Patent GB-190514797-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in, and relating to, Machines for Making Wire Fabrics
Filed: 1905-07-18
Granted: 1906-08-18
Abstract: 14,797. Lake, H. H., [Clinton Wire Cloth Co.]. July 18. Making wire fabrics, fencing, lathing, and rugs and mats; working by electricity; bending; shearing; welding.-Relates to machines for making wire fabrics for fencing, lathing, mats, barbed wire, &c., in which transverse stay-wires are electrically welded to continuous longitudinal strand wires, and the ends of the stay-wires are bent and clipped round the selvedge or end strand wires. The strand wires 2 are drawn between straightening- rollers 33, stationary welding - jaws 222, and movable jaws 218<a>, over toothed wheels 30, and between stationary crimping-jaws carried by a bar 375 and movable jaws carried by a sliding bar 376, and the fabric is wound upon a split drum 16. The transverse stay-wire 3 is fed intermittently to the cupped holders 83 by a pair of gripping-wheels driven by a ratchet-wheel and a spring pawl, which is carried by a continuously rotating arm and acted on by a disengaging roller or tappet. One of the gripping feed-wheels can be thrown into or out of action by a lever and a handle with flat faces on the hub adapted to bear against a retaining-spring. A length is cut off the stay-wire by the movement of the wire, by means of a cam and levers, against a fixed knife adjustable by a set-screw. This length of stay-wire may be subdivided into two or more parts, according to the number of widths or sheets of fabric the machine is required to produce, by additional knives which can be thrown into or out of action by a detachable link. The lengths of stay-wires are transferred from the holders 83 to the welding-jaws by carriers 172, which receive a compound motion, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 14, by means of link-work 142, 160, 161, operated by eccentrics 146<a> and a double cam on the main shaft 8 acting on rollers carried by a slotted link, which slides on a square block loosely mounted on the shaft and is pivoted to an arm of the bell-crank lever 160. The holders are provided with pivoted wire-retaining segments 84 closed by springs 86, and the carriers are fitted with jaws 178 and spring wire-retaining arms 174. The welding- jaws 218<a> are moved simultaneously, to clamp the stay-wires against the strand wires, by a sliding cross-bar 200 operated by levers 205 and cams 208, and a welding current is automatically passed through the jaws in succession, or through groups of jaws in succession. A spring 214 forces the movable jaw inwards as soon as the metal softens at the crossing of the wires, and the circuit is broken automatically by an adjustable screw 220 acting on a bell-crank latch 240, thus releasing a pivoted spring arm 235 carrying an electric contactblock. Each pair of welding-jaws is in the secondary circuit of a transformer consisting of a primary coil 224a within a double secondary coil 224 of thick copper. The movable jaw is attached to V-shaped copper plates 225 in the circuit. The primary circuits are closed in succession by a series of cams on the shaft 8, Fig. 5, acting on a series of vertical sliding spring rods 262, Fig. 6, carrying spring contact-pieces 267 and rollers 263. The contact-arms 235 are all re-set simultaneously so as to engage with the latches by a cross-bar 230 attached to the operating-rod of the bar 200. Fig. 23 shows an arrangement of levers and linkwork, supported by a bar, for bending the ends of the stay-wires round the strand wires. Levers 340, provided with operating fingers or pins 341, are connected by links 348, 355 to the frame and are operated so as to give the requisite compound inward and turning movement to the fingers by levers 344, 360, links 346, 362, and a sliding bar 330, operated from the shaft 8 by a crank and bell-crank lever. Pivoted spring guides 305 for the wires 2 are forced aside by the loops of the stay-wires when the fabric is moved onwards. The wheels 30, Fig. 5, are grooved to receive the strand wires and formed with teeth to engage the stay-wires, and are fixed on a shaft 14, which is rotated intermittently by a pawl - and - ratchet arrangement and a crank-pin adjustable in a slotted arm of a wheel on the shaft 8. The winding-roll 16 is rotated by an endless band 21<a>, loose pulley 15, and a pawl-and-ratchet arrangement 15<a>, so that the pulley can be rotated independently by hand for the purpose of taking up any slack in the welded fabric. A tension pulley 19, held against the band 21<a> by a lever 20, is provided with a cord and ratchet or other adjustable means. The sliding bar 376, carrying the movable crimping-jaws, is reciprocated by a roller moving in an inclined slot in a vertical slide bar adjusted by an eccentric. Rollers 34, 35<a>, 36 for guiding the wire fabric extend the width of the machine, and the various parts are adjustable for producing fabrics of different kinds. If it is desired to form barbs, the stay-wires are cut at an angle.