US2130396A

US2130396A - Method and means for forming coil bindings

Info

Publication number: US2130396A
Application number: US54462A
Authority: US
Inventors: Madden Daniel
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1935-12-14
Filing date: 1935-12-14
Publication date: 1938-09-20
Anticipated expiration: 1955-09-20

Description

Sept. 20, 1938. D, MADDEN METHOD AND MEANS FOR FORMING COIL BINDINGS Filed Dec. 14, 1955 Wank/Madden Patented Sept. 20, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD AND MEANS FOR FORMING COIL BINDINGS 7 Claims.

My invention relates generally to an improved means for producing spirally curved metallic elements and is particularly directed to the production of spirally coiled binding elements for books.

5 A binding of this character is used with pages provided with a series of perforations along one edge. The spiral binding is threaded through said perforations and, being continuous, thus ties said pages together.

Bindings of this character are rather loosely coiled and are made of relatively soft wire and are produced by my method by being forcedendwise into a fixed die defining a spirally extending' pathway. The pathway is straight leading I to the die and the die is curved in a predetermined manner and the binding is produced without the necessity of providing moving parts ex cept for the feeding means. A machine embodying my invention preferably comprises two 20 feeding rollers arranged in a vertical stack and two guides. One guide is arranged at each side of said rollers and each defines a relatively close fitting pathway. The guiding elements defining said passageway on the intake side of said 25 rollers present a restriction to the free movement of the wire therethrough and thus maintains the wire taut. The guide extending between the outlet or discharge side of the rollers and the forming die forms a straight passage- 30 way which prevents the wire from buckling under the compression to which it is subjected by the feeding rolls forcing it into said die. The wire thus is forced into the mouth of said die when it is perfectly straight and supported lat- 35 erally most of the distance and thus capable of withstanding substantial compression vn'thout buckling.

The die element is removable from the machine frame and any one of a series of appropri- 40 ately shaped dies can be removably secured in place to give the spiral binding the proper di ameter and pitch. A trough-like passageway extends from the die towards one side of the machine and carries off the coiled wire and pre- 45 vents distortion thereof.

The details of my invention and the mode of operation of a machine embodying said invention are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

50 Fig. l is an elevation of said machine illustrating the manner in which the coiled wire leaves the forming die;

Fig. 2 is a broken section of a. vertical elevation and shows the manner in which the wire is means of securing a proper grip of said feeding rollers upon the wire;

Fig. 3 is a larger scaled horizontal section looking down upon the wire, the forming die and one of the feed rollers, said section being taken on the line 33 in Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on a slightly larger scale taken substantially on the line 44 in Fig. 1 and illustrates the manner in which two feed rollers pull the wire and maintain it taut through one of the guide elements and push itv in a straight line through the other into the mouth of the forming die;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the forming die detached from its frame, and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the two halves of one of the guiding members, shown separated, but arranged in relative alinement.

A machine embodying my invention comprises two frame sides a between which sides feed rollers b are mounted. Each of said rollers is carried between two vertically adjustable journal boxes 0, one at each end. The lower feed roller journal boxes are adjustable by a feed screw 01 made in two sections and coupled together by .a feed nut d. As is illustrated in Fig. 2 the two sections of the feed screws are threaded left and right hand, respectively, and thus the rotation of the feed nut d in one direction. will tend to draw them together and rotation in the opposite direction will tend to force them apart. This produces, relatively, lowering of the journal boxes carrying the lower feed roll and raising thereof, respectively.

The upper feed roll is likewise journaled in boxes and the boxes are carried between vertically extending guide flanges a arranged exteriorly of the side flange. The upper journal boxes are forced downwardly by coiled compression springs e which encircle the push rodsf engaging the upper journal boxes. That is, the compression springs bear at their lower ends upon the upper journal boxes, encircle the push rods and at their upper ends bear against a portion of the frame side a. The push rods are threaded at f and carry adjusting nuts 9/ upon said threaded ends. Said nuts by rotation can move the push rods upwardly and downwardly and correspondingly compress and loosen the compression to which the springs e are subject. The springs e are adjusted in this manner to vary the grip of the rollers upon the wire h.

The wire is moved longitudinally of the frame a by said rollers and into the forming die i. Said forming die preferably is removable from and adjustable upon the frame a and to this end is provided with a flattened base 2" provided with an elongated aperture i2 thru which a fastening stud 7' is secured. Extending upwardly and obliquely therefrom is the neck portion of i3 of the die which defines the helical curved path k. Preferably less than one turn of said path is defined by said portion 13 so that the first coil can be released therefrom onto the trough-like chute Z which serves as a guide extending laterally therefrom. The chute is connected to the frame by cap screws Z passing thru ears extending laterally therefrom.

Extending substantially the entire distance between the mouth of the die Z and the rollers b is a guiding member comprising two halves m and m. The upper half m of the guiding member is grooved, as at m2, to accommodate and encircle the wire it which passes therethrough. Cap screws 11. secure the two halves together and fasten them to the frame, as is shown in Fig. 3. The groove m2 defines a relatively close fitting guide about the wire and the groove is formed upon a sweep corresponding to the diameter of said wire. The forward edges of the guide members are tapered as at m3 to fit between the guide rollers b, as is shown in Fig. 4.

At the intake side of said guide rollers, guide members and o; similarly formed, lead the wire to'said feed rollers. The guide members m-m' and oo respectively are alined and preferably define a straight continuous path leading to, thru and from said rollers. The guide members o0' are secured to each other and are fastened to the frame of said machine by screws p. Said cap screws are fastened in place so that a substantial degree of tension is produced which must be overcome by the rollers drawing a wire through said members 0o. This maintains the wire taut and straight as it approaches the rollers.

The frame is bolted in place to some support by bolts q and the machine is diagrammatically shown as being driven by a pulley 1 fixed to the shaft of the lower feed roller as is shown in Fig. l. The pulley transmits power to said lower feed roller and rotates it. The upper feed roller can serve as an idler, as is shown in the drawing, or can be positively driven by some connection between said roller other than the gripping friction between the rollers and the wire as is shown.

In operation a wire is fed through the two guide members 0-0 and m-m, respectively, and between the two feed rollers b. The gripping compression between two said rollers is fixed by manipulation of the spring adjusting nuts g. The forming die 2' is adjusted to its proper position with respect to the pathway defined by the guiding members 1nm. Power is then applied to the rollers through the pulley r and the wire is pulled through the guide members 0o and pushed through the guide members m-m into the forming die. The wire is maintained taut and straight and the close fit of the guide members causes it to remain straight and unbuckled until it reaches the forming die 1'. It is then curved and formed into a spiral coil, as is shown in Fig. 3 and the spiral coil thus formed is led off by the chute l.

The longitudinal dimension of the chute is normal to the path of the wire entering the die but both lie substantially in the same horizontal plane, as is shown in the drawing.

The method I thus employ to form a wire in this manner is to push a wire through straight guides into the mouth of a forming die which is curved. The guides maintain the wire taut and prevent buckling so that the entire compression of the wire being pushed into the forming die can be utilized in forming said wire by said die. Thus, the only moving parts necessary are the feeding mechanism for giving motion to said wire.

I claim:

1. A machine for forming a wire into a helical coil comprising a forming die defining a pathway of predetermined helical curvature, a close fitting guide member directed towards said die defining a relatively straight pathway, feeding means adapted to move said wire along said latter pathway, said means spaced from said die, a cooperating guide member alined with the first mentioned guide member arranged at the intake side of said feeding means adapted to maintain the wire taut when engaged by said feeding means and a carryoff guide arranged at the discharge side of said die and located in substantially the same horizontal plane as the point of discharge of said die.

2. A machine for forming a wire into a helical coil comprising a forming die defining a pathway of predetermined helical curvature, a close fitting guide member directed towards said die defining a relatively straight pathway, feeding means adapted to move said Wire along said latter pathway, said means spaced from said die, a cooperating guide member alined with the first mentioned guide member arranged at the intake side of said feeding means adapted to maintain the wire taut when engaged by said feeding means and a trough-like carry-off guide arranged at the discharge side of said die and located in substantially the same horizontal plane as the point of discharge of said die.

3. A machine for forming a wire into a helical coil comprising a forming die defining a pathway of predetermined helical curvature, a close fitting guide member directed towards said die member defining a relatively straight pathway, a feed roller spaced from said die having a peripheral surface non-coincidental with that of said wire and a cooperating guide member alined with the first mentioned guide member arranged at the intake side of said roller said latter guide member defining a way of smaller cross section than that of said wire thereby adapted to maintain the wire taut when engaged by said roller.

4. A machine for forming a wire into a helical coil comprising a forming die defining a pathway of predetermined helical curvature, a close fitting guide member directed towards said die defining a relatively straight pathway, a pair of cooperating feed rollers spaced from said die, said rollers being spring pressed with respect to each other and said guide member spanning substantially the entire space between the feeding rollers and the forming die, a cooperating guide member alined with the first mentioned guide member arranged at the intake side of said rollers and adapted to maintain the wire taut when engaged by said rollers and a carry-off guide arranged at the'discharge side of said die and located in substantially the same horizontal plane as the point of discharge of said die.

5. The method of forming an elongated wire into predetermined helical form comprising pulling said wire thru a guideway of smaller cross section than said wire to produce tension in said wire and to straighten it, pushing said wire thru a similar close-fitting way into a curved guideway formed to follow the desired helical form, thereby to give said wire a corresponding curvature.

6. A machine for forming a wire into predetermined curved form comprising a forming die defining a pathway of predetermined curvature, a close fitting guide member directed towards said die defining a relatively straight pathway, feeding means adapted to move said wire along said latter pathway, said means spaced from said die and a cooperating guide member defining a way of lesser cross section than said wire arranged at the intake side of said feeding means, thereby adapted to maintain the wire taut when engaged by said feeding means.

7. A machine for forming a wire into a helical coil comprising a forming die defining a pathway of predetermined helical curvature, a close fitting guide member directed towards said die defining a relatively straight pathway, a pair of cooperating feed rollers spaced irom said die, one of said feed rollers having a peripheral surface noncoincidental with that of said wire, said guide member spanning substantially the entire space between the feeding rollers 'and the forming die, a cooperating guide member alined with the first mentioned guide member arranged at the intake side of said rollers, said latter guide member defining a. way of smaller section than that of said wire, thereby adapted to maintain the wire taut when engaged by said rollers.

DANIEL MADDEN.