Wire gathering mechanism for wire lead production apparatus

Apparatus for high speed production of sets of accurately and identically sized wire leads comprising:

• conveyor clamp means including a body and a relatively movable jaw for releasably gripping a set of wire segments arranged in parallel spaced apart relationship in a common generally horizontal plane;
• at least one processing mechanism having means for performing a work operation on said set of wire segments;
• conveyor means for advancing said conveyor clamp means and moving said set of wire segments therein through said processing mechanism;
• and a wire gathering mechanism disposed between said clamp means and said processing mechanism, said processing mechanism having means for accurately guiding the ends of said set of wire segments relative to said processing mechanism and for holding said set against displacement during processing, said gathering mechanism including guide means for guiding the ends of said set of wire segments into said processing mechanism, a releasably closable slotted gathering head for receiving and spacing the ends of said set of wire segments in said processing mechanism, means for engaging said clamp means and for preventing horizontal lateral displacement thereof, and means for compressing said relatively movable components of said clamp means against said set of wire segments to prevent said processing mechanism from effecting axial movement of said wire segments.

In combination:

• a clamp having means for maintaining a plurality of wire segments in spaced apart parallel relationship in a common plane with free ends of said segments projecting from said clamp, said clamp comprising two relatively movable releasably latched components between which said segments are secured;
• conveyor means for moving said clamp along a path which extends in the same general direction as said plane;
• a cutter and stripper mechanism adjacent but spaced from said path and comprising cutter and stripper blades reciprocably movable in a direction transverse to said path and to said plane, said stripper blades being further movable in a direction toward and away from said path,
• said mechanism further comprising first means for effecting said reciprocable movement of said blades,
• said mechanism further comprising second means for effecting said further movement of said stripper blades;
• and a gathering mechanism disposed between said cutter and stripper mechanism and said path, and including guide means for guiding the free ends of said wires into said cutter and stripper mechanism, a releasably closable slotted gathering head for receiving and spacing the free ends of said wire segments in said cutter and stripper mechanism, means for engaging said clamp and for preventing horizontal lateral displacement thereof, and means for compressing said relatively movable components of said clamp against said wire segments to prevent said stripper blades from effecting axial movement of said segments.