Patent GB-247259-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in apparatus for making woven wire fencing
IPC: B21F27/12
Filed: 1924-11-06
Abstract: 247,259. Purser, M. Nov. 6, 1924. Making metal fabrics.-Wire fencing of the type described in Figs. 3 and 4 of Specification 24411/10, [Class 45, Fencing &c.], in which runners 14, Figs. 4 and 13, are passed through and locked in opposed pairs of loops 1 in the droppers, is made by coiling the loops in the droppers and setting them at an angle, Fig. 2, by a hand and pedal-operated apparatus, then threading the runners through the loops, and setting by dies. The loops are formed by coiling the wire round a peg 9 in a plate 5 by a roller on a cranked handle which has a bearing aperture to fit on the peg. The dropper is placed with one end against an adjustable stop 13 so that the distance between the stop and the peg is half the length of the dropper. It is clamped during the formation of the front pair of loops by a pedal-operated clamp 11. Subsequent spacing is regulated by placing the formed loops over selcted numbers of pegs 6. The first coil of the first pair is placed on top of the plate 5 during the formation of the second coil, as shown in Fig. 5<a>, and the first coil of the second pair is similarly placed underneath the plate, each pair of coils being in turn set to the position shown in Fig. 2 by spring-clamps 15 operated by a cam 17 and pedal 16. In a hand-controlled machine for setting the runners on the droppers the runners 14 are carried by a number of adjustably braked reels 22 and passed through the loops in the droppers which are mounted in close parallel formation on rack sections 28 placed on a loose frame 27 and abutting against stop pins 35. The ranners pass through a pair of fixed cross-heads 19 and 20 for carrying the setting dies 32, 33, then over a pair of drums 23, 24 adjacent the operator's platform 26, and are connected by a trolly to a windlass intermittently rotated through a hand-operated clutch. When the pins 35 are removed the leading rack section is moved forward by hand and drops into a gap 29, where it is removed, reloaded with droppers for the next roll of fencing, and placed on a lateral frame slidable on a lateral exterior of the platform 21. The droppers 2 are then moved by hand in turn at the requisite spacing under the dies, which are operated by a hand lever 31 and secure the several runners in succession to each dropper. In a semi-automatic machine, Figs. 9 and 13, the runners 14 are fed continuously by the windlass and pass through the droppers and then through cross-heads 19, 20 which carry a series of pairs of dies 32<a>, 33<a>. The head 19 is reciprocated by a pair of cams 44 on an independently driven shaft 42, when a pair of gags 46 carried by spring-retracted rods 45 are pushed forward longitudinally by a central grooved cam 47 on the shaft 42. The rods are pushed into contact with the cam by a bar on a lever 49 connected by a lever 59 operated by the last-clinched dropper. The droppers are mounted so that their loops engage grooves 53 in metal strips 36 which are normally held in vertical position against blocks 52 by pivoted spring latches 54 carried thereby engaging teeth 57 on a fixed rack bar 58. Each latch is released in turn by a block 37 carried by a chain 38 traversed by the last-clinched dropper through a spider wheel 39. On release of the latch 4 it is pushed down by the spring thereon, and the strip 36 is tilted over on to the block 52 by the next succeeding dropper, is carried forward by the runners, and when in position between the dies, is retained centrally therebetween until the desired spacing is obtained, by a pair of pivoted clamps 40 operated by a hand lever 41. According to the Provisional Specification, the clutch for the hand-operated machine is closed by a spring and opened through levers and a flexible wire by a latched hand lever, the windlass has two pawls to prevent slackening of the runners when the clutch is disconnected. Further in working long lengths of fabric the trolly carries power gear for winding and reeling purposes. The motor on the trolly is cut out by a switch when the desired length of fabric is made. The reeling gear is put in for the return journey of the trolly. The reel is collapsable and has a detachable flange so as to facilitate removal of the complete, roll of fencing.