Wire sorting fixture and method of sorting wires
AssigneeTyco Electronics Corporation
InventorsRoberto Francisco-Yi Lu, Qinglong Zeng, Charles David Fry, Bicheng Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wire sorting fixture includes a cable support configured to support a multi-wire cable and a wire support configured to support wires of the cable. The wire support has a top surface. The wire support has cradles open at the top surface. The wire support has separating walls between corresponding cradles. A top plate is positioned above the wire support. The top plate is moved toward the wire support to a clamping position after the wires are positioned in the corresponding cradles. The top plate holds the wires between the top plate and the wire support in the clamping position.
Claims20
A wire sorting fixture comprising:
- a cable support configured to support a multi-wire cable;
- a wire support configured to support wires of the cable, the wire support having a top surface, the wire support having cradles open at the top surface, the wire support having separating walls between corresponding cradles;
- and
- a top plate above the wire support, the top plate being moved toward the wire support to a clamping position after the wires are positioned in the corresponding cradles, wherein the top plate holds the wires between the top plate and the wire support in the clamping position.
A wire sorting machine comprising:
- a wire gripper configured to grip wires of a multi-wire cable to move the wires to predetermined positions in a wire sorting area;
- and
- a wire sorting fixture comprising:
- a cable support configured to support the multi-wire cable;
- a wire support configured to support the wires of the cable, the wire support having a top surface, the wire support having cradles open at the top surface, the wire support having separating walls between corresponding cradles, wherein the wire gripper is configured to move the wires into corresponding cradles;
- and
- a top plate above the wire support, the top plate being moved toward the wire support to a clamping position after the wires are positioned in the corresponding cradles, wherein the top plate holds the wires between the top plate and the wire support in the clamping position.
A method of sorting wires of a multi-wire cable comprising:
- positioning the cable in a wire sorting fixture having a cable support and a wire support, the wire support having individual cradles configured to receive different wires of the cable;
- coarse positioning of the wires in the cradles by generally aligning the wires with openings of the cradles, the openings being significantly wider than the wires;
- fine positioning of the wires in the cradles by pressing downward on the wires using a top plate, the cradles guiding the wires to a predetermined location.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.