US2048850A - Wire covering machine - Google Patents

Description

July 28, 1936. v. F. DI LUSTR'O ET AL 2,048,850

WIRE COVERING MACHINE Original Filed Sept. 6, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS Tf/ro I a/05 7R0.

B LZLE/PY WFLANSBU/PG.

I ATTORNEYS July 28, 1936. v. F. DI LUSTRO ET AL 8,850 Y WIRE COVERING MACHINE Original Filed Sept. 6, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS UST/FO WroFD/L BYZ'LLE/PYW/ZA/VJBMPGY ATTORNEYS July 28, 1936. v. F. DI LUSTRO ET AL WIRE COVERING MACHINE Original Filed Sept. 6, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS V7729 Fo/lusr/Po ELLERYWfZfl/VJBURGI- W ATTORNEYS Patented July 28, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WIRE COVERING MACHINE Original application September 6, 1935, Serial No. 39,392. Divided and this application November 29, 1935, Serial No. 52,116

4 Claims. (01. 95-3) plication Serial No. 39,392, filed September 6, 1935.

Said prior application, as filed, described and claimed a method and mechanism for producing an improved type of weatherproof wire.

The instant application is directed to the machine for producing such improved wire. The invention comprises'a novel combination of cooperating parts peculiarly well suited for the production of weatherproof wire of the type disclosed in our parent application. Such weatherproof wire may be described briefly as comprising a wire having in contact therewith a plurality of longitudinally extending bulky bodies of fibrous material such as cotton roving or the like, a longitudinally extending strip enveloping the latter, and a jacket of interconnected textile strands enclosing the assemblage.

The invention will be fully apparent from the following detailed specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawings and will be defined with particularity in the appended claims.

In the drawings- 25 Fig. 1 is a side elevation with parts broken away, illustrating improved mechanism for carrying out the method in question; Fig. 2 is an enlarged central longitudinal section of a portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detailed hori- 30 zontal section taken on line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2, showing the overlapped effect of the roving strips about the wire core; Fig. 5 is a detail of the finished product; Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail of ,a

a modified form of the improved product, parts being shown in section and other parts being distorted in the interest of clearness.

Referring in detail to the drawings, l0 represents a reel having rolled up thereon a wire l2 or 40 other conductor to be covered. This wire is advanced longitudinally, for example, by means of an overhead capstan l4 around which the finished product is given one or more turns before being reeled up on the take-up reel IS. The wheel I4 is carried on a shaft l5 driven from any suitable source of power at a speed sufiicient. to take up the wire as fast as it is covered by the instrumentallties presently to be described.

We provide a plurality of supplies of cotton roving as indicated at l8. This cotton roving is a relatively bulky fibrous material and is adapted to be arranged longitudinally of thewire I! as the same is advanced. In some cases, each bulky 55 strand of cotton roving will be provided with an exterior helical reinforcement 20, such as suggested by the helical lines in Figs. 2 and 3.

A plurality of roving guides .22 are disposed above the supplies l8. These guides are in the nature of spiraled tubes. The tubes converge 5 toward the wire relatively to one another and each tube itself is formed with converging walls. These converging walls are effective to alter the normal cross-sectional contour of the bodies. These rovings are normally approximately circular 1 in cross-section, but as they emerge from the upper or exit ends 24 of the roving guides, they are flattened out, as indicated at 26 in Fig. 3. The thus flattened out roving bodies as they progress upwardly are more or less overlapped, and we provide a closing die indicated at 28, which has a flaring or substantially conical central opening 30 therein, which is effective to compress the roving bodies about the wire, so that they overlap substantially as indicated in the detail View, Fig. 4.

Extending upwardly from the closing die 28, there is a sleeve or tube 32 which confines the roving for a considerable distance as it is advanced upwardly with the wire.

A supply roll of strip material 34, such as paper, cambric or the like, is suitably supported on a spindle or roll body 36. From this supply the strip 38 is fed upwardly and into the tapered mouth 40 of the folder 42, which is effective, as the product is advanced forwardly, to fold the strip about the roving, either with a longitudinal overlap as shown, or alternately the strip might be applied with a butt joint. The folding of the strip is effected by the joint action of the tube 32 and the inclined mouth of the folder. The tube 32 terminates, as indicated at 44, a short distance beyond the most restricted portion of the tapered mouth in the folder. Beyond this point, there is a closing die 46, having a tapered passageway 48 therethrough, which is adapted to fold the paper in proper assembled relationship around the cotton rovings as the product is advanced.

The guides 22 extend through a suitable central opening formed in the deck plates 50-52 of a conventional type of braiding mechanism. The supporting brackets 54 for the roving guides 22 and the folder 42 are carried by the upper deck plate 52 of the braiding machine, as shown in Fig. 1. 4

wh ch move in crossing undulating paths, the 55 carriers being propelled by .horn gears ill and a known type of propelling mechanism in the form of notched discs 62, which coact with extensions 64, which pass through the undulating guide grooves of the braiding machine. 4

The braiding mechanism is eifective to interconnect a multiplicity of strands of cotton or other fibrous strands 6| so as to form an outer braided jacket 66, which serves to hold the component cover elements described in proper assembled relation. There is a conventional type of die 68 located above the braiding point as shown. The conductor handled by our improved machine may be either in the form of a solid wire, as illustrated, or it may be made up of bunched or stranded conductors.

The bulky bodies of strand material may be of cotton roving reinforced with an exterior thin thread or may comprise relatively bulky strands of jute, sisal, hemp or the like. The longitudinally extending strip 38 may be of either' cloth or paper. But, for some cases, paper is to be preferred, as it provides for a plane of slippage between the roving and the braided jacket. This is deemed advantageous because it facilitates the ease of bending the product after the parts have been impregnated with the conventional types of insulation. This paper or other barrier between the cotton roving and the outer woven or braided jacket serves to prevent the intermingling or entangling of the cotton fibers of the roving with the crossing or otherwise interconnected strands of the outermost jacket.

In some cases, we prefer to use a strip formed of crinkled paper. For such crinkled paper has the advantage of increased elasticity over plain paper and, therefore, will not be so subject to being severed when bent on a sharp radius.

While we have described in detail the specific construction of mechanism herein illustrated for producing weatherproof wire, it is to be understood that various modifications and substitutions of equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art without departure from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What we claim is: V

1. In combination, a machine for forming a covering around a longitudinally advancing conductor, comprising means for guiding a plurality of bulky bodies in longitudinally converging relationship toward such conductor, means for compressing said bodies about the conductor in longitudinally over-lapping relationship, means for folding a strip longitudinally around said bodies. and means for forming a jacket of interconnected strands around said strip.

2. In combination, a machine for forming a covering around a longitudinally advancing conductor, comprising means for guiding a plurality of bulky bodies in longitudinally converging relationship toward such conductor, means for com pressing said bodies about the conductor, means for folding a strip longitudinally around said bodies and means for braiding a jacket of interconnected textile strands around said strip.

3. In combination, a machine for forming a covering around a longitudinally advancing conductor, comprising means for supporting a plurality of supplies of bulky strands roving in juxtaposition to the advancing conductor, roving guides converging toward the conductor, means for confining the roving around the conductor after it leaves said guides, means for supporting a supply of strip material, means coacting with said confining means for folding said strip thereabout as the conductor is advanced, and means for interconnecting a multiplicity of textile strands about said strip.

4. In combination, a machine for forming a covering around a longitudinally advancing conductor, comprising means for supporting a plu rality of supplies of bulky strands of roving in juxtaposition to the advancing conductor, roving guides converging toward the conductor, a roving engaging die having a tapered passageway of a size to compress the strands of roving about the conductor in overlapping relationship after they leave said guides, means for supporting a supply of strip material, means for folding a strip of such material longitudinally about the compressed strands oi roving, a strip engaging die for holding the strip in longitudinally enveloping engagement with the compressed strands and means for interconnecting a multiplicity of textile strands about said strip.

VITO F. or LUSTRO. ELLERY W. FLANSBURG.

Images