Machine for winding pairs of tubes parallel to an advancing direction and independent of each other

#This application claims the benefit of and priority to Italian Patent Application No. MI2010A001944, filed Oct. 22, 2010, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

#It is known in the technical sector relating to the winding of tubes, hanks, spools and the like that these are obtained by winding the hank onto a rotating reel and it is also known that the rotating part of the reel comprises a drum formed by slats which are parallel to the axis of rotation and mounted on radial arms rotating with a motor-driven hub.

#It is also known that in the art different designs of winders for automatically winding tubes made of plastic and other materials exist, these winders operating with a completely automatic cycle comprising substantially the following steps: automatic engagement of the tube to be wound onto the reel by means of an associated mechanical device; automatic activation of the winding step during which a second tube-guiding device distributes the tube onto the rotating reel attempting as far as possible to distribute the tube in a staggered (“quinconce”) arrangement; cutting the tube automatically when the set winding length is reached; fastening and packaging of the finished coil as defined by the operator; once the coil has been packaged, automatic unloading of the roll produced, which therefore has the appearance of a perfectly wound tube of the desired length ready for palletization.

#FIG. 1: shows a front view of a machine for winding two tubes arranged in pairs, but not fastened together;

#FIG. 2: shows a perspective view from below of the pulling and tube-guiding apparatus forming part of the machine;

#FIG. 3: shows a perspective view from the reel side of the tube pulling device;

#As shown, and assuming solely for the sake of convenience of description and without any limitation of meaning, a set of three reference axes in a longitudinal direction X-X, corresponding to the axis of rotation of the reel, transverse direction Y-Y, corresponding to the advancing direction of the tubes, and radial direction Z-Z, respectively.

#Referring to FIG. 1, a machine for winding at least one pair of loose tubes 1, which are parallel to each other and in contact in the longitudinal direction X-X, includes a rotating reel 10 formed by a central shaft 11 rotating about an axis of axial rotation X-X, and a cross-piece 12 mounted on said shaft 11. The radial arms 12a of the cross-piece 12 can have a respective end petal 13 for retaining, in the axial direction, the hank being wound. The reel 10, since it is conventional per se, is not described in greater detail.

#Referring also to FIG. 2, an apparatus 1000 for feeding and guiding the tubes 1 can be associated with the reel 10 and includes a pulling device 1100 able to guide the two tubes 1 in the advancing direction Y-Y as far as the point of entry thereof onto the winding reel 10, while keeping the tubes 1 adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction X-X and already defining the perfect position for an optimum staggered (“quinconce”) arrangement.