Apparatus for stamping filamentary material for helically coiled slide-fastener coupling elements

A stamping apparatus disclosed deforms a filamentary material to provide coupling heads and the like at predetermined intervals along the length of the filament which is to be coiled and attached to stringer tapes for a slide fastener. The apparatus includes a pair of stamping rolls which are rotatable in opposite directions on their own axes simultaneously as they orbit about the axis of a rotor. A ring member rotatably connected to the stamping rolls is driven via the same power source as the rotor but rotates at a slower or faster angular speed than the rotor, the resulting angular speed differential being utilized to effect the rotation of the stamping rolls on their axes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to an apparatus for producing helically coiled 
coupling elements to be affixed to slide fastener stringer tape and more 
particularly to an apparatus incorporating stamping means for continuously 
providing a coupling head portion, a turn portion, a stitching groove and 
the like at predetermined intervals along the length of a plastic filament 
prior to winding thereof on a mandrel. 
2. Prior Art 
Known stamping or forming tools are either of a rotary design or a punch 
type, but the former is preferred for high speed and accuracy of 
performance. Efforts have been made to explore means for stamping a 
filamentary wire material during a course of travel up to the point of 
winding on a mandrel. In order to effect this stamping without causing 
twists or wraps in the filament, it is imperative that the stamping means 
be installed as close to the mandrel as possible. This need coupled with 
the necessity of enabling the stamping means to rotate on its own axis 
simultaneously as it makes an orbital movement, poses a great difficulty 
in the designing, building and operation of such stamping apparatus. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Exhaustive research and development activities of the present co-inventors 
have resulted in the perfection of an apparatus which is capable of "stamp 
forming" a plastic filament as desired without twists or other defects in 
the filament. 
Briefly stated, the present invention provides a rotor, a pair of 
inter-engaged stamping rolls rotatably mounted on the rotor, and a reel 
mounted coaxially with the rotor but rotative at a different angular speed 
from the rotor to permit the stamping rolls to turn on their own axes 
while making an orbital movement. 
According to the present invention, an apparatus includes a stationary 
shaft mounted on a frame and having a mandrel extending from one of its 
ends, and a rotative ring member mounted at one end of a rotor rotatably 
mounted on the shaft, the ring member being rotatable by a drive power 
derived from the same source of power as that used for said rotor. A pair 
of mating stamping rolls is pivotally connected to and lies in the same 
plane of rotation as the rotor, one of the stamping rolls being in driven 
engagement with the ring member. The rotor rotates at a different angular 
speed from that at which the ring member rotates, with the resulting speed 
differential being utilized to make the stamping rolls rotate on their own 
axes as they orbit about the axis of the rotor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Referring now to the drawings and to FIG. 2 in particular, there is shown 
an apparatus embodying the present invention for providing a plastic 
filamentary material with deformations of specified form and dimensions. 
The apparatus generally comprises a frame 10 having mounted at the lower 
portion thereof a drive unit 11 and at the upper portion an operating unit 
12. The drive unit 11 includes a drive shaft 13 connected to a motor (not 
shown) and a first drive pulley 14a mounted fixedly on one end of the 
drive shaft 13 for transmitting rotating power to the operating unit via a 
first driven pulley 14b, the pulleys 14a and 14b being operatively 
connected by a drive belt 15. A second drive pulley 16a larger in diameter 
than the first drive pulley 14a is coaxially mounted on the other or 
opposite end of the drive shaft 13 and is operatively connected by a drive 
belt 17 to a second driven pulley 16b. 
A horizontally mounted stationary shaft 18 is fixedly supported on the 
frame and has a bore 19 (FIG. 3) for guiding therethrough a supply of cord 
C. 
An elongate cylindrical member 20 is rotatably mounted on the stationary 
shaft 18 via bearings 21 as shown in FIG. 3, and extends in parallel with 
the drive shaft 13. The member 20 may be integral as shown or connected at 
one end to the first driven pulley 14b. At the forward end of the 
stationary shaft 18 adjacent to the second driven pulley 16b, there is 
provided a winding mandrel 22 operatively associated with a forming screw 
and heat-set unit 23. 
A rotor 24, which may be integral with the cylindrical member 20, is 
provided at the other end of the member 20 opposite to the first driven 
pulley 14b. A guideway 25 extends longitudinally through the cylindrical 
member 20 and through the rotor 24 for guiding the passage of a 
filamentary material F which is supplied via a guide arm 26. The filament 
F passes around a first guide roll 27 and horizontally straight through 
the guideway 25 and around a second guide roll 28 where it is oriented 
upwardly and passes around a third guide roll 29 and finally reaches the 
mandrel 22. 
The apparatus of the character above described is a general construction 
utilized for feeding a filamentary material and forming the same into a 
row of continuous coils for attachment to stringer tapes in a well known 
manner. In accordance with the invention, there is provided a stamping 
tool 30 including a rotative ring member 31 which is integral with the 
second driven pulley 16b and rotatably mounted via a bearing 32 around the 
periphery of the rotor 24. As better shown in FIG. 4, the ring member 31 
is internally toothed as at 33 for meshing engagement with one of a pair 
of mating gears 34 and 35. A pair of stamping rolls 36 and 37 are 
respectively joined with the mating gears 34 and 35, and are rotatably 
mounted on respective pins 36a and 37a secured to the forward end of the 
rotor 24. The stamping rolls 36 and 37 are rotatably mounted on the front 
end of the rotor 24 and have rotational axes parallel to each other and to 
the axis of the rotor 24. Each stamping roller 36, 37 is provided 
peripherally with stamping projections of the various forms illustrated in 
FIGS. 5a through 7a inclusive, the projections being spaced at 
predetermined intervals or pitches and those on one of the rolls are 
positioned to register with the corresponding projections on the other. A 
first one of such stamping projections 38 provides upon contact with the 
filament F a deformation therein which corresponds to a coupling head H of 
a coil element E. 
A second projection 39 provides a similar deformation which corresponds to 
to a turn or connecting portion T of each coil E. A third stamping 
projection 40 is interposed between adjacent first and second projections 
38 and 39 is and adapted to provide a deformation which serves as a guide 
groove G in the coil for anchoring a sewing thread S. 
The mating projections 38 on their respective stamping rolls 36, 37 that 
form the coupling heads H are timed to come into confronting relation or 
register in position with each other during travel of the filament F 
between the second guide roll 28 and the third guide roll 29, and are so 
registered as the stamping rolls 36, 37 complete a full revolution on 
their own axes. In the presently illustrated embodiment, the rotor 24 
rotates faster by angular speed than the ring member 31 with the resulting 
difference in their angular speed being utilized to effect the revolution 
of the stamping rolls 36, 37 on their own axes in opposite directions. 
Conversely, the rotor 24 may be rotated at a slower peripheral speed than 
that at which the ring member 31 rotates, in which instance the direction 
in which the filament F is wound on the mandrel 22 will be reversed. A 
differential in angular rotating speed between the rotor 24 and the ring 
member 31 is calculated such that the stamping rolls 36, 37 rotate on 
their axes by degrees corresponding to the distance between or the pitch 
of adjacent head-forming projection 38. Revolution of the rotor 24 causes 
the filament F to be wound on the mandrel 22, and one such revolution 
results in the formation of one convolution E of the coiled filament, 
during which time the stamping rolls 36, 37 rotate on their axes while 
orbitting about the axis of the rotor 24 and provide the various 
deformations; i.e. head H, turn T and groove G, on the filament F during 
its feed or travel towards the mandrel 22 as diagrammatically illustrated 
in FIGS. 5a-7a. 
The filament F can be stamped with a high degree of accuracy because the 
ring member 31 carrying the stamping rolls 36, 37 is rotated at a constant 
speed by a drive power derived from the same source of power as that for 
the rotor 24 and thus can keep the rolls 36, 37 in accurate rotative and 
orbital movement. Because of such relationship between the rotor 24 and 
the ring member 31, the latter is an exact follower of the former 
regardless of the choice of speed for the winding of the filament F on the 
mandrel 22. In addition to these features, the present invention is 
advantageous in that the stamping station is located adjacent to the 
mandrel 22 to effect the stamping of the filament F immediately in advance 
of its being wound on the mandrel 22, thereby holding the filament F thus 
stamped or deformed immune to objectionable twists or other physical 
changes. 
Having thus described the invention, it will be understood that various 
changes and modifications may be made in the specific embodiment herein 
advanced without departing from the scope of the appended claims. As for 
an instance, the arrangement of the apparatus may be modified so that the 
desired differential in angular speed between the rotor 24 and the ring 
member 31 may be obtained by rotating the latter conversely faster.