Improvements in and relating to Machines for Covering Wire.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Nov., 1890-Accepted, 24th Jan., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by THE NEW ENGLAND BUTT COMPANY, of Providence,
Rhode Island, United States of America.]
Improvements in and relating to Machines for Covering Wire.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performeil, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention comprises improvements in that class of winding machines in which
a central spool of covering material is used and in which the wire to be covered is
passed through the centre of the spool.
The plan of winding with a central spool, has a great advantage in regard to the
speed that can be attained over the gig system in which the spool revolves wholly
outside of the wire, because in the former plan, all the motions of the revolving parts
are concentric and they are perfectly balanced, which are indispensable conditions for
high speed. But the great disadvantage of the central spool plan, has heretofore been
the necessity of cutting the wire whenever a spool of thread ran out, to admit a full
spool to be put in its place. Thus limiting the length of wire covered in one piece, to
the length that the thread on one spool, would cover. This feature is very objectionable,
especially in covered wire for armatures, for dynamos and electric motors, as it
necessitates making a great many splices in the wire.
The said invention morcover comprises improvements in the stop motion, which
becomes necessary in consequence of the great increase of speed; and in the con-
struction of the spools for holding the covering material.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a set of the winding mechanism and a part of the
frame in which it is held, which is supposed to contain several such sets, each set
being independent in its operations.
Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the spool, plate and flyer in section, and the stop
motion in elevation.
Figure 3 is an enlarged top view of the rail c, and the plate under the spool and
the levers of the stop motion.
Figures 4, 5, 6, 7 show the construction of the spools.
Figure 8 shows a vertical section of the machine from front to back, through the
centre of the spools.
Figure 9 is an enlarged view of the top part of the spool flyer and guide.
Figure 10 is a horizontal section of the guide on line Figure 9.
Figure 11 shows a top view of the guide.
Figure 12 is a vertical section of the guide on the line of the wire =.
Figure 13 shows a modification of the way of holding the guide.
Figures 14 to 19 are views in detail of the modification shown in Figure 13.
In the drawings, A denotes the end frame, B the top front rail, C the upper and
middle rail, D the lower middle rail, and E the bottom girt. The winding mechanism
proper, is held on the upper and lower middle rails C, D, the feeding or take up
motion, is held on the front and back top rails and the wire reel on an intermediate
plate F.
The winding mechanism consists of a tubular spindle a, held fast in the lower front
Upon this
middle rail and extending up through the rail C, and spool D.
spindle a is fitted a sleeve b, made free to revolve upon the spindle. (See sec.
Figure 8.) A plate e, is made fast on the upper end of the sleeve b, above the rail C,
and a gear wheel c is secured to the sleeve just below the rail. A driving pulley ƒ, is
fastened to the sleeve below the gear wheel c and a flanged pulley g, is put loosely on

page_text: the sleeve below the pulley f, the sleeve being supported on a bushing held in the
lower rail D. A drip cup is screwed on the lower end of the spindle a to catch the
oil from the bearings above and keep it off of the wire . The spool of thread for
covering the wire sits on the plate e and turns freely on the spindle a. A flyer arm j
(see Figure 2) is placed on one end of the plate e, the lower end of the arm passing
through the plate, and having a nut screwed on the end below, a shoulder on the flyer
arm above, resting on a hub on the plate, supports the arm, which is free to turn in
the plate e that the top of the arm may be swung away from over the spool d, to allow
the spool to be put on the spindle a. The flyer arm is held up to place when winding
by a spiral spring o, which is placed around it, and has one of its ends made fast to
the arm j, and the other to the spindle m, fast in the plate e, a wire f, fast in the arm
brings up against the spindle m, and prevents the arm from going too far. The flyer
arm is made tubular from the lower end nearly up to the thread opening n in its
side and is slotted in its upper side from a little below the opening n, nearly to the
upper ends of the arm, which is tubular for a short distance from that end.
In covering very fine wire it has heretofore been found very difficult to hold the
wire straight against the strain of the thread, for if the wire bows out, the thread is
apt to wind in the hollow. This difficulty is obviated by using a vertical V-shaped
trough, on the end of the flyer directly over the opening in the hollow spindle
through which the wire is drawn, so that the wire whilst being wound, will lay in the
bottom of this V-shaped guide, (see Figure 10) and a notch a³, is cut in one side of
the guide, not quite down to the bottom of the groove, leaving enough of the side of
the groove in the notch, to about equal the diameter of the wire.
This notch a³, allows the threads to come to the wire and turnishes a hearing all
along the back of the wire when it is being wound and in winding many threads at
one time the edge of the groove over which they piss onto the wire will flatten them
out in proper order so that they will not ride on each other and make bad work.
A drop wire p is fitted to slide freely in the hole in the lower part of the flyer
arm, and has a hook at its upper end to catch over the thread after it enters the
slot through the opening a, on its way to the upper end of the arm. When the
hook on the upper end of the drop wire is held up just above the opening n, by
the thread, its lower end will be just flush with the bottom of the nut on the lower
end of the flyer, which is the case when the thread is intact and taut, but if the
thread breaks, or runs out or becomes loose from any cause, the drop wire will be
free to fall so that its lower end will project below the nut and strike the lever that
operates the belt shipper that casts off the belt, as will be explained hereafter.
;
P
It will be seen that the flyer arm j, is set in the plate e, at an angle and not
vertically the reason of this is, that in a vertical arin running at high speed, the
drop wire will not fall when free of the thread, because the centrifugal force
throws it against the outer side of the hole in the arm in which it slides, but when
inclined at the proper angle, which is found by experiment to be at about 5 degrees
from the vertical for a speed of three thousand turns per minute the centrifugal
force assists it in falling as much as it prevents it by pressure against the tube as
before stated, and the wire will drop as freely as in a stationary vertical tube.
In considering the stop motion, a reference to Figure 3 will show a lever,
pivoted on the top of the rail C in position to be struck by the lower end of the
drop wire p. This lever extends out from over a knee levers, swinging on a pivot
fast in a plate t, that extends from the rail C down to the rail D. By reference to
Figure 8 it will be seen that the belt e, that drives the pulley f; is controlled by a
shipper arm, which is pivoted at its inner end to a stand, fast on the plate y, and
its outer end extends out through an opening in the plate t, and has a handle shape at
the end. The lower arm of the knee levers, has a hook at its lower end, that will
be thrown under a projection on the side of the shipper arm w, by a spring b¹, when
the arm is up, and holds the belt on the fast pulley, but when the thread breaks
or runs out, the wire 2, will drop so that its lower end will strike the lever r the
ouier end of which will press on the upper arm of the knee lever s, and throw the
lower arm with its hook, out from the catch on the shipper arm w, and it will fall

page_text: nd move the belt down into the loose pulley g, and let the machine stop. The
rrangement for holding the reserve spools of thread is shown in Figures i and 8.
A tube c', is held in the arm g' fastened to a stand on the top rail B directly over and
n line with the tube or spindle a before mentioned. This tube c' is made long
nough to hold as many spools of thread as may be required to cover the length of
wire in one piece. The spools of thread dare put up on this tube c', a space being
left between the lower end of tube, and the upper end of the tube or spindle a to
admit of a spool being put on or taken off of either tube. The spools d', are held up
on the tube e by means of a wire staple y the legs of which fit into a groove
around the lower end of the tube c¹. An inner tube y is fitted to slide up and
down in the lower end of the tube c', and is split and spread at its upper end so as
to be held where it is put by the friction in the tube c'. The tube q', is for the
purpose of bringing a support to the wire down close where it is wound, and is slid-
up out of the way when a spool is to be put off or on either tube.
The feed or take up motion is shown in Figures 1 and 8. A stand g, secured to
the top rail B has a stud fastened to it, carrying a large grooved wheel, so placed
that the groove in its front side will come directly over the hole in the tube c. The
stud in the wheel is held in a slot in the stand, that it may be set up or down as may
be wanted. A smaller grooved wheel, is held on a stud in the top of the stand g¹,
and is placed a little farther out in front than the front of the wheel h', so that it
shall lift the covered wire from that wheel, at a spot a little lower on the wheel than
that where it receives the wire from the tube c¹, to prevent any loose threads on the
wire coming off the large wheel, from being wound over and bound down by the
wire winding on the wheel, which would cause serious trouble.
The groove d³ in the guide on the flyer j besides supporting the wire against the
drawing of the thread as it is wound on it, also serves an important purpose in pre-
venting the thread when it breaks or runs out, from slacking up or partially unwinding
above the end of the flyer and making loose places or "holidays" as they are called,
which are likely to open and expose the wire.
The wheel that draws the wire off of the reel a³, and through the winding
mechanism, receives motion from the gear wheel c, on the sleeve & through the gear
wheel on the lower end of the shaft m¹ which extends up to the top rail B, and has
a gear wheel n', on its upper end and that engages with a gear wheel o', which is fast
on the lower end of a short vertical shaft p, held in bearing in the rail B, which shaft
has a small bevel gear wheel r, on its upper end above the rail, which engages with
a vertical bevel gear wheel s held on a stud fast in the stand g¹. A gear wheel t¹
attached to the bevel gear engages with the gear wheel ¹, on the wheel and thus
a positive motion is conveyed to that wheel from the gear c which is necessary to
make the covering of the wire perfect. A grooved pulley a' on the bevel gears,
carries motion by means of a belt to a grooved pulley on the reel w', which is held
in stands on the back top rail. The reel a², from which the wire is taken to he
covered, is held in stands on the plate /². A grooved pulley 12, on the head of this
reel, has a belt or cord, passing over it, one end being made fast to the stand and
the other to a lever j², pivoted at its inner end to the stand, and having a weight d²,
From the reel a²,
hung on it to produce the necessary friction to control the reel.
the wire passes down under a grooved pulley e, held on a stand attached to the side
of a box or trough 2, fastened to the inner side of the bottom girt E. The stand that
holds the wheel e², has a slot in it to receive the stud on which the wheel turns, and a
thumb nut g. on the outer end of the stud holds the wheel up, by loosing the nut the
wheel e, can be set down so as to turn in the box and carry the wire through any
substance in the box which it is desired to coat the wire with before it is covered.
From this wheel e², the wire passes up through the tube a, at the upper end of which
it has the thread wound on it, and it continues up through the tube c', and around the
wheel, as many times as may be found necessary to give the wheel sufficient hold on
it to feed it through the winding mechanism. From the wheel h¹, the wire goes over
the wheel, and down into the reel w'.
Before passing the wire up through the tube, as many spools of thread ',
may

page_text: from
be put on that tube as it will hold, and one spool on the tube a, the thread
which passes from the spool d, through the opening n, in the side of the flyer arm,
and the hook of the drop wire p, then up in the groove and through the end of the
flyer arm to the wire.
By raising the shipper w, the driving belt v, from the pulley H, on the driving
shaft J. at the back of the machine will be moved on to the fast pulley f, and the
sleeve b, and all its connections will be set in motion causing the flyer arm j, to wind
the thread around the wire, if the thread breaks the drop wire will fall and cause the
winding to stop as before explained.
When the thread on the spool & runs out, the machine is stopped by the falling of
the wire p, and the flyer arm is turned to one side, the empty spool taken off of the
tube a, and of the wire a, by letting the wire pass out of the slot made in the side of
the spool for that purpose. The staple, is then drawn off and a full spool slid down
on the wire onto the tube a, to take the place of the one removed, the thread of the
full spool is then threaded through the flyer as before described and the machine
started up again.
In this way all of the spools held on the tube C, can be used to cover with, without
cutting the wire, and it is considered that the supply of reserved spools that can bo
held in this way is fully equal to covering any length of wire that can be drawn in
one piece.
The construction of the spools is shown first in Figures 4 and 5, in which a slot a
is made through the heads and body from the outside to the hole in the centre for
the passage of the wire in removing them. As a spool made in this way will be liable
to be closed up by the winding of the thread on it, I make a heavy metallic flanged
bushing to go in the ends of the spool as seen in section in Figure 9. This bushing
consists of a tube f³, and a flange g³, and it is let into the end of the spool flush with
the outer side of the head. This bushing by its stiffness will prevent the spool from
closing as mentioned.
Another form in which the spool may be made to be used on my winder are shown.
In Figures 6 and 7, the spool is made in two parts, each part having a short
dovetail on each end fitting into notches of the same shape in the other side, so
that the parts of the spool can be slid endways to unlock the dovetails, and then taken
off the wire.
A modification of the way of holding the guide is shown in Figures 13 to 19.
The trouble caused by running the winder at high speed, is mainly in the increased
centrifugal action in throwing off the free end of the flyer to which the guide is
attached, from the centre line of the revolving mechanism. The lower end of the
flyer being held in the plate, and its upper part brought over the spool in a curve, the
effect of the centrifugal action in throwing it out, is to raise the free end of the flyer-
with the guide as the speed is increased, and let it down back again when the speed is
decreased, and this raising up of the guide, causes the covering strands to lap over one
another whilst the dropping back again leaves bare places on the wire. When we
consider that doubling the speed, quadruples the centrifugal effect, it will be seen that
bad effects increase very rapidly as the speed increases, and magnify the irregularities
in the speed of the driving shaft.
This modification obviates this objection, and also secures some other advantages by
placing the guide in the end of the tube that holds the spool of covering material,
instead of in the end of the flyer, so that the centre of the wire as it lies in the guide,
F at all times in the exact centre of rotation of the covering mechanism. I also
obtain advantages by this arrangement in regulating the friction or tension and
direction of the covering strands in covering wire of different sizes, as will be
explained.
The modification shown in Figures 13 to 19, is as follows
The guide, is a cylindrical piece of metal, the lower part of which is fitted in a
hole made in the upper end of the tube a, so that it can be easily turned in its place,
and the hole is made deep enough to allow the guide to be set higher or lower with
regard to the end of the tube a. A set screw et, is fitted in one side of the tube to
a,

page_text: screw in against the guide and hold it in any desired position, the slotted head of the
set screw being let in flush with the outside of the tube to allow a spool of the covering
material to pass over it when necessary. A longitudinal shaped groove is made in the
upper portion of the guide the groove extending fully to the centre of the guide or
a little deeper, and a small hole f*, starting from the centre of the lower end of the
guide comes out into the lower end of the groove n', so that the wire, after passing
up through the hole ƒ, will continue in a direct line along the bottom of the groove n^,
where the covering strands are wound on it, and thence up to the reel.
The strands of covering material reach the wire through a notch or recess s¹, in the
side of the groove. This recess & is cut nearly down to the bottom of the groove
leaving a little of that side about the height of the diameter of the wire, as before
described, remaining to support the wire against the draught of the strands in
covering.
The recess s¹, is made slightly spiralling, to agree with the direction of the strands
when wound on the wire, and just about the width of the covering strands when
spread out close together side by side, in which position they pass over the side of the
groove left in the recess, from the end of the flyer on the wire.
The position of the guide 4, in the end of the tube a admits of an exact adjustment
of the tension on the covering strands, as it is only necessary to loosen the set screw e¹,
and turn the guide 6, around as seen in Figures 13, 14 and 17 when the strands will
pass almost directly from the flyer j, to the wire, and meet with but little resistance
from friction on the guide, and to increase the tension by turning the guide to the
position shown in Figures 15, 16 and 18 the friction of the strands is increased on the
guide, by making them pass farther around it, by which it will be readily seen that
the tension on the strand can be increased as desired by turning the guide in one
direction, and reduced by turning it in the other direction.
The angle at which the strands wind on a fine wire, differs from the angle when
winding on a larger wire, and it is advantageous to adjust the direction of the strands
from the flyer to the wire, to suit the size of the wire to be covered. To accomplish
this, the guide & is set higher or lower in the tube a, by loosening the set screw, as in
the case of adjustment of the tension, and, when properly adjusted by tightening the
set screw that position will be maintained. By thus placing the guide in the centre
of the spool tube, and having its centre in line with the centre of revolution of the
covering parts of the machine it will be free from all the perturbations and changes
of position which it would be liable to if attached to the flyer, however much the
speed may be increased and the covering of the wire will be performed with greater
regularity and rapidity.
Having now particularly described the nature of the said invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
First The tube a and plate, in combination with a tubular holder for reserve
spools not in use through which the wire passes after being covered, substantially as
and for the purpose set forth.
Second-The tube a through which passes the wire to be covered and upon which is
placed a spool holding the covering material, plate e and a flyer or guide arın set
in said plate at an angle to the centre line of the tube a as described and containing
a drop wire in combination with means for driving the plate and flyer, substantially as
described.
Third The combination of the tube a, plate e, inclined flyer arm and drop wire,
with the lever r, knee levers and shipper lever w, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
Fourth The stand g', wheel j', and adjustable wheel having means for driving
it, and the tube c¹, having a sliding tube in it, in combination with a winding
mechanism, substantially as set forth and for the purpose specified.
Fifth A revolving carrier, in combination with a guide for use in machine for
covering wire, constructed to lead the covering material to the wire, and having a

page_text: wire, receiving groove or trough, the sides whereof sustain the wire against lateral
flexure resulting from the strain of the covering material, and the said guide being
imperforate at that point where the winding takes place.
Sixth The guide having the groove n' and recess s constructed as described
and secured to the end of the tube a in combination with the tube a, plate e and
flyer j.
Seventh-In combination with a central revolving tube for use in a wire covering
machine, a guide capable of being adjusted for, the tension and direction of the
covering strands substantially as set forth.
1900
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.