Concrete reinforcement

A method of forming reinforcement for concrete for covering pipes, said reinforcement comprising wire netting with a straight selvedge wire along only one edge and with line wires extending through at least some twists of the netting, at least some of the line wires including the line wire remote from the selvedge wire being crimped in at least some meshes of the netting across which they extend, comprising the steps of guiding a wire along a straight path to form the selvedge wire;

• guiding the remote line wire in spaced apart relationship to the selvedge wire;
• twisting the selvedge wire with an adjacent mesh forming wire;
• forming longitudinally aligned twists among intermediate line wires and mesh wires;
• twisting the remote line wire with an adjacent mesh forming wire;
• and forming the crimps by deflecting the line wires between successive rows of longitudinally aligned twists after forming a leading row of twists but before forming a following row of twists.

An apparatus for forming reinforcement for concrete for covering pipes, said reinforcement comprising wire netting with a straight selvedge wire along only one edge and with line wires extending through at least some twists of the netting, at least some of the line wires including the line wire remote from the selvedge wire being crimped in at least some meshes of the netting across which they extend, comprising means for guiding a wire in a straight line to form the selvedge wire;

• means for guiding the remote line wire spaced apart from said selvedge wire;
• first pinion means for twisting the selvedge wire with an adjacent mesh forming wire;
• second pinion means for twisting additional mesh forming wires along with line wires to form longitudinally aligned twists;
• third pinion means for twisting the remote line wire with an adjacent mesh forming wire;
• a beam for supporting said three pinion means and for guiding same into and out of engagement with the selvedge, line and mesh forming wires;
• and a series of tapered fingers carried by said beam and adapted to deflect line wire in successive, staggered rows of meshes.