Apparatus for producing wire harnesses for automotive vehicles

An apparatus for producing a wire harness for an automotive vehicle, comprising the following components arranged linearly in the following precise order:

• a gripper (12) having a plurality of pushers (13a) independently-operable by air cylinders (13) for selectively clamping ends of one or more insulator-sheathed electric wire elements (a) juxtaposed on a plane, one cylinder per wire element;
• a feeder (15) on a downstream side of said gripper (12), said feeder having a plurality of rollers (16a) independently-operable by air cylinders (16), one cylinder per wire element (a), for selectively feeding one or more of said wire elements (a) in a downstream direction along a linear path;
• a cutter (21) on a downstream side, of said feeder (15), said cutter having a plurality of independently-operable blades (21a), one blade per wire element (a), for selectively cutting off one or more of said wire elements at varying lengths;
• a movable wire gathering device (35) on a downstream side of said cutter (21), for gathering said wire elements (a) in a width direction in accordance with a pitch between terminals juxtaposed in a connector (C);
• a press (30) on a downstream side of said wire gathering device (35), said press being adapted to secure said wire elements (a) to said connector (C) in an insulation displacement manner;
• a wire-drawing device (38) on a downstream side of said press (30), said wire-drawing device being adapted to clamp a group of said wire elements (a) and to draw said group of wire elements by a desired length from said gripper (12);
• and
• a measuring and drawing device (40) on a downstream side of said wire-drawing device (38), said measuring and drawing device being adapted to clamp ends of said wire elements (a) and draw said wire elements by a desired length by a chuck (43) provided in said measuring and drawing device.