Patent ID: 6840031

Claim:
An apparatus for the manufacture of cable formed by at least one uniform lay of conductors received about and compacted on a core comprising: (a) a cage strander arranged for rotation about a line axis at a selected rotational speed; (b) a plurality of bobbins at least equal in number to the number of conductors in said lay each supporting a length of round conductor, each of said bobbins being supported by said cage strander and arranged for dispensing a round conductor downstream of said cage strander; (c) a forming apparatus arranged downstream of said cage strander for receiving said conductors and forming them into a plurality of complementary segmented pre-shaped wires each having a desired cross-sectional profiled configuration in a final compact conductor and each defining at least lateral surfaces; (d) means for positioning and orienting the pre-shaped wires in relation to each other to substantially correspond to the positions and orientations therebetween in the final twisted compact conductor; (e) first driving means for rotating said forming apparatus about said line axis substantially at the speed of the rotation of said cage strander; and (f) second driving means for driving said forming apparatus, said first and second driving means being synchronized to allow said formed conductors to be closed about said core to cause the lateral surfaces of adjacent pre-shaped wires to substantially abut against each other and to produce the desired lay, whereby interstices between the conductors forming the twisted conductor are substantially eliminated to form a compact twisted conductor, wherein said forming apparatus is supported by said strander means, said forming apparatus including a plurality of former means, continuously receiving a single conductor, said former means including: (a) a first roller having a cylindrical surface; (b) a second roller having a surface including a plurality of grooves of a non-round cross-section therealong for accommodating round conductors of different gage and for forming said conductor to a non-round configuration; and (c) mounting means for supporting said rollers for rotation about parallel axes, each said roller being disposed in position whereby said conductor is deformed substantially to the cross-section of said groove through rolling action of said first roller.