US1765357A - Filament-mounting machine - Google Patents

Description

J 17, 1 J. REGENSTREIF I FILAHENT MOUNTING MACHINE Filed May 3, i928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1- Inventor: Jakob Regens-tre June 17, 1930. I J. REGENS' fREIF- 1,765,357

FILAHENT MOUNTING. MACHINE Filed May 3-, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor: I Jakob Regenstrerf,

b5 His A'b-torneg Patented June 17, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAIOIB REGENSTREIF, OF BERLIN, GERMEANY, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COM- PANY, A CORPORATION OF ITEW YORK FILAMEN T-MOUNTING MACHINE Application meUta e, 1928, Serial No.

The mounting of coiled filaments of electric incandescent lamps on anchors extending radially from the stem and having loops or eyes on the ends has sometimes been done by auxiliary devices operated automatically with'the object of saving labor. The prin cipal" object of this invention is to provide means for automatically mounting the coiled filaments bysimple mechanism and in a very reliable manner. To this end the filament is threaded thru the anchor loops by a threading device comprising a filament former or shaper which comprises a filament feeder with a feed conduit or groove preferablystraight and of a cross section or bore corresponding to the cross section of the filament, and serving both for feeding and straightening the filament, and also a filament guide. with a curved guide conduit of the same bore which adjoins the outlet of the feed conduit and acts as a bridge between the loops or hooks of the anchors on the stem lowered into the filament shaper. By this novel arrangementa filament placed in the feed conduit may be slid endwise by a pusher .or by air under pressure, or by suction, into the curved guide conduit along which it is pushed or pulled so that it slides along the conduit endwise and is threaded thru the loops of the anchors on the stem. To facilij tate the threading of the filament thru the loops of the anchors that part of the filament former having the feed conduit, as well as that part having the curved guide conduit, are both preferably made in two separable parts to facilitate introducing the filament and confining it closely in the conduits. I

The invention may advantageously be embodied in the usual hook inserting machine of the kind which in several successive working posit-ions inserts the loops or anchors radially into a glass bead on the stem rod or arbor, and furthermore produces loops or eyes on the free ends of the anchors for holding the filament. In such a machine there may be provided at a working position of the hook inserting machine following that one where the coiled filament is mounted on the stem by being threaded thru the anchor loops, a loop closing device comprising a vertically 274,877, and. in Germany May 17, 1927.

anvil to narrow down and more completely close the loops around the coiled filament and thus hold the filament. I

One form of-embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a top view of the filament, former with a cover for the filament guide I swung' back out of the way; Fig. 2 is a cross section of the filament feed portion along the line II-II ofFig. 1; F i 3 is a section partly along the line III-I I of Fi 1; Fig. 4 is a section along the line IVI of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a section along the line V-V of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a top view, like Fig. 1, of a modification using air pressure to move the filament endwise; Fig. 7 is a. cross section along the line VIIVII of Fig. 6; Fig. 8"' is a section along the line VIII-VIII of, Fig. 6 with the cover 14 in place on the block 3 Fig. 9 is a top view of the device of Fig. 6, modified to use suction instead of compressed air; Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic top view'ofa holder inserting machine provided with the filament mounting device constructed according to this invention; and Figs. 11 to 14 show diagrammatically certain details of the holder inserting machine and of the "stem produced on it.

In the particular embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 5 the filament former which serves to receive the coiled filament 1 comprises a straight filament feeder with a long straight base block 2 associated with a curved filament guide comprising a curved or approximately semi-circular base block 3 associated with the feeder base block 2 or formed in one piece with it and having in its fiat upper surface a curved guide roove or conduit to guide the filament into t e anchor loops. The base block 2 has a wide straight channel with an inclined bottom 4 extending its entire length and a straight feed groove or conduit 5 along the lower edge of the sloping bottom 4 and formln a' continuation thereofithe cross section of t s conduit correspondingv tobut being slightly greater than the cross section of the filament.

Each filament isplaced 'inthe feed condult 5 by being passed sidewise and down along the sloping bottom 4 from a supply of loose filaments, either by hand or mechanically. The straight feed groove or conduit 5 not only receives the filament 1, but also straightens 5 it out into a straight line. A vertically movable cover 6 having an inclined bottom corresponding to the inclined bottom 4 of the channel in the block 2 as shown in Fig. 2 descends into the channel in the block 2 after the insertion of the filament thereby closing the straight part of the filament feeder and converting the groove 5 into a duct which encloses the filament with slight clearance. v

The curved base block 3 has in its upper surface a curved guide groove or conduit 7 of a length corresponding to the length of the filament to be used. This groove 7 is crossed by transverse anchor slots or radial cuts 8, spaced from one another to correspond to the spacing of the loops 11 of the radial anchors 9 of the arbor 10 of the stem. To one side of the. guide block 3 on a vertical shaft 12 is an arm 13, mounted to oscillate and also to move along the axis of the curved arm 13 has on its free end a curved cover or cap 14 for the curved guide block 3 and which,

when the arm 13 is swung over the block 3 and lowered, rests on the guide block 3 as shown in Fig. 3 and covers or closes the guide groove 7 in the block and thus converts it into a closed and curved guide duct. The cap 14 also has radial slots 15 which register with the anchor slots 8 when the cap is in place,

so that, as the stem is lowered along the axis of the curved block 3 and the'cover 14, the loops 11 of the anchors 9 can pass through the slots in the cap 14 into the anchor slots 8 of the guide block 3. The depth of each anchor slot 8 is such that its bottom is slightly below the bottom of the groove 7, and therefore the anchor loop 11 resting on the bottom 16 of an anchor slot 8, as shown in Fig. 4, is concentric with and in registry with the groove or conduit 7 in the curved block 3 of the filament guide.

I Two radial lead slots 17, one at the junction between the straight filament feed conduit 5 and one endof the curved guide conduit 7 and the other at the other or freeend of the guide conduit are provided in the curved block 3 to receive the hooks 18 on'the ends of the two leads 19 of the stem. Two radially movable clamping jaws 20 enter the lead slots 17 transversely of the leads and clamp the hooks 18 down on the ends of the filament 1. Each section of the curved guide conduit 7 for the filament has .afunnel-shaped entrance 21formed in the walls of the radial anchor slots 8 and facing the advancing end of a filament sliding along the guide conduit 7 in order to facilitate the pushing of the filament endwise thru all the sections of the 66 guide conduit 7.

block 3 so as to be raised'and lowered. This- The operation of the device shown in Figs.

' 1 to 5 is as follows:

First the arm 13 is swung into placeover the guide block 3 and then lowered until the 1 cap 14 sets snugly on the upper fiat surface of the curved block 3. Then the lamp stem, with its arbor 10 and radial anchors 9 provided-with complete loops 11 is lowered until the hooks 18 on the leadsare in the lead slots 17 and the anchor loops 11 are in the intermediate radial anchor slots 8 and resting on the bottom 16 of the radial anchor slots, which serve as stops for the loops 11 and prevent excessive lowering of the stem. At the same time with, or shortly after this downward movement of the stem, and while the cover strip 6 of the filament feeder is raised, a filament 1 is passed down the sloping bottom 4 of the channel in the feed block 2 into the feed conduit 5 and thereby straightened. 5 Then the cover strip 6 is lowered into the channel in the block 2 until its inclined bottom rests on the sloping bottom 4 of the channel in the block 2 and then the filament 1 is slid endwise along the feed conduit 5 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1.by pressure exerted by the cylindrical push rod 22 fitting accurately into the conduit 5. The push rod 22 is of such a length that by its forward stroke the filament is pushed entirely out of the feed conduit 5 into the guide conduit 7 and slides endwise along saidcurved guide conduit 7 and thru the loops 11 resting in the anchor slots across the conduit until the forward oradvancing end of the filament 1 is stopped by striking against the stop 23 extending across theguide conduit 7 at the end of the curved guide block 3. Both ends of the filament 1 are now in place in the lead slots 17 and in the hooks 18 of the leads 19. Immediately after the push rod 22 has pushed the filament 1 endwise into the curved filament guide and thus through the anchor loops 11 in the guide, the clamping jaws 20' move outwards and radiallv of the curved guide conduit 7 and close the hooks 18, thus clamping the leads to the ends of the filament. The arm 13, with the cover 14 attached thereto, is now lifted slightly and then swung to one side whereupon the finished mount may be lifted out of the curved filament guide block 3.,

The modification shown in Figs. 6 to 8 is of much the same construction as that in Figs. 1 to 5, except that in this modification the filament is threaded through the loops of the anchors not by a push rod, but by air pressure. To this end air channels 24 are provided in both the filament feeder block 2 and the filament block 3 parallel to and at a slight distance from the straight feed conduit ,5 and the curved guide conduit 7, and are at will connected to and disconnected from a source of air under pressure. In the feed block 2 the air channel or groove 24 is 130 which is wedge shaped to provide a slanting bottom for the filament feed channel in the' block 2 and in the guideblock 3 it. is covered by thecover 14 on the oscillating arm 13. The channel 24 in ,the feed block is connected thru a nozzle-like port 26 with the inlet end of the feed conduit 5, which in this case does not extend entirely thru the feed block 2,as it does where a push rod is used to push the filament along the feed conduit.

By this port 26 pressure is exerted by the air on the end of the coiled filament. In addition air is delivered at other points to the feed -conduit 5 at intermediate points from the air channel 24 by four ports 27 set to produce air jets which push the filment endwise along the feed conduit. The filament is also and is continually pushed along until it has pushed endwise along the guide conduit 7 by air 'jets produced by ports 28 leading from the parallel curved air channel 24 to the curved guide conduit 7 and discharging into the filament receiving end of each section of the guide conduit. As soon as the air blast is sent in the direction of the arrow thru the air channel 24 the filament 1 enclosed in the guide conduit 5 is caught at the rear end and also at several intermediate points along its length by the air streaming from the ports 26, 27, and is moved endwise along into the curved guide conduit 7, where it is likewise caught by the air issuing from the ports 28 moved entirely into the guide conduit 7 and thru the anchor loops 11 of the stem and its forward end is against the stop 23 on the guide block .3. The ends of the filament 1 'are now in position in the hooks 18 of the leads 19, and can be attached to the hooks by moving the clamping jaws 20 into the lead slots. In order that the threading of the filament 1 thru the loops 11 of the stem and the transfer of the filament from onesection of the curved guide conduit 7 to the next may take place easily, the ports 28 are arranged to deliver directly across the radial anchor slots 8 and into the ope'n or receiving end of each duct section. The forward or leading end of the filament is thereby each time directly put in an anchor loop of the stem by air under pressure and is bent over toward the inner wall ofthe guide conduit so .as to come into the middle of the loop. 1

After the filament is blown into the guide block 2 a single puff of air suflices to put it in its final position. In order, however, to increase the certainty of the placing of the filament a number of rapidly repeated pufl's of air may be employed. These repeated pufis or blasts may be obtained by alternately opening and closing. the pressure air duct 1n various ways. In the particular example shown, the repeated air puflfs. or blasts are produced by a rotary valve 29 having near the rim of'a number of ports 30 and so mitted to and shut 013? from the duct 24.

In the particular construction shown in Fig. 9 the filament 1 enclosed in feed conduit 5 of the part 2 of the former is c onducted into the curved guide conduit 7 and the loops 11 of the stem by suction. In this case a vacuum duet 24 traverses the two parts 2 and '3 of the former parallel to and in communication with the feeding and guide ducts 5 and 7.' The vacuum duct 24 is connected to a suction pipe by a connection 32 on the semiannular part 3' of the former. The suction ports 27 and 28 provided in the two parts of the former are set at an angle about 90 different from the pressure ports, and are near- 1y. tangential to the curved guide conduit 7, so as to be better adapted to cause the filament to he slid along the conduits by the flow of air from the outside through the ports rotary valve, like the valve 29, at short intervals to produce pufls of air and thereby cause safer transmission of the filament along the guide conduit.

The filament mounting mechanism above described and constructed according to the invention may be used independently of the usual intermittently rotated hook inserting machineof the kind in which loops are produced in the free ends of the radial anchor wires and thus complementv such machines. It is, however, advantageous as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 10 to incorporate the described filament mounting mechanism into such" an intermittently rotating hookinserting machine. 7 I

The hook inserting machine shown diagrammatically in Fig. 10 may be constructed on the same general principle as that shown in the applicaton for U. S. Patent, Serial No. 243,698, filed Dec. 30, 1927, by Ledig and Loebe, and makes one complete revolution in twelve steps. As shown inFig. 3 the table 41 of themachine has a pedestal 42 in which is a vertical tubular shaft 43 havingon the upper end a spider 44 in which stem heads 45 are mounted to move vertically. A push rod 46 in the vertical tubularv shaft and actuated by a cam 47 on the drive shaft 48 lowersand raises the stem head at the working position. In work positions a and b the lamp stems produced in the stem making machine and consisting of the flare tube 33, the exhaust tube 34, the arbor 10 and the two leads 19 shown in Fig. 1 are placed in the vertically movable stem head 45 of the mashaft, bent from their original vertical position to such an angle that in working position 03 for the preliminary heating position as Well as in working position 0 forthe fusing of the stem tube and making the press they cannot be affected by the pointed flames 35, 36 used for heating the lower part of the stem tube to make the press. The arbor 10 with the drop of fused glass produced on its end by the pointed flames is lowered at working position 7 to insert the anchors, the stem being lowered until the hot glass drop on its end encounters a stop and forms a bead which overflows and embeds the inner ends of the thin anchor wires 9 fed @ially from supply rollers, as in U. S. patent to Schluter 1,238,575, August 28, 1917. In the same working position the loops 11 at the ends of the anchor wires 9 are produced by a known hook bending mechanism asindicated in Fig. 11.

Inthe next working position 9 the leads 19 are bent by known mechanism, such as shown" in the above identified Ledig and Loebe patent application, into that position inwhich they must stand in the finished lamp. In

the same'working position the ends of the leads are pressed somewhat flat by the clamping jaws 37 indicated in Fig. 12 and operated from the drive shaft 48 by connections not shown. In the next working position it the fiat pressed ends of the lead are likewise bentover into hooks 18 as indicated in Fig. 13, by hook benders actuated from the drive shaft. In the next working position i there is a filament mounting device constructed in accordance with the invention and as above described. In the followingvworking position is there is a loop closing device, shown in Fig. 14, which comprises aifixed abutment or anvil 38- curved to correspond to the curve of the mounted filament and a vertically niovable similarly curved press block 39. When the stem with the filament mounted on it reaches this working position and is lowered into the hook closing device the loops 11 of the stem are'somewhat compressed by the.

downward movement of the press block 39, causing a contraction of the loop and a greater closure of the loops, because by the pres-v moved outwardly as the loops are compressed.

In working position Z the filaments of the stems are dipped into a suspension of a getter, such as a phosphorus mixture, to decrease the blackening of the lamp. Worln'ng position m is the discharge position at which the finished mount is taken out.

Since the various parts of the machine may be actuated in the desired sequence in many different ways, the driving mechanism is indicated diagrammatically and not in detail,

but in general the drive shaft 48 moves the spider step by step thru an intermittent gear r 49, and the other mechanisms by well known connections. For example, the cover 14 of the filament guide is raised and lowered, and swung into and out of registry with the block 3 by a cam 50 on the drive shaft which raises and lowers, through a push rod 51, the shaft 12 of the cover, which slides in a guide 52 on the pedestal 42. The shaft has a projecting pin 53 which moves ina guide slot 54 so shaped that during the first part of its upward movement the rod rises without turning, thereby lifting the cover 14 straight up, and during the; latter part of its upward movement the rod is turned on its axis, so as to swing the cover to one side. On the downward movement of the rod the cover first swings into place directly over and in registry with the block 3, and then drops straight down.

A similar mechanism controlled by cam 55 on the drive shaft actuates the press block 39 of the loop closing device through av push rod 56 and a guide 57 for the press blbck thrustbetween thejaws 20' by a cam on the drive shaft 48. 0

The cover 6 of the filament gulde may to advantage be lifted automatlcally by a push rod 60 actuated from the drive shaft 48 to raise the cover and permit the filament to roll down the sloping bottom 4 into the feed conduit 5, and then lower it to confine the filament in the feed conduit so that endwise pressure on the filament will not buckle or' bend the filament, but will push it out of the feed conduit.

The valve 29 of the filament feeder maybe actuated from the drive shaft 48 by a cham drive 61, or any similar mechanism WhlCll will cause the valve to produce a number of puffs of air for moving the filament along the feed conduit.

The invention may be embodied 1n many other forms, and varlous forms of mechamsm and devices may be used to perform the operations necessary for mountmg a filament 1n accordance-with the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In a device for mounting a coiled filament b threading it thru loops on the outer ends 0 radial anchors on a stem, the combination of a guide having a curved conduit for the filament and radial slots across said conduit to permit the loops on the outer ends of the anchors to be placed across said conduit, a filament feeder having a straight feed roove with its outlet end in registry with the inlet end of said curved conduit, and means for sliding the filament endwise along the feed groove and said conduit to thread it thru the anchor loops across said conduit.

, as shown in v be thrust into the lead slots 17 to close 2. In a device for mounting a coiled filament b threading it thru loops on the outer ends of radial anchors on a stem, the combiination of a guide having a curved conduit for the filament and radial slots across said conduit to permit the loops on the outer ends of the anchors to be placed across said conduit, a filament feeder comprising a block having a channel with an inclined bottom and a straight filament groove along the lower edge of said bottom and a cover for said channel mounted tomove into and out of said block, and means for sliding the filament endwise along the feed groove and saidconduit to thread it thru the anchor loops across said conduit.

3. In a device for mounting a coiled filament by threading it thru loops on the outer ends of radial anchors on a stem, the combination of a filament guide comprising a block having a flat surface and a curved guide groove in said surface forming a conduit, a curved cover for said groove mounted to move along the axis of curvature of said groove and also transversely of said axis to uncover and cover said groove, both said block and said cover having radial slots which extend across said groove and permit the loops on the outer. ends of the anchors to be placed across said groove, and means for sliding the filament endwise along said conduit to thread it thru the anchor loops across said conduit.

4. In a device for mounting a coiled filament by threading it thru loops on the outer ends of radial anchors on a stem, the combination of a filament guide comprising a block having a fiat surface and curved guide groove in said surface, forming a condult, a curved cover for sald groove mounted to'move along the axis of curvature of said groove and also transversely of said axis to uncover and cover said groove, both said block and said cover having radial'slots which extend across said groove and permit the loops on the outer ends of the anchors to be placed across said groove, said slots in said block'having their bottoms sunk below the bottom of said guide groove sufficiently to hold an anchor loop in said slot coaxial with said guide groove, and means for sliding the filament endwise along said conduit to thread it thru the anchor loops across said conduit.

5. In a device for mounting a coiled filament by threading it thru loops on the outer ends of radial anchors on a stem, the combination of a guide having a curved conduit for the filament and radial slots across said conduit to permit theloops on the outer ends of the anchors to be placed across said conduit, the opening in the wall of each slot into said conduit being flared into the shape of a funnel which faces the advancing end of a filament passing along said guide conduit and guides it into the portion of the conduit beyond each slot, and means for applying air pressure to the filament to slide it endwise along said conduit and thereby thread it thru the anchor loops across said conduit.

6. In a device for mounting a coiled filament on a stem having two leads and radial anchors with loops on their outer ends by threading said filament through'said loops, the combination with a filament guide having a curved guide conduit with a radial I lead slot adjacent each end of said guide conduit to receive the ends of said leads and radial anchor slots intermediate said lead slots and extending across said guide conduit to permit said loops on the outer ends of the radial anchors to be placed across and in registry with said guide groove, means for sliding said filament endwise along said conduit to thread it through said anchor loops and place-its ends adjoining said leads, and clamping jaws movable into said lead slots radially of said curved conduit to clamp-the filament ends to said leads. i

7. In a device for mounting a coiled filament by threading it thru loops on the outer ends of radial anchorson a stem, the combination of a guide havin a curved conduit for the filament, an air c annel parallel to said conduit, radial slots across said conduit to permit the loops on the outer ends of the anchors to be placed across said conduit, ports leading from said air channel and discharging across said slots into said conduit, a fllament feeder comprising a block having a straight filament feed conduit with its outlet in register with the inlet of said guide conduit, an air channel parallel to said feed conduit and provided with ports leading to said feed conduit and inclined to discharge along said feed conduit toward its outlet, and means for intermittently producing a difference in pressure between said air channels and said conduits to cause a flow of air from said channels thru said ports into said conduits to drive the filament in said conduits endwise along the conduits and thereby thread it thru the anchor loops across said guide conduit.

8. In a device of the character described, the combination of a rotatable carrier having a stem holder, driving means for moving said carrier intermittently to place said stem holder in a series of working positions in succession, filament mounting means adjacent one of said positions for threading a filament thru loops on the ends of anchors on a stem in said stem holder, an anchor clamp at the next working position comprising a curved anvil for supporting the anchor loops and a curved press block movable toward and along the axis of said anvil to clamp said anchors between said anvil and said press block and thereby close the anchor loops, and means controlled by-said driving means to actuate said filament mounting means and said anchor clamp while said stem holder is stationary in said working positions.

9. In a device for mounting a coiled filament by threading it thru loops on the outer ends of anchors on a stem, the combination of threading means comprising a filament guide for causing a coiled filamentto follow a predetermined path and means for pushing a filament endwise along said path, stem positioning means for placing a stem with its anchor loops coaxial with said path, and common actuating means for said stem positioning means and said filament threading means.

"10. In a device for mounting a coiled filament 1) Y threading it thru loops on the outer ends 0 anchors on a stem, the combination of a stem holder for a stem having looped anchors, a threader for moving a coiled filament endwise along a predetermined path, and actuating means for positioning said stem holder to place a stem with its anchor loops in registry with said path and then actuating said threader while said stem holder is so positioned.

In witness whereof, I' have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of April, 1928.

J AKOB REGENSTREIF.

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