Wire transport apparatus

Abstract

A wire transport apparatus has a pair of rollers having opposed peripheral running surfaces which at their nip contact the wire to drive it, one of said rollers being driven. The driven roller is mounted on an arm swingable about a pivot axis. The arm also carrying a coupling pulley connected to the driven roller to drive it in rotation. The coupling pulley is itself driven in rotation by an endless flexible element whose tension tends to cause said driven roller to apply load to said wire. In order that variation of the tension in belt also adjusts the normal force applied to the wire by the driven roller, the pivot axis is parallel to the direction of wire travel, and the driven roller and the coupling pulley are on a common rotational axis perpendicular to the pivot axis, at different distances from the pivot axis. Excessive force on the wire is avoided, and wear is minimized.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.