US1742172A - Cord-forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 31, 1929.

L. ATWQGD GGRD FORMING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 11. 192e 3 slams-shew:I

I.. Arwoon v1,742,172

CORD -FORMI'NG APPARATUS Filed Aug. 11, 1928- 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 med Mig. 11. 192e -s sheets-sheen 3 l Iii ueio ff, t' graad"` Patented Dec. 431, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LE.')."L\TARD ATWOOD, OF FARMINGTGN, MAXNE, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL HIGH`PRESSURE HOSE CQ., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATIO OF MASSACHUSETTS CORD-FORIVIING APPARATUS Application filed August 11, 1928. Serial No. 298,932.

This invention relates to the formation of cords or cables of wire and thread twisted together to providea twisted cord of great strength and durability that shall be suficiently flexible or pliable in order to permit of its being woven into high pressure hose or other fabric where high resistance, combined with flexibility, is desired. 'lhe yarn libres are combined with fine strands of wire in order to give the desired flexibility, as well as to form a compressible lilling in association with the strands of wire.

The present invention comprises a twisting or cord forming apparatus embracing, generally speaking, a rcvoluble head constructed to support a series of bobbins carrying the wire strands and another series of bobbins carrying the yarn strands in association with a perforated twisting guide plate and cord gripping and feeding means arranged to grip and engage the twisted strands to draw them away from the twisting elements at a` predetermined ratio to impart a predetermined twist to the combined strands of wire and yarn, or thread. Associated with the twisting and feeding means is a winding device by which the twisted cord is wound in a predetermined manner upon a carrier spool, that is revolved at variable speeds to always keep the winding cord under proper tension, whether it is being wound upon the bare spool barrel or upon the periphery of the package as the spoolbecomes lilled. To impart any desired form of wind, whether closely wound coils or a criss-cross winding of the coils, provision is made for traversing the cord longitudinally of thel spool at any desired rate to give the desired type of winding.

Another feature ofthe invention resides in the provision of means by which the winding spool is frictionally driven and is itself employed as the actuating element for thev "invention, in which Fig. l is a side elevation showing the complete assembled cord-forming apparatus.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the twisting and feeding mechanism on the cross sectional plane 2 2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a detail view in vertical section of the twisting' element construction.

Fig. 4 illustrates on an enlarged scale the details of construct-ion before tensioning the supply bobbins which carry respectively the yarn and the wire strands, which are to be formed into the composite cord.

Fig. is a plan view of the assembled machine.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged end elevation of the cord winding mechanism and devices.

Fig. 7 is an end elevation ofthe assembled machine as viewed from the, tail end thereof.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged end elevation showing the cord traversing devices.

Figs. 9 and 10 are detail views illustrating the construction and arrangement of the cord feeding devices.

In the practice of the invention according to the form illustrated in the drawings, I provide a bed or frame l provided at one end with upstanding bearing brackets 2 for rotatably supporting the drive shaft 3, which may be driven by belt from an overhead shipper vshaft or otherwise, and which car- -ries a revoluble head 4 'carrying bobbin supporting spindles 5, whose outer ends are threaded to receive a friction nut 5a which is ordinarily turned into light frictional contact against each yarn spool 6 mounted on such spindle and which, in the case of the wire carrying spools 6a, abut against a compression spring 6h interposed between the .head of the spool (3a-and the clamping nut 5 to secure' the desired flexibility of adjustment of the tension on the wire spools 6.

To the projecting inner or tail end of the shaft 8 is secured the twisting element, in this case comprising a disc 7 provided with an annular series of guide eyes 7b and removably clamped to the shaft 3 by means of the fastening nut 7, The strands of yarn andof wire are carried through the separate guide eyes 7 b of the twisting element which, through the agency' of interposed rings or washers 7 c, can be set nearer to, or farther i from,l the revoluble head 4 so as to vary the pitch or angle of the converging strands to the twisting member. At a distance beyond the twisting element 7 is located a strand- `converging guide eye 9a secured in a guide plate 9, which is clamped to an upright supporting bracket 8 whose upper reduced end can be passed through any one of the longitudinal series of-holes in the plate 9 and clamped in position to provide suitable spacimparted to the strands in the twisting process,although the final twist will be determined by the relative number of revolutions of the twisting head to a given unit of length fed through the machine.

Beyond the guide 'eye 9a is located the feeding mechanism which, in this case, comprises a pair of cooperating oppositely revolving gripping and feeding heads or members 12 which, as illustrated in the drawings, comprise circular discs 13.secured to the upper ends of vertical shafts l1 which eX- tend through tubular sleeves or bearing members 10, said heads being provided with bands or rings l5 of soft metal, such as copper'on'other suitable/material, which are slightly'grooved or hollowed to grip the cord assin between the heads, the engaging surace o the peripheral bands l5 being preferably knurled approximately in correspondence with the twist of the cord. These bands are held removably in place so as to permit renewal by means of clamping covers 14:.

Inv order to bring the rotary feeding members into proper gripping engagement with the interposed cord (shown at a), I provide means for drawing the heads toward each other. In this case the means comprise an elongated loop or strap 164 adapted to be placed over and around the supporting sleeves 10 and provided with opposed thrust screws 16", which can be ,screwed inwardly to force the bearing sleeves of these shafts toward each other with any desired degree of pressure. To facilitate this clamping or gripping adjustment of the feed members, the tubular bearing brackets l0 are provided at their lower ends with attaching tianges 10 which rest uponl cushions 10b of slightly yielding material, such as leather or semi.- hard rubber, since only a very slight movement at the lower end is needed to permit the requisite range of movement toward each other of the rotating feed members.

To provide for the driving of the feed members and t-he winding mechanism, I ar-.

range in the bed of the machine a longitudinal countershaft 20 driven by a variable speed connection from the main shaft 3, comarisino s rocket wheels 3a 3b for trans- 4 mitting driving motion to the shaft 20 by means of a sprocket chain 2l passed around one of said sprocket wheels and also around a correspondingly arranged sprocket wheel 2On or 2Ob on the shaft 20.

Intermediate of the ends of the countershaft 20 is a worm 22 arranged between and meshing with two worm wheels 23 secured on the lower ends of the feed shafts 11 It will therefore be seen that when the counters ing shaft 28 is mounted in a bearing standard or bracket 29 and has secured, at its inner end, a friction disc 30 which engages the outer end face of the Winding spool 3l, which is centered with the shaft 28 through the engagement of the pointed inner end'of the shaft with a conical socket formed centrally on the spool head.

T he spool driving shaft is rotated from the longitudinal countershaft 2O through the medium of a cross shaft 26 having mitre gear connection 25 with the shaft 2O and havin sprocket driving connection with the shaft 28 through the sprocket chain 27.

Obviously when the cord is being woundon the small diameter of the spool, it will require more rapid rotation to take up a given length of cord than when the cord is winding on the,

large diameter. The driving connections are so proportioned that even when winding on the small diameter the spool will rotate slightly faster than is necessary to take up the slack of the cord delivered so as to put tension on the cord and'keep it taut, thereby preventing any possibility of kinking or snarling. This is permitted owing to the slippage between the head of the spool and thedriving clutch. The tension or pressure against the driving clutch member 30 may be regulated by means of the tensioning screw 33 passed through a threaded supporting box 34a, carried by a standard 34 and held against accidental turning by the set screw 33a carried by said box. The inner end of this adjusting screw 33 rests loosely in a hollow hub or socket 32a formed on a coupling pinion 32, which is provided with laterally projecting prongs 32b telescoping a little way into corresponding holes formed in the head 3la of the spool. This pinion coupling isremovable as soon as the tensioning or thrust screw 33 is withdrawn so as to permit the interchange of coupling pinions of various diameters in order to vary the rapidity of traverse of the distributing eye,

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l.'85 the winding mechanism. A short spool dl'iv- A i the cord beyond thefeeding melnbers under continuous tension at all times.

Forwardly of the winding spool are mountt. ed vertical standards 50, which carry a vertically adjustable horizontal track bar 46, on which is loosely mounted a block or sheave forming a distributing guide eye for the cord a. which passes through it. This distributing member or traverse guide is reciprocated on the track bar 46 b y means'of a swinging telescopic lever comprising the socket member 44 fulcrumed at 44b and the interior member 44a connected with the distributing member 45.

On the standards 50 is mounteda lower track bar 42 carrying a reciprocatory block 41, which has a connecting link 43 pivotally connecting it with the swinging arm 44 and which also has a link connection 40, and which is also connected by a link'or pitman 40 with the crank pin of a rotary disc, 39 whose rotation swings the arm 44 to and fro in order to distribute the yarn lengthwise, as it winds on the spool. The crank disc 39 is secured on the shaft 38, which is -driven by means of mitre gears 37 and transverse shaft 36, to which rotation is imparted by a change speed gearing embracing the pinion 36a,the variable speed two-step pinion 35 mounted on the horizontal transverse shaft 35a and intel-meshing with the coupling pinion 32. l/Vhen it is desired to give the winding distributor 45 a relatively rapid movement in relation to the revolving spool, in order to effect an open cross wind, a larger driving pinion 32 adapted to intermesh with the smaller member of the compound pinion 35 is employed. For close winding, such as illustrated in the drawings, the small pinion 32 would be intermeshed with the larger pinion 35, which would be shifted laterally on and secured to the shaft 35a to give the proper ratio of movement between the distributing guide and the winding spool.

The track bar 46 carrying lthe winding guidev is adjustable and obviously the higher it is adjusted the longer will be the actuating telescopic lever and the greater will be the range of its lateral traverse. The track bar 42 is also vertically adjustable by means of the set screws 42a and the higher this bar is setabove the shaft 38 the less-will be the traverse imparted by the rotation of the crank pin on the crank disc 39.

From the foregoing it will be seen that provision is made for changing the number of twists per inch and modifying the steepness with which the several strands are brought together through the twisting guide plate 7, as well as for adjusting the gripping tension of the feed members to cords of diiferent size. Furthermore, provision is made for varying the winding tension on the spool and for varying the pitch of the successive coils of cord to give a closely coiled or a cross wound bobbin. The tensioning of the individual wire strands and of the individual yarn strands can also be appropriately varied so that a uniform twist, with any desired frm of wind, may be effected by this apparatus.

Vhile the telescoping arm 44, 44@L permits the adjustment resulting in increasing the range of traverse of the cord distributing eye, it will also be understood that this construction acts to permit the easy conversion of the swinging movement of the arm into a4 straight line reciprocation of the distributing member quite apart from any adjustment.

'1` he tension that is continually exerted by the winding spool upon the stretch of cord extending to the 'feeding devices serves to counteract any tendency toward slip between the feeding devices and the cord that is gripped between them, in addition to obviating any tendency of the cord to'kink if it were not kept under tension.

What lclaim is l. A machine for producing cord of intertwisted yarn and wire embracing in combination, a revoluble head, a plurality of bobbins of wire and of yarn carried by said head and rotatable about individual axes substantially parallel to the axis of revolution, a strand converging guide-eye arranged at a substantial distance from said head in an axial direction, an intermediate twisting member provided with guide openings for the individual strands of wire and of yarn, said opening being located at radial distancesfrom the axis of revolution substantially less than the radial distances of the bobbins whereby the unwinding strands are partly1 converged between the head and the twisting member and are caused to travel more nearly in parallels ism between the twisting member and said eye, and cord gripping and feeding means located beyond said eye.

2. A machine for producing cord of intertwisted yarn and wire, embracing in combination, a revoluble head, plural bobbins of yarn and of wire mounted on said head for rotation about aXes substantially parallel with the axis of revolution, a revoluble strand-guiding twisting disk and a strand converging guide eye spaced at dilferent axial distances respectively from said head yto cause the strands of yarn and of lwire to converge together at said guide-eye in two angular stages and positively driven rotatable cord gripping and feeding members arranged .beyond said guide-eye.

3. A machine for producing cord of intertwisted yarn and wire, embracing in combination, a revoluble head, plural bobbins ofy yarn andof wire loosely mounted on supporting spindles projecting from one side of said head in an axial direction, a perforated twist'- ing plate Vsecured to said head to revolve therewith and guide said strands inwardly at an acute angle to their axes of rotation, a strand, converging guide eye locatedat a substantial distance axially from said plate and. adjustable to vary its distance from said plate and thereby lead the strands more or less nearly to parallelism with the axis of revolution as they approach the guide-eye and positivelydriven rotary cord gripping and feed-l ing members locatedfbeyond the guide-eye.y l

f1. A machinefor producing cord of intertwisted yarn and wire, embracing in combination, a revoluble head, a seriesof bobbins of yarn and of wire carriedthereby to be rotatable about axes substantially parallel with the axis of revolution, a revoluble perforated strand-guiding and twisting member and a strand convergin guide-eye located at different distances axia ly from said head, rotatable cord grip ing and feedingI wheels located beyond sai guide-eye a counter shaft parallel with the axis of revolution of said head and having worm and gear driving connection with said Wheels, said counter shaft itself having positive driven connection with the revoluble head to ensure a predetermined ratio of revolution between the feed wheels and the head.

5. A machine for producing cord of inter-'- twisted yarn and Wire, embracing ,in combination, a revoluble head, bobbins of yarn and of Wire mounted thereon for rotation 'about axes parallel to the axis of revolution, means for guiding the strands of wire and of yarn to a common guide-eye arranged at a distance from the head and in co-axial alignment therewith, a pair of opposed cord gripping and feeding members arranged beyond Ehe guide-eye, bearing sleeves affording bearing supports for said feeding members, means for adjusting said bearing sleeves nearer to each other to properly grip the interposed cord for feeding purposes, and a frictional driven winding spool having variable speed driving means for winding4 the cord in the spool and keeping it taut at all times.

6. A machine for producing cord of intertwisted yarn and wire, embracing in combination, a revoluble head, bobbins of yarn and of wire rotatably mounted therein, guiding means for directing said strands to a common.

guide-eye axially distanct from the head, cord gripping and feeding members located beyond said guide-eye and positively driven in definite relation to the revolution of said head, tensioning means for frictionaly retarding the rotation of said bobbins to keep the strands taut in advance of the guide-eye and'a frictionally driven winding member having actuating means tending to keep the cord taut at all times be 7ond said guide-eye.

7. A machine for producing cord of intertwisted yarn and Wire, embracing in combination,a revoluble series of individually rotatable bobbins of yarn and of wire, cord gripping and feeding'members driven at a predetermined ratio of speed to the revolution of said bobbins, intermediate strand guiding and converging means, variable'tensioning means for controlling the tension of the strands as they unwind from the bobbin, a Winding Aspool for drawing the twisted cord from said feeding means andspool actuating means having driving connection with the spool through a predetermined but variable friction connection. y

In W1tness whereof, I have subscr1bed the above specification.

LEONARD ATWOOD.

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