fibers on the tubemay be accomplished. In addition, these tubes should also be of light weight to avoid deformation by centrifugal force which at the speeds referred to above is of a' substantial magnitude. Furthermore, these forming-tubes shouldbe highly resistant to compression by the fibers Wound'tightly on the tube so that the tubemaintains its shape after removal from the spindle and the tubes hould have sufficient flexibility and elasticity to permit their ready removal from the wound package of glass fibers when the tube'is to be reused. 7

Two commonly employed materials in u'setoday for making such forming tubes are plain paper or paperboard and plastic such as polyethylene both of which have objectionable features. Although a forming tube composed solely of ordinary paperboard generally performs satisfactorily the first time it is used, its inherent lack'of strength and lack of flexibility causes it to deteriorate rapidly when reused. It is'thought that the rapid deterioration of such paper forming tubes occurs primarily'as a result of the breaking of the cellulosic fibers in thetube resulting from the bending and folding to which such pa per tubes are subjected. Therefore, forming tubes of fibrous material such as paper or paperboard are generally discarded after a few uses or even after a single use adding considerably to the manufacturing costs of such glass fibers even though the initial cost of such paper tubes is low. Forming tubes of plastic have also been used with some success but the severe stresses'to which plastic forming tubes are subjected frequently causes plastic tubes to disintegrate or explode during'use primarily as a result of centrifugal force not only creating a hazard but, as' a result of the high initial cost of such plastic tubes, adding considerably to manufacturing costs.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide a new and novel non-rigid forming tube for use in the Winding of glass filaments or fibers.

Another object of this'invention is to provide a new and novel non-rigid forming tube for winding glass fibers which employs a minimum amount of inexpensive materials to provide a forming tube of great strength and flexibility capable of repeated use.

A further object of this invention is'to provide a new and novel non-rigid forming tube for winding glass fibers formed of fibrous materialwhich'is low in initial cost, which is easily manufactured on conventional winding apparatus and which contains a highly suitable winding surface for glass fibers.

Still another object of this" invention is to provide a new and novel non-rigid forming tube for glass fibers which is formed from two types of'fibrous material, the combinationof which produces a forming tube'of high strength and great flexibility; I

Other objects and advantages of'the invention Will'becomeapparent from the following' description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In general, the objects of this invention and'othe'r related objects are accomplished by spirally winding atleast one strip of'fibrous material such as paper into a paper tube. A strip of non-woven textile material impregnated with a suitable resin is then spirally wound over the wound paper'tube and the resin is permitted to cure. The resin in the ply of'non-woventextile material adhesively secures hard, irregularly roughened outer surface. The forming tube is flexible to permit it to be collapsed longitudinally forremoval of the tube from thepackage of'glass fiberswound thereon.

The novel featureswhich arebelieved to be'ch'aracteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The inventionitself, however; both as to its organization and method ofoperation' may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a tube winding apparatus for winding-the forming tube'of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view'taken substantially along line 22 of FIGURE 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged isometric view of the tube of the inevntion as wound with the apparatus of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially'alongline 4-4 of FIGURE 3 in'the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawing and to FIGURE 1 in'particular, there is shown diagrammatically a typical spiral tube winding apparatus bymeans of which the winding of the forming tube of the invention is carried out. As previously stated, the forming tube of the invention, which is shown in section and designated generally by the numeral 11 in FIGURE 4, is of the type which is particularly suitable for use in the winding of freshly spun glass filaments or fibers drawn from the spinneret of a glass furnace. However, the tube 11 of the invention may also be employed in other glass fiber manufacturing operations involving glass fiber winding and take-off procedures.

As generally illustrative of the method of winding the forming tube 11 of the invention, the conventional spiral tube winding apparatus of FIGURE 1 is designated generally by the numeral 12. This spiral tube winding appara-- tus 12 is shown carrying out a winding operation by means of which a continuous tube T advanced in the direction of the arrow I is produced. The tube T is cut into suitable lengths to form the forming tube 11 of the inven-r 7 tion as will be explained hereinafter.

As is well known, the spiral tube winding apparatus 12 comprises a frame 13, a stationary mandrel 14 supported on the frame, a flexible endless belt 16 extending around a pair of pulleys 17 atleast one of which is driven for rotating and advancing the tube T as it is formed and a cutofi device 18 for cutting the continuously wound tube T into uniform sections of a selected length.

In the winding of the continuous tube T, at least one strip 21 of filbrous material or paper unwound from a supply roll 22 is first wound on the tube making mandrel 14. Preferably two such paper strips are employed and accordingly a second paper strip 23 unwound from a supply roll 24 is wound in overlying staggered relationship with and at the same angle as strip 21 from the opposite side. of the mandrel 12. As shown in FIGURE 1, the angle at which the

paper strips

21, 23 are wound onto the mandrel 14 is preferably between 35 and 50 degrees relative to longitudinal axis of the mandrel 14 and, in the illustrated embodiment, the

strips

21, 23 are wound at an angle of approximately 40 degrees.

In order to adhere the

paper strips

21, 23 together in the spirally wound relationship, the paper strip 23 is advanced in contact with an applicator roll 26 suitably supported for rotation in a receptacle 27 containing a suitable adhesive in the well known manner. Thus, the applicator roll 26, as it rotates, applies adhesive to the underside of strip 23. Contact between the strip 23 and the applicator roll 26 is maintained by advancing the strip 23 under guide rollers 28, 29 also suitably supported for rotation on the receptacle 27.

In this manner, the two

paper strips

21, 23, spirally wound with adhesive therebetween, form a two ply tube 31 which is advanced under the belt 16 in the direction of the arrow I. The

paper strips

21, 23 are preferably each wound with the edges of adjacent convolutions in an abutting relationship. Paper tube 31 therefore contains a spiral butt seam 23a as shown best in FIGURE 3.

As the paper tube 31 advances along the mandrel 14 down from the belt 16, a spirally wound outer ply 32 of non-woven textile material impregnated with a suitable resin is wound in overlying relationship with the wound paper ply 23 of the wound paper tube 31. Strip 32 may be any suitable non-woven textile material Which-is readily available commercially and which is formed from either natural or synthetic fibers in the well-known manner. As is well known, such non-Woven textile material has many of the characteristics of paper except that is formed from textile fibers such as rayon, cotton, polyester, etc.

The strip 32 is unwound from a supply roll 33 and is impregnated with a suitable resinous material by advanc ing the strip 32 through a receptacle 34 containing an impregnating resin bath 36 as shown in FIGURE 2. Preferably, the resinous material 36 is any suitable resin which is provided in the form of an aqueous emulsion. The curing of this resinous material 36 may therefore be accomplished by the evaporation of the water vehicle from the resin and water mixture. Guide rollers 37-40 are suitably positioned as shown in FIGURE 2 adjacent the receptacle 34 so that the strip 32 is immersed in the resinous emultion of the arrow I, it enters the cutoff device 18 in which it is cut into uniform sections which are removed for curing. Preferably these tube sections are formed approximately eight feet in length. The curing of the sections severed from the tube T is then carried out so that the water vehicle in the resin-water mixture in the tube outer ply 32 will be evaporated and the resin with which the tube T is impregnated will set permanently. Using an aqueous resin mixture for impregnation of the tube ply 32 permits the curing to be accomplished under normal room temperatures over a relatively short period of time. However, if it is desired to shorten the curing time by the application of heat, means such as an oven can be utilized.

After curing, the tube sections are then cut into a plurality of short lengths, preferably lengths of approximately eight inches to provide forming tubes 11 of a length suitable for use in a glass fiber winding and unwinding operation.

, forming tube of the invention simple and inexpensive in construction so as to be low in initial cost but is capable of repeated use wth a minimum of wear. A particularly outstanding feature of the invention is the use of non-woven textile material for the outer ply of the tube which when impregnated with resin has a high degree of resin absorption so as to produce a particularly hard, irregularly roughened outer surface on the forming tube. The resin 7 in the non-woven textile material outer ply not only secures the outer ply to the underlying paper ply but when the resin has cured it produces an ideal surface for the winding and unwinding of glass fibers.

While there has been described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and, therefore, it is the aim of the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall Within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed 1. A non-rigid forming tube for glass fibers comprising, in combination, at least one spirally wound inner ply" of paper and a spirally wound outer ply of resin impregnated, non-woven textile material having a hard, irregu larly roughened outer'surface for the winding of glass fibers, said ply of paper and ply of non-woven textile material having a thickness and composition for permitting said forming tube to flex readily and collapse longitudinally for removal of the tube from a package of glass fibers wound thereon.

2. A non-rigid forming tube in accordance with claim 1 which includes a pair of spirally wound inner plies of paper arranged in staggered overlapping relationship with adhesive therebetween, said plies of paper and non-woven textile material having a thickness and composition for permitting said forming tube to flex readily and collapse longitudinally for removal of the tube from a package of glass fibers wound thereon.

3. A non-rigid forming tube in accordance with claim 2 wherein said paper plies are wound with the edges of adjacent convolutions in abutting relationship and wherein said outer ply of non-woven textile material is Wound with the edges of adjacent convclutions in overlapping relationship.

4. A non-rigid forming tube in accordance with claim 2 wherein said paper plies and said ply of non-woven textile material are wound at a winding angle within the range of 3550 degrees.

5. A non-rigid forming tube in accordance With claim 4 wherein said paper plies and said ply of non-Woven textile material are Wound at a winding angle of about 40 degrees.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 347,416 8/1886 Buckingham 138-419 2,945,638 7/1960 Crawford et a1. 242118.32

FRANK I. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

G. F. MAUTZ, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. A NON-RIGID FORMING TUBE FOR GLASS FIBERS COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, AT LEAST ONE SPIRALLLY WOUND INNER PLY OF PAPER AND A SPIRALLY WOUND OUTER PLY OF RESIN IMPREGNATED, NON-WOVEN TEXTILE MATERIAL HAVING A HARD, IRREGULARLY ROUGHENED OUTER SURFACE FOR THE WINDING OF GLASS FIBERS, SAID PLY OF PAPER AND PLY OF NON-WOVEN TEXTILE MATERIAL HAVING A THICKNESS AND COMPOSITION FOR PERMITTING SAID FORMING TUBE TO FLEX READILY AND COLLAPSE LONGITUDINALLY FOR REMOVAL OF THE TUBE FROM A PACKAGE OF GLASS FIBERS WOUND THEREON.