US3470813A

US3470813A - Bundling machines

Info

Publication number: US3470813A
Application number: US597277A
Authority: US
Inventors: Mihkel Nomm; Sven Arne Bohlmark
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1965-11-26
Filing date: 1966-11-28
Publication date: 1969-10-07
Anticipated expiration: 1986-10-07
Also published as: BE690227A; SE321890B; GB1100507A; DE1511505A1; DE1511505B2; FR1508388A

Description

Oct. 7, 1969 M. NGMM ETAL 3,470,813

BUNDLING MACHINES Filed Nov. 28, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTORS Mikk l lV'mm By Sven r4- Bihlmar mar I II. I 1 I Oct. 7, 1969 M. NOMM ETAL 3,470,813

BUNDLING mcanms Filed Nov. 28, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.3.

Oct. 7, 1969 M. NbMM ETAL 3,470,813

BUNDLING MACHINES Filed NOV. 28. 19 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig. 4.

1 1 F|g.5b

15 INVENTORS Mikkel Nomm 'SYQh A Bahlmark United States Patent Int. C1. 3651:: 13/00, 57/10 US. Cl. 100-4 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine for bundling of wire and bar materials, including two curved portions which surround the material to be bundled and define a curved wire guide path. The bundling wire is fed over a driven feed wheel which has a peripheral groove having a width smaller than the wire diameter, and a press roller is spring biased against the periphery of the feed wheel. A twisting head is positioned along the wire guide path at the point where the binding wire crosses itself and has two parallel wire grooves which are tangential to the wire guide path and having also side grooves. The binding wire is fed over the feed wheel, and along the wire guide path including two curved portions, finally abutting against a member which causes the wire to be raised form the wire feed means. A sensing device is responsive to such raising and controls the operation of the wire feed means. The abutting means includes a plunger which makes a stroke to force the free end of the wire into a respective one of the side grooves, and the wire is then cut off by a cutting means.

The present invention relates to improvements in bundling machines and more particularly to a bundling machine for bundling of wire and bar materials such as reinforcement bars or coiled metal wires by binding with threads or wires such as iron wires, said machine comprising a wire feeding mechanism for feeding binding wire from a supply and a wire guide path adapted to be put around a material bundle to be bound and consisting of two arcuate portions pivotable to and from each other, and a twisting head coplanar with said wire guide path and disposed radially beyond said path.

For binding works various binding or bundling machines are known, most of them operating with bands, preferably steel bands, which are wrapped and tied around the material. Similar machines operating with threads or wires have not found the same use, particularly due to the much lower tensile strength of the wires and the difficulties in getting an effective tying of the wire ends after tightening around the bundle.

In some applications, however, it is particularly advantageous to use a machine operating with wires, primarily because of the fact that wire material is cheap and economical to use and also preferable for other reasons, An example thereof is the steel works where since long time the reinforcement bars fed onto the cooling bed after manufacture are bundled manually in suitable mans loads of about bars by means of iron wires tied in three or four places along the length of the bars. In its turn the bundles are then bundled together about ten thereof into a bigger load suitable for power handling such as by fork-lift trucks.

Another example is the bundling of wire coil rings such as rolled wires in wire rolling mills. In this case the binding has met additional obstacles in the difficulties of getting access to the ring bundle by a suitable mechanical device and therefore the binding still is made manually in some cases.

It is obvious that such cumbersome and operator-requiring bundling works as the above-mentioned constitute severe obstacles to an increase of the production. In the case of the reinforcement bars the production speed has already been raised so far that the bars still are inconveniently hot when reaching the bundling station. This hotness also puts some requirements as to the binding material and makes the inexpensive and unimproved black iron wire particularly suitable to use, and this type of wire is easily obtainable in the steel works, too.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a bundling machine for operation with wire binding materials, said machine operating reliably and providing by twisting a rigid tying of such a wire around a bundle to be bound.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bundling machine which is capable of putting a binding wire around a bundle of bars or the like while these still are hot.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bundling machine which is compact and relatively inexpensive to manufacture and therefore is suited for use in all places where a mechanical bundling is to be substituted for manual bundling as mentioned above.

Still an object of the invention is to provide a machine which automatically and for each individual operation senses the required binding wire length and thus is Very economical as to the consuming of wire.

A machine according to the invention is substantially distinguished in that said twisting head has two parallel wire grooves, in the starting position of said head being located on each side of said thread guide path plane and closely adjacent same, and in that said wire feeding mechanism comprises a driven wire feed wheel and a sensing device co-operating therewith for sensing the raising of the wire curved around the periphery of said wire feed wheel after the wire has become fed through one of the wire groovers of said twisting head, around the wire guide path, through the other wire groove of the twisting head and brought to a stop against a stop member, said sensing device being adapted to provide for a stopping of the wire feed, a locking of the free end of the wire by a locking means disposed outside of said twisting head and a momentary reverse feeding of the wire for withdrawal of the same out of said wire guide path and tightening thereof around the material bundle, cutting means co-operating with said twisting head for shearing of the tightened wire at the beginning of the final twisting of the ends of the sheared thread portion.

The invention is further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows an elevated view partly in section of a preferred embodiment of the inventive bundling machine particularly adapted for bundling of reinforcement bars and provided with a wire feeding and sensing mechanism;

FIG. 2 is a front view partly in section and FIG. 3 is a rear view partly in section of said machine;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section through the twisting device;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the twisting head of said twisting device; and

FIGS. 51: and 5b are further end views of said head illustrating the position of the wire during different phases of the twisting operation.

Referring to the drawings, the machine according to the invention comprises in principle a wire feed mechanism 1 for feeding binding thread or wire from a supply (not illustrated), a wire guide path 3 which consists of two arcuate portions 3a and 312, respectively, and which can be swung to and from each other so as to allow the insertion of a bundle into said path, and a twisting device 4 mounted on a base 6 which contains various elements for the operation of the machine such as electric and hydraulic motors, electric control means and circuits, etc.

Between the wire feed mechanism 1 and the twisting device 4 there is provided a wire guide 41. In this embodiment only the upper guide path portion 3a is pivotable at 43a and extends over a large portion of the periphery of a bundle to be bound. The lower guide path portion 3b is stationary. It is to be noted, however, that if suitable for the intended use of the machine said guide path portions can be inverted so that that upper is the stationary one and the lower the movable one. In the wire guide path it is provided an internal wire grove 44, and the pivotal movement of the portion 3a is suitably effected by a pressure cylinder device 62.

The twisting device, as shown in FIG. 4 comprises a twisting head 51 consisting of a rotatable cylindrical body in the free end of which facing the wire guide path 3 is formed a pair of

wire grooves

52, 53. This end of the twisting head 51 is disposed at a point on or adjacent the continuation of the closed substantially particular wire path formed by the path portions 3a and 3b. The two

wire grooves

52, 53 which are disposed on each side of a vertical diametrical plane through the cylindrical twisting head 51, extend substantially tangential from said circular path. Said diametrical plane then coincides with the plane of the circular path in the starting position of the head before the twisting, and the axis of the cylindrical body is directed towards the centre of the path.

The twisting head 51 is driven through a claw coupling 54 by a fiy-wheel 55, in its turn being driven by e.g. a hydraulic motor 56 through a suitable coupling 57. In the twisting device there is also incorporated a pressure device disposed on one side of the twisting head and consisting of a cylinder 58 with a piston or plunger 59 which is adapted to bend and clamp the forward end of the binding wire portion fed, as is further described below. At the opposite side of the twisting head 51 there is mounted a cutting member 60, against which the wire 15 is cut or sheared after tightening around the bundle.

It is advantageous that the shaft of the twisting head 51 is formed with an eccentric peripheral groove 91 in which slides the point of a spring-biased plunger 92. At the turning of said twisting head said plunger thus will be moved in and out relatively to the centre axis of the shaft. The plunger 92 is adapted in its outermost position to act on a limit switch 93 giving an impulse to an electrical counter (not illustrated) which stops the rotation of the twisting head. When returning the twisting head this is rotated in opposite direction until the abutment formed in the groove 91 by the eccentric form of said groove stops the angular movement by engaging the plunger 92. The hydraulic pressure is thereby increased which acts on a pressure switch adapted to set to zero the hydraulic valve of the twisting device.

As shown particularly in FIG. 1 of the drawings, the wire feeding mechanism 1 comprises a relatively great thread feed wheel 71 along the periphery of which there extends at least one wire conducting groove 72. Preferably the wire feed wheel 71 is driven by a hydraulic motor 73 and adapted to feed the metal wire 15 through the wire guide 41 and one of the wire grooves in the twisting head 51, along the wire guide path 3 and back through the other wire groove of the twisting head 51 and to a stop against the plunger 59 which thus also serves as a stop means. The wire is pressed down into the wire conducting groove 72 in the wheel 71 by one or more spring-biased press rolls 79.

A particular feature of this wire feed mechanism, however, is the unique character of sensing automatically and individually the required binding wire length for each binding operation instead of working with measured predetermined lengths of binding wire. This character is achieved in that it is utilized the tendency of the wire to expand or deflect in continued feeding after the stopping against said stop member 59. Since the first and only place after the feed wheel 71 where the wire is not positively guided in all directions but can deflect, is directly in front of the wire guide 41 where the wire can deflect freely radially or raise from the feed wheel 71. For this reason there is disposed at this place a sensing device 74 which acts on a micro-switch 8D or the like, as soon as the free end of the wire 15 has come to engagement against said plunger 59 and the wire thus gets a tendency of deflecting outwardly at a place immediately in front of said wire guide '41 by the influence of the wire feed wheel 71.

For instance, said sensing device 74 may consist of a pivotable arm in the free end of which is arranged a follower roll 76 engaging the wire 15 under spring pressure. A cam 77 or the like may be formed on the arm for acting on theactuating arm of the micro-switch 80.

In a suitable way this switch is connected with electromagnetic valves for the preferably hydraulic drive motor for the wire feed wheel 71 and adapted to provide a short-time reversal of the rotation of said feed wheel for tightening of the wire 15 around the bundle before twisting while the foremost end of the wire is clamped to the twisting head 51 by the plunger 59.

The machine described above operates in the following way. After the insertion of a bundle of material to be bound which bundle perhaps does not fill completely the free section of the closed wire guide path 3, while the guide path portion 3a is swung open, the machine is started and the path 3 is closed around said bundle. The wire feeding mechanism 1 then feeds the free end of the wire 15 from a suitable supply (not illustrated) by the feed wheel 71 and through the guide 41, the twisting head groove 52, the wire path 3 and back through the twisting head groove 53 till abutment against the retracted plunger 59. After this and in continued feeding of the wire, the wire gets a tendency to deflect or raise radially from the wire feed wheel 71. This deflection, however, immediately causes an action on the sensing device 74 which actuates the micro-switch 80, in its turn causing a stopping of the feeding and a momentary reversal of the feed for drawing the wire 15 out of said wire guide path groove 44 and tighten same around the bundle.

It has turned out that this control mechanism with sensing device is very sensitive and quick in its reactions. The sensitivity also allows the provision of another cam 82 on the arm 74, if desired, for acting on another microswitch 84 to indicate if the wire when reversing the rotation of the feed wheel 71 happens to slide out of the twisting head in spite of the clamping action by the plunger 59, and in such case immediately stop the reversed movement before the wire 15 manages to be fed back beyond the press rolls 79 and out of said feed mechanism. The wire conducting groove 72 of said wheel, namely, is made much narrower than the diameter of the wire so that the wire will ride at the top of the groove and thus project with about half its diameter beyond the periphery of the wheel 71. If the wire is no longer present on the periphery of the wheel 71, the follower roll 76 will thus fall down directly onto the wheel which is a small movement but still sufficient for allowing an actuation of the micro-switch 84 causing a stopping of the reverse feed.

In the next step the twisting device 4 is started by the hydraulic motor 56, the fly-wheel 55 first rotating alone and near the end of its first turn coming into engagement with the twisting head 51 through the claw coupling 54. Thereby the head 51 is subjected to an impact-like rotational movement so as to first bend also the portion of the wire 15 closest to the feeding mechanism 1 into a notch 52a in the groove 52, as is illustrated in FIG. 5b, and then to be capable to shear off this wire portion against a stationary cutting member 60 before the twisting head 51 starts the twisting of the ends of the wire portion thus obtained. The plunger 59 then is pressed back automatically a required distance by the rear wall of then otch 53a of the groove 53, against which wall the foremost wire end has been kept clamped by this plunger, as seen in FIG. 5b.

The rotation of the twisting head 51 then is continued a required or predetermined number of revolutions, e.g. three or four, or as many as the wire is so tightened around the bundle that the wire ends automatically slide out of the twisting head 51. At the same time the wire guide path portion 3a is swung open for removal of the finished bundle; the machine then is ready for a subsequent similar operation.

The above-stated embodiment has been described only as a non-limiting example of the invention; it is obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations of this embodiment can be made within the scope of invention as defined in the accompanying claims.

We claim:

1. A machine for 'bundling of wire and bar materials such as reinforcement bars or coiled metal wires by binding with threads or wires and comprising in combination:

wire guide path means comprising two curved portions and means for opening and closing said curved portions, said two curved portions when closed substantially surrounding the materials to be bundled,

a twisting head positioned at a point along the guide path defined by said guide path means at the point where the binding wire crosses itself, said twisting head having two aparallel wire grooves which are tangential to the wire guide path for twisting of a portion of wire around the material to be bundled.

wire feed means for feeding wire from a supply through one of said parallel grooves and along the entire wire guide path and back through the other parallel groove of said twisting head, abutment means positioned to be abutted by said wire portion which emerges from said other parallel groove externally of said twisting head,

wire sensing means responsive to a raising of said wire from said wire feed means occurring when the free end of the wire abuts against said abutment means for controlling operation of said wire feed means,

each said wire groove being formed with a side groove disposed at the periphery of said twisting head and extending in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation,

said abutment means in its starting position being located with its abutting face directly externally of said twisting head and formed as a plunger, said plunger upon making a stroke bending the free end of said wire portion into the side groove of the associated parallel groove to proivde a clamping of said wire portion, means responsive to completion of feeding of the binding wire for controlling said plunger to make a stroke, and means for cutting said wire.

2. A machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the wire feed means comprises a driven feed wheel which is relatively large and having a peripheral wire guide groove having a width which is smaller than the wire diameter, and at least one press roller spring-biased against the periphery of the feed wheel, said wire sensing device comprising a follower supported by a pivotally journalled lever and being spring-biased against the wire in the peripheral groove of the feed wheel at a point lying after the press roller in the direction of feed.

3. A machine according to claim 1 which further includes a fly-wheel coupled to said twisting head and means for rotating said fly-wheel, said fly-wheel being operatively coupled to said twisting head through a claw coupling, said claw coupling permitting said fly-wheel to accelerate a substantial portion of one revolution at the beginning of a cutting operation before said claw coupling comes into action and shock-like entrains the twisting head for cutting off the portion of wire bound around the bundle from the rest of the Wire of the supply.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,742,851 4/1956 Fryer -26 X 3,137,426 6/ 1964 Brenneisen. 3,179,037 4/ 1965 Cranston et a1. 100-26 X 3,269,300 8/1966 Billett et a1 10026 X 3,279,355 10/1966 Missioux 100-26 FOREIGN PATENTS 112,015 9/1964 Czechoslovakia. 470,138 1/ 1929 Germany.

BILLY J. WILHITE, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.