Autonomous cable lasher comprising an onboard torque compensation mechanism

A cable lasher comprising:

• an autonomous carriage for moving along cables to be attached to each other;
• a lashing apparatus rotatably mounted to the carriage and capable of dispensing a lashing wire about the cables in a helical winding pattern as the cable lasher moves along a longitudinal axis and the lashing apparatus rotates to attach the cables to each other;
• a channel for receiving the cables, about which the carriage and the lashing apparatus are disposed and extending along the longitudinal axis;
• a lashing apparatus actuator carried by the carriage that rotates the lashing apparatus when the cable lasher moves along the longitudinal axis;
• an onboard power source carried by said carriage for powering the advance of the carriage and the rotation of the lashing apparatus;
• and
• an onboard torque compensation mechanism acting on the autonomous carriage to apply a force that counters a lashing wire torque applied on the carriage through the lashing apparatus by the lashing wire being wound about the cables, wherein the onboard torque compensation mechanism prevents the carriage from rotating around the cables.

An autonomous cable lasher for winding a first lashing wire around a number of cables to attach the cables to each other, comprising:

• a carriage defining a longitudinal axis, the carriage for riding at least one of the cables in a direction that is generally aligned with the longitudinal axis, comprising:
• a carriage frame;
• a drive mechanism carried by the carriage frame, for autonomously driving the carriage frame along the at least one of the cables;
• a power source for powering the drive mechanism;
• and
• a drive controller that controls the drive mechanism;
• a lashing apparatus comprising:
• a lashing apparatus frame rotatably mounted to the carriage frame and rotatable about the longitudinal axis relative to the carriage frame;
• a first magazine carried by the lashing apparatus frame, for carrying a reserve of the first lashing wire therein;
• and
• a first dispenser carried by the lashing apparatus frame, for dispending the first lashing wire from the first magazine about the cables in a helical winding pattern as the cable lasher moves along the longitudinal axis and the lashing apparatus frame rotates, to attach the cables to each other;
• a channel for receiving the cables, about which the carriage frame and the lashing apparatus frame are disposed and extending along the longitudinal axis;
• a lashing apparatus actuator that rotates the lashing apparatus frame relative to the carriage frame when the cable lasher moves along the longitudinal axis;
• and
• an onboard torque compensation mechanism acting on the carriage frame to apply a force that at least partly counters a lashing wire torque applied on the carriage frame through the lashing apparatus by the first lashing wire being wound about the cables, wherein the cable lasher defines a center of mass and the onboard torque compensation mechanism comprises an offset position of the center of mass relative to the longitudinal axis that will, through gravity, induce a center of mass torque about the longitudinal axis in a direction that is opposite to the lashing wire torque, wherein the carriage defines a vertical orientation that represents an average expected alignment of the carriage with a vertical plane extending through the longitudinal axis, with the center of mass further being located to one side of the vertical plane when the carriage is in the vertical orientation.