Patent GB-503831-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to machines for wire binding boxes and the like
IPC: B65B13/18
Filed: 1937-08-09
Abstract: 503,831. Bundling-machines ; wire-strainers ; twisting wires together. HARVEY, H. Aug. 9, 1937, No. 21929. [Class 45] [Also in Groups XVII and XXII] The machine tensions wire, which has been applied round boxes &c. by means of grippers carried on levers, twists the overlapping ends to form a tie or joint, and severs the wire at the supply end, means being provided for seizing the wire at this end after the severing operation and carrying the cut end to one of the grippers. The machine is shown in Fig. 2 at the beginning of a cycle of operation. The wire 91, 92 has been placed by hand round a box 44 with the end 93 held by a first gripper 46, then passing through the tying or twisting mechanism 40, the parts 92, 91 passing round the box to the twisting mechanism again, and the part 94 passing to the second gripper 52, and thence to the supply. The first operation is the application of tension by moving apart the grippers 46, 52. .The mechanism beneath the machine table is shown in. plan in Fig. 3. The first gripper consists of an anvil 47, Figs. 3 and 8, and an eccentrically mounted jaw 48 having a thumb piece 49 for manual opening against the action of a spring 164. The wire need only be inserted manually in the jaw 46 once, subsequently at the end of each cycle it is automatically inserted. The second gripper 52 is similar in construction, but is, at the beginning of a cycle, maintained in the open position shown in Fig. 3 by the action of a latch plate 53, a cam surface 56 on which bears on a stud 57 on the jaw 58. When inserting the wire into this jaw, the operator lifts the plate about its pivot 55, when the jaw is closed by a spring 59 into the position shown in Fig. 8. The movement of the plate 53 also causes a clutch to be engaged with the main drive for initiating the cycle of operations. For tensioning, the jaws 46, 52 are mounted on arms 77, 78 pivoted to the machine frame and moved apart by toggle arms 79, 80, operated by a yoke 81 sliding on a shaft 82 reciprocated by a bell-crank lever 83. A spring 88, the tension of which can be adjusted by means of a displaceable sleeve 90, is interposed to make the action resilient. The wire encircling the article is drawn tight until the tension corresponds to the yielding force of the spring 88. In order to prevent the arms from jumping apart under the influence of the spring at a subsequent stage in the cycle, after the ends of the wires held by the grippers have been cut, locking means comprising arms with wedgeshaped ends 144, 145 Fig. 8, are moved downwards into the position shown in broken lines, and wedge the arms against frictional resilient surfaces. These hold the arms against further outward motion until the actuating yoke returns them to the initial position shown in Fig. 3. Wire spreaders 108, 109, Fig. 2 and 13, are next brought into action to move between the held ends of the tie wire to hold them during the twisting operation are then retracted to cut the free end and the supply portion, and are finally advanced to eject the tie from the twister pinion. Each spreader has a sharp wedge-shaped portion 123 and a surface with a notch 125 which latches over the supply portion of the wire and cuts it off during withdrawal. In order to assist the action of the spreaders 108, 109, the wires 91, 92, Fig. 3, are temporarily clamped to the underside of the box to cause a sufficient angle to be formed between chem and the parts 93, 94. This is necessary in the case of very large boxes where the wires would otherwise tend towards parallelism and the spreaders would be unable to act. The clamping means comprise fingers 95, 96, one of which is shown in Fig. 4. The fingers are moved forward to beyond the edge of the table 42 to engage the wires. The finger 95 has a slot 97 through which a fixed pin 98 extends; upon the actuating arm 103 being rocked in an anticlockwise direction ; the finger moves to the engaging position shown in broken lines, being rocked about the pin 98 when the end of the slot registers therewith. The twisting mechanism comprises a slotted pinion 51 supported by bearings 128, 129, and external segmental bearings 130, 131, Fig. 16, mounted at the edge of the table so that a quarter segment of the pinion is always exposed. At the beginning of the cycle, the slot is downwardly disposed, and at the end it is horizontal to allow ejection by the bars 108, 109. The pinion is rotated a predetermined number of revolutions to form the tie, and is then released slightly, and then overtwisted and finally returns until the slot is horizontally disposed. The wires are then severed by the bars 108, 109. In order to open the jaws 46 shortly before the completion of the twisting operation, a latch plate 161, Fig. 8, pivoted on crank arms 158, 160, is moved to bring the forward edge into sliding engagement with the lover 97, and is moved clear of a stud 163 on the gripper and then returns to open the jaw against the action of the spring 164. The latch plate 53 is similarly operated to open the jaw 52 to the position shown in Fig. 3. The retraction of the plate 53 is caused to declutch the drive at the completion of the cycle. Just prior to the release of the wire portion 94 from the gripper 52, this portion is gripped and conveyed to the first gripper 46 to set the machine for the next cycle. The device includes a sliding carriage 170, shown in crosssections in Fig. 30, having a shuttle 171 carrying a gripper 190 to which the appropriate movements are imparted. The carriage is reciprocated by means of a rack 185 carried thereby and a mutilated pinion 187, Fig. 27. In the position shown, the carriage 170 is in the right-hand position of rest, the gear 183 having rotated in an anticlockwise direction until the blank portion 188 turns past the left-hand tooth of the rack. The pinion 183 continues to rotate during the twisting operation, without affecting the rack, but on reversal, a single gear tooth 186, below the pinions, engages a shoulder just after the blank part has moved clear, after which the pinion continues to move the rack to the left. During this travel, the grippers 190, 191, Fig. 30, seize the cut end of the wire 94 and present it to the first gripper. The carriage 170 is adapted to be raised and lowered by arms 176. The jaws are opened at each end of the travel by a yoke 200 which descends and depresses a projecting portion 198 of a rod 197 connected to a plunger 194 actuating a link 196 connected to the movable jaw 191. The first gripper is automatically opened when the wire is presented by a rod 205 tripped upwardly by a block 207 on the crosshead 173 which contacts with the latch plate 161 previously described. In order to allow for the angular disposition of the wire 91, observable in plan in Fig. 8, owing to the relative positions of the gripper 46 and the pinion 51, the shuttle carrying the grippers 190, 191 is turned through a suitable angle. The turning movement is obtained by inclining the line of travel of the carriage 170, as shown in Fig. 27, and maintaining a portion of the shuttle hinge block 172, Fig. 30, at a constant distance from the shaft 87. The casing 212 may serve as an oil sump.