Wire feeding, cutting and stripping apparatus having clutch-operated feed and cam-operated cutter/stripper

Apparatus for feeding, cutting and stripping an insulated wire strand comprising:

• wire feed means including a rotatable wire feed member operable to feed said strand along a path;
• wire cutter/stripper means for receiving said wire strand from said wire feed means and operable to cut a wire segment from said strand and to strip insulation therefrom, said wire cutter/stripper means comprising stationary wire clamp means, movable cutter/stripper head means and movable wire clamp means, both of said wire clamp means and said cutter/stripper head means having open and closed positions, said movable clamp means and said cutter/stripper head means being reciprocably movable along said path between respective retracted and extended positions, the distance between the retracted and extended positions of said movable wire clamp means being greater than the distance between the retracted and extended positions of said movable cutter/stripper head means;
• drive means for operating said wire feed means and said cutter/stripper means and comprising a motor, an electrically operable feed clutch mechanism connected between said motor and said wire feed means, a rotatable cam having two cam tracks thereon, an electrically operable one-revolution clutch mechanism connected between said motor and said cam, and linkage means connected between said cam and said wire cutter/strippper means, said linkage means comprising a first linkage including a first cam follower connected to one of said cam tracks for effecting opening and closing of both of said wire clamp means and said cutter/stripper head means, said linkage means further comprising a second linkage including a second cam follower connected to the other of said cam track for effecting extension and retraction of said movable clamp means and said cutter/stripper means;
• and control means for controlling operation of said feed clutch mechanism and said one-revolution clutch mechanism and comprising electric timer means to provide an electric signal to initiate operation of said feed clutch mechanism to start wire feed, wire measuring means including an electric encoder device responsive to the length of strand fed to provide an electric signal to operate said feed clutch mechanism to terminate wire feed and to initiate operation of said one-revolution clutch mechanism and thereby initiate operation of said wire cutter/stripper means.