Random lay wire twisting machine
AssigneeWatson Machinery International, Inc.
InventorJohn Doherty
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wire twisting machine and method provide a randomly varying lay to pairs of twisted wires forming a cable. A pair of wires are fed into a motor driven bow mechanism which twists the wires at a given rate of speed. The bow winding speed is sensed to provide a signal to a control system employing a computer which generates a randomly varying signal between a selected minimum and maximum range. The random signal is applied to an oscillator which provides a varying frequency signal to a power supply unit. A pulsed direct voltage signal then controls a stepping motor which applies the randomly varying lay signal to vary the speed of the capstan winding the wires with respect to the independent bow speed. This varies the length of lay of the twisted wires within controlled limits.
Claims14
Apparatus for twisting wires comprising:
- means for feeding a pair of insulated wires into a wire twisting machine;
- means for twisting said wires together at a constant speed to form a wire lay;
- winding means for receiving and winding the twisted wires;
- first drive means for driving said twisting means;
- means for sensing the rate of speed of the wires being twisted;
- means for generating a frequency signal proportional to said rate of speed;
- means for receiving said signal and generating a randomly varying signal representative of a varying length of lay within predetermined limits;
- means for generating a control signal from said randomly varying signal;
- and
- second drive means for receiving said control signal and applying said control signal to said winding means to randomly vary the length of lay of the pair of twisted wires wound on said winding means.
Apparatus for twisting wires comprising:
- means for feeding a pair of insulated wires into a wire twisting machine,
- means for twisting said wires together at a constant rotational speed to form a wire lay,
- first drive means for driving said twisting means,
- means for drawing said twisted wires at a takeup speed from said means for twisting said wires,
- means for winding said twisted wires,
- means for sensing said takeup speed and generating a frequency signal proportional to said takeup speed,
- means for receiving said signal and generating a randomly varying signal representative of a varying length of lay within predetermined limits,
- means for generating a control signal from said randomly varying signal, and
- second drive means for receiving said control signal and applying said control signal to said winding means to randomly vary the length of lay of the pair of twisted wires wound on said winding means.
A method of twisting pairs of insulated wires including the steps of:
- feeding a pair of insulated wires into a wire twisting apparatus,
- twisting the wires together at a predetermined rate of rotational speed to form a wire lay,
- drawing the twisted wires,
- directing the twisted wires onto a takeup means,
- generating a randomly varying control signal representative of a varying lay length within predetermined limits, and
- applying said control signal to automatically vary the takeup speed of the twisted wires to produce a randomly varying lay.
Apparatus for twisting wires, comprising;
- means for feeding a pair of insulated wires into a wire twisting machine,
- means for twisting said wires together at a constant rotational speed to form a wire lay,
- takeup means for receiving and winding the twisted wires, and
- means for forming a randomly varying length of lay within predetermined limits including means coupled to said takeup means for automatically providing a randomly varying takeup speed for said wires.
A method of twisting pairs of insulated wires including the steps of:
- feeding a pair of insulated wires into a wire twisting apparatus,
- twisting the wires together at a first rate of speed to form a wire lay,
- drawing the twisted wires onto a takeup means, and randomly varying the takeup speed of the twisted wires to randomly vary the length of lay.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.