US333707A - withing-ton - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 7 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. WITHINGTON.

MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING WIRE.

No. 388,707. Patented Jan. 5, 1886.

WITNESSES: QINV OR w i lmv M (No Model.) 7 7 SheetsSheet'2..

J. WITHINGTON.

MACHINE FOR STRAIG HTENING WIRE. No. 333,707.

Patented Jan. 5,1886.

moModel.) 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 J. WITHINGTON.

MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING WIRE.

WITNESSES:

7 Sheets-Sheet 4. 7

(No Model.)

J. WITHINGTON.

MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENLNG WIRE.

No. 333,707. Patented Jan 5, 1886'.

WITNESSES:

PhoX Lilhogmphen Wishingion. n. c.

(N01 Model.) v 7 Sheets-Sheet 5. J. WITHINGTON.

MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING WIRE. No. 333,707. Patented Jan. 5, 1886.

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MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING WIRE.

Patented Jan. 5, 1886.

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N. PETERS, Phom-Lllhographer, Wanhingmn, Dv C.

(No Model.) 7 heets-Sheet *zJ J.v WITHINGTON.

MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING WIRE. 'No. 333,707. Patented Jan. 5, 1886.

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WITNESSES:

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5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES WITHIN GTON, OF OHAMBERSBURG, ASSIGNOR TO THE TRENTON IRON COMPANY, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING WIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,707, dated January 5, 1886.

Application filed June 3, 1884.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES WITHINGTON, a citizen of the United States, residingin Chambersburg, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Straightening \Vire, \Vire Rods, and Kindred Products, of which the following isaspeciiication. My invention relates to a well-known class of machinery employed for straightening wire, wire or other metal rods, or shafting, in which the principal operative instrumentality is a rapidly-revolving head, straightenenframe, or flier, containing dies or kindred devices set longitudinally within it and eccentrically to its longitudinal axis, through which dies the wire is passed or threaded, and by the rotation of which it is straightened, and its chief object is the provision of a revolving straightening head or flier of a special construction and a particular mode of operation, hereinafter at length set forth.

A further object is the provision of improved means of driving the feeding mechanism and the revolvingheadindependently and at different velocities, and for changing the respective velocities so as the better to adapt the machine to straighten wires of different materials and various'sizes.

A preferred form of a convenient embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, and hereinafter described, the special features of invention being particularly specified in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is atop plan view of the several instrumentalities which in their assembled relation compose my apparatus as an entirety, and which may be briefly enumerated to consist of a wire reel or coil-holding con trivan ce, feed-rolls, a rev olv'ing straightening head or flier of a novel construction, delivery-rolls, a shearing mechanism, and a driving mechanism for driving at separate velocities, first, the feed or the feed and delivery rolls, and, second, the revolving head, and

p for altering at will the respective velocities of said rolls and said head. Fig 2 is a front elevation of the revolving head, the feed and delivery rolls, and their connected appliances, the shears, the belt-tightening device for the Serial No. 133,714. No model.)

belts of the revolving head, and the bed-plate and housings for supporting the said several devices. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the devices represented in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig. 2, with the exception that the feed and delivery rolls, the bell -mouthed guides,'the flier-housing and the flier itself, and the shears, the shearing contrivances of which are shown advanced into position to act, are represented in central longitudinal vertical sectional elevation. Fig. 5 is an end view of the apparatus represented in Figs. 2 and 3, viewed from the left-hand side of said figures. tional elevation through the flier, section being supposed on the dotted line a: a: of Fig. 2, the belttightening devices being also shown. Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional front elevational detail through one standard of the feed-roll housing, especially designed to illustrate the means of adjustment of the shaft of the upper feed-roll. Fig. Sis a right-hand end elevational view of the shearing mechanism represented in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the drawings, A is a bed-plate, of suitable outline, supported upon legs a or in any preferred manner. The ,bed plate supports thetlier-housing B, the roll-housings Gfor thefeed and delivery rolls.and the shearing mechanism D. The flier-housing Bis a rectangular frame, upon standards b of which are supported bearings b for the journal 6 of the revolving head or flier E. The revolving head or flier E is a wellknown device, consisting of a rectangular frame composed, essentially, of two trans- Fig. 6 is a transverse or end secversely-connected yoke-bars, e, spaced apart a given distance and framed into driving-pulleys e", from which project the hollow journals e, which revolve in the bearings b of the flierhousing.

Fliers 0r revolving heads of the above construction have been in use for many years in wire-straightening devices per 86, which are applied to and carried by the flier, and hereinat'ter described.

e are two removable hollow bushings,which are applied within the hollow journals and driviug-pulleys of the flier in a position coincident with the axis thereof, and which, being conveniently provided with bell-mouths, are respectively adapted to receive the wire from the feed-rolls and supply it to the thimbles, and to take the wire from the thimbles and supply it to the delivery-rolls, or, when the latter are not used, to receiving tables or troughs. The bell-mouths of these bushings are designated by the letter 6, and the bushings are retained in place by means of collars e", or kindred retaining devices, which are represented in Fig. 4. These bushings are made removable, so that they may be readily renewed when worn out.

The straightening devices proper are a series of bell-mouthed axially-apertured thimbles, F, of any desired material, which are retained in position by being screwed into or otherwise connected to or formed as a part of crossebars f, connected with and carried by the revolving head. Any desired number of these thimbles may be employed, and in the mounting of the head their bell-mouths all face the feed-rolls. The bell-mouth of each thimble is peripherally made of such diameter as to insure contact of the free end of a wire or rod, introduced through the flier when rotating, with its funnel-shaped face so that the said face will necessarily direct the said free end of the wire as the latter is fed into the axial aperture of the thimble-body or die proper; and in this connection I desire to expressly contradistinguish between my bell-mouthed "thimbles and such eccentric dies as have been heretofore used for many years in revolving fliers of this class, and in which the axial apertures of the dies have been slightly dressed out, countersunk, chamfered, or reamed out,

a as the gist of my construction in this regard resides in providing the die or thimble proper with a bell-mouth of such peripheral diameter and flare as to insure the unfailing reception by it of the free end of a wire which has been passed through the preceding eccentric die,

and which in the revolution of the head is describing a rotary path of much greater radius than the radius of a mere countersunk extremity of the axial aperture of a succeeding eccentric die.

A type of the flier above referred to, and which, as stated, has been for many years in use, is to be found in English Letters Patent No. 3,009, granted December 4, 1857, to John Rubery. To a flier of the said construction it isproper forme to state that I lay no claim.

The hollow bore and bell-mouth of each thimble is eccentric to the axis of the head; but the degree of eccentricity of the first thimble is preferably greater than that of the last. In other Words, each thimble after the first isprel'erably more nearly coincident or at a less radial distance from the axis of the head than the thimble immediately preceding it, and this is true,notwithstan ding that the thi mbles are set alternately upon opposite sides of the axis. The cross-bars f, which carry the thimbles, extend transversely across the flier and are secured against the proximate faces of the yoke-bars thereof, which faces are disposed in parallel planes on opposite sides of a plane through the axis by means of clampplates e which are respectively secured to said opposite faces of the yoke-bars by connecting-bolts e. The extremities of the cross bars project beyond the exterior or peripheral faces of the yoke-bars and clamp-plates, are threaded, and are capableof radial adjustment with respect to said bars and plates by means of adjusting-nuts f upon their threaded extremities, which bear against the peripheral faces of both clamp-plates and yoke-bars.

The above construction permits of the employment of bell-mouthed thimbles, renders thethimbles adjustable both longitudinally or axially and radially, and permits of the application or removal of any particular thimble, as well as the application of any given number of thimbles and their precise adjustment seriatim with respect either to axial or radial position.

It is obvious that when the flier is rapidly revolved the wire or rod which is fed to it is caused in its passage through the thimbles to have a preferably decreasing sinuous or serpentine motion, the result of which is that the wire is very accurately straightened before it is delivered to the delivery rolls or troughs.

The bell-mouthed construction of thehollow bushings and thimbles permits of the introduction of the wire to the head while the latter is revolving at its usual speed, and, as already stated, obviates the necessity hitherto existing of stopping the head, first setting the thimbles into line, threading the wire through them by hand, and then, adjusting them to a given eccentricity.

The method of application of the thimbles, as in the case of the bushings, permits of their renewal when worn out. The flier is revolved by means of the flier-belts e,-Figs. 1 and 6, which are driven by pulleys on a flier-shaft, 6 which is driven by a belt, 9, driven bya pulley on a counter-shaft,G, itself actuated b a pulley driven by a main belt, G. v

The above arrangement is simply one of many which can be resorted to for imparting to the revolving head a uniform high speed, such, for instance, as from eighteen hundred to three thousand revolutions per minute.

In order toinsure the accurate grip of the flier -belts upon the driving-pulleys of the flier, I employ a belt-tightener contrivance, (best represented in Figs. .2, 3, 4, and 6,) which is of the following construction: A rock-shaft, H, journaled parallel with the axis of the flier in suitable bearings, preferably in the standards I) of the flier-housing, carries two rocker-standards, h, so disposed asto bere spectively in line back of the driving-pulleys ofthe flier,which are provided at their upper extremities with housings for idler-pulleys h,

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so disposed as to be in line to bear against the flier-belts when actuated so to do. The rockerstandards are connected by a rocker-yoke, h Figs. 3 and 6, to which is pivoted the upper extremity of a bellcrank lever, if, the fulcrum of which, h, is upon the bed-plate of the machine, or, if desired, upon the rock-shaft, and to the lower arm of which is connected the link if, to which in turn is connected the footlever 72.", Figs. 2, 3, 4., and 5, which plays through a vertically slotted and notched keeper, h Figs. 2 and 5. A spiral spring, h tends to keep the foot-lever normally up in the position represented in Figs. 2 and 5, and the idler-pulleys away from the belts; but pressure exerted upon. the lever so as to de press it and causeits engagement in the notch formed in the slot of its keeper will cause the deflection ofthe bell-crank lever and the throwing of the rocker standards and pulleys forward against the flier-belts so as to secure the tightening of said belts in the manner represented in Fig. 6.

The above tightening contrivance is one of convenience rather than of absolute necessity, and it may either be dispensed with or, if desired, other contrivances operative to a like result may be substituted in its stead.

I, Fig. 1,- represents a reel or device for holding the coil of wire to be straightened, and from which the wire is led .to the feed rolls. The device which I prefer to employ for this purpose constitues the su ject-matter of a separate application executed by me contemporaneously with this application.

As any reel or coil'holding device may be employed in conjunction with my present apparatus, a specific description of the particular reel represented is foreign to the purposes of this specification.

J J are respectively the upper and lower feed-rolls which I employ to feed the wire into and through the flier. These rolls are particularly represented in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 of the drawings, and consist of two plain iron wheels, preferably from six to eight inches in diameter, formed with concaved or grooved peripheries. These rolls are sustained in ver- 'wheel, j which is driven by a beveled pinion,

k, mounted upon a pinion-shaft, K, carried in the journals k, erected from the bed-plate of the machine. This pinion-shaft K is equipped with fast and loose pulleys It k, which are driven by a belt, from what I term a cone-shaft, 70 which is represented in Fig. 1. This cone-shaft is adapted to be driven at afiXed, although variable, speed,which is such of velocity sufficient to actuate the feed-rolls at a predetermined speed considerably less than the speed of rotation of the flier. The pinion-shaft is also provided with a second driving-pinion, 70*, which gears with a bevel crown-wheel, In, which is adapted to actuate the delivery-rolls at a speed equal to that of the feed-rolls.

as 'to impart .to the driving-shaft K a rotation W WV are toothed pinions, respectively mounted upon the upper and the lower rollshafts, and engaged so as to transmit in a re-' verse direction the rotation of the lower shaft to the upper. The teeth of these pinions are of sufficient radial depth to permit of a given separation of the pinions without disengagement. The roll-shaft j of the upper feed-roll, J, is carried in slide-bearings L, Fig. 7, adapted to slide vertically in slots in the roll housings, so that the upper .feedroll and its roll-shaft can have a slight vertical movement with respect to the lower feed-roll and its shaft, such movement be ing necessary to permit the feed-rolls to act upon varying sizes of wires, or wires of slightly varying diameters. The frictional grip of the feed-rolls is secured by providing an upper cross-head, I, Fig. 5, which straddles the housing, bears upon both the slide-bearings of the upper roll-shaft, and is retained down upon them so as to hold the feed rolls to duty by two suspenders, Z Z, connected together below the bed plate of the machine through an opening in which they pass by a lower cross-head,

1*, which serves to receive near its fulcrum and r to sustain a lever, 1 the outer extremity of which is provided with a lever-weight, Z", and by the tension of which lever the upper feedroll is retained against the lower feedroll with or the delivery-rolls is redundant in this specir fication, especially as said rolls as a mechanical feed device form the subject-matter of a sep* arate application for patent executed by me contemporaneously with this application.

N N N are three cast-iron or other metal bellmouthed guides, respectively placed and; supported immediately in' front of and to the rear of the feed-rolls, and in front ofthe delivery -'rolls and between the latter and the flier. ployed to facilitate the introduction without stopping the machine of the wire or rod, respectively, to the feed-rolls, to the flier, and to the delivery rolls or troughs.

These bell-mouthed guides are em- D, Fig. 8, is a shearing machine of a type which I find it convenient to employ in connection with the other devices constituting the subject-matter of this invention. It consists of a rocking lever-jaw, d, pivoted at d to a sliding jaw-frame, 61, adapted to travel transversely with respect to the bedframe of the machine in shearways, P, erected upon the bed-frame of the machine.

The cutting devices proper are a notched jaw-plate, d*, and a shearing plate, 11 respectively connected with the fixed jaw-frame and the rocking lever-jaw of the device, and both being to the front of the pivot of the le ver-jaw.

A spiral spring, p, connected with the sliding'jaw-f'rame and a, fixed support, serves to ordinarily retain the entire shearing mechanism out of the line of travel of the advancing straightened wireas it is fed from the head or delivery rolls to thereceiving-trongh, upon which is delivered said straightened wire.

When it is desired to advance the shears into position to cause the severance of the wire, a shears-lever, 9, Fig. 8, is adapted to be deflected so as to expand the spring and draw forward the shears into aposition in whichthe jaw-plates may sever the wire.

- The rocking lever-jaw of the shears is adapted to be continuously vibrated by means of a cam, Q, mounted upon a cam-shaft, q, journaled upon the sliding jaw-frame, and actuated by a toothed spur-wheel, g, which takes its rotation from a toothed pinion, (1 mounted upon what I term a shears-shaft, g also journal'ed in the slidingjaw-frame, and equipped with a driving'pulley. g, which is driven by ashears-belt, (Z5, which latter is actuated to a fixed travel from a pulley on the countershaft G. The forward movement of the shears is limited by a stop-screw, d Fig. 8.

Instead of employing a shears-lever, the shears may be moved by any other contrivance operated manually or by power.

, In Fig. l I have represented a convenient arrangement for respectively driving the flier, the feed and delivery rolls, and the shears, and for altering at will the relative velocities of the feed-rolls and the head.

The provision of positively-operating means by which the relative velocities of the flier or Straightening-head and the wire-feeding devices can be controlled at will is of the utmost importance in machines of this class, for

when wires oflarge diameter are to be straight ened a very different rate of speed in the flier is required from the speed employed for straightening wires of small diameter, While the rate of feed may be the same for all diameters, and this proposition is true with respect also to wires made from different metals. I have therefore, as stated, provided a suitable mechanical device by which,even when the machine is in operation and without stopping it, the respective velocities. may be varied at will. This arrangement consists, as already partially described, of a counter-shaft, G, adapted to be driven by the main belt at a fixed rotation. From pulleys on this counter-shaft are driven the belt qifor actuating the shears, and the belt 9, for actuating the fliershaft 0 from belts 'upon'which latter, as already explained,the flier is driven at a fixed high speed. The counter-shaft is also provided witha pulley, from which is driven a belt, R, which drives one ofa pair of cone-pulleys, S S, connected by a conebelt, s. The cone shaft 10 of the cone-pulley S carries a pulley, which drives the belt k, which actuates the shaft K. The pulleys which carry the belt B being of the same size, and the counter-shaft being driven from the main belt at a fixed speed, it is obvious that the rapidity of the revolution of the belt is, which actuates the driving-shaft, can only be governed by the position of the conebelt 3 upon its cones. This belt 8 is adapted to be shifted in its position upon the conepulleys by a belt shifter contrivance which I have designated by the letter T, and which it is not necessary to further describe here, for the reason that it constitutes the subject-matterof a separate application for patent executed by me contemporaneously with this application. Suffice it to say that the conepulleys, belt, and belt-shifting contrivance together form aconvenient means whereby the speed of the pinion-shaftK, and consequently of the feed and delivery rolls, can be varied without varying the speed of the flier.

The operation, except as otherwise explained is as follows: The thimbles of the flier being set to a predetermined adjustment, and the speed of the feed and delivery rolls being accommodated to the size and material of the wire to be straightened, the revolving head is set in motion. The wire, being led from the reel or holding contrivance,-is first entered through the first bell-mouthed guide into the grip of the feed-rolls, and is then carried by them through the second bell mouthed guide to the first bell-mouthed bushing of the head, thence through the thimbles of the head, and through the second bellmouthed bushing of the head into the third bell-mouthed guide, and thence to the delivery-rolls when employed, by which latter it is gripped, and which cooperate with the feedrolls in drawing the wire through the flier, and thence in front of the retracted shears into a receiving trough, pipe, or suitable conductor, which will prevent its advance extremity from flying out. When a sufficient amount of wire has been fed through the ma: chine and straightened, the shears are drawn into action and then instantly released, so as to be returned by their spring or counterweight, an operation, it is to be remarked, which can take place without arresting any of the other motions of the machine.

It is proper to remark that the principle the assemblage of the otheriinstrumentalities in connection therewith. as hereinafter claimed.

It is obvious that the construction of the device is such that the wire can be fed into it and automatically carried through it while the machine is in operation, and it is very evident that a vastly greater product can be turned out by this machine than by machines heretofore in use.

If desired, the delivery-rolls may be dispensed with, although when employed they co-operate with the feed-rolls in drawing the wire through the thimbles, and are of especial value in drawing the final end of the coil through the flier. The shearing mechanism set forth, or any other automatic shearing mechanism, may also, if desired, be dispensed with and the wire be cut by hand, shears, or by the blow of a chisel or adze. I prefer, however, to employ the automatic shearing mechanism set forth.

As already stated, other contrivances than the specific belt-driving gear represented in Fig. 1, may be substituted in its stead. I, however, prefer to employ the specific gear represented and described.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination, in a wirestaightening machine, with a revolving head or flier, of a series of axially-apertured eccentrieally-disposed dies or thimbles, each of which is provided with a bell-mouth the peripheral diam- 2. In combination with the yoke-bars of 40 the revolving head arranged on opposite sides of the axis, cross-bars provided with bellmouthed thimbles or dies, clamp-plates, bolts for securing said clamp-plates to the yokebars, and adjusting-nuts upon the projecting threaded extremities of said cross-bars, substantially as set forth.

3. In a wire-straightening machine,the combination of a revolving head or flier provided with straightening dies or thimbles, feedingrolls in advance of said head adapted to feed wire through it, driving devices for revolving, the head at a predetermined speed, driving devices for revolving the feed-rolls at a predetermined speed, and means for at will and without the stoppage of the machine varying the relative speeds of the driving devices respectively of said head and feed-rolls, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 22d day of May, A. D. 1884.

JAMES W'ITHINGTON.

In presence of J. BONSALL TAYLOR, W. O. STRAWBRIDGE.

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