Doffing control system in automatic winder

Claim 1

A control system for controlling the doffing of a fully wound package of yarn in each of a plurality of winding units comprising an automatic yarn winder, wherein each winding unit includes a package, a cop supplying yarn to be wound onto said package, a slub catcher, and a driven traversing drum for driving said package to wind the yarn thereon, and wherein said automatic winder provides means for cutting the yarn upon detection of a slub by said slub catcher and means for knotting ends of said yarn together upon detection of a yarn breakage or resupply condition, said means for cutting and said means for knotting being relocatably disposed to service a plurality of said winding units, said control system comprising: means for detecting the presence of a fully wound package and emitting a signal indicating when a fully wound package is present; means, responsive to said signal indicating the presence of the fully wound package, for controlling the driving of the traversing drum; means for detecting the presence of yarn between the cop and the fully wound package, said means being operative for all speeds of travel of yarn at least equal to or exceeding a set critical sensing speed; means for enabling said slub catcher to remain operative at all speeds of travel of yarn at least equal to or exceeding said set critical sensing speed; means for commanding a cutting and knotting operation prior to a doffing operation on the detection of slub; and means for commanding a start of a doffing operation on the detection of the presence of the yarn.