US3039380A - Wire tying machines - Google Patents

Description

June 19, 1962 R. D. SANSUM WIRE TYING MACHINES Filed Dec. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ROBERT- D. SANSUM June 19, 1962 R. D. SANSUM WIRE TYING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 9, 1959 I NvENToR ROBERT D. SANS uM United States Patent Ofi 3,039,380 WIRE TYING MACHINES Robert David Sansum, Hounslow, England, assignor to Gerrard Industries Limited, Brentford, and Rylands Brothers Limited, Warrington, England Filed Dec. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 858,405

Claims priority, application Great Britain Oct. 23, 1959 Claims. (Cl. 100-12) This irvention relates to improvements in machines for making wire ties about coils of material such as wire or ro In our Patent No. 2,957,406, we have described a machine which has a work head which is moved vertically into the centre of a coil of material laid upon a table. The machine feeds out wire beneath the coil, the free end of the wire is wrapped about the material and is inserted in a gripper. The gripper is closed by operation of a manual lever; tension is applied to the tying wire and the gripper is rotated to form a twisted tie.

It is the object of the present invention to obviate the necessity for manual operation of the gripper and thus make for greater automaticity and speed for operation of such a machine.

According to the invention we provide a wire tying machine as otherwise generally described in the above numbered patent wherein a stationary abutment actuates push-rod means to free the gripper on a downward movement of the work-head and wherein means actuated by operation of the wire tensioning means causes the gripper to grasp the free end of wire inserted therein.

In preferred forms of apparatus according to the invention the push-rod means is operatively connected to a yoke engaging the gripper which is spring-biased towards a position in which it causes the gripper to grasp the wire.

In such preferred forms of apparatus it is also convenient to provide a latching member which is engaged with the push-rod means on a downward movement of the workhead and which is released by a pawl connected to a drive shaft of the tensioning means when that shaft is rotated in the sense to tension the tying wire. The latching member is preferably spring-biased towards the position in which it engages the push-rod means and may be formed with a charnfered face for engagement with the pawl connected to the drive shaft of the tensioning means.

The above and other features of the invention may be more clearly comprehended from the following description of a particular form of machine in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the work-head of the machine,

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the parts of such workhead which include the novel features of the invention,

FIG. 3 is an end elevation in the direction of the arrow A shown upon FIG. 2.

Referring first to FIG. 1 the work-head 1 of a machine for tying wire about a coil of wire or like material is carried by a post 31 that is slidable vertically within a guide 2 forming part of a vertically fixed carriage 3.

The head includes a feed tube -4 for tying wire E, which wire is led from a drum (not shown) of conventional form and forming no part of the present invention.

Grooved rollers 5, which are intermeshed, are driven by a shaft 6 by a motor 7 in one sense to feed wire E from the work-head and in the opposite sense to draw wire back into the head and apply tension to it.

The work-head 1 is shifted up and down by means of a plurality of pins 32 carried by a plate 3 3 that is fixed to the post 31, which pins mesh with the teeth 34 of a toothed quadrant 8 driven by a connecting rod 9 from a ice crank 10. fixed to a shaft 11 which may be turned by a foot-pedal or by a power drive derived from a motor 12.

The wire B after passing between the rollers 5 is led out through an aperture 13 in a twisting block 14, and as seen in FIG. 2 it is passed through a slot 15 in a turn-table 16 to encompass (in torroidal fashion) the material of a coil lying upon that table.

The free end D of the wire E is entered in a slot 17 in the twisting block 14 beneath the rearwardly sloped teeth of a gripper 1 8 (FIG. 2) which is slidable (to the right as drawn) in a wedge shaped groove to hold the wire against withdrawal.

Movement of the gripper to the right (-FIG. 2) is attained by the actuation of a yoke 19 pivoted to the head at 20 and provided with an extended arm 21.

The arm 21 is engaged in a slot in the upper end of a lever 22 which is pivoted to the head at 23:.

When the lever 22 is moved to the right (FIG. 2) the yoke 19 draws the gripper 18 up the wedge shaped slot against the tension of a spring 24 to release the end D of the wire E.

The lever 22 is operated by means of a push-rod 25 when it contacts a cam 26 fixed to the guide housing 2 as the work-head descends on completion of a tying operation.

The push-rod 25 is maintained in the position shown in the drawings by means of a spring pressed latching member 27.

The latching member 27 is formed with a cranked foot 28 (FIG. 3) which has a chamfered edge which is con tacted by a pawl 29 carried by the shaft 6.

When the shaft 6 is driven in the sense which causes the rollers 5 to feed out wire the pawl 29 lifts freely over the foot 28 of the latching member 27, but when the shaft 6 rotates in the sense to draw wire back into the head the pawl 29 engages the foot 28 and trees the latching member 27 from the push-rod 25.

When the push-rod 25- is freed the spring 24 takes charge and close the gripper 18.

The head of the machine is shown in the position and operative condition where wire E has been fed out through the slot 15, has been passed (by hand) around the material of a coil and has been entered beneath the teeth of the opened gripper 18.

When the shaft 6 is rotated to draw back surplus wire into the head and tension it about the material of the coil the gripper 18 will be closed as above described.

A twisting movement of the twisting block 1 4 is initiated when a desired tension is attained and on completion of the twisting movement the wire extending from the aperture 13 is cut by a cam-operated blade 30.

The head -1 is now moved downwardly and contact of the push-rod '25 with the cam 26 releases the gripper 18, so that the end I) of the wire E remains as part of the twisted tie and does not fall to foul or jam any of the mechanism of the machine.

The gripper 18 remains open as the head 1 is again raised into the position shown in the drawings and at this time wire is being fed out through another slot (such as 15) of the turntable 16 which has in the meantime been indexed to bring another section of the coil into tying position.

After wrapping of wire about the material of the coil and inserting the free end beneath the open gripper 18, the cycle of operations above described is repeated.

I claim:

1. In a machine for tying wire about articles, atable for supporting an article, a workhead movable vertically relatively to the table and including a gripper to grip the wire, means carried in the workhead to feed out tying wire to encircle an article on the table with a loop of wire,

means to raise the workhead to bring said gripper to position whereby the free end of wire passed about an article maybe gripped by said gripper, means to reverse said feedout means for tightening the loop of wire about the article, means for revolving-the gripper to form a twisted tie, and means to sever the wire from the feed-out means, the improvement comprising: means on said work head operati vely connected with said gripper to actuate said gripper, means connected with said gripper actuating means and operated by the reverse operation of said feed-out means for causing the gripper to grasp the free end of a wire inserted therein, and a stationary abutment in the path of the gripper actuating means for actuating the same upon downward movement of the workhead to cause the gripper to release the wire end.

2. In a machine according to claim 2, said gripper actuating means including a push rod on said workhead connected with said gripper and engageable with said stationary abutment, and spring means urging said gripper toward wire gripping position.

3. In a machine according to claim 2, said means connected with said gripper actuating means including a latching member engageable with said push rod upon movement of the latter by engagement thereof with said stationary abutment for retaining the push rod in the gripper releasing position in opposition to said spring means.

4. In a machine according to claim 3, said means carried in the 'workhead to feed out tying wire including a drive shaft, a pawl carried by said drive shaft of the feed out means to disengage the latching member from the push-rod upon reverse operation of said feed-out means.

5. In a machine according to claim 4, a spring biasing the latching member toward engagement with the push rod.

- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,674,181 Jones Apr. 6, 1954 2,770,183 Hanscon Nov. 13, 1956 2,742,851 Fryer Apr. 24, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 579,537 Germany July 1, 1933

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