Patent GB-802791-A (GB)
Title: Automatic machine for straightening and twisting wire supplied in coils
IPC: B21F7/00
Filed: 1957-03-06
Abstract: 802,791. Making rods; twisting. UNION SIDERURGIQUE DU NORD DE LA FRANCE. March 6, 1957 [March 6, 1956; Jan. 7, 1957], No. 7465/57. Classes 83 (2) and 83 (4). [Also in Group XVII] A machine for straightening and twisting round or section wire supplied in coils is characterized in that it comprises, in combination with a supply reel for the coiled wire and a rotary chuck carried by a pulling carriage to which a rectilinear movement of translation is imparted on a fixed frame, a device for the tensile and torsional braking of the wire, situated after the supply reel to effect the straightening of the wire pulled by the chuck and to stop the propagation upstream, that is to say towards the supply reel, of the twist imparted to the wire by the said rotary chuck. Wires X from supply reels 48 each pass through braking means E comprising three pulleys 51, 52, 53 on parallel axes, the pulley 52 being urged downwardly by an hydraulic jack 60. The pulleys are geared together and to a brake comprising an electric generator 64, delivering through a resistor, the output of which is adjustable by an energizing rheostat. The leading end of each wire X is gripped in a chuck 31 mounted on a carriage B movable, up or downstream of the wire, on tracks 6 by a reversible electric motor 40 driving an endless cable 42 secured to the carriage. Each chuck 31 comprises, Figs. 7 and 8, an outer ring 36, secured on a shaft 29 rotated by one of two reversible motors 21 on the carriage B, and an inner disc 35 rotatable in the ring 36 and having pivoted thereto at 34 three jaws 32 having radial slots 38 engaged by studs 37 on the ring 36. The arrangement is such that on starting the rotation of the ring 36 its acceleration and the inertia of the disc 35 cause the jaws 32 to close on the end of the wire X. A cam 20 on the carriage B contacts a contact-maker I on the upstream limit of the movement of the carriage which causes the motor 40 to reverse to move the carriage downstream and the twisting motors 21 to rotate the chucks 31 to grip the wire ends and commence twisting of the wire between the chucks and the braking means E. When during the downstream movement of the carriage B the cam 20 thereon engages a contactmaker II the twisting motors 21 are stopped; the contact-maker III is then engaged by the cam 20 to cause cutting-means F to sever the twisted wires from the supply and briefly to rotate the twisting motor 21 in the opposite direction to release the twisted rods Y which drop on to conveyer chains 100 which convey them to a rod counter 103. A contact-maker IV is then engaged by the cam 20 to reverse the motor 40 and return the carriage B upstream. When a predetermined number of twisted rods Y have been collected in a receiver 104, this is rocked by a pneumatic jack L to discharge the rods into a bundling bed 107 whence, after manual binding, pneumatic jacks 111 tip the bundles into a trough 109 which when full is wheeled away for the bundles to be removed by a crane 110a.  Shearing. The cutting means F comprises a carriage 70, Fig. 9, having fixed thereon cutting rings 75, one for each wire X, and, co-operating with the fixed rings 75, a slide 76 carrying cutting rings 77. The rings 75 are normally coaxial with the rings 77 and allow the wires to pass freely therethrough. To sever the twisted wires an electromagnet 92 is energized to operate a valve 90 to actuate a pneumatic or hydraulic jack J to move the slide 76. The carriage 70 is normally held against stops on the machine frame by a counterweight, in which position the severing takes place, but is moved slightly upstream by the twister carriage B towards the end of its upstream stroke to allow the ends of the wires X to be engaged by the twisters 31, Fig. 7. To prevent the wires X from bowing while being twisted a transverse strip 160, Fig. 17, is carried by levers 161 upstream of, and pivoted at 162 on, the twister carriage B. A spring 164 urges the levers 161 against a stop 166 on the carriage B to hold the strip 169 near the wires. As the carriage B approaches the severing means F a fixed cam 170 lifts the strip 160 above the means F. In an alternative arrangement, Fig. 19 (not shown), the strip 160 is supported on the carriage B by vertically slidable rods. In a further arrangement, Fig. 21 (not shown), the levers 161 are rocked up by electromagnetic means.