US3695527A

US3695527A - Reel switching device for a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine

Info

Publication number: US3695527A
Application number: US89947A
Authority: US
Inventors: Sakae Kobayashi; Hiroshi Hori; Toshio Matsunaga
Original assignee: Japan Steel Works Ltd
Current assignee: Japan Steel Works Ltd
Priority date: 1969-11-25
Filing date: 1970-11-16
Publication date: 1972-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 1989-10-03
Also published as: JPS5034687B1

Abstract

In a reel switching device for a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine a set of pushing rollers and a set of guide rollers are provided to operate in association with the movement of a traverser to guide a wire from a fully wound reel to an empty reel at the position of one of its flanges, whereby simultaneously with the movement of the traverser, one of the pushing rollers is actuated to push the wire outwardly over the flange of the empty reel and one of the guide rollers is actuated to push the wire inwardly away from the flange of the fully wound reel.

Description

United States Patent [15] 3,695,527 Kobayashi et al. Oct. 3, 1972 [54] REEL SWITCHING DEVICE FOR A 3,441,229 4/1969 Henrich ..242/25 A DOUBLE-REEL PARALLEL-SHAFT TYPE CONTINUOUS WINDING MACHINE [72] Inventors: Sakae Kobayashi, Tokyo; Hiroshi Hori, Yokoham; Toshio Matsunaga, Yokosuka, all of Japan [73] Assignee: Japan Steel Works Ltd., Tokyo,

Japan [22] Filed: Nov. 16, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 89,947

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 25, 1969 Japan ..i....44/94522 [52] US. Cl. ..242/25 A [51] Int. Cl. ..B65h 54/00 [58] Field of Search ..242/25 A [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,674,414 4/1954 Hicks et a1. ..242/25 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,074,709 7/ 1967 Great Britain ..242/25 A 1,323,287 2/1963 France ..242/25A Primary Examiner-Stanely N. Gilreath Assistant Examiner-Milton Gerstein Attorney-Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack [57] ABSTRACT In a reel switching device for a double-reel parallelshaft type continuous winding machine a set of pushing rollers and a set of guide rollers are provided to operate in association with the movement of a traverser to guide a wire from a fully wound reel to an empty reel at the position of one of its flanges, whereby simultaneously with the movement of the traverser, one of the pushing rollers is actuated to push the wire outwardly over the flange of the empty reel and one of the guide rollers is actuated to push the wire inwardly away from the flange of the fully wound reel.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PIATENTED "ET 3 I972 3.695. 527

SAKAE KOBAYASHI, HIROSHI HORI and TOSHIO MATSUNAGA,

ATTORNEYS INVENTORS REEL SWITCHINGDEVICE FOR A DOUBLE-REEL PARALLEL-SHAFT TYPE CONTINUOUS WINDING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine, and more particularly to a reel switching device for a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine.

A reel switching device for a double-reel parallelshaft type continuous winding machine such as used for winding metal wires or insulated wires serves to switch the winding of a wire from a fully would reel to an empty reel without stopping the operation of the machine.

The conventional such device has such disadvantages as being complex in construction, expensive, liable to trouble, and hard to maintain, in addition to which it has problems due to low its probability of success in changing reels in a high speed winding operation particularly at wire speeds of 1,500 m/min or above, and also due to the load exerted on the wire under winding.

The present invention is aimed at, along with eliminating such structual problems inherent to such conventional devices, providing a very useful reelswitching device by simplifying the structure thereof, thereby reducing the incidence of trouble and its maintenance cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a reel switching device for a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine which is simple in construction and operable at low maintenance costs.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine is provided with a traverser which is, at the time of the switching of the reels, adapted to be previously moved to a position in which a wire comes into contact with the barrel of an empty reel as well as with one of the flanges of the empty reel, and further provided with pushing rollers and guide rollers which are disposed between both reel shafts so as to be at right angles to the plane containing both reel shafts and adapted to be operated in association with the movement of the traverser. One of the push rollers corresponding to the empty reel is actuated to push the wire outwardly over the flange of the empty reel simultaneously with the movement of the traverser toward the flange of the empty reel so that thewire is crossed by a circle described by a snagger provided on a snagger plate that is drivingly connected to the empty reel. The wire is securely caught by the snagger and, at the same time, one of the guide rollers corresponding to the fully would reel is cooperatively actuated with the movement of the push roller to push inwardly the wire of the full wound reel so that the wire is released from a snagger provided on a snagger plate that is drivingly connected to the fully wound reel.

According to the present invention, the switching operation of reels in a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous winding machine is securely carried out by the cooperative action of the traverser, the pushing rollers and the guide rollers, and since the construction of the switching device is simple, it has little trouble, its maintenance is easy and its cost is low.

2 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS This and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art when considered in reference to the following detailed description in the light of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical elevational view of an embodiment of a reel siwtching device according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatical plan view of the reel switching device shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT It will be recognized that all of the figures of the drawing are in part schematic in order to permit an understanding of invention without showing and describing unnecessary details.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, one of the winding shafts l of a double-reel parallel-shaft type winding machine rotates a reel 5 held between a disc 2 and a snagger plate 3 which is pressed toward the disc 2 by an air cylinder 4. As the reel 5 is rotated, a wire 7 fed though a traverser 8 is regularly wound on the barrel 6 of the reel 5 by the action of the traverser 8 which is moved back and forth to increase gradually the outer diameter of the barrel.

' When the wire 7 is wound on the barrel 6 of the reel 5 by a desired length or to a desired diameter, the winding of the wire 7 is switched without stopping the operation of the machine from the reel 5 to an empty reel 5' which is arranged in parallel with the reel 5 and is held between a disc 2' connected to a winding shaft 1 and a snagger plate 3' to be rotated by the shaft 1' of the winding machine. In this case, as a preparatory operation, the traverser 8, having been positioned at the mid portion between both

reels

5 and 5 as shown by the dot-dash line in FIG. 1, travels laterally toward the empty reel 5' and stops at a position as shown by the solid line in FIG. I where the wire 7 touches the outer peripheral surface of the barrel 6' of the reel 5. For purposes of clarity, the structure providing for lateral movement of traverser 8 is not described. However, such structures are known and those skilled in the art would know how to incorporate their use in the device of the present invention. Such a structure is shown in US. Pat No. 3,441,229. The circumferential velocity whereby the circumferential velocity of the barrel 6 is regulated so as, to be the same as the taking up velocity of the wire. Upon receipt of a signal from a device not shown that a definite length of the wire has been wound on the reel 5, the traverser 8 is finally moved toward the inner surfaces of the flanges of the reels 5 and 5' adjoining the snagger plates 3 and 3' as shown in FIG. 2 by the solid line. At the same time, an air cylinder 9 which is disposed between and outside the reels at the side thereof adjacent disc 2 and 2' is actuated to displace the upright roller 11' secured to the end of a piston rod 10' of the cylinder 9' so that the wire 7 is bent sharply at the edge of the flange of the reel 5'. In this way, the wire 7 crosses the path of a snagger 12' secured to the rotating snagger plate 3, so that the wire 7 is securely caught by the snagger 12'. Directly thereafter, the wire 7 is cut by a cutter 13 to sever it from the wire wound on the reel 5, and the wire 7 thus begins to be wound on the barrel 6' of the empty reel 5. In this case, a guide roller 14 disposed between and outside the reels at the side opposite to the

cylinders

9, 9 is forced to project from a position shown by a dot-dash line to that shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, so that it comes into contact with the wire 7, as a result of which the wire 7 is prevented from touching a snagger 12 provided on the snagger plate 3 of the fully wound reel. The roller 14 is secured to one end of a lever 16 pivotally secured at its mid portion to any stationary part of the machine, and at the other end of the lever 16 is secured another upright guide roller 14. Before the upright roller 1 1 is displaced, the guide rollers 14 and 14' occupy the positions shown bythe dot-dash line in FIG. 2, but, when the roller 11' is displaced to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, the guide roller 14' is moved to the position shown by the solid line by the upright roller 11' so that the roller 14 is pushed toward the wire 7 on the side of the fully wound reel 5 by the swing of the lever 16 about the pivot 15.

Upon completion of the switching operation in this way, the traverser 8 returns to its initial position or the mid portion between both reels as shown by the dotdash line in FIG. 1. Thereafter, when a signal indicating that the full winding of the wire on the reel 5' has been completed is issued from the device not shown, the traverser 8 travels toward now empty reel 5 to a position opposite to that shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, and then moves the wire 7 toward snagger plates 3 and 3', at the same time, a cylinder 9 arranged side by side with the cylinder 9 is actuated to push out its piston rod 10 so that the upright roller 11 secured at the outer end of the rod 10 pushes the wire 7 outwardly. The wire 7 is thus sharply bent at the edge of the flange of the reel 5 to be easily caught by the snagger 12 provided on the snagger plate 3. It will be noted that, at this time, the guide rollers 14, 14' are moved to the positions shown by the dot-dash line due to the cooperative action of the roller 11 and the lever 16 pivoted at the point 15. By the operation of the

guide rollers

14, 14 the wire 7 on the side of the fully wound reel 5 is securely prevented from coming into contact with the snagger 12' of the snagger plate 3 of the fully wound reel 5.

Thus the automatic switching of the reels is alternately repeated continuously without interruption of the winding operation of the machine.

It is to be understood that although one embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described, it is not to be limited thereto except insofar as such limitations are included in the following claims:

What is claimed is:

1. in a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous wire winding machine including first and second parallelly mounted winding shafts each having a flanged reel mounted thereon between a disc and a snagger plate, each snagger plate having a snagger secured thereto; and a wire traverser mounted above said reels; said traverser being movable back and forth in a first direction parallel to the axes of said winding shaft; said traverser further being movable in a second direction, perpendicular to said first direction and parallel to the plane containing said axes of said winding shafts, from a center winding position to opposite lateral switching positions adjacent said reels wherein the wire being wound on one of said r els is brought into contact with the outer periphery of t e empty 0 er of said reels; the

improved reel switching device comprising:

a pair of parallel wire push means mounted between said reels for selectively bending said wire, when said wire is in contact with the outer periphery of said empty reel, against the flange of said empty reel adjacent the snagger plate thereof to cause said wire to be brought into thev path of said snagger thereof; and pair of guide means pivotally mounted between said reels on the side of said wire opposite said wire push means in opposition to said wire push means to selectively force said wire away from the path of said snagger of said reel on which said wire is being wound when said wire is being bent by said wire push means.

2. The device claimed in claim 1, wherein said pair of wire push means comprise first and second push rollers extending perpendicular to said plane and movable in said first direction from an inoperative position beyond said discs to an operative position bending said wire; said first push roller being positioned adjacent a first of said reels, and said second push roller being positioned adjacent a second of said reels.

3. The device claimed in claim 2, wherein said pair of guide means comprise first and second guide rollers extending parallel to said first and second push rollers; said guide rollers being mounted on opposite ends of a lever pivotally movable in a plane parallel to said plane containing said axes; said first guide roller forcing said wire away from the path of said snagger of said first reel when said second push roller bends said wire into the path of said snagger of said second reel; and said second guide roller forcing said wire away from the path of said snagger of said second reel when said first push roller bends said wire into the path of said snagger of said first reel.

Claims

1. In a double-reel parallel-shaft type continuous wire winding machine including first and second parallelly mounted winding shafts each having a flanged reel mounted thereon between a disc and a snagger plate, each snagger plate having a snagger secured thereto; and a wire traverser mounted above said reels; said traverser being movable back and forth in a first direction parallel to the axes of said winding shaft; said traverser further being movable in a second direction, perpendicular to said first direction and parallel to the plane containing said axes of said winding shafts, from a center winding position to opposite lateral switching positions adjacent said reels wherein the wire being wound on one of said reels is brought into contact with the outer periphery of the empty other of said reels; the improved reel switching device comprising: a pair of parallel wire push means mounted between said reels for selectively bending said wire, when said wire is in contact with the outer periphery of said empty reel, against the flange of said empty reel adjacent the snagger plate thereof to cause said wire to be brought into the path of said snagger thereof; and a pair of guide means pivotally mounted between said reels on the side of said wire opposite said wire push means in opposition to said wire push means to selectively force said wire away from the path of said snagger of said reEl on which said wire is being wound when said wire is being bent by said wire push means.