Wireworking – Fabric making – All wire
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-03
2001-10-16
Larson, Lowell A. (Department: 3725)
Wireworking
Fabric making
All wire
C242S557000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06302156
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a machine for continuously affixing wires, or similar elongate material, onto successive supports, especially posts planted in the ground. This machine is intended mainly for the continuous construction of fences.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
At present, when constructing a fence, the wires are affixed manually, which requires the work of several persons, and is particularly lengthy and tedious.
A machine exists allowing the fence wires to be affixed continuously, which, however, does not give entire satisfaction in practice. This is because it exhibits certain drawbacks, as regards the positioning of the wires with respect to the posts for the purposes of nailing them on. It is difficult to adapt to uneven ground and is of restricted productivity.
Document DE-A-35 07 543 discloses a machine comprising
at least one braked reel, containing the wire to be affixed;
at least one roller capable of receiving, engaged around itself, the wire paid out by the reel and of orienting this wire appropriately with a view to affixing it.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention aims to remedy these drawbacks in a simple, effective and rational way.
The machine to which it relates is of the type disclosed by the abovementioned document and comprises, according to the invention, means making it possible to shift the said roller between a retracted position, in which this roller is situated short of the plane defined by consecutive supports, and an extended position, in which this roller is situated beyond this plane.
In the said retracted position, the roller allows the machine to pass along the supports intended to receive the wire. As soon as it has passed, the roller is shifted into extended position, so that it takes the wire beyond the plane defined by the supports and makes it possible to press this wire against the closest support. It then makes it possible to hold the wire in this position for the time it takes an operator to fix this wire onto this support.
The braking of the reel and the shifting of the roller into extended position make it possible to ensure a perfect tensioning of the wire for the time it takes to affix this wire onto the support.
The machine preferably comprises several reels, especially two or four, for simultaneous affixing of several wires, and comprises a number of rollers corresponding to the number of reels.
Advantageously, means are provided to allow height adjustment of each roller with respect to the supports intended to receive the wire. The same machine thus makes it possible to affix wires at different heights. For example, a fence with four wires can be constructed by a machine with two reels, the second and fourth wires being affixed in the course of a first pass, then the first and third wires in the course of a second pass. Means can be provided to allow height adjustment of each reel, so that the latter can be placed substantially at the same height as the roller which corresponds to it. In a variant, each reel can be situated at a relatively large distance from the roller which corresponds to it, such that the angle formed by the wire and the axis of the roller varies little according to the various height positions of this roller.
Advantageously, the machine comprises a supplementary roller, not corresponding to a reel. This roller is intended to roll along a previously affixed wire, and thus constitutes a guide making it possible to monitor the separation between the wire or wires being affixed and the wire or wires previously affixed.
The machine preferably comprises
a chassis;
a beam, mounted on this chassis in such a way that one of its ends is turned, while the wire is being affixed, towards the supports which are to receive the wire, this end including the abovementioned roller or rollers, and
means making it possible to make the said beam slide longitudinally with respect to the chassis and to immobilize this beam with respect to this chassis in a determined position.
By virtue of this sliding of the beam, the roller or rollers can thus be positioned in an appropriate way with respect to the supports intended to receive the wires, despite the unevenness of the ground.
Advantageously, the machine comprises an upright including the abovementioned roller or rollers, which is placed on the end of the beam. This upright makes it possible to ensure the perfect positioning of the roller or rollers with respect to the supports.
The machine preferably comprises
an upright including the abovementioned roller or rollers, and
means making it possible to make this upright pivot with respect to the machine in a vertical plane parallel to the direction of affixing of the wires and/or in a vertical plane perpendicular to this same direction, and making it possible to immobilize this upright with respect to the machine in a determined position.
This capability of orienting the upright makes it possible to position the roller or rollers appropriately with respect to the supports intended to receive the wires, despite the unevenness of the ground, in particular when this upright is placed on the end of the abovementioned beam.
For the same reason, the machine may comprise means making it possible to shift all the rollers simultaneously in a vertical direction, particularly by providing an upright with a telescopic structure.
The machine preferably comprises principal means for setting up the braking force exerted on each reel and secondary means for setting up this force, making it possible to make the strength of this force vary with respect to the strength determined with the principal means; these secondary means are coupled to the means allowing each roller to be shifted between the said retracted and extended positions, and are configured in such a way that they reduce the strength of the braking force exerted on the reel when the roller is shifted into extended position and that they increase this strength when the roller is shifted into retracted position.
This is because shifting each roller into extended position has the result of increasing the distance separating the reel and the last point at which the wire was affixed to a support, and consequently of increasing the tension exerted on the wire. In the case where there is substantial tension on the wire, the breaking point of the wire may be reached and exceeded during this shifting movement, which the said secondary means make it possible to prevent, by reducing the braking force on the reel and thus by facilitating the paying-out of the wire at the moment of this shifting of the roller. Conversely, the shifting of the roller into retracted position releases the tension on the wire, and this releasing is compensated for by increasing the braking force exerted on the reel.
For ease of understanding, the invention is described again below by reference to the attached diagrammatic drawing representing, by way of non-limiting example, one preferred embodiment of the machine to which the invention relates.
REFERENCES:
patent: 337119 (1886-03-01), Bigelow
patent: 906547 (1908-12-01), Moss
patent: 3002726 (1961-10-01), Ford
patent: 3356341 (1967-12-01), Brown
patent: 3 507 543 (1986-09-01), None
patent: 2 624 542 (1989-06-01), None
patent: 2 719 837 (1995-11-01), None
Gentay Hubert
Lardet Pierre
Cantor & Colburn LLP
Hubert Gentay
Larson Lowell A.
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