US2265369A - Method and apparatus for making coiled wire material in rope form - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 9, 1941.

D. E. HENNESSY METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING COI ELED WIRE MATERIAL IN. ROPE FORM Filed Dec. 5, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet l 4,4 4 v 2&4

ATTORNEYS Dec; 9, 1941. HENNESSY 2,265,369

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING COILED WIRE MATERIAL IN ROPE FORM Filed Dec. 5, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l N V E NTO R Q9/1042 ZJhwzssy ATTORNEYS Dec. 9, 1941. D. E. HENNESSY METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING COILED WIRE MATERIAL IN ROPE FORM 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 5, 1939 Patented Dec. 9, 1941 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING COILED WIRE MATERIAL IN ROPE FORM Daniel E. Hennessy, Leominster, Mass., assignor to Springfield Wire & Tinsel 00., West Springfield, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application December 5, 1939, Serial No. 307,612

18 Claims.

In the making of air filters, sound absorbing devices, etc., it is desirable to have the pervious wire product supplied in a self-supporting rope form which will not tangle with itself when wound up. In prior methods of making somewhat similar products it has been suggested that coiled metal strands be twisted together or, laid side by side to form a rope, but insufficient bonding between the various strands is thus created and these strands may come loose from the surface of the rope with a consequent liability of tangling if the rope is packed in a container for shipment to the filter manufacturer.

It is one object of the present invention to produce a method and an apparatus in which coiled wire may be formed into a self-supporting continuous rope which will be substantially nontangling, without the necessity of using an external binding wire. A further object is to produce a method and an apparatus of suflicient flexibility to permit the size and texture of the rope to be varied in order to suit special conditions. A further object is to provideimproved mechanism for producing a hollow continuous tube of filtering material. A further object is to produce an improved method and apparatus by which the rope product may be formed and packed in a suitable container as a continuous operation. Additional objects will appear from the following description and claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one form of apparatus by which the present invention may be carried out;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail of a modified form of winding mandrel;

Fig. 5 is a detail of the coiled product both in its normal form and in the condition in which it is wound on the mandrel;

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the manner of winding the rope product;

Fig. 7 is a detail section on line l--'! of Fig. 1' taken on an enlarged scale; 7

Fig. 8 is an end view of the product obtained from the winding mandrel shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 9 is an end view of the product obtained from the mandrel shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 10 is a section on line lfl-Jfl of Fig. 4;

Fig. 11 is a detail, similar to Fig. 4, showing a further modification of the winding apparatus for use when a hollow product is to be, obtained;

5 as is indicated on a greatly enlarged scale at |8 in Fig. 5, but as will be shown later the strand March 13,1863.

Fig. 12 is a section on line |2--|2 of Fig. '11 on a larger scale; and

Fig; 13 is an end view of the product made on the device'of Fig. 11.

The rope-like product is formed by making a helically coiled strand of flat wire and cross winding this wire upon a rotating mandrel under a tension sufiicient to keep the coils of the strand opened up, the wound portion of the coil being systematically advanced 'so' that the windings progress longitudinally. Due to the fact that the coils are stretched out and to-the fact that the strand is cross wound, the coils tend to interlook at the point of intersection of the strand. If the cross winding is given such a pitch that the strands extend roughly at an angle of 45 (although this may be varied greatly) a ropelike product of great stability will be produced. One specific form of apparatus will now be described in detail. I V

The initially coiled strand'may be formed in any desired way, and while it may be formed by drawing a fiatmetal wire over a curling edge.

as described in the patent to Mason 2,121,527 dated June 21, 1938, it is preferably formed by. winding on a small tapered needle or mandrel;

of either round or polygonal cross-section. In

the form shown, the tapered mandrel I0 is held' stationary in a frame H and aguide or frame. 12 is mounted to rotate rapidly around it, draw ing a flat Wire l3 from a spool l4 .which is permitted to rotate freely under a frictional drag; The frame may be rotated by a belt i5 extending from a motor H5 or other source of power. The

mechanical construction of this winding mecha-' nism is standard in the art of making tinsel or gimped material and need not be described in detail. A more complete description will be found in the Montgomery and Mason Patent 1,386,350;

August 2, 1921.

The needle 10 is tapered and has a curved heel portion I! so that the wire wound upon it is pushed off inthe form of a continuous helix; Normally the spacing of thehelix is fairly close;

is drawn away from the mandrel by a windup mechanism operating atsuch a speed as to stretch the coils of the strand as shown at l9. To prevent this windup from drawing the coil "completely off the mandrel, thereby preventing the formation of a helix, the strand may be passed around rollsZIl and 2| or the strand may be held against the mandrel by a pad or roller as indi cated in the French patent to Martin 57,945,

' 'offthe uniformpmotion type so v slowing {down and dwell at the ends of the stroke;

The windup device shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is carried on a frame 22 clamped at 23 to an upa right standard 24f A shaft 25 is rotatable in the to preserve this timed relation the shaft is 7 wound around th flat mandrel thus formed will v be in contact with the outer run-s ofxthe. belts 29 but will be out of contact with the inner runs,.

and therefore the wound product. will be caused to travel endwise at a rate dependent. upon the. speed of the belts.

At their lower ends the belts pass around guides or pulleys 3|, a mere circular groove in the ends of the members 21 being generally suf-' ficient; and at their upper ends passaround pulleys '32. Each. pulley .32. has a worm wheel 33 aflixed to it, both worm wheels. engaginga common worm 34 on the lower end of a shaft 35 telescoping the shaft 25. The belts. are additionally guided by idler pulleys 36- so thatthey willrun in direct contact with the outer grooves 'in-the'bars 21.

The shaft 25 is driven bya-chain connection .31 from an upright shaft 38 having a worm drive 40 from a countershaft 4| which may be driven from any-desired source of power at a constant" rate. The shaft 35 is driven bya chain connection 42- from the same shaft 38, the drives of the shafts 25 and 35 being slightly different so that the winding mandrel will be rotated at a constant rate andthe belts will be fed continuously at a relatively slow rate. It will be understood that if both shafts were rotated at the same speeds no feeding'would 'be accomplished, the drive ofthe belts being secured only by the differential speed. The feed-could also be obtained ,by periodically holding the shaft 35 stationary, or byrotating it intermittently," but the] constant drive described above is generally preferably as it gives'a simple way of regulating the feed. V

Intermediate the guide. roll 2| and the windup is mounted a'traverse mechanism best illustrated in 1Fig. 3. This comprises an arm 45 pivoted at '46'to a standard 41 and having at its ends one ormore guide holes 48 for the strand. If a plurality of holes are. used they are preferablyj spaced apart suiiiciently to preventthe separate strands coming in contact with. each other, as this would destroy the tightness of the interlock between the strands where they cross each other. Each guide hole is fed from a separate winding spindle, only one of which ,appearsin Fig. 1. The arm 45 is oscillatedperiodically. by a link 49 forked at 50 to embrace a shaftf5l and carrying a cam"roll' 52 engaging a cam :53 on the shaft. "This cam is preferably as. to minimize but 'a'plaincrank. motion may be substituted with generally satisfactory results... The advan of the tray? erse- 'wi th respect to the winding mandrel, so that:

V V the. flat mandrel will have its maximum; drawing,

' effect" hen; the traverse is;,at. the; ends; of :its; This efifect is obtained .WhhJ-llhdfidtf Stroke.

sides of the mandrel are at substantially right angles to the line of travel of the strand, and

driven by a chain drive 55 from a shaft 55 having worm drive and chain connections 51 and 58 with the shaft 4|. If the additional refinementv just referred to is not desired, the shaft 5| may be driven from any separate source of power or by a belt drive from shaft 4 I.

The wound strand 60 shown in Figs. 6 and '7 is stretched out as indicated at H] in Fig. 5 and the helix has a substantial pitch as indicated in 'Fig. 6.- This insures that the turns will interlock fully at their crossing points. Fig. 6 also .shows bythe arrows BI and 62 the effect of systematically shifting the wound helices longitudinally of the mandrel, although this effect has been-greatly exaggerated in the figure for clearness. It will be plain that by this means successive cross windings will overlap to form a continuous product having great stability along its length, this being adjustable-by varying the angle of'thehelix. 7

The material is, asbefore stated, wound'under tensionand when-it passes-over the end of the mandrel-it will contract as shown at'63 in Fig. 8-,"forming a compact cylindrical mass in which the wires are thoroughly interlocked-.-

In case'a flatterproduct'is desired the cylin drical rope of Fig. 8*may be passed between roll- 7 ed rods 12 connected by gearing 13 with a contral shaft 14 driven as by a pulley 15. The rods 12 form a winding support and, due to the engagement of their threads with the inside of the wound" mass, at once cause the latter to be fed' off, the endof thewinding form and, by

" the sharpness with which the wire is bent coupled with the frictional'rubbing contact of the screws; cause the edges'jof the. wound mass to lose their tendencyto return to circulari form. While the product thus obtained will contract and interlock as shown 'at 64 it does not have the same tendency to assume a cylindrical form as that prepared withth'e' use of belts.

preferable to support the ends of the rods by a spacer engaging reduced sections of the rods. This spacer is supported bya plate 86' attached to a U-shaped bracket 81 on' the head'm. The

plate 86 is preferably made wide enough'so that it will guide the wound mass and prevent it from being dragged around the threaded rods.

The rope fed off the mandrel in either case isrotatingon its axis, and'topr-event kinking it is preferably'received in a rotating. container 80, which may be the one in which the 'rope'is' to be shipped. Thiscontaineris received between guides 8| Qua-turntable 82 which may bedriven fromsha'ft 38=bya beltjdrive 83-suitably proportioned to the drive 3'!- to cause the rope to coilsmoothly within the container.

adapted to produce-a hollow tubularproduct, shown in end View; at --in Fig. 1-3. For this purposefour screws'l'l lare shown, spaced around a circl'e as shown in Fig. 12 but driven-from acommon gear 92 as in the-form of device shown. 4. To. prevent the product. being; 7

'It is creased around the screws a circular wooden or sheet metal frame 94 is secured as by struts 95 to the central plate 96. In this case interior tangling of the product is not desired, and to prevent this a roller 91 is carried by an arm 98 pivoted at 99 to any suitable place on the machine, and is pressed by a spring I against the wound product at a point below the lowermost point of reciprocation of the traverse 45.

The condensation thus resulting will satisfy the interlocking tendency of the strands.

The described method is adaptable to widely differing conditions. Besides the obvious control by changing the size of the wire the size of the helical coils can be changed by using needles of different sizes, and by varying the tension under which the wire is wound on the needle. The size of these coils exerts a marked efiect upon the texture of the ultimate product. This texture can also be varied by the tension under which the helical strand is wound and the pitch given to the helix.

The product formed in accordance with the method described will preserve its helical structure andwill not pack undesirably on continued use even though it is made of relatively soft copper strand. This is due apparently to the interlocking of the coils by crossing rather than by laying them side by side. At the same time the product will preserve its rope-like form during shipment.

I claim:

1. A method of making air filteringor sound absorbing material which comprises forming a flat wire into a helical strand, cross-winding the strand under a tension sufiicient to maintain its coils opened up, displacing at least some of the windings systematically in a longitudinal direction with .respect to preceding underlying windings, and releasing the wound product progressively to permit it to contract into continuous rope form.

2. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material which comprises forming a flat wire into a helical strand, cross-winding the strand upona form of flattened cross-section under a tension sufficient to keep its coils opened up, displacing at least some of the winding systematically in a longitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings, relative to the form, ironing the inside edges of the wound product, and releasing the wound product progressively to permit it to contract into flattened, continuous rope form.

3. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material which comprises winding a flat wire into a strand having closely spaced helical coils, winding the strand upon itself in successively reversed long pitched helices, systematically displacing at least some of the windings in a longitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings, maintaining the strand during winding under a tension sufficient to hold its normally closely spaced coils opened up, and releasing the wound product progressive- 1y to permit it to contract into continuous rope form.

4. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material which comprises forming a flat wire into a helical strand, and cross-winding the strand under a tension sufiicient to maintain its coils opened up, displacing at least some of the windings systematically in a longitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings.

5'. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material which comprises forming a flat wire into. a helical strand, cross-winding the strand under a tension sufiicient to maintain its coils opened up, displacing at least some of the windings systematically in a longitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings, condensing the wound material, and releasing the wound product progressively to permit itto contract into continuous rope form.

6. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material which comprises forming a flat wire into a helical strand, cross-winding the strand under a tension suflicient to maintain its coils opened up, displacing at least some of the windings systematically in a longitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings, condensing the wound material, and releasing the wound product progressively to permit it to contract into continuous rope form, the diameter at which the product is wound being sufliciently great to prevent the center of the wound product from closing up when released.

7. A method of making air filtering or sound absorbing material which comprises forming a fiat wire into a helical strand, cross-winding the strand under a tension sufficient to maintain its coils opened up, displacing at least some of the windings systematically in a longitudinal direction with respect to preceding underlying windings, and releasing the wound product progressively to permit it to contract into continuous rope form, the diameter at which the product is wound being sufficiently great to prevent the center of the wound product from closing up when released.

8. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material in continuous rope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of flat wire, means for cross-winding the helix under tension sufiicient to hold its coils opened up, and means to feed the wound material in a longitudinal direction during the winding operation. v

9. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material in rope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of fiat wire, a rotating winding form having one free end, means for rotating the form at such a rate as to wind the helix under a tension sufficient to hold its coils opened up, and means to feed the wound material in a longitudinal direction along and off from the winding form during the winding operation.

10. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material in rope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of flat wire, a Winding form having one free end, means for rotating the form at such a rate as to wind the helix under a tension sufficient to hold its coils opened up, a guide for the helix located between the forming means and the winding form and reciprocable longitudinally with respect to the latter, and means for feeding the wound material progressively in a. direction towards and off from the free end of the form.

11. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material in rope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of fiat wire, a rotating winding form having one free end, means for rotating the form at such a rate as to wind the helix under a tension sufficient to hold its coils opened up, a guide for the helix located between the forming means and the winding form and reciprocable longitudinally with. respect. to .the' latter, a 1 pair of .oppositely positioned; belts on the winding formeach having onerun in position to be engaged by the wound material,- and means for driving'the belts in a direction to feed the material towards and offfifrom the free end. of the form.

. 12." A machine for making air filteringor sound absorbingmaterial in rope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of flat Wire, a rotatingwinding form having one free end, means for'rotating the form at such a rateias to Wind the helix under a tension sufiicient to hold its coils. opened up, 'a guide for the helix located between the forming means and the winding form and reciprocable longitudinally with respect to the latter, a pair of oppositely positioned belts on the winding form each having one run inposition to be engaged by the wound material, and means for driving the belts in a direction to feed the material towards and off from the free .end of'theform, said last-named 'means comprising pulleys carrying the belts,

worm gears fixed to: the pulleys, a common worm engaging the gears, and means for controlling the rotation of the worm with respect to the winding frame. a I

13. A machinefo-r making airfiltering or sound absorbing material in fiat rope form which comprises means for forming a-continuous helical strand of flat wire, a, flat,rotating winding frame having a free end, means for rotating the frame at such a rate as to wind the strand under a tension. sufilcient to holdits coils opened 'up, a traverse mechanism for causing the strand to travel back and forth on the winding frame, and means for imparting a relative sliding movement to the. wound strand and'the winding frame at diametrically opposite v points to displace the wound mass systematically towardsthe free end of the :frame and to iron the inner surface of the a wound mass whereby upon contraction it will assume a flattened form.

14. A machine for making air filtering or sound absorbing material in flat rope form which vcomprisesmeans for forming a continuous helical at such a rate as to wind thestrand under a I tensionsufiicient to hold its 'coils opened up; a traverse mechanism for causing the strand to travel back and forth on the winding frame; and

r a pair of rotatable screw threaded rods carried by the winding frame and supporting the flatwound mass at diametrically opposite points to impart a relative sliding movement to the Wound helix and the. winding. .frame todisplace the wound 7 mass systematically towards the free end of the frame and to iron the inner surface of the wound mass wherebyupon' contraction .it will: assume a flattened form. 1

15. A machine for=makingfair. filtering or sound absorbing -material in rope formv which comprises means for forming a'continuous helix of flat Wire, a rotating winding form having one free. end, means for rotating the form at such a rate as to wind the helix under a tension sufficient to hold its'coils opened up,means to trae verse the material being wound to cause the turns to crosseach other at a substantial angle, means to feed the wound material in a longitudinal direction alongand off from the winding form during the winding operation, a container for receiving the product delivered-from the mandrel, and means for rotating the container.-

16.-A machine for making air filtering;v or sound .absorbingmaterial in rope form which comprises: means. for. forming a' continuous helix of-flat wire, a rotating winding form-having one free end, means for rotating the form atisuch a rate as to wind the helix under, a. tension sufli-.

cient to holdits coilsopened up, means forcondensing the wound material on the winding form, and means to feed the wound material in a longitudinal direction along and off fromthe winding form during the winding operation.

17. A machine for making air filtering sound absorbing material in rope form which comprises means for forming a continuous helix of flat wire, a rotating winding form having'one free end, means for rotating the'form'at such a rate as towind the helix under a tension suflicient to hold its coils opened up, means for condensing.

of fiat wire, a rotating winding form havingone 7 free end, means for rotating the form at such a. rate as .topwind the'helix undera tension sufiie cient to hold itscoils opened up, and means to feedathe' wound material in a longitudinal direction along. and off from" the winding formduring the winding operation, the diameter of the winding form being sufificiently great to prevent the center of the wound product from closing up when released. 1

' DANIEL E. HENNESSY.

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