Patent ID: 6948304

Claim:
A concentric strander comprising an elongate concentric shaft defining a shaft axis; bearing support means for rotatably supporting said concentric shaft; a plurality of wire bobbins substantially equally spaced from one another along said shaft to form inter-bobbin spaces and each having a bobbin axis substantially coextensive with said shaft axis for rotation about said shaft, said bobbins each having maximum radial diameter; closing means at a downstream end of said shaft for receiving the wires from each of said bobbins and applying them on a core; take-off means mounted on said shaft and associated with a wire bobbin for taking off a wire wound on a bobbin and guiding it from said bobbin to a point radially outward beyond said maximum predetermined radial diameter and subsequently guiding the wire axially to a point substantially proximate to said closing means along a direction substantially parallel to said shaft axis and at a radial distance substantially corresponding to said radially outward point to define, upon rotation of said concentric shaft, a cylindrical envelope; first drive means for rotating said shaft; and second drive means for driving said wire take-off means, said inter-bobbin spaces required to support said wire take-off means having axial dimensions substantially independently of the diameters of the wires that need to be processed by the strander.