This invention relates to an apparatus for reeling or unreeling a cable or the like, comprising - a frame,

- two supports mounted vertically immovably on the frame, said supports being horizontally movable towards and away from each other in accordance with the axial width of a reel, - a suspending arm mounted in each support, said suspending arm being provided at the lower end with a gripping means for gripping a centre of the reel and arranged displaceably in vertical direction with respect to the support over a distance cor- responding to the sum of a height difference between the centre of a largest reel and the centre of a smallest reel and a lifting distance of the largest reel, and

- power means to vertically displace the sus- pending arms.

This kind of apparatus is used especially in the cable industry for reeling or unreeling cables, but the apparatus is equally applicable when reeling other similar products, such as ropes. The purpose of the apparatus is to raise the reel so that it can be rotated about its central axis. The apparatus com¬ prises gripping pins for gripping the reel from a central hole or from some other lifting means pro¬ vided on opposite sides of the reel. Even though the reels are originally symmetrical on both sides, and the central holes are positioned accurately on the same horizontal axis, the reels and especially their two flanges may be damaged and deformed in use so that the reel to be lifted is no longer positioned in an upright position on the underlying surface but

slants so that the central holes of the reel are positioned at different heights with respect to each other. The same situation occurs when the underlying surface has worn unevenly. Therefore the gripping pins of the apparatus must be able to compensate for height differences between the central holes. In addition to this, the apparatus should, of course, be able to handle reels of different diameters.

Finnish Patent Specification 61012 (Swedish Patent Application 7603752) discloses a cable reeling apparatus in which the gripping pins are fastened to suspending arms mounted vertically displaceably in supports fastened to the frame of the apparatus, more precisely, to horizontal beams supported by two columns of the frame. The supports are thereby fastened to the horizontal beams in such a way that the supports maintain their vertical position relative to the horizontal beams but are nevertheless horizontally moveable along the beams. For gripping the reel, the suspending arms can be raised and lowered so that the reels can be raised off the floor level sufficiently to be rotated freely.

This kind of cable reeling apparatus, however, has certain major disadvantages. Since the supports for the suspending arms are fastened to the frame vertically immovably, the suspending arms have to be lowered rather a long distance in order that the gripping pins of the suspending arms could be pushed into engagement with the central holes of the reel. After raising the suspending arms to such an extent that the reel is able to rotate, the suspending arms remain rather long. The rotation of the reel causes considerable stresses in the suspending arms, which results in vibration and swaying and may disturb the reeling and possibly damage the suspending arms. A

further disadvantage is that to prevent swaying of the suspending arms during the reeling, the suspend¬ ing arms must be journalled in their supports with a clearance as small as possible. As a result of this, the gripping pins in the lower ends of the suspending arms are not able to be displaced to any greater degree in the sideward direction in their lowered position. Therefore, the gripping pins are not able to find central holes which have been displaced slightly from the original position due to damage or for some other reason.

To avoid these disadvantages, cable reeling apparatuses have been developed in which the supports for the suspending arms are vertically movable with respect to the frame. One such apparatus is dis¬ closed in Finnish Patent Specification 60542 (German Patent Specification 27 13 866). This apparatus is able to both handle reels of different diameters and compensate for minor height differences between the central holes of the reel. This, however, is achieved by means of a rather complicated construction. The supports for the suspending rods are mounted vertic¬ ally moveably on separate columns, which requires that the supports are provided with separate lifting and lowering mechanisms as well. In addition, the two suspending arms provided with the gripping pins are each provided with a separate machinery by means of which the gripping pin is displaceable between a locked position and a free position in which the gripping pin is able to perform a vertical flexing movement with respect to its support. The two sup¬ ports are interconnected by a horizontal transverse beam adjustable in length and movable in the vertical direction together with the supports. When handling the reels, relatively large masses have to be moved.

Still another disadvantage is that height differences possibly occurring between the central holes due to reel deformations can be compensated for only within the rather small flexible movement of the suspending rods, because the supports are interconnected by the transverse beam and cannot be moved independently of each other. The spring-lever-joint construction, required for the flexible movement of the suspending rods, requires room on the side of the suspending rod and makes the support larger, which hampers working around the reel.

Still another disadvantage of the prior art apparatus is that the gripping pins cannot be secured completely rigidly to the frame in the reeling posi- tion. The supports of the suspending rods are pro¬ vided with abutments against which the gripping pins may be pressed in the reeling position. However, since the supports are vertically movable along the columns, a small disadvantageous clearance always re- mains between the support and the column. In an attempt to. avoid this, the suspending rod including its operating motor has been mounted on a base which is pivotedly fastened to the support and provided with two slide bearings pressing against opposite slide surfaces in the column. The object has been to cause the base to pivot relative to the column so that the slide bearings of the base grip firmly the column when the gripping pin is pressed by the operating motor against the abutment of the support. Such a way of removing the clearance between the sup¬ port and the column, however, complicates the con¬ struction and increases costs.

Cable reeling apparatuses of other types are also known from the prior art. German Offenlegungs- schrift 1 474 238 and U.S. Patent Specification

3 123 314 disclose horizontal structures in which the reel lifting arms are mounted vertically pivotably on a horizontal pivot shaft positioned at the side of the reel. This structure, however, requires a rela- tively large floor space beside the reel, whereby the other manufacturing and handling devices are diffi¬ cult to arrange to cooperate with the reeling appar¬ atus.

German Offenlegungsschrift 25 19 070 discloses a portal-type structure in which the supports for the reel gripping means are mounted each on a separate column so that the supports are vertically displace- able on the columns. This structure is fairly simple, but relatively large masses still have to be dis- placed when moving the supports.

The object of the present invention is to pro¬ vide an apparatus for reeling or unreeling a cable or the like. The apparatus avoids the above-mentioned disadvantages and enables the handling of reels of different sizes and even badly deformed reels with a ^' simple but steady structure. This object is achieved by means of an apparatus according to the invention, which is characterized in that each stationary support comprises an abutment which in the uppermost position of the sus¬ pending arm supports the suspending arm rigidly to the frame through the support, and

- that each suspending arm is supported by the stationary support by means of a spring member which in the lowered gripping position of the suspending arm allows a flexible movement of the suspending arm with respect to the support in the axial direction of the suspending arm and a horizontal swinging movement in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the reel. The invention is based on the idea that the

suspending arms can be allowed to be lowered over a relatively long distance in the vertical direction, provided that the gripping means can be reliably sup¬ ported to their supports in the raised reeling posi- tion. The large vertical lowering movement enables a relatively wide horizontal movement of the gripping means at the lower end of the suspending arm . in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the reel when the suspending arm is pivoted to the support at its upper end. The spring member allows a small flexible move¬ ment of the suspending arm in the vertical direction. In addition the suspending arm is able to swing on the spring member. So the gripping means can be inserted into the central hole of the reel irrespect- ive of a possible wrong position of the reel.

The stationary support, which is vertically im¬ movable with respect -to the frame, is completely free from clearance. If a vertically movable support is used, the appearance of clearance is difficult to avoid. The vertical slide bearings required in a movable support are also avoided. Thus, the gripping means can be secured rigidly to the frame by means of the stationary support.

The following advantages will be achieved over th apparatus of Swedish Patent Specification 399864: Since the supports for the suspending arms are fas¬ tened vertically immovably to the frame of the apparatus, no machineries are needed for a vertical movement of the supports. Since both suspending arms can be moved independently of each other over a wide range in the vertical direction, it is easy to com¬ pensate for even major height differences between the central holes of deformed reels or reels positioned on an uneven surface. As the gripping means support- ing the reel are always lifted against the fixed

abutments of the stationary supports irrespective of the diameter of the reels, the reels will always be positioned on a constant working height, that is, in an ergonomically appropriate position, thus avoiding working at very low working levels with small reels. Due to the fixed mounting of the supports, a rigid, steady support frame is achieved. As the gripping means are secured rigidly to the support, which, in turn, is fixed rigidly to the column, the reel is supported very firmly in the reeling position. As no spring-lever arrangement is needed for the suspending arms at their lower ends, the support is more "slender" so that it does hamper working around the reel, e.g., when inserting the end of the cable into the reel. Since the transverse beam of the portal- structure frame is not moved when displacing the sus¬ pending arms in the vertical direction, the masses to be moved remain low and the portal frame is very steady. In the following the invention will be de¬ scribed in greater detail with reference to the attached drawings, in which

Figures 1 and 2 are side views of one preferred embodiment of the apparatus when handling the largest and the smallest reel, respectively;

Figure 3 is a front view of the apparatus; Figure 4 is a side view of another embodiment of the reeling apparatus; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view along line V-V shown in Figure 4.

The cable reeling apparatus shown in Figures 1 to 3 of the drawing comprises a portal-type frame 1 comprising two support columns 2 and an interconnect¬ ing transverse beam 3 which can be shortened and extended in the longitudinal direction of the beam by

means of operating means not shown to adjust the dis¬ tance between the columns for different reel widths. The apparatus further comprises two supports 4 each fastened rigidly to its own column. Both supports are provided with a vertical sus¬ pending arm 5 comprising a screw rod 6 mounted rotatably but axially immovably on the support, and a gripping rod 7 mounted unrotatably but axially slide- ably with respect to the support. The gripping rod 7 is in screw engagement with the screw rod and its lower end is provided with a gripping pin 8 to be inserted in a central hole of a reel 9 to grip the reel. The screw rod is connected through a gear case 10 to a motor 11. The gear case is mounted by means of a ball joint 15 on a spring 12 supported by the support. The spring allows a small vertical flexible movement of the screw rod and the joint allows a swinging movement in a vertical plane perpendicular to the transverse beam 3. The screw rod and the gripping rod of the sus¬ pending arm are such in length that the gripping pin 8 of the gripping rod can be moved vertically over a distance A between the central hole of the smallest reel 9 ' and that of the largest reel 9" and additionally over a distance B required for raising the reel sufficiently over a base 13 to ensure free rotation of the reel.

The lower portion of each support comprises a fixed abutment 14 forming a downwardly opening sup- port groove against which the lower end of the gripping rod rests when the gripping rod is position¬ ed in the raised reeling position.

To grip the reel, the gripping pins of both supports are lowered in alignment with the central holes of the reel to be handled, whereafter the

columns are displaced towards each other, so that the gripping pins grip the reel. Thereafter the gripping rods are lifted by means of the motors until the lower ends of the rods are positioned in the grooves of the abutments 14 provided in the supports. The lifting movement first compresses the spring and then pulls the gripping rods tightly into their grooves.

It is noted that in order to lift reels of dif¬ ferent sizes the gripping rods only have to be moved while the supports remain stationary. The masses to be moved are thus very small. The frame is very steady as the supports are positioned immovably on the support columns. As the gripping rods are moved independently of each other, the gripping pins can be displaced to different heights according to the posi¬ tion of the central holes of a slanting reel in the vertical direction. All the reels are lifted to the same ergonomic working level.

In the embodiment of the reeling apparatus shown in Figures 4 and 5, the same reference numerals as in Figures 1 to 3 are used for corresponding parts. This embodiment differs from the preceding one mainly only in that the support 4 is a part of the column 2 of the frame and forms an upper extension of the column. In the suspending arm formed by the parts 6 and 7, the movable part 7 is slightly different from that of the first embodiment. Guide rolls 16 contacting against the vertical flanges of the sup¬ port 4 are arranged at the upper end of part 7, while the lower end is provided with rolls 17 allowing a swinging movement of part 7 in a vertical plane per¬ pendicular to the axis of the gripping pin 8, as shown by arrows in Figure 4.

The drawings and the description related there- to are only intended to illustrate the idea of the

invention; in its details, the apparatus of the in¬ vention may vary within the scope of the claims. Instead of fastening the supports to the columns, the supports can be mounted as separate modules on a fixed transverse beam of a portal-type frame or on an upper support rail system in such a way that the sup¬ ports are movable longitudinally of the transverse beam or the rail system, respectively, in accordance with different reel widths. In the latter case, the reel system acts as the frame of the reeling apparatus. In place of gripping pins, the suspending arms may be provided with gripping means of some other kind, such as gripping hooks. It is also possible that the support is formed wholly or partly by the frame (Figures 4 and 5). For instance, when the support column is U-shaped in cross-section, the suspending arms and the power means can be mounted within the column, whereby the column acts as a sup¬ port. When the suspending arm is positioned within the support column immediately below the transverse beam interconnecting the columns, the bending torque exerted on the column by the weight of the reel can be minimized. In place of mechanical lifting means, the suspending arm can be displaced by means of a pressure fluid cylinder.