It is known to the state of the art that the traditional construction process of the cable winding bobbins formed by two external wooden flanges and by steel rods that allow the clamping of a stave drum put between the two flanges. The assembly needs several working stations for operations like the riveting and the drilling of the flanges, the construction of the drum and the final assembly.

Said process and the bobbins thus obtained even though it solves the technical problem relative to the manufacturing of a quality product in a fairly effective manner, it still presents some important inconveniences.

The making of the bobbins through said process forces the use of plants equipped with a fairly complex arrangement or layout and noticeably cumbersome, due to the needs to take care of rather different works.

The bobbins thus obtained are often quite heavy and not always recyclable once become unusable.

The bobbins also represent a significant burden that, for long distance transports by land or by sea, affects considerably the user's final costs. As a matter of fact, the relative complexity of the various phases prevents the transportation of the dismantled bobbins because plants similar to the production ones that are able to carry out the assembly are obviously lacking from almost all of the places of use.

Object of the present invention is that of remedying to the problems belonging to the earlier state of the art.

Therefore, the invention's object is that of a cable winding bobbin assembling process, the machine for its construction and the bobbins thus obtained wherein the process turns out to be easy and highly productive, the machine employed is particularly innovative even if it maintains a great reliability for the whole process and the bobbin thus obtained is light, easily recyclable and, when required, of effortless assembly.

Briefly, according to the invention, a cable winding bobbin assembling process has been created comprising a phase A wherein the bobbin's parts are constructed separately, a phase B wherein a drum of said bobbin is assembled, a phase C wherein such bobbin represented by its parts is arranged on a single machine for the following phase D, the pressing phase.

The machine for the implementation of said phase D of such process according to the invention consists at least of: a piston and a horizontal fixed plate operatively associated to a casing, said plate containing a number of holes coupled to their respective piercing punches, said piston being linked at one of its ends to a plate that bears a number of piercing punches equal by number and arrangement to said holes.

The cable winding bobbin according to the described process, comprises a pair of flanges connected to a drum, where a number of metal tubes are provided, clinched on those flanges in order to mutually lock the flanges and the drum.

The cable winding bobbin assembling process, the device needed for its construction and the bobbins thus obtained according to the invention, are characterized by the features recited in claims 1,6,9.

Further useful aspects of the present invention are described in the dependent claims.

Other advantages, details and particulars of the cable winding bobbin assembling process, of the device needed for its construction and of the bobbins thus obtained according to the invention, will be better highlighted through an evaluation of the following description, with reference to the annexed drawings wherein a preferred embodiment is shown in an explanatory but not limiting way.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device according to the invention employed in this process.

Figure 2 is a side view of the device described in figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional side view of the same device.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a component of the bobbin according to the invention.

Figure 5 is a top view of the bobbin's drum according to the invention in a phase of the construction process.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of said drum.

Referring to the previously described figures, the cable winding bobbin assembling process according to the invention has a phase A wherein the bobbin's parts are constructed separately, like the flanges 2, the components of the drum 3, that is a calendered sheet 4 and a profile 5, and a number of metal tubes 6 that advantageously, in the bobbin 1 according to the invention, will carry out more efficiently the function fulfilled by the wooden bobbins'rods known to the state of the art.

Usefully, the sheet 4 employed for the drum 3 will preferably be of zinc-plated steel, while the profile 5 will be possibly made of zinc.

During a phase B, said profile 5 will be longitudinally inserted on one of the two edges of the calendered sheet 4 as illustrated in figure 5, which strategically has two U shaped grooves 7 to allow such operation. Subsequently even the second edge will be inserted in said profile 5 and the drum 3 will be thus completed.

In a later phase C as illustrated in figure 3, a first flange is placed horizontally, said drum 3 is put on the flange's appropriate guides or grooves, and a number of metal tubes 6, preferably in a number equal to or above three, are inserted in the holes provided on said first flange. Lastly, the second of the two flanges is overlapped by the free end of the tubes 6-drum 3 set. It must be noticed that in this arrangement the tubes protrude, in order to allow a better fixing for the next phase.

An additional phase D follows, wherein through the pressing the completed bobbin 1 is obtained. In this latter phase where the machine 10 according to the invention, that will be better described later on, is preferably employed, the tubes are clinched on the flanges 2 securing a perfect holding of the whole device.

The machine 10 according to the invention is preferably a press that has a casing 11 where a lower piston 12 and an upper piston 13 of the hydraulic or pneumatic kind are connected to it.

In the middle said machine 10 has opposing means such as a horizontal plane or a plate 14 supporting the bobbin 1 that will be assembled by the same device.

Said plate 14 has a number of holes 15 (at least three) for the passage of said tubes 6, each hole being associated with a fixed piercing punch 16.

The lower piston 12 has at its outer end a plate 17 integral with it, the plate has a number of stems 18 preferably of steel equal to the number of holes 15 found on the plate 14, said stems 18 being also aligned with the axes of such holes 15.

The upper piston 13 also has at its outer end a plate 19 having on the lower side, that is the one that gets in contact with the piece to be pressed, a number of piercing punches 20, them too equal to the number of holes 15 found on said plate 14, and aligned as well with the axes of such holes 15.

During the operation of said device 10, the pistons are initially contained inside their respective cylinders in order to allow the operators to place on the plate 14 the parts of the bobbin 1 for the final assembly.

A first flange 2', the drum 3 assembled as previously described and placed on the appropriate inner groove of said flange 2', a number of tubes 6 placed on the proper holes set up on the flange 2', in line with the holes 15 found on the plate 14, respectively, are arranged on said plate 14. At last, a second flange 2"is superposed to the drum 3 and at the free end of the tubes 6 so that they can protrude from the holes found on this second flange, the holes that are obviously equal by number to those of the first flange.

Just before the actual pressing operation, the lower piston 12 puts the stems 18 inside of the tubes 6, in order to avoid that the tubes would bend and buckle themselves because of the load which will be subsequently applied by the machine 10.

At this point the upper piston 13 will drop and the action of the piston 13 combined with the opposition of the plates 14 will press the bobbin 1. More precisely, the pressing operation will be such that the piercing punches 20 found on the plate 19 linked to the upper piston 13 will buckle the tubes'ends outside of said second flange 2"until these ends will be clinched on the very flange. The piercing punches 16 fixed on the plate 14 will do a similar operation on the lower ends of the tubes 6, while inside, each tube 6 is protected from bending and buckling thanks to the presence of the steel stems 18. It must be noted that during such operation an even pressure is usefully applied on all of the tubes 6 that are simultaneously clamped.

At the end of the pressing operation the pistons 12,13 move away from the bobbin 1 that is ready to be unloaded from the machine 10 and to be used.

The bobbin 1 thus constructed has advantageously a metal drum 3 of zinc- plated steel together with the presence of an element or profile 5 preferably of zinc that can function as anode in order to better preserve from the corrosion the drum 3 and the product contained within during the use, furthermore the presence of metal tubes 6 assures an excellent holding effect of the whole unit thanks to the constructive methods. As a whole a bobbin is thus obtained that with an equal carrying capacity turns out to be lighter and more reliable than the known ones made of PVC, cardboard or wood and moreover lends itself to be brought to the place of use dismantled of its parts, because a relatively simple machine like the machine 10 according to the invention is able to quickly assemble it and with little expenses, hence saving considerably on the total transportation and labor costs borne during the conventional procedures.

Obviously several modifications, adjustments, additions, variations and/or substitutions could be made to the illustrative embodiment previously described in an explanatory but not limiting way, moreover without falling out of the scope of protection, as also recited in the following appended claims.