US3074442A - Wire-looping device - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 22, 1963 C. LENZ ET Al.

WIRE-LOOPING DEVICE Filed June 30. 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2.

FIG.

ATTORNEY an- 22, 1 V c. LENZ ETAL 3,074,442

WIRE-LOOPING DEVICE Filed June 30, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 74 16 I 3'7 3 i 40 I INV EN TORS gmw,

ATTORNEY 22, 1963 c. LENZ ETA]. 3,074,442

WIRE-LOOP'ING DEVICE Filed June 30, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. l3. FIG. IO.

INVENTORS ATTORNEY iinited States 3,074,442 WRE-LOOPING DEVlCE Carl lienz, Wayne, and Richard Hasell, Denville, Ni, assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East iiittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed June 30, 1959, fier. No. 823,994 4 Claims. (Cl. 14071.6)

The present invention relates to apparatus for fabricating filament mounts for incandescent lamps and the like and, more particularly, to a device for looping a support wire about the mounted filament.

Heretofore, a support wire has been looped about the mounted filament of an incandescent lamp mount by apparatus of the type shown in US. Patent No. 1,816,683, issued July 28, 1931 to W. Ledig et al. Such apparatus utilizes a pinion gear freely rotatable by a toothed segment upon a looping pin in which the mounted filament is positioned by means of a radial slot. The support wire is disposed along the underside of the pinion gear and tangentially to the looping pin with its free end pressed into engagement with a ratchet tooth groove in the lower face of the pinion gear by a leaf-spring. Rotation of the pinion gear wraps the free end of the support wire about the looping pin as a mandrel and into a loop thereabout. The looping pin is removed from the formed loop thereby permitting the now supported filament to index out of the radial slot provided in the pinion gear.

The above-described loop forming device is expensive and complicated in structure. If the free end of the support wire is presented to the wire looping device in the bent condition occasionally the leaf-spring fails to secure such free end in the ratchet toothed groove and the wire looping device fails to form the loops about the looping pin. Occasionally, the support wire becomes entanged in the engaging teeth of the pinion gear and the gear segment thereby jamming the mechanism and breaking the nearly completed filament mount. In addition, the formed loops were more elliptical than circular in shape and non-uniform dimensionally thus effecting the finally secured position of the mounted filament.

Because of these defects an improved wire-looping device of the type shown in US. Patent No. 1,907,532, issued May 9, 1933 to J. Flaws, Jr. and in US. Patent No. 2,085,578, issued February 18, 1936 to the same patentee was substituted for the above-described device and used primarily to loop tie Wires around the filament-supporting lead wires. This conventional device comprises curling dies, each having a groove extending along a sloping face of the die and along the semi-circular terminal-notch portion of the sloping face. The portion of the groove along the sloping face is moved into engagement with the prepositioned end of the tie wire and such end is forced along the sloping face into the semi-circular notch portion where the end of the tie wire is formed into a circular eyelet around the lead wire.

If, for example, the tie wire is too stiff or the groove in the notch portion of the curling die is not smooth, the support wire is often buckled back and deformed. Due to the abrasive action of the sharp edge on the end of the tie wires against the grooves in the sloping faces and in the notches in the curling dies, such dies have relatively short life. In order to prolong the life of such curling dies, they are hardened to such an extent that the curling dies become brittle and break easily. Further to assure the satisfactory operation of such curling dies, they are made with close tolerances, are provided with highly polished contact surfaces and hence are very expensive. Yet another disadvantages is the fact that the angle at which the end of the tie wire is presented to the curling die is critical and the slightest deviation of such end from this critical angle results in a poorly formed loop.

3,674,442 Patented Jan. 22, 1963 It is accordingly a general object of the present invention to avoid and overcome the foregoing and other difficulties of and objections to the prior-art loop-forming devices by the provision of an improved device for looping a support wire of a lamp mount about the mounted filament thereof to insure the retention of the mounted filament in a predetermined position.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved wire-looping device which firmly secures the support wire which is to be looped about the mounted filament thereby insuring that such free end of the support wire is properly positioned for the wire-looping operation and guaranteeing positively that a loop will be formed on every incandescent lamp mount.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved wire-looping device which intermittently hammers and pulls the support wire around the protective filament anvil by successive impacts rather than forcing the support wire along a groove during the course of the loop-forming operation thereby reducing the abrasive wear on the improved wire-looping device, prolong ing its life and reducing the cost of maintenance of such device.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of an improved Wire-loping device which does not deform the support wire being wrapped around the mounted filament.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved wire-looping device which does not require close tolerances in its manufacture and hence is relatively inexpensive to fabricate and which provides efiicient operation.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved Wire-looping device in which the free end of the support wire cannot become jammed, thereby eliminating stoppages of the device and breakage of a nearly completed filament mount.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of an improved wire-looping device which consistently forms circular loops of uniform diameter thereby uniformly securing the mounted filaments in the same position.

The aforesaid objects of the present invention and other objects which will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds are achieved by providing an improved Wire-looping device having support-wire gripping members which secure the support wire (which is to be looped about the mounted filament) in a braced and relatively predetermined position, a movable member reeiprocable toward and away from the supported support wire and having mounted thereon an anvil for protecting the mounted filament and operable as a mandrel for the support wire during the loop-forming operation, and bending means for receiving the free end of the support wire between serrations on its periphery, the bending member being rotatable to successively impact the support wire against such anvil thereby bending the support wire around the anvil to form a loop around the mounted filament.

For a better understanding of the present invention reference should be had to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of a finished vertical-filament type mount for an incandescent lamp, the support wire having been looped about the mounted filament by the wire-looping device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal-sectional view of the wire-looping device of the present invention taken along the line II-I l of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows and showing the position of such wire-looping device at the end of the wire-looping operation and showing the wire-looping device in the up position.

FIG. 3 is a side-elevational view of the wire-looping device shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal-sectional view along the line IVIV of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows of the frame portions of the wire-looping device and showing also an elevating slide and an operating slide for such wire-looping device.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical-sectional view taken along the line V-V of FIG. 6 in the direction of the arrows and showing the position of the support-wire gripping jaws, filament-positioning slide and loop-forming mechanism at the start of the loop-forming operation, after a filament mount has indexed into the loop-forming station.

FIG. 6 is a horizontal-sectional View along the line VI-VI of FIG. 5 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but showing the support-wire gripping jaws in the closed position and the filament-positioning slide in its in position,

FIG. 8 is a vertical-sectional view along the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the supportwire gripping jaws and filament-positioning slide taken along the line IX-IX of FIG. 8 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary view similar to FIGS. 6 and 7 showing the movement of the loop-forming mechanism and particularly the anvil from the starting or dotted-line position to the solid-line position where the free end of the gripped support wire has been aligned by a guide face provided on such loop-forming mechanism.

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 10 indicating the movement of such anvil from the dotted-line position shown therein (which dotted-line position corresponds to the solid-line position of FIG. 10) to the solid-line position where the guided free end of the support wire has become engaged in a tooth of a ratchet wheel and where the anvil has engaged the filament-positioning slide preparatory for their continued movement together to the right.

FIG. 12 is a view similar to FIGS. 10 and 11 and showing the further movement of the anvil and filamentpositioning slide to the right during which movement the free end of the support wire is intermittently engaged by successive teeth of the ratchet wheel to bend the support wire around the anvil as a mandrel.

FIG. 13 is a vertical-sectional view along the line XIII-XIII of FIG. 12 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIGS. 10 through 12 showing the final movement of the loop-forming mechanism to the right to complete the closed loop in the end of the support wire around the mounted filament and to move the encircled portion of the mounted filament back into alignment with the longitudinal axis of the lamp mount.

FIG. 15 is a view similar to FIGS. 10 through 12 and FIG. 14 and showing the support-wire gripping jaws in the open and up position (corresponding 7 to the dotted-line position shown in FIG. 5) and the filamentpositioning slide in the retracted and up position preparatory for the movement of the wire-looping device to the down or solid-line position shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 16 is a perspective View of the anvil and associated guide means.

With the specific reference to the form of the present invention illustrated in the drawings, and referring particularly to FIG. 1, a vertical-filament type mount for an incandescent lamp (not shown) is indicated generally by the reference numeral Iii. This vertical-filament type mount It? comprises a stem 11 having a filament 12 mounted on the longitudinal axis of the mount 10 between long lead wire 14 and a short lead wire 16. Tie wires 18 extend from an arbor button 20 and are wrapped around the lead wires 14 and 16 to retain the mounted filament '12 in the above-mentioned longitudinal axial alignment. From this arbor button 20 a support wire 22 extends substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the mount 10 and is bent transversely to such axis with the free end of such support wire 22 being looped about the mid-portion of the mounted filament 12 to retain said mid-portion disposed along the longitudinal axis of the mount 10. The formation of the loop on the rec end of the support wire 22 is accomplished by the improved Wire-looping device of the present invention, shown in FIGS. 2 through 16.

This improved wire-looping device of the present invention is located at a wire-looping station, FIGS. 2 and 3, of a filament-mounting machine (not shown) but of the type disclosed in US. Patent No. 1,907,532, issued May 9, 1933 to J. Flaws, Jr. As indicated in FIG. 3 the incompleted vertical-filament type mount 10 is secured in tubulation-gripping jaws 24 and arbor-gripping jaws 236 of a head of the filament-mounting machine (not shown). When the incompleted vertical-filament type mount III is indexed into the'support-wire looping station, the improved wire-looping device of the present invention is in the down position, shown in FIG. 5, to permit the unobstructed entry of such filament mount 10 into the support-wire looping station This support-wire looping device of the present invention comprises essentially a pair of support-wire gripping jaws 28 pivoted at Sit? on the right-hand portion on a body 32, as viewed in FIGS. 6 and 7, and utilized to secure the support wire 22 (FIGS. 10-14) in a predetermined position during the loop-forming operation; a filament-positioning slide 33 horizontally reciprocable in a primary slide 34 beneath the support-wire gripping jaws, as viewed in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, to position the mid-portion of the mounted filament 12 (FIGS. 1012) in a predetermined location during the loop forming operation; and 'a loopforming mechanism 36 horizontally reciprocable on the left-hand portions of the body 32, as viewed in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, and operable to form a loop in the free end 37 of the support wire 22 about such mid-portion of the mounted filament 12 (FIG. 15).

After the vertical-filament type mount 10 has been indexed into the loop-forming station, the loop-forming device of the present invention is elevated a distance d from the down or solid-line position, shown in FIG. 5, to the up or dotted-line position shown therein and as shown in FIG. 3, by a vertical-reciprocating mechanism. During this upward movement of the support-wire looping device, a lower bend'38 (FIG. 5) in the support wire 22 engages a beveled lip or guide portion 40 (FIGS. 5 and 6) provided in the top surface of the body 32 beneath the now-open support-wire gripping jaws 23 and such lower bend 38 in the support wire 22 rides down such guide portion iii into a registering positioning slot 42 provided in the body 32, thus positioning the free end 37 of the support wire 22 substantially tangent to the mounted filament 12, as shown in FIG. 6.

Vertical-Reciprocating Mechanism In order to permit the vertical-reciprocating movement of the wire-looping device a distance d (FIG. 5) between the down or solid-line position shown therein, and the up or dotted-line position shown in FIG. 5, the body 32 is carried by an elevating slide 44- (FIGS. 3 and 4), which is vertically reciprocable in the frame portions 46 of the wire-looping device. A lower portion 48 (FIG. 3) of the elevating slide 44 extends through a suitable aperture 50 in the frame 52 of the filament-mounting machine (not shown) and suchlower portion 48 is connected by conventional linkage to an elevating cam on the main cam shaft of such filament-mounting machine.

After the Wire-looping device has been elevated to the up position or dotted-line position shown in FIG. 5,

12 (FIG. 8) the open support wire gripping jaws 28 (FIG. 6) are closed about the positioned support wire 22 (FIG. 7) and simultaneously therewith the filament-positioning plate 33 is moved by an operating mechanism to the left a distance d (FIG. 7) from the dotted-line position to the solid-line position thereby positioning the mid-portion of the mounted filament 12 in a predetermined location as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, preparatory for the loop-forming operation.

Operating Mechanism This operating mechanism has a plate cam 54 (FIG. 3) having a cam slot 55 which is engageable by a cam roller 56 on the right-hand end of the primary slide 34 in which the filament-positioning or secondary slide 33 is reciprocable. Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, it will be noted that the filament-positioning plate 33 is biased by a spring 57 to move to the left with the primary slide 34, but that a slot 59 in such filament-positioning slide 33 permits movement of the slide 33 to the right against the action of the spring 57. Such plate cam 54 is mounted by means of a cross-bar 58 on an operating slide 60, juxtaposed adjacent the elevating slide 44 and vertically reciprocable in the frame portions 46 of the wire-looping device. The means utilized to cause vertical-reciprocating movement of the operating slide 60 and the plate cam 54 carried thereby comprises a connecting rod 62 extending from the lower portions of the operating slide 60 through the aperture 50 in the frame 52 and connected in the same manner as the above-mentioned elevating slide 44 by conventional linkage to an operating cam on the main cam shaft of the filament-mounting machine (not shown).

It will be understood from a consideration of FIG. 3

that 'the above-described operating mechanism is not moved during operation of the vertical-reciprocating mechanism to cause the wire-looping device to move a distance d (FIG. 5) from the down or solid-line position, shown in FIG. 5 to the up or dotted-line position, shown in such figure, because during such vertical movement of the reciprocating mechanism, the cam roller the vertical portion of the slot 55 from dotted position 56a to dotted line 5611.

When the wire-looping device is in the up or dottedline position (FIG. 5) the operating mechanism is then actuated by the operating cam (not shown) to cause the plate cam 54 to move upwardly to cause relative movement between the cam slot 55 in the plate cam 54 and the now stationary cam roller 56 (at dotted-line position 56b). The initial upward movement of the plate cam 54 causes the now stationary cam roller 56 to move from its position 56b at the extreme end of the vertical portion of the cam slot 55 through dotted-line position 56a. The continued upward movement of the plate cam 54 causes the cam roller 56 to move along an inclined portion 55a of the cam slot 55 to dotted-line position 560, during which movement a gate 64 (pivoted at 66 and biased by a spring 68 against opposite side walls of the cam slot 55) retains such roller 56 against this inclined portion 55a of the cam slot 55.

This relative movement of the cam roller 56 along the inclined portion 55a, as viewed in FIG, 3, causes the primary slide 34 and the filament-positioning slide 33 carried thereby to move to the left (due to the action of the spring 57, FIGS. 5, 8 and 13) from the position shown in FIG. 6, to the position shown in FIG. 7. During such movement of the filament-positioning slide 33, the cam roller 72 carried on the right-hand end of each of the pivoted support-wire gripping jaws 28, as viewed in FIG. 6 (and biased by a spring 74 to ride along a cam surface 76 provided in a cam plate 78 carried by the primary slide 34) rides along such cam surface 76 from the position shown in FIG. 6 to the position shown in FIG. 7, thereby causing inward pivotable movement of each of the support-wire gripping jaws 28 toward each other to secure the positioned support wire 22 therebetween. It will be understood from a consideration of FIG. 9 that the operating portion of the left-hand support-wire gripping jaw 28 is fiat and insertable between cooperating flanges on the right-hand support-wire gripping jaw 28, the operating portions of which flanges are provided with V-shaped grooves so that upon closure of the support-wire gripping jaws 28 the support wire 22 is firmly secured between the jaws in the desired position as determined by the positioning slot 42. It will be further understood that the support-wire gripping jaws 28 are closed about the support wire 22 before the fila ment-positioning slide 33 has completed its movement to the left to the position shown in FIG. 7.

After the support-wire gripping jaws 23 have closed, a positioning slot 70in the left-hand or forward face of such filament-positioning slide 33 engages a mid-portion of the mounted filament 12 and moves such mid-portion off the longitudinal axis of the filament mount 10 from the position shown in FIG. 6 to the wire-looping position, shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The mounted filament 12 is moved to this position to prevent the free end 37 of the support wire 22 from becoming caught in the mounted filament 12 during the looping operation.

Thereafter during the continued upward movement of the plate cam 54, the cam roller 56 again remains in fixed position Within another vertical portion of slot 55 which effectively is equivalent to such cam roller 56 moving from the dotted-line position 56c through gate 64 to the solid-line position shown in FIG. 3, during which time period the loop-forming mechanism 36 is operable, as now explained, to form a loop in the free end 37 of the support wire 22 about the positioned filament 12.

Loop-Forming Mechanism As shown particularly in FIGS. 2 and 3, the loopforming mechanism 36 has an anvil 78 (FIG. 16) mounted on an anvil bracket 81 aflixed to an operating slide which is horizontally reciprocable in the body 32 and retained therein by retaining plates 79. This anvil 78 is utilized to protect the positioned mid-portion of the mounted filament 12 and to act as a mandrel around which a loop is formed in the free end 37 of the support Wire 22. The means utilized to engage the free end 37 of the support wire 22 (FIG. 11) and to drive it around the anvil 78 by the application of intermittent blows or impacts while such free end 37 is positioned against the anvil 73, comprises a ratchet wheel 82 pivoted at 84 on the operating slide 89 and having its nearest tooth spaced a predetermined distance from the anvil 78. This predetermined distance is slightly greater, about .0001", than the diameter of the support wire 22, thereby reducing the wear of the ratchet wheel 82 against the refractory metal support wire 22.

In order to horizontally reciprocate the operating slide 80 in the body 32, such operating slide 80 carries a cam roller 56 (similar to the hereinbefore described cam roller 56) which cam roller 56 is engageable in a cam slot 55" in a plate cam 54 afiixed to the cross bar 58.

It will be appreciated from a consideration of FIG. 3 that the dotted-line positions of the cam roller 56', namely positions 56%, 56a and 56'0 serve to indicate the positions of the cam roller 56 within the cam slot 55 when the hereinbefore mentioned cam roller 56 is in the corresponding positions within the cam slot 55- during movement of the cam plate 5-4, namely positions 56b, 56a and 560.

So that the movement of the operating slide 89 (from left to right and more particularly the anvil 78 from the starting or dotted-line position 78d shown in FIG. 10 to the solid-line position 7811 shown in FIGS. 14 and 15) may be utilized to cause clockwise rotation of the ratchet Wheel 82, as viewed in FIG. 2, to form the loop in the free end 37 of the support Wire 22 about the anvil 78 (as hereinafter related in detail), a gear 36 (FIG. 3) affixed to the pivot 84 is driven by a gear segment 38 (pivoted at 90) on the operating slide 83 and such gear segment 88 is connected by a link 92 to a fixed pivot 94 on one of the retaining plates 79.

It will be understood from a consideration of FIGS. 2 and 3, that as the operating slide 89 and the pivot 91 for the gear segment 38 move slowly from left to right (which gear segment 88 it will be remembered is restrained by the fixed pivot 94) such movement causes counterclockwise rotation of the gear segment 88. This counterclockwise rotation of the gear segment 88 causes resultant relatively fast clockwise rotation of the gear 86 and the ratchet wheel 82 to form the loop in the free end 37 of the support wire 22.

Operation of Loop-Forming Mechanism After the mid-portion of the mounted filament 12 has been moved by the filament-positioning slide 34 to the position shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, continued upward movement of the plate cams 54 and 54 causes the cam rollers 56 and 56' to move respectively to the dotted-line positions 56d and 56'd, as shown in FIG. 3, where the cam roller 56 engages an inclined portion 55a in the cam slot 55'. This inclined portion 55a is operable to continuously move the loop-forming mechanism 36, and more particularly the anvil 78, from the starting or dottedline position 78d, shown in FIG. 10, to the final or solidline position 78h, shown in FIGS. 14 and 15.

As the anvil is moved a distance d (FIG. 10) from the starting or dotted-line position 78d therein to the solid-line position 782 shown in such figure, the free end 37 of the positioned support wire 22 engages a guide 96 mounted on the anvil bracket 31 adjacent the anvil 73. The continued movement of the anvil 78 (a distance d from the dotted-line position 7Se shown in H6. 11, to the solid iine position 78 of such figure) causes the free end 37 of the support wire 22 to pass between the guide 96 and the anvil 78 and to become engaged in a tooth of a ratchet wheel 32, which ratchet wheel 82 it will be remembered is rotating in clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 11, at a relatively fast rate. During the continued movement of the anvil 78a distance d (FIG. 12) from the dotted line position 781 (FIG. 12) to the solid-line position 73g, successive teeth of the ratchet wheel 32 intermittently strike or impact the support wire 22 at the point of contact P against the anvil 78 and drive and pull such free end 37 around the 'anvil 78 to form substantially one-halt loop at the stage of the loop-forming operation shown in FIG. 12.

It will be appreciated from a consideration of FIGS.

v2 and 13, that when the anvil 73 has reached the position 78g (the solid-line position shown in FIG. 12) the anvil bracket 31 engages the filament-positioning slide 33. Thereafter, during the remainder of the movement of such anvil '78 to the righta distance d (FIG. 14) such anvil 7S and the filament-positioning slide 33, due to compression of spring 57, move together 7 to the solid-line position, shown in EEG. 14, where the midportion of the filament i2 is once again coincidental with the longitudinal axis of the filament mount lit and the anvil 78 has assumed the solid-line position 7811. During this movement through the distance d the loop is completed about the anvil 78 and the mounted filament 12 by further successive intermittent blows or impacts by successive teeth of the ratchet wheel $2 on the support wire 22 at the point of impact P against the anvil 78.

.At the end of the loop-forming operation (FIG. 3) the cam rollers 56 and 56' are disposed (FIG. 3) near the bottoms of the cam slots 55 and 55' respectively.

In order to open the support-wire gripping jaws 28 before the lowering of the anvil 78 out of the now-formed loop in the support wire 22 and the still later retraction of the loop-forming mechanism 36, the operating mechtanism .for the support-wire gripping jaws 28 causes low- ,ering of the plate cams 5d and54i with resultant relative upward movement of thecam rollers 55 and 55 in the cam slots 55 and 55'. Duringsuehirelative upward movement, the cam roller 56 is-directedby the gate 64 along the inclined portion 55b of the cam slot 55 (from dottedline position 56m, FIG. 3, to dotted-line position 56);) thereby effectively causing the cam rollers 72 on the jaws 28 to move from the position shown in FIG. 7 to the position shown in FIG. 6 with resultant opening of the jaws 2 8 and simultaneous retraction of the filamentpositioning slide 33. 7

During this movement of the cam roller 56 from the dotted-line position 56m to the dotted-line position 56n, the roller 56' guided by the gate 64 moves relatively upward in the cam slot 55' to the position 56'". V

Thereafter simultaneously with the movement of the cam roller 5'6 from the dotted-line position 56'n (FIG. 3) to the dotted-line position 56p, the vertical-reciprocating mechanism for the wire-looping device causes lowering of such wire-looping device a distance d from the up or dotted-line position shown in FIG 5, to the solid-line position shown in such figure, thereby retracting the anvil '73 from the formed loop in the support wire 22 preparatory for movement of the cam roller 56 from the dotted-line position '56p along an inclined portion 55'b of the cam slot 55 to the dotted-line position 5671, during which movement the loop-formingmechanism '36 is retracted to the left. i

After the finished vertical-filament type mount it has indexed out of the loop-forming station, a new filament mount it) indexes thereinto and the above-described loopforming cycle is repeated. 7

It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that the obiects of the present invention have been achieved by the provision of an improved support-wire looping device which firmly secures the support wire which is to be looped about the mounted filament thereby insuring that the free end of the support wire is properly positioned for the wire-looping operation and positively guaranteeing that a loop will be formed on every. verticalfilamcnt type mount. The improved wire-looping device intermittently hammers and pulls the support wire around the protective anvil thereby reducing abrasive wear in such improved wire-looping device, prolonging its life and reducing the cost of maintenance of such device. In addition, the improved wire-looping device does not deform the support wire being wrapped around the mounted filament. It does not require close tolerances in its manufacture and hence is relatively inexpensive to fabricate in addition, the improved wire-looping evice is efiicient in operation, forming circular loops of uniform diameter about the mounted filament to thereby uniformly secure the mounted filaments in the same axial position. Such device advantageously prevent jamming of the free end of the support wire in the device thereby eliminating work stoppages and attendant breakage of the nearly completed filament mounts.

While in accordance with the patent statutes one best known embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be particularly understood that the invention is not limited thereto or thereby.

We claim: 7

1. Apparatus for looping a support wire about a lamp filament, said appartus comprising:

a. support wire securing means operable to secure an intermediate portion of said support wire and position adjacent to said filament the free end portion of said support wire which is to be looped about said filament;

b. anvil means operable to protect said filament from deformation and also to serve as a mandrel during the formation of said support wire into a loop about said filament;

c. filament moving means for moving from its normal position, and toward said anvil means through a predetermined distance, that portion of said filament intended to be encircled by the loop of said support wire;

d. said anvil means operable to move a predetermined distance toward said filament to a position proximate to said support wire free end portion;

e. bending means adjacent to and movable with said anvil means and operable to engage said support wire free end portion to drive and pull same about said anvil means;

1. said bending means and said anvil means then operable to move adjacent to said filament and to move said filament back to its normal position, and said bending means operable to drive and pull successive portions of said support wire free end portion further about said anvil means to completely loop said support wire about said filament;

g. said support wire securing means then operable to release said support wire, and said bending means and said anvil means then operable to move away from said filament and the formed loop of said support wire; and

h. actuating means for actuating said support wire securing means, said anvil means, said filament moving means, and said bending means in the foregoing work sequence.

2. The apparatus as specified in claim 1, wherein said support wire gripping means comprises a pair of gripping jaws operable to grip and retain said support wire.

3. The apparatus as specified in claim 1, wherein said filament moving means comprises a filament-positioning plate movable toward and into contact with said filament, and said filment-positioning plate is spring biased into contact wtih said filament; a supporting bracket is movable toward said filament by said actuating means and carries said anvil means, and movement of said bracket toward said filament causes said bracket to contact said filament-positioning plate to move same against its spring bias to permit said filament to return to its normal position.

4. The apparatus as specified in claim 1, wherein said bending means comprises a ratchet wheel rotatable by said actuating means, and said ratchet wheel has a series of spaced teeth operable to impact against said suppont wire when said ratchet wheel is rotated to drive and pull said support wire about said anvil means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 851,152 Baldwin Apr. 23, 1907 2,683,473 Flaws et al. July 13, 1954 2,811,988 Hamilton Nov. 5, 1957 2,838,075 Terry et a1. June 10, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 630,817 France Aug. 7, 1928 472,647 Great Britain Sept. 27, 1937

Claims (1)

1. APPARATUS FOR LOOPING A SUPPORT WIRE ABOUT A LAMP FILAMENT, SAID APPARTUS COMPRISING: A. SUPPORT WIRE SECURING MEANS OPERABLE TO SECURE AN INTERMEDIATE PORTION OF SAID SUPPORT WIRE AND POSITION ADJACENT TO SAID FILAMENT THE FREE END PORTION OF SAID SUPPORT WIRE WHICH IS TO BE LOOPED ABOUT SAID FILAMENT; B. ANVIL MEANS OPERABLE TO PROTECT SAID FILAMENT FROM DEFORMATION AND ALSO TO SERVE AS A MANDREL DURING THE FORMATION OF SAID SUPPORT WIRE INTO A LOOP ABOUT SAID FILAMENT; C. FILAMENT MOVING MEANS FOR MOVING FROM ITS NORMAL POSITION, AND TOWARD SAID ANVIL MEANS THROUGH A PREDETERMINED DISTANCE, THE PORTION OF SAID FILAMENT INTENDED TO BE ENCIRCLED BY THE LOOP OF SAID SUPPORT WIRE; D. SAID ANVIL MEANS OPERABLE TO MOVE A PREDETERMINED DISTANCE TOWARD SAID FILAMENT TO A POSITION PROXIMATE TO SAID SUPPORT WIRE FREE END PORTION; E. BENDING MEANS ADJACENT TO AND MOVABLE WITH SAID ANVIL MEANS AND OPERABLE TO ENGAGE SAID SUPPORT WIRE FREE END PORTION TO DRIVE AND PULL SAME ABOUT SAID ANVIL MEANS;

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