Improvements to the heads of coil-forming machines and heads of coil-forming machines thus improved

Abstract

 This invention concerns improvements to the heads (10) of coil-forming machines and the heads of coil-forming machines thus improved which comprise rotating guide means (53) and fixed structure means (II) that support said rotating guide means (53), whereby the rotating guide means (53) act substantially as the shaft of the motor means (40) which drives the coil-forming heads (10).

Description

[0001] This invention concerns improvements to the heads of coil-forming machines, and also the heads of coil-forming machines which adopt said improvements.

[0002] To be more exact, the invention concerns improvements envisaged for coil-forming heads able to generate curved spirals of wire rod having a substantially constant pitch and diameter, the process starting with substantially straight continuous . wire rod.

[0003] Such machine are mainly employed to form coils of wire rods coming from the rolling process.

[0004] Said wire rods come with a straight movement and pre-set. speed into a rotating guide so shaped as to induce the spiral formation required.

[0005] Various kinds of coil-forming machines are known and, in. particular, various solutions of the coil-forming rotating heads are known and employed in such machines.

[0006] Said rotating heads consist substantially of a spindle cooperating with a shaped guide.

[0007] In said solutions the spindle is made to revolve by a motor means which is advantageously an electric motor and which is located at the side of, or else at a given distance- from, the coil-forming head and can cooperate with said head- through suitable means that transmit the motion.

[0008] In particular, said means can be orthogonal or cylindri_- cal gear wheels which cooperate with a motor disposed ortho-. gonally or parallel to the axis of the spindle, or else said. means can be gear wheels of another type or other mechanical. means suitable for the purpose.

[0009] Besides the disadvantage of their far from negligible intrinsic cost, said means to transmit motion need.specific . lubrication equipment and entail much noise, discontinuous working, low output, frequent maintenance and mechanical li-. mitations at the speed of rotation of the heads.

[0010] Said known embodying solutions, moreover, involve an . extra overall size of the structure of the coil-forming ma- . chine.

[0011] The improvements of our invention enable the drawbacks . and restrictions of said known solutions to be obviated by envisaging the elimination of every supplementary means for . transmitting motion and by making the motor means cooperate . directly with the spindle of the coil-forming head.

[0012] In this way a substantial reduction in the costs of constructing and running the machine is obtained owing to the . lack of intermediate means to transmit motion, and an appre-. ciable reduction in the overall size of the machine is also . obtained.

[0013] According to the invention the motor means have their armature solidly fixed to the spindle and located substantially coaxial with and around said spindle.

[0014] In other words, it is the spindle which acts as the rotation shaft of said motor means.

[0015] Our invention therefore consists of improvements to the. heads of coil-forming machines comprising rotating guide means and fixed structure means which support said rotating guide means, said improvements being characterized by the fact that the rotating guide means act substantially as the shaft of . the motor means which drives the coil-forming heads.

[0016] This invention is also pursued by the heads of coil- . forming machines which include rotating guide means and fixed structure means that support said rotating guide means, said heads being characterized by the fact that the rotating guide means act substantially as the shaft of the motor means which drives the coil-forming heads.

[0017] We shall describe hereinafter a preferential embodiment. of the invention as a non-restrictive example and shall refer to the attached tables, wherein:-

Fig.I gives a view of a section of a coil-forming head im-. proved according to the invention; .

Fig.2 shows an outside view of the coil-forming head of Fig.I

[0018] In the figures the same parts or parts having the same functions bear the same reference numbers.

[0019] In particular, the coil-forming head shown 10 comprises. a fixed supporting structure II which consists substantially. of a frame 12 within which a rotating guide 53 is installed . at least partially.

[0020] Said rotating guide 53 comprises a spindle 14 supported. by bearings 15-115 which are suitably sustained (13-113) and. located axially at the frontal ends of said frame 12.

[0021] Suitable flange means I6 which cooperate with and rest . against the supports I3 keep the bearings 15 in their working position in relation to the frame 12.

[0022] Spacer means 17-117 cooperate in a coordinated manner with, and are axially located on, the spindle I4 and keep said bearings 15-115 in position with the help of opposed contrast means 18-118 respectively in coordinated cooperation with said supports 13-113 and said flange means 16.

[0023] Possible circumferential ring-wise-closure means I9 may. be comprised on the front discharge part of the coil-forming. head 10.

[0024] In the opposite front part of said head 10 means 20 are. included to guide axially the wire rod to be coiled and have. an inlet mouth 21 helpfully shaped so as to induct the wire rod.

[0025] Said inlet mouth 2I is followed by a substantially straight conduit 22, the walls of which 23 can possibly contain,. at least partially, some interspaces or ducts 24 for a cooling fluid such as water, for instance.

[0026] Forced air may perhaps be introduced into the conduit 22 through one or more nozzles 25 machined in said guide means 20 near said inlet mouth 21.

[0027] Both these solutions enable the spindle of the coil-forming head 10 to be cooled advantageously.

[0028] Moreover, the forced air can be channelled into the spindle 14 by means of through slits or holes 26 which may possibly be comprised in suitable clamping means 27 located inside said spindle 14.

[0029] Said clamping means 27 can grip and hold the inlet end . of specially shaped guide means 28, which are conformed in our example like a shaped tubular conduit.

[0030] The wire rod or wire having a substantially straight . form is inserted at a pre-set speed into the mouth piece 29 . axially aligned with the conduit 22 and said means 28.

[0031] In said shaped guide means 28 the wire rod is curved progressively and is rotated at the same time with a pre-set. angular speed owing to the rotation of the spindle I4 so that it takes up the desired spiral form.

[0032] The means 28 are fastened to the spindle 14 by the clamp- .ing means 27, as said earlier, so as to be set in rotation, . and their outlet end 32 is clamped by particular rotating and supporting means 33 solidly fixed to the spindle itself 14.

[0033] In the examples of the figures shown, in particular,said ,rotating and supporting means 33 are connected frontally to . the end part of the spindle I4 by a flange element 36 and appropriate locking bolts 34.

[0034] This type of connection with bolts, however, can be re-. placed with another type of connection.

[0035] The rotating and supporting means 33 comprise also at their unconnected end a circumferential element 35 of the type, for instance, such as a wheel or disk onto which said outlet. end 32 is clamped.

[0036] Said element 35 and the flange element 36 are connected. axially by a lengthwise structure 37 which bears radial ele-. ments 38 to support the intermediate part of the guide means. 28.

[0037] The figures also show a balancing structure 39, which in our example consists of a tubular conduit the same as the conduit forming the shaped guide 28 and which is located diame-. trically in symmetry relatively to said guide 28.

[0038] It is possible to envisage the use of a structure 39 . which has a different shape but which can produce the same balancing effect for said tubular structure 28.

[0039] According to the invention the spindle 14 acts substantially as a rotation shaft for the motor means 40, which in our example is an electric motor coooperating with the coil-. forming head 10.

[0040] In particular, said motor means, which are of a direct . current type in the example shown in Fig.I, are supported on. a suitable carrying and alignment structure 4I and are anchored with the yoke 42 of the armature 43 outwardly to the spindle 14.

[0041] The same Figure I shows the parts constituting said electric motor 40 and comprising substantially the stator 44, . which consists of the yoke or body 45 and poles 46 cooperat-. ing with the stator windings 30, and the armature 43, which . consists of the core of armature laminations 47 and the armature winding 48 with the relatirtre connections 49 to the com-. mutator 50, whereby some sliding contacts or brushes 51 are . included which are solidly fixed to the stationary part of . the motor 40 and feed the supply current to said armature winding 50.

[0042] Cooling of the motor means 40 is performed with known . means, which in our example consist of fans or other means for forced convection of cooling liquid 52 (Fig.2) which cause air or cooling liquid to circulate within the coil-forming . head 10 in such a way that the circulation laps or comes into contact with the parts of the electric motor 40 and possibly. also of the spindle 14 which have to be cooled.

[0043] We have described here a preferential embodiment of the. invention but variants are possible for a technician in this. field.

[0044] Thus the shapes and sizes can be changed and it is pos-. sible to envisage the use of a motor which is different from. that of a direct current type described and shown here but which is still suitable for actuating the same kind of cooperation and axial link with the spindle 14.

[0045] It is possible to envisage a different type of anchorage of the hub 42 to the spindle 14 and said hub 42 can be differently conformed, or else it is possible to envisage that said hub 42 and the spindle 14 are made as one single casting.

[0046] These and other variants are all possible for a techni-. cian in this field within.the scope of the idea of the solution.

Claims

I. Improvements to the heads (10) of coil-forming machines comprising rotating guide means (53) and fixed structure means (II) which support said rotating guide means (53),. said improvements being characterized by the fact that the rotating guide means (53) act substantially as the shaft of the motor means (40) driving the coil-forming heads (10).

2. Improvements to the heads (10) of coil-forming machines as in Claim I, characterized by the fact that the motor means (40) are electric motor means with their armature winding (48) solidly fixed to and located substantially at least partially around the spindle (14) of the rotating guide means (53), whereby the stator (44) is solidly anchored to the frame (12) of said head (10) of the coil-forming machine.

3. Improvements to the heads (10) of coil-forming machines as in Claim I or 2, characterized by the fact that nozzle means (25) are comprised which immit liquid into the means (20) guiding the wire rod to be coiled, so as to cool. the spindle (I4) and motor means (40) at least partially.

4. Improvements to the heads (10) of coil-forming machines as in Claim I or 2, characterized by the fact that interspace means or duct means (24) for cooling liquid are comprised and machined in the wall (23) of the guide means (20) so as to cool the spindle (I4) and motor means (40) at least partially.

5. Improvements to the heads (10) of coil-forming machines as in Claim I and in one or another of the Claims thereafter, characterized by the fact that said nozzle means (25) immitting liquid and said interspace or duct means (24) are comprised so as to cool the spindle (14) and motor means (40) at least partially.

6. Improvements to the heads (10) of coil-forming machines as in Claim I or 2, characterized by the fact that means (52) are comprised for the forced convection of cooling liquid so as to cool the spindle (14) and motor means (40) at least partially.

7. Improvements to the heads (10) of coil-forming machines as in Claim I or 2 and in one or another of the Claims thereafter, characterized by the fact that means (52) for forced convection of cooling liquid are comprised.

8. Heads (10) of coil-forming machines as in Claim I and in one or another of the Claims thereafter, comprising rotating guide means (53) and fixed structure means (II)which support said rotating guide means (53), characterized by the fact that the rotating guide means (53) act substantially as the shaft of the motor means (40) which drive the coil-forming heads (10).

Drawing