Improvements in Machinery for the Manufacture of Wire Netting.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 25th July, 1893-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for the Manufacture of Wire Netting.
I, JOSEPH ARNO TATRO, of the Borough of Beaver Falls in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania and the United States of America do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The invention relates to the mechanical weaving of wire strands into meshed
netting or meshed bands, and its objects are to improve the devices for holding and
moving the wire strands during the process of weaving thein; to effect a periodical
and co-operating movement of the mechanical parts employed in the weaving process,
and to mesh the wire strands into the desired pattern by twisting them together,
at prescribed intervals and places along their length, through the turning of
rotating wheels, adapted to engage with and twist the moving strands of wire.
In the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals represent like parts,
Fig. 1 is a top plan of the front end of the machine ;
Fig. 2 is a top plan of the rear end of the machine;
Fig. 3 a side elevation ;
Fig. 4 a front elevation of the machine;
Fig. 5 a vertical cross section partly in elevation, taken on the line a a of the
first figure;
Fig. 6 a cross section partly in elevation, taken on the line cc of the third
figure;
Fig. 7 a vertical cross section of the housing bar and twisting wheels on the
line d d of the fifth figure;
Fig. 8 an inside elevation of one of the housing plates;
Fig. 11 a side elevation of one of the twisting wheels. ;
Fig. 12 a face elevation of one of the twisting wheels;
Fig. 13 a side elevation of a part of the rack operating the twisting wheels; and
Figs. 9 and 10 constitute one view and show a vertical cross section on the
line ee of the sixth figure.
Within the frame is a
The Figure 2 represents the frame of the machine.
main shaft, 3, driven by power brought from without and preferably provided with
a loose, as well as the usual band pulley, in order that the belting may be shifted
when it is desired to temporarily stop the action of the machine without cutting off
the power.
A wheel 4 on the main shaft, gears with the wheel 5 on a shaft 6 and
this shaft carries the cam 7, the function of which will be later explained. Another
wheel 8 on the main shaft, gears with the wheel 9 on a shaft 10, which shaft carries
the cam 11, to be hereafter described. The aforementioned wheel 9 on this
shaft 10 meshes into the wheel 12 on a shaft 13, and this shaft carries the cam 14,
to be further explained hereafter.
A third wheel 15, on the main shaft, gears with the wheel 16 on a shaft, 17, and
This shaft 17
this shaft carries a cam 18, to which further reference will be made.
carries also a mitre, 19, gearing with a mitre 20, on a shaft 21, which shaft carries
another mitre 22, meshing with the mitre 23 on a shaft 24, and this last named
shaft carries also a cam 25, the function of which will be hereinafter set forth.
By the system of gearing and shafting just described, it is obvious that the
rotation of the main shaft 3 will turn the cams 7, 11, 14, 18 and 25, and these cams
constitute the motors of the parts of the machine remaining for explanation. The
shafts are journaled in the frame of the machine and all of them longitudinally
except the transverse shaft 21, and the shafts 3, 6, 10 and 13 are parallel one
with another.
Extending across the frame in its upper part is a moving bar 26, sliding up and
TDQ27

page_text: down within guides 27, fixed to the frame. Projecting from the lower face of this
bar are studs, 28, which pass through the guide apertures, 29, and rest upon the
cams 18 and 25, the coiucident rotation of which reciprocates the bar 26 within its
guides.
Upon the moving bar is a series of toothed half wheels 30, fitted to rotate within
the housings 31, fixed to the bar; annular projections, 32, on the plates, fitting in
grooves, 33, on the half wheels and preventing other than rotary motion of the
wheels. Each housing 31, has a guide 34, projecting below the arbor of the
wheel.
Beneath the moving bar 26 is a fixed bar 35, bearing a series of half wheels, 36,
counterparts of those on the moving bar; each counterpart within its housings 37
having the like annular projections 38, fitting into like grooves 39 on the counter-
parts 36 as in the case of the housings and half wheels on the moving bar.
It is evident that when by the rotation of the cams 18 and 25 the moving bar is
brought down upon the fixed bar, each pair of counterpart half wheels operates as
a complete wheel. These then completed wheels are rotated by a rack 40 supported
by a movable bar 41 working through a recess 42 in the fixed bar above described;
the rack having a dovetailed back and being held in place by a plate 43 which
abuts upon the rack and is fixed to the said movable bar. Bracket guides 44
project from the lower side of the fixed bar and support an horizontal bar 45, which
is connected to the rack by a vertical bar, 46, while a stud 47 on the horizontal bar
works in the groove 48 of the cam 11, and so moves the rack for the rotation of the
united half wheels upon the two co-operating bars.
Across the frame of the machine parallel with the moving bar 26 is a brace 49
having a tongue 50 on its upper surface which fits into a groove 51 in the lower
face of a shifting bar 52 and forms a guide for that bar. Another brace 53 above
the brace 49 has upon its sides guide plates 54 the inwardly projecting tongues of
which fit into grooves 55 of another shifting bar 56 the brace 49 serving as a
support for the two shifting bars. Bracket guides 57 from the lower side of the
brace 49 support a horizontal sliding bar 58 and a stud 59 upon that bar engages
with the groove 60 in the face of the aforementioned cam 7 which thereby imparts
motion to said sliding bar. The brace 49 also has pivoted to it a rocking arm 61
by the stud 62 and this rocking arm is connected to the shifting bar 56 by a stud 63
and likewise to the sliding bar 58 by the stud 64; also, a connecting rod, 65, is
attached to the shifting bar 52 by a stud 66 and further attached to the stud 64
upon the sliding bar, so that any motion of that bar 58 within its guides, derived
from the cam 7 is imparted to both the shifting bars 52 and 56, but in opposite
directions.
Apertures 67 are formed at stated intervals through the two shifting bars, and
it may be desirable to provide hardened steel bushings 68 for these apertures.
Immediately in front of the series of counterparted wheels, and parallel therewith
is a roller 69 journalled in the frame, the face of which is studded with pins 70,
at stated intervals. A ratchet wheel 71 is formed in the roller, with teeth sunk
below the face thereof, and these teeth are engaged by a pawl 72 pivotally attached
to the upper end of a rod 73 having vertical movement through the guides 74
bracketed to the frame. This rod bears a stud 75 working in the groove 76 of
the cam 14, by the rotation of which the roller 69 is rotated by periodical
movements.
In the operation of the machine, the ends of a series of wires A, B, are unwound
from their spools and passed through the openings 67 in the shifting bars 52 and 56, as
the machine stands at rest, with the bar 26 raised. Each wire in the lower shifting bar
forms a pair with its neighbor in the upper bar, and each pair is brought forward over
the center of the under half of its proper twisting wheel; then the ends of the
pair of wires are twisted together and caught upon the proper pin 70 in the
large roller. When the whole series of wires has been paired and placed as
described the machinery is ready to start.
The power being applied to the driving shaft 3, the bar 26 is brought down into

page_text: connection with the fixed bar 35 by means of the cams 18 and 25 thus uniting the
counterpart halves of each twisting wheel; the rack 40 is set in motion by the
cam 11, which carries the stud 47 from the center to the periphery of the cam.
This motion is communicated to the now united twisting half wheels 36 and 30,
each pair of which operates as one, and the twist wheel turns one or more complete
revolutions, according to the adjustment of the mechanism, thereby intertwisting
the pair of wires held in the arbor of the wheel, which arbor is formed by recessing
the center of the straight edge of each half wheel. The continued operation of the
machinery now raises the bar 26, and separates each twisting wheel into its counter-
part sections; the cam 14 turns the roller 69 upon its axis the distance of a half
mesh, while at the same time the shifting bars 52 and 56 are by the cam 7 recipro-
cated in opposite directions and the wires caused to cross one another at the point
where the twisting wheel sections are ready to enclose and twist them. As the
roller 69 revolves by intermittent movements the engaged meshes, in successive
longitudinal rows, become detached from the pins in the face of the roller and the
woven band or net may be reeled upon a spool mounted beyond the framework, or
otherwise removed from the machine.
The apertures 67 are so spaced as to conduct the wires in pairs to alternate
twisting wheels, and when the bar 26 is raised after each revolution of a set of
wheels the shifting bars 52 and 56 cause the wires to cross upon the alternate
twisting wheels not employed in the last preceding revolution, and the new revolu-
tion is affected by the movement of the rack.
The cams, 7, 14, and 11 are each so constructed that the groove in the face
thereof forms a short annular segment well within the edge of the cam and a long
annular segment well toward the edge of the cam; the two remaining segments of
the grooves being radial. The stud engaged with said groove is at rest in the
short annular segment during one-fourth revolution of the cam, and is then traversed
quickly by a radial segment of the groove, after which it is at rest in the long
annular segment for a quarter revolution of the cam, and again traversed quickly
by the remaining radial segment of the groove. By changing the proportions of
the annular segments, preserving, however, their true relation one to another, it is
possible to get quicker or slower movement of the reciprocating devices and longer
or shorter intervals between the reciprocating movements.
Rotation by a pair of wires during the operation of twisting them together is
prevented by their bearing against the edges of the housing guides 34 and the
distance apart of the members of a pair of these guides regulates the length of a
twist.
Any familiar and suitable mechanical device may be substituted for the rack 40
as a motor for rotating the twisting wheels if desired, the substituted device to be
geared to the operating mechanism in usual manner.
Instead of fixing the housings 31 to the moving bar 26 in an unalterable series,
each pair, carrying a half wheel may be separately mounted in or upon the bar, so
that after a twisting revolution of the temporarily complete wheel, each alternate
upper half wheel 30 may be removed for the next twist, thus doubling the size of
the mesh in that row of meshes; or the pattern of the netting may be otherwise
varied by similar manipulation of the upper half wheels if they be detachably
mounted upon the bar.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is the following:
1. The combination in a wire weaving machine of a horizontal bar having vertical
motion; a fixed bar beneath said moving bar; the housings in pairs, fitted to said
bars and provided with annular projections on their inner faces, and the housings
on the moving bar having also the downwardly projecting guides; the toothed half
wheels between the pairs of housings, having annular grooves corresponding to the
annular projections of the housings, and likewise the arbor in the center of the

page_text: straight edge of each half wheel; the rack beneath the fixed bar, engaged with
the toothed half wheels thereof; the cams beneath and in contact with the moving bar;
the cam having a groove in the face thereof and mediately connected to the aforesaid
rack by a bar provided with a stud engaged in said groove, and means to rotate the
aforesaid three cams by gearing connected to a common and continuously rotating
shaft; the several parts of the combination being suitably mounted in and upon,
and supported by a proper machine bed or frame, and the whole constructed and
arranged substantially as herein before described, for the purpose of periodically
and alternately uniting and separating the upper and lower series of half wheels
and imparting to the series, while united, a complete rotation in one or the other
direction, as fully set forth.
2. The combination in a wire weaving machine of the apertured lower shifting
bar, sliding on the upper surface of a brace supported crosswise on the bed of the
machine; the apertured upper shifting bar, dependent from and sliding in supports
projected downwardly from a brace erected, above the aforementioned brace, on
and across the bed of the machine the sliding bar, dependent from and sliding in
supports projected from the under side of the lower brace aforesaid, and provided
with a stud adapted to engage the hereinafter mentioned cam, the rocking arm,
pivoted by three several pivots to the lower brace, the upper shifting bar, and the
sliding bar aforesaid, the connecting rod, pivoted by two several pivots to the lower
shifting bar and the sliding bar; the cam, having a groove in the face thereof
engaged with the aforementioned stud upon the sliding bar, and suitable means to
revolve said cam; the whole constructed and arranged substantially as described,
to reciprocate the two said shifting bars in relatively opposite directions by
continuous rotation of the cam, and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.
3. The combination in a wire weaving machine of the pin-studded roller, mounted
in and across the bed of the machine and having a countersunk ratchet in the
periphery thereof; the rod, movably supported upon the bed of the machine,
having a pawl, pivotally attached to an end of said rod and adapted to engage the
aforesaid ratchet, and further provided with a stud; the cam, having a groove in
the face thereof engaged with the stud upon the aforementioned movable rod, and
means to operate said cam by continuous revolution thereof; the whole constructed
and arranged substantially as described, to rotate the aforesaid pin-studded roller
intermittently and periodically, for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 25th day of July 1893.
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.