Apparatus and method for automated braiding of square rope and rope product produced thereby
OwnerMichael F. Smithinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus automatically braids a plurality of rope forming strands onto a center core member in a braiding pattern that causes the resulting rope to have a generally square shaped cross section. The braiding strands are fed to a braiding point on the center core member from a plurality of eight strand feed assemblies which are transported on a mechanism in two distinct but crossing orbits that encircle the center core member. The constituent strands are themselves formed by prebraided or pretwisted substrands or filaments to cause the resulting rope to exhibit pronounced ribs along the corners of the square cross section for a secure hand-to-rope grip.
Claims20
An apparatus for braiding rope having a generally square shaped cross section comprising:
- a support;
- center core feed means mounted on said support and adapted for feeding an elongate core member lengthwise relative to said support along a rope axis passing through a braiding point;
- a plurality of strand feed assemblies arranged around said rope axis adjacent said braiding point and each assembly adapted to carry a supply of strand that is to be braided with strands from the other said assemblies on to said core member;
- transport means mounted on said support for transporting a first set of said assemblies in a first set orbit around said rope axis in one direction, and for transporting a second set of said assemblies in a second set orbit around said rope axis in an opposite direction, said first set orbit and second set orbit crossing in a pattern that is characterized by said first set orbit passing radially outside of said second set orbit in first and second diametrically opposed sectors relative to said rope axis, and by said second set orbit passing radially outside of said first set orbit in third and fourth diametrically opposite sectors relative to said rope axis, wherein said third and fourth sectors are the complements of said first and second sectors;
- and
- take-up means mounted on said support and adapted for applying a take-up tension to rope formed from said strands and core member downstream of said braiding point so as to cause said strands to be withdrawn from the orbiting strand feed assemblies into said braiding point to form said rope.
A method for braiding rope having a generally square shaped cross section, comprising the steps of:
- providing an elongate center core member to define a rope formation axis there along;
- feeding plurality of rope strands toward a braiding point on said rope formation axis in which the plurality of strands are each fed from a supply bobbin;
- transporting a first set of said supply bobbins in a first set orbit around the rope axis in one direction and transporting a second set of said supply bobbins in a second set orbit around the rope axis in the opposite direction wherein the first set and second set orbits are characterized by a crossing pattern in which the first set orbit passes radially outside of the second set orbit in first and second diametrically opposed sectors relative to the rope axis, and wherein the second set orbit passes radially outside of said first set orbit in third and fourth diametrically opposite sectors relative to the rope axis and wherein the third and fourth sectors are the complements of the first and second sectors;
- and
- applying take-off tension to rope formed downstream of said braiding point so as to cause the strands to be withdrawn from the orbiting supply spools into said braiding point to form said rope.
A braided rope having a generally square shaped cross section comprising:
- an elongate center member extending along the center line of the rope;
- and
- a plurality of at least eight outer strands braided onto said center member in a pattern characterized by a generally square cross section in which each of the four corners are formed by adjacent, parallel outer strand segments extending diagonally to the center line in which each adjacent pair of said outer strand segments overlap an inner strand segment that extends diagonally oppositely to said adjacent pair of outer strand segments and that emerges midside between corners to form with other parallel like emerging strands the adjacent corner.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.