US2153936A - Machine for continuously forming curved wire forms - Google Patents

Description

y M 2 R O F E R I W D E v R U C G N I M R O F Y L s U 0 U N I T N O c H O F E N I H C A M April 11, 1939- w. A. OWENS ET AL 3 Sheets-Sheet l Q WW N W o w M 52% 3 WIN QQ I WW0, JZ Owe 725 Ear Z v9. OZ

MACHINE FOR CONTINUOUSLY FORMING CURVED WIRE FORMS April 11, 1939.

W. A. OWENS ET AL Filed May 21, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 grw /rm W lton 7 Owens Ear L Va p b0 N WY R\ April 11, 1939- w. A OWENS ET AL 2,153,936

' MACHINE F'OR CONTINUOUSLY FORMING CURVED- WIRE FORMS Filed May 21, 1938 5 SheetsSheet 3 lllllllll II" IIIIHI IHIH lllllllllllllllllllllllIlllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllwlliIIIIIIIIIlIIIHIl Illl In: IIIIIH IIH A FY /X 6071 fl Owens 1) Ear Z Q9. 0,2;220

Patented Apr. 11, 1939 PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FOR CONTINUOUSLY FORMING CURVED WIRE FORMS Wilton A. Owens, Pittsburgh, and Earl A. Otto,

New Kensington,

assignors to Gulf Research & Development Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application May 21, 1938, Serial No. 209,320

17 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine for continuously forming curved wire forms; and it comprises, in combination, a pair of rotating curving wheels having interpenetrating teeth, means for feeding wire between the teeth, a pair of rotating cutting wheels for cutting off segments of the curved wire to form curved wire forms suitable as packing material for fractionation or absorption columns, a pair of rotating bending wheels sometimes being provided between the rotating curving wheels and the rotating cutting wheels; all as more fully hereinafter set forth and as claimed.

It is usual to provide fractionating columns and absorption columns with packing elements, in the form of rings, balls and other shapes, for the purpose of bringing about intimate contact between gases, vapor and liquid. It is desirable that this result be achieved without undue reduction in rate of throughput, or increase in operating hold-up, of the column. These factors depend to a considerable degree on the shape and size of the packing elements, and there is considerable room for improvement in the column packings now in use.

According to the present invention, there is provided a machine for making packing elements of a particularly eflicient type characterized by consisting of pieces of wire bent into multicurved, shapes, and adapted to be placed as a mass in a distillation or absorption column. The machine comprises means for curving wire into a zigzag, quasi-sinusoidal shape, means for bending the curve at an angle to the plane of the curve, and means for cutting off segments of the curved, bent wire to form the packing units. All operations are continuous. The machine takes wire from a reel and delivers finished packing elements ready for use, and is readily adapted for making elements of any desired size. To make the simple zigzag quasi-sinusoidal wire forms, the means for bending the curves at an angle to the plane of the curve is omitted. When forms, such as provided by this machine, are made by hand, the operation is tedious and slow, so that the forms are quite expensive.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown, more or less diagrammatically, a specific example of a machine embodiment within the purview of the invention. In the showings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the machine;

Fig. '2 is a sectional view thereof taken on line 2-2 of Fi 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical diagrammatic view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4. is an enlarged view of the forming wheels and their assembly taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the rotating cutting wheels and their assembly taken on line 5--5 of Fig. 1; 5

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detailed view of the forming wheels showing their operation;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detailed View of the rotating cutting wheels showing their operation;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of the wire form 10 as it leaves the forming wheels;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view of the wire form as it leaves the bending wheel; and

Fig. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of the wire forms after they have been cut by the ro- 15 tating cutting wheels.

Referring now to the drawings, numeral 20 designates the frame of the machine having mounted thereon a supply spool 2| of rod or wire 22 of suitable size and cross-sectional shape. A slight braking action may be imparted to the spool to prevent the wire from unwinding of over-running the spool. In making large elements, tubing is sometimes used in lieu of wire. Ordinarily the wire, rod, etc., is of metal resistant to the conditions under which the packing is to be used. The term wire hereinafter refers to rods, tubes and the like as well as wire.

The wire to be formed is delivered to the forming wheels 23 and 24 through a suitable guide 25, the forming wheels themselves operating as a feed device to withdraw the wire from the spool. Revolvably mounted in the machine frame at a suitable distance from the spool support is a shaft 26 to which the forming wheel 23 is rigidly secured. As shown, the forming wheels 23 and 24 have intermeshing teeth 10 and impart to the wire a zigzag or waved form, of contour determined by the shape of the teeth.

The forming wheels are maintained in proper relation to each other by means of an adjustable eccentric bearing 2'! in which shaft 28 rotates. By means of the eccentric adjustment the spacing of the two wheels can be adjusted to suit wires of various gages. Forming wheel 24 is secured to said shaft and is adapted to idle on a driven forming wheel 23. The shaft 26 secured thereto is driven from a motor 30 by means of belt 3| engaging pulley 29 secured to shaft 26 and a speed reduction transmission 32 which is mounted on the motor 30.

The wire in passing through forming wheels 23 and 24 is crimped into the continuous form 56 (as shown in Fig. 8), which disengaging automatically by the rotation of the forming wheels passes into and through a wire form guide 33 and thus to a pair of bending wheels 34 and 35. As shown the bending wheel 34 is simply a fiat disk, while bending wheel 35 is a wider disk with a groove 36 cut in the periphery thereof. These bending wheels are of such a shape and mounted in such a manner that they are free to rotate one in the groove of the other leaving a gap or space between the closest points of the two wheels. This gap is greater than the diameter of the wire, and therefore slippage between the bending wheels and the wire is possible. This factor obviates the necessity of synchronizing the peripheral speed of the bending wheels with the linear speed of the wire form. The bending wheel 34 is secured to shaft 3'1, while bending wheel 35 is secured to shaft 38 and said shafts being revolvably mounted in the machine frame at right angles to forming wheels 23 and 24 are rotated in such a manner that the curved portions of the wire form are bent over by the bending wheels into another plane at right angles or other suitable angle to the plane of the original wave. In this manner the wire is converted from the continuous form, as shown in Fig. 8, to the continuous form 51, as shown in Fig. 9.

After leaving bending wheels 34 and 35 the wire passes through a suitable guide 39 to rotating cutting wheels 40 and 4|. The guide fits around the cutting wheels a sufiicient distance to guide the wire until the individual segments have been cut away into the single wire forms 58, as shown in Fig. 10, which are to be used as the column packing material. The rotating cutting wheel 40 has a groove 42 cut in the periphery thereof, while rotating cutting wheel 4| has a cylindrical periphery 43 with an overlapping conical cutting edge 44 which is adapted to run in the groove 42 of cutting wheel 40. The vertical sides of the groove and cutting edge rotate in contact, or very nearly in contact, producing a continuous shearing or scissor-like action.

The finished wire forms (Fig. 10) prove to be very eificient in their intended utilizations. A mass of the forms cling together to only a slight extent yet there is less volume of material per unit volume of column space than with simple plane shapes; with consequent reduction of solids per unit volume and at the same time with increase of free space per unit volume. The mass of forms are moreover of such character as to make for even distribution of fluids flowing therethrough. Channeling is minimized.

The wire forms, as shown in Fig, 9, is in a plane parallel, or nearly parallel, to the plane of the rotating axis of the rotating cutting wheels, and is forced between said cutting wheels by the bending wheels. Therefore, as each part of the wire form contacts the cutting wheels, the rotation of said cutting wheels tend to draw the wire away from the bending wheels, and thus operate on the wire in a continuous manner to make the separate wire forms referred to. The peripheral speed of the cutting wheels may be slightly less or slightly greater than the linear speed of the wire form because due to the shearing action of the cutting wheels, these speeds need not be synchronized.

Rotating cutting wheel 45 is secured to shaft 45, on which there is also secured a gear 46, which meshing with gear 41 secured to shaft 48, on which rotating cutting wheel 4| is also secured, is rotated, by means of a belt 49 engaging a pulley 50, secured to shaft 45 and speed reducer 5| mounted on motor 52.

Movement is imparted to the bending wheels by means of a belt 53 engaging pulley 54 secured to shaft 31 and pulley 55 secured to shaft 45.

In order to make zigzag quasi-sinusoidal wire forms, the bending wheels and their assembly, including elements 34, 35, 38, 31, 38, 53 and 54 may be omitted, and the wire form 56 may be fed directly to the rotating cutting wheels.

Obviously from the foregoing it can be seen that operations may be performed on the Wire either concurrently or consecutively.

The machine can be used to form other articles suitable for packing from other than wire by appropriately modifying the shape of the forming, bending and cutting wheels.

What we claim is:

l. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising means for moving the wire in the machine, means for curving the wire into a zigzag curve, means for engaging the moving curved wire and bending the wire about an axis parallel to the direction of movement of the wire, and means for cutting off segments of the bent curved wire to form curved wire forms.

2. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising a pair of rotating form ing Wheels having interpenetrating teeth for feeding the wire into the machine and curving the wire into a zigzag curve, means for frictionally engaging the moving curved wire and bending the wire about an axis parallel to the direction of movement of the wire, and means for cutting ofi segments of the bent curved wire to form curved wire forms.

3. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising a pair of rotating forming wheels having interpenetrating teeth for curving the Wire into a zigzag curve and moving the wire in the machine, a pair of rotating bending wheels for engaging the moving the curved wire and bending it about an axis parallel to the direction of movement of the wire, and means for cutting off segments of the bent curved wire to form curved wire forms.

4. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising a pair of rotating forming wheels having interpenetrating teeth for curving the wire into a zigzag curve and moving the wire in the machine, a pair of rotating bending wheels for bending the curved wire longitudinally in the direction of movement of the wire, and a pair of rotating cutting wheels for cutting on segments of the bent curved wire to form curved wire forms.

5. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising a pair of rotating forming wheels having interpenetrating teeth, means for feeding wire between said teeth to impart a zigzag curve to the wire, a pair of opposed overlapping rotating bending wheels for frictionally engaging the wire therebetween and bending the curved wire on an axis parallel to the direction of movement of the wire between said wheels and a pair of rotating cutting wheels for cutting ofl segments of the bent curved wire to form curved wire forms.

6. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising a pair of rotating forming wheels having interpenetrating teeth, means for feeding the wire between said teeth to impart a zigzag curve to the wire, a pair of opposed rotating bending wheels adapted to frictionally engage the curved wire therebetween and bend it about an axis parallelwith the direction of movement of the wire between the wheels, means for adjusting one of said wheels relative to the other wheel for varying the degree of frictional contact with the wire, and a pair of rotating cutting wheels for cutting off segments of the bent curved wire to formcurved wire forms.

7. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms from wire, comprising a pair of meshed toothed forming Wheels arranged to receive the wire and curve it, a pair of opposed rotating bending wheels at an angle to the pair of forming wheels said bending wheels being arranged to receive the curved wire therebetween and to bend it at an angle about an axis longitudinal with respect to the direction of movement of the wire between the wheels, means for rotating said bending wheels, and means for cutting off segments of the curved, bent wire to form wire forms.

8. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising means for curving the wire into a zigzag curve and imparting longitudinal movement to the curved wire, and rotating sharp-edged disc cutting means for cutting off segments of the curved wire to form curved wire forms.

9. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising a pair of rotating forming wheels having interpenetrating teeth for curving the wire into a zigzag curve and imparting longitudinal movement to the curved wire and rotating sharp-edged disc cutting means for cutting segments of the curved wire to form curved wire forms.

10. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising a pair of rotating forming wheels having interpenetrating teeth for curving the wire into a zigzag curve, and a pair of oppositely rotating overlapping sharp-edged cutting wheels for shearing off segments of the curved wire to form curved wire forms.

11. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms, comprising a pair of rotating forming wheels having interpenetrating teeth for curving the wire into a zigzag curve, means for feeding wire between said teeth to impart a zigzag curve to the wire and cause movement of the wire in the machine, and a pair of sharp-edged overlapping rotating cutting wheels for shearing off segments of the curved wire to form curved wire forms.

12. A machine for continuously forming curved wtire forms from, wire, comprising a pair of meshed tooth forming wheels arranged to receive the wire and curve it, means for driving said forming wheels, and means for cutting off segments of the curved wire to form wire forms said cutting means being adapted to be driven at speeds independent of the speed of said forming wheels.

13. A machine for continuously producing curved wire forms comprising rotary means for bending the wire to form a continuous substantially fiat zigzag shaped curve consisting of substantially straight portions of Wire serially connected end to end by means of substantially U-shaped curved portions, roller means for bending the straight portions of the wire adjacent their ends to position the curved portions at an angle to the plane of the straight portions, and means for cutting the straight portions of the wire to produce a plurality of curved non-planar wire forms.

14. A machine for continuously producing curved wire forms comprising means for curving the wire to form a continuous substantially flat zigzag shaped curve, roller means providing a constant and continuously defined opening through which the wire is fed and bent and means for cutting off segments of the bent curved wire to form curved wire forms.

15. A machine for continuously producing curved wire forms comprising a pair of meshed toothed forming wheels arranged to receive the wire and curve it into a substantially zigzag shaped curve, a roller having an angular grooved cylindrical face, means operable in the groove of said roller for guiding the curved Wire into engagement with the face of the roller for bending the wire, and means for cutting off segments of the curved bent wire to form curved wire forms.

16. A machine for continuously producing curved wire forms comprising means for curving the wire into a zigzag curve, a roller having an angular grooved cylindrical face, a second roller operable within the groove of said first named roller, means for feeding the curved wire between said rollers to bend it and means for cutting off segments of the wire to form curved wire forms.

17. A machine for continuously forming curved wire forms comprising rotating means for receiving the wire and curving it into a zigzag curve, rotary means for frictionally engaging and bending the curved wire and rotary means for cutting off segments of the bent curved wire to form non-planar curved wire forms, each of said. rotary means being operable at speeds independent of the speeds of rotation of each of said other rotary means to produce segmental non-planar curved wire forms of constantly uniform dimensions.

WILTON A. OWENS. EARL A. OTTO.

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