Improvements in armoured cable and its manufacture
OwnerMarc FITZNER, Paul MCMILLENinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A product having a metal strip and a central longitudinal axis. The strip has two or more strip parts, each having a common radius of curvature defining a helix having an angle being offset from one another in the direction of the axis. A cross section of the strip parts causes them to be interlocked together throughout their lengths to define a flexible metal tube. The outside diameter of the tube is between ⅜″ and 1⅜″ and the helix angle of each strip part is between eight and thirty degrees.
Claims11
An improved product having a metal strip and a central longitudinal axis, the strip being defined by two or more separate strip parts, the two or more strip parts each:
- having a common radius of curvature;
- defining a helix having an angle;
- being offset from one another in the direction of the axis;
- and
- having cross sections such that the strip parts are interlocked together throughout their lengths and such that the strip is interlocked with itself throughout its length to define a flexible metal tube,
- the improvement comprising:
- an outside diameter of the tube being of a range between ⅜″ and 1⅜″;
- and
- the helix angle of each strip part being of a range between 8 and 30 degrees.
An improved apparatus for use with two supplies of strip metal, the apparatus having, for each of the two supplies of strip metal, a pair of roll-forming dies and a tooling assembly,
- the roll-forming dies each being adapted to:
- receive strip metal from said each supply;
- form a profile in the strip metal to product profiled strip metal;
- and
- deliver the profiled strip metal to the tooling assembly provided for each of the supplies;
- the tooling assembly for each of the supplies curling the profiled strip metal to produce a helical strip;
- the tooling assemblies and roll-forming dies causing:
- axes of the helical strips to be coincident;
- the helical strips being offset from one another along the axes;
- the helical strips being interlocked to one another throughout their lengths to define a helical element;
- and
- the helical element being interlocked with itself throughout its length to form a flexible tube,
- the improvement comprising:
- the apparatus releasably receiving, for each of the strip metal supplies, a spool of strip metal.
An improved apparatus for use with a coil of strip metal, the apparatus having:
- a spindle that rotates the coil in a driving direction and about an axis;
- a sun gear rotating about the axis;
- planetary gears driven by the sun gear;
- a pair of rollers driven by the planetary gears, the rollers drawing strip metal from the coil;
- the improvement comprising:
- a gear arrangement interposed between the sun gear and the planetary gears such that rotation of the sun gear relative to the spindle in the driving direction causes strip metal to be drawn through feeders.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.