U.S. patent number RE40,351 [Application Number 09/712,836] was granted by the patent office on 2008-06-03 for mechanism for braking the unwinding of a bundle of metallic wire housed in a drum.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Lincoln Global, Inc.. Invention is credited to Giancarlo Cipriani.
United States Patent |
RE40,351 |
Cipriani |
June 3, 2008 |
Mechanism for braking the unwinding of a bundle of metallic wire
housed in a drum
Abstract
A circular crown shaped pressure disk (1), furnished with, on
its external rim, jutting stirrup shaped, flexible elements (2)
whose size makes them press on the internal surface of the drum (7)
within which the disk is housed. The internal rim of the disk is
equipped with winglets (3) and with flexible tabs (5) directed
nearly tangentially in respect to the tubular trunk (8), placed at
the center of the drum (7). The flexible tabs are for stopping the
rise of the bundle of coils so as to impede their knotting and to
help guiding the wire, as it is pulled to the outside of the drum
and unwound from the bundle.
Inventors: |
Cipriani; Giancarlo (Arezzo,
IT) |
Assignee: |
Lincoln Global, Inc. (City of
Industry, CA)
|
Family
ID: |
38872688 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/712,836 |
Filed: |
November 14, 2000 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
Reissue of: |
08854691 |
May 12, 1997 |
05845862 |
Dec 8, 1998 |
|
|
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Jul 24, 1996 [IT] |
|
|
AR96A0022 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
242/423.1;
242/128; 242/156.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B23K
9/1333 (20130101); B65H 57/18 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65H
59/06 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;242/156,156.1,156.2,423.1,566,593,128,125.3,172,419,157R |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
62-111872 |
|
May 1987 |
|
JP |
|
03264169 |
|
Nov 1991 |
|
JP |
|
Primary Examiner: Rivera; William A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Fay Sharpe LLP
Parent Case Text
.Iadd.This application is a reissue application of U.S. Pat. No.
5,845,862, issued on Dec. 8, 1998. A continuation application of
this reissue application was filed on Jul. 11, 2007 and assigned
application Ser. No. 11/776,331..Iaddend.
Claims
I claim:
1. A device for braking the unwinding of bundled metal wire placed
in a drum, for the feeding of welding machines having an automatic
advancing movement of the wire, the device having a circular crown
with jutting flexible elements on its outer edge for pressing on an
inner surface of the drum, and further comprising guiding winglets
and flexible tabs on an inner edge of the crown.
2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said jutting flexible
elements are stirrup-shaped.
3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the winglets have a
circular inner periphery, the inner periphery including a skeleton
curved into a spiral towards a center of the crown.
4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible tabs are
oriented in an almost tangential direction toward a circle interior
to the inner edge of the crown and are for suppressing inadvertent
release of the wire in the drum.
.Iadd.5. A device for braking the unwinding of bundled metal wire
placed in a drum, for the feeding of welding machines having an
automatic advancing movement of the wire, the drum having an
internal surface, said device comprising a circular crown having an
outer peripheral edge which is spaced from the internal surface of
the drum which allows said device to descend with the unwinding of
the wire, said device includes inwardly extending flexible tabs on
an inner edge of said crown having a front edge facing the wire
during the unwinding, said flexible tabs on said inner edge being
at an angle less than 90 degrees from said inner edge, and the wire
traveling along said front edge during the unwinding..Iaddend.
.Iadd.6. The device as described in claim 5, wherein said angle is
less than 75.degree...Iaddend.
.Iadd.7. The device as described in claim 5, wherein the drum
further includes a central cylindrical tubular trunk generally
centered in the drum, said inner edge of said crown surrounding
said tubular trunk and said inwardly extending flexible tabs having
a length to engage said tubular trunk..Iaddend.
.Iadd.8. The device as described in claim 5, wherein said device
further includes flexible elements on an outer edge of said crown,
said flexible elements engaging the internal surface the
drum..Iaddend.
.Iadd.9. A device for braking the unwinding of bundled metal wire
placed in a drum, for the feeding of welding machines having an
automatic advancing movement of the wire, the drum having an
internal surface, said device comprising a circular crown having an
outer peripheral edge which is spaced from the internal surface of
the drum which allows said device to descend with the unwinding of
the wire and includes flexible tabs on an inner edge of said crown
and non-flexible guide winglets on said inner edge of said
crown..Iaddend.
.Iadd.10. A device for braking the unwinding of bundled metal wire
placed in a drum, for the feeding of welding machines having an
automatic advancing movement of the wire, comprising a circular
crown with flexible tabs on an inner edge of said crown and
flexible elements on an outer edge of said crown, said flexible
tabs on said inner edge being at an angle less than 90 degrees from
said inner edge and said flexible tabs guiding the wire as it is
unwound..Iaddend.
.Iadd.11. The device as described in claim 10, wherein said angle
is less than 75.degree...Iaddend.
.Iadd.12. A device for braking the unwinding of bundled wire placed
in a drum, for feeding of welding machines having an automatic
advancing movement of the wire, the drum having a central
cylindrical tubular trunk generally centered therein, said device
comprising a circular crown with an opening substantially smaller
than said tubular trunk and having an inner circular periphery
whereby said crown surrounds said tubular trunk so said periphery
defines an annular space around said tubular trunk with a given
width and a plurality of flexible tabs extending at an angle less
than 90 degrees from said periphery at circumferentially spaced
positions, said tabs having a length to engage said tubular trunk
at said angle when said crown is in said drum and as said wire is
pulled from said drum between said tubular trunk and said flexible
tabs..Iaddend.
.Iadd.13. The device as described in claim 12, wherein said angle
is less than 75.degree...Iaddend.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a mechanism for the braking of the unwinding
of a bundle of metallic wire housed in a container drum and aimed
particularly at feeding soldering machines, in particular those
operating continuously, with automatic advancing of the wire that
constitutes the weld metal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Coils of metal wire are used, particularly in the field of
continuous soldering machines, where said wire is unrolled and
carried to the soldering point where it is melted to join the two
parts to be soldered.
When the quantity of wire being used is large, instead of being
wound in rolls of a few kilogrammes in weight, the metallic wire,
is contained as a bundle of various quintals inside a drum with a
positioning cylindrical core, so that it is capable of feeding the
soldering machine for a long period of time, eliminating in this
way its frequent stoppage due to lack of the same soldering
wire.
This type of feeder drum is positioned, when operative, with its
axis in vertical position and the wire of the bundle is pulled up
by a dragging unit. Due to the extreme elasticity of the wire and
of its tendency to straighten out, when it is pulled towards the
outside, various turns tend to rise together and they can become
tangled among each other so as to provoke the stoppage of its
advancement. This inconvenience is being presently avoided by the
use of a crown shaped weight, placed inside the drum and on the
bundle of wire with the aim of avoiding the rising of various turns
at the same time and therefore their tangling up.
However, there is a clearance between said crown and the inner
surface of the drum's contour and between the crown and the surface
of the inner tubular trunk which keeps the bundle in position,
without said clearance, due to the fact that the drums are not
strictly identical to one another, the crown shaped weight could
adhere to said surfaces and not slide enough to maintain itself
adherent to the bundle, as the wire is used, or could impede the
unwinding of the wire because of the pressure placed on the
contours of the drum where it adheres, and would end up by carrying
out a blockage on the wire that should instead move forward.
If instead the crown shaped weight should have a relatively ample
clearance compared to the internal surface of the drum and of the
internal tubular trunk, the movement of the coils at the top of the
bundle, determined by the unrolling movement, could bring said
turns or parts of them above the pressure disk and interact with it
to form a knot, therefore blocking the unwinding of the bundle and
consequently of the soldering machine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Taking the disadvantages and problems of the above technique into
consideration, consequently one of the main aims of this invention
is to find a device which can stop the turns of the bundle inside
the feeding drum from lifting from the bundle itself. This to avoid
the tangling up of the wire that would stop the wire feeding unit
therefore also the soldering machine.
Another aim of this invention is to find a device that can act on
drums that are not strictly identical and that can avoid that one
or more coils should pass over the device itself and therefore get
tangled on it causing the advancement of the wire from the bundle
which is being unrolled, to stop.
A further aim is to realise a low cost relatively light device,
capable of carrying out a non excessive but regular braking action
in time, while the bundle unwinds. This to avoid stress on the unit
that pulls the wire from the bundle to allow an even pull towards
the welding point to allow a uniform soldering in time.
An invention that can reach said results is particularly
advantageous because it allows the use of drums containing metal
wire bundles of various sizes. It allows the correct unwinding of
the bundles, without the tangling up of the wire, and a correct
feed of the non stop welding machines so that these latter ones can
carry out uniform and sized welds as foreseen while making the
project. This means without waste due to anomalous feed of the
welding wire.
The invention which allows us to obtain said results consists in a
circular crown shaped device, equipped with jutting flexible
stirrup shaped elements on the external rim. The size of these
elements is such that they can adhere, eventually by inflecting, on
to the inner surface of the drum within which it will be placed. On
its inner rim the crown is also equipped with guiding winglets and
flexible tabs oriented in an almost tangential direction in respect
to the tubular trunk placed at the center of the drum, such as to
reach it to block the lifting from the bundle of turns and
therefore to avoid their tangling and consequently to help guide
the wire as it is pulled and unwound from the bundle to the outside
of the drum.
The stirrup shaped elements, placed on the outside of the circular
crown shaped structure, are such as to avoid the wire from the
bundle to pass over from the external edge of the invention and to
position itself over it, thus avoiding their tangling up. The
flexible structure of these stirrups is such as to allow the use of
the invention also when the drum in which it is placed has a
reduced diameter compared with the one foreseen.
The internal winglets and flexible tabs are instead adequate to
help direct the wire toward the tubular trunk in the middle of the
drum. Said wire is pulled from the outside and at the same time the
winglets and flexible tabs avoid the coils at the top of the
bundle--on which the invention is placed--to move excessively and
to emerge from the same winglets and tabs.
In this way the bundle is forced to unwind in a correct way, and
thanks to the light weight of the invention, which is normally made
through a moulding process of plastic materials, without having to
exercise a considerable pressure that would determine an excessive
braking action on the wire pulled by the dragging group.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
More features of the invention and the advantages which it
determines will clearly appear in the following description, which
is referred to a preferred shape in its execution, however it is
illustrated as a pure example which by no means is limiting, in the
figures of the enclosed drawing, in which:
FIG. 1 is the layout view of the lower part of the invention;
FIG. 2 is the view along the .[.AA.]. .Iadd.2-2 .Iaddend.section
line of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is the partial view along the .[.BB.]. .Iadd.3-3
.Iaddend.section line of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is the view on a different scale of a section of the drum
with the invention inserted on it, sectioned with an axial
plane.
However, it must be clear that the drawings and the corresponding
described parts are given exclusively as the illustration of the
object of the invention, without in any way constituting a
limitation of it.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In the drawings we have indicated with 1 the circular shaped crown
structure, with 2 the stirrup shaped flexible elements, with 3 the
shaped winglets, with 4 their external profile, with 5 the flexible
tabs, with 6 the thin skeletons that connect the winglets 3 with
the tabs 5, with 7 the drum, with 8 its central tubular trunk. In
substance, the invention consists in a device capable of carrying
out a braking and containing action in the unwinding of the metal
wire wound into a bundle and placed inside a containing drum 7,
having a tubular center 8. The wire being used to feed welding
machines and in particular those operating non stop (welding
robots).
Said device operates a braking action on the movement of the coils
at the top of the bundle that is being unwound. It consists in an
element which can carry out a slight pushing action on the coils
and is formed by a circular crown 1 having on its outer edge
distributed stirrup shaped flexible elements 2, with a dimension
that allows their adherence--bending inwards if necessary--to the
internal surface of the drum 7 in which the invention is
positioned. In this way it can stop the external parts of the coils
from rising along the internal surface of the drum 7 and to go over
the level of the pressure disk itself and as a consequence of the
pulling action, the wire could move close to the tubular trunk 8
and create a knot on the disk 1 with the effect of stopping its
normal flow.
On its inner edge the disk 1 is equipped with distributed guiding
winglets 3 and flexible tabs 5. The former having the profile 4 of
the side oriented towards the axis of the drum 7, connected to the
thin skeleton 6 curved into a spiral towards the center of the same
drum, so that the wire of the bundle, when pulled, is evenly
sustained and guided towards the center of the drum 7 to emerge
from it staying adherent to the tubular trunk 8 against which it is
pushed by the sequence of flexible tabs 5 that follow it as it
unwinds.
The invention therefore carries out two actions, the first one
consisting in a braking action that also regulates the movement of
the coils at the top of the bundle, in fact said movement would be
turbulent and disorganized without it. The second action is that of
convoying the wire that unwinds making it emerge from the drum 7 in
an almost axial direction as well as a rotary one to follow the
coils that unwind from the bundle.
* * * * *