Patent ID: 8215000

Claim:
A method of bending the free ends of rectangular motor winding conductors comprising: providing a bending fixture having a plurality of pockets circularly distributed in four pocket members comprising two pairs of adjacent pocket members, each concentric with an axis of the bending fixture, at least one pocket member in each pair of adjacent pocket members being rotatable about the axis at least through a first limited angle with respect to another pocket member that is adjacent to the at least one pocket member, one of the pocket members in each pair of adjacent pocket members having a lost motion member associated therewith defining at least one pocket circularly distributed with the circularly distributed pockets in the respective pocket member and being rotatable about the axis with respect to the respective pocket member through a second limited angle, the second limited angle being less than the first limited angle; supporting a rotor or stator adjacent the bending fixture with free ends of the rectangular motor winding conductors extending into the pockets in the four pocket members and in the lost motion member; driving the bending fixture using an automated bending station so as to rotate the first and third of the four pocket members through the first limited angle relative to the second and fourth of the four pocket members to simultaneously bend the free ends of a plurality of the rectangular motor winding conductors through the first limited angle, the free ends of at least other rectangular motor winding conductors extending into the pockets in the lost motion members being bent through an angle equal to the first limited angle minus the second limited angle; whereby the bending station automatically drives the bending fixture in a process that is suitable for mass production.