US2930413A

US2930413A - Coil assembling machine

Info

Publication number: US2930413A
Application number: US529384A
Authority: US
Inventors: John W Kozak
Original assignee: Frank L Wells Co
Current assignee: Frank L Wells Co
Priority date: 1955-08-19
Filing date: 1955-08-19
Publication date: 1960-03-29
Anticipated expiration: 1977-03-29

Description

March 29, 1960 J. w. KOZAK 2,930,413

COIL ASSEMBLING MACHINE Filed Aug. 19, 1955 INVEN TOR.

United States Para g.

COIL ASSEMBLING MACHINE.

W; Kozak, ,Kenosh'a, Wis assignor toFrank. II. Wells Company, Kenoslia,; Wis., a cor oration of Wisconsin 7 Application August 1?; .1955, Serial No.1 529,384;

3 Claims. (Cl. 140'-92.'7)l

This invention relates to' new. and'limproved apparatus for; the: forming-and; assembly Of. offset or crimped coil springs for useas cushioning. elementsin; the. mattress and furnitureindustries. i a A-.widely used type of such coilspring assemblies comprisest aplurality of: adjacently placed, vertically extend- .ing: coil; springs. with the springs linked together by ,means of helical lengths. of. wire which are screwed aroun'dadjacent touching portions of the top and bottom turns'oi-the coil springs. Thecoil springs ingeneraluse have-their top and bottomturnsflattenedwithxthe ends-of the=coilswrapped around: the top turnsto form substantially complete circles; Another form of constructionprovides; top'andv bottom turns with flattened and otfsetrsections parallelwith tangents to the circles formed bytheseturns. This constructionv afiords adjacent fiat areas on the closely spaced coils so that the coilconnecting helical wires may I be screwed. around these flat 'tenedportions rather than curved touching-portions of circular, arcs. Such: flattened areas thus provide more efficient and longer connected areas with greater flexibility 'andiless' binding in the assembled spring structure; These coils-.with flattened sections are, however, more, expensive than; the coils having generally circular end portions. Also,-.when inserted'in the assembly machines these coils require-exact. orientation to bringthe flattened portions of. adjacent coils into parallel relation;

I'Pisan objectlof the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus for the forming and assembly of offset orcrimpedcoilsprings.

It: is a further object of the invention t'o-provideva the: contacting portions.

It is anadditionalobject to provide apparatus of this character which simultaneously forms the mating portions-of twoadjacent'coilsprings. i

It is also an object to provide apparatus which is simpie: in design, construction and operation and'adapted for: use in combination with: other features; of standard commercial coil assembling machines.

Otherfand further objects will appear as the tionz'proceeds; g I

I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention in the'accompanying drawings in which- Figure-'l'is a. plan' viewer the apparatus with coils in place; ,HFigure 2 is a vertical section through the apparatus descrip- ..with coils in the forming dies;*

view as'seen fror'nlli'ne 3-3 ofjFigure-PZ;

fixed die holding mem-b'er 11. with lateral shouldersfitted under the overhanging flanges: 15 of the guideway membe'rs-fl, best shown in Figure3: A fixed abutment member 19 is recessed in thebase member 11, as shownin Figure 2. The movable die carrying member 21 is: provided with. shoulders 22 in the/guideway 17. and is movable toward and away from the fixed die carrier member 13.

The bearing bracket 25" is secured to the underface of member 11.by the screws 27 and is'one of a series of such brackets. These brackets 25 carry a shaft 29 on whichisfixedly secured' the bell'crank 3-1. The portion of'the bell crank 31 fitting around shaft 29- is bifurcated, as shown. in Figure 3; and the drive arm 33 has its lower end fixedly. secured on shaft 29 between the bifurcations. The upper 'end;35 of drive arm 33 fits in arecess 37 formed in theunderface of the movable die carrying memberll'. The bell'crank member 31 has an upwardly extending arm39 through which is threaded a drive screw 41. The inner end of this drive screw 41 engages the face of the:drive-arm 33 and the screw 41 is held in adjusted positionby means of the lock nut 43.

The lower end of bell crank member 31'. has a laterally extending shaft 44L which carries a roller 45-which engages a cam.46 secured to'shaft 47' by-key 48, the shaft 47, being carriedinthe bracket 25".

As best shown in Figure 3, the'roller 45 extends' later ally'of the bell crank-"31 ;andinto the closed raceway 49, shown in Figure 2, formed in the adjacent lateral face The opposed faces; of the fixed and' movable die carrying. membersx13= and Zl, respectively, are provided with mating semi=cylindrical recesses-51 and'53,fas best be understoodthat before treatment in the die, the, top

and bottom portions of the coilsprings are substantially circular, as shown at: the left of spring 68in Figure 1.

The vertically rnova'ble stripper plunger 69' isslidable in openings in the'bas'e plate. 11; in similar openings formed in the fixed and movable die carrying members 13 andll and in: aligneds'openings 'inthe dies 55; 57, 59 and'61. The lower end of plunger 69 carries a'rollfer 70 whichrests upon thecam 71 carried by shaft 47adjacent cam 46, the: cam being: keyed to the shaft and rotatable therewith; p

In the operation of the apparatus, the shaft 47 is rotated so that the roller 45'. is in the radially inward portiorr78 of the cam race49; This permits thelower arm; 31: of the bell, crank to'swing'to the left; asshown in Figure 2, which swings the movable die carrying member 21: to the right; thus separating it'-frorr'r the fixed die member 13; A previously crimpedi and fortnedspring,

the space between the diesz-by: the; stripper plunge'r 69 which is'1 lifted-by azri'seon: cam. 71' and'i s then moved laterally to the position, in;whieli;it' iszshow'n in Figured;

' This lateral movement: may be. accomplished manually or by any; desired mechanical-Intends. The. secondzspring 68; at the left of Figure 1, then has its terminal convolution inserted between the fixed die 13 and the movable die 21 so as to rest upon the adjacent circular and unformed terminal convolution of the right hand spring 65.

Rotation of shaft 47 lowers the stripper plunger 69 and the spring 65 moves down between the

dies

57 and 61 while the superposed spring 68, resting on spring 65, has its arcuate edge moved down between the dies 55 and llisfitted 'ontopofthe plate 3 59. The cam wheel 46 continues to rotate in the counterclockwise direction and the radially outer portion 73 of the cam race 49 thrusts roller 45 and the lower portion of bell crank 31 to the right. This causes the head 35 of drive arm 33 to thrust the movable die carrying member 21 to the left until the parts reach the position shown in Figure 2. The mating dies 57 and 61 form .the portion of spring 65 which is clamped between them as shown in Figure 1. Similarly, the mating dies 55 and 59 form the adjacent portion of spring 68 to the contour shown in Figure 1.

As the shaft 47 continues to rotate in the counterclockwise direction, the roller 45 rises into the dwell 75 in cam race 46 which causes the bell crank 31 to move in the clockwise manner about shaft 29, thus moving the movable dies away from the fixed dies a suflicient distance so that the adjacent formed portions of

springs

65 and 68 may be lifted by the stripper plunger 69 whose roller 70 is now engaged by a high portion 72 of cam 71. As the roller 45 moves out of the dwell 75 into the second high portion 77 of cam race 46, the fixed and movable die members are forced again to the position shown in Figure 2. At this time, however, being held up by the stripper plunger 69, the formed spring portions 67 of

springs

65 and 68 are in the cylindrical passage formed between the

members

13 and 21 by the

recesses

51 and 53, as shown in Figure 4. While they are held in this position the spiral 81 is woven through the cylindrical passage about the matching formed portions 67 of

springs

65 and 68; thus joining the springs. The weaving of the spiral may be done manually or mechanically by any well-known means.

After the weaving is completed the roller 45 moves down into a radially inward portion 78 of cam race 46; thus moving the movable die carrying. member 21 and opening the cylindrical passage and the joined coils are lifted out of the cylindrical recess together with the spiral which has been woven through them to connect them. This lifting action is caused by a rise on cam 70 lifting the stripper plunger 69. The whole assembly is moved to the right to bring the left side of coil 68 over and into the space between the fixed and movable die carrying members and the process proceeds as before.

It will be understood that while a single unit has been shown, there will normally be a multiplicity of duplicate units located along the

shafts

29 and 47 so that a plurality of coils are simultaneously formed and then woven together by a continuous spiral 81 extending the full length of the coil assembly.

The apparatus, therefore, is capable, when provided in any desired number, of simultaneously crimping and forming fiat overlapping portions on a plurality of springs. It also holds the crimped springs in fixed position so that a plurality of pairs of springs may be secured together by a single continuous weaving operation. Thus the less costly springs with the circular upper and lower portions may be simply formed with matching fiat segments and in the same apparatus held for weaving in the usual manner.

My improved apparatus is adapted for use with usual commercialtypes of coil assembling and weaving ap paratus. Thus it may be used with any standard types of feeding and weaving apparatus.

While I have shown one preferred form of my apparatus, this is to be understood to be illustrative only as it is capable of modification to meet differing conditions and requirements and I therefore contemplate such variations as come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for the forming and assembly of offset coil springs which comprises fixed die holding means and movable die holding means, a pair of tires carried one above the other by the fixed die holding means, a pair of dies carried by the movable die holding means in mating relation to the dies carried by the fixed die holding means, the upper and lower mating pairs of dies being formed to each offset a coil spring, the fixed and movable die holding means being provided with mating recesses to receive the offset coil portions and to hold them for weaving a spiral about the offset coil portions to hold them in assembled relation, means for lifting the offset coils from the dies to the mating recesses, and means for moving the movable die holding means toward and away from the fixed die holding means.

2. Apparatus for the forming and assembly of offset coil springs which comprises fixed die holding means and movable die holding means, a pair of dies carried one above the other by the fixed die holding means, a pair of dies carried by the movable die holding means in mating relation to the dies carried by the fixed die holding means, the upper and lower mating pairs of dies being formed to each offset a coil spring, the fixed and movable die holding means being provided with mating recesses to receive the offset coil portions and to hold them for weaving a spiral about the offset coil portions to hold them in assembled relation, the dies and fixed and mov able die holding means being provided with mating vertically extending openings forming a vertical passage, a vertically movable stripper plunger operating in said passage, means for moving the plunger to lift the offset coil portions from the dies into'the mating recesses in the fixed and movable die holding members, and means for moving the movable die holding means toward and away from the fixed die holding means.

3. Apparatus for the forming and assembly of offsc coil springs which comprises fixed die holding means and movable die holding means, a pair of dies carried one above the other by the fixed die holding means, a pair of dies carried by the movable die holding means in mating relation to the dies carried by the fixed die holding means, the upper and lower mating pairs of die being formed to each offset a coil spring, the fixed and movable die holding means being provided with mating recesses to receive the ofiset coil portions and to hold them for weaving a spiral about the ofiset coil portions to hold them in assembled relation, the dies and the fixed and movable die holding means being provided with mating vertically extending openings forming a vertical passage, a vertically movable stripper plunger operating in said passage, means for moving the plunger to lift the offset coil portions from the dies into the mating recesses in the fixed and movable die holding members, and means for moving the movable die holding means toward and away from the fixed die holding means, the means for moving the plunger and the movable die member comprising a rotatable shaft located below the fixed and movable die members and earns rotated by said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,905,459 Gail Apr. 25, 1933 2,176,262 Kirchner Oct. 17, 1939 2,420,512 Woller May 13, 1 947