Patent GB-635929-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for applying insulating discs to a conductor
IPC: H01B13/18
Filed: 1947-08-07
Abstract: 635,929. Cable-making machine. WESTERN ELECTRIC CO., Inc. Aug. 7, 1947, Nos. 21776 and 21777. Convention dates, March 12, 1946, and July 11, 1946. [Class 36] Apparatus for applying insulating discs to a conductor consists of oscillatory means to receive discs and advance them to the conductor, and means for cutting a radial slit in the discs as they are advanced so that they may be placed on the conductor. A conductor 21 (Figs. 2, 3 and 4) is continuously advanced above the apparatus, and insulating discs 20 are fed to the apparatus along two shoots 95. The apparatus consists of a slide 33 mounted on guide-bars 32 between supports 31. Posts 37 at each corner of the slide 33 are secured to bosses 40 provided on the underside of a platen 41, the lower ends of the posts 37 having springs 42 held by collars 43, thus permitting vertical movement of the platen 41. Disc carriers 45 and 70 are positioned on top of the platen 41 and rigidly secured to rotatable shafts 46, 71, which pass through the platen 41 and a support-plate 50, which plate is secured to and spaced from the platen 41 by bolts 51 and spacers 52. Pinions 53, 72 are keyed to shafts 46, 71 and engage a gear 54 which is keyed to a shaft 55. The lower end 61 of shaft 55 projects below plate 50 and has a slot 62 to receive one end of a torsion spring 63, the other end of which is rigidly fixed to the underside of plate 50. The spring 63 applies sufficient torque to shaft 55 in an anticlockwise direction (Fig. 3) to maintain a gearactuating arm 66 against a stop-pin 67 projecting below the platen 41, and to maintain disc carriers 45, 70 in the positions shown. Members 73, 76 co-operate with the disc carriers and are similarly mounted and controlled. Knives 83, 84 are positioned adjacent the disc carriers 45, 70, and are formed with wedge-shaped blades. A rectangular plate 100 is mounted below plate 50 and is spaced therefrom by springs 101 around posts 102, the upper end of each post 102 being vertically slidable in plate 50. The plate 100 receives a cam follower 113, the lower end of which carries a roller 118 which is resiliently held against a cam 125 mounted on a shaft 126, which shaft also carries a cam 130, the follower 135 being rigidly secured to the slide 33. In operation the cams are rotated in an anti-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 4. The cam 130 then drives the slide 33 to the right (Figs. 2 and 3) causing the end of the gear-actuating arm 66 to engage a spring-biassed latch 160, mounted on fixed support 162, thus moving the arm 66 in a clockwise direction against the action of spring 63. This turns the gear 54, which simultaneously rotates the pinions 53, 72, 75, 78, and thus also the disc carriers 45, 70 and backing up members 73, 76. Each of the disc carriers has a shoulder 80 which engages and carries with it one of the discs 20 from the shoots 95. The discs 20 are then forced on to knives 83, 84, which cut radial slits in the discs, and then over the blades which open the slits so that the discs can be applied to the conductor with a wiping motion. When the discs are on the conductor they abut shoulders 80 of the adjacent backing up members 73, 76. Further movement of the slide 33 to the right causes the arm 66 to disengage the latch 160, the arm 66 then returning to its original position against the pin 67 by action of the torsion spring 63. This rotates the gear 54 in an anticlockwise direction, thereby returning the disc carriers 45, 70 and backing up members 73, 76 to their original positions, leaving the discs placed on the conductor. During the left-to-right movement of the slide 33 the cam 125 rotates, the roller 118 following an arcuate portion 182, thus holding the platen 41 against upper stops 187. When the slide 33 reaches its extreme right position the roller 118 is at the beginning of an arcuate portion 181 of the cam, and the platen 41 is lowered so that the tops of the disc carriers are below the discs assembled on the conductor. The slide 33 is then driven back to the left by means of cam 130, during which time cam 125 is raising the platen 41 to its uppermost position in preparation for the next stroke. The first complete stroke applies discs L1, R1 (Fig. 16), the discs L2, R2 being applied by the second stroke and so on, so that adjacent discs have their slits on opposite sides of the conductor. A space is thus left between the first two and last two discs, which may be filled by a manually-operated disc-applying tool. This device comprises a plier-like tool which is placed over the blank space on the conductor 390 (Fig. 19). Movement of the arms operates a rack 321 and pinion 322 to which an oscillatory disc carrier 325 is pinned. A disc is fed to the carrier from a magazine 336 and carried along a knife 355 and applied to the conductor 390 in a manner similar to that described above. The cable is completed by forming an outer conductor about the insulated core.