US2662703A - Automatic winch rope winder - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 15, 1953 Filed Dec. 8, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR HOWHRD D. BROWN ATTORNEY Dec. 15, 1953 H. D. BROWN ,7

AUTOMATIC WINCH ROPE WINDER Filed Dec. 8, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNVENTOR HOWHRD D. BROWN ATTORNE Patented Dec. 15, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE 2,662,703 AUTOMATIC WINCHROPE WlNDER Howard D. Brown, Westfield, N. J.

Application December 8, 1949, Serial-No. 131,717

3 Claims. (Cl. 242.158)

This invention relates to winches commonly employed on trucks and other apparatus for winding rope, wire rope, cable and the like. More particularly, my invention deals with an automatically actuated mechanism for guiding a rope or other strand during the winding operation so as to position the several windings in close proximity to each other on the spool or drum of the winch. Further, my invention deals with an attachment which can be applied to standard winch apparatus, adjustable means being provided for positioning the attachment and for tensioning the drive chain or chains actuating a rope or strand guiding carriage.

The novel features of the invention will be best understood from the following description, when taken together with the accompanying drawing, in which certain embodiments of the invention are disclosed and, in which, the separate parts are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views and, in which:

Fig. l is a plan viewdiagrammatically outlining a winch and showing my improved attachment applied thereto, with part of the construction shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the attachment with part of the construction broken away.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a partial section on the line 5-5 of Fig. l on an enlarged scale illustrating the method of applying a drive sprocket to the drum of the winch.

Fig. 6 is a sectional detail view on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an end view looking in the direction of the lefthand end of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a special chain link construction.

In illustrating one adaptation and use of my invention, I have diagrammatically shown, in Figs. 1 and 7 of the drawing, part of the winch, as commonly employed on motor vehicles where rope, wire rope, cable or the likeis utilized. to power draw lines or in utilizing the same for truck loading purposes and other uses for which winches are employed on such vehicles.

In Fig. 1, l0 representsthe winch drum, the shaft II of the drum being supported in suitable bearings I2 and I3 at end portions of the shaft.

Considering Fig. '7 of the drawing, it will appear The automatic winder attachment is generally identified by the reference character I! and this attachment comprises frames is and 19 at the ends thereof suitably supported on the frames I l and I6 and, in the frames 18 and [9 are disposed two vertically alined and spaced guide rods 2!). For purposesof simplification of the present description, the cable, rope, wire rope or the like M will be defined as; the strand and, at 22, is shown a carriage movable longitudinally of the rods 26 and operatingasa-guide for guiding the strand 2| to dispose the windings on the drum ID in close proximity to each other in the manner illustrated in Fig. l. r

In order to actuate the winding attachment directlyfrom the drum Ill of the winch, a sectional drive sprocket 23 is attached to one end of the drum or a clutch housing portion 24 at said end. Part of the clutch is seen at 25 in Fig. 5 of the drawing. 'Inthis figure, I have indicated the method of attaching the drive sprocket 23, which consists in using a split centering plate 26 of the general form illustrated in Fig. 6 of the drawing. The plate is split horizontally, as seen at 21, whereas the sectional drive sprocket 23 is split vertically, as seen at 28, part of the sprocket being shown in Fig. 6. In order to simplify the relative positioning of the two parts, namely the centering plate and the sprocket, the centering plate is made of a modified octagon form having four short edges and four long edges, two of the short edges having closely arranged pairs of holes, as at 29, and the other short edge portions have widely spaced holes as at 30. By means of this construction, screws arranged in the holes 29 and v3|! will engage correspondingly spaced threaded-holes in the drive sprocket 23 in order to make an assemblage of the sprocket and centering plate on .a preassembled winch mechanism. The centering plate, when assembled with the sprocket 23, has an axial hole 3| which fits snugly upon the sleeve portion 25' of the clutch 25 and, after the assemblage, the gear 23 is held firmly upon 'the face of the housing 24 and is then welded thereto at", note Fig. 5, after which,

the centering plate 28 is removed. In Fig. 1 of the drawi the drive sprocket 23 alone is shown.

Considering Fig. 7 of the drawing, it will appear that the frame I8 includes bearing portions 33 for the guide rods'20 and also a table or platform 34 for the support or a gear reduction mechanism 35, on the shaft 3i 0! which is a sprocket 31. An'adjustable idler sprocket is also disposed on the frame 18 and over these sprockets and the drive sprocket 23 is arranged a drive 3 chain 39, as diagrammatically seen in Fig. 7 of the drawing.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing, part of the reduction mechanism 35 is indicated and this mechanism actuates a sprocket 40, over which is passed a drive chain 4| which also passes around a supplemental drive sprocket 42 constituting the drive sprocket of the attachment II. On the shaft supporting and actuating thesprocket 40 is a bracket arm 43 adjustable through a medium of a rod 43. The arm 43 supports an idler sprocket 44 for tensioning the chain 42 and also to compensate for adjustments of a bracket arm 45 adjustably clamped on to the rods 20, as indicated at 46. At this time, it will be apparent that adjustment of the bracket arm 45 issuch as to provide full movement of the carriage 22 to the left in the operation of the winder. On the shaft of the supplementa1 drive sprocket 42 are arranged a series of three small diameter sprockets 41, over which pass a series of three drive chains, indicated at 48. The chains 48 also pass over another series of three small sprockets 49 having a shaft 50 mounted in a curved arm The arm 5| has a pair of bearings 52 through which the rods 20 pass. The rods extend to and are fixed in bearings 53 in the frame l9. Also supported in the frame I9 is an adjustment screw 54 engaging a threaded socket 55 in the arm 5 I, particularly in tensioningthe chains 48 after the parts have been adjusted to the desired positions on the rod and, particularly, after fixing the position of the arm 45. The screw 54, similar to the screw 54, can also be included on the frame I8, particularly when it might be desirable to adjust the arm 45 rather than the arm 5|. It will be apparent that, after alladjustments are made, the arms are clamped into position on the rods 20 by the split head construction employed as is common in other devices of this kind.

At this time, it might bewell to point out that with different installations, it may be essential to employ different frames l8 and I9 to adapt the same to different attachments and, in some instances, a different length of chain 4| may be necessary, as well as different lengths in the rods 20 and, again, the length of the chains 48 may vary.

As far as the drive is concerned, the gear reduction taken in, consideration with the size of sprockets 40-42 employed will provide a timing for actuation of the chains 48 to be consistent with the rotation of the drum to provide proper guide of the strand inthe winding thereof on the drum.

The carriage 22 has a slide comprising two bearing portions 56 for slidable mounting on the rods 20. Attached to the slide is a' forwardly directed pin 51 which passes through a special link 58 constituting part of all of the chains 48 in providing a definite drive of the, carriage 22 back and forth on the rods. The pin 51 operates in an elongated slot59 in the carriage, as best seen in Fig. 2 of the drawing, so that the pin travels upwardly and downwardly in this slot, as the pin 51 travels around the sprockets 41 and 49. In Fig. 2 of the drawing, the pin 51 is shown on the upper part of the chain, the feed being from right to left and, after passing around the sprockets 47, thecarriage 22 will be reversed and moved from left to right and this operation continues until the complete winding of the strand 2| on the drum lflhas been performed.

Fixed in suitable sleeve rmrtion 60 ofthe car- 'i e 22 is a curved strand guide frame 6 GO prising a pair of curved rods 82 and the rods being joined at their free ends by a coupling plate 63. Mounted on the rods 52 is a slide frame 64 having adjustably supported on the front thereof a guard plate 55, slotted, as seen at 66, to receive the strand 2|. Rearwardly of, but adjacent, the plates 65, the frame supports a pair of rollers 61, which are disposed closer to each other than the width of the slots 66 so as to provide an anti-frictional guide of the strand in its passage onto the drum. The frame 64 also supports upper and lower anti-frictional rollers 58 which are horizontally disposed and would serve to move the slide frame 64 on the rods 62 by the engagement of the strand therewith. In other words, as the diameter of the windings increase on the drum, the slide frame 64 will move upwardly. Furthermore, this construction facilitates entrance of the strand at different angles in a winding operation.

The guard plate 55 acts as a stripper, preventing the hand of the operator from coming in contact with the rollers 51, should the hand of an operator at any time be in close proximity to these rollers, particularly in initially manually guiding a loose strand to the winder. Normally, however, the carriage 22 automatically cares for guidance of the strand, particularly when the strand is utilized in performing a definite function and is being wound under a pulling load.

By actuating the carriage 22 in back and forth straight line movement over guide rods in the manner disclosed and in utilizing small diame-' ter sprockets in the back and forth reverse driv-' ing of the carriage, a quick reversing is maintained at end portions of the drum, so as to produce a substantially even lay of the strands side by side throughout the full length of the drum. Furthermore, these small diameter sprockets provide a substantially constant feed around the sprockets in contrast to the vastly different speeds which would result in utilizing large diameter sprockets.

Bearing the foregoing in mind, it is preferred that the sprockets 41 and 49 be formed as a single unit with the pin or shaft thereof. One of these units is illustrated clearly in Fig. 4. This. construction is preferred rather than using independent sprockets arranged upon a small diameter pin or shaft.

By reason of the simplicity of the winding attachment I1, the same can be quickly and easily installed in connection with winches of different types and kinds and by employing the method of attaching the drive sprocket 23 set forth, the attachment can be made without disassembling the winches. Different installations of this type and kind can be made at a nominal cost, not only from the standpoint of material, but also from the stanpoint of labor cost in attachment and adjustment.

It will be apparent that in winding strands of different diameters and on spools or drums of different sizes. the ratio of drive in the takeoff from the spool or drum to the reduction mechanism I2 can be varied by changing the relative size of sprockets 40, 42.

Considered in a more general sense, my improved actuating mechanism may be said to comprise means for converting a rotary drive motion to a straight line reciprocating feeder 'motion, in which a member, such for example, as

a strand is fed back and forth in a predetermined path and is also capable of movement angularly with respect to said back and forth movement.

Having fully described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A strand guide attachment for Winding apparatus, said attachment comprising a pair of vertically spaced guide rods, a carriage slidably engaging said rods, outwardly extending curved arms adjustably supported at end portions of the rods, free ends of said arms being disposed centrally with respect to said rods, groups of small diameter sprockets having horizontal shafts mounted in the free ends of said arms for maintaining said sprockets in predetermined spaced relationship to each other, endless chains operatively engaging said spaced sprockets, a pin slidably supported on the carriage, said pin having a special link engaging and constituting a link part of all of the chains for moving the carriage back and forth on said rods in the drive of said chains, and means including a reduction drive mechanism for driving one group of sprockets in actuation of the chains and said carriage.

2. A strand guide attachment for Winding apparatus including a strand receiver, said attachment comprising a pair of vertically spaced guide rods, a carriage slidably engaging said rods, outwardly extending curved arms adjustably sup ported at end portions of the rods, free ends of said arms being disposed centrally with respect to said rods, groups of small diameter sprockets having horizontal shafts mounted in the free ends of said arms for maintaining said sprockets in predetermined spaced relationship to each other, endless chains operatively engaging said spaced sprockets, a pin slidably supported on the carriage, said pin having a special link engaging and constituting a link part of all of the chains for moving the carriage back and forth on said rods in the drive of said chains, means including a reduction drive mechanism for driving one group of sprockets in actuation of the chains and said carriage, a curved guide frame J 3. A strand guide attachment for Winding apparatus including a strand receiver, said attachment comprising a pair of vertically spaced guide rods, a carriage slidably engaging said rods, outwardly extending curved arms adjustably supported at end portions of the rods, free ends of said arms being disposed centrally With respect to said rods, groups of small diameter sprockets having horizontal shafts mounted in the free ends of said arms for maintaining said sprocket in predetermined spaced relationship to each other, endless chains operatively engaging said spaced sprockets a pin slidably supported on the carriage, said pin having a special link engaging and constituting a link part of all of the chains for moving the carriage back and forth on said rods in the drive of said chains, means including a reduction drive mechanism for driving one group of sprockets in actuation of the chains and :-;aid carriage, a curved guide frame on said carriage, said frame extending concentrically over and spaced from said receiver, a slide movably supported on said frame for guiding a strand passed through said slide substantially concentric with respect to said receiver, said slide including anti-frictional devices engaged by the strand, and each group of sprockets comprising a shaft portion and a plurality of integral sprocket elements.

HOWARD D. BROWN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 847,178 Hadland Mar. 12, 1907 1,186,909 I-Iuttelmaier June 13, 1916 1,935,585 Tornblom Nov. 14, 1933 1,941,250 Dale Dec. 26, 1933 2,059,765 Adams Nov. 3, 1936 2,340,436 Stone et a1. Feb. 1, 1944 2,382,740 Nofisinger Aug. 14, 1945 2,465,570 Bocchino Mar. 29, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 12,071 Great Britain May 19, 1911 280,379 Germany Nov. 12, 1914

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