The invention relates to a wire coil arrangement and a method for the un-reeling of wire from a coil, and to the use of a bar on such a wire coil arrangement.

Background of the invention and state of the art

Bales of cellulose pulp intended for papermaking or the like are generally held together by a steel wire, which is unreeled from a wire coil arranged on a wire stand, and subsequently arranged around each bale. Since the bales are wrapped up in wire one by one, the wire is unreeled intermittently, and at a high speed. Therefore, when a certain quantity of wire has been unreeled from the wire stand, a little bit too much wire is sometimes unreeled, such that a loose quantity of wire is gathered above or beside the wire stand. This loose quantity of wire may get tangled up and knots may be formed on it, which will hamper the continuous unreeling or even cause the wire to break, such that an interruption is caused and such that a time consuming re-loading of the wire is necessary. The problem with loose quantitites of wire may also occur during the wrapping of a individual bale, since a number of the wire rings that make up the coil may accidentally be unreeled at the same time instead of one by one as is preferred. In WO 02/092487 this problem is addressed by arranging a ring of plastic bristles above the wire coil to provide for friction that offers a braking force on the unreeled wire, such that the loose quantity of wire that is unreeled from the coil is minimized. However, this arrangement only reduces the problems, it does not eliminate them, and further it creates new ones. One problem is that the bristles might brake the wire to the extent that it may get stuck and rupture around the coil, whereas an interruption is caused and such that a time consuming re-loading of the entire baling arrangement is necessary. Further, the bristles are exposed to wear such that they will have to be replaced every now and then.

Short description of the invention

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved unreeling of wire from a coil.

According to a first aspect, the invention relates to a wire coil arrangement for the un-reeling of wire, the arrangement comprising a wire stand, around which a wire to be un-reeled is to be arranged to form a wire coil; a wire admission point, to which the wire is fed from the coil. A bar is arranged substantially in coaxial alignment with the longitudinal axis of the wire stand, the bar having a free end which extends above the wire stand towards the wire admission point, such that loose wire that is drawn from the coil but not into the wire admission point is prevented from getting entangled.

According to a second aspect the invention relates to the use of a bar in accordance with first aspect of the invention, and according to a third aspect the invention relates to a method of un-reeling a wire from a coil.

The invention according to all three aspects offers a simple and easily implementable solution to the problems of wire entanglement and the like.

Short description of the drawings

Below, the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 shows a first embodiment of a wire coil arrangement according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlargement of a part of fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a wire stand of a wire coil arrangement according to the invention;

Fig. 4 shows a connection point between a bar and the upper end of the wire stand;

Fig. 5 shows a first embodiment of a bar according to the invention;

Fig. 6 shows a side view of the top of the wire stand;

Fig. 7 shows a top view of the wire stand from the line 7-7 in fig. 6;

Fig. 8 shows an attachment body of the bar's attachment arrangement;

Fig. 9 shows a locking means for locking the bar to the wire stand.

Detailed description of the shown embodiments

In figs. 1 and 2, a first embodiment of a wire coil arrangement 1 according to the invention is shown. The wire coil arrangement is intended for the un-reeling of wire from a coil and the arrangement therefore comprises a wire stand 2, around which the wire 3 to be un-reeled may be arranged to form a wire coil 3a. A wire admission point 4, to which the wire 3 is fed from the coil 3a, is arranged outside the wire stand 2, preferably in line with the longitudinal axis A of the wire stand 2. The wire stand in the shown embodiment comprises four legs 2b, the tops of which are bent inward towards, and connected to, a central sleeve 2c. A limiting rim 5, which is coaxial with respect to the wire stand 2 and located, in the axial direction, between the coil 3 a and the wire admission point 4 may be arranged such that when the wire is being un-reeled it is arranged to be drawn outside said limiting rim 5. Preferably, the diameter of the limiting rim 5 is chosen to slightly exceed the diameter of the wire rings of the wire coil 3 a, in order to prevent the rings from passing the limiting rim 5. The limiting rim 5 is an optional detail that serves as a first limiting obstacle, which the wire must pass on its way to the wire admission point 4. It may however be dispensed with.

At the admission point 4, the wire is drawn away from the coil, i.e. upwards in the shown embodiment. From the admission point 4 the wire 3 is conveyed to wherever the wire is used. In the shown embodiment the wire is conveyed along a semicircle 17 to the left and down along the outside of the wire coil arrangement 1 to be released to the left. The wire admission point 4 may comprise a nozzle through which the wire is inserted before being conveyed along the semicircle. The semicircle may comprise a number of bearings on which the wire is conveyed.

In some applications, such as e.g. in the wrapping of bales, wire is being un-reeled from the coil intermittently and at high rate, whereas a quantity of loose wire may be un-reeled from the coil 2 past the limiting rim 5 but not all the way to the wire admission point 4. This causes problems as indicated above, and to address this problem a bar 6 is arranged within the radial boundaries corresponding to the radius of the limiting rim 5, substantially in line with the longitudinal axis A of the wire stand 2. The bar 6 could be fixed at any point inside an imaginary circle with a radius corresponding to the radius of the limiting rim 5, and should be extended far towards the wire admission point 4 in order to avoid that a too large gap between the bar and the wire admission point 4 is created. It is to be noted that the bar is to be arranged above the limiting rim, seen in the axial direction. In an embodiment where no limiting rim 5 is used, the bar 6 should be fixed at any point inside a radius corresponding to the radius of the coil 3 a. The bar has a free end 6a, which extends towards the wire admission point 4. The bar 6 makes sure that any quantity of loose wire 3 is prevented from getting entangled in itself, such that no knots are formed on the wire. The free end 6a of the bar 6 is, when the bar is untilted, arranged at a distance of less than 10 cm from the wire admission point 4. The smaller the gap between the free end 6a of the bar 6 and the wire admission point 4 , the smaller the risk for entanglement. Thus, the gap may advantageously be smaller than 5, 3 or even 1 cm. The distance is chosen to be as small as possible without risking that the bar 6 comes in contact with the admission point 4. In the shown embodiment the bar 6 is flexibly arranged on an upper end 2a of the wire stand 2 such that it may be tilted with respect to the admission point 4. Also, the bar 6 in itself may be flexible, such that it may be bent with respect to the admission point 4. The flexibility of the bar and/or its fixation point allows for the bar 6 to be swung back and forth as the wire is reeled past it into the wire admission point 4. Preferably, however, it is drawn to an initial position in which it points towards the admission point 4. For safety reasons a protective net or wire guard 13 may be arranged around the coil.

In the shown embodiment the bar 6 includes a resilient part 10, in form of a rubber material, at its fixation point 8. The resilient part 10 could also very well comprise a spring, e.g. a spiral spring. It is, however, advisable to cover such a spring in order to avoid that the wire is caught inside the spring. Any other resilient material performing the same function could also be used.

An advantage of the present invention is that it may be easily implemented on already existing wire coil arrangements. In order to do so a bar 6 in accordance with the invention may be arranged on a wire coil arrangement. The bar 6 should be arranged coaxially with respect to the wire stand 2 and located between the coil 3a and a wire admission point 4, to which the wire 3 is drawn. The bar 6 should be arranged such that its free end 6a extends towards the wire admission point 4. An attachment arrangement 7 should be arranged on the bar 6, in order to fix the bar to the wire stand 2 at its fixation point 8. The form of the attachment arrangement 7 of the bar 6 may have to be adapted to the actual design of the existing wire coil arrangement.

In fig. 4, one embodiment of an attachment arrangement 7 for the bar 6 is shown. In this arrangement, the resilient part 10 is connected to an upper threaded part 9a and a lower threaded part 9b, at the top and the bottom, respectively, of the resilient part 10. The upper threaded part 9a is connected to the bar 6 while the lower threaded end 9b is connected to the upper end of an attachment body 11. Through this arrangement , the bar 6 is connected to the attachment body 11. The body 11 is held in place by a locking means 12, inserted into the attachment body 11 below the connection point of the four legs 2b.

In fig. 6 and 7 an embodiment of the top of the wire stand 2 is shown. Fig. 7 is a top view of the wire stand 2, viewed from the lines 7-7 in fig. 6. From fig. 7 it is clear that the connection between the four legs 2b of the wire stand 2 includes a rectangular through hole 14 in which the attachment body 11 of the bar's 6 attachment arrangement 7 fits tightly. The attachment body 11 does not have to be rectangular but may instead preferably have a round shape to facilitate the insertion of the attachment body into the hole.

The attachment body 11 is shown in detail in fig. 8 and includes a first hole 15 into which the locking means 12 is to be inserted, and a second hole 16 into which the lower threaded part 9b connected to the resilient part 10 is to be inserted. The locking means 12 is shown in detail in fig. 9 and in fig. 4 it is shown in its locking position, where it locks the attachment body 11 of the bar's 6 attachment arrangement 7 inside the top of the wire stand 2.

The invention also relates to a method of un-reeling a wire from a coil 3a, in which the wire is drawn from the coil 3a to a wire admission point 4, preferably past and outside a limiting rim 5, which is coaxial with respect to the wire stand 2 and located between the coil 3a and the wire admission point 4. Sometimes a quantity of loose wire may be drawn past the limiting rim 5 but not past the wire admission point 4, e.g. when the wire is drawn intermittently or at a varying speed. This quantity of loose wire is prevented from getting entangled by the provision of a bar 6, which is arranged within the radial boundaries corresponding to the radius of the limiting rim 5, coaxially with respect to the axis of the wire stand 2, the bar 6 having a free end 6a that extends far towards the wire admission point 4.

Above, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. The invention is however not limited to these embodiment, instead it is only limited by the appended claims.