Rieter

Various designs of flyers

Index

Limits on the performance of the roving frame are determined by both the delivery speed and the rotation speed of the flyer. The influence of the  flyer depends upon its form and drive. Using these criteria as a basis, the following distinctions can be drawn between three flyer types:

  • spindle-mounted flyers (Fig. 9, a);
  • closed flyers (Fig. 9, b);
  • top-mounted flyers (Fig. 9, c).

The standard form has in the past been the spindle-mounted flyer (Fig. 9, a). This is simple as far as design and drive are concerned, but not from the service point of view or for automation purposes.

In this design, the spindle is simply a support and drive element for the flyer, without any ancillary function. It is a long steel shaft, mounted at its lower end in a bearing and supported in the middle by the vertically reciprocating shaft of the package tube acting as a neck bearing. Rotation is caused very directly and over a short transmission distance from the main shaft by way of a gear train and a longitudinal shaft that extends past all spindles and is fitted with bevel gears driving bevels on the spindles themselves. The spindle tip is conical and provided with a slot. When the flyer is set on the spindle cone, a pin on the flyer projects into the slot so that the flyer and spindle are converted into a unit for drive purposes (Fig. 10). The closed flyer (Fig. 9, b), supported both above and below, has been used only by Platt Saco Lowell in the „Rovematic“ machine. It has the advantage of reduced spreading of the legs at high operating speeds. Today, the standard design is the top-mounted flyer (Fig. 9, c). Among other things, this form facilitates automation of the doffing operation. The flyer is supported by ball bearings at the neck and is driven by gear wheels or toothed belts from above.

Fig. 9 – Various flyer designs

Fig. 10 – Spindle, flyer and spindle drive