US724571A - Machine for making armored electric cables. - Google Patents

Description

No. 724,571. PATENTED APRY` 7, 1903.

- E. T. CEEENEIELD. MACHINE ECE MAKING AEMCEED ELECTRIC CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1902.

PATENTED APR. 7, 1903.

E. T. GREENEIELD. MACHINE EOEMAKING ARMORED ELECTRIC CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1902.

SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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NO MODEL.

No. 724,571. IJATEN'IED APR, 7, v1L903. E. 'I'. GREENIIELD. MACHINE POR MAKING ARMORED ELECTRIC CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1902. H0 MODEL. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

s k1 u PATENTED APR, '7, 1903.

GREENP'IELD.

MACHINE ECR MAKING ARMORED ELECTRIC CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31. 1902.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED? STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN 'l`. GREENFIELD, Ol" MONTICEL), NElV YORK.

MACHINE FOR MAKING AR MORED ELECTRIC .'CABLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters YPatent N O. 724,571, dated April 7, 1903.

Application tiled July 31, 1902. Serial No. 117,810.' (No model.)

Be it known that I, EDWIN T. GREENEIELD, a cit izen of the United States,iesiding at Monticello, county of Sullivan, and Stateof New York, have made a new and useful Invention in Machines for Man u facturing A rmored Electric Cables, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is directedl particularly t-o improvements uponthe cable-armoringor tubeorming mechanism disclosed in United States Patents Nos. 1,330,502- and 630,503, granted to me on the Sth dayof August, 1895); and it has for its object the manufacture ofarmored electric cables of great lengthsfsuch,foi-instance, as are used in ocean telegraphy or in 'various conductor systems of electricity.

`fith the mechanism disclosed in my beforementioned United Stateslatent No. 630,502 only a limited ,amount of cable may be armored, owing to the`fact that with such mechanism the cable is rotated as it is armored and is wound upon a reel, which also rotates with it. It. is-obvious, therefore, that a cable of grcatflength cannot be thus armored, owing to theimmen'se mass or weight thereof, as it is wound upon the reel.

The essential feature of my present/ingen-H tienisthereforettrpeinn'itthe"manufacture constituting the only limit of this type of cable in such lengths as can conveniently be transported from place to place, the weight of the same when completed as to the lengthtof,v cable thus armored.

In using the improved mechanism hereinafter described and claimed the armoring mechanism and armoring material rotate around the cable and v'the latter 'doesfnot rotate, but is fed continuously forward by the armoring action, so that it is possible to armor a cable of indefinite length.

For a. full and clear understanding ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to construct and use the same, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in whichl Figure 1 is a side elevational View of the entire machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof as seen looking at Fig. lvfrom the top toward the bottom of the drawing, some of the driving gear-wheels and the brake-controlling levers being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the broken line .r .1', Fig. 2, and as seen looking thereat from the bottom ltoward the top of the drawing in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 4is an enlarged plan view of that part of the mechanism which controls; the movements of the armoringstrips, the interiorof thedics being also illustrated in this view with t-he top die removed andan insulated electric cable shown in position in the act of being armored. Fig. 5 isasectional view taken through the feeding-rolls, one ofthe metallic armoringstrips, the trough in which is located the guideways for said strips, and that portion of the frame which. supports all of said parts,the dies being shown in this figure in end elevational view.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and first to Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, i3 2 represent the legs or standards of the machine, preferably four in number, secured directly to the Hoor lby bolts, and 1 the base or frame thereof, secured in turn in a similar manner directly to the upper ends of said legs or standards.

(i represents a rotary table, made, preferably, of iron and secured directly by bolts to" the upper end of a hollow rotal/le.4s'}a,"'i5, Y .i011 Fueled at itsnimerferfnn'the frame 1 and atei-tslo'ivfd in a spider having radial arms 3 3, secured directly to the legs 2 2, the lower end of said shaft resting directly 'upon a metal bearing which is supported in turn by a num` ber of metal standards 4 4, rigidly secured directly to the tloorf,-as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3. The rotary table 6 carries upon its upper surface all of the mechanism and material for effecting the armoring of the cable, and said mechanism and material are rotatedv therewith as tlnml-risulatedcableV passes downward into the armoring-dies and out of the latter as a completed armored cable 17 through an opening in the tloor beneath the machine, as will be more particularly described in connection with the description of the mode of operationof the entire machine. 15.15 are reels for carrying the thin metallic armoring-strips i4 14, said reels being of cylindrical form, with their lower' faces resting upon roller-bearings in grooves in cylindrical depressions inr the upper face of the rotary table (i, the reels being held in position by adjustable screws,as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3.

43 43 43 are guide-rolls secured directly to son the rotary table t5 and standard 7 by rigid arms 44 44 44, their function being to guide the armoring-strips to the guideways before they enter the armoring-dies.

is an electric motor or equivalent source of power secured beneath the frame 1 of the machine and having on one end of its armature-shaft a beveled pinion adapted to drive a bevel gear-wheel 18, secured directly to the hollow shaft 5.

19 is a gear-wheel journaled directly to an upward extension of the frame 1, said gearwheel `meshing with a gear-wheel 20, which in turn is adapted to drive a gear-wheel 21 and a pinion 22, carried upon the same shaft and meshing with an additional gear-wheel 23, carried by another shaft having upon its upper end a pinion 24, '.neshingwith a vgearwheel 25 upon a shaftcarrying a beveled pinion 26, which meshes with a bevel gearwheel 27 upon a shaft. carrying at its other end a pinion 28, meshing with pairs of gear-wheels 29 29, adapted to drive two pairs of feedingrolls 12 12 13 13 in such manner as to feed the metal armoring-strips 14 14 through thc guideways in the trough 11to the dies S S, said trough, dies, and supports 9 and 10 for the dies, together with the immediately-connected gearing and pinions 20'to 2f), inclusive, being supported and carried by the rotary table 6, so that the gear-'wheel 20 as it rotates arou nd the gear-wheel 19 will impart motion to all ofv the interconnected gearing. 'lhe dies S S, trough 11, feeding-rolls 12 12 1313, and guideways in the trough are substantially like the same parts disclosed in the before-mentioned patents and need no further description here, the invention in the present instance consisting, as hereinbe'fore indicated, in mechanism Afo Failtpt n g these pa rts disclosed in my beforementionedpa-tents t o armor a cable or a tube or to manufacture 'a` flexible tube, of metal strips and of-indeiinite length. 30 is abe've'l` pinion meshing with the bevel gear-wheel 27 and also wit-h an additional hollow bevel gearwheel 31, which is journaled in the upper end of a hollow support carried directly by the table 6.

32 32 are friction-rollers, three or more, adjustably secured to the upper face of the hollow bevel gear-wheel 31 and in such manner that they may be brought into frictional relation with the com pletedlcable 17 as it passes downward.

I have described so far sufficient. mechanism for effecting the result sought. It is found, however, that with such a mechanism there is necessarily much momentum, owing to the weight of the t-able (i and the mechanism and armoring material carried thereby, and that serious damage may be imparted to the cable upon varying or stopping the application of power to the driving gear-wheel 18. For the purpose of overcoming the evil effects of this momentum I have provided braking mechanism in the nature of two curved brakeshoes 34 34, having movement to and from the outer cylindrical face of the table G, said brake-shoes heilig connected by' toggle-levers 35 35 to rigid arms 36 36, Vsupported at their inner ends directly by the frame 1.

37 37 are links connected at their upper ends to the toggle-levers 35 35 and at their lower ends to brake-controlling levers 3S 3S, fulcrumed, as shown, and connected in turn by links 3H 39 and a cross bar or pin 40 to a treadlc 41 42, being a strong spiral spring for normally maintaining the outer end of the treadle in its upper position and the brakeshoes 34 out of mechanical contact with the cylindrical face of the rotary table li.

The operation is as follows: The insulated cable 16, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, is passed downward from a supply-reel (not shown) located in a room and on a loor above the machine and in such quantity as maybe desired. The'armoring-strips 14 14 are wound upon the reels 15 l5 and secured in position in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings. 'lhe free ends thereof are then passed around the guide-101151434343 43 and into the guideways in the trough 11 and hetween the feeding-rolls 12 12 and 13 13 to the dies S 8, after which the machine is set in motion by applying vpower in the proper direction in any preferred manner to the'bevel gearwheel 1S, thereby rotating the hollow shaft 5, and hence the rotary table 6, in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. 2 of the drawings. Consequently the gear-wheel 19 imparts motion to the several gear- wheels 20, 2l, 23, 24, 25, 2t), and 27 in the directions indicated by the arrows, thereby impartin; r to the two pairs of feeding-rolls 12 12 and 13 13 motion in the proper directions to feed said strips forward to the dies in the saine manner as disclosed in my before-mentioned patents. Hence as the table rotates around the cable 1b' it is armored and .drawn forward by the aimoring aetio1rof the mechanism, passing.r downward through the hollow 'shaft 5-and opening in the floor as a completed 17. At the same time motion is imparted by the gear-wheel 27 to the bevel-pinion 30 and from it tothe bevel gear-wheel 31, thus causing the friction-rollers to prevent the cable from being unnecessarily twisted or strained by the armoring action already described. In other words, the friction-rollers act as a brake upon the forward or twisting action due to the pressure of the armoring action upon the suspended insulated cable 16, so that as the cable is thus armored it passes out and is received and stored in a room below in such quantity as may be desired. Should there be any tendency for the rotary table and its supported mechanism and armoring material to run wild by reason of its momentum, the attendant simply applies the brake by placing his foot upon the treadle 42, thereby causing the brake-shoes to come into mechanical contact with the lateral face of the rotary table through the agency of the connecting mechanism described and shown.

IIO

article xo further cable it is only required to splice and insulate the adjoining end. of an additional W'hen the supply of armoring-strips becomes exhausted, it is only necessary to supplant the reels shown in the drawings with anadditional pair of reels havinga furthersupplyof armoring-stri ps and to splice the outer or free ends of said strips by brazing or in any other Well-known mannerto the ends of the strips f l'already used,"afterfwhich` vthe process of arf vskilled in the' art.

moring Ais continued as before. In a similar manner when it becomes necessary to add cable to the end of the one already being armored in a manner well understood by those In this way armored cables'may begconstructed of any desired lengt-h. I dol not limit my invention to the specific N -details of construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings and hereinbefore described.

I believe it is broadly new withme to. armor a cable of indefinite length by forcing one ormore armoring-strips through dies around the cable in the manner disclosed in my before-mentioned ,patents and to carry .the mechanismwhich thus elects the armoring and the su ppl yof material for such apparatus continuously aroundv the cable to be armored,

'and in this generic feature lies'the essence of thisin'vention; nor dovI limit' my `invention vto the armoring of electric cables, as it may obviously be utilized inthe manufacture o f- 1 Vtlexibletubes ofinletinite length' composed of oueor more '.meta'l'; stripsforced through dies. in 'a maurrerhereiubefore descibed,and

my claims arede'signed 'to bei-of such 'scope' as to include themanufacture of such tubes. Q

I make no claim in the presentiapplication to thevmethodrof operation practiced bythe mechanism herein cdisclosed forfarrnoring electric cables of indefinite length, as such a f method constitutes the subject-.matter of a separate application tiled by me in the United States Patent Oflice on the 31st day of J uly,

1902, bearing Serial No. 117,809,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim,'and desire to secu re by Letters Patent ofthe United States, is-

I. Mechanism for armoring insulated electric cables of indefinite lengths, consisting of a rotary table and an .armoring die or dies,

and means for supporting the armoring material, all carried by said table; in oombina. tion with meansfor imparting' rotary motion to the table and forward motion to the armoring material through the'rdies, substan- 'tially 'as described.

2. Mechanism for armoring insulated electriccables of indefinite lengths, consisting of a rotary table and means for-rotating it con-l `tinuously in onel direction; inl vcombination with an armoring die or dies and one or more vreels for1v supporting an armoring strip or strips, said die ordiesand reels being sup.

ported by the table and adapted to rotate i therewith, substantially asdescribed. 3. 'Mechanism for armoring insulatedelectric cables of indefinite lengths, consisting of with an armoring die or dies and means for supporting'asupply of armoring material, all of said parts being carried bythe table, substantially as described.

Mechanismffor armoring insulated electric cables of'indefi nite lengths, consisting of "a rotary dtable,armoring mechanism of diel like construction, means for supporting a supply' ofv armorin'g `material,v and Ameans for*v forcing said armoring materialk through thel `dielform'ing mechanism and around the cable;

in combination with means c'a'rred'also bythe table and acting frictionally upon kthe completed armored cable in such direction as to r prevent the same from being unduly twisted as it is fed forward, substantially as described.

'In testimonywhereof I have signed my name to this specification inthe presence of two subscribingwitnesses. i

Witnesses: K Y WILLIAM T1. RUETE, CHARLES J. KINTNER.

EDWIN TGREENFIELD; I A

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