US3137426A - Reserve container - Google Patents

Description

June 16, 1964 BRENNEISEN 3,137,426

RESERVE CONTAINER Filed Nov. 17, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.5. 467,) 36 -3 38 7 p;

INVENTOR L 6072 Brerzwea sen Attorneys United States Patent 3,137,426 RESERVE CONTAINER Leon Brenncisen, Basel, Switzerland, assignor to Forschungs Anstalt fner Mechanik, Basel, Switzerland Filed No 17, 1961, Ser. No. 153,026 Claims priority, application Germany Nov. 24, 1960 6 Claims. (Cl. 226) This invention relatesto reserve containers for the wire or band used in machines for applying strappingmateria'l around a package.

Such machines are used for sealing boxes, bales or other packages with a steel wire or band which is continuously unwound from a reel. The reels used for tying large parcels or bales are usually heavy and are not, therefore, easily removed so that a considerable amount of time is used for unwinding the lengths of wire or band required for each parcel. To overcome this difliculty it has been found to be advantageous to arrange a container for reserve lengths of wire between the reel and the apparatus on which the wire is wound around the parcel, and successive lengths of wire or band unwound from the reel are carried into this container. Known containers of this type usually consist of a rectangular or square-metal frame provided on either side with a sheet metal wall. The clearance between the two side walls is only slightly greater than the width of the wire or band. The wire or band .is introduced into the container through an inlet duct in the frame and is removed from the frame through an outlet duct. One of the side walls of the frame is 3,137,426 Patented June 16, 1964 point. This produces a considerable amount of friction between the intersecting wire strands and the side walls so that the loops of wire will get jammed, particularly since the coefiicient of friction between steel wire and the sheet metal walls is relatively high.

The present invention overcomes. these difliculties by providing a reserve container for successively accommokept absolutely parallel to one another by the frame and thereforepossible to make the distance between the glass composed, either entirely or partly, of a door which may be closed and opened so that at the beginning of the operation the operator can open the door and thread the Wire or band through the inlet duct and take the front end of the wire and push it out through the outlet duct and then close the door. When the machine is in continuous operation, a length of wire at least'suflicient for tying up the parcel is automatically introduced into 'the container and then removed at the required speed to form a loop around the parcel or bale. Then follows a time interval required for tightening the wire around the parcel and closing the loop and during this interval, the reserve of wire or band in the container may be replenished at the desired relatively smaller speed so that by the time one parcel is tied the container is replenished and ready to supply the next unit length of wire or band without any loss of time.

In practice, however, containers of the type described above have been found satisfactory only in strapping machines using bands but not in those using round, oval or fiat wire, because the wire has a tendency to become,

ative to the width of the bands and at the same time the bands have a much greater resistance to bending in the transverse direction so that a band will easily be arranged in separate loops as it is continuously set into the container and there will be no stoppages in the operation whereas in the case of oval or flat wires their resistance L to bending in a direction transversely to the container is much smaller so that it is not possible to prevent the Wire being bent in that direction. Moreover, a relatively small increase in the transverse width of the container may be sufiicient to cause two adjacent wire loops to cross at that are not used as doors; consequently,the distance between the two plates may be kept quite constant. Moreover, the adjacent glass surfaces have a very small frictional resistance and great hardness relative to steel wire. It is plates very small so that there is only a'relatively small clearance between the plates and the wire and this clearance is then for allpractical purposes constant. This eliminates the tendency of adjacent strips of wires to intersect when wire is pushed into thecontainer; moreover, the

adjacent lengths of wire will not get jammed because the frictional'resistance is so small.

In the accompanying'drawings which show a constructional example embodying the subject of the invention;

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic side view,

FIGURE 2 shows thellower part of the container 'on a 7 larger scale, partly in median longtiudinal section,

FIGURE 3 is a cross-section-on the .line IIIIII in FIGURE 2, FIGURE 4 is a cross-section on the line FIGURE 2 on a larger scale, and

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to that shown in FIGURE lot a modified embodiment.

FIGURE 1 shows a conventional stirrup-shaped bar 1 of a wire strapping machine not itself shown in the drawing. The bar 1 is-mounted on a table 2 along which articles to be strappedare moved successively under the arch formed by the bar. The bar contains a continuous duct through which strapping material in the form of steel wire 3 is moved. This duct can be opened to the inside and ends in a groove 4 extending across the table 2 so that by inserting the wire 3 by means of a pair of driving rollers 5 into the groove 4 and then through the duct in the bar 1, a loop may be formed in the usual manner and can then--be placed round a parcel or the like and tied firmly'on to it. The length of wire required to form the loop is taken from a containerfi arranged beside the barl. This container 6 comprises a framewhich is U-shaped in section with the opening facing inwardly. Two glass plates 7 and8 forming parallel side walls as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 are inserted into the frame and fixed in position by distance pieces 9 so that they are kept at a predetermined and perfectly uniform distance from one another. A lower bar 10 of the frame shown in FIGURE 2 has a central aperture which is closed by a detachable insert 11. This insert 11 is composed of the two arms 12 and 17 at right angles in section, as shown in FIGURES, a part 12 placed transversely to the glass plates 7, 8 being traversed by vertical tubes 13 and 14 which also passes through a support 15 for the glass plates 7, 8 lying on the horizontal portion of the bar 10. The tube 14 forms an inlet duct and the tube 13 an outlet duct for the wire loop 16. Another arm 17 of the insert 11 is parallel to the glass plates 7, 8 and is reinforced on-the outside by a longitudinal bar 18 Welded on ,to it and which has at eachend in I projections 19 and Zti'respectively which overlap a corresponding flange 21 of the bar it The projections 19, 2t and the flange 21 of the frame have open longitudinal slits Hand 23 respectively. An assembly screw 24 at each projection 19, 2t) passes through the slits 22, 23 which are in alignment with one another, and a square headld of each screw 24 moves in a longitudinal groove 26 on the inner surface of the flange 21 as shown in FIGURE 4. Thus, the screws 24 cannot be rotated, but are longitudinally displaceable. Each screw 24 has a nut 27 which can be manipulated by hand and, when tightened, it fixes the projections 19, tightly to' the flange 21. The slits 23 of the flange are long enough to enable the screws 24 to be removed from the slits 22 of the projections after the nuts 27 have been loosened and the nut cooperating with the projections 19, also comes out of engagement with the projections. In this position, the insert 11 is loosened and can be removed. This is necessary whenever a new wire has to be pushed through the inlet duct 14 and out through the outlet duct 13. A very simple method has thus been found for threading the wire outside the container. The insert 11 is then replaced into the aperture in the frame and fixed in position by pushing back the nut 27 and tightening it.

A bearing block 23 (FIGURE 2) on which a twoarmed lever is swingable about an axis 29 transversely to the bar ll of the frame, is disposed on the web orhorizontalportion of the bar 19. A longer lever arm 30 passes through a slot in this portion of the frame and then into I the space to between the glass plates land 8 and a shorter lever arm 31 projects downwardly and is provided at its free end with a counterweight 32 which tends to swing the lever in a counterclockwise direction about the axis 29 into a position of rest in which the arm 35) takes up the position 3% shown in dash-dot lines. The lever arm 31 is in contact with one arm of a lever'33 which operates a switch for driving the pair of rollers 35. The switch, which is not shown in the drawing, is disposed in a housing 34. The pair of rollers 35 is used for inserting the wire 16 into the inlet duct ML The switch is so constructed that it closes the driving current circuit when the arm 3t) of the-lever is in the position of rest 30. This lever arm 36 acts as feeler responding to the extent to which the container is filled; as shown diagrammatically in FIG- -URE 2, the wire which is pushed into the container by the pair of rollers 35 in the process of filling the container will sooner or later bear against this feeler 3t and the torque exerted on the feeler 39 will increase as the container fills. The weight 32 is so designed and adjusted that when the container is filled with a predetermined amount of wire Q driving the pair of rollers 35 is thereby opened and the supply of wire is stopped. I

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the outside of the glass plate 8 is protected by a wall 47 spaced a slight distance from the plate 8 and fixed to the corresponding flange of the frame. This protective wall or cover d7 is arranged on that side of the container which is more exposed and in greater danger when the apparatus is in operation. .Another such wall may, of course,'be provided in a similar manner on the other side of the container so that both glass plates are protected. This wall may be made, for example, of plywood. The glass plates themselves are strong enough to withstand the conditions of operation even without a protective Wall. The thickness of the glass used depends on the size of the plates and may suitably be about 8 min. on the average.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 5, an inlet duct 36 for the wire is in an upper bar 37 of the frame of the container and an outlet duct 38 is at the opposite end at the corner formed by the end of the bar 37 and an adjacent vertical bar 39. "The frame is otherwise completely closed. A wire guiding device for threadingthe acts as feeler to control the extent to which the container 'is filled with wire loops and in this respect has the same function as the lever arm 39 described above with reference to FIGURE 2. When the lever 44 shown in FIG- URE 5 is in its position of rest, it is secured against swinging in a clockwise direction by means such as a stop. 48. The length of the lever arm 44- is such that its free end in this position acts also as stop for the lever arm 43, which has such an inclination relative to the bar 37 that the front end of the wire 40 pushed through the inlet duct 36 is deflected by the lever 43 to the corner between the bars 37 and 41 and is guided through the bar 37 and hence automaticallydirected through the outlet duct 38:

formed by the end portion of the said slot. 7

When the wire has been threaded, the switch lever is turned in the anticlockwise direction from outside until the lever 43 loses'its support and, sliding. away from it, p is swung under its own weight in the anticlockwise direction about the axis 42. The length of the slit'in the bar 41 is such that the lever arm 43, moving into the vertical position towards the end of its swing, completely fills the part of the slit in the bar 41. The shorter lever arm will then be in the position 46 indicated in dashdot lines in FEGURE 5, in which it projects beyond the frame sufiiciently to be able to be used as handle to return the leverrarm 43 into the position for threading as shown in FIGURE 5. When the lever arm thereby encounters the arm 44 of the feeler, the feeler will momen tarily move out of the way and return behind the lever arm 43 into the position'of rest as shown so that when the lever arm 46 is released, the lever arm 43 will auto-' matically take up the predetermined threading position as indicated in FIGURE 5.

What I claim is:

l. A reserve container for successively accommodatl ing a length of strappingmaterial unwound from a reel of a strapping machine, comprising a frame, two parallel glass plates mounted and arranged in the frame in spaced relation to form side walls, and said frame having an inlet and an outlet for the strapping material, an outlet duct 7 I and an inlet duct in the framecooperating with the outlet .and the inlet for the strapping material, and the frame having an aperture therein and a detachable insert is providedin the frame to close the aperture in the frame, the

outlet-and inlet being mounted in the insert.

2. In a strapping machine for applying to a package,

a strapping wire supplied from a plurality of loops of predetermined length from a reel, a reserve container for said wire comprising a frame, two parallel glass plates forming walls for the passage'of said wire therethrough and an aperture in the'frame, and a detachable insert to close said aperture and including a first part transverse to said glass walls and a second part parallel to said glass walls, said first part having an inlet duct communicating with'the space between said plates and an outlet duct.

lapping adjacent fianges of said'fraine and being detachably connected thereto. V 4. A reserve container for successively accommodat- Moreover, an arm 44 of a two-armed switch 1 ing a length of strapping material unwound from a reel of a strapping machine, comprising a frame, two parallel glass plates mounted and arranged in the frame in spaced relation to form side walls, and said frame having an inlet and an outlet for the strapping material, an internal wire guiding device mounted on the frame which can be moved from outside the frame into a position of rest which does not obstruct the accommodation of a loop of strapping material and also into a threading position in which said strapping material is pushed through said inlet and is deflected towards said outlet.

5. In a strapping machine for applying a strapping wire to a package supplied from a reel in predetermined loop lengths, a reserve container for said wire comprising a frame, two parallel glass side walls in the frame, a bar having a longitudinal slot and a second bar, a wire inlet duct in said second bar, a wire outlet duct in said secondmentioned bar, a wire guiding device in the frame for deflecting said wire to said oulet duct, and a lever swingably mounted on said frame for controlling the feed of said wire and movable into an inoperable position, as to said longitudinal slot of said first-mentioned bar in order to close said slot and into a threading position in which References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,259,517 Drenkard Oct. 21, 1941 2,679,394 Lear May 25, 1954 2,699,089 Jakobs etal. Jan. 11, 1955 2,748,692 Osgood et a1. June 5, 1956 2,843,285 Dodson July 15, 1958 2,912,099 Brouse et al Nov. 10, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 225,413 Australia Nov. 10, 1959

Claims (1)

1. 2. IN A STRAPPING MACHINE FOR APPLYING TO A PACKAGE A STRAPPING WIRE SUPPLIED FROM A PLURALITY OF LOOPS OF PREDETERMINED LENGTH FROM A REEL, A RESERVE CONTAINER FOR SAID WIRE COMPRISING A FRAME, TWO PARALLEL GLASS PLATES FORMING WALLS FOR THE PASSAGE OF SAID WIRE THERETHROUGH AND AN APERTURE IN THE FRAME, AND A DETACHABLE INSERT TO CLOSE SAID APERTURE AND INCLUDING A FIRST PART TRANSVERSE TO SAID GLASS WALLS AND A SECOND PART PARALLEL TO SAID GLASS WALLS, SAID FIRST PART HAVING AN INLET DUCT COMMUNICATING WITH THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID PLATES AND AN OUTLET DUCT.

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