Metal Reel

Abstract

A collapsible metal reel having a cylindrical barrel with a plurality of peripherally spaced tabs extending from each of its ends and having heads on each end of said barrel. Each head has an annular wall member with radially extending ribs attached to its outer face with arcuate brace members secured at their opposite ends to said radially extending ribs. The arcuate brace members have a surface parallel to the tabs of said cylindrical barrel. Slot means are formed radially outwardly from the arcuate brace members into which the tabs of the barrel are matingly engaged. Resilient fastening means are inserted in radially aligned apertures in said arcuate brace members and the tabs on the ends of said barrel to detachably secure said head to the barrel to provide a quickly assembled and disassembled reel structure.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to reels known in a trade as K D or knockdown reels. Their basic advantage lies in the fact that they may be stored or shipped in unassembled form, thereby conserving space and saving shipping charges. In the past their major drawback has been that their assembly and disassembly had been both time consuming and had presented problems involving the hardware used to secure the components together. The necessity for a rigid and strong structure in the assembled reels result from the fact that these reels normally run from four to eight feet in diameter and carry loads up to several thousand pounds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The manner of assembling and disassembling the reel is very simple. First the barrel or barrel sections have their projecting end tabs slid into the mating arcuate slots formed between the inner periphery of the annular wall member and the outer periphery of the arcuate brace members of one of the heads. Next the resilient fastening means are passed through the mating apertures of the arcuate brace members and of the tabs of the barrel and the fastening means are positioned in place under stress forces. The other head is then attached to the opposite end of the barrel in a like manner completing assembly of the reel. Disassembly is quickly accomplished by merely releasing the stress forces on the resilient fastening means and removing these fastening means from their respective apertures and finally separating the barrel from the heads.

The heads of the reel are of a sturdy construction to withstand and to prevent flaring thereof which is caused by the wound material on the reels attempting to expand laterally. Also the reels in their larger metal models are designed to stand up under the weight of several thousand pounds of cable or other material wound on the reels. In their unassembled state the reel components can be stored or shipped in a very space saving, compact stack thereby saving both space and shipping expenses.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an end elevation view of one of the heads of the reel;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view having a portion of one of the heads broken away and shown in cross section;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of one of the sectors of an alternative barrel made of a plurality of sectors; FIG. 2B is a plan view illustrating the sector seen in FIG. 2A in its flattened form;

FIG. 3 illustrates in a partial view an alternative head structure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative resilient fastening means;

FIG. 5 is a partial end view of an alternative head construction and illustrating an alternative resilient fastening means;

FIG. 6 is a view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 illustrates another alternative resilient fastening means which may be used with the head structure illustrated in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 illustrates another alternative resilient fastening means similar to the type employed in FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 illustrates an additional alternate fastening means;

FIG. 10 is an end view of one of the finger members used with the fastening means shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a partial end view of an alternative head construction; and

FIG. 12 is a view taken along line 12--12 of FIG. 11.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Looking now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the structural elements of the metal reel will now be described. The reel itself is generally designated 10 and is comprised of a barrel 8 and heads 13 on either end. The barrel as illustrated is a single unitary piece of metal, but it may be formed of a plurality of sectors interlocked or secured together at its seams. Each of the heads 13 are identical and have a bushing 14 at their center with radially extending ribs 15 having their inner end secured to said bushing. The outer ends of said ribs have a rim 16 secured thereto, said rim extending annularly around said bushing. The ribs 15 as illustrated in FIG. 1 are channel shaped. However, they may be formed in other configurations such, for example, as L shaped. Annular wall member 18 is secured to the inner surface of said ribs as, for example, by welding. Arcuate brace members 17 are secured to the rib at a position spaced radially inwardly from said annular wall member to form slots 11 therebetween. Into this slot extends the tab portion 9 of barrel 8. The arcuate brace members are L shaped in cross section to provide a support section upon which the barrel member rests.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate one of the sectors of a barrel formed from a plurality of sectors. Each sector 8A has tab portions 9A and apertures 26A similar to those of barrel 8 which is formed from a unitary piece of metal. FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a sector 8A and FIG. 2B illustrates the sector laid out flat in a plan view.

Referring to FIG. 3, a partial view of an alternative head structure is illustrated with the fastening means removed for clarity. Instead of having all the ribs extending into a central hub, a single brace 19' is mounted across the diameter of the annular wall member 18'. In its center is a central bearing aperture 14' with drive holes 32' formed radially outwardly on both sides. The ribs 15' extend inwardly to the inner periphery of arcuate brace members 17'. As with the previously described reel heads, the tabs 9' of the barrel are detachably engaged in slots 11'.

The manner in which the heads are detachably secured to the barrel will now be described. Resilient fastening means such as bails 22 are used with the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Each of these bails has finger portions 23 connected by a bridge section 24. In assembling, the tips 25 of the bails are inserted through apertures 26 and 27 respectively in tabs 9 of the barrel and the support section of the arcuate brace members. Next the bridge section 24 of the bail is pushed into notch 21 of the rib and cammed over ridge 29 therein. The bail is thus under stress in a sprung condition, thereby firmly securing the barrel to the head. Brackets 30 are mounted on two of said rib members and are provided with drive pin holes 32.

FIG. 4 illustrates a second type of resilient bail fastening means 22'. To install them, fingers 23' have their tips 25' inserted in the aligned apertures of the arcuate brace members and the tabs of the barrel. Next the bridge of the bail is pivoted into notch 21' and cammed over ridge 29' which compresses the bridge 24' inwardly. After the bridge passes over the ridge it partially expands to maintain the fastening means in a tensioned gripping relationship. Removal is easily accomplished by camming the bridge back over the ridge in the reverse direction.

An alternative embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. As illustrated here the ribs 15a may be of an L-shaped configuration and have bushing members 32a forming the drive pin holes. The resilient fastening means here is a wedge shaped key 40 having fingers 42. The fingers of the wedge shaped key are compressed together in order to pass through slots 44 and 45 respectively in barrel tabs 9a and arcuate brace members 17a. After the key has passed through the slots up to the groove 41, the fingers are allowed to partially expand to resiliently grip or engage the heads to the barrel.

FIG. 7 illustrates another resilient fastening means which may be used with the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5. Loop member 50 would be inserted into slots 44 and 45 much in the same manner as wedge shaped key 40 has been described in its insertion. The fingers 52 when they had been inserted up to the groove 54 would also be allowed to partially spring back to their stress free configuration, thereby gripping the head and barrel member in firm relationship.

The resilient fastening means shown in FIG. 8 functions in a similar manner. The expanding pin 60 has its fingers 62 compressed for insertion into the aligned apertures 66 and 67 of the arcuate brace member and the barrel taps respectively. After the pin has been fully inserted the fingers partially spring back and knobs 64 on their ends lock the pin firmly in position.

An additional fastening means 70 is illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10. It is comprised of two J-shaped fingers 72 and a bolt 75. The J-shaped fingers have their tips 74 inserted into aligned apertures in the arcuate brace members and the barrel tabs. Next bolt 75 is threaded through the eyelets 73 of the finger members and aligned apertures 77 in the rib member after which nut 76 is tightened on to firmly clamp the heads and barrel together.

Looking to FIGS. 11 and 12, an additional alternative reel head 80 is disclosed. It is generally described as a toroidal type head whose annular wall member 82 has fluted rib members 84 stamped therein. Around its outer periphery a rim 86 is secured thereto, and around its inner periphery an annular member 88. Arcuate spacer blocks 90 secure the outer annular member 88 to the inner annular member 92 with arcuate slots 93 being formed between adjacent spacer blocks. Into these slots the tabs 94 of barrel 95 are matingly inserted and held firmly therein by resilient spring bails 96. The spring members have their tips 97 inserted through the aligned apertures 98, 99, 100, respectively, in the annular member 88, tabs 94 and annular member 92, after which the bridge section 102 of the bails is inserted in the notches 104 of the ribs. Continued inward movement causes the bail to resiliently expand in order to pass over ridge 106 after which it partially contracts to hold the head and barrel members together under a compressive force. Disengagement of the heads from the barrel may be easily and quickly accomplished by reversing the aforementioned operation.

Claims

We claim:

1. A reel comprising a cylindrical barrel having a plurality of peripherally spaced tabs extending from each of its ends, heads on each end of said barrel, each head comprising

an annular wall member,

radially extending ribs attached to the outer face of said annular wall member,

arcuate brace members secured at their opposite ends to said radially extending ribs,

said arcuate brace members having a surface parallel to the tabs of said cylindrical barrel,

slot means formed radially outwardly from the arcuate brace members into which the tabs of said barrel are matingly engaged, radially aligned apertures in said arcuate brace members and the tabs on the ends of said barrel,

fastening means detachably inserted in said aligned apertures to secure said heads to said barrels.

2. A reel as recited in claim 1 wherein said fastening means comprises a bridge section having legs attached to the opposite ends of said bridge section, said ribs have apertures in their lateral walls through which the bridge of the fastening means pass with the legs on said fastening means inserted in the radially aligned apertures of the arcuate brace members and the tabs on the ends of the barrel.

3. A reel as recited in claim 1 wherein said barrel is comprised of a plurality of arcuate sections detachably secured together along their longitudinal edges.

4. A reel as recited in claim 1 wherein said fastening means are resilient.

5. A reel as recited in claim 4 wherein said resilient fastening means comprise a plurality of wedge shaped key members each having resilient fingers that slide into the mating apertures of the arcuate brace members and the barrel tabs.

6. A reel as recited in claim 4 wherein said resilient fastening means comprise a plurality of loop members, each having resilient fingers that slide into the mating apertures of the arcuate brace members and the barrel tabs.

7. A reel as recited in claim 4 wherein said resilient fastening means comprises a plurality of spring bails, each having a pair of resilient fingers connected at their top by a bridge section, said ribs each having notch means intermediate their ends into which said bridge sections are received whereby when the bails are to be installed the resilient fingers are inserted in the aligned apertures of the arcuate brace members and the barrel tabs, the bridge section is then cammed over a ridge along the edge of said notch means expanding said fingers until the bridge section has passed over the ridge after which the fingers contract to lock the bail in position.

8. A reel as recited in claim 4 wherein said resilient fastening means comprises a plurality of spring bails, each having a pair of fingers connected at their top by a resilient bridge section, said ribs having notch means intermediate their ends into which said resilient bridge sections are received whereby when the bails are to be installed the fingers are inserted in the aligned apertures of the arcuate brace members and the tabs, the resilient bridge section is then cammed over a ridge along the edge of said notch means compressively bowing said resilient bridge section until the bridge section has passed over the ridge after which it expands to lock the bail in position.

9. A reel comprising a cylindrical barrel having a plurality of peripherally spaced tabs extending from each of its ends, heads on each end of said barrel, each head comprising an annular wall member having a plurality of outwardly formed radial rib members, an outer annular member secured to the inner end of said rib members, said outer annular member having a surface parallel to the tabs of said cylindrical barrel, an inner annular member secured intermittently around its outer surface to said outer annular member, thereby forming slot means radially outwardly of said inner annular ring into which the tabs of said barrel are matingly engaged, radially aligned apertures in said outer and inner annular ring members and the tabs on the end of said barrel, fastening means detachably inserted in said aligned apertures to secure said heads to said barrels.

10. A reel as recited in claim 9 wherein said fastening means are resilient.

11. A reel as recited in claim 10 wherein said resilient fastening means comprises a plurality of spring bails, each having a pair of resilient fingers connected at their top by a bridge section, said ribs each having notch means intermediate their ends into which said bridge sections are received whereby when the bails are to be installed the resilient fingers are inserted in the aligned apertures of the arcuate brace members and the barrel tabs, the bridge section is then cammed over a ridge along the edge of said notch means expanding said fingers until the bridge section has passed over the ridge after which the fingers contract to lock the bail in position.