Patent GB-960326-A (GB)
Title: Method and apparatus for manufacturing reinforced fabric panels
Inventor: DOERER RICHARD PAUL
IPC: D05B1/02
Filed: 1962-07-02
Abstract: 960,326. Coiling. VAN DRESSER SPECIALITY CORPORATION. July 2, 1962, No. 25347/62. Heading B3E. [Also in Divisions B5, B6, B8 and D1] A fabric panel 12, Fig. 21, is corrugated between upper fixed bars 262 and lower movable bars 284, hollow needles 344 are passed through aligned notches 300, 302 in the bars, spirallycoiled reinforcing wires 20 are passed through the needles which are then retracted to leave the wires in the panel, and the ends of the wires are curled into circular form. Wire feeding and coiling, Figs. 4, 7, 8, 11.- Wires 20 are drawn from respective reels by the pressure thereon of a freely falling horizontal bar 141 carried by a rack 137 raised by a motor 135 and then released. Each wire 20 is fed positively by two pairs of friction wheels 142, 146. The wheels 142 are journalled in a bracket 118 pivoted at 122 to a bar 108 pivoted at 106. A spring 110 acts on bar 108 to bias the wheels 142, 146 together and to mesh gears 140, rigid with wheels 142, with gears 144 rigid with wheels 146. Co-operating peripheral grooves in the wheels 142, 146 form a channel having a diameter less than that of a wire 20. Each pair of gears 144 is driven by a gear 170 driven by a chain 166 and a gear train 156, 158, 160, 162, 164 by a rack 154 actuated by a fluid pressure jack 150. A fixed block 176 situated at the outlet end of the wheels 142, 146 carries a rod 186 formed with a straight groove 188 within block 176, and a spiral groove 190 surrounded by a freely rotatable sleeve 192. The wire passes through block 176 into said grooves to be coiled in groove 190, and then passes into a spiral groove 194 in a fixed rod 196 of greater diameter than rod 186, the pitch 214 of groove 194 also being greater than the pitch 215 of groove 190. Rod 196 is carried by a block 198, the position of which axial to rod 196 may be adjusted by conical-ended screws 202 co-operating with conical recesses 200 in block 198. The latter carries a cut-off block 206 co-operating with a wire-severing blade. Curling ends of wires, Figs. 7, 12, 15.-The ends of the wires 20 are curled into circular form by respective means 367 and 369. The left-hand means 367 comprises a fixed baseplate 371 provided on its upper surface with spaced blocks defining passages 366 for the wires. Plate 371 is also provided in alignment with each passage 366 with a bush 434 projecting at its upper end into a circular recess 436. A bracket 370, mounted on a bar 288 carrying the lower pleating bars 284, supports a fluid pressure jack 368, the piston-rod of which carries plungers 372. When the latter are raised, a pin 374 on each plunger 372 passes through a bush 434 to serve as a mandrel around which a wire 20 is bent, and another pin 375 on plunger 372 also passes through plate 371 to provide a stop for wire 20 during the bending operation. A block 384, which is adapted to be raised and lowered by a fluid pressure jack 408, carries a shear blade 210 and rotary heads 378, each of which is formed with a central bore 440 and which carries a depending pin 376. When block 384 is lowered at the end of a wire-inserting operation, blade 210 cooperates with block 206 to sever the wires 20, while each pin 374 enters a bore 440 and each pin 376 enters a recess 436. Rotation of the heads then causes the pins 376 to bend the wire ends around the pins 374 and to force the free ends of the wires into the recesses 436. Each wire is gripped, during the bending operation, by a finger 420 pivoted at 426 to block 384 and biased downwardly by a spring 428. A pinion 406 rigid with each head 378 meshes with a rack 402 rigid with a rack 394 which is coupled by gears 388, 392 and a shaft 390 to a rack 386 actuated by a fluid pressure jack. The right-hand means 369 is generally similar to the left-hand means 367, similar elements bearing the same reference numbers. The piston-rod 446 of a jack 442, mounted on a fixed structure 444 is rigid with a crosshead 448 carrying a depending rod 450 pivoted at 456 to one end of a lever 454 fulcrumed at 460 to structure 444. The other end of lever 454 is pivotally connected at 462 to plungers 372 carrying mandrel and stop members adapted to co-operate with respective rotary heads 378 carried by a block 464 slidably mounted on the structure 444. Block 464 is connected by a rod 466 to crosshead 448, lowering of which thereby serves to advance the plungers 372 and heads 378 into co-operative engagement, when the heads are rotated by actuation of a rack 386 by a fluid pressure jack. Safety feature, Fig. 22.-Fixed to the block 464 of the right-hand wire end curling means 369 is a housing 475 in which are slidably mounted blades 476 equal in number to the number of wires 20, and the upper ends of which abut downwardly spring-biased switch contacts 482. When block 464 is lowered, the notched lower ends 478 of the blades 476 engage the wires 20, whereby the blades are raised to shift the contacts 482 into engagement with switch contacts 484 fixed to housing 475, to complete electrical circuits allowing the wire end curling operation to start. In the absence of a wire 20, the corresponding blade 476 is not raised, and the operation is thereby prevented from starting.