US3695543A

US3695543A - Means for regulating the escape of wire from a dead block onto an accumulator

Info

Publication number: US3695543A
Application number: US19846A
Authority: US
Inventors: Marvin L Stark
Original assignee: Armco Inc
Current assignee: Wire Rope Corp of America Inc
Priority date: 1970-03-16
Filing date: 1970-03-16
Publication date: 1972-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 1989-10-03

Abstract

A wire receiving mechanism receives wire from any line wherein it is desired to accumulate such wire in coils for any further purpose. The wire so received may come from a wire drawing machine, a high carbon finished spring wire apparatus, a continuous wire coating set-up or any other source. The wire may be accumulated in neat coils for delivery to the customer, for storage, for transfer to another operating station or for any other reason. The receiving mechanism comprises a rotating shaft which carries with it a flyer arm to which is mounted a roller system for placing successive rings of wire onto a non-rotating, dead block. A pay-off assembly is mounted on and rotates with the flyer arm. The assembly may include a roller which contacts and rides on the surface of the dead block, contact being maintained by use of a torsion spring. As the flyer rotates through one revolution, thereby placing one ring of wire on the dead block, the pay-off roller also makes one revolution, thereby allowing one ring of wire to pay off the dead block onto the apparatus which accumulates such wire in neat coils.

Description

United States Patent Stark [54] MEANS FOR REGULATING THE ESCAPE OF WIRE FROM A DEAD BLOCK ONTO AN ACCUMULATOR ['72] Inventor: Marvin L. Stark, Lexington, Mo.

[451 Oct. 3, 1972 Primary Examiner-George F. Mautz Assistant Examiner-Edward J. McCarthy Attorney-Melville, Strasser, Foster & Hoffman [57] ABSTRACT A wire receiving mechanism receives wire from any line wherein it is desired to accumulate such wire in coils for any further purpose. The wire so received may come from a wire drawing machine, a high carbon finished spring wire apparatus, a continuous wire coating set-up or any other source. The wire may be accumulated in neat coils for delivery to'the customer, for storage, for transfer to another operating station or for any other reason. The receiving mechanism comprises a rotating shaft which carries with it a flyer arm to which is mounted a roller system for placing successive rings of wire onto a non-rotating, dead block. A pay-off assembly is mounted on and rotates with the flyer arm. The assembly may include a roller which contacts and rides on the surface of the dead block, contact being maintained by use of a torsion spring. As the flyer rotates through one revolution, thereby placing one ring of wire on the dead block, the pay-off roller also makes one revolution, thereby allowing one ring of wire to pay off the dead block onto the apparatus which accumulates such wire in neat coils.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEDoma m2 INVENTOR/S WARM/V Z. SUI/PK )1 //1zan ATTOR N EYS MEANS FOR REGULATING THE ESCAPE OF WIRE FROM A DEAD BLOCK ONTO AN ccuMuLAroR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention This invention has to do with the continuous coiling of wire into neat bundles of maximum density. The invention is particularly useful in the wire making industry wherein wire is formed by drawing machines operating on appropriate rod material. Such wire may be accumulated directly or first subjected to other finishing operations.

2. Description of the Prior Art Although no search of the prior patent art relating to this invention has been made, some of the apparatus and methods heretofore used for coiling wire in bundles are known. Such existing escapement means are stationary and are mounted to the frame of the nonrotating dead block. A severe disadvantage of these prior mechanisms is that the wire is not evenly fed into the accumulating mechanism with the result that the coils so obtained are uneven in density and appearance. The wire often piles up on the dead block and then slips in batches onto the accumulating mechanism. By reason of this the surface of the dead block is often damaged.

The objects and the advantages of the instant invention are to provide more positive control of the wire so as to achieve uniform coil bundles, to reduce damage to the surface of the dead block, to prevent slippage and piling, to reduce the chance of injury to an operator, and to cut down maintenance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Wire from any suitable source is paid onto a nonrotatable dead block. A number of rings of the wire is closely wound over about one-half the length of the dead block. These rings eventually abut a pay-off roller which contacts the dead block. This roller rotates with the flyer mechanism which places the rings of wire on the dead block. Once the foremost ring has contacted the pay-off roller, continued rotation of the flyer feed mechanism and pay-off roller will result in one revolution of the pay-off roller allowing one ring of wire to proceed by it on the dead block for the corresponding one revolution of the flyer mechanism. Each such ring paid off by the pay-off roller will slide from the dead block onto the accumulator mechanism whereby to form continuously an optimum coil bundle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is side elevation, with parts broken away, of a wire f feeding and coiling mechanism showing the invention in operation, and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged and detailed view, with parts in section and parts broken away, of the pay-off roller mechanism generally depicted in FIG. 1 and constituting the basic mechanism of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, particularly FIG. 1, wire handling apparatus, including the means for regulating' the escape of wire from a dead block onto an accumulator, is shown. A strand of wire 10 is shown as coming from the previous processing unit (not shown); as earlier indicated, such unit may be a continuous coating line, a wire drawing machine, apparatus for finishing high carbon spring wire, or the like. This wire 10 enters along the central axis of a rotating shaft 11 and exits therefrom through an opening 12 provided in the wall thereof. Fixed to the shaft 11 for rotation therewith is a flyer arm 13. A bracket 14 is fixed to the flyer arm 13. A wire receiving roller 15 is rotatably mounted on the bracket 14; it is customary for this roller 15 to be angularly offset with respect to the rotating shaft 11. The wire 10 proceeds from the wire receiving roller 15 onto the dead block 16. The dead block 16 is maintained in fixed, non-rotatable position by suitable mechanism (not shown). A suitable counter-balance mechanism 17 is shown fixed to the rotatable shaft 11 to compensate for the weight of member 13.

The dead block 16 tapers slightly from its wire receiving end 18 to its wire discharge end 19. The dead block 16 is substantially horizontal. Curved guide means extend initially horizontally from the discharge end 19 of the dead block 16 and then turn vertically downwardly to a position just above a suitable wire accumulating stand generally indicated at 21. This stand 21 is conventional and is illustrated as comprised of a pair of inverted, tubular U-shaped members disposed at right angles to one another and joined at their tops; these members 22 may be fixed to a suitable base plate 23. The vertically disposed ends of the guide members 20 may be joined by a ring 24 or the like. Guide chains 25 suspended from the

members

20, 24 serve to bridge the gap between the ends of the members 20 and the upper portion of the accumulator 21.

All of the mechanisms 11 through 25 so far described are old, conventional and well known in the art. The invention, now to be described in detail, resides in the provision of means whereby when the flyer mechanism 11 through 15 makes one revolution, thereby placing one ring of wire 10 on the dead block 16, another ring of the wire 10 is simultaneously paid off from the batch of rings accumulated on the dead block 16. In order to obtain the most efficient operation of this invention, it is desirable to have a number of rings of wire 10 closely wound on the dead block 16 throughout about half of the distance from the point 18 towards the point 19. One way of accomplishing this is to utilize a killer roll 26. At start-up the strand of wire 10 is fed through the orifice 12, around the pulley 15, around the dead block 16, around the killer roll 26 and back to the dead block 16; successive rings of wire will then build up in close fashion on the tapered dead block 16.

A pay-off roller 27 is rotatably journaled on one end of an arm 28, the other end of said arm 28 being fixed to a

shaft

29, 36 which is fixed to the flyer arm 13. It will be noted, therefore, that the pay-off roller 27 rotates with the flyer arm 13 and shaft 11. By reason of its journal mounting on the arm 28, the pay-off roller 27 rolls on the surface of the dead block 16. The payoff roller 27 is spring biased into continuous contact with the surface of the dead block 16. In the embodiment illustrated, the killer roll 26 is shown as mounted on hollow shaft 36; it too, of course, will rotate about the dead block 16 along with the flyer arm 13 and payoff roller 27. Although the member 27 has been referred to as a roller, this is to point out that such member could be a pointer or non-rolling shoe. It is necessary, however, that the member 27 rides on the block 16. A variation would be to provide a groove in the block and have the member 27 ride in such groove below the surface of the block.

The successive rings of wire placed on the dead block 16 starting at the point 18 will eventually reach and abut the pay-off member 27. Thereafter, as the shaft 11 and flyer arm 13 rotate one revolution, thereby placing one more ring of wire on the dead block 16, the pay-off member will also make one revolution, in this manner allowing one ring of wire to pay off. This, of course, is the very object and action sought to be obtained by this invention. This wire escapement action in effect involves revolving the pay off member around the block in such manner that the wire is screwed off the dead block 16 much like the threads of a bolt would be screwed off the bolt, if the bolt were held stationary, the threads were loose and the nut was revolved in a stationary plane.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the mechanical construction of the novel pay-off roller apparatus is shown in greater detail. The pay-off roller 27 is journaled on a threaded stub shaft 30 having a head 31; there are suitable bearings (not shown) between the pay-off roller 27 and shaft 30. A bearing retainer is indicated at 32. The shaft 30 extends through an end of the arm 28 and is held thereon by a nut 33, a spacer 34 being provided between the pay-off roller 27 and the arm 28.

The other end of the arm 28 is fixed to one end of the shaft 29 which is part of a system including the hollow shaft 36; in FIG. 2 this is indicated by welds 35 although other conventional means may be used. The shaft 29 is shown as surrounded by a hollow shaft 36 mounted on a bearing member 37 interposed between the hollow shaft 36 and shaft 29. Hollow shaft 36 is held to flyer arm 13 by set screws 43, or some similar means, so that there can be no relative motion between this shaft and the flyer arm. The hollow shaft 36 may be threaded so as to receive a nut 38 which retains the killer roll 26 on hollow shaft 36. A spacer 39 is provided between the arm 28 and hollow shaft 36. Suitable bearings (not shown) are provided between the killer roll 26 and hollow shaft 36.

The biasing or tension means for insuring that the pay-off roller 27 is maintained in continuous contact with the dead block 16 as it, the arm 28, the

shaft

29, 36 and the flyer mechanism 13 l rotate with the shaft 1 1, is illustrated as comprising a torsion spring 40 suitably disposed about the shaft 29 and hollow shaft 36. Suitable abutment means 41 and 42 are provided for this torsion spring 40, the means 42 being fixed in the shaft 29.

The pay-off member 27 should be manufactured from a material which is softer than that of the dead block 16 in order to prevent damage to the surface of this block. There are many suitable plastics, rubbers, elastomers and the like which will suffice.

By way of brief summary, the rotating shaft 1 l and its flyer mechanism 13-15 will place a number of successive rings of wire from the strand on the dead block 16 until such time as the initial ring abuts the pay-off member 27 which, in the preferred embodiment, is a roller. This pay-off roller 27 is, in effect, an escapement mechanism designed to allow one ring of wire, and only one ring, to pay off from the dead block for every ring of wire placed on the block after the initial group of rings has been so placed in the manner just indicated. The spring biased pay-off roller 27 contacts and rolls on the surface of the dead block 16 so that as the flyer mechanism rotates one revolution to thereby place one more ring of wire on the block, such pay-off roller 27 simultaneously makes a similar revolution whereby allowing one ring of wire to escape from it, down the remainder of the tapered dead block 16, onto the guide members 20 and thereafter to be continuously accumulated in coil-bundle form on the accumulator 21. In this manner positive control of the wire is achieved without slippage, bunching and damage to the surface of the dead block, maintenance also being reduced, particularly in that an operator does not have to be concerned with batches of wire rings accumulating and bunching on either the dead block 16 or accumulator 21.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made in this invention without departing from the scope and spirit thereof and that while this invention has been described in certain definite detail, this is for purposes of illustration only and such detail is not to constitute a limitation on the invention except insofar as it is specifically set forth in the subjoined claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a wire accumulating apparatus which includes a vertically disposed accumulating stand (21), a fixed non-rotatable horizontally disposed dead block (16), guide members (20) for directing rings of wire from the discharge end of said dead block to the accumulating stand, a rotating shaft (11), and flyer mechanism (13-15) fixed to said shaft for rotation therewith, which shaft and flyer mechanism are disposed so as to receive a strand of wire (10) from a previous processing unit and place successive rings of said wire on the wire receiving end of said dead block, the improvement which comprises: a pay off roller (27) rotatably journaled on a member (28, 29) fixed to the flyer mechanism so that said pay off roller makes one revolution about said dead block each time said flyer mechanism makes one revolution, and a wire receiving killer roll (26) rotatably journaled on said member, said killer roll being disposed to receive wire initially placed on said dead block by said flyer mechanism and to thereafter place said wire back on the said receiving end of said dead block, said pay off roller (27) and said killer roll being mounted on shafts which are parallel to one another, said pay off roller contacting and rolling on said dead block intermediate the wire receiving and discharging ends thereof, and biasing means (40-42) maintaining said pay off roller in contact with said dead block, whereby when successive rings of wire have been placed on said dead block to the extent that the initial ring so placed has contacted the pay off roller, continued rotation on the shaft and flyer mechanism through one additional revolution will place one additional ring of wire on said dead block and the corresponding one additional revolution of the said pay off roller will allow one ring of wire to pay off.

receiving end, and a wire receiving killer roll (26) rotatably journaled on said arm means, said killer roll being disposed to receive wire initially placed on said dead block by said rotatable mechanism and to thereafter place said wire back on said receiving end of said dead block, said pay off roller (27) and said killer roll (26) being mounted on shafts which are parallel to one another, and biasing means (40) urging said pay off roller into continuous contact with said dead block.

Claims

2. Means for regulating the escape of wire from a dead block to an accumulator which comprises a pay off roller (27), arm means (28, 29) fixed to rotatable mechanism (11, 13-15) for introducing successive rings of wire onto the receiving end of said dead block in such manner that said arm means rotates with said rotatable mechanism, said roller being rotatably journaled on said arm means, said arm means and said pay off roller being disposed so that said pay off roller contacts and rolls on said dead block away from said receiving end, and a wire receiving killer roll (26) rotatably journaled on said arm means, said killer roll being disposed to receive wire initially placed on said dead block by said rotatable mechanism and to thereafter place said wire back on said receiving end of said dead block, said pay off roller (27) and said killer roll (26) being mounted on shafts which are parallel to one another, and biasing means (40) urging said pay off roller into continuous contact with said dead block.