US2019519A - Method of and machine for altering a steel rope - Google Patents

Description

H. A. WGOD Nov. 5, 1935.

METHOD OF AND MACHINE FOR ALTERING A STEEL ROPE Filed Aug. 23, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 E N INVENToR. HEMPY. W'oo ATT RNEYS.

Nov. 5, 1935. H. A. WOOD 2,019,519

METHOD OF AND MACHINE FOR ALTERING A STEEL ROPE Filed Aug. 23, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 A'TTOR' i EYS.

Nov. 5, 1935. H. A. woon 2,019,519

} METHOD OF' AND MACHINE FOR ALTERING A STEEL ROPE Filed Aug. 23, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

ATT RNEYS.

Patented Nev. .5, 1935 "PTENT oFFlcr;

l Y 2,019,519 METHOD oF AND momma Fon surname A STEEL ROPE Henry Allyn Wood, Berkeley'. Calif.

Application August 23, 1933, Serial No. 68.6,4'13 10 Claims. (Cl. 117-1) The present invention relates to a method of and machine for altering a steel rope, and its principal object is to provide a method of and means for spreading a previously manufactured steel rope into its constituent parts, eiecting a desired change in the parts while thus spread and again twisting the parts into a-rope in a continuous operation. i

In a steel rope. manufacturing plant a problem frequently arises in connection with the altering of steel rope already manufactured. Steel rope consists of a core and a plurality of `strands twisted about the core, each strand in turn again consisting of a plurality of single wires twisted' into a strand.

It frequently happens that it becomes desirable to alter the constituent parts of a steel `rope already manufactured. A steel rope may have been made with a hemp core for instance, and the trade at that time may call for a steel rope having a steel core, which makes it necessary to either store the manufactured rope for a certain length of time until a steel rope with a hemp core is again called for by the market, or to change the rope from ahemp core to a steel core, a procedure which up to now was considered practically impossible to carry out.

It may also become necessary to exchange one of the strands of a steel rope already manufactured for a new strand or to change the number of strands, substituting for instance eight strands for a six strands, or vice versa.

It has also recently been proposed and a simple It is the object Vof the present invention tov provide a simple means for solving all of these problems by means of a simplechange in the standard steel rope making machinewhich alp lows a rope already manufactured to be untwisted into its constituent parts, the desired change to be effected and the new set of constituent parts to be retwisted into a rope in a continuous operation.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the specification proceeds.

The preferred forms of my invention are illustrated ln the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l shows a top plan view of a machine for preformlng the strands of a rope already manufactured;

Figure 2 a side elevation of the machine;

Figure 3 a diagrammatic top plan view of a part l of the machine arranged for changing the core of a rope Figure 4 a diagrammatic plan view ot the maichine arranged for splicing two ropesgtogether;

Figure 5 a diagrammatic plan View of the machine arranged for adding additional strands to a rope and for changing the core;

Figure 6 a detail view in axial section of a rope feeding die; and Y Figure 'l a detail view in plan of a mechanism l5 for transmitting motion `at variable speeds from onebobbin to another bobbin mounted coaxlally therewith.

-While I have shown only the preferred forms of my`invention I wish to have it understood that 20 various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the claims hereto attached without departing from the spirit of the invention. l

noted that while the length of a standard wire twisting machine usually extends overseveral hundred feet, and comprises a large number of sections, depending upon the number ofV strands to be twisted into a rope, a large central section 'has been omitted from each of the drawings as being unnecessary for an understanding of the invention and for the purpose of allowing the entire machine to be shown in single' views.

Referring first to theform illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, a standard cage I comprising a plu-l rality of rings 2 arranged in spaced and parallel relation and interconnected by an annular series of rods 3, preferably three in number, is revolvably supported on rollers 4, one set of spaced rollers 40 being provided for each yring and supporting the `same at points evenly spaced from the vertical center line of each ring. The rollers on one side of the cage may be unconnected but the rollers on the opposite side are interconnected by 5 means of a shaft 5 extending throughout the length of theA cage and projecting to the right thereof as shown in Figure 1. This shaft is driven by means of a belt connection 6 from the motor 1. It will be noted that while this cage may consist of a large number of sections only the two end sections are shown in the drawings, and 'all the central sections are omitted. The end ring z on the right hand side 1s provided with a central hub 8, see Figures 1 and 6, having a sleeved fixed 55 In connection with the, drawings it should be 25 to the inside thereof, and the sleeve is formed with a pinion I0 meshing with either one of two bevel gears and I2 mounted on a transverse shaft I3 supported in bearings I4, and this shaft is provided at one of its ends with a gear wheel |5 meshing'A with a lower gear wheel I6, which latter has a pinion |1 mounted coaxially therewith. This pinion I1 meshes with a large wheel I8 mounted on a transverse shaft |9 which has mounted thereon, on the opposite side of the machine, a large pulley 26.

The rope 2| which may be mounted on a spool not shown in the drawing is fed into the rear end 'of the machine (right hand side of the drawing) through a hollow shaft 22, passing axially through the sleeve 9 and suitably supported by a fixed standard 23, and the hollow shaft terminates inwardly in a standard die 24 including two senilcylindrical elements 25 held together by means of two screws 26 (see Figure 6). 'Ihe screws are threaded into opposite walls of a casing 21, the front end of which is closed by a plate 28 having an aperture registering with the aperture of the die, and tapering away therefrom as shown at 29.

The rods 3 of the cage are provided with peripherally spaced rollers 30 over which the strands 3| of the rope emanating from the die may be guided to run parallel to the rods throughout the 1 length of the cage, thev rings of which are formed in a conventional manner with suitable guide holes while at the opposite end of the cage a corresponding number of guide rolls 32 are provided. The end ring 2 of the cage on the left hand side is provided with a conventional twister head 33 including the preeforming head 34, which latter is not my invention and which simply comprises three rollers 35 for each strand arranged in close relation so that the strand passes between the rst and second roller and back again between the second and third roller whereby a twist is imparted to the strand correspond# ing to the twist subsequently applied by the Vtwisting operation. From the pre-forming head the individual strands pass through the conventional closing die 36, and while passing they are twisted into a rope, and this new rope.2 I passes over the Wheel 31 and back again alongside of the machine over the pulley 29 around which it is wound several times, and finally fed on the drum 38.

It should be noted that most of the parts of this machine are of standard construction, particularly as far as they refer to the twisting of a plurality of strands .into a rope, and that the principal novelty of my invention consists in adding to the standard twisting machine means for untwisting a rope previously] formed and for feeding the rope through the'machine so as to allow certain changes to be brought about while the strands of the rope are separated from one another.

v I show in connection with Figures 1 and 2 a standard cradle 39 for each of the sections of the cage but where the sole object of the operation is to preform the strands of a rope previously made, the cradles need not be provided since the entireoperation consists in pulling the rope through the device by means of the pulley 20,

` untwisting the strands at the die 24, passing theuntwisted strands individually through the preforming head 34, and retwisting the same at the closing die 36. In case .it should happen that .there is a slight variance in the tension of the individual strands the rollers 38 may be adjusted lengthwise of the rods 6 to take up any slack occasioned by the unequal tension. During the -entire operation the core may be drawn through the device through central openings in the rings 2.

Where it is desired to exchange the old core for a new one, either for a core of the same character or of a different character, the device illustrated in Figure 3 may be used, it being understood, of course, that this device may be used in the combination shown in Figure 1, ifit is desiredto both substitute a new core and to preform the strands. In the schematic view of Figure `3 the rope 2| passes through the die 24 and is untwisted by the revolving case I into the strands 3| which are guided over the rollers 30. The core 3| may be guided through the device centrally or partly along the rim by means of rollers 49 to be finally fed through a central sleeve 4| into the end section of the cage where it is removed, and a new core substituted therefor by the mechanism shown in Figure 3 and with greater detail in Figure 7. In this section one of the. conventional-.cradles 39 is provided, the cradle being supportediny front: and rear bearings 44, and being underslung to:

remain in stationary position by gravity when thecage revolves. versely in the cage and is provided with two bobbins 46 and 41, the former being intendedito take up the old core, while the latter provides the new core. The bobbin 4 1 is revolved by the pull exercised on the new core by thepulley 20 and re- -volving motion is imparted from the bobbin .41.to' the bobbin' 46 at a variable speed since 'the speed-` ratio between the twobobbins will changegcon- A shaft issupportedtranstinuously during the operation. vAny suitabley method for accomplishing this transmission may be used. A's illustrated in Figure, 7 I provide a jack shaft 48 running parallel to the shaft `45.` Both of the bobbins are loose on the shaft 45 and the latter shaft -has a wheel 49 fixed thereto, mo

tion being transmitted from the bobbin; 41 to y clutch 52 `encircling the wheel 49.- Motion is` the Wheel 49 through a pin 50 projecting from the bobbin, and a 'stud 5| projectingfrom a friction transmitted from the shaft45 to the shaft 48 `at increased speed through the chain 5,3 and from the shaft 48 to the bobbin` 46 througha chain 54 and a clutch 'arrangement shown; at 55. y friction between the wheel 49 vand the friction clutch 52 is suiiicient to effect rotation of the bobbin 46 for holding the core taut.` The core is preferably fed on the bobbin 46 through -a reciprocating guide 56 well known inthe art and not illustrated in detail. While the old core is The.

thus fed upon the bobbin 46, a new core is fedv from the bobbin 41 into the closing diev 36 in ceni posev of vsplicing two ropes together, and for Winding the combined ropes upon a single spool. In this form the two ropes indicated at 2| and 2| have their ends introduced into the cage from opposite ends thereof through the dies 36 and 24 respectively. Both of the ropes are untwisted by means of the revolving cage as illustrated in the drawings and the separate strands of the two ropes are brought together and spliced in a manner well known in the art with a number of wires of one 2,019,619 strand accommodated in registering grooves of an tion any other desired operation may be performed on the same, such as the pre-forming 'of the strands or the substitution of a new core, or the substitution of a new strand for an old one, or even the addition of new strands if such should be desired. l

The device illustrated in Figure provides in addition to the core-changing means heretofore described, means for adding additional strands to the rope. 'Ihis means consists simply in provide ing two additional cradles 39, each serving as supporting means for a bobbn 60, from which additional strands 6| are fed over suitable rollers 62 to join the other strands at the closing die 36, and to be twisted int'o a rope with the same. In this gure, which as a whole is a diagrammatic plan view of the machine,the feeding spool 63 is shown diagrammatically in side elevation to bring out the idea that the supportingelements 64 for the spool are revolvably mounted as shown at 65, so that the spool may be slowly revolved transversely by means o! a handle 66 as" the rope is withdrawn therefrom.'

I claim:

1. In a machine of the character described,

two spaced dies for guiding a rope, means for L pulling the rope through the dies'and means interposed between the dies for untwisting and retwisting the rope, the said means having means associated therewith for substituting new parts for certain constituent parts of the rope.

2. In a machine oi the character described, two spaced dies for guiding a rope, means for pulling a lrope through the dies and means interposed between the dies for untwisting and re-twistingl the rope, the said means having means associated therewith for pre-forming the constituent parts of the rope.

3. In a machine of the character, described, two spaced dies for guiding a rope, means for pulling a rope through the dies andmeans interposed between the dies for untwisting and retwisting the rope, the said means having means associated therewith for substituting a new part for one of the constituent parts of the rope.

4. In a machine of the character described,.two spaced dies for guiding a rope, means for pulling a rope through the dies and means interposed I between the dies for untwisting and re-twisting the rope, the said means having means associated therewith ior removing one of the constituent parts from the rope.

5. In a machine of the character described, two fi' `it is freed from the rope,

spaced dies for guiding a rope, means for pulling a rope through the dies and means -interposed between the dies for untwisting and r'e-twisting the rope, the said means having means associated therewith i'or adding constituent parts to` the 5 rpe.

6. The method oi' untwisting a rope into its; constituent parts, of substituting new parts for Y certain constituent parts and of re-twisting the new and old parts into a rope in synchronized order. i

7. A machine tor untwisting and twisting a rope comprising an elongated cage revolvable about its longitudinal axis, a rope entranceat one end oi' the cage and a rope exit at the other 15 end, and means carried by the cage for untwisting the rope into its constituent parts and for again twisting the rope back into its original form, and means for removing apart of the rope and for substituting a new rope part for the one being removed, said means feeding out thenew part as needed, and winding up the old part as it is freed from the incoming rope.

8. A machine for untwisting and twisting a rope comprising an elongated cage revolvable about its longitudinal axis, a rope entrance at one end and a rope exit at the other end, guides for supporting rope parts after these parts have been untwisted from the rope, said guides extending parallel with and being spaced from the y cage axis, whereby access can be had to each separate portion of the rope as it passes through the cage,` the same rotation of the cage which untwists the rope at the entrance end being used for twisting the rope parts back into the original rope.

9. A machine for substituting a new core for one in the rope and comprising an elongated cage revolvable about its axis, said cage having a, rope entrance at one end and a rope exit at the other end, means carried by the cage for untwisting the strands from the core at the entrance end, means for winding the old core on a spol as it is freed from the rope, means for feeding a new core to the exit end of the machine, the rope untwist- 5 ing means winding the strands around the new ycore at the exit end for providing the rope with l ing the strands at the entrance end, means for' winding the strand tobe discarded on a spool as Q means for lfeedinga new strand to the exit end of the cage, the rope untwisting means winding the new strand with the other parts o! therope at the exit end for. providing the rope with a new strand.

HENRY ALLYN WOOD.

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