Wire Coiling Apparatus With a Recovery Device for a Coiled Wire Reel

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to a wire coiling apparatus with a recovery device for a coiled wire reel, comprising a reel basket formed by basket rods standing at right angles on a base-plate that is rotatably drivable around a stationary vertical bearing and a reel support mandrel which can be lowered from the top upon and lifted off of the baseplate consisting of a star-shaped plate insertable into recesses in the baseplate, mandrel rods standing on this star plate and a guide dome connecting the free ends of the mandrel rods. The mandrel rods in the inserted position stand in between the basket rods so that the upper free ends of the basket rods are connectable with the guide dome.

Two fundamental problems are encountered in the operation of wire coiling mechanisms of this type: If greater reel weights with correspondingly greater reel height are coiled on the coiled basket, then longer basket rods are required. With such longer basket rods, centrifugal force produces bending stresses at the clamping point of the rods in the baseplate, which can no longer be carried if the construction and dimensioning of the basket rods specified in the design are observed. The other problem resides in the difficulty in pulling the finished coiled wire reel vertically upwards from the basket rods by means of the reel support mandrel introduced in between the basket rods of the reel basket, since the wire coils embrace the basket rods with a more or less great tension and this tension is additionally increased because of cooling and contraction of the wire reel.

In a known design of a wire coiler (EP - PS 74 760), these two problems are solved by articulating the basket rods in such a way on the baseplate, that they are pivotable from their vertical coiling position forming the coiler basket inwardly into an external non-coiling position. Also, that locking elements with wedge arrangements are provided at the support dome, which lock the free ends of the basket rods with the guide dome and thus retain it in their vertical coiling position, and then subsequently effect a pivoting motion of the basket rods inward out of the coiling position for the wire reel extraction process. Thus created is the possibility of recovering the coiled wire reel without difficulty by means of the reel support mandrel from the coiler basket and to bring same upwards out of the wire coiling apparatus, since by pivoting the basket rods inward the squeezing effect of the wire coils is cancelled.

The disadvantages of this known embodiment are to start off with that the basket rods cannot be inserted tightly into the baseplate, instead they require a more or less unstable guide rod fastening to the baseplate and furthermore that the free ends of the basket rods, as well as the corresponding segments of the guide dome of the reel support mandrel require comparatively complicated and technically cumbersome locking elements which additionally have to be provided for every one of the basket rods. The satisfactory cooperation of these locking elements is impaired by the heat radiated from the hot wire reel, which easily leads to deformation of the locking elements. Furthermore, the scale falling upon the baseplate from the wire during the coiling process can very easily penetrate into the gaps within the baseplate required for the movement of the basket rods, thereby interfering with the free pivoting motion of the basket rods. The lack of a firm clamping of the basket rods in the baseplate leads, in spite of the locking of the free ends in the guide dome, to a shaking movement of the whole machinery during the coiling process which limits the coilable reel heights.

The invention is based upon the task of doing away with the above-mentioned disadvantages and difficulties and additionally to create a possibility, by a refinement of the invention, of completely avoiding the shaking motion during the operation of the coiling apparatus.

This task is solved by inserting the lower ends of the basket rods tightly into the baseplate and having the outer boundary lines facing the wire reel windings and acted upon by same during the coiling process extend so as to be slightly inclined vertically inwards from bottom to top. Additionally, the mandrel rods are arranged so as to be offset radially inwards to such an extent with respect to the basket rods, so that the wire reel windings do not contact the outer boundary lines of these mandrel rods. The free ends of the basket rods are tightly connected with centering bolts insertable into recesses of the guide dome with the central axes of said centering bolts extending parallel to the central axes of the basket rods. The basket rods can herein also have a circular cross-section tapering from the bottom towards the top, which transits into a flattened arc-shaped extent with larger radius in the region in which they are acted upon by the wire windings.

This design achieves that the basket rods whose lower end are tightly clamped in the baseplate, can be connected during the coiling operation with their upper ends to the support dome without the necessity of articulated and splined connections; and after the coiling operation of the wire reel is finished, same can be lifted vertically out of the coiling apparatus upwards by the reel support mandrel consisting of the baseplate, the mandrel rods and the guide dome, whereby the centering pins slide vertically out of the recesses in the guide dome. The tight contact of the wire reel windings at the outer boundary lines of the basket rods releases automatically during the lifting out movement, since these boundary lines extend slightly inclined inwardly to the vertical from the bottom to the top.

If, as the invention further provides, the guide dome is coupled along its central axis with a retaining bearing which can be fixed so as to be stationary during the coiling process, which retaining bearing is pivotable in a horizontal plane into and out of a coupling position or possibly can also be lowered vertically from the top into the coupling position and lifted out of the coupling position, then there is created a two-sided support of the coiling basket together with the reel support mandrel inserted into same, constituting a kind of support which prevents the otherwise unavoidable shaking motion from occurring.

The invention is explained with particularity with the help of the embodiment example depicted in the drawing.

FIG. 1, shows a wire coiling apparatus pursuant to the present invention in axial section,

FIG. 2, is a section along the line A--A in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3, is a plan view of the reel support mandrel lifted out of the coiler basket.

As can be discerned from FIG. 1, the wire coiling apparatus consists of a baseplate 2 seated on a drive axle 1, which together with the basket rods 3 inserted into it forms the coiler basket. Also connected with the baseplate 2, is a cylinder 4 surrounding the basket rods 3 with a spacing in between, with axially parallel running contact strips 5 arranged at its inside wall, and whose outer wall comprises annular reinforcements 6. The thus formed coiler basket 2, 3, 4 rotates in a housing 7, in which spraying arrangements 8 for the application of cooling liquid upon the cylinder outer wall are arranged so as to be spaced from the cylinder 4 (compare also FIG. 2).

As FIG. 1 in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3 shows, the reel support mandrel is insertable into the coiler basket 2, 3, 4. The mandrel consists of a starplate 10 which is placed with its conical hub upon a cone 1a, which his fixedly connected with the drive axle 1. Mandrel rods 11 are inserted with their lower ends into star arms 10b of the starplate 10, which in this case is designed as a plate having four arms. The mandrel rods 11 displaceably engage with their upper ends into edge recesses 12a of a guide dome 12, which is supported by a tubular rod 13 placed upon the cone 10a of the starplate 10. The star arms 10b of the starplate 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2) lie in recesses 2a of the baseplate 2, which extend correspondingly in a star-shaped manner, when the reel support mandrel is inserted into the coiler basket.

Three each of the total of 12 basket rods 3, thus a quarter of the total number in the embodiment example, are respectively connected with each other at their upper ends by segmented plates 14 and their front faces 3a extend inwardly in an inclined manner towards the axis of rotation of the coiler basket. Each of these segmented plates 14 carries a centering bolt 15 which is offset symmetrically centrally, radially inwards, with the central axis of the centering bolts extending parallel to the central axes of the basket rods 3. This centering bolt is (FIG. 1) insertable into centering recesses 12b of the guide dome 12. The guide dome 12 carries furthermore a suspending bolt 16 on its upper side with an eyelet 16a and a conical annulus 17 supported on the bolt circumference. A retaining arm 18 which can be pivoted horizontally, can be clamped on the conical annulus 17 in a stationary manner externally of the guidance dome 12.

In the coiling apparatus position reflected in the FIGS. 1 and 2, the basket rods 3 standing upon the baseplate 2, rotate together with the mandrel rods 11 located between them and standing upon the starplate 10 and with the guide dome 12, retained by the retaining arm 18 clamped on the conical annulus 17 placed on the suspending bolt 16. Thus, the reel B is formed between the contact strips 5 of the basket peripheral surface 4 and the basket rods 3. The wire reel windings act upon, or stress, the outer boundary lines 3b (compare FIG. 2) of the basket rods, which, in this case with a circular cross-section of the basket rods, extend to be slightly inclined inwards with respect to the vertical from the bottom to the top, wherein the circular cross-section tapers from the bottom to the top and the region of the action of the windings is flattened, meaning it transits into an arc-shaped extent with larger radius. After finish winding of the wire reel designated with B, the retaining arm 18 is pivoted away and the suspending bolt 16 is connected to an elevating device in a non-depicted manner. The elevating device lifts the reel support mandrel (compare FIG. 3) consisting of the starplate 10, the mandrel rods 11, the tubular rod 13, and the guide dome 12, together with the reel B resting upon the starplate 10, vertically upwards from the coiler basket formed by the baseplate 2, the basket rods 3 and the basket peripheral surface 4. The outer windings of the reel B glide along the contact strips 5 and the inner windings are held by the mandrel rods 11 releasing same from the action effect regions of the basket rods 3. The connection between the guide dome 12 and the centering bolts 15 is herein released by these centering bolts 15 sliding out of the centering recesses 12b. The support mandrel 10, 11, 12 is then transported away together with the reel B in a manner not pertaining to the invention and then an equally designed additional reel support mandrel can be inserted vertically from the top into the coiler basket 2, 3, 4 in order to repeat the coiling process described above.