Automatic yarn piecing apparatus for spindleless spinning machine

Claim 1

An automatic yarn piecing apparatus for a spindleless spinning machine including a plurality of spinning units, a spindleless rotary spinning chamber in each of said units for spinning fiber materials fed therein into a yarn and delivering the yarn thus formed therefrom through a delivery outlet in said unit to a yarn take-up package for winding thereon, a package holder for retaining said package, a yarn traversing roller on said holder for rotating said package; said apparatus being movable along a front face of said spinning machine and adapted to be stopped at the position of a particular spinning unit in which the yarn was broken for piecing the broken yarn, package holder push-up means for disengaging the yarn up package from the yarn traversing roller, means rotating the disengaged package in a yarn rewinding direction and subsequently in a winding direction, suction means for drawing the broken end of the yarn from the package during rewinding of the broken yarn end, said suction means including an elongated tube curved toward the spinning machine and communicating with a source of suction, said tube having a longitudinal slit formed in a wall thereof for discharging a portion of said yarn therethrough, means for gripping said portion of the yarn exteriorly of said elongated tube, and means for cutting the yarn at a location below said gripping means, and means for horizontally displacing said gripping means to above said delivery outlet while gripping the yarn end for introducing said end into said spinning chamber for piecing the yarn.