Reeling of cable
AssigneeNorthern Telecom Limited
InventorAli Pan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Cable laying apparatus with a cable guide mechanism having a guide roller and means to apply a force downwardly through the cable feed path at an inclined angle opposite to the direction of lay of the cable. In one construction, a cable guide roller is inclined to direct its laying surface opposite to its direction of transverse and a means is employed to apply a downward force to the roller. In another construction, two opposed rollers are used and a biasing means causes the rollers to trail behind the lay direction. In this construction, the guide mechanism is mounted by a universal connection and employs means to apply a downward pivoting force at the connection which is inclined to the vertical also in a trailing sense relative to the direction of cable lay.
Claims25
A cable laying apparatus comprising a mounting for a reel in a reel mounting position;
- means to rotate the mounted reel about its axis;
- a cable guide mechanism incorporating guide roller means carried upon a support on one side of a pass line for cable as it is wound onto the reel, and a traversing means to relatively traverse the guide roller means and the reel mounting in one direction to provide one layer of windings and then in the opposite direction to provide a succeeding layer of windings;
- force applying means to apply a force through the guide roller means and through the feedpath at an angle to both the direction of relative traverse and to a plane normal to the reel axis, said force having a first component opposite to the direction of relative traverse of the guide roller means and a second component inwardly towards said reel axis so as to urge cable as it is wound onto the reel both inwardly of the reel against windings of a previous layer and axially against the previous winding of the layer being formed;
- and means operable at the end of each traverse to change the direction of traverse and the direction of said force relative to said plane by changing the first component of the force to correspond to the change in the direction of traverse.
A cable laying apparatus comprising:
- a mounting for a reel in a reel mounting position;
- means to rotate the mounted reel about its axis;
- a cable guide mechanism incorporating a guide roller means and a traversing means to relatively traverse the guide roller means and the reel mounting in one direction to provide one layer of windings and then in the opposite direction to provide a succeeding layer of windings;
- the guide roller means comprising a cable laying guide roller and a second guide roller both carried upon a support disposed on one side of a feedpath for cable as it is wound onto the reel and in which:
- the laying roller has an axis which is held inclined to the direction of traverse of the roller and to a plane normal to the reel axis during operation of the traversing means and with part of the laying roller which faces the feedpath being a trailing part with regard to the direction of traverse;
- force applying means to apply a force through the laying roller and through the feedpath at an angle to both the direction of relative traverse and to a plane normal to the reel axis, said force having a first component opposite to the direction of relative traverse of the guide roller means and a second component inwardly towards the reel axis so as to urge cable as it is wound onto the reel both inwardly of the reel against windings of a previous layer and axially against the previous winding of the layer being formed;
- and
- means operable at the end of each traverse to change the direction of traverse and the direction of said force relative to said plane by changing the first component of the force to correspond to the change in the direction of traverse;
- said second guide roller spaced upstream along the feedpath from the laying roller in a position to apply an opposite force to the cable from that provided by the laying roller so as to hold the cable away from the previous winding as it is fed towards the reel, the laying roller thereby operating to move the cable at an angle to the previous winding and into contact with the previous winding.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.