Apparatus for and method of manufacturing compacted cables by use of rigid cage stranders

A forming apparatus for use in the manufacture of cable formed by at least one uniform lay of conductors received about and compacted on a core comprising:

• (a) interface means for interfacing the forming apparatus to a cage strander arranged for rotation about a line axis at a selected rotational speed, the cage strander including means for supporting a plurality of bobbins at least equal in number to the number of conductors in said lay each supporting a length of round conductor, each of said bobbins being supported by said cage strander and arranged for dispensing a round conductor downstream of said cage strander, the forming apparatus being arranged downstream of said cage strander for receiving said conductors and forming them into a plurality of complementary segmented pre-shaped wires each having a desired cross-sectional profiled configuration in a final compact conductor and each defining at least lateral surfaces;
• (b) first driving means for rotating said forming apparatus about said line axis substantially at the speed of the rotation of said cage strander;
• and
• (c) second driving means for driving said forming apparatus, said first and second driving means being synchronized to allow said formed conductors to be closed about said core to cause the lateral surfaces of adjacent pre-shaped wires to substantially abut against each other and to produce the desired lay, whereby interstices between the wires forming the twisted conductor are substantially eliminated to form a compact twisted conductor.

Method of manufacturing of cable formed by at least one uniform lay of conductors received about and compacted on a core comprising the steps of:

• (a) loading a plurality of bobbins at least equal in number to the number of conductors in said lay each supporting a length of round conductor on a cage strander and for dispensing round conductor from said bobbins downstream of said cage strander;
• (b) rotating said cage strander about a line axis at a selected rotational speed;
• (c) rotating a forming apparatus about said line axis substantially at the speed of the rotation of said cage strander positioned a forming apparatus downstream of said cage strander for receiving said conductors and forming them into a plurality of complementary segmented pre-shaped wires each having a desired cross-sectional profiled configuration in a final compact conductor and each defining at least lateral surfaces;
• (d) positioning and orienting the pre-shaped wires with relation to each other to substantially correspond to the positions and orientations therebetween in the final twisted compact conductor;
• and
• (e) synchronizing the rotations of the cage strander and the forming apparatus to cause the lateral surfaces of adjacent pre-shaped wires to substantially abut against each other and to produce the desired lay, whereby interstices between the wires forming the twisted conductor are substantially eliminated to form a compact twisted conductor.