Collapsible Reel

1. Field of the invention

This invention is related to the field of collapsible reels, and has for object the provision of new and improved collapsible reels allowing for effortless coil removal. A further object is to provide new and improved collapsible reels which may be easily collapsed and which may be securely latched in uncollapsed configuration.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A prior art patent search was conducted and a list of patents which appeared to us to be most pertinent to the invention follows.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,529,185 Nov. 21, 1946 Proctor shows a collapsible reel with four moveable spring loaded reeling arms locked into place by the wedging action of a locking nut which pushes the arms outwardly. When the arms are locked they grip one of the flanges which can be removed once the nut is unscrewed. The system requires the complete removal of a flange and unscrewing of the locking nut, operations that lengthen the task of removing the coil from the reel.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,459,336 Oct. 22, 1946 Powell illustrates a collapsible reel where the collapsible spokes are made up of two parts, one of them rigid and the other hinged at the bottom and able to rotate and thus freeing the coil of wire. The locking mechanism uses a hub comprising internal latches and links attached to the collapsible arms to prevent the arms from moving while in uncollapsed position. The holding capacity is limited by the semi-circular shape of the bottom of the coil retaining assembly. Moreover the relative complexity of the locking mechanism makes it prone to malfunction in intense field use.

CN 429110 Mar. 15, 1943 Troche illustrates a system in which sectional rims collapse, thus allowing the coil to be removed. A segmented rim comprises an articulated one piece saddle shaped coil support, a mechanism using links and a longitudinally moveable spider allows the coil support to move from an uncollapsed to a collapsed position. The displacement is controled by the position of the spider along the shaft. The hub of the spider comprises an extension along which run two helical grooves which fingers protruding from a locking handle thread in. By rotating the handle, the spider is moved along the shaft, pushing the links and thus lowering the sections of the rim. Though the position of the saddle changes, the angle swept is insufficient for the coil to pass easily over the edge upon removal of the coil. A hammer is often needed, thus lengthening the process and requiring greater effort from the operator.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,264,992 Dec. 2, 1941 McCarthy describes a collapsible reel for rope and similar material. The reel is composed mainly of two sets of two pairs of narrow flat bars; one set is fixed and one set is collapsible. The rope wraps around four longitudinal bars mounted outwardly around a central shaft. At the fixed end, the longitudinal bars are hinged on the radial bars fixed at the rear of the central shaft. At the collapsible end, the collapsible bars are hinged at a 90.degree. angle on the longitudinal bars. The collapsible bars have a lever extention hinged to attachment brackets sliding on the shaft. A central spring acts on a bushing pushing the brackets, thus strenghtening the reel in winding position. The skeleton structure is not strong enough to withstand the strain of use with heavy-duty electrical wire because the only blocking mechanism is a spring which can be compressed by the leverage action of a person manually tilting the collapsible bars. Under pressure from heavy duty electrical cable, the coil could be released without warning.

While study of the prior art shows several inventions proposing solutions to the problem of providing an efficient collapsible reel, none has a combination of means or capabilities equalling those of my invention.

The main objective of the invention is to provide effortless coil removal by means of articulated saddle shaped sections forming a rim of a collapsable reel, the sections to be provided with one rigid side, normally oriented on the side of the drive, a bottom than can be lowered 15.degree. respective to its original position relative to the rigid side and a collapsible side that can be lowered to an angle of 160.degree. from an original angle of 95.degree.. The lowering of the bottom added to the reduction in diameter make for the effortless removal of the coil.

A second objective is to provide simple and efficient spring loaded means to positively lock the reel while the reel is in uncollapsed position.

A general objective is to provide a folding mechanism located within the space occupied by the saddle sections and thus providing a compact and lightweight collapsible reel for coiling electrical wires, or similar material and having in combination:

a central support shaft comprising a rear section, a middle section and a front section;

a rigid side mounted cicumferentially on the shaft, for side support of the coil, comprising a set of first radial arms fixed to the rear of the shaft, these radial arms comprising a base, a middle portion and a tip;

a coil retaining central portion, comprising a number of plaques pivotally mounted on each fixed arm;

a set of second radial arms each arm being pivoted intermediately to the plaque, between erected and collapsed positions, in erected position the first fixed and second pivoting arms being sensibly parallel to each other and perpendicular to the shaft and the plaque being parallel to the shaft, in collapsed position the plaque being inclined relative to the shaft and the second pivoting arm being further inclined almost parallel to the shaft, the second radial arm comprising an inner end oriented towards the shaft, an intermediate portion and an outer end tip;

a slider axially mounted on the front end of the shaft and pivotally attached to the inner end of each of the second arms the slider being able to move from a closed position corresponding to the erected arm position to an open position with arms in collapsed position;

means for blocking the second arms in erected position, thus locking the slider in closed position.

The above mentioned and other advantages of the invention will be better understood in reference to the following description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of the reel in the uncollapsed position.

FIG. 2 is a perspective of the reel in the collapsed position.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the actuating mechanism in the uncollapsed position.

FIG. 4 is the view of FIG. 3 with the mechanism midway towards the collapsed position.

FIG. 5 is the view of FIG. 3 with the actuating mechanism in collapsed position.

The prefered embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 where the components can be identified by like numbers on all figures, where one can see a reel 20 comprising a central shaft 22, with an open front end 24 of a generally tubular shape and a rear end 26 which is adapted as a coupler, on the outside of the open front end can slide a slider bushing 28 located at the open front end 24. Eight radial attachment extensions 30 are distributed circumferentially around the slider bushing 28 at equal distance. Eight pivoting radial arms 34 are each attached on a corresponding radial attachment extension 30 of slider bushing 28 by means of a first pivot 32 in a spider shaped arrangement. A strengthening disk 36 adapted to receive eight fixed radial arms 38 facing the foldable pivoting radial arms 34, is welded at the rear end 26 of the central shaft 22. Each fixed radial arm 38 is linked to the pivoting arm facing it by a tiltable plaque 40 by means of a hinge slack bolt 42 placed vertically relative to strengthening disk 36 and second pivot 44 mobile circumferentially relative to the slack bolt 42. The eight tiltable plaques 40 form the bottom of reel 20. The open front end 24 of the central shaft 22 is capped by a hollow cylinder 48 (FIG. 2), fixed to the central shaft, and inside which one can see a handle 50 used to pull the locking mechanism, later described in FIG. 3, of the reel. The pivoting radial arms 34 move towards the central shaft while the tiltable plaques 40 tilt also towards the centre, allowing for easy removal of the coil 52. A nylon bushing 54 fits inside the slider bushing 28 to facilitate movement along the central shaft. The mechanism actioning the collapsing of the reel comprises a knee type two member link 56 (FIG. 3) possessing a fixed pivot 58, a central pivot 60 mobile around the fixed pivot 58, a mobile pivot 62 moving parallel to the central shaft, a leaf spring 64, a radial pin 66 attached to central pivot 60 and radially penetrating the central shaft 22 by way of 8 hole 68, a first member 70 linking fixed pivot 58 and central pivot 60 and a second member 70 linking central pivot 60 to mobile pivot 62. The first member 70 possesses an adjustment screw 74 used to position the central pivot 60 under the axis 76 passing by fixed pivot 58 and mobile pivot 62. The knee is then in a "negative" position, thereby blocking the collapsing mechanism. The handle 50 is attached to a rod 80 and to a half-moon 78 which has a wedge-like form. In that manner, when the operator pulls on handle 50 (FIG. 4), the half-moon 78 pushes radial pin 66 of the knee 56 and positions the knee in a "positive" position, i.e. over the axis 76, thereby slightly displacing first pivot 32 of pivoting radial arm 34 towards the interior of the reel, thus lowering slightly the tiltable plaque 40. The knee 56 thus unlocked, the tension and the weight of the coil 52 on the tiltable plaque 40, more specifically on side 82 corresponding to slider bushing 28 and specifically on the internal face 84 of the pivoting radial arm 34, have a tendency to move slider bushing 28 towards the interior while pivoting radial arm 34 is folded at the same time as tiltable plaque 40 is tilted. The ease of the displacement motion of slider bushing depends on the low friction of the nylon bushing 54 and also on the relative position of first pivot 32 and second pivot 44, which forms a moment of a magnitude augmenting as first pivot 32 moves towards the interior. This is because the horizontal distance 86 respective to the vertical at first pivot 32 and second pivot 44, grows longer with the displacement of slider bushing 28 towards the interior of the reel (FIG. 5). The coil having at the start an internal diameter of 20 inches is supported by a set of pivoting radial arms 34 which after folding have a diameter of 17 inches. The operator can then remove the coil from the reel very easily.

A spring 88 (FIG. 4) which may be tension or compression, repositions the handle 50 inside the hollow cylinder 48. Finally bypushing the extremities 90 of the of pivoting radial arms 34, the reel returns to its uncollapsed position. Theleafspring 64 insures the "negative" position of knee 56 respective to axis 76 (FIG. 3) and also the locking in uncollapsed position of the reel. The slider bushing 28 may have grooves adapted to receive male parts located on the cylinder 48 which eliminates any possibility of circumferential sliding of the slider bushing 28 relative to the central shaft 22 when a cable is being wound up.

It will be understood that while I have herein illustrated and described the features of my invention as related to a preferred embodiment thereof, several changes, modifications and substitutions of equivalents might be resorted to therein without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention involved. For example: blocking means may comprise toggle lever systems comprising several linkage members disposed along a horizontal axis sensibly parallel to the shaft one member pivoted at the base of the fixed arm, a second member pivoted at the inner end of the pivoting arm and a junction between the linkage members located near the shaft and below the horizontal axis, the blocking means further comprising means for unlocking the toggle lever.

The means for unlocking may be a number of radially directed pins caused to outwardly displace the junction between the linkage members to provoque flexion; the pushing means might come from the interior of a hollow shaft.

The central shaft is generally tubular but may be of another cross section and comprise holes pierced in wall of the middle of the shaft to accomodate the pins and further comprise wedge means located inside the tubular shaft in any number from one to eight and wedgedly displaced by an exterior front handle or otherwise to outwardly displace the pins when the handle is pulled. The wedge means may comprise a half moon or U-shaped section and further comprise spring means located inside the rear section of the shaft for pulling back the wedge when not pulled by the handle.

A spring shaped like a wide angle "V" or other lever spring may have a leg acting downwardly onto the junction of the knee joint and the other leg acting onto the attachment point of the slider, the central portion being turned around the slider pin.

The adjusting means may be a stop comprising a screw 74. FIG. 3, which screws in one of the linkage members and whose head is oriented towards and resting against the central shaft, thereby controling the stopping point between the junction and the horizontal axis. The open area 68 may be wide enough to allow for passage of pin 66 at different angles of orientation, pin 66 being preferably attached to link element 70.

Means for adapting to a power shaft include bayonnet coupling, adapted with two keyways formed in the hollow wall of the rear section.

The retaining tips of the arms may be shovel shaped plates comprising a backwardly curling tip; the plaques may be curved downwardly at the centre and each plaque secured under the apex of the downward curve by a bar shaped support of a length exceeding the length of the plaques by a sufficient amount, such as one inch, to adapt a pivot between the plaque and the arms.

Two externally opposed longitudinal guides may serve as coupling for driving the slider in rotation still allowing for longitudinal movement of the slider along the shaft.

Any of the pivots may comprise a slack bolt going through a hole piercing adjoining members and comprise soldered nuts for preventing unscrewing.

As a consequence, it is not my intention that I be limited to the specific form my invention herein illustrated and described except as may appear in the following appended claims:

reel

central support shaft

open front end

rear end section

slider bushing

radial attachment extension

first pivot

pivoting second radial arm

strengthening disk

fixed first radial arms

tiltable plaque

slack bolt

second pivot

hollow cylinder

handle

coil

nylon bushing

knee

fixed point

central pivot

mobile pivot

leaf spring

radial pin

hole

first linkage member

second linkage member

adjustment screw

axis

half-moon

rod

side

internal face

horizontal distance

spring

extremities