U.S. patent number 3,693,228 [Application Number 05/088,922] was granted by the patent office on 1972-09-26 for machine for assembling wire harness.
This patent grant is currently assigned to The Gerber Scientific Instrument Company. Invention is credited to David J. Logan.
United States Patent |
3,693,228 |
Logan |
September 26, 1972 |
MACHINE FOR ASSEMBLING WIRE HARNESS
Abstract
A system is disclosed for the automated assembly of a wire
harness from one or more spools of premarked wire. The spools of
wire are mounted on a cross-head which is movable in the Y
direction on a carriage, movable in the X direction above a
surface. A jig board is placed on this surface, and has wire
holding devices at preselected locations for receiving the wire.
Means is provided for feeding the wire downwardly through a funnel
in the cross-head as the head is moved in response to a
predetermined program from one point to another on the "plotting"
surface. The head includes a tool for inserting the wire into wire
retaining slots in the wire holding devices, and a cut-off knife is
provided for severing the wire once a particular length has been
layed-up.
Inventors: |
Logan; David J. (Glastonbury,
CT) |
Assignee: |
The Gerber Scientific Instrument
Company (South Windsor, CT)
|
Family
ID: |
22214292 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/088,922 |
Filed: |
November 12, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
29/56.6;
29/755 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01B
13/01245 (20130101); Y10T 29/5177 (20150115); Y10T
29/53243 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
H01B
13/012 (20060101); H01B 13/00 (20060101); H01r
043/00 (); H05k 013/04 () |
Field of
Search: |
;29/23MW,23R,23P,23MM,23D |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
2768428 |
October 1956 |
MacGregor et al. |
|
Primary Examiner: Eager; Thomas H.
Claims
I claim:
1. A machine for laying-up wires to form a harness, and comprising
a planar jig board, wire holding devices comprising upwardly open
combs defining slots for receiving and holding said wires arranged
at spaced locations on the jig board, a carriage spanning the jig
board and adapted for movement longitudinally thereof in an X
direction, a cross-head slidably mounted on the carriage for
movement laterally across the board in a Y direction, spool means
on said cross-head for storing wire, and means for inserting said
wire into said comb slots as said cross-head and carriage move in
their respective directions from one such wire holding device to
another.
2. A machine as set forth in claim 1 further characterized by means
for cutting said wire, said wire cutting means being located
adjacent said wire inserting means in said cross-head.
3. A machine as set forth in claim 2 further characterized by a
funnel through which said wire is fed from said spool means, said
funnel having a lower end which defines an orifice adjacent said
wire cutting means, said orifice defining portion of said funnel
comprising an elbow portion which the orifice is defined in a plane
normal to the jig board, and means for rotatably supporting said
funnel for movement about an axis in said cross-head which is
generally normal to the plane of said jig board.
4. A machine as set forth in claim 3 wherein said wire inserting
means comprises a vertically reciprocable bifurcated member having
spaced legs which define openings for receiving said wire, and said
wire inserting means being mounted for rotation with said
funnel.
5. A machine as set forth in claim 4 wherein said wire cutting
means comprises a depending member having a guide opening through
which the wire passes, and a knife in said depending member for
severing the wire at said guide opening, said depending member also
being rotatably mounted for movement with said funnel.
6. A machine as set forth in claim 1 further characterized by
computor means for controlling the path of movement of said
cross-head and carriage, and input data for said computor means to
cause the cross-head to track a series of predetermined paths over
said jig board to form a harness of predetermined
configuration.
7. A machine as set forth in claim 6 further characterized by means
for pre-marking the wire in predetermined lengths, and sensor means
carried by said funnel and responsive to said wire markings to
provide successive wire length signals for said wire cutting means.
Description
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
This invention relates to machines for the automated assembly of
wire harnesses, and deals more particularly with a machine for
storing wire and feeding wire from a head capable of traversing a
flat jig board. Comb-like wire retaining devices of the type shown
and described in a co-pending patent application entitled "Wire
Holding Comb" filed Oct. 9, 1969 under Ser. No. 865,116 now U.S.
Pat. No. 3,588,081 are provided on the board. The head is slidably
mounted on a carriage for independent movement in two mutually
perpendicular directions, and includes a funnel which can be
rotated upon an axis normal to the surface of the jig board. The
funnel defines an elbow at its lower end which terminates in an
orifice located in radially spaced relation to said axis in a plane
normal to the table for feeding the wire in any desired direction.
A wire inserting tool and a wire cutter are provided radially
outwardly of the orifice in order to successively insert the wire
into a particular comb slot, and to sever it at some predetermined
length respectively.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the components which comprise a system
of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the physical make-up of several of
the components shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of a wire harness assembled by the apparatus
shown in FIG. 2, and showing several wire holding devices
supporting the wires of the harness.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one wire holding device of the type
utilized in the apparatus of FIG. 2.
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the various components of the
cross-head utilized on the carriage of FIG. 2 for traversing the
jig board on the table in the X and Y directions respectively, and
for dispensing the wire as it so moves.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Turning now to the drawings in greater detail, a conventional wire
marking system is shown in block diagram form at 10 in FIG. 1. This
component of the system is not an essential one because of the
possibility, offered by the programmed input data 22, that plain
wire might be used and that the input data include information on
the size and length of each wire in the harness. However, in the
embodiment shown the wire marking system 10 comprises a convenient
means for premarking wire with coded indicia so that a continuous
wire is sub-divided in predetermined lengths, as well as being
marked for later identification in fixing plugs or other connectors
at one or the other of the ends of each of the wire segments so
marked. Preferably, the lengths of marked wire include a "mark" of
magnetic material which can be sensed by a suitable sensor provided
for this purpose in the cross-head to be described in greater
detail hereinbelow.
Still with reference to FIG. 1 a automated "plotting" table is
indicated generally at 12, and included as standard components of
this table is a carriage 14 slidable mounted on rails located on
either side of the rectangular table 12 and equipped with
internally mounted motor means (not shown) for traversing this
carriage 14 in the X direction indicated. Also comprising a portion
of the automated "plotting" table 12 is a cross-head 16 which is
adapted to be driven in the Y direction on the carriage 14 in
response to a predetermined program fed thereto by the control
system indicated generally at 18.
FIG. 2 shows the physical layout of the automated table 12,
together with its associated carriage 14 and cross-head 16 as well
as a connecting cable 20 for feeding the appropriate signals to the
motor means (not shown) for operating the cross-head in both the X
and Y direction in response to a predetermined program stored in
the control system 18. The control system 18 is housed in a console
which not only includes the predetermined program for fabricating a
wire harness of particular configuration, as for example that shown
in FIG. 3, but also includes other suitable input data and all of
this information is represented in FIG. 1 by the block indicated
generally at 22. This input data might comprise two card decks, the
first of which might comprise a location deck containing the number
and the X-Y location and size of each wire holding device or comb
of the type shown in FIG. 4 together with whatever other wire
restraining devices might be required at intermediate locations as
for example the wire restraining post devices indicated generally
at 24 and 26 in FIG. 3. A second card deck would preferably
comprise a routing deck having one card for each wire to be
incorporated into the harness of FIG. 3. This routing deck would
provide input data consisting of the origin for each wire, the
connector and pin number for each such wire, by route, to indicate
the path of travel required of the cross-head 16 in laying this
wire from its point of origin to its destination. Sequence
numbering of each deck of cards for identification purposes would
also be provided as a part of the input data 22.
The wire harness shown in FIG. 3 is intended for purposes of
illustration only, and it will be apparent from the description to
follow that a wire harness of any predetermined configuration might
be automatically layed-up in a machine of the type described herein
without departing from the scope of the present invention. It will
also be apparent that each of the wires comprising the harness of
FIG. 3 might be one which differs in diameter or size from the
other wires in the harness and as a consequence of this, FIG. 2
shows the cross-head 16 as being equipped with 6 spools of wire all
of which may have been suitably marked by the wire marking system
of FIG. 10 described hereinabove. One such spool is indicated
generally at 30 in FIG. 5, and the cross-head 16 is also shown
schematically in this view and this portion of the apparatus will
now be described in some detail. Before leaving the description of
the table 12, however, it should be noted that a jig board of
predetermined configuration, as indicated generally at 32, is
preferably held by vacuum or the like on the table 12. The board 32
is fitted with suitable wire holding devices of the type shown in
FIG. 4 and as described in greater detail in the above-mentioned
co-pending patent application. If is an important feature of these
combs that the wire itself can be layed through the slots provided
in the comb, and that each is releasably held therein so as to
provide a predetermined tension in the wire as it is being layed-up
by the cross-head 16 to be described. The board is preferably made
to assemble a particular harness, and may be stored for future
use.
The cross-head 16 is indicated schematically in FIG. 5 as rotatably
supporting one spool 30 of wire 34, which wire extends through a
guide 36 and passes over a driven roller 38 and extends downwardly
through a funnel structure 42. The funnel structure includes a
lower elbow portion 44 which turns the wire 34 so as to pass said
wire radially outwardly through an orifice 46 defined at the lower
portion of the elbow adjacent the upper surface of the jig board
32. The funnel structure 42 together with its associated elbow 44
are rotatably supported in the cross-head 16 for rotation about a
vertical axis located normally to the jig board 32, and a suitable
bearing, indicated generally at 48 is provided for accomplishing
this rotatable support for the funnel. Means is provided for
rotating the funnel in response to the programmed direction of wire
lay-up at any instant of time as supplied by the input data 22 in
the console 18. Preferably, said means comprises a motor 50 which
is geared to the rotary funnel as indicated generally at 52. Thus,
the control console 18 provides a signal for the motor 50 to
initially align the wire 34 exiting from the orifice 46 with the
direction of initial travel of the head 16. Once the wire has been
so started along a predetermined course in the formation of the
harness the drag of the wire will serve to maintain the rotary
funnel at the proper angle with no continuous alignment signal
being required. In order to permit the wire to be selectively
driven by the roller 38, downwardly through the funnel, a solenoid
operated pinch roll 40 is adapted for horizontal movement toward
and away from the roller 38.
The cross-head further includes means for inserting the wire into
an appropriate slot in the origin comb as well as in the
destination comb, and preferably said means comprises a solenoid
operated wire inserting tool 54. This tool 54 includes a fixed
upper portion 55 and a reciprocable lower portion 56, the lower
portion including a bifurcated member having radially spaced inner
and outer leg portions adapted to guide and to support the wire 34
from either side of the comb shown in FIG. 4 to provide a
convenient device for inserting the wire into its appropriate
slot.
Means is also provided in the cross-head 16 for severing the wire
after it has been so inserted in a slot of the comb, and said wire
cutting means includes a solenoid operated cutter 60 having a guide
opening for the wire 34 at its lower end and a reciprocable cut off
blade located therein for operation across the opening (not shown)
in response to a predetermined input from the console 18. Said wire
cutting means is preferably located between the elbow orifice 46,
and the wiring inserting tool 56, and includes a fixed portion 58
which houses a solenoid operated plunger (not shown) for operation
of a reciprocable blade located in the depending member shown. Said
depending member defines the guide opening for receiving the wire
34 and the cut off blade is slidably received in said depending
member for movement across said opening.
Both the wire inserting means and the wire cutting means described
above are preferably mounted on the rotary funnel portion of the
cross-head 16 so as to be always arranged in operating position.
Finally, and still with reference to the cross-head 16 sensing
means is provided at the upper end of the elbow 44 and more
particularly at the junction between said elbow and the funnel
defining portion of the cross-head for detecting the premarked
indicia on the wire as applied by the wire marking system 10. The
sensor 16 provides a convenient means for periodically checking on
the lengths of wire being layed up in order to detect any
accumulative errors which might be encountered as a result of
either a faulty marking system, or a faulty input program or for
any other reason.
As a result of utilizing the automated cross-head 16 described
above with reference to FIG. 5 a reusuable jig board 32 can be
utilized for laying-up harness or predetermined configuration as
needed, removing the necessity that exists in todays wire harness
manufacturing requirements, that an excess number of harnessess may
be produced in order to have spare ones available either for
replacement or repair in previous installations. However, it should
also be noted that the wire holding devices, or combs, may be
disassembled from a particular jig board and only the location of
these components need be stored on the jig board for future use in
manufacturing a wire harness to replace one previously made. While
the wire holding device or comb itself does not form the only basis
for the present invention, its importance to the overall
combination described herein warrant that it be described at least
briefly. Basically, the wire holding device of FIG. 4 comprises a
generally flat base 62 which may be provided with depending pegs or
the like (not shown) on its bottom surface to permit the device to
be placed at a particular location on the jig board 32. This base
portion 62 is preferably fabricated from a relatively stiff or
rigid material such as plastic or metal, and said base has an
upstanding arcuate portion 64 which forms a rigid comb on the base
and defines a plurality of upwardly open slots 66, 66. These slots
are preferably wide enough to loosely receive the various wires, A,
B, C etc. Such wires may of course vary somewhat in diameter if a
six spool head is used as suggested hereinabove with reference to
FIG. 2. The slots 66, 66 in the rigid comb portion 64 are
preferably wide enough to receive the largest of these loosely. The
rigid comb portion 64 preferably carries a strip or layer of
resilient backing material 68, which is secured adjacent to the
convex outer surface of the rigid slot defining portion 64 of the
comb by any suitable adhesive. The resilient backing strip 68
preferable comprises an elastomeric material, such as rubber or the
like, defines a plurality of upwardly open slots 69, 69 each of
which is aligned with a slot 66 in the rigid comb 64. However, the
width of the slots 69, 69 in the elastomeric material are
significantly less than that of the slots 66, 66 in the rigid comb
64, and it will be apparent that as so constructed and arranged the
resilient strip will exert a pulling force on the wire such that
the tension in the wires, after they have been inserted in their
appropriate slots, will cause the backing material 68 to be drawn
into the larger slots 66, 66 in the comb itself, tending to hold
these wires under tension as is necessary in the laying-up of the
harness by the moving cross-head 16. In fact, the greater the pull
on the individual wire the greater the force exerted on that wire
by the comb so as to hold it in place. An oppositely arranged comb
is used at the opposite end of each of the wires, as depicted in
FIG. 3, and it will be apparent that if an arcuate comb, such as
the origin comb 29 is used at each of these locations that the
lengths of the wires originating and terminating at the same combs
might be made identical to one another. It will also be apparent
that after a wire harness is layed-up utilizing these combs, the
ends are conveniently located so as to be conveniently stripped and
identified so as to permit conventional continuity checks or the
like, and to permit assembly with conventional terminal strips or
plugs.
By way of summary, the location deck and wire by wire routing deck
comprising the input data 22 for the computer 18 can be
conveniently used to automatically lay-up a wire harness of the
type shown in FIG. 3. The computer reads and stores the location of
each comb and post unit, reads the top routing card, sends the head
to the location of the source comb, offsets it to the desired slot
of this comb, causes the specified wire to be fed in measured
amount between the pinch roll and driven roller, and inserts the
wire in the comb. The computer guides the X-Y head and carriage
system over a straight line path through each specified post
locations 24, 26, and 28, ending at the location of a destination
comb 25. The system again offsets to the specified slot of this
comb, this time positioning outside the comb so that the wire is
drawn over the desired comb slot. Assuming that the length marker
has been properly sensed the head is stopped and wire is inserted
and then cut to length. The next wire card is now read and this
wire layed in a similar manner. Magnetic ink length marks applied
by the wire numbering and marking machine indicated generally at 10
will be sensed by the wire laying head through the sensor 70. If
necessary two length marks may be used for each wire on the spool
so that an amount of scrap wire will be allowed between the "end"
mark of one wire and the "start" mark of the next wire.
* * * * *