Machine for Covering Electric Wires or Cables with Strips of Fibre.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 10th June, 1899-Accepted, 30th Sept., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Machine for Covering Electric Wires or Cables with Strips of Fibre.
We, FRANCIS LEWIS SPERRY, of The Markeen, Buffalo, Erie County and.
State of New York, United States of America, Engineer, and WILLIAM JAMES,
of Produce Exchange Annex, New York, County and State of New York,
United States of America, Commission Merchant, 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:-
This invention relates to means for insulating wires and cables to be used
for electrical purposes, and particularly to means for covering such wires and
cables with loose fibres suitable for insulation.
The object of the invention is to apply to the wire, parallel with its length,
strips or ribbons of untwisted cotton, jute, flax, or similar fibre, (usually called
sliver), in such manner that the covering will be in alignment with the axis
of the wire or, when viewed in cross-section, at any point in its length, the
wire will occupy a central position with relation to the covering.
Attempts have heretofore been made to place loose fibres on a wire by winding
such fibres spirally around the wire, but such method was abandoned for the
reason that the sliver is not sufficiently strong to withstand twisting without
breaking. It has also been attempted to comb the loose fibre around the wire,
but the combing could not be effected evenly, at times taking more off at one
place than at another with the result that the covering would not be of uniform
thickness throughout the length of the wire or cable. Efforts have also been
made to roll or crush the fibre or sliver around the wire by means of rollers, but
a covering of uniform thickness and evenness could not be obtained in this way
because the sliver would not withstand the tension and when being wound the
rollers would crush the covering close to the wire. It has furthermore been
attempted to draw the loose fibre longitudinally with the wire through stationary
tubes or rings, but when such tubes or rings were made sufficiently small to fold
the sliver around the wire they would act often to strip the sliver off the wire,
and when made large enough to permit the sliver to draw through without
stripping, the necessary folding of the sliver around the wire, whereby the
latter would be left centrally within the covering-which is essential to render
the wire at all serviceable could not be obtained.
In
By the present invention the sliver can be so applied to the wire or cable
that the covering will be of a uniform thickness throughout the length of the
wire, and consequently the wire will be centrally within the covering.
carrying out the invention means are provided for subjecting the bare wire to
a bath of suitable insulating compound before the sliver is brought in contact
with the wire; also means for lashing the sliver to the wire to hold the covering
in place when being treated to a bath of suitable insulating compound, and
also means for uniformly drawing the wire through the sliver-applying mechanism
and for conducting it to the bath of insulating compound and for winding it
upon a receiving reel-the entire operation being a continuous one.

page_text: The invention will now be described in connection with the accompanying
drawings which form a part of this specification, and wherein Figure 1 is a
front elevation partly in section, viewed from the right of Figure 2; Figure 2
is a vertical central section through Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlarged detail
of the parts of the mechanism adapted to evenly apply the sliver to the wire and
to lash it to the wire; Figure 4 is a detail of one half of the two-part short
tapering tube hereinafter referred to, and Figure 5 is a detail of one half of the
two-part stationary tube also hereinafter referred to.
Referring to the drawings, 6, 6, indicates two uprights which furnish a
support for certain of the mechanism of the apparatus and 7, 7, horizontal
members connected to said uprights near their bottom and supporting the reels
for the wire and the appliances which drive such reels. The cans which hold
the sliver to be applied to the wire are shown at 8, and the tank to contain the
insulating compound at 9. The reel from which the bare wire is drawn is
indicated at 10 and the reel upon which the finished or covered wire is wound
at all.
The drag rolls by which the covered wire is drawn up through the machine
are shown at 12 and are mounted on the shafts 13 fixed in uprights 6 a suitable
distance above the sliver-applying mechanism which will be presently described,
and above the drag rolls 12 there is mounted on a shaft supported in a bracket on
uprights 6, the sheave wheel 14 which serves to guide the covered wire to the
tank of insulating compound. Suitably supported over tank 9 so as to revolve
in the insulating compound contained therein, are the sheave wheels 15 15".
As the bare wire 16 is unwound from the reel 10 it passes under sheave wheel 15,
and hence through the insulating compound in tank 9, and passes thence to the
mechanism which applies the sliver, which is shown at 17 emerging from the
cans 8 and entering, together with the wire, the sliver-applying mechanism.
The course of the covered wire after leaving the sliver-applying mechanism is
through the drag rolls 12, by which it is moved at a uniform speed, over the
guide wheel 14, thence to the sheave wheel 15" where the covered and lashed
wire is saturated with the insulating compound, and thence to the take-up or
receiving reel 11.
The machine is driven by belt 18, the numeral 19 indicating the shaft, suitably
supported by a bracket on the standards 6, which carries a fixed pulley 20 and a
lobse pulley 21. The receiving reel 11 is driven by the gearing 22-23 to
which movement is imparted through the belt 24 between pulley 25 and pulley 26.
The arrangement of mechanism above described is an example only of what
may be employed and hence the arrangement may be modified as may seem
desirable without departing from the spirit of the invention.
The principal feature of the invention, and that which imparts to it special
value to wit, the machanism for evenly folding the sliver around the wire
so as to leave the latter perfectly in the center of the covering-will now be
described.
Supported in the cross beam 27 below the drag rolls 12 is a plate 28 upon
which are mounted spools of yarn or thread for the purpose of lashing the sliver
to the wire. The plate 27 has formed integral with it a central hollow spindle 29
fitting into a suitable socket in the beam and extending below it and provided
with a gear 30 which meshes with a gear 31, the spindle of which is supported
in the beam 27 and is provided at its lower end with a bevel-gear 32 which
meshes with bevel-gear 33 carried at the end of the driving shaft 19 which
shaft is also provided with the gear 24 which meshes with the gear 35 on the
end of the vertical shaft 36. The belt 18 when shifted onto the fixed pulley 20
drives the shaft 19 and thus imparts movement, through the gearing mentioned,
to the spindle 29 and its connected plate 28, and at the same time to the vertical
shaft 36 which is provided at its top with a suitable gear intermeshing with a
gear on the end of shaft 13 whereby the requisite movement is imparted to
the shaft 13 to drive the drag rolls 12, and also the pulley 25.

page_text: Inside the hollow spindle 29 is arranged a tube 38 which is held stationary
by being fixed in bracket 37 secured to the frame of the machine. This tube 38
is flared at its lower end to better adapt it to receive the strips of sliver that
enter with the wire, and at its upper end it is reduced in diameter, or, preferably,
tapered on the outside at its top. Interiorly it is tapered gradually from bottom
to top and its external diameter is such compared with the bore of the spindle 29
that the latter revolves around it without creating friction. The stationary
tube 38 is made in two parts or divided longitudinally in order that it may be
removed without cutting the wire, if there should be occasion for so doing. The
function of the stationary tube 38 is to partly fold the sliver around the wire as
the latter is drawn through the machine.
Immediately over the stationary tube 38 within the revolving plate 28 there
is secured a short tube 39 which is also made in two parts for the reason given
for dividing the stationary tube into two parts, and it is secured in position
in the revolving plate 28 by screws or otherwise. The short tube 39 extends
down just over the upper end of the stationary tube 38 and it is tapered on the
inside at the bottom where it extends over the stationary tube-the taper being
as great as it is practicable to make it. Above the taper, where the wire and
surrounding sliver emerges from the tube 39, its bore is straight and of just the
diameter that the wire should be with the covering of sliver thereon. The
straight part of the bore of the revolving short tube 39 is preferably about one-
half of an inch in length only, so that as the wire covered with sliver is drawn
up through the stationary tube 38, (which has folded the sliver around the wire)
the revolving tube has but a short hard bearing on the wire as the latter is
drawn therethrough; this bearing is sufficient however to properly support and
relieve the wire from undue strain while at the same time permitting the drag
rolls 12 to pull it up through the machine. In the passage of the wire through
the short bore of the revolving tube 39 the process is completed of evenly
folding the sliver in place around the wire, with the latter preferably in the
center of the sliver.
Mounted on the revolving head or plate 28 are the spools or reels of thread or
yarn 40. The thread or yarn passes from the reels through the guides 41 and
is connected to the covered wire, and in the continuous revolution of head 28
the thread is wound around the covered wire, as the latter is drawn up through
the short tube 39 carried by the revolving head. The sliver is thus lashed on
to the wire.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. In a machine for covering wires or cables with strips of loose fibre (called
sliver) without winding or twisting the fibre, the combination with a stationary
tube in which the sliver is preliminarily folded around the wire, of a short
tube having a bore partly conical and straight the rest of its length, a head
or plate carrying said short tube and means for revolving the head or plate.
2. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a revolving
head or plate provided with an integral hollow spindle, and a stationary tube
entering said spindle from the bottom, of a short tube fixed in said revolving
hollow spindle over the stationary tube and having the lower part of its bore
conical and extending over the upper end of the stationary tube, and the upper
part of its bore straight and of a diameter to correspond to the covered wire or
cable and adapted to evenly fold the sliver around the wire.
3. The combination with the revolving plate or head provided with a hollow
spindle integral therewith, a stationary tube entering said spindle from the bottom
and serving to preliminarily fold the sliver around the wire, and thread carrying
spools mounted on said revolving head, of a short tube fixed in said revolving
head and extending into the hollow spindle and over the upper end of said

page_text: stationary tube and having a short straight bore for a part of its length of a
diameter equal to that of the covered wire.
4. The combination with the revolving head or plate and its hollow spindle,
of a stationary tube divided into two parts lengthwise, and a short tube fixed
in the revolving head or plate over the stationary tube and likewise divided into
two parts longitudinally.
5. In a machine for covering electric wires or cables with strips of fibre, a
tube adapted to be held in a revolving head for completing the folding of the
fibre around the wire, and provided with a conical bore at its lower end and
a short straight bore above the conical bore.
6. In a machine for covering electric wires or cables with strips of fibre, a
tube adapted to be held in a revolving head for completing the folding of the
fibre around the wire, and provided with a conical bore at its lower end and a
short straight bore above the conical bore and divided longitudinally into two
parts.
7. In a machine of the character described, the combination of the following
elements-wire delivering and receiving reels, a tank of insulating compound
through which the bare wire is drawn, mechanism for applying the covering to
the wire, a pair of drag rolls adapted to draw the covered wire from the
mechanism for applying the covering to the wire, and means for conducting
the covered wire back to the tank of insulating compound and to the receiving
reel, substantially as set forth.
Dal 1.
007 1
0 T
CRUIKSHANK & FAIRWEATHER,
Chartered Patent Agents, 62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow,
Agents for the Applicants.