Method and apparatus for making elongated flat wire coils
AssigneeWire Conveyor Belts, Inc.
InventorC. Mills Kinney, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wire winding blade extends through spiral outfeed guide members and receives spring-like unannealed wire from a source drawn by rotation of the winding blade; the wire from the source first passes through tensioning means then over an infeed guide pulley which guides it into a linear guide member having a bore slightly in excess of the wire diameter from which the wire passes over a small diameter idler roller sheave which imparts a back bend to the wire which is then fed into the slot of the spiral wire guide means where it is bent in a reverse manner about the winding blade.
Claims18
A method of forming an elongated flattened wire spiral of spring-like wire in a forming station having a continuously rotating elongated winding blade extending axially through a rigid flat spiral outfeed guide, said method comprising the steps of continuously feeding spring-like wire toward said forming station, bending said spring-like wire beyond its elastic limit in a first direction to impart a set bend in said wire at a location immediately upstream of said forming station, feeding said wire having said set bend into wrapped engagement with said winding blade between adjacent spirals of said flat spiral outfeed guide in a direction so that said wire is bent on said winding blade beyond its elastic limit in an opposite direction to said set bend as it is wrapped around said winding blade.
Means for forming an elongated flattened wire spiral of spring-like wire having a tensile strength in excess of 100,000 pounds per square inch comprising a forming station including an elongated continuously rotating driven winding blade, a rigid flat spiral outfeed guide member axially coextensive with and surrounding said elongated continuously rotating winding blade, wire infeed means for feeding wire to said forming station to be wrappingly bent around said winding blade, said wire infeed means including bending means immediately upstream of and closely spaced from said forming station for imparting a set bend to said wire immediately upstream of said forming station, said set bend being in an opposite direction to the bends imparted to said wire by the wrapped engagement of said wire with said winding blade so that an elongated flat spiral of said spring-like wire is formed by the wrapping of said wire onto said winding blade.
Feeding means for forming an elongated flattened wire spiral of spring-like wire comprising a forming station including an elongated motor driven rotating winding blade, a rigid flat spiral outfeed guide member axially coextensive with and surrounding said elongated continuously rotating winding blade, wire supply means, wire infeed means for feeding wire from said wire supply means to said forming station to be wrapped around said winding blade, said wire infeed means including wire tensioning means downstream of said wire supply means, bending means immediately upstream of and closely spaced from said forming station for imparting a set bend to said wire immediately upstream of said forming station in an opposite direction to the bend imparted to said wire by the wrapped engagement of said wire with said bending station so that an elongated flat spiral of said spring-like wire is formed by the wrapping of said wire onto said winding blade.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.