Advancing material of indeterminate length – By orbitally traveling material-engaging surface – Comprising rotary pinch pair
Patent
1999-08-05
2000-10-24
Matecki, Katherine A.
Advancing material of indeterminate length
By orbitally traveling material-engaging surface
Comprising rotary pinch pair
226108, 226188, 254333, B65H 5110
Patent
active
061353361
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a capstan arrangement for transporting a cable or a similar string-shaped product to a treatment plant, which capstan arrangement comprises a stationary stand, a capstan wheel rotatably mounted on the stand, which capstan wheel is provided with a peripheral track for receiving the cable and a motor driven wheel drive in engagement with the capstan wheel so as to rotate the capstan wheel in relation to the stand.
The word `cable` is in this connection intended to comprise not only finished cables, cords, conductors and other string-shaped products but also semi-finished products of such types at various manufacturing stages.
BACKGROUND
When sheathed cables are manufactured the sheath must after an extrusion of the sheath be vulcanized and cooled in one sequence. For this purpose a vulcanizing pipe and a subsequent cooling pipe are arranged after a plastic extruder through which the metal conductor that is to be sheathed is transported by means of a first capstan arrangement, arranged ahead of the extruder and a second capstan arrangement, arranged after the cooling pipe. At the vulcanizing stage the cable is supported in a horizontal extrusion process solely by the two capstan arrangements, or jointly by the first capstan arrangement, the cooling pipe and the second capstan arrangement. Therefore the cable has a catenary-like path at least in the vulcanizing pipe, whereby at least the vulcanizing pipe also has a catenary design.
To prevent the cable in the vulcanizing pipe to come into contact with the hot vulcanizing pipe it is necessary to keep the cable stretched so between the capstan arrangements that the cable runs through the vulcanizing pipe without coming into contact with it. A contact between the cable and the resistances would inevitably cause damage to the sheath of the cable and the cable would have to be discarded. This puts very great demands on the operation of the capstan arrangements, i.e. it requires that the capstan wheel carries the metal conductor without sliding between the conductor and the capstan wheel, that the stand is as robust as possible and rigidly anchored to the base, that the capstan wheel is firmly mounted in bearings on the stand to minimize the risk of vibrations and oscillations and that the driving engagement between the capstan wheel and the wheel drive for rotating the capstan wheel operates as smoothly and free from play as possible.
In previously known capstans of the above mentioned type the rotation of the capstan wheel is based on a gear ring-gear wheel arrangement between the capstan wheel and the wheel drive. Hereby the capstan wheel is provided with a gear ring with inner or outer teeth, which gear ring is attached to the capstan wheel co-axially with the rotation axis of the capstan wheel and the wheel drive is provided with a motor driven gear wheel with outer teeth, which is supported by the stand. The gear wheel is connected to a motor controlled by a tachometer generator or by a corresponding pulse transducer feedback through a suitable gear change, which motor is controlled via a control unit by a sensor arranged in the vulcanizing pipe for detecting the position of the sheathed cable in the pipe. The capstan arrangement positioned at the outlet end of the cooling pipe is usually operated at a constant speed, so that the position of the cable in the vulcanizing pipe can be adjusted by regulating the rotation of the capstan arrangement positioned ahead of the extruder.
However, practical experience has shown that such a gear driving design, despite a meticulous shaping of the teeth to achieve an engagement without play, causes vibrations in the capstan arrangement and thereby a harmful swinging of the cable in the vulcanizing pipe. This is apparently caused by play occurring all the same in the gear driving due to wear under great strain. It should be noted that the distance between the two capstan arrangements in such a cable vulcanizing line nowadays can be as long as 200 meters, whereby the
REFERENCES:
patent: 2955731 (1960-10-01), Meinshausen
patent: 3317149 (1967-05-01), Gooch
patent: 3633809 (1972-01-01), Born
patent: 3777964 (1973-12-01), Kruner et al.
patent: 5179892 (1993-01-01), Cicatello et al.
patent: 5497928 (1996-03-01), Burns et al.
Matecki Katherine A.
Nextrom Holding S.A.
LandOfFree
Capstan arrangement for a cable treatment plant does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Capstan arrangement for a cable treatment plant, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Capstan arrangement for a cable treatment plant will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1955260