Thread Protecting Heddle Spacer Design for Warp Thread Integrity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing healds for weaving harnesses cause excessive strain and potential damage to warp threads due to overlapping thread eyes and sharp edges, leading to thread breakage, especially at high working speeds.
Innovation Solution
A heald design with a spacer means on the thread eyelet that prevents adjacent healds from overlapping, featuring side surfaces oriented in the direction of the warp threads and rounded edges to reduce friction and prevent damage, along with a flat or slightly curved thread eyelet surface to guide threads smoothly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If healds are made with conventional thread eye designs, then the heddle structure is simple, but adjacent healds overlap causing warp thread damage and breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a spacer element that extends in the transverse direction (perpendicular to the warp thread direction) to prevent overlap between adjacent healds. This adds a dimensional constraint in the transverse dimension while maintaining simplicity in the longitudinal dimension, resolving the contradiction between preventing thread damage and maintaining structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer acts as an intermediary element between adjacent healds, physically separating them and preventing direct contact that would cause thread damage. This intermediary structure maintains the simplicity of individual heald design while ensuring reliable thread protection through the mediating spacer component.
2Productivity
If healds operate at high working speeds, then productivity increases, but friction and thread damage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The spacer provides beforehand cushioning by pre-establishing a protective separation between adjacent healds before any thread damage can occur. This preventive structure ensures that even at high speeds where friction and damage risks increase, the threads are already protected by the spacer barrier, allowing high productivity without increased thread damage.
3Weight of moving object
If thread eyes are positioned closely together, then heddle mass is reduced, but adjacent healds overlap causing thread damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the heddle structure into two functional parts: the lightweight heald body with thread eye and the spacer element. This segmentation allows the heald mass to be minimized while the spacer provides the necessary separation function, resolving the contradiction between reducing heddle mass and preventing thread damage through proper spacing.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer extends in the transverse dimension to provide separation, allowing the healds to be positioned closely in the longitudinal dimension (reducing mass) while maintaining adequate separation through the transverse extension of the spacer, thus protecting threads without increasing overall heddle mass.
Data Source
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AI summary
The woven braid has a braid body (8) whose thickness increases towards a thread eye (6). The sides of the braid body have surfaces (23) oriented in the thread chaining direction (K) with respect to the thread eye. Space retainers (35,36) are provided to hold the thread eyes surrounding woven braid in predetermined intervals. Independent claims are included for the following: (1) Weave shaft; and (2) Weaving machine.