Arrangement with a coil forming and conveying system for wire or light-section steel, particularly for high oil weights

An arrangement with a coil forming and conveying system for wire or light-section steel, particularly with high coil weights of up to 5 t. The arrangement includes one or more conveying units for supplying the wire and a coil forming and transfer station each following the one or more conveying units. The coil forming and transfer stations include a device for conveying wire coils to an unloading station. The coil forming station and the transfer station form a unit. The transfer station includes a relatively elongated C-shaped hook which is connectable to the coil forming station. The C-shaped hook includes a receiving mandrel adjacent the receiving mandrel for conveying and compacting wire or light-section steel windings placed from the coil forming station onto the receiving mandrel. The hook includes travel gear so as to be movable between the transfer station and the unloading station.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an arrangement with a coil forming and 
conveying system for wire and/or light-section steel, particularly with 
high coil weights of up to 5 t. The arrangement includes one or more 
supplying conveying units and a coil forming and transfer station each 
following the one or more conveying units. The coil forming and transfer 
stations include means for conveying wire coils to an unloading station. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
Arrangements for receiving and for conveying wire coils formed in a coil 
forming chamber are known from patents DE-C2-29 34 439 and DE-C2-29 54 
521. Each of these arrangements includes a rotating frame with an axis of 
rotation which is inclined relative to the vertical. The rotating frame 
includes several receiving mandrels which are arranged with uniform 
spacings in circumferential direction and at an acute angle relative to 
the axis of rotation, so that the receiving mandrels are aligned 
vertically in the loading station underneath the coil forming chamber and 
in the region of a transfer unit are inclined relative to the transfer 
unit. The transfer unit receives a coil from a receiving mandrel and 
transfers this coil to a conveying unit which is equipped with elements 
for displacing the coil stop surfaces of the mandrels. The rotating frame 
is constructed for a plurality of receiving mandrels as a coil and 
displacement disk whose axis forms an angle of less than 45.degree. with 
the vertical and an acute angle with each axis of a receiving mandrel. The 
receiving mandrels are mounted on the wire coil and displacement disk so 
as to be raisable and lowerable by means of lifting devices. In the 
construction according to DE-C2-29 34 439, each receiving mandrel is 
additionally constructed with a spreading device and with a single drive 
actuating the spreading device. 
The known arrangements have several disadvantages. Thus, the arrangements 
require a particularly high structural height with components of the 
arrangement being located in two planes. For this purpose, the 
arrangements require substantial foundations which to a large extent are 
below mill floor level in a foundation pit. A frame of steel girders in a 
plane above mill floor level is provided for conveying the coils. The coil 
tilting device or the rotating frame with the coil transfer unit and the 
conveying system, as well as the corresponding rotating devices, lifting 
devices and travel devices result in extremely high investment and 
operation costs, particularly energy costs, as well as substantial 
maintenance. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is the object of the present invention to provide an arrangement with a 
coil forming and conveying system of the type described above which is 
significantly simplified and improved, so that, without requiring large 
structural heights and several planes of operation as well as a 
substantial foundation, the transfer of wire or light-section coils from a 
coil forming station to a transfer station and from the latter to means 
for receiving and further conveying the coils can be made possible in a 
particularly economical, well-organized and flexible manner. 
In accordance with the present invention, the coil forming station and the 
transfer station form a unit. The transfer station includes a relatively 
elongated C-shaped hook which is connectable to the coil forming station. 
The C-shaped hook includes a receiving mandrel and means adjacent the 
receiving mandrel for conveying and compacting the wire or light-section 
steel windings or coils placed from the coil forming station onto the 
receiving mandrel. The hook includes travel means so as to be movable from 
the transfer or loading station to the unloading station. 
Compared to conventional plants and arrangements of the above-described 
type, the arrangement according to the present invention provides 
significant advantages. Especially the low structural height and the fact 
that substantial foundation structures and a foundation pit underneath the 
floor level are not required and the significant simplification of the 
technical plant requirements result advantageously in a drastic reduction 
of the investment costs as well as the operation costs. Not required in 
the arrangement according to the present invention are the complicated 
machines required in the arrangements of the state of the art, 
particularly the technically complicated coil tilting device with the 
subsequently arranged conveying and coil transfer system with conveying 
means from a lower work plane to a higher work plane. As a result, the 
arrangement according to the present invention is well organized, flexible 
and requires hardly any maintenance. 
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are 
pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part 
of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its 
operating advantages attained by its use, reference should be had to the 
drawing and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and 
described preferred embodiments of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIG. 1 of the drawing is a partial illustration of an arrangement with a 
coil forming and conveying system for wire and light-section steel. In 
particular, FIG. 1 shows the end of a conveying unit 1 for wire windings 
20 with a coil forming station 3 and a transfer and loading station 4. The 
conveying unit 1, for example, a Stelmor unit, conveys wire windings 20 
from a wire finishing train, not shown, to a coil forming chute 6. A coil 
receiving mandrel 7 is located in the interior of the coil forming chute 
6. Support arms 28 hold the coil receiving mandrel in its position in the 
coil forming chute 6. 
The support arms 28 are constructed in such a way that, for example, when 
the support arms are retracted as ilustrated in FIG. 1, wire windings 20 
can be received by the coil receiving mandrel 7. The wire windings drop 
onto the tip 22 of the receiving mandrel 11 of the C-shaped hook 10 in the 
region of the transfer station 4. When the wire windings of a rolling 
length have been completely received by the C-shaped hook 10, the support 
arms 28 are swung in in order to hold the coil receiving mandrel 7. The 
windings of the new rolling length can now already be collected above the 
support arms 28. This is done for as long as it takes to replace the 
loaded C-shaped hook 10 by an empty C-shaped hook 10. The support arms 28 
are then retracted and the coil receiving mandrel 7 drops onto the tip 22 
of the receiving mandrel 11. The entire rolling length can now again be 
received by the C-shaped hook 10. 
The coil forming station 3 and the transfer and loading station 4 
cooperating with the coil forming station 3 form a unit. The coil forming 
station 3 is followed by or engaged by the relatively elongated C-shaped 
hook 10 with its receiving mandrel 11 and the means 13 adjacent the 
receiving mandrel for conveying and compacting the wire and light-section 
steel windings into coils 20. 
The hook 10 is arranged so as to be movable in a plane of the mill floor 
level 25 by means of travel means 12 from the transfer and loading station 
4 to an unloading station designated by reference numeral 2 in FIGS. 4 and 
5. Advantageously, the hook 10 is suspended with a traveling gear 12 from 
rails 14 and 15, also shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Contrary to conventional 
arrangements, this travel arrangement can be used advantageously and 
without problems in the arrangement according to the present invention 
because the transfer and loading station 3, 4 and the unloading station 2 
are located on the same level of operation of the mill floor level 25. 
As is clear from FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, the means 13 for conveying 
and/or compacting wire or light-section steel windings 20 are support and 
conveyor tracks 13a, 13b with chains which endlessly travel around a drive 
roller 18 and guide roller 19 each. The support and conveyor tracks 13a, 
13b extend radially around the receiving mandrel 11 and in direction along 
the receiving mandrel 11. 
As FIG. 2 further shows, adjacent the hook 10 or its receiving mandrel 11 
are arranged in the region of the transfer and loading station 4 
preferably two lowerable support and conveyor tracks 13a and 13b in a 
radial position underneath the hook 10. However, additional conveyor 
tracks interacting with the wire windings 20 may be provided, possibly 
even laterally of the hook 10. 
The detail illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawing shows a conveyor means 13 
for conveying wire windings 20. Specifically, FIG. 3 shows that the chain 
16 is equipped with loose rollers 24 which serve the purpose to gently 
place and compact the wire windings 20 on the mandrel 11 of the hook 10, 
while it is prevented that the chain 16 hooks into the wire windings 20 so 
that it is ensured that the chains 16 operate without wear and in a gentle 
manner. 
FIG. 4 of the drawing is a schematic top view showing a layout of an 
arrangement according to the present invention with a coil forming and 
conveying system for wire and light-section steel. The arrangement 
includes the coil forming station 3 with integrated transfer and loading 
station 4 arranged in a closed rail track 14, 15, 14a, 15a with hooks 10 
being arranged so as to travel on the rail tracks. The track sections 14, 
14a are intended for transverse travel of the hooks 10 and the track 
sections 15, 15a are intended for longitudinal travel. The arrangement 
additionally includes within the rail track 14, 15, 14a, 15a a coil press 
5 and an unloading station 2. A buffer distance 9 for loaded hooks 10a may 
advantageously be provided between the transfer station 4 and the 
unloading station 2 or coil press 5. In addition, a storage distance 8 for 
empty C-shaped hooks 10 is provided. The rail tracks formed with the 
connected track sections 14, 14a for transverse travel and track sections 
15, 15a for longitudinal travel a conveying track which forms a closed 
circle. 
FIG. 5 of the drawing shows an arrangement according to the present 
invention with a coil forming and conveying system for wire or 
light-section steel which is particularly advantageous with respect to 
space. Two or more coil forming stations 3, 3a and transfer and loading 
stations 4, 4a are arranged adjacent the track section 14 for transverse 
travel. The stations 3, 3a; 4, 4a may be arranged offset and are followed 
by longitudinal displacement means, not shown, for the C-shaped hooks 10, 
10a and for the means 13 for conveying and compacting the windings into 
coils which interact with the hooks 10, 10a. In an arrangement having the 
layout shown in FIG. 5, it is possible, for example, to provide a coil 
forming station 3 with a loading station 4 for wire and another coil 
forming station 3a with a loading station 4a for light-section steel, such 
as round steel, etc. Since the coil pressing station 5 and unloading 
station 2 are arranged laterally offset next to the rail tracks 14, 15, 
14a, 15a the entire arrangement requires little space and permits an 
extremely economical operation between loading and unloading of the 
C-shaped hooks 10 with relatively high throughput rates. An operational 
flexibility is obtained which is significantly more advantageous as 
compared to conventional arrangements whose operational possibilities are 
severely restricted. As is clear from the above description and from the 
drawings, the technical means required for the operation of the 
arrangement according to the present invention require only a fraction of 
the means needed, for example, in the above-mentioned conventional 
arrangement. 
While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described 
in detail to illustrate the inventive principles, it will be understood 
that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such 
principles.