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US 4,428,114 AGranted
Modular harness making method and apparatus
AssigneeAMP Incorporated
InventorVladimiro Teagno
Life of this patent
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AssigneeAMP Incorporated
InventorVladimiro Teagno
Estimating the term…
A method and apparatus for making modular electrical harnesses in which, in a first operating zone, a leading end of a wire extending from a wire supply is terminated in a preselected terminal of a row of terminals in a first connector part further wire is fed from the supply to form a trailing loop and the trailing end of the wire is terminated in a preselected terminal of a row of terminals in a second connector part in end-to-end relation with the first connector part and severed from the supply. The connector parts are fed in end-to-end relation along a path extending through several such operating zones progressively to connect all the preselected terminals of the first connector part to all preselected terminals of the second connector parts by respective wire loops. A wire holding head in each zone provides an operable loop forming track.
A method of making a modular electrical harness comprising a plurality of wires terminated at respective opposite ends in respective terminals of rows of terminals in a pair of electrical connector parts, which method comprises the steps of feeding first and second connector parts of each pair aligned in end-to-end relation to first and second spaced terminating stations of an operating zone, terminating a leading end of a wire extending from a wire supply in a preselected terminal of the first connector part at the first terminating station, feeding wire from the wire supply to form a trailing loop of preselected length and indexing the trailing end of the wire to the second terminating station into alignment with a preselected terminal of the second connector part, terminating the trailing end of the wire in the preselected terminal of the second connector part and severing the trailing end so that the wire loop extends between the terminals in a plane parallel to the terminal rows, and feeding the first and second connector parts in end-to-end relation (along a path extending) through successive similar operating zones at which the said steps are repeated so that all the preselected terminals of the first connector part are progressively connected to preselected terminals of the second connector parts by respective wire loops.
Apparatus for making a modular electrical harness comprising a plurality of wires terminated at respective opposite ends in respective terminals of rows of terminals in first and second electrical connector parts, which apparatus comprises a series of operating zones;
A wire holding head comprising a loop-forming device defining a semicircular loop-forming track and means integral with the wire holding head to advance a leading end of a wire around the track to form a loop, the loop-forming device comprising two channel-forming members, means connecting the channel forming members being provided to move the channel-forming members between adjacent positions defining a closed channel for completely enclosing the wire loop and spaced apart positions to open the channel and release the wire loop to permit unimpeded wire feed through the wire holding head by the wire advancing means to form a wire loop of preselected harness length.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.