US3403871A

US3403871A - Spool having reinforced flanges

Info

Publication number: US3403871A
Application number: US590285A
Authority: US
Inventors: Rebillet Marcel
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1966-10-28
Filing date: 1966-10-28
Publication date: 1968-10-01
Anticipated expiration: 1985-10-01

Description

Oct. 1, 1968 M. REBILLET 3,403,871

SPOOL HAVING REINFORCED FLANGES v Filed on. 28. 1966 HQ] -H02 INVENTOR WAfCZ-L flea/z 4 f 7- ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,403,371 SPOOL HAVING REINFORCED FLANGES Marcel Rebillet, 167 Avenue Felix-Faure, Lyon 3, France Filed Oct. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 590,285

' Claims. (Cl. 242118.7)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Large size spools designed to withstand great pres- The present invention relates to spools, more particularly to spools having annular end flanges.

The spools to which the present invention is particularly addressed are those which are used for the winding and unwinding of enormous lengths of filamentary material, such as the spools used in textile industries. As is well known, the filamentary material is wound on these spools under tension. The tension of each turn of the material on the spool is applied to the spool and is borne by the cylinder of the spool in radial compression and by the flanges of the spool in endwise outward thrust. As the forces imposed on the spool by the many windings of the filamentary material are largely additive, the endwise thrust borne by the flanges may amount to five tons or more, depending on the size of the spool and the nature of the filamentary material and the tension under which it is wound.

In the past, in order to resist this enormous end thrust, the spools have been made of special aluminum alloys or other special metals, which have adequate strength and desirably light weight, and at the same time resist corrosion and therefore do not soil the thread or other material wound on them. It would be desirable to make spools of plastic; but because of the enormous stresses the flanges must bear, and the inherent weaknesses of plastics, it has heretofore been impossible to make them with flange diameters greater than, say 3 inches, or with lengths greater than, say 5 inches. By contrast, metal spools may be made up to say, 22 inches in length and diameter.

Metal spools suffer from the great disadvantage, however, that they are very expensive.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a spool for the winding and unwinding of filamentary material, which will be relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, which will have end flanges of great strength under axial thrust, and which will be rugged and durable in use.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a spool according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, from the same side as the filamentary material, of a spool flange according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a spool flange taken on the line III-III of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a flange core which forms a component of the flanges of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawing in greater detail, there is shown in FIG. 1 a spool according to the present invention, having a shaft or cylinder 1 of which the two ends are threaded to receive internally screw-threaded annular 3,403,871 Patented Oct. 1, 1968 end flanges 2 thereon. Each flange 2 has a flat inner face 3 which confronts the material wound on the spool and which lies in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the spool. The outer face of each flange 2, indicated at 4, has thereon an annular outwardly extending hub or col- Each flange 2 is of molded solid plastic material. The plastic material is preferably a thermosetting resin, such as solid phenol formaldehyde or polyester or epoxy resin. Suitable such resins are disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2,938,880, May 31, 1960.

A core 9, preferably of said plastic, has the shape shown best in FIG. 4, that is, radially plane on its inner face and generally conical on its outer face.

The core 9 with its assembled reinforcement is placed in a mold having an interior configuration which is the same as the exterior configuration of the flange to be produced. Further said plastic is then introduced in liquid phase into the mold, and heat applied to set the resin, whereafter the finished article has the appearance shown in FIG. 3, in which the core 9 is shown between the broken lines 10 and 11 and is crosshatched in opposite directions. This method of assembly has the advantage that the reinforcement is thus solidly embedded in the flange and a cast plastic flange of substantial thickness is produced at the same time that gas inclusions are avoided.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the flange reinforcement is largely comprised of a series of annular plates disposed in two

groups

15 and 16. The inner plates 15 are fiat and lie in planes perpendicular to the axis of the spool. The outer plates 16 are largely conical as at 18 and parallel to the conical outer surface of the flange, except at their inner edge portions 17 which are parallel to the plates 15. Spacers 19 extend between and interconnect the radially inner portions of

plates

15 and 16; and spacers 20 extend between and interconnect the radially outer portions of

plates

15 and 16. The assembly of the

plates

15 and 16 is effected on the core 9 after which the

spacers

19 and 20 are secured in place. It is to be noted that the

plates

15 and 16 are all of about the same inside diameter but of distinctively different outside diameter, the

plates

15 and 16 of least diameter being closest to each other and to the neutral plane adjacent the base of the flange, and the

plates

15 and 16 of largest diameter being the outermost plates of the flange. The plastic covering comprising the remainder of the flange is then applied as described above. Preferably, the

plates

15 and 16 are provided with holes therethrough (not shown) to ensure equal distribution of the plastic during the last molding step.

From a consideration of the foregoing disclosure, therefore, it will be evident that all of the initially recited objects of the present invention have been achieved.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in connection with preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, as those skilled in this art will readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A spool having a flange of hard synthetic resin with a metal reinforcement embedded in the plastic and disposed over at least most of the radial extent of the flange, the reinforcement comprising a pair of metal structures inside which is disposed an annular synthetic resin core, said metal structures comprising annular metal plates on opposite sides of the core, at least some of these plates being surrounded by said synthetic resin.

2. A spool having a flange of hard synthetic resin with a metal reinforcement embedded in the plastic and disposed over at least most of the radial extent of the flange, the reinforcement comprising a'pair of metal structures inside which is disposed an annular synthetic resin core, and connector means between the metal structures on the radially inner and radially outer sides of the core.

3. A spool having a flange of hard synthetic resin with a metal reinforcement embedded in the plastic and disposed over at least most of the radial extent of the flange, the reinforcement comprising a pair of metal structures inside which is disposed an annular synthetic resin core, Said metal structures extending radially inwardly a substantial distance beyond said core.

4. A spool as claimed in claim 3, a said metal structure on the outer side of the flange lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the spool, a said metal structure on the inner side of the flange being conical radially outwardly of the hub but lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the spool radially inwardly of the hub.

5. A spool having a flange of hard synthetic resin with a metal reinforcement embedded in the plastic and disposed over at least most of the radial extent of the flange, the reinforcement comprising a plurality of annular metal plates spaced apart substantially distances axially of the spool, said plates being'dispos'ed in two s aced'staeks With the plate in each stack which is the farthest from the other stack having the greatest diameter and the other plates having progressively smaller diameters.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/ 1956 France.

OTHER REFERENCES Scanlan, German printed application 1,117,462, pub].

20 November 1961.

GEORGE F. MAUTZ, Primary Examiner.