GB1186585A - Improvements in or relating to methods and apparatus for Packaging Elongated Material - Google Patents

Abstract

1,186,585. Winding wire; covering. WESTERN ELECTRIC CO. Inc. 23 May, 1967 [23 May, 1966], No. 23862/67. Heading B3E. A method of packaging lengths of elongated material comprising the steps of simultaneously feeding material at a plurality of different rates having a constant ratio to each other, from a plurality of supply sources and packaging such material into a plurality of packages so that packages having different lengths of material bearing a constant ratio to each other are simultaneously produced. The apparatus described is for winding a double layer of steel tape on to an assembled air-spaced coaxial conductor and comprises a first section which prepares two reels of tape, one reel containing more tape than the other, to allow for the greater length of the outer layer, and a second section, to which the filled reels are transferred for applying the tapes in helical windings to the conductor. Reel filling section.-The tape supply is stored on two spools 61, Fig. 5, each spool being freely rotatable on a spindle 57 and having an integral pulley 82, 84 which is connected by a belt 83, 86 to a bevel gear 74, 76. The bevel gears are part of a differential gear, the planet pinions 71 and 72 of which are mounted on a spider carried by a shaft 66 which is acted on by a constant drag brake 62, so that the tension in the tapes is the same irrespective of their relative speeds. Tape from the right-hand spool 61 passes over guide pulleys 92, 98 and is wound around two grooved drums 111 and 116 and then passes on to a first reel 139. Tape from the left-hand spool passes over guide pulleys 93 and 97, around grooved drums 112 and 119 and on to a second reel. The effective diameter of the drum 111 is greater than that of the drum 112 so that more tape is forwarded to the first reel. The reels are mounted on expandable supports 124 and 126 respectively which are freely rotatable on a driven shaft 122. Each support is secured to one of two bevel gears 133 and 134, which together with pinions 131 and 132 form a differential gear which is driven by the shaft 122 through the planet pinion spider. The reels thus rotate at the appropriate speeds to take up the tape forwarded by their respective drums. The assembly of the four drums 111, 112, 116 and 119 is reciprocated parallel to the axis of the reels during winding. The drums are mounted on a support 107 secured to a shaft which projects from a cam housing 103 and is axially reciprocable therein. The supply spools 61 have respective contact fingers 166 and 172, each of which is connected in the circuit of a motor (156), Fig. 3 (not shown), which drives the apparatus. When the tape on either spool is exhausted the finger contacts a paper layer on the spool and the apparatus is stopped. A limit switch 177 associated with the right-hand reel 139 switches off the motor when the winding on the reel reaches a pre-determined diameter. Tape-wrapping section. Fig. 7.-The filled reels are released from the expandable supports 124 and 126 and are supported by two parallel spaced rods (223 and 224), Fig. 4 (not shown), as they are moved axially towards two reel supports 194 and 196, which each have camcontrolled dogs 197 which lock the reels to the supports. The supports are mounted on the housings 230, 231 of a pair of electromagnetic brakes 232, 233, the housings being freely rotatable on a tubular shaft 181 and co-operating respectively with brake pads 192, 193 which rotate with the shaft. A flyer frame 198 is secured to the shaft and carries guide pulleys 202, 203 over which a tape 27 passes and then goes through aligned slots 204 and 206 before being wound on to the conductor 23 as the inner layer. The outer layer passes over guide pulleys 199 and 201 and through slots 207 and 208. The shaft 181 is driven by a belt 189 from a motor 188. The belt also drives a pulley (209), Fig. 4 (not shown), which through reducing gears drives a shaft 214 and a capstan 51, around which the covered conductor is wound, to draw it through the wrapping section. The finished conductor is subsequently wound up on a motor-driven take-up reel (52), Fig. 1 (not shown). A contact finger 222 mounted on the flyer frame is in the electrical circuit of the motor 188, the circuit being broken when the finger touches a paper wrapping on the core of the right-hand reel. The electromagnetic brakes are brought into operation when the flyer frame has been accelerated to the working speed and tensioned the tapes 27. The braking effect is increased as the diameter of the tape remaining on the reel diminishes, so that the tape tension remains constant.