US3692254A

US3692254A - Strand guiding apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3692254A
Application number: US99180A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert J Ebert; William H Paxton
Original assignee: Bethlehem Steel Corp
Current assignee: Bethlehem Steel Corp
Priority date: 1970-12-17
Filing date: 1970-12-17
Publication date: 1972-09-19
Anticipated expiration: 1989-09-19

Abstract

Apparatus for withdrawing a strand from a horizontally disposed coil having guide means adapted to control the build up of torsional stress in the strand and to carry the stress along with the strand to avoid formation of kinks therein.

Description

[451 Sept. 19, 1972 United States Patent Ebert et al.

[541 STRAND GUIDING APPARATUS 8/1954 Courtney.................. 5/1941 Chapman,Sr........... .242/l28 [72] Inventors: Robert J. Ebert; William H. Paxton,

[73] Assignee: Bethlehem Steel Corporation both of Johnstown,

Primary Examiner-Leonard D. Christian Attorney-Joseph J. OKeefe [22] Filed: Dec. 17, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 99,180

[57] ABSTRACT 1 Apparatus for withdrawing a strand from a horizontally disposed coil having guide means adapted to control the build up of torsional stress in the strand and to carry the stress along with the strand to avoid forma tion of kinks therein.

[52] US. [51] Int. 49/00, B6511 49/00 [58] Field of Searcb..................242ll28, 129-129.62

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4 Claims, 4 Drawing figures 2,566,801 9/195 1 Jaclcsonetal............ 242/l28 PATENTED 3. 692 254 INVENTORS Faber? J. Eben W/Wmm Paxfon Q 0' By STRAND GUIDING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a vertical pay-off machine for unwinding a single continuous strand from a stationary coil of rod or wire to feed a processing machine as e.g., a wire drawing machine. Difficulties arise when a strand is withdrawn vertically from a horizontally disposed coil, i.e., a coil having a vertically extending aperture, because of the 360 twist imparted to each ring of the rod as it is lifted from the coil. This twist causes a build up of torsional stress in the strand which stress carries along to the wire drawing machine or other processing equipment. If this torsional stress is not controlled as by guide means, the strand tends to overturn and form kinks which cause costly and time consuming stoppages of the equipment.

Prior art pay-off devices comprise a cone or funnel shaped guide having a die guide at the apex or discharge end to control the torsional stress in the advancing strand. These devices have not been entirely successful. Although the twist is carried along with the strand there is'always a torsional stress in the strand between the coil and the die guide. When the strand develops slack the torsional stress will cause the loose strand to flip into one or more loops inside the funnel shaped guide. These loops are then pulled up and stop when they jam against the die guide.

One major cause for slack or looseness to develop in the strand is the sudden springing up of one or more rings of the rod coil. This happens when the strand is temporarily caught in the coil then suddenly releases as the pull is increased. When the rod springs up faster than the strand is being pulled the looseness and torsional stress allows the rod to flip into a loop.

A factor contributing to formation of the aforementioned loops and kinks is the constraining of the strand in the pay-off equipment as described hereafter. The strand is pulled from the supply coil by a wire drawing machine and moves through the funnel shaped guide mentioned above over deep grooved first and second sheaves, then around three more guide sheaves and into the wire drawing machine. Because of the restricted path of the strand through the die guide and then bending 990 over the deep grooved first sheave the torsional stress is constrained from moving along with the strand. This causes a build up or increase of torsional stress in the strand below the die guide. When this stress is great enough the strand flips into a small loop that is pulled into a kink at the guide and stops the movement of the strand. The stiffness of high carbon rods is so great that the kink must be cut out and the rod ends butt welded together. The frequency of the kinks forming increases with an increase in the carbon grade of the rod.

It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide equipment adapted to guide a single continuous strand from a horizontally disposed coil which prevents the formation of kinks in the strand.

It is another object of this invention to provide means for controlling the build up of torsional stress in a strand being withdrawn from a horizontally disposed coil.

It is a further object of the invention to restrict the formation of slack in the strand by blocking or dampening the sudden upward spring of the rings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The instant invention accomplishes these objects by providing pay-off apparatus comprising a funnel shaped framework positioned directly above a horizontally disposed coil and having means mounted therein to prevent the loops of strand from turning over in the framework. The apparatus further provides non-constraining guide means for directing the strand from the framework to a processing machine as e.g., a wire drawing machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of the instant invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a view taken on line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. 1 a detailed description of the invention will be given. The apparatus is seen to comprise generally a horizontally disposed coil 10 having a vertically extending vertical aperture on carrier 11, a cone or funnel shaped guide framework 12, pay-off machine 13, roller 14, support arm 19 and

sheaves

15, 16, 17 and 18.

The funnel shaped guide framework 12 is preferably fabricated as an open framework from bars welded to one another in the form shown. The framework is removably attached to the supporting arm 19 of the pay-off machine 13 as by bolting with the wide entry end 20 of framework 12 disposed directly above the top of the coil 10 and spaced therefrom a distance sufficient to allow free movement between the coil carrier 11 and framework 12. A first guide means in the form of die guide 21 similar in design to a wire drawing die having entry, bearing, and relief portions resulting in a substantially curved surface 25 and'having an opening sufficiently large to handle the strand S without restriction thereof is positioned at the smaller discharge end 22 of framework 12 removably attached thereto to facilitate replacement thereof. A second guidemeans comprising a horizontal ring 23 having radial spokes 26 is attached to the side members of framework 12 by any convenient means as e.g., welding and positioned intermediate the ends thereof preferably within the middle third of the length of the framework 12 for reasons that will be evident from the specific example described herein.

The horizontal ring 23 with its radial spokes 26 holds the larger rings of the coil in a horizontal plane forcing them to properly unwind into a single strand guided by the opening in the ring 23 and die guide 21. Without this loop restraining ring 23 the torsional stress in the rod would cause the rings to flip into the loops that form kinks rather than unwind into the single strand. The opening in die guide 21 which receives but does not restrict the strands being pulled therethrough is smaller in diameter than the opening of the horizontal ring 23 which is sufficiently small to confine the loops of coil below the ring as described hereinbefore The opening in ring 23 is of course smaller than the entry end 20 of the framework. Thus a progressively smaller channel is provided for confining the loops and guiding the strand S from the coil 10. It has been found that the opening of ring 23 should be about one-fourth the diameter of the entry end 20 of framework 12 effectively contain the loops in the framework 12 below the ring 23.

The twisting of the strand S as the loops straighten out above the coil as hereinbefore described and as will be understood by those skilled in the art imparts a torsional stress in the strand S which is carried along with the strand S through the guide framework 12 emerging from die guide 21 at the discharge end 22. A wide faced small diameter flanged roller 14 is mounted above the die guide 21 opening with the periphery of the roller 14 offset from the die guide 21 opening in the direction of the strand S travel. A deep grooved guide sheave 15 is mounted on the support arm 19 of the pay-off machine 13 above and to the rear of roller 14. The curved opening 24 of die guide 21 forms a pivot point around which the emerging strand S starts forming in a natural are passing over the face of roller 14 in what amounts to point contact and proceeding over the sheave 15, thence around

sheaves

16, 17 and 18 and onto the wire drawing machine (not shown). Guide means 24 is provided to keep the strand confined in the groove of sheave 15. The wide faced roller 14 eliminates the very restricted path the strand S was forced to maintain in prior art devices. The roller 14 permits the strand S to make a wide angle of movement through the die guide 21 and over the roller 14. The strand moves back and forth across the full width of the face of roller 14 for each ring of the strand 8 paid off the coil. This allows the torsional stress to carry along with the strand S rather than accumulate and form loops resulting in kinks and stoppages of the strand. The twist buildup in the strand S is thus effectively controlled.

The following specific example describing a typical installation for withdrawing a single continuous strand S from a horizontally disposed coil will serve to emphasize the novel features of the instant invention. A coil of nine-thirty-seconds inches rod with an CD. of approximately 54 inches and an ID. of approximately 40 inches is placed directly beneath the guide framework 12 of the pay-off machine 13 with the central aperture of the coil 10 in alignment with the vertical axis of the framework 12 and with the top of the, carrier 11 spaced 7 "960 inches from the bottom or entry end 20 of framework 12. The horizontal ring 23 is positioned in the middle third of the framework 12 so that the distance between the top of the coil 10 and the ring 23 is approximately one diameter or as in this example about 54 inches. The opening in the ring 23 is 8 inches or approximately one-fourth the diameter of the entry end 20 of framework 12 which is 32 inches. The

distance between the ring 23 and die guide 21 at the discharge end 22 is 18 inches or about one-third the depth of the guide framework 12. The opening in the die guide 21 is a half inch hole which receives but does not restrict the rod or strand being pulled therethrough. The optimum position for the center of the 3 inches diameter wide faced flanged roller 14 was found to be 10 inches above the die guide 21 and offset from the die guide 21 in the direction of travel of strand S about 5 V4 inches. The position of the center of the first deep grooved sheave 15 is 53 inches horizontally and 11 [5/16 inches verticall from the center of roller 14. The range of coils tha have been successfully processed on the apparatus herein described include coils of 48-54 inches OD. and 36-40 inches ID. and 30 inches l.D. patented wire.

Both low carbon and high carbon rods have been handled successfully in the apparatus.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for guiding a strand of wire during withdrawal from a coil including in combination a coil support means and a funnel shaped guide member in axial alignment with and spaced from said coil and said coil support means, the improvement comprising:

said funnel shaped guide member having an open entry end, a discharge end with an opening smaller than said open entry end, and at least one ring shaped member for the passage of said strand therethrough mounted within said funnel shaped guide member intermediate and in axial alignment with said open entry end and said discharge end and having an opening with a diameter smaller than the diameter of said funnel shaped guide member at the point of mounting of said ring shaped member.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said funnel shaped guide member comprises a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending bars and said open entry end and said opening of said discharge end are defined by annular members connected to said bars.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the diameter of said open entry end of said funnel shaped guide member is substantially equal to the diameter of said coil, said ring shaped member is about one-fourth the diameter of said open entry end and is mounted in the middle third of said funnel shaped guide member.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 further including a wide faced roller mounted above said discharge end of said funnel shaped guide member with the periphery of said roller offset from said opening of said discharge end in the direction of strand travel.

Claims

1. Apparatus for guiding a strand of wire during withdrawal from a coil including in combination a coil support means and a funnel shaped guide member in axial alignment with and spaced from said coil and said coil support means, the improvement comprising: said funnel shaped guide member having an open entry end, a discharge end with an opening smaller than said open entry end, and at least one ring shaped member for the passage of said strand therethrough mounted within said funnel shaped guide member intermediate and in axial alignment with said open entry end and said discharge end and having an opening with a diameter smaller than the diameter of said funnel shaped guide member at the point of mounting of said ring shaped member.