Molded sectional reel
AssigneeCreative Techniques, Inc.
InventorJames S. Salloum
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A reel is formed of a plastic molded huband and side, disk-like flanges. The hub is made of thin-wall, cylindrical rings that are arranged end-to-end, and the flanges are made of two or more separate radial sections having radially oriented, overlapped edges that fasten together. Removable mechanical fasteners extend through passageways formed in the hub rings and through the flanges for fastening them together. The width of the reel may be varied by changing the number of rings. The diameters of the flange may be varied by blocking off the outer portions of the mold in which the flask sections are molded to remove selected amounts of the peripheral portions of the sections for reducing the flange diameter. The hub rings and flange sections are interchangeable with like rings and sections for repair or reduced inventory purposes.
Claims18
A reel formed of a central hub with radially outwardly extending flanges on the opposite ends of the hub, comprising:
- the hub being a plastic molded, thin-wall, relatively wide ring having an exterior wall surface, about which a reeled article may be wound, and an interior wall surface defining a hollow open cylindrical interior space, and opposite, narrow, annular edges defining the opposite ends of the ring;
- said flanges being formed of generally flat, disk-like plastic moldings having a central portion for overlying the ends of the hub and an outer portion for extending radially outwardly of the hub;
- means forming a grooved seat on each of the faces of the flanges adjacent to the hub ends, with said means being shaped to engage their adjacent thin-wall relatively wide ring hub ends for positioning the hub ends and flanges against movement relative to each other;
- a number of elongated passageways integrally molded on the interior surface of the hub wall, with the passageways being circumferentially spaced apart and being arranged parallel to the axis of the hub said passageways extending a desired distance radially inward from said interior surface of the hub wall and maintaining said hollow open cylindrical interior space;
- elongated fasteners extending through the passageways and through corresponding aligned openings formed in the flange portions overlapping the ends of the hub, and with the fasteners rigidly securing the flanges to the hub;
- said flanges being formed of plastic molded, substantially identical, radial sections, with each section having an exterior peripheral edge defining a portion of the periphery of the flange and having an outer portion forming part of the flange between the flange peripheral edge and the hub, and an inner portion overlapping a portion of the hub;
- the adjacent radially directed edges of each section being formed to interengage with each other and being fastened together to form the rigid complete flanges;
- whereby different flange sections may be interchanged and fastened together and to the hub for forming an assembled reel.
A reel formed of a central hub with radially outwardly extending side flanges on the opposite ends of the hub, comprising:
- the hub being formed of a number of thin-wall, plastic-molded, relatively wide rings having an exterior wall surface about which an article may be wound, and an interior wall surface defining a hollow open cylindrical interior space and opposite, narrow, annular edges defining the opposite ends of the rings, with the rings being arranged end-to-end;
- the flanges being formed in a generally flat, disk-like shape having a central portion for overlapping the ends of the hub and an outer portion for extending radially outwardly of the hub;
- hub end seat means including a groove formed on faces of the flanges and shaped for engaging their adjacent hub ends for positioning the hub ends relative to the flanges;
- the flanges being formed of a number of plastic-molded, substantially identical, radial sections, with each section having an exterior peripheral edge defining a portion of the periphery of the flange, and having an outer portion forming part of the flange between the flange peripheral edge and the hub, and an inner portion overlapping a portion of the hub;
- the sections each having a radially directed edge, with adjacent section edges being interengaged and fastened together by mechanical fasteners to form a rigid complete flange;
- elongated passageways integrally molded on the interior surface of the hub wall, with the passageways being circumferentially spaced apart and being arranged parallel to the axis of the hub said passageways extending a desired distance radially inward from said interior surface of the hub wall and maintaining said hollow open cylindrical interior space;
- elongated bolt-like fasteners extending through the passageways and through corresponding aligned openings formed in the flange portions overlapping the ends of the hub, with the fasteners rigidly securing the flanges to the hubs;
- said bolt-like fasteners being selectively removable for disassembling the rings from each other and from the flanges;
- whereby different flange sections may be interchanged with each other and fastened together to form flanges of preselected diameters and the number of hub rings may be varied for varying the width of the reel, with the reel hub rings and flanges being disassembled from each other and into separate sections for facilitating non-use handling and storage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.