1. An apparatus for filling containers with loose fill material, comprising:
(a) an opener for opening the fill material into a separated condition suitable to be injected into the container;
(b) a blower communicating with the opener for entraining the opened fill material in a pressurized air stream;
(c) a nozzle communicating with the blower for directing the pressurized air stream and entrained fill material into the container;
(d) an air pressure gauge operatively communicating with the pressurized air stream for determining the pressure in the air stream and an increase in air pressure indicative of a predetermined amount of fill material in the container; and
(e) a flow controller communicating with the pressurized air stream for starting and stopping the injection of fill material into the container.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1, and including a fill material conveying manifold interconnecting the opener and blower for receiving opened fill material from the fill material opener and conveying the fill material to the blower.
3. An apparatus according to claim 2, and including first and second spaced-apart blowers and nozzles for permitting first and second separate container-filling operations to be carried out simultaneously and independently.
4. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the shut-off comprises a shut-off gate operatively associated with the flow controller and positioned intermediate the blower and the manifold.
5. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the shut-off comprises first and second shut-off gates for permitting the flow of air-entrained fill material to be individually interrupted during two simultaneous and independent container-filling operations.
6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressure gauge includes a visual indicator of the air pressure in the pressurized air stream.
7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressure gauge operatively communicates with the pressurized air stream downstream of the blower and upstream of the nozzle.
8. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flow controller includes a shut-off device for stopping the injection of air-entrained fill material into the container in response to a predetermined increase in air pressure.
9. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flow controller includes a manually-operated device for stopping the injection of air-entrained fill material into the container in response to a predetermined increase in air pressure.
10. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flow controller includes an automatic shut-off for stopping the injection of air-entrained fill material into the container in response to a predetermined increase in air pressure.
11. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the container comprises a flexible fabric bag-like structure such as a pillow or cushion.
12. A fiber dispensing control apparatus for controlling the flow of air-entrained fiber from a fiber supply system into a container, comprising:
(a) an air pressure gauge adapted to communicate with the fiber supply system for determining the air pressure within the fiber supply system; and
(b) a flow controller operatively associated with the air pressure gauge and responsive to an increase in the air pressure within the fiber supply system indicative of a predetermined amount of fiber in the container.
13. A fiber-dispensing control apparatus according to claim 12, and including a manually-operated device for starting the flow of fiber into the container.
14. A fiber-dispensing control apparatus according to claim 12, and including a manually-operated device for stopping the flow of fiber into the container.
15. A fiber-dispensing control apparatus according to claim 12, and including an automatically-operated device for stopping the flow of fiber into the container.
16. A method of dispensing fill material entrained in a moving air stream into a container, and comprising:
(a) determining an air pressure within the moving air stream indicative of a predetermined amount of fill material in the container;
(b) sensing the air pressure within the fill material supply system;
(c) sensing the increase in the air pressure within the moving air stream indicative of a predetermined amount of fill material in the container; and
(d) stopping the flow of fill material into the container.
17. A method according to claim 16, and the step of stopping the flow of fill material into the container includes the step of automatically stopping the flow of fill material into the container.
18. A method according to claim 16, and including the step of providing an alarm indicative of a predetermined amount of fill material in the container, wherein the step of stopping the flow of fill material into the container comprises manually stopping the flow of fill material into the container by an operator in response to the alarm.
19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the alarm is an audible or visual alarm.
20. A method according to claim 18, wherein the fill material is selected from the group consisting of staple fibers, chopped feathers, down, foam or plastic.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for influencing a cable winch force (35) acting on a cable drive (29), comprising the method steps
providing a cable drive (29) with a drivable winch (28) and with a cable (22) that can be wound on the winch (28),
providing a device (2) for producing a traction sheave cable force (36) on the cable (22),
determining an outer cable force (33),
predetermining a cable drive operating state,
providing a control-regulating unit (34) to influence the traction sheave cable force (36),
producing a control-regulating variable by means of the control-regulating unit (34) depending on the outer cable force (33) and the predetermined cable drive operating state,
producing the traction sheave cable force (36) by means of the device (2) and influencing the traction sheave cable force (36) by means of the control-regulating unit (34) in such a way that the cable winch force (35) acting on the cable drive (29) can be controlled depending on the respective cable drive operating state and the outer cable force (33),
wherein the device (2) is a traction sheave drive,
wherein a four-quadrant operation of the traction sheave drive is reproduced by means of the control-regulating unit (34), and
wherein the four traction sheave drive operating states are no-load lifting, no-load lowering, load lifting and load lowering.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the cable winch force (35) acting on the cable drive (29) can be controlled in such a way that it is reduced relative to the outer cable force (33).
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the cable winch force (35) acting on the cable drive (29) can be controlled in such a way that it is increased relative to the outer cable force (33).
4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the cable winch force (35) acting on the cable drive (29) can be controlled in such a way that the traction sheave cable force (36) follows a predetermined characteristic curve depending on the outer cable force (33).
5. A method according to claim 1, comprising an indirect determination of the outer cable force (33) from the load force (31).
6. A method according to claim 1, comprising a direct determination of the outer cable force (33) by means of a cable force measuring device.
7. A method according to claim 1, comprising a determination of the traction sheave cable force (36) that can be transmitted by means of the device (2) from the outer cable force (33).
8. A method according to claim 1, comprising a consideration of the rotational direction (32, 40) of the winch (28), which is predetermined to produce the control-regulating variable.
9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the rotational direction (32, 40) of the winch is predetermined by an operator.
10. A method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of input variables is used to produce the control-regulating variable.
11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the input variables include at least one of the group comprising the outer cable force (33), the load force (31), the rotational direction (32, 40) and the rotational speed of the winch (28).
12. A method according to claim 1, comprising a control of the traction sheave cable force (36) in such a way that the resulting cable winch force (35) is independent of the rotational speed of the winch (28).
13. A device for carrying out a method according to the invention, wherein the device comprises
a. two traction sheaves (4, 5) that can be looped by a cable (22) and
b. at least one drive (7, 20) to drive at least one of the traction sheaves (4, 5),
wherein a traction sheave cable force (36) is produced on the cable (22) by means of the traction sheaves (4, 5) and is influenced by means of a control-regulating unit (34) in such a way that the cable winch force (35) acting on the cable drive (29) can be controlled depending on a respective cable drive operating state and an outer cable force (33).
14. A device according to claim 13, wherein the control-regulating unit (34) has a signal connection to the at least one drive (7, 20) to control at least one of the group comprising the drive torque and the drive rotational speed of the drive (7, 20).
15. A device according to claim 13, wherein the control-regulating unit (34) has a signal connection to the at least one drive (7, 20) to regulate at least one of the group comprising the drive torque and the drive rotational speed of the drive (7, 20).
16. A device according to claim 13, wherein the at least one drive (7, 20) is one of the group comprising a hydraulic motor, an electric motor and a motor-gearing combination.
17. A device according to claim 13, wherein the at least one drive (7, 20) has an automatic torque control.
18. A device according to claim 13, wherein each traction sheave (4, 5) has a plurality of grooves (17) for cable guidance.
19. A device according to claim 13, wherein the traction sheaves (4, 5) are arranged in a receiving frame (3).