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AssigneeYazaki Corporation
InventorsIizuka Shogo, Endo Mitsuo, Watanabe Mitsugu, Iizuka Toshio, Usui Kenji
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This invention provides a process for producing a wire-harness, in which by arranging connectors having exposed connection ends on a working stand at intervals corresponding to intervals in the product, holding these connection ends on one of welding electrodes, cutting in succession wires on a reel station in prescribed lengths and removing an insulating coating from the cut ends of the wires by an NC tape-controlled automatic wire-cutting and coating-removing device, overlapping the cut ends of the wires on the connection ends of respective elements of the connector by a wire-laying head, and moving the other electrode downwardly to the above-mentioned one electrode to weld the cut ends of the wires to the connection ends of the connector elements in the overlapped state, all the production operations including the operation of connecting wires to connectors being performed substantially automatically. For attaining this automation, a plurality of sets of wire clamping members and lower welding electrodes are disposed closely to each other and are arranged so that when a wire is laid out between the clamping members by the wire-laying head operated automatically, the exposed end of the wire is located on the lower welding electrode and overlapped on the connection end of the connector already located on the lower welding electrode, and the exposed end of the wire is welded to the connection end of the connector in this overlapped state.
An apparatus for producing a wire-harness comprising a working stand, X and Y shafts mounted on the working stand to cross each other, said X and Y shafts being separately rotatable on the working stand, a wire-laying head connected to said X and Y shafts and movable above the working stand by said X and Y shafts, said wire-laying head comprising a wire-inserting ram, a wire clamp and a wire guide, a wire reel station disposed on one side of the working stand, a device for cutting a wire and removing an insulating coating from the cut end of the wire, a plurality of sets of wire clamping and supporting members, lower welding electrodes mounted on the working stand in close relation to each other, and upper welding electrodes movable toward and away from said lower welding electrodes, the wire-inserting ram being disposed on the lower end of a wire-treating member disposed in substantially parallel relation to the wire clamping and supporting members, longitudinal and lateral grooves in intersecting relation being formed on each wire clamping and supporting member, a wire-clamping rod being mounted on the wire-treating member to pierce the interior of the wire-treating member in a substantially vertical direction, a generally L-shaped wire-clamping pin being formed on the lower end of the wire-clamping rod, and the wire-clamping pin being rotatable and movable in a substantially vertical direction to cooperate with said intersecting grooves to effect clamping and guiding of the wire and gripping and disconnection of the wire.
A process for producing a wire harness according to a predetermined program, comprising the steps of positioning a plurality of connectors with exposed connection ends on a working stand at respective predetermined positions adjacent to corresponding lower welding electrodes mounted on the working stand to hold the connection ends on the corresponding lower welding electrodes, picking up a laying wire with a stripped leading end from a reel station, pulling and advancing the laying wire to a prescribed length from the reel station straight along a longitudinal center route of the working stand, cutting the rear end of the laying wire and removing an insulating coating from the rear end thereof, guiding the leading end of the wire to one of preselected lower electrodes, overlapping and supporting the leading end of the wire at a position close to said one electrode, guiding the wire from said one electrode to another through the center route, and when at least one of the preselected lower electrodes is positioned at a branching point derived from the center route, supporting the wire by at least one pin extending upwardly at the branching point on the center route in the working stand, the pin being vertically movable to an upper position in which it supports the laying wire, overlapping and supporting the rear end of the wire on the connection end of the connector on the lower electrode, repeating the above-mentioned steps for laying successive laying wires on other lower electrodes, and thereafter moving upper welding electrodes down to the lower welding electrodes to weld all the overlapped ends of the connectors and the laying wires.
An apparatus for producing a wire-harness according to a predetermined program comprising a working stand, X and Y shafts mounted on the working stand to cross each other, said X and Y shafts being separately rotatable on the working stand, a wire-laying head connected to said X and Y shafts and movable above the working stand by said X and Y shafts, said wire-laying head comprising a wire-inserting ram, a wire clamp and a wire guide, a wire reel station disposed on one side of the working stand, a wire cutting device disposed close to the reel station for cutting a wire and removing an insulating coating from the cut end of the wire, a plurality of lower welding electrodes each mounted on the working stand in a predetermined position close to which each connector is arranged, a plurality of sets of wire clamping and supporting members each provided close to a corresponding lower electrode, a plurality of vertical guide pins for guiding and branching laying wires which are positioned on the working stand along the longitudinal center line of the working stand, each guide pin being vertically movable through a hole in the working stand between upper and lower positions, and upper welding electrodes movable toward and away from said lower welding electrodes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.