Patent GB-877852-A (GB)
Title: Machine and method for forming wire units
IPC: B21F1/00
Filed: 1959-04-08
Abstract: 877,852. Making wire articles. ECLIPSE SLEEP PRODUCTS Inc. April 8, 1959 [April 18, 1958; March 25, 1959], No. 11875/59. Class 83 (4). Spring stabilizers for mattresses are made by bending wire. Wire 1 from a spool is fed through a rotor 3, carrying straightening means 4, to feed mechanism 5, comprising three drive rollers 6, 7 and 8 and a roller 9 driven by the wire, the roller 9 in turn actuating timing mechanism 10. From the feed means 5 the wire is passed through a guide 48 to forming mechanism 11, which bends it to shape, then to cutting mechanism 12 and from there, by transfer means 13, to twisting means 14, which twist overlapping ends of the wire unit together, and then to stacker mechanism 15. Straightening.-The rotor 3, which is driven by a motor 28, carries on cross-bars 22, Fig. 17, grooved pulleys 24 rotatable on shaft 23 inclined to one another at an angle of 30 degrees the grooves in the pulleys being about three times as wide as the wire 1 they engage. Wire feed.-The feed rolls 6, 7, 8 are driven from a main shaft 54 rotated by a motor 66 and the roll 9 is driven bv contact with the wire 1 to rotate a shaft 75 driving a cam shaft 80, cams on which control subsequent operations on the wire. Bending and looping or coiling.-A forming tool 91 is lowered by hydraulic cylinder means 115, under control of a multi-lobed cam 81 on the shaft 80, to form a bend 90 in the wire 1, Fig. 9, by the engagement of an inclined face 110 on the tool 91 with the wire. The tool 91 is then raised to allow the wire to feed forward to form a straight portion of the wire unit. The tool 91 is then lowered again, its descent being halted by an arm 146, moved into its path by a cam 86 on the shaft 80, so that an inclined face 111 on the tool 91 will engage the wire. As the wire is fed it will loop or coil 474 degrees against the tool to form a loop 151. The other bends 90 and a loop 152 are then formed. Shearing.-A carriage 94 supports cutting means 12 and is moved in the direction of the wire feed by a rack 93 driven from the shaft 54 through a clutch 57 actuated by a cam 87 on the shaft 80. Bars 154 on links 155, 156 (not shown) are moved, when the link 156 is rocked by the cam 87, to displace laterally a shaft 88 of the cutter means 12, to bring a cutting jaw 89 thereon into cutting position, Fig. 31. The jaw 89 is then moved up to cut the wire, in cooperation with a cutting edge 165 fixed relative to the carriage 94, by a piston 167 actuated by cam 83 on the shaft 80. Transfer means; twisting wires together.-The bent wire unit is gripped between jaws on arms 199, 200 spring-urged together and pivoted to and extending upwardly from a slide 193 moved along to a wire-twisting station by a pivoted rod 184 moved by a head 185 on the carriage 94. The free straight end sections 92 of the wire unit are placed, one above the other, between two pairs of jaws 101, 102 and in a slot 217 in a twisting pinion 218, a block 99, Fig. 2, on the carriage 94, engaging a latch 98 to allow springs to close the jaws 101, 102 on to the wire unit. A rack 220, moved by a pressure cylinder means 223 controlled by a cam 82 on the shaft 80, rotates the pinion 218 to twist the wire portions 92 together, a cam member 232 on the rack 220 opening the jaws 101, 102 on completion of twisting to release the wire units which drop into a receiver 245. Side wings 103, 104 are then swung out from the receiver 245 by a solenoid 259, under control of the cam 85 and pushers 105, 106, moved by a solenoid 268 under control of a cam 84 on the shaft 80, push the wire unit from the receiver 245. Shearing; twisting wires together.-In a modification, Figs. 57, 59 and 62, a forming die 300 has a single extent of vertical movement. The wire guided in recesses 347, 348 is cut by the co-operation with a blade 323, fixed in a carriage 326 moved with the wire, of a blade 327 guided in the carriage 326 and movable therein by a pivoted lever 330 rocked by pistons 334. Gripper arms 351, 352 journalled on the lower part of a slide 356 transfer the wire unit from the forming and cutting means to twisting pinion 382, rotated by a rack 373 whose upper and lower limits of movement are determined by stops 370, 371 and 379, 380. Valves controlling various parts of the machine are operated electrically under control of cams opening and closing contacts.