US2905409A

US2905409A - Wire dispensing device

Info

Publication number: US2905409A
Application number: US485665A
Authority: US
Inventors: Allen C Sheldon
Original assignee: Rea Magnet Wire Co Inc
Current assignee: Rea Magnet Wire Co Inc
Priority date: 1955-02-02
Filing date: 1955-02-02
Publication date: 1959-09-22
Anticipated expiration: 1976-09-22

Description

Sept. 22, 1959 A. c. sHELDoN WIRE DISPENSING DEVICE Filed 'eb. 2, 1955 [54 hun...

INVENTOR.

ALLEN C. SHELDON 05M gu M ATTORNEYS yon the core in a minimum of time.

United States Patent y WIRE DISPENSING'DEVICE Allen C. Sheldon, YFort Wayne, Ind., assignor to Rea -llgnet Wire Company, Incorporated, Fort Wayne,

Application Februaryl, 1955, Serial No. 485,665

4 Claims. .'(Cl.242128) .'Ihe present invention .relates to a wire dispensing device, and more particularly to a device from which a .continuous length of coiled wire may be withdrawn at Aa relatively .high rategof lineal velocity.

Inthe mass production of coils used in electrical equipment, it is conventional to rotate a core at a relatively high'rate of speed to wind the required number of turns Coil forms vary in cross-section from perfectly .round to ovular, square, and the .like shapes. When winding circular coils, a con- .stant angular velocity of coil rotation will, of course,

require a :constant lineal velocity of wire being fed thereto. However, a coil of square cross-sectional shape whichisrotated at a constant angular velocity will jerk 'the wire tbeing wrapped thereon, whereupon certain problems are encountered which normally require that `the .speed of rotation of the square coil be somewhat less than that of the circular coil.

The present invention is particularly adapted to the winding of coils of any cross-sectional shape at a greater velocity than has heretofore .been possible. As a consequence, more coil units vcan be fabricated .in a given period-of time, whereby considerable savings in the cost of the finished product is achieved.

.The principal feature of the invention resides in a wireretarding base in the form of an inverted cone having dampening walls extending upwardly and outwardly to terminate short of the adjacent inner surface of the :usual conical guide through which the wire passes. The

purpose of such an inverted cone is .to dampen the .el- .liptical action which is set up in rapidly withdrawing Vthe wire from the drum, it being noted that usually the wireis coiled in the-drum in eccentric loops. Thus, as the wire is `withdrawn it gains momentum and inertia until it throws a loop ahead of itself such as to develop 4a knot vin the wire. The inverted cone is effective to dampenfand prevent the wire looping ahead ofitself as v .it=breaks Vaway from the linner core or tube.

`[In vview of the foregoing, it is an object of this inven- .gtionzto provide a'wire dispensing device whereby a con- ;-tinuous length of wire .may be withdrawn at arelatively high velocity over a relatively vlong Ycontinuous period of time without interruption.

Otherobjects will Ybecome apparent as Vthe description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related ob- -Ljects, my invention maybe embodied in the forms illus- .trated in' the Vaccompanying drawings, attention being .called `to the fact, however, `that the drawings are illus- -.tr'ative only, and that specic'change may be vmade in the ',specitic constructions 'illustrated and described, so long the .scopeof the appended claims is not violated.

With .reference to the drawings, a barrel type container,A generally indicatedby the reference numeral 10, is composed of an outer tubular wall 12 and an inner core wall 14. These walls are coaxially related vand provide an annular storage .space therebetween which is filled with a continuous length of enamelled soft copper wire. While ,this particular wire is specified as an example, it will be obvious that other wire may be stored and dispensed from the mechanism. The storage .space vis shown 'as being approximately half filled with wire inFig. l, and the wire is so stored by'being laid .in a continuous coil around the core wall '14. Reference to Fig. 3 diagrammatically illustrates how 'the wire is disposed in the annular storage 'space,.and nfor illustrative purposes three turns of wire have been shown.

.It will be noted that each one of the three turns vis eccenk trically Yarranged in the storage space and such eccen- 'tricity maybe traced as starting with point 16, moving to rthe outer wall 12vat point 18, turning inwardly against the core 14 at point '20, then moving outwardly to a point adjacent the outer wall, etc. until the three 'illustrated eccentric coils are'laid in angular spaced relation into the storage space as shown. Methods for eccentrically storing coils of wire are well-known in the art and need to be further elaborated here.

Referring `now to the Figs. l and 2, a vfrusto-conically shaped guiding cone 22 is coaxially fixed to the upper en'd of .the container wall 12 and is provided with an opening 24 at its 'apex for receiving the-end of a wire-guiding -frame 26. This frame 26 has a downwardly inclined beam 28 which Vis supported by an upright member 30 suitably .secured to the outer surface of the cone 22. A conventional tensioning device or capstan 32 vis rotatably mounted on the frame 26 in registry with the opening .24, and is provided with adjustable friction means to .retard or inhibit rotation.

`Mounted internally of the .cone 22 is a second cone or Yretarding element indicated generally by the reference numeral 34. This inner cone is composed of two conical portions, a lower portion 36 and an upper portion 38. The lower portion is telescopically fixed to lthedis- Ycharge end of the core wall 14 and inclines toward the Aaforementioned discharge end as shown. The other conical portion 38 is oppositely arranged as shown.

The particular inclination of the conical surface '36 produces anannular opening or space 4t) which is smaller than the annular storage space 42 between the inner and outer walls 14 and '12 and which is so positioned as to lie approximately in between the two container walls as shown. 'The inclination of the conical surface v36 .with the vertical is represented by the angle a and preferably lies within the range of twelve to twenty degrees ,(.1.2 to 20). The `angle which the conical surface 38 makes with the -vertical is not critical and may be fortytive degrees (45 Suitable supporting brackets or angles 44 secured to the inner surface of the inner core 34 l abut lthe upper end edge or discharge end of the core wall 14 to provide support for the inner cone.

.Both of the inner and

outer cones

34 and 22 respec` electronic equipment for insulating cabinet surfaces.

The importance ofthe presence of this `flock material 46 .will be-.'ex1.'5lained more fully in the following.

As yseen in 'Fig l, a strand of wire from the annular space 42 is threaded between the inner and

outer cones

34 and 22 through the apex opening 24, about the reel 32 and onto a coil form 48. This coil form is square in cross-section and represents one of the most diihcult coil designs for winding ata high rate of speed. As the core 48 is rotated, wire is drawn out of the annular space 42. Since the wire is actually drawn axially from the space 42, it obviously follows that the wire will travel circumferentially around the wall 14.

In prior art arrangements which utilized the annular storage 42 and from which wire was axially drawn at a relatively high rate of speed, difficulty was normally encountered in the respect that the wire would uncoil too rapidly at times and wou-ld become knotted, thereby requiring that the equipment be stopped for clearing the knot and repairing any damage that may have occurred. This difculty usually occurred when the wire was withdrawn from the storage space 42 at too great a velocity, such that the greatestrate at which wire could be withdrawn from the container was limited to a value at which such knotting would not occur.

This invention considerably increases the upper limit at which wire may be withdrawn from the container 10, and thereby considerably increases the rate of production of coils. This increased efciency is believed to be primarily due to the fact that the particular inclination of the conical surface 36 and the presence of the annular opening 40, which is of greater diameter than the core wall 14, serve as a brake against the wire leaving the mechanism too fast. Prior art arrangements permitted the wire being uncoiled to gain such momentum upon leaving the storage space that it would uncoil circumferentially around the core wall 14 at a rate exceeding that required by the lineal velocity of the wire leaving the mechanism. This caused the uncoiling wire to loop over itself and to tie a perfect knot.

While the invention materially improves efficiency when the conical surface 36 is a smooth metallic surface, the use of flock material 46 further improves the efciency when smaller sizes of wire are dispensed.

While the different portions of the apparatus may be made of different suitable materials, satisfactory results have been achieved with the container 10 being fabricated from a paper base material, and the

cones

22 and 34 being made from self-supporting metal.

What is claimed is:

1. A wire dispensing device for withdrawing at high speeds a substantially continuous length of wire loosely -accommodated within an annular storage space, said device comprising a container having substantially coextensive and co-axial inner and outer walls deiining theannular storage space therebetween, said container having an open end through which wire is withdrawn and a closed end which affords support for the wire in the annular storage space, a conical cover member provided with an opening at its apex and mounted at a larger open end in overlying relation to the openend ot` the container, a wire-motion damping element mounted on said inner wall adjacent the open end of the container and having an annular surface extending into the area bounded by said cover member and over said annular storage space, said annular surface being inclined and having a slope which is reversed with respect to the slope of said covermember to provide an annular spacing be- `tween the cover member and said surface, and said wire-motion damping element having another annular surface extending from the iirst said annular Vsurface toward the apex of said cover, said second annular surface being inclined and having a slope which is the reverse of that of the iirst annular surface.

2. A wire dispensing device for withdrawing at high speeds a substantially continuous length of wire loosely accommodated within an annular storage space, said device comprising a container having substantially. coextensive and co-axial inner and outer walls defining the annular storage space therebetween, said container having an open end through which wire is withdrawn and a closed end which affords support for the wire in the annular storage space, a conical cover member provided with an opening at its apex and mounted at a larger open end in overlying relation to the open end of the container, a wire-motion damping element mounted on said inner wall adjacent the open end of the container and having an annular surface extending into the area bounded by said cover vmember and over said annular storage space, said annular surface being inclined and having a slope which is reversed with respect to the slope of said cover member and terminating short of the cover member to provide an annular spacing between the cover member and said surface. Y

3. A wire dispensing device for withdrawing at high speeds a substantially continuous length of wire loosely accommodated within an annular storage space, said device comprising a container having substantially coextensive and co-axial inner `and outer walls deiningthe annular storage space therebetween, said container having an open endthrough which wire is withdrawn and a closed end which aords support for the wire in the annular storage space, a conical cover member provided with an opening at its apex and mounted at a larger open end in overlying relation to the open end of the container, a wire-motion damping element mounted on said inner wall adjacent the open end of the container and having an annular surface extending into the area bounded by said cover member and over said annular storage space, said annular surface being inclined at an angle of between about 12-20 to the axis of said inner wall and having a slope which is reversed with respect to the slope of said cover member and terminating short of the cover member to provide an annular spacing between the cover member and said surface.

closed end which atords support for the wire in the annular storage space, a conical cover member provided with an opening at its apex and mounted at a larger open end in overlying relation to the open end of the container, a wire-motion damping element mounted on said inner wall adjacent the open end of' th'econtainer and having an annular surface extending into the area bounded by said cover member and over said annular storage space, said annular surface being inclined and having a slope which is reversed with respect to the slope of said cover memberand terminating short of the cover member Vto provideV an annular spacing between the cover member and said surface, and a wire guiding and tensioning element mountedon said cover member adjacent the apex of the cover member adapted to accommodate the wire as it isrdrawn through the said Yapex opening of said cover member.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 69,101 Kershaw Sept. 24, 1867 315,707 Briggs ...1.--- Apr. 14, 1885 331,855 White Dec. 8, 1885 384,890 Chapman June 19, 1888 745,832 Hanson Dec. 1, 1903 1,830,449 Swank Nov. 3,1931 2,629,566 King Feb. 241953 i Y FOREIGN PATENTS 1,000,011 France oc.'10, 1951