US2643075A - Wire unreeling device - Google Patents

Description

June 23, 1953 K, A MOORE 2,643,075

, WIRE ,UNREELING DEVICE Filed May 11, 1949 Z- law Ha M Patented June 23, 1953 WIRE UNREELING DEVICE Kenneth Alden Moore, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to Harry W. Moore, Dayton, Ohio Application May 11, 1949, Serial No. 92,540

This invention relates to an unreeling device and more particularly to a high speed unreeling device which may be suddenly stopped without any danger of snarling the wire;

An object of this invention is to provide an unreeling device whereby the material to be unwound, such as wire, may be unwound at a very high rate of speed, which device may be suddenly stopped at any time without snarling the wire.

Another object of this invention is to provide an unreeling device including a guide member that rotates so as to feed the wire from the spool, which member winds a spring motor which functions to rewind wire on the spool in the event the withdrawal of wire is suddenly interrupted. Furthermore, upon the gradual withdrawal of the wire, a clutch member continues to rotate after the withdrawal of the wire has been discontinued, to thereby release the tension on the wire so that in the event the withdrawal operation is suddenly resumed, the material to be unwound, may be rapidly accelerated without breaking the wire.

Another object of this invention is to provide, a tensioning device including a wheel around which the wire is wrapped, which wheel is acted upon by a clutch member, the adjustment of. which is adjusted by a tension arm used in releasing the clutch member.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pair of tensioning devices for wire withdrawn,

from the spool, one of said tensioning devices being controlled by an adjustably mountedspringurged clutch member, the other tensioning device being controlled by a spring-urgedtensioning arm controlling the adjustment of a clutch.

Another object of this invention is to provide a grooved idle wheel upon a tensioning arm provided With a stranded retaining device which permits the insertion of wire into the groove, but,

prevents the wire from escaping or jumping out of the groove.

Other objects and advantages reside in the construction of parts, the combination thereof and the mode of operation, as will become more apparent from the following description.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevational View of the unreeling device, showing parts of the spool broken away.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the tensioning device removed from the base and its standard.

Figure 3 is an exploded view of a clutch mechanism and the parts associated therewith.

Figure 4 is an exploded view of the spinner assembly.

In the drawings, the reference character l in- 1 Claim. (Cl. 242-128) dicates a base supporting a standard I2. Thev base l6 supports a stub spindle l4 used in sup- A spinner assemporting a spool 16 of wire I8. bly 20 for feedingthe wire l8 from the spool will now be described.

This, spinner assembly includes a core member 22 provided with a vertically disposed slot 23 receiving, a leaf spring member 26 curved outwardly, as clearly seen in Figures 1 and 3. The lower end of the spring 26 is held in position by a cylindrical capping member 36- provided with a suitable set screw 32. A. collar 34, fixedly attached to a reduced spindle portion 36 integral with core member 22 functions as a spring retainer and as a stop for supporting the core member 22 in an. aperture 6.6 in the spool 16. The spring 26 cooperates with the core member 22 to resiliently hold the spinner assembly 20' in position.

The upper end of the reduced spindle 36 is pro- Vided with threads. 42. A. nut 44 provided. with an annular flange 46- threadedly engages the threads 42 and is used in compressingv a tension spring 48 seated upon a flange 66 integral with a clutch. member 52. The clutch member 52' is provided with a slot 54 extending parallel to: the reduced spindle portion 36 and receives a pin 56 passing through a suitable aperture 58 in the reduced spindle portion 36.. When assembled, the

pin56. is seated in the. slot. 54., so that member 52 is non-rotatabl'y mounted; upon the reduced spindle. portion 36, but may be adjusted, axially.

A friction clutch member. 66 is mounted upon. thereduced spindle portion 36 in contact with the. clutch. member 52. Member 66 may be made from leather, fibrous material or any other suittable material. A floating clutch member 62. is mounted in contact with member 60 and is free to rotate upon the spindle portion. Member 62 is mounted for rotation upon the outer race 64 of a roller. bearing assembly 66 mounted upon the spindle 36. The floating member 62 is provided with an annular recess in. which. the outer race of. the bearing assembly 66. is mounted. The floating member 62 is provided with an aperture receiving. the upper end 68"of a torsion spring it, used as a spring motor, mounted upon the cylindrical members 12 and 74. The lower end 78 of the torsion spring 10 is seated in a suitable aperture 86 in. a rotatably mounted collar member 82 positioned for rotation upon the outer race 86 of the roller bearings 86 mounted upon the spindle- 36. Collar member 82 adjustably supports a wire guide member 90 held in adjusted position by a suitable set; screw 92 engaging member 82. The

, outer end of the wire guide member 90 is provided with an eye 94'. through whichthewire it passes,

It can readily be seen that as the wire I8 is unwound from the spool, this wire will cause guide member 90 to rotate with the collar member 82. As the collar member 82 rotates, it winds the torsion spring 10 until such time that the floating clutch member 62 slips with respect to the clutch member 52. The force required to cause slippage of the floating member 62 and the clutch member 52 is determined by adjustment of the nut 44 and the tension of the spring 48. The operation of the spinner assembly will be more fully described later.

The standard I2 supports a bracket member I00 in adjusted position. The bracket member is held in adjusted position by tightening the set screw I02. The outer end of the bracket I00 has mounted therein a tubular sleeve I04 provided with a clutch flange I06. The sleeve I04 is non-rotatably mounted in the bracket I00. A suitable set screw may be used for holding the sleeve I04 in fixed position with respect to the bracket. The tubular sleeve I04 is provided with internal threads I08 threadedly receiving a spindle I I0 having a reduced portion I I2 supporting roller bearings I I4, the outer race of which is seated in a suitable recess in the grooved clutch pulley H6. The grooved pulley H6 is mounted for rotation upon the roller bearings I I4. A friction clutch member I20 is mounted between the grooved pulley I I6 and the clutch flange I06. By rotating spindle member IIO, the clutch members, including the clutch flange I06, the friction clutch member I20 and the clutch face of the grooved pulley II6, are loosened" and tightened by unscrewing or screwing spindle member I10 into the tubular sleeve I04. The efiective position at which the clutch members grip may be adjusted by tightening a nut I threadedly engaging the outer-end I32 of the spindle H0. The nut I30 engages a member I34 provided with a tubular flange portion I36 engaging the inner race of the bearing H4.

The spindle member H0 is provided with a cylindrical end portion I40 projecting beyond the tubular sleeve I04, having adjustably mounted thereon a block I having mounted therein a rod I52. The block I50 is held in position upon the reduced end portion I40 by a suitable set screw I54. The rod member I52 may be adjusted axially with respect to the block I50 by loosening the set screw I55, as will appear more fully later. A tension spring I56 biases the rod I52, together with the block I50 and the spindle member H0, in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 1. One end of the tension spring I56 is hooked into an eye in the end of the rod I52 and the opposite end attached to a bracket I58 held in adjusted position by a set screw I60 on the upper end of the standard I2.

The end of rod member I52 opposite the spring I56 supports an idler pulley I10, held in position by a pair of collars I12 and I14. A bracket I16 attached to the collar I12 supports strands I projecting into the groove inthe pulley I10. These strands may be any suitable material, such as nylon, wire, bristles, et cetera.

A resilient friction wheel 200 that is bevelled,

so as to be seated in a groove of the pulley H6, is mounted for rotation upon a pintle 202 fixedly mounted in a lever 204 mounted upon an arm 206 integral with the bracket I00. The upper end of the lever 204 is biased in a counterclockwise direction by a suitable tensionspring 208, having one end attached to the bracket I00. The wide surface Il6a of the pulley H6 forms a 23 angle with respect to the axis of rotation of the pulley H6.

The arm 206 supports a tubular wire guiding member 2I0, so that as the wire I8 is unwound from the spool I6 and leaves the eye 94 of guide member 90, the wire passes through the tubular wire guiding member 2I0 so as to be wrapped around the pulley II6 several convolutions, the number depending entirely upon the particular requirements of the assembly. The wire, as it is unwound, gradually slides down into the bottom of the V-shaped groove of the pulley II6, so that the last convolution is located in the deepest portion of the groove. The 23 angle slope to the surface I I6a expedites this movement of the convolutions. The wire I8, upon leaving the pulley II6, passes under the pulley I10. The bristles I80 yield when inserting the wire I8 into the groove in the pulley I10.

The nut I30 is preferably so tensioned that when the rod I52 is in the full line horizontal position, as viewed in Figure 1, the clutch members I06, I20, and the clutch face of member II6, hold the parts in a nonrotatable manner, in other words, lock the pulley I I6 in position. When there is a demand for wire, the upper end I80 of the wire, as viewed in Figure l, is pulled and the rod I52 is raised into an inclined position, as illustrated by the dot-dash position, thereby unscrewing the spindle IIO a fraction of a revolution, so as to release the tension upon the clutch members I06, I20 and H6, thereby permitting the pulley II6 to rotate, withdrawing wire from the spool I6. The rod I52 may oscillate slightly, de-

,- pending upon the rate at which the wire is withdrawn from the spool.

As the wire is withdrawn from the spool, guide member together with the floating member 82 rotates, so as to tension the torsion spring 10, eventually causing the floating clutch member 62 to slip, member 62 continuing to slip while the wire is withdrawn.

In the event the withdrawal of the wire is suddenly stopped, the rod I52 drops into a horizontal position, arresting the rotation of the pulley II6. When this takes place, there may be a tendency, due to the inertia of the wire and the rotating parts, for the wire to continue unreeling. However, due to the action of the clutch members 52, 60 and 62, the rotation of guide member 90 is arrested. When guide member 90 is arrested, the energy stored up in the spring motor 10 rotates the member 90 in a counter direction to the direction of rotation of the wire that is unwound, so as to rewind any slack in the wire.

In the event the withdrawal of the wire is gradually slowed up, so that no wire is unwound in excess of requirement, the energy stored up in the spring 10 will cause member 62 to continue to rotate until the tension in the spring 10 has decreased beyond the force required to cause the clutch members to slip. Due to the release of the tension of the spring 10, either by rewinding wire upon the spool or by slippage of the clutch members, or both, it can readily be seen that the resistance exerted by member 90 is less during the initial withdrawal of the wire than after the wire has been withdrawn for a considerable period of time, so as to tension the spring 10. In other words, the tension exerted by member 90 is not as great during the initial unwindin operation as it is when the wire has been unwound for a period of time. This results in a reduction of the breakage of wire.

With some types of unwinding machines the wire may be unwound by the machine at the rate of 100 miles per hour. It can readily be seen that the forces required to withdraw the wire at such a rapid speed, especially in initiating the withdrawal of the wire, are very great. That being the case, if the tension upon member so were not released when the withdrawal operation ceases,

there would be a tendency for the wire to break.

The unwinding of the spring motor ll), either by rewinding wire after the withdrawal of the wire has ceased, or by slippage of the clutch members 5% 56 and 52, releases the tension of the wire to permit the initial withdrawal of the wire to be accelerated at a very high rate of speed without danger of breakage.

Wire, as used herein, is used to designate any suitable material that may be unwound from a spool. For example, the device could be used for unwinding plastic material having the desired characteristics or any other material presenting the same problem or a similar problem to that of metallic wire.

Although the preferred embodiment of the device has been described, it will be understood that within the purview of this invention various changes may be made in the form, details, proportion and arrangement of parts, the C011:- bination thereof and mode of operation, which generally stated consist in a device capable of carrying out the objects set forth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In an unreeling device for unreeling wire from a hollow spool, the combination including a core member non-rotatably mounted in the spool, said core member being provided with a spindle projecting outwardly from one end of the spool, a pair of roller bearings mounted on the spindle, said roller bearingsbeing mounted in spaced relation from each other, one of the roller bearings being mounted in close proximity to the spool, the other roller bearing being further removed from the spool, a wire guide member, means for attaching the wire guide member to the roller bearing nearest to the spool, said wire guide member havin an eye in one end thereof dle, said second clutch member being mounted for longitudinal movement upon the spindle, means for adjusting the second clutch member longitudinally upon the spindle, said second clutch member cooperating with the first clutch member to provide slippage, the degree of slippage being adjusted by adjusting the second clutch member, the helical spring being wound in response to the wire guide member unwinding the wire from the spool, the second clutch member slipping with respect to the first clutch member upon the spring being wound, the re1ative movement between the first clutch member and the second clutch member continuing after the wire guide member has stopped so as to partially unwind the spring to absorb slack in the wire to prevent snarling so as to have the wire in readiness for a succeeding unwinding operation.

KENNETH ALDEN MOORE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 988, l44 Corley et al Apr. 4, 1911 1,159,815 Walsh Nov. 9, 1915 1,3e8,32l Rogers Aug. 3, 1920 1,647,198 Sands Nov. 1, 192'? 2,363,677 Kirk Nov. 28, 194.4 2,514,264 Soper July 4, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 401,483 Great Britain Nov. 16, 1933

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