US482190A - Process of and apparatus for manufacturing wire rope - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

A. F. W. PARTZ.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WIRE ROPE.

No. 482,190. Patented Sept. 6, 1892.

Jm/anior IINiTED STATES ATENT rFIcE.

AUGUST F. W. PARTZ, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WIRE ROPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 482,190, dated September 6, 1892.

Application filed June 20, 1891 To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, AUGUST FJWV. PARTZ, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,haveinvented certain Improvements in Processes of and Apparatus for Manufacturing YVire Rope, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to manufacture wire rope the independent strands of which will be of equal tension, thus lessening to a great extent the tendency of the single strands to break or tear.

My invention consists, first, in a process of equalizing the tension upon the different strands of a wire rope by exposing it under suitable strain to a sufficient softening heat to cause the tighter strands to be drawn out and all to become evenly stretched and compactly joined, and, second, in certain apparatus herein described for executing said process.

The figure in theaccompanying drawing is a vertical section and partial side view of a device embodying the mechanical parts of my invention.

I do not confine myself to the use of the devices shown, since the same object may be accomplished by other devices; but I deem the device shown especially well adapted for my purpose.

The service of a wire rope isoftener terminated by the tearing or breaking and untwistin g of single strands than by ordinary gradual wear due to attrition. This is chiefly owing to the fact that it is practically impossible to twist a number of wires into a rope so that they are throughout of equal tension. Those in places most tightly drawn must therefore actually bear the strain for the respective length of rope till they either stretch or tear, while those of lesser tension are liable to bend aside and eventually break in passing over grooved wheels or upon a drum, but especially when they are in cables subjected to the pushing force of the grips of traction-cars.

Referring to the drawing, A is a furnace in the form of a shaft, through the middle of which extends a vertical tube a, of clay, graphite, or other suitable material, the furnace in the present instance being heated by gas introduced through the fine I), combustion taking place around the tube a, and the products Serial No. 396,983- (No model.)

being led off through a flue c to a chimney. The wire rope 0: passes up through the tube a of the furnace, being unwound from a drum 13, mounted in suitable bearings and wound upon a drum D after leaving the furnace, said drum D also being furnished with suitable bearings. The rope passes around a grooved guide-wheel Z) below the arched base of the furnace and through a box 9, filled with coarse sand or granular iron, the object of this box being to prevent the air from entering the tube to an objectionable degree, though other means may be employed to shut off the entrance of air without departing from my invention.

Air-holes f f are formed in the stack, which may be partly closed by bricks or irons, and g is a tube of clay or graphite which I use for the introduction of a pyrometer.

The drum D is driven in any suitable manner, and I have shown in this instance a pulley mounted on the drum-shaft and driven through the medium of a belt, and to keep the rope properly stretched while passing through the furnaceI place a brake upon the drum B. In the presentinstanceI have shown a brake-lever I, having a shoe 6, which bears against a wheel on the shaft of the drum,and I provide the lever with an adjustable weight or spring.

In the present instanceI have shown apipe II, preferably provided with a fiat nozzle, through which a blast of air or a spray of water may be forced against the wire rope as it comes from the furnace; but other cooling devices may be used without departing from my invention.

The heat to be maintained in the tube a and the speed at which the wire rope is to be drawn through the same naturally depend one upon the other and both on the thickness of the rope and the material from which it is made, as well as the length of the tube in the furnace, wherefore the speed of the wire rope and the heat of the furnace are matters to be determined by practical trials under given conditions. For general guidance it may be said that the wire rope should emerge from the furnace with a red glow indicative of a temperature of between 550 and 600 centigrade, at which the iron or steel wires composing the rope will be sufficiently soft to attain under a proper strain a perfectly-uniform tensile state. The said temperature implies for the tube a, from which the rope is heated by radiation, one ranging approximately between 900 and 1,000 centigrade. By maintaining the rope in an upright position while it is subjected to heat the sag of the rope is obviated, and consequently an even strain can be placed upon all portions of the rope, and when the rope is subjected to transmitted heat, as in a tube, the rope will be in a central position, and therefore evenly heated, whereas if it were heated in ahorizontal position the lower half would be heated to a greater degree than the upper half, and consequently it would be stretched to a greater degree.

In order that a wire rope may be speedily cooled as it leaves the furnace, and if it be of steel also be tempered, it is exposed to either a blast of air or a spray of water. In the one case the pipe H is connected with a blowingengine, and the air may in some instances be led througha cooling apparatus. In the other case the pipe is connected with a pump or reservoir furnishing water under suflicient pressure to produce a spray by its ejection from a narrow slot ora row of small holes in the pipe, and in order to etfect a more thorough cooling there may be two or more such pipes placed in any suitable manner with respect to the rope.

In some instances the wire rope may be subjected to the direct action of combustion in any suitable furnace. It will thus be seen that by the above-described apparatus a wire rope may be unwound from one drum, heated to the required degree, and when at the proper heat be stretched so that the strands composing the rope will be of equal length, after which the rope may be cooled and wound upon a second drum or otherwise disposed of. A rope thus treated will not be open to the objections mentioned in the fore part of this specification, as the strain will be upon all of the strands rather than upon only a portion of them, as is now the case.

It will be seen that the application of the described process admits of steel ropes being made of soft wire and subsequently brought to the desired temper.

Cables composed of several wire ropes may be first mechanically completed and then position, substantially as described.

2. The process of equalizingthe tension and compacting. the strands of a wire rope, said process consisting in subjecting the rope to '3 the action of transmitted heat while said rope is under strain, is maintained in an upright position, and is protected from a flow of air, substantially as described.

3. In an apparatus for heating Wire rope,

the combination of afurnace, an upright fireproof tube therein through which the rope to be heated is passed, and mechanism for feeding said rope through the furnace and for imparting tension to the rope, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the upright'furnace.

the upright fireproof tube therein, inlets and outlets for the passage of the rope to be heated, and a box containing granular material, through which the rope passes into the tube, substantially as described. 5. The process of tempering ropes of steel wire, consisting in passing the rope under tension through an upright furnace, in which it is subjected to asoftening heat, and exposingthe rope to a blast of air or a spray of water as it emerges from the furnace, substantially as described.

6. Thecombination of the furnace, the upright chamber therein through which the rope to be heated is passed, a delivery-drum and a receiving-drum for the rope, and a water-spraying device situated between the furnace and the receiving-drum through which water can be forced against the rope, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' AUGUST F. W. PARTZ. Witnesses:

J NO. E. PARKER, H. F. REARDON.

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