US3918650A

US3918650A - Apparatus for winding wire onto a bobbin

Info

Publication number: US3918650A
Application number: US482872A
Authority: US
Inventors: Noel Kemel
Original assignee: Bekaert NV SA
Current assignee: Bekaert NV SA
Priority date: 1974-06-25
Filing date: 1974-06-25
Publication date: 1975-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 1992-11-11

Abstract

This invention relates to apparatus for winding wire onto a bobbin and, more particularly but not exclusively, is concerned with apparatus for winding wire onto a bobbin at speeds in excess of 20 m/sec. The apparatus includes a hinged door which, when open, will provide passage to a bobbin and will rotatably support the bobbin shaft when closed.

Description

D United States Patent 11 1 1111 3, 1

Kernel Nov. 11, 1975 [5 APPARATUS FOR WINDING WIRE ONTO A 2.202.563 5/1940 Mikaelson .1 242/701 BOBBIN 2,243,480 5/1941 Mcllvried et a1 242/25 R 3317.158 5/1967 OBrien 242/781 Inventor: Noel Kernel, Hurelbeke, Belgium 3.537.665 11/1970 Shumaker 242/7211 [73] Assignee: N. V. Bekaert S.A., Zwevegem,

Belgium Prunury E.\71mmerStanley N. Gllreath Attorney, Agent, or Firn1Shlesinger, Arkwright, Filed: June 1974 Garvey & Dinsmore [21] Appl. No.: 482,872

[57] ABSTRACT 52 US. Cl. 242/25 R; 242/78.1 This invention relates to apparatus for winding wire 1511 Int. c1.- .1 B65H 54/00 Onto bobbin and, more Particularly but not exclu- [5 Field f Seal-chm. 242 25 R, 25 A, 1 R, 3 sively, is concerned with apparatus for winding wire 242/41 671 68 7g 7 1295 onto a bobbin at speeds in excess of 20 m/sec. The apparatus includes a hinged door which, when open will 5 References Cited provide passage to a bobbin and will rotatably support UNITED STATES PATENTS the bobbin shaft when closed.

1.964530 6/1934 Newton et al .1 242/25 R 9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures US. Patent Nov. 11, 1975 Sheet 1 of3 3,918,650

FIG.1

US. Patent Nov. 11, 1975 SheetZ 013 3,918,650

U.S. Patent Nov. 11,1975 Sheet3of3 3,918,650

Fig.4

APPARATUS FOR WINDING WIRE ONTO A BOBBIN BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS The output of machinery to draw wire and wind it onto a bobbin is currently limited by the speed at which the wire can be wound onto the bobbin. In particular. copper can be drawn at speeds of the order of 50 m/see. and it becomes difficult for the winding apparatus to follow at the same speed because of the unbalance and the resulting centrifugal forces developed by the bobbin. Such bobbin may be well balanced when empty, but most of the unbalance will be created by the wire according to the manner in which it is wound on the bobbin. there being no guarantee that it will be wound in a prefectly balanced fashion.

Moreover. higher winding speeds are less efficient on production rate when they must be stopped frequently for replacing the full bobbins and for this reason it is desired to wind up the wire on large bobbins. With greater dimensions, however, the problems of unbalance and vibration increase accordingly. For such high speed and weight, it becomes necessary for safety to surround the bobbin by a protecting part of the fixed frame. In these conditions the bobbin becomes difficult to handle in and out the apparatus: no longer by hand because of its weight, within an atleast partly surrounding frame part for reasons of safety, and firmly fixed in the apparatus because of possible unbalances. In such a way. the desire of high speed and high bobbin dimensions signifies a contradiction with respect to ease of handling.

The invention aims at a design where handling in and out of heavy bobbins of 100 kg and more can become easy in a winding apparatus designed for high speeds, of a least m/sec. and preferably of the order of 50 m/sec. and more, and capable of carrying unbal' ance forces of 1.000 kg and more. i

There are some known designs which are good for handling the bobbins, but less good for operating at high speeds. There is firstly the type of winding apparatus with a shaft of which one end is rotatably fixed in a bearing, and the otherend is left free and where the bobbin can easily be mounted and demounted by pass ing the core of the bobbin over the shaft. With'such design the unbalances and tension of the wire can cause large bending moments in the shaft and especially in the bearing. which makes it less unable for high speed and bobbin weight. There is also the type of winding apparatus wherein the bobbin is clamped between two rotatable centres which must accurately fit in an opening in the precise central point of the flanges on either side of the bobbin. These bobbins are however not made of high quality steel, and the openings for the centres are subject to damage by ill treatment and may not fit with the centres in an accurate way over along period of time to thereby avoid unbalance.

An old wire drawing machine is known (British Patent No. 353.326) having a drawing capstan adapted for heavy wire coils, in which a vertical shaft has the lower end rotatably mounted in a bearing, and where the wire coil can be taken off via the upper end, but where, during operation. this end is held by a pivotally removable arm. This particular design is not very suitable for easy handling of the coils nor from a point of view of safety, because the protecting guard bell rotates together with the drawing capstan.

The'apparatus according to the invention for winding wire onto a bobbin having .acylindrical hollow core comprises:

a. a fixed frame defining a chamber for said bobbin, said chamber being for its greatest part surrounded by said frame;

b. a door pivotally mounted in said fixed frame.

adapted to give passage to the bobbin into said chamber when open, and to be closed in vertical position;

c. a substantially horizontal shaft rotatably mounted in said fixed frame. extending through said chamber and having one end engaged in said door when closed;

(1. a centre mounted in said door, in and out of engagement with said end of said shaft, when the door is in closed, respectively open position;

the mutual positions of the door and the shaft being such that a bobbin can be introduced in or withdrawn from said chamber with its cylindricalhollow core in alignment with said shaft.

In such a way. when the door is open, a new bobbin can be introduced into the chamber by passing it over the shaft in horizontal direction. which is more easy to do than when in vertical direction, and then, with a simple closing movement of the door, both the chamber is closed for safety reasons and the free end of the shaft is caught by the centre which is mounted in the door. In such a way, the apparatus is ready for operation where the shaft is supported in two points on either side of the bobbin; This allows the shaft to support high unbalance forces. A door" can better support such forces than an arm which is pivotally connected to the frame and which would catch the free shaft end. An arm has indeed one large length dimension with respect to two comparatively small thickness dimensions (e.g. five times smaller) and its pivot line runs over a thickness dimension and is short. A door however has two large planar dimensions of about the same order of magnitude and one small thickness dimension (e.g. five times smaller) and its pivot line runs over the planar dimension and is long and so can better support the forces acting on the centre and parallel with the pivot. At the same time the door can be given the additional function of covering the passage through which the bobbin was introduced into the chamber.

The centre is preferably mounted in a bearing and is rotatable with the shaft although it will be appreciated that the centre could be dead (i.e non-rotatable),and the one end of the shaft provided with a bearing race.

The centre should preferably be movable axially .of the shaft to facilitate urging the one end of the shaft into the centre and to allow adjustment to compensate for thermal and physical movement of the shaft. This may conveniently be effected by hydraulic fluid.

It is not necessary that the fixed frame completely surrounds the chamber where the bobbin is lodged during operation. Some parts of the chamber walls can be left open in order to allow the bobbin to be watched or to allow rapid access to less dangerous parts of the chamber.

Preferably the door comprises one or more bolts provided with electrical contacts which interrupt the motor supply when the door is not completely bolted. The pivot line of the door is preferably a vertical line in order to allow its center of gravity to keep the same level when the door is opened or closed, thereby making this movement more easy. When closed, the door must however be in a substantially vertical position, in order to be able to catch the end of the horizontal shaft.

The bobbin may comprise a cylindrical core provided at either end with a radial flange. or just a cylindrical core. When fully wound. thediameter of the winding will be at least l ems with diameters in the range of ems to 63 cms more usual.

The bobbins are generally made of medium quality steel and during their working life may be transported over long distances and used on many different types of wire treating machinery. In time, the entrance to the ends of the cylindrical core become damaged. It is. however, unusual for the core itself to become damaged between itsends and in order to ensure that each bobbin is centred on the shaft during a winding operation, the shaft is preferably provided with axially extending keys which are movable radially of the shaft to engage the inside of the cylindrical core of a bobbin over substantially its entire length.

In order tofacilitate the introduction and removal of the bobbins, the apparatus will preferably comprise a hoist, horizontally movable along the direction of the shaft in and out of said chamber through the passage left by the-door in open position, and adapted to lift a bobbin into and out of alignment with said shaft.

Preferred embodiments of apparatus in accordance with the present invention are currently capable of winding wire at speeds in excess of 40 m/sec.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS One embodiment of a winding apparatus in accordance with the invention will now be described. by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a side view, partly in section, of the apparatus about tocommence a winding operation;

' FIG. 2 is a side'view, partly in section, of a bobbin about to be mounted in the apparatus;

' shown comprises a main frame I. A roller bearing 2 is firmlyfixed to the main frame 1 and carries a rotatable shaft '3. A bobbin 4 is secured to the rotatable shaft 3 by means of keys 5 which extend axially of the shaft 3 and which are urged radially outwards from the shaft 3 against substantially the entire axial-length of the core of the bobbin 4 by hydraulic fluid.

A centre 6 is mounted in a cylinder 9 forming part of the frame 8 which is pivoted to the main frame I at hinges 21. The centre 6 can be moved into and out of engagement with the end7 of shaft 3 by swinging the frame 8 about hinges 21 and moving centre 6 with repect to cylinder 9.

When the centre 6 is moved to the position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and keys 5 are retracted, bobbin 4 can be mounted on or removed from the shaft 3 over the end Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the centre 6 is mounted in a roller bearing and rotates with the shaft 3 when in engagement therewith. The centre 6 is movable in cylinder 9 by pumping hydraulic fluid into chamber 10.

Movement of the centre relative to the cylinder 9 could also be achieved by means of a piston and cylinder assembly acting therebetween, or by operating a hand wheel and plunger assembly or by the use of a worm drive.

It will be seen thatthe end 7 of shaft 3 is in the form of a truncated cone and that the centre 6 has tapered sides to guide the cone .as it enters the centre 6.

The apparatus also includes a hoist which comprises a platform 12 and an electric motor 14 which is secured to a frame 13. The platform 12 includes a frame 22 having

vertical members

23 and 24 and a horizontal member 25.

Rollers

26 and 27 are mounted to member 25 and

rollers

28 and 29 to

members

23 and 24, respectively. Frame I3 includes a first vertical channel 30 in which

rollers

26 and 28 and member 23 are positioned, and a second channel 31 in which

rollers

27 and 29 and member 24 are positioned. The whole hoist can be moved towards or away from the roller bearing 2 by moving the pinion 18 of a double rack and pinion assembly, having racks l9 and 20, with hydraulic piston and cylinder 17.

When it is desired to wind wire onto bobbin 4, the bobbin is first rolled on to the platform 12 of the hoist. Electric motor 14 is then energized and pulley 15 rotates winding cable 16 thereon which in turn raises platform 12 by virtue of its connection thereto through member 32. As platform 12 is raised,

rollers

26, 27, 28, and 29 and

members

23 and 24 are guided by

channels

30 and 31. The bobbin 4 until its axis is just below (e.g. 1 to 2 cm) the axis of the shaft. Piston and cylinder assembly 17 is then actuated to move pinion 18 towards the right as viewed in FIG. 2 thereby moving the bobbin 4 onto'the shaft 3.

Once bobbin 4 is in position and connected to the wire to be wound, frame 8 is moved into the position shown in FIG. 1. Frame 8 is then locked in position by a bolt (not shown). As the bolt is moved to its locking position it operates a mechanism which causes hydraulic fluid to pressurize chamber 10 thereby urging centre 6 into fast engagement, with the end 7 of shaft 3. Hydraulic fluid is supplied to keys 5 to expand them against the core of the bobbin 4. In so doing keys 5 lift the bobbin 4 clear of the platform 12 and bring its axis into alignment with the axis of the shaft 3. At this time the weight of the bobbin 4 isdivided between the bearing 2 and the centre 6. Motor 11 is then activated and the drum rotated until the bobbin is full.

On completion of the winding operation. hydraulic fluid is drained from chamber 10 and also from the keys 5, so that the bobbin settles on platform 12 under its own weight. The hydraulic pressure in space 10 is reduced and when this is complete a latch is released which enablesthe bolt holding frame 8 to frame 1 to be withdrawn. Frame 8 is then moved to the position shown in FIG. 2 and piston and cylinder assembly 17 is actuated to move pinion 18 from right to left thereby moving the hoist to the position shown in FIG. 2. The hoist is then lowered and the bobbin removed. The cycle is then repeated with another bobbin.

Stops may be incorporated in the hoist mechanism so that the platform will stop automatically as it reaches a preselected height. When several different sizes of bobbins will be used on the same machine, the hoist can advantageously be provided with a corresponding number of stops.

Although the platform 12 will support the bobbin whenever keys 5 are depressurized and centre 6 is moved out of engagement with shaft 3, the shaft 3 should preferably be designed to support the weight of a loaded bobbin without excessive bending.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for winding wire onto a bobbin having a cylindrical hollow core. which apparatus comprises:

a. a fixed frame defining a chamber for the bobbin, said chamber being for its greatest part surrounded by said frame:

b. a door, pivotally mounted in said fixed frame, adapted to give passage to the bobbin into said chamber when open, and to be closed in a vertical position;

c. a substantially horizontal shaft rotatably mounted in said fixed frame extending through said chamber and having one end engaged in said door when closed; and

d. a centre mounted in said door. said centre being in and out of engagement with said end of said shaft when said door is in a closed and open position, respectively; the mutual positions of the door and the shaft being such that a bobbin can be introduced in or withdrawn from said chamber with its cylindrical hollow core in alignment with said shaft.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said centre is mounted in a bearing and is rotatable with said shaft.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 and wherein said apparatus includes a hoist, horizontally movable along the direction of said shaft in and out of said chamber through the passage left by said door in open position, and adapted to lift a bobbin into and out of alignment with said shaft.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 and wherein said shaft is provided with axially extending keys which are movable radially of the shaft to engage the inside of the core of the bobbin over substantially its entire length.

5. The apparatus of claim I and wherein said apparatus includes a hoist horizontally movable along the direction of said shaft in and out of said chamber through the passage left by the door in. open position and adapted to lift a bobbin into and out of alignment with said shaft.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 and wherein said shaft is provided with axially extending keys which are movable radially of the shaft to engage the inside of the core of the bobbin over substantially its entire length.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said shaft is provided with axially extending keys which are movable radially of the shaft to engage the inside of the core of the bobbin over substantially its entire length.

8. Apparatus for winding wire onto a bobbin having a cylindrical hollow core. said apparatus comprising:

a. a fixed frame defining a chamber for the bobbin;

b. a door pivotally mounted in said fixed frame and adapted to give passage to the bobbin into and ou of said chamber when open;

c. said door being pivotable about a vertical axis;

d. a substantially horizontal shaft rotatably mounted in said fixed frame and extending through said chamber;

e. a centre mounted in said door, said centre being in engagement with said end of said shaft when said door is closed and out of engagement with said end of said shaft when said door is open;

f. said shaft being positioned relative to said door such that the bobbin can be introduced into and withdrawn from said chamber with its cylindrical hollow core in alignment with said shaft.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 and including hoist means for lifting the bobbin into and out of alignment with said shaft, said hoist means being horizontally movable along the direction of said shaft in and out of said chamber through the passage left by the door in open position.

Claims

1. Apparatus for winding wire onto a bobbin having a cylindrical hollow core, which apparatus comprises: a. a fixed frame defining a chamber for the bobbin, said chamber being for its greatest part surrounded by said frame; b. a door, pivotally mounted in said fixed frame, adapted to give passage to the bobbin into said chamber when open, and to be closed in a vertical position; c. a substantially horizontal shaft rotatably mounted in said fixed frame extending through said chamber and having one end engaged in said door when closed; and d. a centre mounted in said door, said centre being in and out of engagement with said end of said shaft when said door is in a closed and open position, respectively; the mutual positions of the door and the shaft being such that a bobbin can be introduced in or withdrawn from said chamber with its cylindrical hollow core in alignment with said shaft.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 and wherein said apparatus includes a hoist horizontally movable along the direction of said shaft in and out of said chamber through the passage left by the door in open position and adapted to lift a bobbin into and out of alignment with said shaft.

8. Apparatus for winding wire onto a bobbin having a cylindrical hollow core, said apparatus comprising: a. a fixed frame defining a chamber for the bobbin; b. a door pivotally mounted in said fixed frame and adapted to give passage to the bobbin into and out of said chamber when open; c. said door being pivotable about a vertical axis; d. a substantially horizontal shaft rotatably mounted in said fixed frame and extending through said chamber; e. a centre mounted in said door, said centre being in engagement with said end of said shaft when said door is closed and out of engagement with said end of said shaft when said door is open; f. said shaft being positioned relative to said door such that the bobbin can be introduced into and withdrawn from said chamber with its cylindrical hollow core in alignment with said shaft.