Patent GB-180005-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in machines for the manufacture or production of wire fabric
IPC: B21F27/06
Filed: 1921-02-11
Abstract: 180,005. Taylor, J. W. Feb. 11, 1921. Making metal fabrics; straightening ; twisting wires together; corrugating ; shearing-adjuncts ; winding and reeling.-A machine for making wire fabric for fencing or reinforced concrete of the type described in Specification 172,476, [Class 45, Fencing &c.], which consists of a series of parallel longitudinal wires or rods connected by a series of pairs of transverse wires placed above and below the longitudinal wires and twisted together across these wires, comprises a series of intermittently rotated slotted twisting pinions arranged between the longitudinal wires into which the cut transverse wires are laterally fed by levers or the like while the pinions are stationary. The longitudinal wires 3, Fig. 6, are intermittently fed by grooved dogs 13 which are pivoted on an axle 12 to an angle bar 11 connected by a series of strips 10 to a channel-bar 8, having a grooved plate in engagement with the dogs. The channel-bar is connected to sleeves 7 at each end sliding on fixed guide-rods 6, and has secured thereto a pair of angle-iron bars 85, 86, Figs. 6 and 8, which are connected at their other ends to a channelbar 84 carrying sleeves 87 sliding on a second pair of fixed guide-rods 88. The whole reciprocating- gripper feed-frame is reciprocated by a crank 114 and connecting-rod 115 from a shaft 38 rotated by gearing from the shaft 40. The dogs may be simultaneously raised by a handle 14 when desired, or each may have a separate handle. The wires enter the machine through horizontal and vertical sets of adjustable straightening-rolls. During the rearward stroke of the frame, two continuous lengths of transverse wire are fed through grooves 102<1> in bars 102 fixed to the framing into grooves 60, 63 in a pair of bars 59, 62, Fig. 9, which slide on fixed channel members 56, 57, and which at this time are both in the position shown in Fig. 6. The slide bars are normally held by springs 72 against stops 73. The transverse wires are drawn through straightening- rolls and fed by two pairs of rolls 46, 45 pressed together by springs 142 and preferably leather covered. They may be provided with adjustable crimping-pins, but when the longitudinal wires 3 are of small diameter these mav be omitted. The rolls are mounted on shafts 43, 44 geared together in a side frame 41, the shaft 44 carrying a bevelwheel, which gears with a bevel-wheel on a shaft 51, Fig. 8, which is connected by gears 52, 53 to a shaft 54 driven, by a wheel 25 loosely mounted on a shaft 26. This wheel 25 is driven by a pawl lever 31 from a connecting-rod 33 and crank 34 on a shaft 35, which is driven from the main shaft 40 through gearing 39, 37, 36. During the rearward movement of the frame the transverse wires, which have during the previous forward stroke been severed and transferred from the grooves 60, 63 to the slots 29, Fig. 9, in a series of pinions 28 are now twisted together across the wires 3. A pinion may be provided between each pair of wires 3 and each is mounted without shaft or bearing between the flanges of a pair of flanged gear-wheels 27 carried by shafts 17, 18, 19, 20. Alternate pinions are respectively in engagement with wheels on the shafts 17, 19, and wheels on the shafts 18, 20. The shaft 17 is geared to the shaft 18, and the shaft 19 to the shaft 20, and the shaft 18 is also geared to the shaft 19, which is driven by the wheel 25. The shafts 17, 19 are thus driven in the opposite direction to the shafts 18, 20 so that alternate pinions and thus the wires are rotated in opposite directions at each side of each wire 3. The pinions 28 and wheels 27 may all be rotated at the same speed, or the end sets of pinions may be rotated at a higher speed. The pinions may be flanged instead of the wheels. The transverse wires may be twisted in one direction only, in which case the gear-wheels 27 may all be mounted either on the shafts 17, 19 or on the shafts 18, 20. The feed-frame carries between the bars 85, 86 a shaft 117, Fig. 6, which carries a series of hooked levers 118 and a lever 119 having an extension 120 which normally rests on the bar 86. At the end of the twisting operation the shaft 20 comes to rest in the position shown in Fig. 6. A cam 122 carried thereby engages the lever 119 so as to rock the shaft 117 and bring the hooked ends of the levers 118 behind the twisted transverse wires. The forward movement then starts and the fabric is fed by the hooked levers in addition to the feed of the wires 3 by the dogs 13. A pin 93 on the bar 86 then engages a one-way trip lever 94 carried by a boss 95 on a shaft 96 and so operates a pivoted shear blade 100, which engages with a fixed blade 101 to cut off the length of transverse wire situated in the groove 60. The shaft 96'is connected by arms 96b and a link 96<a> to a similar arrangement for severing the lower transverse wire. A pin 90, Fig. 9, on the outer side of the bar 85 then engages a one-way trip lever 83 carried by a boss loose on a shaft 67 and so through a link 79 connected to an arm 80 on this boss, arms 78, 76 on bosses on the shaft 75 and link 77 pushes forward the slide bar 62 to transfer the lower wire to the hooked guide member 92b. A series of arms 105, each provided at one end with a. pair of bifurcated plates 106, 107 are now raised by a cam 113, Fig. 8, on the shaft 35 through a lever 110, rod 109, and lever 108 to transfer the transverse wire from the guides 92<b> to the slots in the pinions 28. A pin 91 on the inside of the bar 85 then engages a one-way trip lever 71 carried by a boss keyed to the shaft 67 and through an arm 65 and link 64 pushes forward the upper transverse wire, which falls down the inclined guides 92<a> on to the wires 3 and is then transferred by a second movement of the arms 105 into the slots in the pinions. If desired, the pins 90, 91 and cam 113 may be so arranged or constructed that both transverse wires are fed at the same time to the twisting pinions. The fabric is wound on a drum 123, Fig. 1, by a ratchet 125 and pawl lever 126 connected by a rod 128 to a slide block 129 in a bell-crank lever 130, which is oscillated by a connecting-rod 132 and crank 133 from the shaft 38. In order to vary the angular movement of the drum as the roll of fabric increases in diameter, the stroke of the lever 126 is automatically reduced. For this purpose the block 129 is connected by a link to a lever 139 which is linked to a bracket 136 carrying a nut 135 engaging a stationary screw 134. The nut is geared to a wheel 137, on the shaft of which is a friction wheel 138 in engagement with the roll of fabric. As the diameter increases, the wheel 138 is rotated, and through the nut and lever 139 the block 129 is brought nearer the fulcrum of the lever 130. In making a narrow-width fabric, the wheel 52, Fig. 8, on the shaft 51 is replaced by one of smaller diameter, and in order to vary the pitch of the transverse wires the throw of the cranks 133 and 114 is varied. The pitch of the longitudinal wires is varied by leaving out alternate wires 3.