GB475358A - Improved means for winding wire and other long flexible articles - Google Patents

Abstract

475,358. Drawing wire. BRITISH INSULATED CABLES, Ltd., HARGREAVES, E. S., CLEMENTS, W. J., BROWN, W. A., and LAWRENSON, A. May 14, 1936, No. 13681. [Class 83 (iv)] [Also in Groups IX and XXV] A machine delivering wire from a wire-drawing machine is provided with a winding device comprising a pair of coaxial rotatable drums and a coaxial rotatable carrier located between the drums and carrying a guide member adapted to transfer the wire &c. from one drum to the other with a slipping frictional connection between the first drum and either, or both, of the other two rotatable members for controlling their speed in relation to that of the first drum and so determining the tension in the wire ; the second drum may rotate at a speed different from that of the first drum and is adapted to be stopped and started independently thereof and the speed of the carrier may be different from that of either drum. The first drum may thus be rotated continuously so that the production of the machine is not interrupted and the wire &c. may be passed from the second drum to a reeling or coiling device or may be allowed to accumulate thereon and be removed periodically. As shown in Fig. 1, the wire 6, from the die 8 of the wire-drawing machine passes several times around the first drum 1, over a guide pulley 5 carried by the carrier 2 to the second drum 3, around which it is wrapped in a direction opposite to that in which it is wrapped around the drum 1 and from the drum 3 the wire passes to a reeling or coiling device 10. The carrier 2 rotates at a speed such that the guide pulley 5 uncoils the wire from the drum 1 at the same rate as that at which it coils the wire on the drum 3 and if this drum is stationary and the carrier rotates at half the speed of the drum 1, the wire accumulates on the two drums at equal rates ; when the wire is to be removed, the drum 3 is rotated at a speed somewhat higher than that of the drum 1 and in the opposite direction while the carrier is slowed down to zero and given a slow speed in the reverse direction with the consequence that the wire is transferred from the first drum to the second slightly more rapidly than it is being wound on the first and when the appropriate quantity of wire has accumulated on the second drum this is stopped for the wire to be cut and the quantity on the second drum removed. In the form shown in Fig. 3, the first drum 1 is mounted on a continuously driven shaft 16 and the second drum 3, from which the wire passes to a third drum or a reeling device, is freely rotated upon the upper part of the shaft and is formed of a hollow boss 19 with an outer perforated steel ring 18 shrunk thereon. The carrier 2 is also freely rotatable on the shaft 16 between the drums and has an annular friction disc 25 which rests upon the upper face of the drum 1 and forms a slipping frictional connection between the block 1 and the carrier. The drum 3 is rotated by the pull of the wire and is tensioned by a spring-pressed disc 32 on the shaft 16 bearing against a friction ring 33 fixed to the top of the drum and forming the slipping frictional connection between the two blocks. In another form, the carrier is driven through a frictional slipping connection as before, but the second drum is directly driven by a shaft passing through the drive shaft of the first drum and in a further form the drums and carrier are made directly or indirectly parts of an epicyclic gear. According to the Provisional Specification, the drive between the blocks and carrier may be an epicyclic one of the frictional type using balls or rollers.