GB1567522A - Winch - Google Patents

Description

(54) WINCH (71) We, DONKIN & COMPANY LI MITED, a British Company, of Shields Road, Walkergate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2YA, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a winch having a drum onto which cable is wound in a series of helical layers.

To effect even winding of the cable a spooling carriage is provided which reciprocates parallel to the winch axis and guides the cable onto the drum. The carriage is driven by and rides along a spooling shaft, driven from the winch drum, and moves, in theory, exactly one cable diameter each time the drum makes one revolution. In practice, however. variations in cable diameter occur, especially over very long runs of quite thick cable. due to wear or manufacturing tolerances. This means that the spooling carriage eventually gets 'out of step" and needs to be adjusted.To do this it is necessary to stop the winch, which can be inconvenient, de-clutch the spooling shaft drive from the winch drive, and advance or retard the spooling carriage manuallv. This is a disadvantage of known winches and is particularly troublesome with remotecontrolled winches with rope lengths of up to 2000 metres. Reeling rope with such winches is undertaken with frequent stops to check the lay of the rope on the drum and make any necessary adjustment of the spooling carriage.

An object of the invention is to provide a winch which does not have the above -disadvantages.

The present invention provides a winch comprising a drum and a spooling carriage reciprocable parallel to the axis of the drum by means of a driven double helicallvgrooved spooling shaft engaging a nut carried by the spooling carriage, a sensing element on the spooling carriage capable of sensing the alignment of rope passing from the spooling carriage to the drum or vice versa, and means responsive to said sensing element and capable of advancing or retarding the spooling carriage in the event of rope misalignment.

The sensing element can comprise a follower pivoted on the carriage and engaging the rope between the carriage and drum, pivoting of the follower in response to rope misalignment initiating advancing or retarding of the carriage.

The means for advancing or retarding the carriage can comprise a differential gearing between the drum and the drive shaft of the carriage and operated by an electric motor in response to position switches actuable by the follower.

In one preferred embodiment the gearing comprises a sleeve surrounding an extension of a drum axle, a driven sprocket and a bevel wheel fixed to the sleeve and a second bevel wheel attached to the extension of the drum axle planet wheels carried by a normally stationary planet carrier meshing with the two bevel wheels, so that by rotating the planet carrier the speed of rotation of the driven sprocket (which drives the spooling shaft) can be increased or decreased temporarily to cause the carriage to speed up or slow down.

This can, of course, be carried out whilst the drum is rotating.

The invention will be described further, by way of examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof, it being understood that the following description is illustrative and not limitative of the scope of the invention. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a first preferred winch of the invention; Figure 2 is a cross-section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a view in the direction of the arrow 3 in Figure 2; I iglfre 4 is an enlarged cross-section through gearing of the winch; I'igure 5 is a view similar to that of Figure 3 hint showing a variation; / itgzere 6 is a plan view of a second enibodiment of winch of the invention;; I-ïfXure 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a gearing of the winch of Figure 6; )'igure 8 is a side elevation of the winch of Figure 6; 'figure 9 is a side view (on an enlarged scale) of a rope sensor of the second winch; and Figure 10 is a front elevation of the sensor ot Figure 9.

A first preferred embodiment of winch 10 of the invention comprises a drum 11, having a cylindrical barrel 12 and disc-like end plates 13 rotatable about shaft stub axles 14. 15. In front of the drum l l a spooling device shaft 16 and a guide shaft 17 extend parallel to the axis of the drum 11 would serve to drive the guide spooling carriage 18. lie drum 11 can be rotated by a hydraulic motor 14err.

The spooling drive shaft 16 has conventional left hind and right hand helical grooves It) which engage a nut (not shown) on the carriage 18. The shaft 16 is driven by a chain 2() from gearing 21 on axle 15 of the drum 11 and as the drum 11 fills the carriage 18 reciprocates across the face of the drum II laying the cable 22 neatly in a series of helical layers.

An extension 28 (Figure 4) of the drum shaft 15 mounts a sleeve 24 which can rotate relative thereto and a driven sprocket 25 for the said chain 20 is keyed hereto as is a bevel wheel 26. A second bevel wheel 27 is keyed to the end of the extension 28 and planet wheels 29 carried by a planet carrier 30 mesh with the bevel wheels 26 and 27. Thus with the carrier 30 stationary the shaft 16 normally rotates at the same speed as the driven sprocket 25 and in the opposite direction.

A further sprocket 31 is attached to the planet carrier 30 and is connected to a still further sprocket 32 driven by an electric motor 33 via a gear box 34. When the sprocket 32 is rotated it causes the planet carrier 30 to rotate, thus causing a speeding up or slowing down of the spooling shaft 16 relative to the axle 15. This allows the spooling carriage 18 to be advanced or retarded to take up its correct aligned position should it become misaligned due to variations in cable width due to manufactur ing tolerances. wear, or flattening under tension. The adjustment can readilv be carried out whilst the drum 11 is rotating.

As a sensing element for sensing when the cable 22 passing from the carriage 18 to the drum 11 is not lying at right angles to the axis of the drum 11, the carriage 18 mounts a member 35 pivoted at 36 and 37 and having spaced feeler bars 38 contacting the cable 22. The feeler bars 3X move, of course, with the cable 22 if it deviates from its normal alignment at right angles to the drum axis. Member 35 carries a bevel wheel 39 meshing with a bevel wheel 40 also mounted on the carriage 18 and through whose centre passes a groved shaft 41.

When member 35 and bevel wheel 39 rotate, wheel 40 turns shaft 41 correspondingly, whatever the position of carriage 18 relative thereto. Shaft 41 carries a lever 42 which, upon pivoting, co-operates with one or other of position switches 43 which actuate motor 33. At each end of travel of the carriage 18, switches 44 altcr the polarity of the motor 33. to ensure correct actuation.

Figure 5 illustrates a modification wherein the bevel wheels 39 and 40 and shaft 41 are dispensed with and member 35 carries a Icver 45 which can contact switches 46 on the carriage 18. In this case a flexible tensioned electrical cable (not shown) would connect the switches 46 to the motor 33.

A second preferred embodiment of winch 50 conforming to the invention is a storage winch, intended to receive rope from a hauling winch (not shown) and store it on a drum 51. The winch 50 is generally similar to winch 10, but rope 69 (Figure 8) coming from a fixed outlet of the hauling winch passes over pulleys 52 on a pendulum arm 53 whence it passes to the drum 51. Arm 53 is reciprocated by means of a carriage (not shown) engaging a spooling shaft 54. Shaft 54 is driven from the winch driving motor 55 via a differential gearing 56 which will be described in detail later.

The extreme end of arm 53 remote from a hollow trunnion pivot 57 carries wheels 58 which bear on a frame 59 of the winch 50.

Adjacent this end is mounted a rope sensor 60, best illustrated in Figures 9 and 10. The rope sensor 60 comprises a pair of D-shaped bars 61 extending between spaced apart pivoted bosses 62, an upper one of which carries an actuating bar 63 which, according to the orientation of the bars 61 cooperates with microswitches 64. 65, 66, 67 and 68.

These microswitches are connected to an electric motor 70 driving the differential gearing 56 between the drive of the drum 51 and spooling shaft 54.

Spooling shaft 54 is driven from the drum 51 at such a rate that the carriage traverses the drum 51 at a rate sufficient to lay the rope 69 in a regular helical arrangement should the rope 69 cease to leave the carriage at right angles to the axis of the drum 51 this causes pivoting of the sensor 60 whose actuating bar 63 co-operates with one or other of the microswitches to actuate motor 70 which influences gearing 56. Gearing 56 has an input sprocket 71, from the drum drive, which has on its shaft a bevel wheel 72, which meshes with and drives planet bevel wheels 73 carried by a planet carrier 74. The planet wheels 73 in turn drive an output bevel wheel 75 on whose shaft is an output sprocket 76 which in turn drives the spooling shaft 54.The carrier 74 has a bevel wheel 77 fixed to it and this can be rotated in either direction by a bevel wheel 78 carried by the output shaft 79 of motor 70. Normally, the motor 70 is stopped and thus planet carrier 74 is stationary. The drive from sprocket 71 to sprocket 76 is thus constant. When the motor 70 is started, the planet carrier 74 rotates and, dependent upon the direction of rotation of the motor 7,the output sprocket 76 is speeded up or slowed down relative to sproket 71, thus advancing or retarding the spooling carriage. Because the spooling carriage reciprocates, it would normally be necessary to have some way of ascertaining in which direction it is travelling in order to rotate motor 70 in the correct direction. However, the arrangement of the microswitches 65 to 68 obviates this need.Switches 64 and 67 are "motor on" switches, switches 64 and 68 are "motor reverse" switches, and switch 66 is a "motor off" switch.

Normally actuating bar 63 is generally central and may pivot slightly actuating switch 66. This has no effect as this is a "stop" switch. When any serious rope misalignment occurs the sensor 60 pivots and bar 63 pivots and contacts, say, "motor on" switch 67. Now one of two things can happen. If the motor 70 is switched on to rotate in a direction tending to cancel the misalignment. the bar 60 moves back away from switch 67 and continues moving until it contacts switch 66 and the motor 70 is switched off. If, however, the motor 70 is actuated to rotate in a direction which increases the misalignment. bar 60 moves past switch 67 until it contacts switch 68 which reverses the motor and thus causes the bar to move back towards the centre until it contacts switch 66 and switches the motor off.

The invention is not limited to the precise details of the foregoing and variations can be made thereto within the scope of the following claims. For example, any feature of either embodiment can be replaced by an equivalent feature of the other embodiment.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A winch comprising a drum and a spooling carriage reciprocable parallel to the axis of the drum bv means of a driven doubly helically-grooved spooling shaft engaging a nut carried by the spooling carriage, a sensing element on the spooling carriage capable of sensing the alignment of rope passing from the spooling carriage to the drum or vice versa, and means responsive to said sensing element and capable of advancing or retarding the spooling carriage in the event of rope misalignment.

2. A winch as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing element comprises a follower pivoted on the carriage and engaging the rope between the carriage and the drum, pivoting of the follower in response to rope misalignment initiating advancing or retarding of the carriage.

3. A winch as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the means for advancing or retarding the carriage comprises a differential gearing between the drum and the spooling shaft and operable by an electric motor in response to position switches actuable by the follower.

4. A winch as claimed in claim 3, wherein the gearing comprises a sleeve surrounding an extension of a drum axle, a driven sproxket and a bevel wheel fixed to the sleeve and a second bevel wheel attached to the extension of the drum axle planet wheels, carried by a normally stationary planet carrier, meshing with the two bevel wheels, so that by rotating the planet carrier the speed of rotation of the driven sprocket (which drives the spooling shaft) can be increased or decreased temporarily to cause the carriage to speed up or slow down.

5. A winch as claimed in claim 3 or 4 wherein the follower comprises a pair of bars disposed one on each side of the rope and extending between pivoted bosses, one of which carries an actuating bar which co-operates with said position switches.

6. A winch as claimed in claim 5, wherein the position switches are five in number, an outer spaced apart pair being "motor reverse" switches, an inner spaced apart pair being "motor start" switches, and a central one being a "motor stop" switch.

7. A winch substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 5, or Figures 6 to 10, of the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (7)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. whose actuating bar 63 co-operates with one or other of the microswitches to actuate motor 70 which influences gearing 56. Gearing 56 has an input sprocket 71, from the drum drive, which has on its shaft a bevel wheel 72, which meshes with and drives planet bevel wheels 73 carried by a planet carrier 74. The planet wheels 73 in turn drive an output bevel wheel 75 on whose shaft is an output sprocket 76 which in turn drives the spooling shaft 54. The carrier 74 has a bevel wheel 77 fixed to it and this can be rotated in either direction by a bevel wheel 78 carried by the output shaft 79 of motor 70. Normally, the motor 70 is stopped and thus planet carrier 74 is stationary. The drive from sprocket 71 to sprocket 76 is thus constant.When the motor 70 is started, the planet carrier 74 rotates and, dependent upon the direction of rotation of the motor 7,the output sprocket 76 is speeded up or slowed down relative to sproket 71, thus advancing or retarding the spooling carriage. Because the spooling carriage reciprocates, it would normally be necessary to have some way of ascertaining in which direction it is travelling in order to rotate motor 70 in the correct direction. However, the arrangement of the microswitches 65 to 68 obviates this need. Switches 64 and 67 are "motor on" switches, switches 64 and 68 are "motor reverse" switches, and switch 66 is a "motor off" switch. Normally actuating bar 63 is generally central and may pivot slightly actuating switch 66. This has no effect as this is a "stop" switch. When any serious rope misalignment occurs the sensor 60 pivots and bar 63 pivots and contacts, say, "motor on" switch 67. Now one of two things can happen. If the motor 70 is switched on to rotate in a direction tending to cancel the misalignment. the bar 60 moves back away from switch 67 and continues moving until it contacts switch 66 and the motor 70 is switched off. If, however, the motor 70 is actuated to rotate in a direction which increases the misalignment. bar 60 moves past switch 67 until it contacts switch 68 which reverses the motor and thus causes the bar to move back towards the centre until it contacts switch 66 and switches the motor off. The invention is not limited to the precise details of the foregoing and variations can be made thereto within the scope of the following claims. For example, any feature of either embodiment can be replaced by an equivalent feature of the other embodiment. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A winch comprising a drum and a spooling carriage reciprocable parallel to the axis of the drum bv means of a driven doubly helically-grooved spooling shaft engaging a nut carried by the spooling carriage, a sensing element on the spooling carriage capable of sensing the alignment of rope passing from the spooling carriage to the drum or vice versa, and means responsive to said sensing element and capable of advancing or retarding the spooling carriage in the event of rope misalignment.

2. A winch as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing element comprises a follower pivoted on the carriage and engaging the rope between the carriage and the drum, pivoting of the follower in response to rope misalignment initiating advancing or retarding of the carriage.

3. A winch as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the means for advancing or retarding the carriage comprises a differential gearing between the drum and the spooling shaft and operable by an electric motor in response to position switches actuable by the follower.

4. A winch as claimed in claim 3, wherein the gearing comprises a sleeve surrounding an extension of a drum axle, a driven sproxket and a bevel wheel fixed to the sleeve and a second bevel wheel attached to the extension of the drum axle planet wheels, carried by a normally stationary planet carrier, meshing with the two bevel wheels, so that by rotating the planet carrier the speed of rotation of the driven sprocket (which drives the spooling shaft) can be increased or decreased temporarily to cause the carriage to speed up or slow down.

5. A winch as claimed in claim 3 or 4 wherein the follower comprises a pair of bars disposed one on each side of the rope and extending between pivoted bosses, one of which carries an actuating bar which co-operates with said position switches.

6. A winch as claimed in claim 5, wherein the position switches are five in number, an outer spaced apart pair being "motor reverse" switches, an inner spaced apart pair being "motor start" switches, and a central one being a "motor stop" switch.

7. A winch substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 5, or Figures 6 to 10, of the accompanying drawings.