POWELL STEVEN CRAIG (US)
KISH JAMES CHRISTOPHER (US)
POWELL STEVEN CRAIG (US)
| FR2153875A5 | 1973-05-04 | |||
| US3771304A | 1973-11-13 | |||
| FR2332363A1 | 1977-06-17 | |||
| DE3839816A1 | 1989-10-19 |
| 1. | A method of setting the twist of a cable in a twist setting unit with a rotatable twist setting body, an opening therein with an entrance passage and an exit passage in communication with said opening characterized by: (a) guiding said cable through said entrance passage into said opening; (b) guiding said cable around a first pulley rotatably mounted in said opening; (c) guiding said cable around a second pulley rotatably mounted in said opening; (d) guiding said cable through said exit passage while simultaneously rotating said rotatable body. |
| 2. | The method of claim 1 further characterized by providing overlapping sections of said cable in said opening and maintaining said overlapping sections at said spaced apart positions. |
| 3. | The method of claim 2 further characterized by rotating said rotatable twist setting body about an axis of rotation of said body, rotating said first pulley about a first axis, rotating said second pulley about a second axis spaced from said first axis by driving engagement of said cable with said first pulley and said second pulley. |
| 4. | The method of claim 3 further characterized by guiding said cable through said entrance passage past said first pulley and around said second pulley and then around said first pulley and past said second pulley to said exit passage. |
| 5. | The method of claim 4 further characterized by guiding said cable over grooves of said first pulley and said second pulley with a first axis of rotation of said first pulley being parallel to a second axis of rotation of said second pulley. |
| 6. | The method of claim 5 further characterized by guiding said cable over said first pulley and said second pulley with said first axis of rotation and said second axis of rotation being tilted relative to said axis of rotation of said body. |
| 7. | The method of claim 4 further characterized by guiding said cable through said entrance passage and said exit passage at an angle to said axis of rotation of said body to space said cable from said first pulley and said second pulley. |
| 8. | A twist setting unit for a cable winding apparatus having a twist setting body rotatable about an axis of rotation of said body, an opening in said body, and an entrance passage and an exit passage to said opening characterized by: (a) a first pulley rotatably mounted in said opening about a first axis; (b) a second pulley rotatably mounted in said opening about a second axis; (c) said first axis and said second axis being tilted relative to said axis of rotation of said body to guide said cable around said first pulley and said second pulley while maintaining overlapping sections of said cable at spaced apart positions;. |
| 9. | The twist setting unit of claim 8 further characterized by said entrance passage being slanted away from said axis of rotation of said body to guide said cable away from said first pulley as it enters said opening. |
| 10. | The twist setting unit of claim 8 further characterized by said exit passage being slanted away from said axis of rotation of said body to guide said cable away from said second pulley as it leaves said opening. |
| 11. | The twist setting unit of claim 8 further characterized by said first axis being positioned parallel to said second axis. |
| 12. | The twist setting unit of claim 8 further characterized by said first pulley and said second pulley being grooved for engaging said cable. |
| 13. | The twist setting apparatus and method characterized by guiding said cable around a tilted first pulley and a tilted second pulley in a twist setting unit to provide spaced part overlapping sections of said cable substantially as described herein or as shown in the accompanying drawings. |
Background Art Cable twist setting units have been provided at the exit end of cable winding bunching machines. Each bunching machine has a framework supporting a plurality of filament spools and guide pulleys with intermediate guides for guiding the filaments to a central die. Once the cable has been formed, it is set by a twist setting unit or overtwister. Twist setting units set the cable so that the torsional residual forces are removed. One of these overtwisters, illustrated in Fig.
5, includes a single pulley rotatably mounted in an opening in the twist setting unit. The cable is guided through the twist setting unit and over the pulley to control the residual twist in the cable. The single pulley overtwister provides for overlapping of sections of the cable which is not desirable because if a filament breaks, it may wrap itself around the overlapped portion of the cable and cause an entanglement in the twist setting unit resulting in a shut down while the entanglement is removed.
Disclosure of Invention The present invention is directed to a twist setting unit and method of setting the twist in an overtwister wherein two pulleys are rotatably mounted in an opening in the overtwister body for receiving and guiding one turn of the cable as it is pulled through the overtwister body. The pulleys rotate about axes which are tilted relative to the axis of the overtwister body to avoid contact of the overlapping sections of the cable in the cable overtwister. With this construction bunched cables with up to 27 filaments can be overtwisted and the desired amount of residual twist provided in the processed cable.
Brief Description of Drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the twist setting unit embodying the invention showing the cable guided through the unit.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the twist setting unit taken along line 2-2 in Fig. 1.
Fig 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is an end view taken along the line 4-4 in Fig. 1.
Fig. 5 is a side elevation like Fig. 1 of a prior art single pulley twist setting unit.
Detailed Description of the Invention Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a twist setting unit 10 is shown having a rotatable overtwister
body 12 of steel or other durable material. An opening 14 is provided within the body 12 for a first pulley 16 and a second pulley 18, rotatably mounted about spaced axes A-A and B-B. The overtwister body 12 is rotatable about an axis of rotation C-C and may be mounted in bearings 20 and 22, supported in a suitable framework at the exit end of a cable bunching apparatus (not shown). The overtwister body 12 may be rotated by suitable means such as a belt engageable with a shaft end at the end of the body.
As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the first pulley 16 and second pulley 18 are rotatably mounted on shafts 24 and 26, positioned in desired axial locations by nuts 28 and 30, threaded on one end, and by collars 32 and 34 clamped to the shafts by set screws 36 and 38. Ball bearings 42 and 44 on the shafts 24 and 26 support the first pulley 16 and second pulley 18 for rotation when engaged by the cable 46 which enters the overtwister body 12 at an entrance passage 48 and leaves the overtwister body at an exit passage 50.
The first pulley 16 and the second pulley 18 each have grooved faces 52 and 54 for engagement with the cable 46 as it is pulled through the twister body 12. As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the cable 46 engages the grooved face 54 of the second pulley 18 and then is guided around the grooved face 52 of the first pulley 16, after which it passes through the exit passage 50.
In order to maintain the cable in the grooves, the first axis A-A of the first pulley 16 and second axis B-B of the second pulley 18 are tilted at an angle X relative to the axis of rotation C- C of the overtwister body 12.
Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, the entrance passage 48 and exit passage 50 are slanted away from the axis of rotation C-C of the overtwister body so that the cable 46 will pass by the shafts 24 and 26 of the first pulley 16 and second pulley 18.
In operation the cable 46 is threaded through the overtwister body 12 as shown and is held in spaced relation so that there is no engagement of the different sections of the cable while in the overtwister body. This has been a problem in the prior art apparatus shown in Fig. 5 where a cable 60 is wrapped around a single pulley 62 and there is engagement of the overlapping section 60A entering the overtwister body 64 and the section 60 B leaving the overtwister body. With the construction of the present invention, there is no possibility of different sections of the cable 46 interfering or engaging other sections. It has also been found that the overtwister body 12 of this construction is more efficient than the overtwister body 64 of the prior art construction.
Assuming that the efficiency can be described in terms of the speed of rotation of the overtwister
body to the amount of residual twist left in the cable, it has been found that the overtwister body 12 of this invention can be driven at a speed 8% slower than the overtwister body 64 of the single pulley design and yield the same residual twist in the cable 46. This advantage is in addition to the elimination of the entanglement, which occurs when a filament breaks in the twister body 64 of the single pulley unit and comes in contact with the entering cable.
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