US2695139A - Core member for coils - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 23, 1954 L. cs. HORVATH CORE MEMBER FOR COILS illlllln.

INVENTOR. H0 7' 001%; BY

Filed Nov. 13, 1951 Jim 1614 jiczaG United States Patent M CORE MEMBER FOR COILS Lad G. Horvath, Chicago, 11]., assignor to Acme Steel Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application November 13, 1951, Serial No. 256,053 3 Claims. (Cl. 242-68) This invention relates to improvements in core members and means upon which coils of convoluted material such as metal strapping and the like may be wound. Its purpose is to provide an inexpensive and easily assembled core member in combination with a drum about which metal strapping and similar products may be wound, the core preventing the inner strands of the coiled material from becoming loosened or entangled after the core and coil thereon have been removed from the drum, and during shipping, storage and subsequent unwinding of the coil.

Heretofore it has been common practice in the packaging of steel strapping, wire and similar materials to wind the finished material into coils on substantially rigid core members. This practice in the case of steel strapping has been employed particularly in packaging comparatively narrow strapping into coils having lateral dimensions several times the width of the strapping itself. In such cases a substantially rigid cylindrical core member has been slipped axially onto a driven Winding drum and a coil of the narrow strapping has been formed by winding the material onto the core spirally in a manner such that a plurality of radially superimposed and laterally spaced convolutions are built up on the core. When the coil has been wound to its desired size or weight, rotation of the winding drum has been stopped, the strapping leading to the coil has been cut, and the coil with its rigid core member has been pulled or slipped off of the winding drum. Thereafter straps or the like have been drawn laterally around the coil and the rigid core member at a plurality of points to secure the outer convolutions of the strapping against relative displacement, the rigid core member itself acting to prevent the inner convolutions from becoming loosened or entangled. The rigid or substantially rigid core members of the kind just referred to have usually been made of wood or steel and they have provided very firm foundations upon which to wind coils. Their use, however, has been expensive and troublesome in certain respects. The material from which the rigid core members are constructed is expensive and often in short supply, and their fabrication in quantity has required the use of relatively expensive machinery and a substantial amount of storage space for completed cores awaiting use. The use of such core members also has added materially to the shipping weight of finished coils of material and has created a disposal problem for those customers who consume large quantities of the coiled products. Manufacturers engaged in winding and forming coils upon rigid cores of the ordinary rigid cylindrical type have also found that the cores cannot be depended upon to fit onto the Winding drums properly. Variations in the inner diameters of the prefabricated rigid cores, together with slight variations encountered in the outer diameters of winding drums, cause some rigid cores of a supposedly identical group to slip excessively on certain winding drums during the winding operation, while other cores of the same group will fit so tightly on other drums that their removal is difficult.

The present invention overcomes the several disadvantages referred to above that are inherent in the rigid or semi-rigid core members that heretofore have commonly been used for coils, and the invention has as one of its important objects the provision, in combination with a winding drum, of a very inexpensive flexible core member that may easily be applied to the drum in a selfadjusting manner so as to fit snugly about the drum in 2,695,139 PatentedtNov. 23, 1954 spite of the fact that the diameter of the drum maynot be exact. Another object of the invention is to provide an improved flexible core member that may be stored in a flat condition to conserve space until immediately prior to its use whereupon it may be quickly assembled manually about a winding drum to receive convolutions of steel strapping, wire and similar materials and thereafter be easily removed from the drum with the coiled material. A further object of the invention is to provide a core member having the above characteristics, fabricated of paper material which is adapted to receive printed information and color andmay conveniently be disposed of when the coiled material wrapped about the core has been removed.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a core member of the present invention in a fiat condition prior to its assembly;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the manner in which the core member may be assembled by wrapping the same about a winding drum;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation showing the core member in assembled condition on the winding drum, with an end of a length of steel strapping or the like secured or anchored to the drum and core member preparatory to winding the strapping about the core member;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on the line 4--4 in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one form of a complete coil embodying the core member of the present invention.

The core member illustrated in the drawing comprises a longitudinal strip 10 of flexible sheet material, such as heavy paper, cardboard or paper-board, having opposite end portions 11 and 12 which, if desired, may be of reduced width as best shown in Fig. 1. An oblong hole or opening 13 is provided centrally through the body of the end portion 11 close to its extremity 11a, the greater dimension of the opening extending laterally of the strip 10. Longitudinally inwardly from the opening 13, and on one side of the end portion 11, is an adhesive surface 14 that extends laterally across the end portion from edge to edge. A corresponding adhesive surface is provided on the opposite side of the strip 10 on the end portion 12 close to its extremity 12a, and an oblong hole or opening 16 corresponding in size and shape to the opening 13 is provided through the body of the end portion 12 longitudinally inwardly from the adhesive surface 15. These adhesive surfaces each comprise a coating of adhesive material applied directly to the strip 10, the coating preferably being one of the conventional dry surface adhesive materials, such as rubber in solution in benzole (CsHs). Such adhesive coatings have the property that, after drying, they will preferentially adhere to each other. That is, they will adhere strongly to each other when brought together without being moistened or otherwise further treated, but will not adhere under normal conditions to uncoated parts.

It will readily be understood that the core member just described may be inexpensively manufactured in large quantities, printed or colored as desired, and stored until needed in a disassembled and flat condition in stacks that will occupy a minimum of storage space.

When it is desired to form a coil around one of the flexible core members, the member is assembled at the time of its use by being wrapped snugly around the outer surface of a cylindrical winding drum 17, with the end portion 12 of the strip 10 overlapping the end portion 11 thereof to bring the adhesive surfaces 14 and 15 into engagement and to bring the openings 13 and 16 substantially into alignment one above the other over an open-end slot 18 provided laterally in the body of the drum 17. During this assembly operation the flexible core member may be indexed as to its lateral position on the winding drum by engagement of one of its lateral edges with a radial flange 19 provided on the inner end of the drum. When the core member has been thus assem'bled, the adhesive surfaces 14 and 15 adhere to secure the overlapped ends of the strip 10 together, and the superimposed openings 13 and 16 provide a single aperture through the assembled core member to receive an end of the strapping or other material to be wrapped about the core. The core member, in being wrapped around the winding drum during its assembly, adjusts itself to the diameter of the drum. Consequently, the core member of the present invention may be snugly applied to drums that vary in diameter, the dimensions of the openings 13 and 16 in the member being sutriciently large that even when the openings are somewhat off-set with respect to each other, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the openings will still provide an aperture of sufficient size to receive an end of the material to be wrapped onto the core member.

Figs. 3 and 4 show in detail the manner in which an end 20a of a length of comparatively narrow steel strapping 20 may be secured to the assembled core member and drum 17 preparatory to winding the strapping onto the core. The end 20a of the strapping is passed radially inwardly through the aperture provided by the openings 13 and 16 in the core member and through the slot 18 in the drum 17 and is then bent over against the inner surface of the drum, as best illustrated in Fig. 4. The drum and the core thereon are then rotated (by means not shown) and the strapping 20 may be 'fed onto the core spirally to build up a coil comprising a plurality of radially superimposed spiral layers of the strapping disposed in side by side position about the core. When the coil has been built up to a desired diameter or weight, rotation of the drum is stopped, the strapping 20 leading to the coil is cut, and the core member 10, with the coil thereon, is slipped axially off the drum, the end 20a of the strapping sliding out the open end of the slot 18 in the drum 17. The end 20a of the strapping is then pressed outwardly against the inner surface of the core member, the overlapping ends of the core member serving to reinforce and prevent the end of the strapping from tearing the core member in the area around the openings 13 and 16 therein. Bending straps 21 may at the same time be applied laterally around the coil and core at several points, as illustrated in Fig. 5, to prevent the outer convolutions of the strapping 20 from becoming loosened or displaced. The core member itself serves to prevent the inner convolutions from becoming loosened or entangled.

Although one form of the invention has been shown and described by way of illustration, it will be understood that the invention may be constructed in other embodiments that come within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A core member for a coil comprising, a strip of flexible paper material having holes through the body thereof adjacent each of its opposite ends, an adhesive surface on one side of said strip adjacent a first one of said ends and between that end and said adjacent hole, and a second adhesive surface on the opposite side of said strip adjacent the second one of said ends with said other hole between said second end and said second adhesive surface, said ends of said strip being movable into engagement in overlapping position with said adhesive surfaces in contact with each other and with said holes in substantial alignment one above the other to provide a single aperture for receiving an end of said coil with said second end on the inner side of the core.

2. Means for winding a coil of convoluted material comprising, a cylindrical winding drum having an elongated slot in the peripheral surface thereof extending inwardly from one end of thedrum, and a core memher on said drum comprised essentially of a single strip of paper Wrapped around said drum with its end portions overlapped and adhesively secured together, said end portions having registered openings therein one above the other over said slot to provide a single aperture for receiving an end of the material to be wound.

3. Means for winding a coil of convoluted material comprising, a cylindrical winding drum having a radially extending annular flange on one of its ends and an open end elongated slot extending inwardly from its opposite end, and a core member on said drum comprised essentially of a single strip of paper wrapped around said drum with a lateral edge of said strip abutting said flange and with the end portions of said strip overlapped and adhesively secured together, said end portions of said strip having registered openings therein one above the other over said slot to provide a single aperture for receiving an end of the material to be wound.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 244,591 Gritlin July 19, 1881 972,667 Wheeler Oct. 11, 1910 2,000,763 Line May 7, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 629,254 France July 19, 1927

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