Wire supply assembly
AssigneeReliance Electrice Industrial Company
InventorsMark B. Duclos, C. W. Luttrell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An assembly for supplying wire from a spool includes a support for holding the spool, a sensor mounted on the support and detachably secured to an end of the spool for detecting supplying of the end of the wire from the spool, and a controller for precluding supplying of wire from the spool when the sensor detects supplying of the end of the wire. The support may hold a plurality of spools and include a plurality of sensors and indicators for sensing and indicating spool depletion. Wires may follow a wire feed path to a winder including a first portion extending generally vertically from the support, a second portion extending generally vertically from the winder, and a third portion connecting the first portion and the second portion.
Claims20
An assembly for supplying wire from a plurality of spools to a winder comprising:
- a support for holding the spools;
- a feed path having a first end adjacent the spools and a second end adjacent the winder defined by a plurality of wire guides for guiding wire off the spools from the first end to the second end, a single wire being selectable at the second end for winding by the winder;
- a plurality of compartments within the support;
- a plurality of sensors, each sensor associated with one of the spools for detecting depletion of wire from the spool;
- a plurality of covers, each cover disposed in one of the compartments and covering one of the spools, the cover defining an opening therethrough for supplying wire from the spool;
- a plurality of indicators, each indicator associated with one of the sensors for indicating depletion of the spool associated with the sensor;
- and
- a controller for precluding supplying of wire from the depleted spool when the sensor associated with the depleted spool detects depletion, and for activating the indicator associated with the depleted spool.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.