Abstract:
A wire harness bundle twister and comber employs a comber plate having a plurality of apertures receiving a plurality of wire bundles in sliding engagement with handles extending from the comber plate for rotation of the plate to twist the wire bundles into a consolidated wire harness. To allow removal of the wire bundles from the bundle twister and comber without withdrawing the wire bundles to an end the comber plate incorporates an upper outer plate element and a lower outer plate element concentric with and separable from a first inner or center element to separate the apertures into segments for removal of the wire bundles.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to the field of wire harness fabrication tools and more particularly to a method and apparatus separating or “combing” wire bundles in the harness while allowing ergonomically efficient twisting of the entire wire harness for consolidation. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Fabrication of wire harnesses for aircraft and other high technology vehicles or large scale devices requires high quality and consistency of wrapping or twisting of the wire harness for efficient packaging. As an example, DPS 1.34-51, a military specification for metal braided harnesses, requires all wires to do one complete twist every 4 to 12 inches. Harnesses are typically created by a combination of separate wire bundles each having individual wires of differing sizes and being of different size in the aggregate than other bundles in the harness. For most applications, wire harness fabrication is conducted using many manual operations. 
     Handling large wire harnesses can be very tiring and wrapping requirements can lead to repetitive motion injuries in some instances. Additionally, when twisting by hand accuracy of determining that all wires have been twisted to required specifications is challenging. 
     It is therefore desirable to tooling which provides ergonomic leveraging for twisting of wire harnesses while providing combing of individual bundles for an even wrap. 
     It is further desirable to provide such tooling with flexibility for extraction of the tool at division points in the harness without un-threading individual bundles through the tool. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An exemplary embodiment of a method incorporating the present invention provides a wire harness bundle twister and comber with a comber plate having a plurality of apertures receiving a plurality of wire bundles in sliding engagement with handles extending from the comber plate for rotation of the plate to twist the wire bundles into a consolidated wire harness. 
     To allow removal of the wire bundles from the bundle twister and comber without withdrawing the wire bundles to an end the comber plate in certain embodiments incorporates an upper outer plate element and a lower outer plate element concentric with and separable from a first inner or center element to separate the apertures into segments for removal of the wire bundles. 
     In an alternative embodiment for flexible sizing of the apertures engaging the wire bundles the comber plate employs an outer ring having a spaced set of radial bores, the first inner element incorporates a matching hole set and a number of rods are received through the bores in the outer ring and the holes in the first element. The outer ring, first element and rods cooperatively form the plurality of apertures to receive the wire bundles. Selectively inserting the rods into predetermined bores and corresponding holes varies the aperture size. 
     A method for employing the embodiments described includes inserting wire bundles into the apertures for sliding engagement and rotating the handles to twist the wire bundles into a consolidated wire harness while moving the comber plate along the bundle length. For the separable inner and outer elements each wire bundle is inserted into the aperture segments in the first element and the upper and lower outer plate elements are attached to cooperatively form the apertures restraining the wire bundles. Additionally for “Ys” or other terminations of the harness intermediate the ends, removing at least one of the upper and lower outer plate elements allows the apertures associated with the first element and the at least one of the upper and lower outer plate elements to be opened for removing wire bundles from the opened apertures. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The features and advantages of embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, including prior art from the University of North Carolina, wherein: 
         FIG. 1A  is an isometric view of an exemplary first embodiment of a wire bundle twister and comber according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 1B  is an isometric view of the first embodiment with added cutouts for insertion of wire bundles into the apertures; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of a wire bundle twister and comber of the second embodiment in use; 
         FIG. 3  is an isometric view of a second exemplary embodiment of the wire bundle twister and comber; 
         FIG. 4  is at exploded view of the embodiment of  FIG. 2  further demonstrating a “punch through” retainer; 
         FIG. 5  is a rear view of the comber plate showing tensioning patches applied to selected apertures; and, 
         FIG. 6  is an isometric view of a third embodiment of the wire bundle twister and comber. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     A first embodiment for a wire harness bundle twister and comber  10  is shown in  FIG. 1A . A comber plate  12  is carried by a manipulator bar  14  with handles  16  extending beyond the periphery of the comber plate for operation as will be described in greater detail subsequently. Multiple apertures  18  in the comber plate received individual wire bundles (or individual wires). In the embodiment shown, the apertures are of varying diameter to accommodate various bundle sizes. For the embodiment shown, the comber plate is attached to the manipulator bar using threaded fasteners  20  with knurled heads  22  for easy removal. In an exemplary embodiment, the comber plate is fabricated from ½ inch thick Lexan® plastic. 
       FIG. 1B  shows a rear view demonstrating the manipulator bar and the addition of cutouts or slots  23  from the apertures to the periphery of the comber plate which allow insertion of wire bundles into the apertures. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , individual wire bundles  24  are threaded through the apertures in the comber plate or, as will be described with alternate embodiments subsequently draped into aperture segments which are then closed. Drawing the comber plate along the length of the bundles segregates each bundle for easy handling. The handles allow twisting of the bundles of the harness to achieve a desired consolidation of the overall harness including easy measurement of the number twists inserted along the length of the harness. The leverage provided by the handles on the device greatly reduces hand fatigue and twist time. In many cases it also eliminates the need for a second person to tape the bundle while the other holds the twist in the wires. The handles on the device when placed on a table  26  act as a brace to hold the twist so the operator has both hands free to spot tape the consolidated bundles in the harness  28 . 
     For certain harness applications, removal of the bundle twister and comber between the ends of the harness is desirable. This may be required where “Ys” in the harness are present with certain bundles segregated from other bundles in the harness.  FIG. 3  shows a second embodiment of the invention which accommodates insertion in and removal of the bundle twister and comber without threading the individual bundles from a free end through the apertures in the comber plate. The comber plate  12 ′ incorporates an inner plate  30  which is integral to or carried by manipulator bar  16 . Semi-cylindrical outer plate elements  32  and  34  are removably attached to the manipulator bar with the bundle receiving apertures  18  split substantially diametrically between the inner plate and outer plate elements. For the embodiment shown, threaded fasteners  20  with knurled heads  22  are again employed to allow easy attachment of the outer plate elements to the manipulator bar. Indexing splines  36  extending from the inner plate are received in mating slots  38  in the outer plate elements for alignment of the aperture segments and to further enhance rigidity of the assembled comber plate. 
     While shown in the embodiment of the drawings as separate elements with threaded fastener attachment, in alternative embodiments one or both of the outer plate elements are affixed to the manipulator bar with hinges to allow opening of the apertures for removal of the wire bundles but constraining the individual portions of the apparatus to prevent loss of parts. Additionally, while the manipulator bar is shown attached to a surface of the comber plate, the comber plate integrally incorporates the manipulator bar and handles in a substantially planar arrangement. 
       FIG. 4  shows the second embodiment with the outer plate elements disengaged from the manipulator bar in exploded view for additional clarity. A tensioning sheet  44  is also shown which is adhesively affixed to the comber plate. For wire bundles having a small number of wires or consisting of individual wires, maintaining tension consistent with the tension in larger bundles during use of the tool may be difficult. The tensioning sheet allows the smaller or individual bundle wires to pierce the sheet thereby providing a close fit with frictional tensioning supplementing the combing of the bundles through the apertures as the harness bundle twister and comber is drawn along the harness. In an exemplary embodiment the tensioning sheet is fabricated from silicon rubber. For the embodiment shown in the drawings the tensioning sheet extends over the entire combing plate covering all apertures. In alternative embodiments such as that shown in  FIG. 5 , the tensioning sheet is in the form of patches  45  which are adhesive backed and individually placed over selected apertures in the comber plate. Alternatively, the tensioning sheet is fabricated with certain mating holes for selected apertures in the comber plate prepunched. 
     For operation, the outer plate elements are removed and the individual wire bundles draped into the aperture segments  40  on the inner plate. The outer plate elements are then secured to the manipulator bar capturing the individual wire bundles in the complete apertures created by the mating aperture segments  42  on the outer plate elements. If a tensioning sheet is used, individual bundles requiring tensioning are fed from an end termination to puncture the tensioning sheet. For removal of the tool from the harness prior to reaching end terminations of the bundles, the outer plate elements are disassembled from the manipulator bar allowing the individual wire bundles to be removed from the apertures and the center plate and manipulator bar extracted from the harness and bundles. If a tensioning sheet is employed, the sheet may be cut or slotted for removal from the tensioned bundles. 
     As shown in the first embodiment multiple aperture sizes may be desirable to accommodate differing diameters of the bundles incorporated into the harness. For mass production of identical or similar harnesses, creating a comber plate with defined aperture sizes as shown in the first embodiment creates a simple and effective tool. To provide flexibility in accommodating differing bundle diameters for common use of the tool on different harness designs, adjustment of the effective aperture size to accommodate the different diameters is desirable. A third embodiment of the bundle twister and comber provides for adjustment of the relative aperture size. As shown in  FIG. 6 , a center plate  46  is carried by manipulator bar  14  an outer ring  48 , which may be a single element as shown in the drawing or two split elements comparable to the outer plate elements of the second embodiment for intermediate removal of the harness, is attached to the center plate using rods  50  inserted through bores  52  in the outer ring and received in holes  54  in the center plate. Providing multiple rods with associated bores and holes allows selection of a desired aperture size for multiple trapezoidal apertures  56 . While not circular in shape, the apertures provide effective segregation and combing of the individual bundles while accommodating a wide range of bundle diameters. The connecting rods provide resisting elements in the comber plate to twist the bundles in the harness as desired. 
     Having now described various embodiments of the invention in detail as required by the patent statutes, those skilled in the art will recognize modifications and substitutions to the specific embodiments disclosed herein. Such modifications are within the scope and intent of the present invention as defined in the following claims.