US642173A - Wire-feed. - Google Patents

Description

No. 642,173. Patented Jan. 30, I900. H. TETLDW.

WlRE FEED.

(Application'filed June 5, 1899.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shea! Flo? FIG-l? ,4: Norms Ptrzns ca, PNOTO-UTNQ. WASHINGTON, n c.

No. 842,573. Patented Jan. 30, I900. H. TETLOW.

WIRE FEED.

Application filed June 5, 1899. (No Model.) 2 Sheets$heei 2.

UNTTnn STATES PATENT @rrrcii.

HENRY TETLOW, or MANCHESTER, ENGLAND;

WIRE-FEED.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 642,173, dated January 30, 1900. Application filed June 5, 1899. Serial No. 719,403. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY TETLOW, heald and wire manufacturer, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Varley street, Miles Platting, Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ire-Feeds, (for which I have made application for patent in Great Britain, No. 26,936, dated December 21, 1898,) of which the following is a specification.

My said invention relates to wire-feeding machines, and particularly to the machines used for making travelers for ring and donbling frames. In such machines at present used the wire is fed forward against a fixed adjustable abutment, cut into lengths, and bent to the required shape. It is found in practice that the method of feeding the wire is defective, as it frequently happens that too much or too little is fed forward, so that the length cut off varies, causing defective travelers, which have afterward to be sorted out.

My improvements consist chiefly in the pro vision of means whereby a definite length of wire may be fed to the machine and by means of which such length of wire is positively and accurately adjusted to the length required before the wire is cut and bent.

The accompanying two sheets of drawings clearly illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a machine for making ring-travelers, only so much being shown as is necessary to illustrate my invention. Fig. 1*- is a detail showing the means for operating the lever m. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail of a part of the reel-feeding mechanism. Fig. at is a detail view of the adjusting mechanism of the ad j Listing-roller 1). Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of the feed-rollers in sectional view. Figs. 7 and 8 are plan views in different positions of said rollers. Fig. 9 shows the feed-reel.

To feed forward the length of wire, I provide a pair of feed-rollers a 1). One of these rollers ais mounted in fixed bearings c c and is driven by bevel-gearing from the drivingshaft of the'machine as follows: As shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the drivingshaft d is provided with a bevel-pinion c, gearing with another bevel-pinion e, carried upon a vertical shaft f, mounted to revolve in bearings iii the frame of the machine. The lowerend of the shaft f also carries a bevel-pinionf, which gears with a pinion g, mounted on a countershaft h,which is thus driven. A bevel-pinion h on the counter-shaft meshes with a pinion t' on the shaft t", to which is secured the fixed roller a. The shaft 5 of the other roller 1) is mounted in a block b, sliding in a bracket j, secured to the frame, and is thrust into contact with the roller a by means of a springj', regulated by a serewj or the like, as will be more apparent from an inspection of Fig. 4, in which the rollers are removed. The roller 1) in sliding bearings is positively driven from the other roller by means of pinions 7; 7G. The lower end of the shaft fits with suificient looseness in its hearing as to permit the slight movement of the roller 1). The roller Z comprises two disk sections, the upper one having a concentric portion, with a flange extending therefrom concentric therewith for the major portion of the circumference and having an eccentric or cut-away part I) for the remaining portion of the circumference. The periphery of the lower disk section 0 corresponds exactly to the periphery of said flange, and as these sections are adjustable relatively to each other the feed of the wire can be regulated, as hereinafter described. As the feed-rollers revolve the cam-surfaces formed on the roller 1) come into contact with the roller ct and remove the concentric portion of the roller 1) from contact with the wire marked in Fig. 6, the feed of which is thus stopped. This is shown in Fig. 6. As shown in the plan View Fig. 7, the periphery of the flange on the upper disk I) and the periphery of the lower section b coincide and the maximum feed of the rollers is thus offected. By slackening the nut confining the roller to its shaft b the upper portion maybe revolved, as shown in Fig. 8, so as to bring the eccentric portion of the flange of the upper section and the lower section out of alinement, so that the eccentric portion on the lower disk 12 will be brought more or less early into action, as required, so that any length of wire from a maximum to a minimum can be readily fed to the machine.

Instead of bringing the wirefed to the machine into contact with an adjustable fixed abutment before it is cut, asis at present the practice, I mount the adjustable abutment Z to slide on ways Z Z, cut or formed in the bed of the machine, and reciprocate the same by means of a lever m, pivoted at m and actuated by means of a cam n, mounted on the driving-shaft. This arrangement is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and l. A spring 17, maintains the bowl 0 of the lever m in contact with the cam n.

I prefer to arrange the feed-rollers a b so that they feed forward wire a trifle in excess of the length required.

The reciprocating abutment Z is adjusted so that at the end of its forward stroke it will form a stop to limit the length of wire required. The wire is fed to the machine by the feed-rollers a b and released from the rollers as described. The reciprocating abutment on its forward stroke comes into contact with the end of the wire and if the length of wire is a little in excess, as described, re-

tracts it, so that an accurate length of wire is cut and is thenbent to the required form. The cutting and bending mechanism are as before and form no part of my invention.

It will be obvious that with my improved arrangement for feeding and regulating the wire into predetermined definite lengths before the same is cut and bent travelers can be made with absolute regularity and certainty.

Instead of pulling the wire from the drum or reel by the action of feeding forward the wire, as is at present the practice, I drive the reel by a suitable slow motion, so that jerking of the reel is avoided. To effect this, I provide the shaft h, from which the feedrollers are driven, with a wormp, gearing with a Worm-wheel p, mounted on a short shaft (1, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 3 shows the arrangement in plan view. This short shaft is mounted in bearings in a bracket r, bolted to the frame of the machine, and is provided with a grooved differential pulley 8, connected bya band to a grooved differential pulley 15, mounted on the axis 0) of the reel to, which is carried in suitable bearings formed in a bracket 2;, carried by a standard w, secured to the frame of the apparatus. Atension-nut v and spring o are employed to jam the reel u to some extent against its bearings, so as to prevent it from overrunning.

Instead of differential pulleys grooved change-wheels may be employed to provide for the variable driving of the reel. By these means the wire reel or drum may be slowly revolved, so as to deliver and feed the wire to the machine exactly as it is required.

I declare that what I claim isl. In combination in amachine for feeding wire,a wire-reel, feeding-rolls, one of said rolls having a portion adapted to engage directly with the wire in its feeding action, and an ad j ustable portion coacting with the other roll to vary the feed.

2. In combination in a machine for feeding wire, a Wire-reel and two feed-rolls, one of said rolls having a concentricportion adapted to engage the wire in the feeding action an eccentric part below said concentric portion and an adjustable portion coacting with said eccentric portion and the other roll to vary the feed of the wire.

3. In combination ina machine for feeding wire, a wire-reel, feed-rolls adapted to feed at each operation a length of wire in excess of the amount required and means adapted to return the excess, substantially as described.

4:. In combination in a machine for feeding wire, feed -rolls, and a reciprocating stop adapted to control the wire fed by said rolls, substantially as described.

5. In combination in a wire-feeding machine, two feed-rolls adapted to clamp the wire in feeding the same, means whereby said rolls are separated to release the wire and a stop adapted to reciprocate toward the rolls during their separation to return any excess of feed.

In witness whereof I havehereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY TETLOl/V.

Witnesses:

JOSHUA Eurwrsnn, ALFRED YATES.

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