EP0007875B1 - High speed bundling machine for plural, especially quadruple twisting of filaments into a rope - Google Patents

Abstract

A multiple twisting machine, particularly adapted for quadruple twisting, said machine adapted to helically twist unitary strands and form a cable. The machine comprises two coaxially rotating frames, one frame being driven by the other frame via a reverser, said reverser rendered immoble by a weight and coupled to each of said frames by a belt. One of the frames comprises an external frame driven by pulleys at its ends and comprises two side plates connected by a stretched, taut rope which guides the cable over a portion of its path. The unitary strands enter the machine and the cable follows a predetermined path which ends where the cable is twisted about a cradle pulley which is stabilized by the weight. The internal frame is light and balanced to permit an elevated speed at rotation and speed up cable production.

Description

The invention relates to a machine with multiple twists intended to twist in a helix with a chosen pitch a plurality of unit strands coming from supply coils and deliver a cable to a pulling station; more particularly the invention relates to a quadruple torsion machine.

To constitute a cable, a multiplicity of unit strands is twisted together in a helix with a chosen pitch, this pitch being defined by the length of which the cable advances for one turn of the propeller. Originally the twist was obtained by mounting supply coils, where the unit strands are wound, on a spinning wheel, while the cable was pulled by a capstan or similar device. Each spinning wheel corresponds to one propeller turn.

The speed of production of a cable with a given pitch is limited essentially by the maximum speed of rotation that the impeller can support, due in particular to centrifugal forces. To increase the speed of cable production, so-called “double twist” machines have been produced, which include a means of pulling the cable to a pulling station, a lyre driven in rotation about a horizontal axis, coupled to the means of traction and defining between two bearings an eccentric portion of cable tray which describes around the axis a surface of revolution enclosing an internal space, and in this internal space a cradle mounted mad on the axis and made immobile by an unbalance, the cable tray extending from one end in the cradle to one end outside the internal space passing axially in the two bearings where the cable receives two twists in the same direction. At one end of the cable tray is the pulling station, while the supply coils are arranged at the other end. It will be noted that the direction of twist of the cable is the direction of rotation of the radial drive member of the cable, seen from the side of the axial path, independently of the direction of pulling of the cable, so that the pulling station can be indifferently located in the cradle or outside the internal space of the rotating lyre. On the other hand, so that the twists are the same direction at the two levels of the lyre, it is mandatory that the two ends of the cable tray are located one inside and the other outside the space internal circumscribed by the rotation of the lyre, and therefore of the eccentric portion of cable tray.

Double twist machines can significantly double the speed of cable production compared to spinning machines. Indeed, since the centrifugal force is proportional to the square of the speed of rotation, there is a technological limit to the admissible speed of rotation, and in fact it is exceptional that the speed of rotation of stranding machines exceeds 1,200 turns /minute. At this. speed of rotation, the cable production speed by double twisting is 100 steps / second (or 360,000 steps / hour). For a step of 14 mm, this corresponds to a production of 5000 meters / hour. There was a need to go further in the speed of production. However, due to the technological limitation of the speed of rotation of the lyres, the increase in production speed could only be obtained by increasing the number of twists.

We know in the state of the art, and in particular from the patents of Great Britain 959,896 and 572,344, the French patents 695,144, 1,231,286, 1,405,341 and 1,555,084, and the patents of the United States 1,690,373 and 2,526,147 machines of the aforementioned type comprising a means of pulling the cable at the drawing station, a multiplicity of lyres with coaxial rotation nested in succession from a first central lyre to a last external lyre driven by a motor, each lyre driven in the opposite direction to that which follows it in succession with substantially the same speed by means of an inverting means and each of the lyres defining between two bearings an eccentric portion of cable tray describing a surface of revolution enclosing an internal space and extending from one end in the internal space to another end outside this internal space passing through two bearings where the cable receives two twists of the same direction, in the internal space of the first lyre a cradle mounted mad on the axis, made immobile by an unbalance and defining one end of the cable tray so that the latter comprises from one end to the other the portions defined by each lyre connected in succession between two neighboring bearings. We thus obtain two twists per lyres, either generally four twists per lyres, or generally four twists with two lyres, and, in absolute terms, the speed of cable production is multiplied, compared to double twist machines, by the number lyres.

However, the machines with multiple twists described in the aforementioned patents include reversing means constituted by gear trains with planetary torques journalling in flanges of driving lyre, with the exception of French patent 1,405,341 where the reversing means is constituted by an electric motor with an inductor integral with a lyre and an armature integral with the neighboring lyre and capable of rotating with a speed double that of the outer lyre and in the opposite direction. Machines with mechanical inverters comprising planetary couples journalling in the lyre flanges require robust lyre structures, with unbalance balancing due to the eccentric planetary couples. These lyres are very heavy and load the bearings which, due to the interlocking of the lyres, are cantilevered and difficult to align. The electric inverter according to French patent 1,405,341 is heavy in itself, and increases the overhang of the central lyre bearings. Convenient the speed of rotation of the lyres of known multi-torsion machines was limited, so that the gains in speed of cable production were illusory, having regard to the mechanical complications necessary, and ultimately these machines did not give rise to an exploitation other than experimental. Besides, the aforementioned patents are all prior to 1968, the oldest dating back to 1924, which clearly demonstrates that they did not provide a practical solution to the problem posed by the increase in speed of cable production.

The subject of the invention is a machine with multiple twists, in particular quadruples, where the rotating masses are reduced so as to achieve a gain in speed of cable production close to the theoretical gain, the speed of rotation of the lyres being of the same order as that double twist machines.

To this end, the invention proposes a machine with multiple twists with a multiplicity of nested lyres, characterized in that the reversing means between two consecutive lyres comprises two pinions in reciprocal engagement journalling in the same cage mounted madly and eccentric on the axis with a stabilization unbalance, each pinion being coupled to a lyre by means of a belt passing over two pulleys secured respectively to the pinion and to the lyre.

The reversing means thus formed does not participate in the rotation of the lyres, the unbalance of the eccentric cage keeping it immobile in rotation, so that only the pulleys integral with the lyres, balanced by construction, participate in the rotation. The speeds of rotation of the moving and driving moving lyres are substantially of the same order of magnitude, being taken with respect to an element, the cage, substantially fixed in space. Finally, the lyre structures, apart from the interlocking intermediate bearings, are identical to that of a lyre of a double-twist machine, and therefore the bearable speeds of rotation are substantially the same.

When the external lyre is driven by a single end flange, it is necessary to provide a bracing of the two flanges, parallel to the axis capable of supporting the drive forces, in particular during start-ups. Also it is preferred to drive the external lyre by each of the end flanges in synchronous rotation by means of a coupling means. The bracing of the two flanges no longer has a joining function and can be very light, which correspondingly reduces the moment of rotation of the external moving head.

However, for the lyre to remain capable of rotating at high speed, it is essential not to borrow from the state of the art a provision according to which the two flanges of the external lyre, driven separately in synchronism are independent so that the cable passes freely from one flange to the other because, according to this provision, if the lyre does not have heavy spacers, the cable which cannot be stretched with a force greater than the unwinding resistance of the supply coils, takes a chain form between the flanges, with an arrow increasing with centrifugal force, which seriously limits the acceptable speed of rotation, especially since the balance of the cable chain is unstable, in the sense that an increase in arrow increases the centrifugal force, so that a momentary overshoot of the tensile strength of the cable leads to an increase in deflection which continues irresistibly until the cable, catching in a he fixed part of the machine or in its vicinity is put in a wig or breaks. It is therefore advisable to keep a bracing between flanges which forms a cable guide.

However, according to a preferred arrangement of the invention, the guiding of the cable in the eccentric fraction parallel to the axis between the flanges is ensured by a rope stretched between these flanges and furnished with eyelets through which the cable passes. This ensures sufficient cable guidance to prevent the cable from escaping under the effect of centrifugal force, without significantly increasing the moment of rotation of the flanges, as is the case with tubular guide spacers. . In addition, the tensioned cable is easily adjusted in length without the need for precise adjustments necessary for the alignment of the bearings.

According to a preferred arrangement of the invention for a machine with two lyres and quadruple twists, the inner lyre is driven by its two end flanges through reversing means stabilized by unbalance, and comprises a cable guide rope between its two flaccid. Although the central lyre of dimensions smaller than the external lyre is less stressed in centrifugal force, it remains advantageous to reduce its moment of rotation and to relieve all the intermediate bearings between lyres.

• la figure 1 représente schématiquement une machine à quadruple torsion selon l'invention ;
• la figure 2 représente schématiquement une variante de machine à quadruple torsion ;
• la figure 3 est une vue latérale d'un inverseur de rotation ;
• les figures 4, 5 et 6 sont des coupes selon les plans respectifs IV-IV, V-V et VI-VI de la figure 3.

The characteristics and advantages of the invention will moreover emerge from the description which follows, by way of example, with reference to the appended drawings in which:

• Figure 1 schematically shows a quadruple torsion machine according to the invention;
• FIG. 2 schematically represents a variant of a quadruple torsion machine;
• Figure 3 is a side view of a rotation reverser;
• Figures 4, 5 and 6 are sections along the respective planes IV-IV, VV and VI-VI of Figure 3.

According to the embodiment chosen and shown in Figure 1, the quadruple torsion machine comprises, on a base 1 resting on the ground, two bearing housing boxes 2 and 3. A motor 4 drives a shaft 4a carrying two pulleys 4b and 4c contiguous to boxes 2 and 3 outwards. The pulleys 4b and 4c drive, by means of toothed belts the master pulleys 5a and 5b respectively, journalling in bearings of the boxes 2 and 3. These pulleys 5a and 5b respectively drive two circular flanges 62 and 63 joined by a rope 64 to form an external lyre 6.

An internal lyre 7 as a whole is mounted coaxial with the lyre 6, journalling in bearings held by the flanges 62 and 63. The lyre 7 comprises two flanges 71 and 73 joined by a spacer tube 75. A rotation reverser 8 is mounted idly on the lyre shaft 7 between the flanges 62 and 71, and comprises a cage 80 containing two gears in engagement, with axes parallel to the axis of the lyres. The pinions are integral with pulleys connected by toothed belts to two pulleys respectively integral with the flanges 62 of the lyre 6 and 71 of the lyre 7, so that the rotation of the flange 62 causes a rotation in opposite direction of the lyre 7. L 'Inverter 8 will be described in detail later, with reference to Figures 3-6. A cradle 9, mounted idly on bearings held by the lyre 7, with the center of gravity below the axis, comprises a power take-off 90 composed of a pulley wedged on the shaft, integral with the flange 71, which supports the cradle, and sets of deflection towards a longitudinal shaft 93 which drives, on the one hand, a drawing capstan 91, and on the other hand, a take-up reel 92, by means of a friction which ensures the tension of a cable passing over the capstan 91, so that the drawing speed is determined by this capstan, regardless of the cable winding diameter on the spool 92. The drawing cradle is conventional.

To strand a cable, a set of supply coils mounted outside provide unitary strands 10 which penetrate, in the axis of rotation of the lyres 6 and 7, by the bearing of the flange 62. A guide pulley, in the center of the flange 62, provides a radial return 11 of the cable being formed, which receives a first twist on this pulley. Another return pulley, substantially at the rope 64, provides a return 12 parallel to the axis, along the rope 64, which carries eyelets through which the portion of cable path 12 passes. At the end of the rope 64 fixed at the flange 63, the cable is returned radially at 13 towards the axis, to pass axially at 14 the flanges 63 and 73, belonging to the lyres 6 and 7 in reverse rotation. The cable at 14 receives a double twist, which is added to the first twist when entering the machine. In the moving head 7, the cable departs at 15 radially, follows the spacer 75 in its portion of path 16 parallel to the axis, returns radially at 17, to pass axially at 18 in the cradle 9, receiving a fourth torsion. It will be noted that the twists occur at the junction of an axial segment and a rotating radial segment, and that the direction of torsion is defined by the direction of rotation of the radial segment seen from a point on the axial segment. Also the four twists at junctions 10-11, 13-14, 14-15 and 17-18, taking into account the reverse rotations of lyres 6 and 7, are all in the same direction and therefore additive.

It will be noted that the lyre 6 has as asymmetrical members with respect to the axis of rotation only the rope 64 and the return pulleys, which are light members. The rope 64 in steel cable has the unique role of maintaining the cable, in its portion of path 12, substantially parallel to the axis, by means of guide eyelets, but does not intervene to secure in rotation the two flanges 62 and 63, which are driven in synchronism respectively by the pulleys 5a and 5b. The rotation reverser 8 is kept substantially stationary by its own unbalance. As a result, the external lyre can withstand high rotational speeds without imbalance reactions on the bearings, while the cable is maintained substantially without deflection in its portion 12. We can reach lyre rotational speeds of around 1200 revolutions / minute, comparable to those of double twist machines, and therefore double the cable production speed compared to these double twist machines.

The machine shown in Figure 2 has a base 101 with two bearing boxes 102 and 103 similar to that of the machine in Figure 1. The external lyre 106, with its flanges 162 and 163 and its rope 164 is also similar to that shown in Figure 1, as well as the lyre drives 104b, 105a and 104c, 105b.

The central lyre 107 has its flanges 171 and 173 driven respectively by the inverters 108a and 108b, produced like the inverter 8 in FIG. 1. The flanges 171 and 173 are joined by a taut line 175 with guide eyelets through which passes the cable, so that the central lyre 107 has the same structure as the external lyre 106, and the same advantages of lightness and ability to withstand a high rotational speed.

Of course, the cable follows the same path, from the unit strands 110 to the pulling and winding cradle 109.

The rotation reverser shown in FIGS. 3-6 comprises, at the interlocking of the bearings 200 and 201 of the outer and central lyres respectively, a yoke 204 which turns madly around the bearing at the hub 200 of the outer lyre. Under the yoke 204 hangs a cage 205 in which are arranged two pinions engaged 210 and 211. On the axis of the pinion 210 is wedged, outside the cage, a pulley 206, opposite a pulley 202 wedged on the level 200 of the external lyre. A toothed belt 208 couples the pulleys 202 and 206, which have teeth which are complementary to the notches of the belt 208; this classic arrangement of toothed belt ensures coupling without slipping of the pulleys.

Similarly, on the axis of the pinion 211 is wedged a pulley 207, opposite a pulley 203 wedged on the bearing 201 of the central lyre. A toothed belt 209 couples the pulleys 207 and 203. When the outer lyre is in rotation the pulley 202 causes the pinion 210 to rotate, the cage 205, due to its unbalanced weight, remaining substantially plumb and below the yoke 204. The pinion 210 drives the pinion 211 in reverse rotation, this rotation being transmitted by the pulley 207 to the pulley 203, and therefore to the bearing 201 of the central lyre. In fact, because of the resistance to rotation, the cage 205 hangs somewhat obliquely under the yoke 204, the torque due to the obliquity of the arm connecting the cage 205 to the yoke 204 relative to the direction of the thinker compensating for the resistant couples due to the rotation of the central lyre. It will be understood that by arranging a third lyre between the lyre 7 and the cradle 9 of FIG. 1, or between the lyre 27 and the cradle 29 of FIG. 2, and in relation to the lyre 7 (27) like this is related to lyre 6 (26), we would obtain a sixfold twist, and so on by multiplying the number of lyres. The limitation of the number of twists comes only from the technological difficulties in achieving the bearings between successive lyres, which must support each other, and from the restriction of the space available for the cradle in conjunction with the size of the lyre. outside.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the examples described, but embraces all the variant embodiments.

Claims (5)

1. Multiple twisting machine, particularly for quadruple twisting, adapted to helically twist at a selected pitch a plurality of unitary strands (10) coming from feed bobbins and to deliver a cable (18) at a drawing station (9), and comprising a traction means (91) for the cable at the drawing station, at least two coaxially rotating nested flyers (6, 7), in succession from a first central flyer (7) to a second external flyer (6) driven by a motor (4), each flyer rotationally driven in the opposite direction to that which follows it in succession, at substantially the same speed, by the intermediary of a reverser means (8), and each one of the flyers defining between two bearings, an eccentric portion of the cable path describing a surface of revolution enclosing an internal space and extending from one end in the internal space to the other end outside this spac.e by passing axially within each the two bearings where the cable is imparted with two twists in the same direction, in the internal space of the first flyer (7) a cradle (9) idly mounted on a shaft held immobile by a weight member and defining an end of the cable path so that the path comprises the portions defined by each flyer connected in succession between two neighboring bearings, the machine being characterized in that the reverser means (8) between the two consecutive flyers (7, 6 ; 200, 201) comprises two pinions (210, 211) mutually rotatably meshing in the same cage (80, 205) idly mounted and eccentric to the axis of the flyers, with a stabilizing weight member, each pinion (210, 211) being coupled to a flyer (200, 201) by the intermediary of a belt (208, 209) running over two pulleys (206, 202 ; 207, 203) respectively fixed to the pinion (210, 211) and the flyer (200, 201).

2. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the external flyer (6, 106) comprising two end flanges (62, 63 ; 162, 163), the latter are rotationally driven by the motor (4) by the intermediary of a coupling means (4a ; 104b, 104c).

3. Machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the two flanges of the external flyer (6, 106) are connected by a taut rope (64, 164) provided with eyelets through which passes the cable and defining a portion (12) substantially parallel to the axis and eccentric to the cable path in the external flyer (6, 106).

4. Machine according to claim 3, for quadruple twisting with two nested flyers (106, 107), characterized in that the central flyer (107) comprises two flanges (171, 173) each driven by a reverser means (108a, 108b) disposed between the contiguous flanges of the two flyers, and connected by a taut rope (175) provided with eyelets through which passes the cable and defining a portion substantially parallel to the axis and eccentric to the cable path in the central flyer (107).

5. Machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the coupling belts (208, 209) are toothed belts, the pulleys (200, 201, 206, 207) carrying teeth complementary to the teeth of the belts (208, 209).

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