Patent GB-190514807-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in, and relating to, Machines for Making Wire Fabrics.
Filed: 1905-07-18
Granted: 1906-08-18
Abstract: 14,807. Lake, H. H., [Clinton Wire Cloth Co.]. July 18. Working by electricity; bending; welding; making wire fabrics, fencing, lathing, and rugs and mats.- Relates to electric welding - machines for making wire fabrics for fencing, lathing, mats, &c., and consists mainly in adjustably mounting the parts to allow of the production of fabrics of varying widths of mesh, and of means for welding the wires together, for severing the fabric into two or more parts, and for bending the ends of the transverse wires and the cut ends round the longitudinal wires. The longitudinal wires are drawn over rolls 4, through adjustably mounted straightening - rollers 7 carried in brackets connected by set-screws. The transverse wires 3 are drawn between straightening - rollers by a grooved feed-roll engaging with a second roll, the former being actuated by adjustable cranks, connecting-rods, racks, loose pinions, and pawls engaging with ratchetwheels attached to the feed-roll. An alternative arrangement, shown in Fig. 18, consists of a grooved feeding-wheel 182<a>, engaging a second wheel 190, driven by spur gearing from a shaft 52, and carried by an arm 185<a> pivoted at 184<a> to a bracket. The wheel 190 is forced downwards by a spring 188 acting on cam-surfaces 187 carried by a lever 186. Attached to a shaft 52 is a cam 171a having an adjustable cam plate 173a, which actuates a bell-crank 195 pivoted on the shaft 176a, thus raising the wheel 190 and stopping the feed. The cross-wires are severed by a cutter, operated by a slotted lever, a connecting-rod, bell-crank levers, and cams on the shaft 31. The wires are supported by a series of holders 182, carried on a flange of a beam 171, Fig. 5. Each holder is provided with a lug 186, Fig. 12, having a cup-shaped depression 187 which guides the wire into the aperture 188, the upper part being formed by a segmental block 189 carried by a spring-actuated lever 190. The wires are transferred to the welding-jaws by. a series of arms 217, Fig. 6, fixed to a shaft 203 carried in bearings in two bell-cranks 200, Fig. 5, which are actuated, through the forked lever 204 and link 209, by cams 63 on the shaft 58, driven from the shaft 31 by bevel-gearing and a spring clutch. The levers 200 together with the arm 213, actuated by cams through a bell-crank 214 and link 216, give the holder the motion indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 6 and 12. As each holder follows the path indicated, the wire is first engaged by the spring-controlled finger 222 and then by the notched extension 220 being drawn out of the aperture 188 and finally held between the welding- jaws. The stationary jaws, consisting of a copper bar 260 and a steel contact-plate 262 clamped thereto, are supported by metal bars 234, 238 carried by bolts in dovetail grooves formed in beams 230, 232, Figs. 5 and 14. The bars are bolted together and insulated from one another and arranged to allow the transformers to be attached alternately above and below the bars as indicated in Fig. 5. The contact-plate 304 is connected to the lower of the two bars through the block 266, flexible connectors 268, 303, and block 300. The latter is carried by the squared end of a bar 292 moving in a cylinder 280, a series of which is carried in a groove 271 formed in a girder 270, Fig. 5, reciprocated by levers 285 and cams 42, 43. The contact-breaker 310 for each pair of welding-jaws is closed by a beam 320, actuated by levers 285, and remains closed during the advance of the'beam 270, until the metal softens and allows the spring 294 to force in the welding-jaw far enough for a screw 299 to strike the extension 317 of a bell-crank 315, thus releasing a catch 316 on the contactbreaker. The adjustably mounted coiling and cutting apparatus, which may be used for cutting and bending stay-wires round adjacent strand wires, are carried by bolts sliding in a groove in a rail 126 supported by screws 124 from a beam 122. Each device consists of a slide 335 reciprocated by the lever 131 in guides 336, Figs. 27 and 28, which carry on their under surfaces two pivoted coiling-fingers 338, 339, formed with extensions 340 and ears 342 adapted to engage projections 343 on the slide. The wires 3 are severed by a knife 345, attached to the carriage, and a knife 347 reciprocated by a spring- controlled lever 348 actuated by a lug 350 on lever 131. The advance of the coiling-fingers bends the ends of the wires, and the coiling is completed between heads 356 on the slide- and heads 357 on the guides. The shaft 130 is supported in bearings on the beam 126 and is actuated by cams on shaft through a lever, connecting-rod, and a crank. The completed fabric is drawn over grooved wheels 150, provided with teeth 151 to engage the cross-wires, by a roll 153a which is driven by the belt 156 from a pulley on the shaft 112 rotated by a ratchet and pawl. The shaft 112 is actuated by a connecting- rod, an adjustable crank on the shaft, and a loose two-armed crank bearing pawls.