U.S. patent number 3,828,538 [Application Number 05/314,553] was granted by the patent office on 1974-08-13 for high-speed double twist twisting apparatus mainly adapted to twist steel wires.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Yoshida Engineering Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Mitsuzi Amakasu, Tokuji Yoshida.
United States Patent |
3,828,538 |
Yoshida , et al. |
August 13, 1974 |
HIGH-SPEED DOUBLE TWIST TWISTING APPARATUS MAINLY ADAPTED TO TWIST
STEEL WIRES
Abstract
A double twist twisting apparatus adapted to twist steel wires,
comprising a plurality of wire suppliers each having a base
pedestal, a main shaft rotatable relative to said pedestal, a first
flyer fixed to said shaft, a frame mounted on said first flyer, a
wire supply source adapted to remain stationary with respect to
said pedestal, even while said flyer rotates, and a plurality of
guide rollers mounted on said frame, said wire suppliers each
imparting two back-twists to a wire delivered from said wire supply
source for each rotation of said first flyer; a back tension
capstan for imparting back tension to a group of wires delivered
from said wire suppliers; an open-shaped twister having a pair of
second flyers being C-shaped and diametrically opposed to each
other and supporting a take-up motion between said second flyers
via a frame, for imparting a first twist to said group of wires;
and a third flyer adapted to be rotated in the same direction and
at the same speed as said twister, for imparting a second twist to
said group of wires; said third flyer having a twist pitch
determining capstan, a wire straightener, a coarse winder, and a
slip capstan all supported in said flyer via a frame.
Inventors: |
Yoshida; Tokuji (Tokyo,
JA), Amakasu; Mitsuzi (Tokyo, JA) |
Assignee: |
Yoshida Engineering Co., Ltd.
(Tokyo, JA)
|
Family
ID: |
14296857 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/314,553 |
Filed: |
December 13, 1972 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
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Dec 13, 1971 [JA] |
|
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46-101296 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
57/58.54;
57/58.86 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D07B
3/10 (20130101); D07B 2201/2097 (20130101); D07B
2207/205 (20130101); D07B 2401/2015 (20130101); D07B
2207/4013 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
D07B
3/00 (20060101); D07b 003/08 (); D07b 003/12 () |
Field of
Search: |
;57/9,34R,58.49,58.52-58.55,58.63,58.65,58.7,58.72,58.86 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Watkins; Donald E.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Osheroff; Milton
Claims
What we claim is:
1. A double twist twisting apparatus adapted to twist steel wires,
comprising a plurality of wire suppliers for imparting two
back-twists to each wire and feeding it out; a back tension capstan
for imparting back tension to said plurality of wires delivered
from said wire suppliers; a twister having a pair of first
open-shaped flyers diametrically opposed to each other, and a
take-up motion being suspended by said flyers via a frame, for
imparting a first twist to a group of said wires; a second flyer
adapted to be rotated in the same direction and at the same speed
as said twister, for imparting a second twist to said group of
wires; and a straightener and a coarse winder for coarsely winding
additional wire around said group of wires, both suspended by said
flyer via a frame.
2. A double twist twisting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
each of said wire suppliers comprises a base pedestal; a third
flyer rotating relative to said pedestal; a support for supporting
a wire supply source, adapted to remain stationary with respect to
said pedestal even while said third flyer rotates; a frame mounted
on said third flyer; and a plurality of guide rollers provided on
said frame; the wire delivered from said wire supply source being
imparted two back-twists for each rotation of said third flyer.
3. A double twist twisting apparatus according to claim 1,
comprising a twist pitch detemining capstan supported in said
second flyer via said frame; a slip capstan; and a coarse winder
interposed between said capstans.
4. A double twist twisting apparatus adapted to twist steel wires,
comprising a plurality of wire suppliers each having a base
pedestal, a main shaft rotatable relative to said pedestal, a first
flyer fixed to said shaft, a frame mounted on said first flyer, a
wire supply source adapted to remain stationary with respect to
said pedestal, even while said flyer rotates, and a plurality of
guide rollers mounted on said frame, said wire suppliers each
imparting two back-twists to a wire delivered from said wire supply
source for each rotation of said first flyer; a back tension
capstan for imparting back tension to a group of wires delivered
from said wire suppliers; an open-shaped twister having a pair of
second flyers being C-shaped and diametrically opposed to each
other and supporting a take-up motion between said second flyers
via a frame, for imparting a first twist to said group of wires;
and a third flyer disposed on a step posterior to said twister and
adapted to be rotated in the same direction and at the same speed
as said twister, for imparting a second twist to said group of
wires; said third flyer having a twist pitch detemining capstan, a
wire straightener, a coarse winder, and a slip capstan all
supported in said flyer via a frame.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a high-speed double twist twisting
apparatus mainly for twisting steel wires. Generally in the case of
forming stranded steel wires as seen in FIG. 3, in order to ensure
what is called "dead cord," it has been necessary to first impart
back-twists to the wires W in advance, secondly twist them
together, and then apply them to a wire straightener as well as
coarsely wind further wires on them, thus obtaining stable twists,
because the steel wire has a far higher modulus of elasticity and
lower plasticity compared with the copper wire or the aluminum
wire. Conventionally, there have been a variety of wire twisting
apparatuses of the above-mentioned type which: (1) rotate
cage-shaped supply means provided with frames corresponding to the
number of wires to be twisted, (2) impart a back-twist to each wire
to be supplied for each revolution of the cage, (3) collect the
back-twisted wires through a collecting die and twist the same, (4)
apply said twisted wires to a wire straightener as well as impart a
coarse winding to them, and (5) wind the resulting strand onto a
bobbin or a drum.
However, these conventional types of wire twisting apparatus had
the disadvantages that they were impossible to operate at high
speeds owing to the cage being very heavy in weight, and that they
were not able to give any more than a single back-twist and a
single twist to each wire per revolution of the cage, thus
displaying an extremely low efficiency in operation. It has been
far from possible for the conventional types of wire double twist
twisting apparatus to twist together steel wires continuously and
smoothly as well as speedily in a single process for various
reasons. In the case of twisting together steel wires by the
conventional wire double twist twisting apparatus, twist
stabilizing devices such as a wire straightener, a coarse winder
and the like had to be provided prior to a take-up motion within
the frame of the twister, which necessitated the employment of a
frame of a larger size. As a consequence, the portion of the wire
group which revolved around said long and large-sized frame had to
have a long span, which inevitably made the centrifugal force
thereof larger enough to cause larger swinging of the wire group in
radial directions, resulting in the entanglement of the wires with
fixtures on the peripery of the apparatus. If high back tension is
applied to the wire group so as to avoid the swinging of the wire
group, there is a possibility of the wire group being elongated,
and, in an extreme case, of it being broken. Furthermore, even if
guide means such as guide pipes or dies are provided at the
swinging portion of the wire group in order to prevent the swinging
thereof, the wires will be strongly pressed against the inside
faces of the guide means by a great centrifugal force arising from
the long span, to cause damage to said inside faces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a high-speed wire
double twist twisting apparatus mainly adapted to twist steel
wires, which not only is capable of imparting two back-twists to
each wire and two twists to the wires twisted together for each
revolution of the flyers of the twisting apparatus, but also has a
much higher rotational speed than a conventional steel wire
twisting apparatus, thereby displaying more than twice as high
working efficiency as that of a conventional steel wire twisting
apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wire double
twist twisting apparatus mainly for twisting steel wires which is
capable of accomplishing for itself all the following steps:
supplying each wire after imparting it two back-twists for each
revolution of the flyer of the wire supplier, collecting the
back-twisted wires, imparting two twists to these collected wire
group per revolution of the flyer of the twister, then
straightening said wire group, further coarsely winding additional
wires on them, and then winding the resulting strand onto a
bobbin.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a wire
twisting apparatus which is provided with wire suppliers each
capable of imparting two back-twists to each wire before supplying
it outside the wire supplier.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a
high-speed wire twister which has open-type flyers provided with a
take-up motion, thereby being capable of rotating at high speeds as
well as facilitating the replacement of the take-up bobbin with a
new one.
Still further object of the present invention is to provide a steel
wire twisting apparatus which is provided with not only a capstan
for determining the pitch of twisted wires or the lead to a twist
thereof, and a slip capstan, but also a back tension applying
means, thereby securing stable twisting of the wires without any
irregularity of wire tension, notwithstanding the high-speed
rotation thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wire
twisting apparatus which is so constructed that the take-up bobbin
for taking up the twisted wire products, the wire straightener, and
the coarse winder are respectively mounted on separate frames each
of which is suspended by a different flyer, thereby being rotatable
at high speeds.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side view showing a whole wire twisting
apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a lateral sectional view showing the wire supply section
of the same apparatus viewed from the direction of the arrow A of
FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a pictorial view showing twisted steel wire products
manufactured by means of a wire twisting apparatus according to the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In FIG. 1, the reference numeral 1 generally represents a wire
supply mechanism, in which there are installed wire suppliers
corresponding to the number of the wires W to be twisted (seven
suppliers are shown in the drawing). Description will hereunder be
made with respect to said wire supply mechanism by reference to
FIG. 1 as well as FIG. 2. The reference numeral 101 is an immovably
fixed base pedestal, on which there is rotatably supported a main
shaft 102 with a central bore 102a coaxially disposed therethrough,
being inclined with respect to the horizontal line of the wire
supply mechanism, for example, via a ball bearing. On this main
shaft 102 a flyer 103 is fixedly mounted which is provided with a
lightweight frame 104 made of wire, steel band, or the like. A
bobbin support 105 is obliquely disposed on the central portion of
the flyer 103 for supporting a wire bobbin B which supplies wire W.
The top of the frame 104 is rotatably supported by an immovably
fixed member 112 such as a stem provided on a wall of the building,
or a part of the base pedestal 101. Thus, the main shaft 102, the
flyer 103, and the frame 104 are stably rotatable, all being
equally inclined with respect to the horizontal line of the wire
supply mechanism. The frame 104 is provided with a guide roller 106
on the extension of the longitudinal axis of the main shaft 102,
and the flyer 103 with a guide roller 108 on the extension of the
same axis. The frame 104 is also provided with an appropriate
number of additional guide rollers interposed between said rollers
106 and 108, one of said additional guide rollers being denoted by
the reference numeral 107. In addition, the base 101 is provided
with a guide roller 109 on the extensio of the longitudinal axis of
the main shaft 102, for altering the run of the wire. Furthermore,
guide rollers 110 and 111 are provided as shown in FIG. 2 for
guiding the run of the wire outside the wire supplier. In this wire
supplier, the bobbin support 105 supporting the bobbin B is
connected to the main shaft 102 via a frictionless bearing, and is
inclined with respect to the base 101. Therefore, owing to its own
weight, it is kept stationary together with the base 101 even while
the main shaft 102 and the flyer 103 rotate. Accordingly, the wire
to be fed from the bobbin B out is twisted for a first time at the
guide roller 106, and is again twisted for a second time between
the guide rollers 108 and 109, thus being given double twists in
total.
Further, instead of the above-mentioned construction wherein the
bobbin support is disposed obliquely with respect to the pedestal
so that due to its own weight, the bobbin support may remain
stationary together with the base even during the rotation of the
flyer, an alternate construction may be employed (not shown)
wherein the connection between the pedestal 101 and the bobbin
support 105 is made by intervening generally known differential
gears therebetween, so as to keep stationary the bobbin support
even while the flyer is rotating.
Still further, the wire supply source need not be restricted to
such bobbin in the preferred embodiment, and a common pay-off-pak
may be employed instead. A plurality of wires delivered from the
wire suppliers are fed into a back tension capstan 2 as shown in
FIG. 1. This capstan has two rolls 201 and 202 which are connected
to a torque motor or the like to impart appropriate back tension to
the wires to be twisted. In the preferred embodiment, a switch
board 7 is provided on the back tension capstan 2.
Next, the wires W to be twisted together are guided into a wire
twister represented generally by 3, after passing through a wire
separator 8. In this wire twister, diametrically opposed bearing
stands 301 and 302 are provided which contain driving members such
as gear trains respectively. On the both bearing stands there are
rotatably supported hollow shafts 303 and 304 respectively which
face each other in coaxial relationship. Further, C-shaped flyers
305 and 306 are fixed to the hollow shafts 303 and 304 respectively
so as to extend radially of the common axis of the hollow shafts
303 and 304 and be positioned between the bearing stands 301 and
302. Said hollow shafts 303 and 304 disposed between the bearing
stands 301 and 302 are mutually rotated in the same direction and
at the same speed by means of a main driving shaft 6 which is
driven by a main drive motor 5 located in an appropriate place.
A frame is journalled in the hollow shafts 303 and 304, on which
are mounted a take-up bobbin 308 and a take-up motion having a
means for rotating said take-up bobbin such as a torque motor (not
shown). On the flyer 305 a guide roller 309 is mounted in such a
manner that the groove bottom thereof is located on the central
axis of the hollow shaft 303, and on the flyer 306 the guide roller
314 in such a manner that the groove bottom thereof is located
slightly above the central axis of the hollow shaft 304. Further,
said flyers 305 and 306 are provided with guide rollers 310, 311
and 312, 313 respectively at placed adjacent one of the radially
extending ends thereof.
In FIG. 1, the wire group to be twisted together travels from the
left side into the hollow shaft 303, in which the wire group is
twisted together for a first time, then passes through guide
rollers 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, and 314 in order thereof, and is
guided inside the hollow shaft 304 along the interior side slightly
above the central axis thereof, thus leaving the wire twister 3.
The wire group to be stranded makes a motion like a skipping rope
between the guide rollers 311 and 312, without contacting nor being
supported by anything, while the flyers 305 and 306 rotate. These
open-type flyers, being one of the features of the present
invention, dispense with the connecting members therebetween, thus
not only reducing the total weight of these flyers, but also being
capable of rotating at high speeds. Since the wire group in a
motion like a skipping rope is apt to radially run out due to the
centrifugal force caused by the high speed rotation of the wire
twister, it will be advantageous for the span or distance between
the guide rollers 311 and 312 to be as short as possible. For this
purpose, preferably the wire twister is so constructed that nothing
but the take-up motion is mounted on the frame 307 so as to make
short the distance between the flyers 305 and 306, that is, the
length of the frame 307. Also this construction is one of the
features of this invention.
After leaving the wire twister 3, the twisted wire group is guided
into a wire straightener and a coarse winder indicated generally by
4. Generally, they have about the same construction as the
aforementioned wire twister 3 but, they have the bearing stand 302
in common with the wire twister 3 at the left side thereof
according to the drawing, to which stand is opposed another bearing
stand 402.
On these bearing stands 302 and 402 there are respectively provided
hollow shafts 403 and 404 facing each other, on which shafts are
mounted flyer members 405 and 406 respectively, connected with each
other by means of connecting members one of which is indicated by
408 in the drawing, to generally form a flyer.
Preferably these flyer members 405 and 406 may be as short as
possible in radial length so as to minimize the centrifugal force
for facilitation of the high speed rotation thereof. Guide rollers
412 and 415 are provided on the hollow shafts 403 and 404
respectively in the same manner as in the case of the guide rollers
309 and 314, while guide rollers 413 and 414 are provided along the
connecting members. Thus, the flyer formed by flyer members 405 and
406 is rotated by the main driving shaft 6 in the same direction
and at the same speed as the flyers of the wire twister. Between
the hollow shafts 403 and 404 there is suspended a frame 407 via
ball-and-roller bearings or the like, on which are provided a pitch
determining capstan 416, a wire straightener 411, a coarse winder
409, a spare cheese 410 (a wire supply source in a cylindrical
form) for coarse winding, a slip capstan 417 which are arranged in
order from right to left, that is, in the direction in which the
wires twisted together or strand travels, as shown in FIG. 1.
The twisted wire group delivered from the wire twister 3 through
the hollow shaft 403 passes over guide rollers 412, 413, and 414,
and then turns by approximately 180.degree. at a guide roller 415,
thus travelling leftwards into a pitch determing capstan 416. The
twisted wire group is given a twist for a second time between the
guide roller 415 and the pitch determining capstan 416 into a
strand. The designation "a pitch determining capstan 416" comes
from its function of determining the twist pitch of the strand
product or the lead to a twist of the strand by presetting its own
draw speed with respect to the rotational speed of the flyers of
the wire twister 3. Said pitch determining capstan 416, the slip
capstan 417 to be described hereinafter, and the coarse winder 409
are connected with each other via the hollow shaft 404, a planetary
gear transmission, and speed change gears (the latter two are not
shown in the drawing), thus making it possible to rotate them at
any desired speed. The wire straightener consists of a first
straighting means 411a having a group of rollers arranged in
transversal rows and a second straighting means 411b having a group
of rollers in longitudinal rows and said rollers are further
arranged in alternation with each other as shown in the drawing,
for straightening the wire group as it passes through them in
contact with the periperies thereof. Thus, the resulting strand
delivered from the wire straightener is free of any kinks.
The coarse winder 409 which serves to give the strand coarse
winding with wires t, is of a known type having an arm for paying
out wires t as it revolves around the strand.
The slip capstan 417 is driven so that the draw speed thereof may
be slightly higher than the draw speed of the pitch determining
capstan 416 so as to keep the strand in sufficient tension in the
coarse winding process. Since an excess of the draw speed of the
former over that of the latter is absorbed by slipping of the slip
means (not shown), this capstan 417 is designated as a slip
capstan, by virtue of which good coarse winding is obtained.
The strand delivered from the slip capstan 417 is again drawn into
the twister 3 through the hollow shafts 403 and 304, in which it
passes over appropriate guide rollers (one of them is shown as 315)
and a traverse roller to be wound onto the take-up bobbin 308. This
invention also contemplates the replacement of the take-up bobbin
with a new one which can be very conveniently made due to the
open-type flyers.
Now, description will be hereunder made with respect to the process
for manufacturing a strand according to this invention, in the
order of the proceeding of the wires: The wires each given double
back-twists and delivered from the wire suppliers are guided into
the twister 3 through the wire separator 8 by means of the back
tension capstan 2, in which they are given a first twist at the
guide roller 309 in the hollow shaft 303. The wire group thus given
a single twist makes a motion like a skipping rope as it passes
through the twister 3, and leaves it, then passing over the flyer
accomodating the wire straightener 411 and the coarse winder 409
along the periphery thereof, to the guide roller 415 on the right
hand at which it is given a second twist as it is turned back to
the left side.
Subsequently, the strand passes through the aforementioned steps
until it reaches the take-up bobbin 308. As described above, in the
wire twisting apparatus according to this invention, each wire is
given double back-twists and then the wire group double twists for
each rotation of each flyer. In addition, the flyers are capable of
rotating at high speeds because of the peculiar construction of the
apparatus of the present invention, thereby securing twice as high
efficiency of twisting as that of a conventional type.
The aforementioned embodiment shows a wire twisting apparatus in
which two different frames are used, one for a take-up motion, and
the other for a wire straightener and a coarse winder respectively.
However, an additional frame may be employed to accomodate either
of the straightener and the coarse winder independently of each
other. extension
It is a spirit of this invention to aim at minimizing the weight
and size of each flyer as well as enormously increasing the
rotational speed thereof by arranging these means or devices to be
separate from each other as far as circumstances permit, so as to
avoid a larger size of the frame which is suspended by said
flyer.
While preferred embodiment of the present invention have been
described, any modifications thereof will be apparent to those
skilled in the art except as they appear in the appended
claims.
* * * * *