US 5,271,436 AGranted

Machine and method for producing reinforcing cages for concrete pipes

AssigneeMBK Maschinenbau GmbH

InventorsAlbert Pfender, Klaus Mehre

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Abstract

A machine for producing reinforcing cages for concrete pipes is described, the reinforcing cages comprising longitudinal wires and a winding wire wound around them and welded to them at the intersections. In order to make manual work superfluous and to improve the machine performance, a wire feed device is provided which automatically fits the machine with the required longitudinal bars before each winding process. The device comprises a feed apparatus (21) for a plurality of wires (33), adjoining guide tubes (37), whose mouths are aligned with the collecting funnels (9), and a cutting device (38). The said machine parts may be combined to form a feed frame (44) which can be displaced longitudinally altogether. Guide mouthpieces (39) are distributed uniformly over the circumference on the same diameter as the cutting devices (38) on a supporting disk (51) which is rotationally fixed to the main disk but can be displaced longitudinally with the feed frame (44). When there are fewer feed channels than the maximum number of longitudinal bars which can be inserted, the fitment process takes place in a cyclic method which permits a plurality of fitment variants.

Claims7

Dependent claims

In a machine for making reinforcing wire cages, including

a main disk;
a supporting disk positioned spaced from and in axial alignment with said main disk;
a plurality of first holding means distributed in a circumferential array on said main disk for holding a plurality of parallel-spaced, linearly extending longitudinal wires;
a plurality of collecting funnels secured to said main disk at said first holding means and extending in a direction oriented away from said supporting disk;
a plurality of second holding means distributed in a circumferential array on said supporting disk for holding the wires in cooperation with said first holding means;
means for displacing said supporting disk towards and away from said main disk;
and
means for rotating said main disk and said supporting disk in synchronism;
the improvement comprising a wire feed device situated adjacent said main disk;
said main disk being positioned between said wire feed device and said supporting disk;
said wire feed device including
(a) a feed apparatus having feeding means for advancing each longitudinal wire towards a respective said collecting funnel;
(b) a feed frame positioned between the feed apparatus and said main disk;
(c) a plurality of guide tubes each receiving a separate longitudinal wire and each having opposite first and second ends;
the first end of each guide tube being supported on said feed apparatus;
(d) a guide tube supporting means connected to said feed frame for supporting each guide tube at said second end thereof;
(e) a cutting mechanism mounted on said guide tube supporting means at said second end of each said guide tube for severing each longitudinal wire;
and
(f) means for displacing said feed apparatus and said feed frame as a unit toward and away from said main disk.

16 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.