Method and installation for feeding longitudinal elements to a welding machine for grates or gratings

A method and installation for feeding longitudinal elements of round or flat material to a welding machine (41) for grates or gratings, in which method the longitudinal elements (L), cut off from at least one line of longitudinal-element material after straightening of the same, are arranged in a group with selectable spacing, without longitudinal displacement, in the direction transverse to a push-in line (S) to the welding machine (41), are secured in place by a, for example magnetic, holding force and are moved essentially continuously into the push-in line, and in which arrangement the front ends of the longitudinal elements are mutually aligned before delivery of the longitudinal elements to the welding machine.

The invention relates to a method and an installation for feeding 
longitudinal elements to a welding machine for grates or gratings. 
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART 
It is known from German Patent Specifications 2,051,354 and 1,456,661 to 
feed wire, drawn off from a coil, intermittently through a straightening 
device by a selectable length, to cut off longitudinal elements and to 
feed the latter by means of a conveying device transversely to the push-in 
line to a horizontal magazine which consists of a plurality of chains 
which can be moved step-by-step and have receiving pockets for one 
longitudinal wire each. The longitudinal wires, by means of a transporting 
carriage, are lifted in groups out of the magazine acting as intermediate 
storage means and are conveyed transversely to the push-in line in front 
of a stationary delivery device of the welding machine and are delivered 
to the latter. 
A disadvantage in this procedure is the inevitably horizontal and 
consequently bulky arrangement of the magazine, whose width has to 
correspond to at least the largest width of the grate to be manufactured. 
In addition, a relatively low operating speed results, caused by the slow 
filling of the magazine by means of the intermittently working 
straightening and cutting device and on account of the use of only one 
transporting carriage, which has to remain in the delivery position 
relative to the welding machine until all longitudinal wires have been 
worked by the welding machine. Furthermore, an infinitely adjustable 
spacing of the longitudinal wires is not possible. 
German Patent Specification 2,319,003 (published Oct. 17, 1974) discloses a 
feeding mechanism in which a transporting device arranged horizontally and 
parallel to the welding machine and intended for longitudinal wires is 
formed by an endless, rotating transverse-conveying device provided with 
receiving members for the longitudinal wires. The longitudinal wires are 
conveyed into the receiving members by means of a straightening and 
cutting device arranged in front of the transverse-conveying device in the 
direction of the longitudinal wires and movable transversely to the 
direction of the longitudinal wires. In another embodiment, the 
longitudinal bars straightened and cut by means of the straightening and 
cutting device are first of all fed to a supply magazine and then pass via 
a singularizing device into a further magazine and from the latter into a 
channel. From this channel, the longitudinal bars are fed by means of a 
draw-in device to the receiving members of the transverse-conveying device 
Finally, in a further exemplary embodiment, the longitudinal wires are fed 
directly from the magazine into the receiving members of the 
transverse-conveying device. 
A disadvantage in the first-mentioned embodiment is the fact that a 
transverse displacement of the feeding device, consisting of straightening 
and cutting devices as well as the corresponding feed mechanisms can only 
be realised by a considerably complex design; on the other hand, in a 
fixed feeding device, a passing movement of the transverse-conveying 
device for the purpose of loading with longitudinal wires can only be 
effected when the welding machine has removed all longitudinal wires from 
the transverse-conveying device. 
The other two embodiments certainly enable round longitudinal wires to be 
lifted out of the transverse-conveying device and thus also enable the 
transverse-conveying device to pass directly after the longitudinal wires 
have been welded to the first cross wires. However, this is not possible 
in the case of longitudinal elements which are resistant to bending in the 
longitudinal direction, such as strip-shaped supporting bars disposed 
edgewise for gratings, since these supporting bars cannot be lifted or 
lowered in the direction of their narrow side without deforming or 
twisting. 
THE INVENTION 
The object of the invention is to avoid the disadvantages described and to 
specify a method as well as create an installation intended to perform the 
method, with which an essentially continuous and time-saving feed of 
longitudinal elements to the welding machine is made possible. 
The method according to the invention for feeding longitudinal elements of 
round or flat material to a welding machine for grates or gratings, in 
which method elements of predetermined length are cut off from endless 
longitudinal-element material after straightening of the same, and these 
longitudinal elements are arranged in a group at predetermined spacing 
transversely to the push-in or feed line, whereupon the group as a whole 
is shifted into the push-in line and delivered to the grate-welding 
machine, is characterized in that the longitudinal elements, cut off from 
at least one line of longitudinal-element material, are arranged with 
selectable spacing in a group without relative longitudinal displacement 
in the group, are secured in place at least temporarily, that is by 
application of a positioning force thereagainst and are moved essentially 
continuously into the push-in line, and in that the front ends of the 
longitudinal elements are mutually aligned before delivery of the 
longitudinal elements to the welding machine. 
In this method, the longitudinal elements are preferably secured in place 
by magnetic force on a flat surface movable transversely to the push-in 
line. 
Furthermore, the subject-matter of the invention is an installation 
intended for performing the method and comprising a device for feeding, 
straightening and cutting to length a line of longitudinal-element 
material, a singularizing i.e individually separating and conveying 
device, orientated transversely to the push-in line, for the longitudinal 
elements, and a distributing device which is arranged downstream from the 
singularizing and conveying device and with which the longitudinal 
elements can be moved in groups from the conveying device up to a delivery 
device of the welding machine; this installation has the features that the 
conveying device has at least one channel, pivotable about its 
longitudinal axis, for directly receiving the cut-to-length longitudinal 
elements without longitudinal displacement of the same and conveying 
elements which are arranged downstream from the longitudinal-element 
receiving channel and with which the longitudinal elements, likewise 
without longitudinal displacement, can be conveyed individually along a 
feeding duct to the distributing device, and that the distributing device 
has at least two distributor carriages which are movable independently of 
one another, are provided with devices for securing the longitudinal 
elements in place temporarily, that is non-positively with selectable 
transverse spacing on vertically adjustable supporting surfaces of the 
carriages and, in accordance with the spacing of the longitudinal elements 
in the finished grate, can be moved step-by-step relative to the conveying 
device into a transfer station, that the distributor carriage completely 
fitted with longitudinal elements, with a supporting surface arranged in 
an upper, preferably horizontal plane, can be moved from the transfer 
station into a delivery station of the delivery device of the welding 
machine, whereas the distributor carriage emptied after delivery of the 
longitudinal elements, with a supporting surface lowered into a lower, 
preferably horizontal plane, can be moved back to the conveying device and 
the supporting surface can be lifted again into the upper plane, that a 
device for aligning the front ends of the longitudinal elements to be 
delivered is provided in the delivery station, and that the devices of the 
installation can be controlled by means of a program control device. 
With the invention, an essentially continuous feed of longitudinal elements 
to the welding machine is achieved with little time used, a high operating 
speed being ensured at the same time. Furthermore, an important advantage 
of the invention is that, as a result of the longitudinal elements being 
secured in place non-positively in a simple manner, an infinitely 
selectable spacing of the longitudinal wires is made possible. With the 
invention, both bar-shaped and strip-shaped longitudinal elements of any 
cross-section or any cross-sectional shape can be fed, combinations of 
different cross-sections and lengths within an assemblage of longitudinal 
bars also being possible. According to the invention, both cold-drawn and 
hot-rolled material can advantageously be worked. 
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the distributing device has a 
section facing the feeding device and containing the distributor carriages 
and a section remote from the feeding device and having at least one 
endless distributor chain which can be driven in the direction of movement 
of the distributor carriages towards the push-in line. 
According to a further feature of the invention, the devices for securing 
the longitudinal elements in place non-positively on the supporting 
surfaces of the receiving tables consist of essentially plate-shaped 
elements having electromagnets which can be switched off. 
Furthermore, according to the invention the conveying elements of the 
conveying device are formed by conveying chains having L-shaped flights. 
Preferably allocated here to the pivotable longitudinal-element receiving 
channel of the conveying device are a plurality of pivotable deflecting 
fingers arranged along the channel and also at least one ejector, with 
which the longitudinal element can be moved into the feeding duct. In this 
arrangement, according to the invention, at least two longitudinal-element 
receiving channels, having allocated deflecting fingers, ejectors as well 
as conveying elements and feeding ducts can be provided with which 
longitudinal elements, facultatively of different length can be fed 
preferably in an alternating manner to the distributing device. 
According to a further feature of the invention the feeding device has feed 
members, straightening tools and cutting devices for at least two lines of 
longitudinal-element material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
In the exemplary embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1, two parallel 
lines of material are drawn off endlessly from supply drums, coils, reels 
or bundles V and move in the direction of arrow P.sub.1 into a feeding 
device 1. The lines of material can have any cross-section and be made of 
cold-drawn or hot-rolled material which can be bar-shaped or strip-shaped. 
FIG. 2, for example, shows strip-shaped supporting bars L as are required 
for manufacturing welded gratings. 
For each line of material, the feeding device 1 essentially has feed 
members 2 which feed the material into a conveying device 7, a 
length-measuring wheel 3 and also horizontally acting straightening tools 
4 and vertically acting straightening tools 5. Located at the end of the 
feed path are cutting tools 6 which cut off longitudinal elements L of 
selectable length from the lines of material. 
In the conveying device 7, arranged downstream from the feeding device 1 
and shown in particular in FIG. 2, the cut-to-length longitudinal elements 
L, by means of one allocated, endless conveying chain 8 each which runs at 
a slope, are conveyed in the direction of arrow P.sub.2 onto a distributor 
carriage 9 of a distributing device 30, which distributor carriage 9 is 
located in a transfer station A and is movable transversely to the 
longitudinal elements or transversely to the push-in line S. The 
longitudinal elements L are received by the distributor carriage 9 in an 
upper horizontal plane O--O which is predetermined by the welding machine 
41 and, depending on the type of welding machine, is defined by the top 
edges or bottom edges of the longitudinal elements L. 
A shown in FIG. 1, two parallel distributor carriages 9 and 12 are 
provided. Each distributor carriage 9 and 12, in the example shown, 
consists of three receiving tables 10 and 11 respectively coupled to one 
another and arranged at a mutual distance behind one another in the 
direction of the longitudinal elements L. Each receiving table 10 and 11 
has a top part 36 and 45 respectively which, for example, can be lifted 
hydraulically or pneumatically and carries flat electromagnets 13 (FIG. 2) 
which can be switched off and are designed in a plate shape and by means 
of which the longitudinal elements L can be releasably secured in place in 
the transverse direction on the receiving tables 10, 11 at any selectable 
spacing. 
The step-by-step positioning of each distributor carriage 9 and 12 is 
effected in the direction of arrow P.sub.3 transversely to the 
longitudinal elements in such a way that in each case the section of the 
distributor carriage provided with a longitudinal element L leaves the 
transfer station A and a following free carriage section moves into the 
transfer station A. The step length of this positioning movement is set as 
a function of the spacing of the longitudinal elements L in the grate or 
grating to be manufactured. The top parts 36 and 45 of the tables 10 and 
11 respectively are located in the raised position when the longitudinal 
elements L are being received. 
Once the distributor carriage 9 shown in FIG. 1 has been completely 
supplied with the desired number of longitudinal elements L of the grate 
or grating to be manufactured, it travels horizontally on rails 14 (FIG. 
1) in the direction of arrow P.sub.3 transversely to the push-in line S 
(see FIG. 3) to a delivery station B in order to deliver the longitudinal 
elements L there in groups to a delivery device 31 of the grate-welding 
machine 41. 
To deliver the longitudinal elements L, a push-in carriage 15 of the 
delivery device 31 is moved in the direction of arrow P.sub.14 in the 
direction of the push-in line S towards the receiving tables 10 in such a 
way that the front ends of the longitudinal elements L are received by 
receptacles 32, lying side-by-side and designed, for example, in a prism 
shape, and can be secured in place by means of clamping elements 33 having 
individually adjustable clamping pressure. During this movement, a comb 16 
allocated to the front-most receiving table 10 is at the same time pushed 
back, the function of which comb 16 will be described later. The 
electromagnets 13 are switched off and a lifting grid 17 is raised in the 
direction of arrow P.sub.7 in order to lift the longitudinal elements L 
from the magnet plates 13. The lifting grid 17 consists of a plurality of 
parts which can be vertically adjusted simultaneously and are allocated to 
the individual receiving tables 10, 11 as well to as endless distributor 
chains 18 which are movable transversely to the push-in line S, run over 
rollers 19 and support the longitudinal elements L at the end of the 
distributing device 30 remote from the feeding device 1. By actuation of 
the individual clamping elements 33 or even a common clamping beam for the 
receptacles 32 of the push-in carriage 15 in the direction of arrow 
P.sub.15, the longitudinal elements L are fixed in these receptacles 32. 
However, the initial clamping force is only selected to be so large that a 
stop guide bar 34, by moving in the direction of arrow P.sub.16, can align 
all longitudinal elements L at the same front projecting length, the 
longitudinal elements being appropriately displaced in the receptacles 32 
in the direction of their longitudinal axis. After the mutual alignment of 
the longitudinal elements L, the clamping force is increased, the stop 
guide bar swings up in the direction of arrow P.sub.17 and thereby clears 
the feed path for the push-in carriage 15 in the direction of the welding 
machine 41. 
The push-in carriage 15 is arranged so as to be longitudinally displaceable 
in the direction of arrow P.sub.14 on a support 35 which in operation is 
arranged to be stationary relative to the welding machine 41 and is 
longitudinally displaceable in the direction of arrow P.sub.18 only for 
purposes of servicing. During the push-in action into the welding machine 
41, the longitudinal elements L are delivered into receptacles 46 of the 
support 35 which, at the side of the support 35 facing the welding machine 
41 are in alignment with the receptacles 32 of the push-in carriage 15. 
The longitudinal elements L can be individually fixed in these receptacles 
46 by actuating clamping elements 47 in the direction of arrow P.sub.19. 
The actual operation for delivering the longitudinal elements L to the 
welding machine 41 and the positioning of the longitudinal elements L 
under the electrodes of the welding machine 41, as a function of the 
desired distribution of the longitudinal elements L in the finished grate 
is effected by interaction of the feed of the push-in carriage 15 and the 
actuation of its clamping beam 33 or of its individual clamping elements 
with the actuation of the clamping elements 47 of the stationary support 
35. 
After the distributor carriage 9 has been unloaded, its top part 36 is 
lowered in the direction of arrow P.sub.4 into a lower horizontal plane 
U--U (FIG. 2) and, in this plane U--U, returns beneath the longitudinal 
elements L arranged on the distributor carriage 12 in the direction of 
arrow P.sub.3 into the transfer station A. 
As soon as the distributor carriage 9 has reached the transfer station A, 
the top parts 36 of its receiving tables 10 are lifted in the direction of 
arrow P.sub.4 from the lower horizontal plane U--U into the upper 
horizontal plane O--O, and the carriage is again ready for transferring 
longitudinal elements L from the conveying device 7. 
As has already been described and shown in FIG. 1, the second distributor 
carriage 12 can be moved independently of the first distributor carriage 
9. The distributor carriage 12, with its receiving tables 11, is arranged 
in the direction of the longitudinal elements L in each case behind the 
receiving tables 10 of the first distributor carriage 9, the receiving 
tables 10 alternating with the receiving tables 11. As a result of this 
arrangement and on account of the fact that there must be the greatest 
positional accuracy at the end of the longitudinal elements L adjacent to 
the feeding device 1 when the longitudinal elements L are received on the 
receiving tables 10, 11, the top part 45 of the receiving table 11 of the 
rear distributor carriage 12, which top part 45 is nearest to the feeding 
device 1, can be divided in the direction of the longitudinal elements The 
front section 45' of the top part 45 is displaceable in the direction of 
arrow P.sub.5 in the direction of the longitudinal elements L. 
The actuating and drive elements for the individual movements are known per 
se and are not shown for the sake of clarity. 
When the longitudinal elements L are delivered to the delivery device 31 of 
the welding machine, the longitudinal elements L on the distributor 
carriages 9, 12 need be accurately positioned directly only at the 
delivery station B. At the end remote from the feeding device 1, accurate 
positioning of the longitudinal elements L on the distributing device 30 
is not necessary. In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the 
distributor carriages 9, 12 are therefore restricted only to the section 
of the distributing device adjacent to the feeding device 1. The 
distributor chains 18 provided instead of the distributor carriages at the 
end remote from the feeding device 1 are movable in the direction of arrow 
P.sub.6. These distributor chains 18 are only activated at the same time 
as the distributor carriages 9, 12 when the latter perform a movement in 
the direction of arrow P.sub.3 in the upper horizontal plane O--O. The 
distributor carriages 9 and 12, which are parallel to each other, can move 
independently of one another, as described. Consequently, carriage 12 may 
move during the delivery phase of carriage 9 to be in any position or 
phase of movement which does not disturb the delivery operation of the 
carriage 9. For example, carriage 12 may be in the delivery station B with 
its receiving tables 11 lowered to the lower horizontal plane U--U. It 
may, also, be on its return travel from the delivery station B back to the 
transfer station A; it may be in the transfer station A with its receiving 
tables 11 raised to the upper horizontal plane O--O in order to receive 
the longitudinal element L; or it may be traveling horizontally from the 
transfer station A to the delivery station B, already loaded with the 
desired number of longitudinal elements L on the receiving tables 11 
which, in this case, are in their upper horizontal plane O--O. 
The comb 16 of the respectively frontmost receiving table 10 and 11, which 
comb 16 is facultatively provided in addition for aligning the 
longitudinal elements during the transfer from the conveying device 7, is 
displaceable in the direction of arrow P.sub.8 or in the direction of the 
longitudinal elements L in order to thereby facilitate the delivery of the 
longitudinal elements L to the delivery device 31 of the welding machine. 
The mutual distances between the recesses of these combs 16 correspond to 
the smallest possible working spacing of the welding machine, and the 
width of the recesses, in the case of round longitudinal elements, is 
adapted to the diameters or, in the case of strip-shaped longitudinal 
elements, is adapted to the dimensions of the narrow sides of these 
strips. The combs 16 are interchangeable in order to correspond to 
different spacings. 
Furthermore, a base frame 20 on which the conveying device 7 and the 
distributing device 30 are arranged is shown in FIG. 1. The base frame 20, 
for the purposes of servicing, is displaceable in the direction of arrow 
P.sub.9 in the direction of the longitudinal elements L. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the longitudinal elements L, cut to length by means of 
the cutting tools 6, are directly received in the conveying device 7 by 
one allocated pivotable longitudinal-element receiving channel 21 each 
without longitudinal displacement. By the longitudinal-element receiving 
channel 21 pivoting downwards in the direction of arrow P.sub.10 and by 
upper deflecting fingers 23, present at several locations along the 
channel 21, at the same time moving from the position shown by a solid 
line to the position shown by a broken line and also by an ejector 22 
subsequently pivoting in the direction of arrow P.sub.11, the respective 
longitudinal element L passes over a diverter plate 24, whose contour is 
adapted to the path of motion of the longitudinal element L, into an 
allocated inclined feeding duct 25 of the conveying device 7. 
Longitudinal elements L can pass from the receiving channel 21 to the 
feeding duct 25, as shown in FIG. 2, and more particularly in FIG. 2a by 
the following path: 
The receiving channel 21 pivots downwards in the direction of arrow 
P.sub.10 until the side wall 21' of the receiving channel 21 lies under 
the inclined lower contour 24" of the diverter plate 24, thus opening the 
lateral passage for the longitudinal element L. The longitudinal element L 
at first falls onto the inclined upper contour 24' of the diverter plate 
24 and then slides to the lower contour 24", additionally pushed by the 
upper deflecting fingers 23 moving to the position 23' (broken line). In 
order to make sure that the longitudinal element L is exactly positioned 
on the contour 24" to be caught reliably by the transport dogs 26 of chain 
8, the ejector 22 pivots downwards in the direction of arrow P.sub.11. The 
position of the ejector 22 shown in FIG. 2 shows this lower working 
position. 
The conveying chains 8 rotating in the direction of arrow P.sub.2 carry 
transport dogs 26 of L-shaped design with which each longitudinal element 
L is conveyed down to the end of the allocated feeding duct 25. The 
movement of the conveying chains 8 can take place in cycles and is adapted 
to the ejecting movement of the ejector means formed from the parts 22, 
23, 24 as well as to the pivoting movement of the longitudinal-element 
receiving channel 21. The L-shaped design of the transport dogs 26 
prevents the conveying movement from being disturbed by the pivoting of 
the longitudinal-element receiving channel 21. 
Bringing together and appropriately shaping the lower end sections of the 
feeding ducts 25 ensures that each longitudinal element L released by the 
transport dogs 26 drops freely onto a locking bar 27 which closes the 
feeding duct 25 and is movable in the direction of arrow P.sub.12 . By the 
locking bar 27 being pulled back and by deflecting fingers 28 present at 
several locations being actuated at the same time, the longitudinal 
element L passes onto the receiving table 10 and 11 of the distributor 
carriage 9 and 12 respectively available in each case, the front ends of 
the longitudinal elements will be located at the same end level or plane 
as the cutting tools 6, see line T, FIG. 3. The bottom deflecting fingers 
28, like the top deflecting fingers 23, are movable between a position 
shown by a solid line and a position shown by a broken line. 
When the locking bar 27 is pulled back it opens the manifold portion of the 
feeding duct 25 in order to allow the longitudinal element L to pass onto 
the op parts 36, 45 of the receiving tables 10, 11. 
In order to avoid any sticking of the longitudinal elements, especially in 
the case of long strip-shaped elements, in the feeding duct 25 and to 
accelerate the ejection of the elements onto the top parts of the 
receiving tables and deflecting fingers 28 are actuated and move from the 
position shown in solid lines to the position shown in broken lines and 
subsequently back to the initial position (solid lines). 
In order to prevent tilting, in particular in the case of strip-shaped 
longitudinal elements disposed edgewise, during the transfer of the 
longitudinal elements from the conveying device 7 onto the distributor 
carriages 9 and 12, the feeding duct 25 is extended to just above the top 
edge of the receiving tables 10, 11 of the distributor carriages 9, 12 by 
means of guide plates 29 which are pivotable in the direction of arrow 
P.sub.13 and are arranged on both sides of the feeding duct 25. This 
pivoting movement of the guide plates 29 is conveniently effected at the 
same time as the movements of the locking bar 27 and allocated deflecting 
fingers 28. 
The guide plates 29 extend the feeding duct 25 to just above the surface of 
the top parts 36, 45 of the receiving tables 10, 11 so that the 
longitudinal elements L may be guided as long as possible on their way to 
the receiving tables 10, 11. In order to be able to meet this requirement, 
the guide plates 29 have to be in their guiding position (as shown in FIG. 
2) when a longitudinal element 11 travels along the manifold part of the 
feeding duct 25 after the locking bar 27 has been pulled back and while 
the ejection of the longitudinal element L out of the feeding duct 25 is 
enhanced by moving the deflecting fingers 28 from their initial position 
(shown in solid line) to the lower position (shown in broken line). 
As already described above the deflecting fingers 28 return to their 
initial position (solid line) while the locking bar 27 moves to the right 
in order to close the feeding duct 25. Consequently, the guide plates 29 
pivot from their guiding position (shown in FIG. 2) so that the receiving 
tables 10, 11 can be moved to the subsequent receiving position without 
disturbing the elements already placed on the tables. 
Consequently the opposite movement of the guide plates 29 from their 
"non-distributing position" to their "guiding position" takes place at the 
same time the locking bar 27 moves to the left in order to open the 
feeding duct 25 and also at the same time the deflecting fingers 28 move 
from their initial position (solid line) to their lower position (broken 
line). On the other hand all of these movements may also be carried out 
one after another if there is sufficient time. 
The preferably alternating feed of two or more longitudinal elements L 
enables longitudinal elements of different dimensions to be fed to the 
distributing device or, when longitudinal elements L of the same type are 
fed, enables the conveying capacity of the conveying device 7 to be 
doubled. 
There are two separate feeding paths for feeding material from the supply 
drum V via the feed members 2, the cutting tool 6, the receiving channel 
21, the transport dogs 26 of the chain 8, the manifold part of the feeding 
duct 25 to the top parts 36, 45 of the receiving tables 10, 11 waiting in 
the transfer station A. As a so-called "filling time", i.e. the time 
required to fill the receiving channel 21 with material, to stop the 
movement of the material, to cut the material to the desired length of the 
longitudinal element, to convey the longitudinal element in transverse 
direction to the transport dogs 26 located on the highest point of the 
chain 8 and finally to move the chain 8 to feed the longitudinal element 
to the locking bar 27, is much longer than the so-called "transfer time", 
i.e. the time necessary to feed the longitudinal element from the locking 
bar 27 to the top parts 36, 45 of the receiving tables 10, 11 and to bring 
the receiving tables into a new receiving position, the working capacity 
of the entire conveying system is limited by the filling time. 
As described above, the forward ends of the longitudinal elements L are 
received by receptacles 32 of the push in carriage 15 of the delivery 
device 31 and are secured in place by means of clamping elements 33. While 
the push-in carriage 15 moves towards the receiving tables 10, 11 in order 
to catch the front ends of the longitudinal elements L, the combs 16 are 
pushed back in order to clear the way and to facilitate the grasping and 
securing of the forward ends of the elements by the clamping elements 33. 
During this operations the longitudinal elements L are still held fast by 
the electromagnets on the receiving tables. After the forward ends of the 
longitudinal elements have been secured the electromagnets 13 are switched 
off and the lifting grids 17 are raised in order to lift the longitudinal 
elements L from the magnet plates 13 to avoid any damage of these plates 
while the longitudinal elements L are conveyed longitudinally to the 
receptacles 46 and further on to the welding machine 41. As the forward 
ends are firmly secured by the clamping elements 33 the combs 16 are out 
of operation and therefore it does not matter whether the longitudinal 
elements L are still in contact with the combs 16 when the grids 17 are in 
the raised position or not. 
In the exemplary embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 3, hot-rolled 
material, such as, for example, rolled wire, is fed from a running-off 
reel 37, for example overhead, via a descaling device 38 to a cold-working 
device 39 which consists of drawing and/or rolling devices. If necessary, 
devices for profiling or making ribs can also be provided. If the drawing 
forces and also the drafts and dimensions of the material to be worked 
make it necessary, driven roll stands or additional draw-off discs (not 
shown) can be used. 
The cold-worked material passes in line into the feeding device 1, where it 
is straightened by the straightening tools 4, 5. In the exemplary 
embodiment shown, these straightening tools conveniently consist of 
roller-type straightening devices, in which arrangement it has proved to 
be advantageous to arrange the straightening rollers in at least two 
planes at right angles to one another. The longitudinal elements L can be 
cut to size in any length combination by means of the cutting tools 6 
provided at the end of the feeding device 1. Since the cutting tools 6 
conveniently work intermittently and on the other hand the cold-working 
device 39 is advantageously operated continuously, an intermediate storage 
means (not shown) must be provided between the latter and the feeding 
device 1. 
In the conveying device 7 arranged downstream, the longitudinal elements L 
are shifted individually transversely to their longitudinal direction and 
delivered to the distributing device 30, in which the longitudinal 
elements L are fixed non-positively at any selectable spacing on the 
distributor tables 10, 11 and are then moved in groups in the plane O--O 
transversely to the push-in line S and are delivered to the delivery 
device 31 of the welding machine 41. The push-in carriage 15 of this 
delivery device 31 conveys the longitudinal elements L in groups in their 
longitudinal direction into the welding machine 41 but now in the opposite 
direction to the direction of the feeding movement in the feeding device 
1. According to the invention, the longitudinal elements L are not 
displaced in their longitudinal direction after the cutting-off operation; 
accordingly, the front ends of the longitudinal elements, along their 
entire path from the cutting tool 6 up to the delivery device 31 move 
along a line T shown broken in FIG. 3. 
FIGS. 4a and 4b show two further exemplary embodiments according to the 
invention for feeding material to the conveying device 7. In both cases, 
the material is hot-rolled material which has already been pretreated in 
the course of the manufacturing process in such a way that it corresponds 
in its technical properties to the requirements of the end product and 
requires no further cold working. 
In the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 4a, the material is fed from 
the running-off reel 37, provided with a drive 48, via an intermediate 
storage means 44 directly to a straightening device 42 which is designed 
as a rotor-type straightening machine. A descaling device can be dispensed 
with, since the scale layer of the material is removed during the 
straightening operation in the rotor-type straightening device. 
Since the rotor-type straightening device 42 preferably works continuously, 
the cutting tools 6 working intermittently in the exemplary embodiments 
described hitherto have been replaced by continuously working guillotine 
shears 43 which are controlled by the length-measuring wheel 3 in 
accordance with the predetermined length of the longitudinal elements L. 
The feed mechanism 2 therefore likewise works continuously and can be 
arranged in front of and/or behind the rotor-type straightening device 42. 
In the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 4b, a roller-type 
straightening device having two straightening tools 4, 5 is used as a 
straightening device whose straightening rollers are each arranged in two 
planes disposed at right angles to one another. Since the scale layer of 
the hot-rolled material cannot be removed in roller-type straightening 
devices, a separate descaling device 38 has to be connected in front of 
the straightening tools. To draw off the material from the running-off 
reel 37 and through the descaling device 38, a draw-off disc 40, e.g. a 
capstan disc, is necessary in this case so that the reel drive can be 
dispensed with. Since an intermediate storage means 44 is arranged between 
the preferably continuously working descaling device 38 and the feeding 
device 1 in this exemplary embodiment, the cutting tools 6 and the feed 
mechanism 2 can work intermittently. The cutting tools 6 are again 
controlled by the length-measuring wheel 3. 
To perform the method according to the invention, the various sequences of 
movement must be exactly coordinated with one another in order to ensure a 
continuous material flow from the coils or reels up to the welding 
machine. For this reason, an automatic control system C is present which 
monitors and controls the individual devices to move in accordance with 
the respective P-arrows, as schematically shown by the bus P. 
In addition, it is possible within the scope of the invention to remove 
longitudinal elements L already cut to length and straightened from a 
supply (not shown) and to feed them to the conveying device 7.