Abstract:
A banding fixture including a body having a horizontal opening therein, a carriage movable into and out of the horizontal opening, a recess in the carriage, and the carriage with the recess therein movable into the horizontal opening with a surface in the carriage in underlying near contiguous relationship to an undersurface of a plate on the body. A method of banding a workpiece including the steps of pressing a workpiece overlying a band into a recess in a member, and moving the member relative to a surface so that the ends of the band which extend beyond the workpiece are pressed together in overlapping relationship as the member passes in contiguous relationship to the surface.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/732,662, filed Dec. 8, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,326. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an improved banding fixture for applying a band to a workpiece such as a coil or a bundle of material and to an improved banding method. 
     By way of background, coiled material such as tubing, wire, flexible plastic or a bundle of material require bands to retain them in assembled condition. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is one object of the present invention to provide a banding fixture for a workpiece consisting of coiled material or a bundle of material wherein the fixture accepts a predetermined length of band and is manually manipulatable to cause the band to be secured around a section of the workpiece. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of banding a workpiece which involves a series of simple and efficient manipulations. Other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will readily be perceived hereafter. 
     The present invention relates to a banding fixture comprising a body, a horizontal opening in said body, an overlying portion on said body overlying said horizontal opening, an undersurface on said overlying portion, a carriage movable into and out of said horizontal opening, a recess in said carriage, first and second carriage portions on opposite sides of said recess, an upper surface on at least one of said first and second carriage portions positioned in underlying near contiguous relationship with said undersurface when said recess underlies said overlying portion. 
     The present invention also relates to a method of banding a workpiece comprising the steps of providing a length of band having a central portion and outer end portions and a side with a cohesive substance thereon, placing said length of band on a first surface with said cohesive substance facing away from said first surface, providing a workpiece having an outer side with adjacent sides proximate said outer side and an inner side opposite to said outer side, positioning said workpiece with said outer side on said central portion of said band having said cohesive substance thereon, moving said workpiece and said band into a recess in a member to cause portions of said central portion of said band to move alongside said adjacent sides and to cause an additional portion of said central portion and one of said end portions adjacent said additional portion to extend beyond said one of said adjacent sides and to cause the other of said end portions to extend beyond the other of said adjacent sides, and moving said member past a second surface to cause said additional portion of said central portion of said band to extend across said inner surface and to cause said end portions of said band to lie in pressed cohesive engagement between said second surface and a third surface which is adjacent to said recess. 
     The various aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood when the following portions of the specification are read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a coil of tubing which is banded by bands which have been applied by the present banding fixture; 
     FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the banding fixture of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2A is a side elevational view of the body of the fixture; 
     FIG. 2B is a plan view of the body of the fixture; 
     FIG. 2C is an end elevational view of the fixture body; 
     FIG. 3 is an end elevational view taken substantially in the direction of arrows  3 — 3  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a plan view of the banding fixture taken substantially in the direction of arrows  4 — 4  of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4A is a side elevational view of the plate member which mounts on the body of the fixture; 
     FIG. 4B is an end elevational view of the plate member; 
     FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially along line  5 — 5  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the banding fixture with a strip of cohesive tape thereon and with an unbanded coil in an initial position against a positioning member; 
     FIG. 7 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the coil moved to a second position overlying a coil-receiving recess in a carriage; 
     FIG. 8 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the banding fixture with the coil moved into the recess in the carriage; 
     FIG. 9 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the banding fixture with the carriage moved to a position wherein the ends of the cohesive tape are secured to each other with the cohesive tape encircling the coil; 
     FIG. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of a portion of FIG. 9 showing in greater detail the cohesive tape encircling the coil; 
     FIG. 11 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the banding fixture with the carriage moved to the position wherein the coil is removed from the recess; and 
     FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing the dimensioning of the tape for causing the extreme edges of the tape to lie flush with each other. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Summarizing briefly in advance, the banding fixture  10  and banding method are for applying bands  11  (FIGS. 1 and 11) to a workpiece consisting of a coil  12  of tubing or any other type of coiled material or a bundle of material. The bands  11  are received in a predetermined length from a banding machine  13  of any type which can supply it. Each band, by manual manipulation and the use of fixture  10 , can then be banded about the workpiece. At this point it is to be noted that the description refers to a workpiece which is a coil of material. However, it will be understood that the workpiece can be any bundle of material whatsoever or any item which requires a band. 
     The banding fixture  10  includes a body  14  fabricated out of a suitable plastic material. Body  14  includes a horizontal portion  15  and a vertical portion  17  (FIG.  2 A). The horizontal portion includes an elongated slot  19  and the vertical portion includes a slot  20  which extends into horizontal portion  15 . A plate member  21  (FIGS. 4A and 4B) includes a plate  22  with a depending integral vertical portion  23  which fits into slot  20  of body  14  and is secured therein by screws which extend through sides  24  of body  14  and through elongated slots  25  of vertical plate member portion  23 . A plate  27  (FIG. 3) is secured to the end of body portion  24  by screws  29 , and plate  27  has apertures  30  (FIG. 3) therein to receive screws  31  (FIG. 2) for securing the fixture  10  to the band dispensing machine  13 . A leg is attached to body  14  by bolt  28 . Leg  26  rests on a supporting surface, such as a table top to stabilize the fixture  10 . 
     In the fully assembled condition of the fixture  10 , a horizontal opening  32  is provided between the undersurface  33  of overlying plate  22  and the upper surface  34  (FIG. 2) of body portion  15 . A carriage  35  is slidably mounted on the upper surface  34  of body portion  15 , and it is retained against surface  34  by means of a bolt  39  which rides in slot  19 . The head  38  of bolt  39  bears on the undersurface of body portion  15 . In this respect, the bolt  39  is threaded into carriage  35  at  40 . The carriage  35  is guided for rectilinear movement on body portion  15  by the upper edges  41  of initial positioning members  42  which initially position the unbanded coil  12  on the fixture. The coil positioning members  42 , which are mirror images, include lower sides  43  which have bent over portions  44 , the upper edges  47  of which bear against the underside  45  of body portion  15 . Each side  43  includes an elongated slot  49  through which a bolt  50  extends. When tightened, the heads of bolts  50  hold sides  43  against movement on body portion  15 . The positioning members  42  include upper portions  51  which are connected to lower portions  43  by central portions  52 . The upper portions  51  terminate at edges  53  which serve as gauges for initially positioning a workpiece. 
     In operation, a predetermined length of cohesive tape with the bonding surface facing upwardly is dispensed from band dispensing machine  13 , and it is properly positioned on the upper surface of plate  22 . The workpiece in the form of an unbanded coil  12  (FIG. 6) is thereafter manually placed against gauge edges  53  of positioning members  42  (FIG. 6) with the lower outer side of the coil bearing on the central portion of cohesive surface of tape  11 . Thereafter, the coil  12  is manually moved to the right with the tape  11  along plate  22  to the position of FIG. 7 where it overlies recess  54  in carriage  35 . Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 8, the coil is pressed downwardly into recess  54 , and portions of the central portion of tape  11  move upwardly along the sides of the coil portion in the recess. Also, a portion of the central portion of the band and its adjacent end portion extend beyond the portion of the coil in the recess, as shown on the left of the coil in FIG. 8, and the other end portion of the band extends beyond the portion of the coil in the recess, as shown to the right of the coil in FIG.  8 . The carriage  35  is then manually moved to the left to its position of FIG.  9 . During this movement a portion of the central portion of the tape will be moved across the inner side of the coil portion in the recess  54  and the ends  57  and  59  will be placed face-to-face with each other in overlapping relationship, and the upper surface  55  of carriage  35  will lie in close contiguous relationship to the undersurface  33  of plate  22 . During the movement of the coil from the position of FIG. 8 to the position of FIG. 9, the spring-biased balls  60 , which protrude outwardly beyond the upper surface  55  of carriage  35 , will press ends  57  and  59  of tape  11  into firm mating engagement. Thereafter, the carriage  35  is moved to the position of FIG. 11 so that the coil can be moved upwardly out of carriage-recess  54 . The diametrically opposite portion of coil  12  is then inserted into recess  54 , and the above process of banding is repeated after another band  11  has been dispensed from band dispenser  13 , and the completely applied bands are shown in FIG.  1 . 
     The tape dispensing machine dispenses the tape to a position on plate  21  so that when the coil  12  is placed thereon while it abuts edges  53  of positioning members  42  which serve as a gauge, the extreme end edges of the tape will be flush with each other after the band has been secured about the coil. This is schematically shown in FIG. 12 wherein the midpoint of coil  12  is placed over point B which ultimately is moved to point B at the bottom of the recess. The distance AB is shown both on tape  11  and on the recess. The distance AD is the amount of one end of the tape which is to be bonded to the opposite end of the tape. The distance BC on the tape corresponds to the distance BC in recess  54 . The distance AC on the tape corresponds to the distance AC across the opening of recess  54 . The distance AD on the left end of the tape corresponds to the distance AD on the right end of the tape such that end portions  57  and  59 , when bonded to each other, will have their outer ends at D flush with each other. According to the foregoing dimensioning, the tape  11  will assume the positions shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 when bonding has been completed. In order to achieve the foregoing with reasonable accuracy, the positioning members  42  may be adjusted by loosening bolts  50  and sliding the sides  43  of members  42  to a desired position and thereafter tightening bolts  50 . In other words, the positions of positioning members  42  can be adjusted for providing different lengths  57  and  59 , which are bonded to each other depending on the total length of the tape and its position as dispensed by dispensing machine  13 . In other words, depending on the position of the tape  11  when it is dispensed from the dispensing machine, and depending on the lengths which are desired at  57  and  59 , the positioning member  42  can be positioned such that the center of the width of coil  12  will overlie point B on the tape. 
     While the above description was directed to banding a workpiece in the nature of a coil, it will be appreciated that the banding fixture can be used equally well to band straight material into bundles or to apply a band to any type or types of items. 
     While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.