Yarn friction measuring instrument

Claim 1

AN APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY MEASURING YARN FRICTION AT VARYING LINEAR SPEEDS AND TENSIONS COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A YARN PROPELLING MECHANISM AND A TENSION REGULATING MECHANISM, SAID PROPELLING MECHANISM COMPRISING A ROLLER ASSEMBLY HAVING A PLURALITY OF CIRCUMFERENTIALLY CONTIGUOUS, UNIFORMLY TAPERED ROLLERS MOUNTED TO ROTATE ABOUT DIVERGING AXES, VARIABLE SPEED DRIVE MEANS OPERATIVE TO DRIVE SAID ROLLERS AT SELECTIVELY VARIABLE SPEEDS, SAID TENSION REGULATING MECHANISM COMPRISING A FREEFLOATING, CONSTANT-TENSION PULLEY MEANS SUSPENDED BY THE YARN BEING TESTED AND BEING OPERATIVE TO MAINTAIN CONSTANT A PRE-SELECTED INITIAL YARN TENSION, A TENSION MEASURING MEANS, FRICTION MEANS INTERPOSED ALONG THE PATH OF THE YARN BEING TESTED BETWEEN SAID CONSTANT TENSION PULLEY MEANS AND SAID TENSION MEASURING MEANS, SAID YARN PROPELLING MECHANISM BEING ARRANGED TO SUPPLY A CONTINUOUS LENGTH OF TEST YARD TO SAID TENSION REGULATING MECHANISM AT A PRE-SELECTED FIRST LINEAR SPEED AND TO WITHDRAW SUCH YARN FROM SAID TENSION REGULATING MECHANISM AT A PRE-SELECTED SECOND LINEAR SPEED, WHEREBY THE DIFFERENTIAL IN THE SPEEDS OF SUPPLY AND WITHDRAWAL MAY BE ESTABLISHED SUCH THAT THE SAME WEIGHT OF YARN IS WITHDRAWN FROM SAID TENSION REGULATING MECHANISM AS IS SUPPLIED THERETO, TO THEREBY MAINTAIN SAID CONSTANT TENSION PULLEY MEANS SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY STATIONARY.