GB2215353A

GB2215353A - Apparatus for helical feed in a rope-making machine

Info

Publication number: GB2215353A
Application number: GB8806095A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Vladimir Gavrilovich Khromov
Original assignee: SEVASTOPOL PRIBOROSTROIT INST; Sevastopolsky Priborostroitelny Institut
Current assignee: SEVASTOPOL PRIBOROSTROIT INST; Sevastopolsky Priborostroitelny Institut
Priority date: 1988-03-15
Filing date: 1988-03-15
Publication date: 1989-09-20
Anticipated expiration: 2008-03-15
Also published as: GB2215353B; DE3808112A1; GB8806095D0; FR2628765A1; FR2628765B1

Description

1.

APPARATUS FOR HELICAL FEED OF CONTINUOUS ARTICLES IN A ROPE-MAKING MACHINE The present-invention relates to apparatus for 2215353 L imparting to an article:.helical motion with a variable pitch of the helical feed, and more particularly it re lates to apparatus for helical feed of continuous articles.

The invention can be utilized to utmost effect in general engineering, e.g. foR quality control of continuous articles, and in rope-making machines as a rotary advancing device.

There is known an apparatus for.helical feed of continuous articles in a rope-making machine (SU, A, No. 999985), comprising a rotor for imparting rotary motion to an article, mounted in hollow bearings and carrying a traction mechanism with an independent drive for advancing the continuous article translationally.

The use of this apparatus provides for effecting positive helical advancing of the continuous article with an arbitrary pitch of the helical feed. The independent drive of the traction mechanism is operable in this apparatus for varying thep pitch of the helical feed. In this known apparatus the drive of the traction mechanism is accommodated on the rotor, the rate of translatory motion of the continuous article and, hence, the pitch of helical feed being independent from the direction of rotation of the rotor. Thus, the known apparatus provides for both clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation (in other words, right-hand and lefthand helical feed) of the article with a predetermined pitch without the necessity of resetting the drive of the traction mechanism. which simplifies the design of the apparatus and facilitates its operation.

- However. the accommodation of the independent drive of the traction mechanism on the rotor substantially increases the mass of the rotor and complicates it balancing,, for which reason apparatus of the abovedescribed type have a relatively low permissible maximum speed of rotation,so that their employment drastically limits the productivity of rope-making machines, particularly in production of thin ropes or cables.

There is further known an apparatus for helical feed continuous artiel 'L ies in a rope-making machine (PR, By No. 1322177) comprising a rotor for-imparting rotation to the article, mounted in hollow bearings and accommodating a traction mechanism for advancing the continuous article translationally, and a stationary variable-ratio mecha nism for transmitting motion from the rotor to the trac tion mechanismg establishing driving connection between the rotor and traction mechanism.

Thus, in this apparatus of the prior art the traction mechanism is driven from the rotor through the opera- tive connection including the motion-transmitting mechanism with a variable transmission ratio, mounted on a sta25 tionary support.

The use of the stationary variable-ratio transmission mechanism allows to reduce significantly the mass of the rotor and tic simplify its design, so that the appara- T 1 P "I 1 () tus offers a relatively high maximum permissible speed of rotation.

The transmission ratio 11 of the stationary variableratio transmission mechanism drivingly connecting the rotor and the traction mechanism is expected to equal:

nj E2 whe re ni n2 is the speed of rotation of the rotor, and is the absolute speed of rotation of the driving shaft of the traction mechanism (with respect to the stationary support or base of the variable-ratio transmission mechanism).

When the direction or sense of the helical feed of the article is changed with a permanent pitch of rope-twisting, the relative speed of rotation An2 of the Criving shaft of the traction mechanism (with respect to the rotor) should remain constant; consequently, the value of its absolute speed n2 would vary in accordance with the expression:

n2 = nj + 4 n2, where the "plus" sign is true for one direction or sense of the helical feed of the article, whereas the "minus" sign is true for the opposite direction or sense.

Therefore, the transmission ratio of the variable motion-transmitting mechanism can be expressed as:

4 - i,l = n, n, 1 n2 n, tdn2 + d n 2 n, which shows that it is dependent on the direction or sense of the helical feed of the continuous article, and that two different ratios are required for each pre- determined pitch of the helical feed. This fact significantly complicates the design of the apparatus and its operal',ion, to say nothing of its becoming bulkier and having more me tal in its structure.

It is an object of the present invention to pro- vide for changing the direction or sense of the helical feed of continuous articles while maintaining the transmission ratio of the variable motion-transmitting mechanism unchanged.

It is another object of the present invention to 0 provide for structural simplicity and performance reliability of the apparatus.

With these objects in view, the present invention resides in an apparatus for helical feed of continuous articles in a rope-making machine, comprising a rotor for imparting rotation to a continuous article, mounted in hollow bearings and carrying a traction mechanism for advancing translationally the continuous article, a variable-ratio mechanism for transmitting motion from the rotor to the traction mechanism, operatively connected 30with the rotor, and a summation mechanism having a driven shaft operatively connected with the traction mechanism and two driving shafts of which the first one is c 7 11 operatively connected with the rotor and the other one is operatively connected with the variable-ratio motiontransmitting mechanism, for summation of the rotary motion of the two driving shafts.

It is expedient for the summation mechanism to include a carrier supporting two planet pinions and being fast with the first driving shaft, and two gears of which the first one is fast with the driven shaft and the second one interacts through a reversing clutch with the second driving shaft.

The structural implementation of the operative connection of the rotor with the traction mechanism in the summation mechanism and variable-ratio mechanism for transmitting motion from the rotor to the traction mechanism Drovides for adding the revolutions transmitt ed to the traction mechanism from the rotor and from the motion-transmitting variable mechanism for one sense of the helical feed of the article and for subtracting the revolutions for the opposite sense, whereby the va- lue and the sense of the advancing speed of the traction mechanism relative to the rotor remain unchanged irrespective of the direction or sense of rotation of the rotor. This permits for changing the sence of the helical feed of continuous articles while maintaining a constant transmission ratio of the variable-ratio motiontransmitting mechanism. Furthermore, the construction oL' the summation mechanism provides for structural simplicity and performance reliability of the apparatus.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent in the following description of its embodiment, with reference being made to the accompanying drawing showing schematically a longitudinally sectional view of an apparatus for helical feed of continuous articles in a rope-making machine, constructed in accordance with the invention.

Referring now to the appended drawing, the apparatus for helical feed of continuous articles comprises a rotor 1 for imparting rotary motion to an article, mounted in hollow bearings 2 and accommodating a traction mechanism 3 for translationally advancing a continuous article. The traction mechanism 3 includes two closed-loop work-performing flexible members 4 cooperating witia a hold- down assembly 5, and two pairs 6, 7 of rollers of which the pair 7 is operatively connected with a shaft 8 through a bevel gearing 9 and spur gear couple 10. The apparatus further comprises variable-ratio mechanism 11 for transmitting motion from the rotor 1 to the traction mechanism 3, which may be a conventional gearbox or a variable-speed gear. The variable-ratio motion-transmitting mechanism 11 is operatively connected with the rotor 1 through toothed- belt transmissions 12,13. The apparatus also comprises a summation mechanism 14 including a driven shaft 15 operatively connected with the traction mechanism 3, and two driving shafts 16, 17 of which the first shaft 16 is operatively connected through the l 1 toothed-belt transmission 12 with the rotor 1, whereas the other driving shaft 17 is operatively connected through a toothed-belt transmission 18 with the vari able-ratio motion-transmitting mechanism 11.

The summation mechanism 14 further includes a car rier supporting two satellite pinions 23, 24 of which one is fast with the driven shaf t of t1ae ulechanism 14, whereas the other bevel gear 24 interacts through a re versing clutch 25 with the second driving shaft 17 of the summation mechanism 14. The reversible clutci 25 is made of a two- sided jaw clutch 26 and toothed gearings 27, 28. The planet pinions 21, 22 and the gears 23, 24 in the presently described embodiment are of the bevel type preferred for structural simplicity and performance reliability of the apparatus. However, structures with spur gears are also feasible.

The apparatus embodying the invention operates, as follows.

A longitudinal article, e.g. a rope 29, is guided through the hollow bearings 2 axially of the rotor 1. The closed-loop work-performing members 4 (either belts or chains) of the traction mechanism 3 are mede-to grip therebetween the rope 29 under the action of the holddown assembly 5. The rotor is revolved by the motor 30 through a V-belt transmission 31. The rotor I transmits its rotation through the toothed-belt transmission 12 to the first driving shaft 16 of the summation mechanism, the rotation of the rotor being also trans- mitted via the toothed-belt transmission 13 and the variable-ratio motion- transmitting mechanism 11 to the second driving shaft 17 of the summation mechanism 14.

Thus, the first driving shaft 16 rotates at a speed al n driving the carrier 20, whereas the second driving shaft 17 rotates at a speed n 3, driving thro- ugh the reversin& clutch 25 the bevel 6ear 24. Owing to the incorporation of the reversing clutch 25, the be vel gear 24 is made to rotate in one and the same direc- tion with any direction of rotation of the driving shaf t 16 and 17. Mutually independent revolutions of the carrier 20 and bevel gear 24 are either summed up by means of the planet pinions 21, 22 and the other bevel gear 23 (when the jaw clutch 26 is moved the extreme left in the appended drawing), or subtracted (when the jaw clutch 26 is moved to tLe extreme right), to be transmitted to the ariven stiaf t 15 of which the rotational speed is, respectively n 4 2 n n". This expression is true for the described design of the sum- mation mechanism 14, as generally known by those competent in the art. The driven shaft 15 transmits its rotation through the toothed-belt transmission 19 to the shaft 8 of tile traction mechanism 3, for the shaft 8 to drive the feed rollers 6 and work-performing memb- ers 4 of the traction mechanism 3 through the gearings 9 and 10. The work- performing members 4 acted upon by the hold-down assembly 5 grip the cable 29 and feed it helically.

z I z4 To maintain a required pitch of the helical feed of the rope 29, the relative speed of rotation of the shaft 8 of the traction mechanism, as a kinematic analysis would show, should be: H where 1 2 H nj. i 2 I'D 1 D is the summary transmission ratio of the bevel gearing 9 and spur gear couple 10; is the required pitch of the helical f eed off the article, i. e. of the rope 29; is the outer diameter of the feed rollers

7.

As it has been already explained above, the abso- lute speed of rotation of tile shaft 8 should be:

H n 2 = nj 4 n2 = n, nj. i 2 - TtD_ In the disclosed apparatus, oiing to the incorpo ration of the summation mechanism 141 this speed is de fined by an expression:

n = n = 2n nll = nj n't 2 4 3 3 It can be seen from the last two expressions that the speed of rotation of the second driving shaft 17 in the apparatus being described snould be n" = n 3 l.

H Thus, the transmission ratio of the vari %D able-ratio motion-transmitting mechanism 11 operatively connecting the rotor 1 with the second driving shaft 17 is, in accordance with the invention, il nj -E- 5ED 1 which means that this transmission H - 10 ratio is independent from the sense of the helical feed, being determined solely by the required pitch of this helical feed.

In this way the invention provides for changing the sense of helical feed of continuous articles, while maintaining the transmission ratio of the variable mechanical transmission.

The invention provides for handling continuous articl es of different diameters and for making ropes of diffe- rent structures and twisting patterns. In this way the invention opens the way for efficient employment of multistrand drawbenches and advanced rope-making technologies Furthermore, trie use of the invention has been found to reduce the production cost of articles by 6 to 12 ro,while reducing the dimensions and mass of helical-feed apparatus by 20 to 30 %.

1 tl

Claims

WE CLAIII:

1. An apparatus for helical feed of continuous articles in a rope-making machine, comprising a rotor for imparting rotation to a continuous article, mounted in hollow bearings and carrying a traction mechanism for advancing translationally the.continuous article, a variable-ratio mechanism for transmitting motion from the rotor to the traction mectianism7 oper- atively connected with the rotor, and a summation mechanism having a driven shaft operatively connected with the traction mechanism and two driving shafts of which the first one is operatively connected with the rotor and the other one is operatively connected with the variable-ratio motion-transmitting mechanism, for summation of the rotary motion of the two driving shafts.

2. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the summation mechanism includes a carrier supporting two planet pinions and being fast with the first driv- ing shaft, and two gears of which the first one is fast with the driven shaft and the second one inter acts through a reversing clutch with the second driv ing shaft.

3. An apparatus as claimed in any one of the pre ceding Claimsj substantially as hereintofore describ ed with reference to the appended drawings.

Published 1989 atThe Patent Office, State House, 68.71 High HoIborn, LondonWC1R 4TP. Further copies maybe obtalnedfrom The Patentoffice. Wes Branch, St Mary Cray, Orpington, Kent BR5 3AD. Printed by Multiplex techniques Itd, St Mary Cray, Kent, Con. 1/87