Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Limited

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Fujio Ogawa

Yutaka Nishide

Akira Gotoh

Takashi Kobayashi

Michio Fukuda

Teiji Sakuma

Yoshio Takenami

Takayuki Sakakura

Koichi Ueda

Takamichi Miyamukai

Yasuhiro Deguchi

Yoshiyuki Hattori

Tomokazu Itoh

Yasuyuki Ookuma

A wire laying-out apparatus automatically lays out an electric wire on a wire laying-out plate. The electric wire is laid out by a wire laying-out head which is freely moved on the wire laying-out plate by an X-direction feed shaft and a Y-direction feed shaft. A plurality of wire guiding devices are arranged in a linear manner on the wire laying-out head. A selecting device is provided in the vicinity of the wire guiding device. The selecting device selects one of the wire guiding devices. It is possible to lay out the electric wire by lowering a wire guiding device. When the electric wire to be laid out is replaced, the electric wires are not tangled. An oblique arch including guide rollers for guiding the electric wires to the wire guiding devices helps inhibit tangling of the wires. In addition, the wire guiding devices are integrated with the wire laying-out head so that the electric wire can be replaced irrespective of the position on the wire laying-out head. Therefore, it takes less time to replace the electric wire.

Wire laying-out apparatus

The fabrication of wiring harnesses requires many steps, such as a wire laying out step of laying out electric wires coated with insulative sheaths in a laying out array and cutting with measured length, a stripping step of the insulative sheaths at the ends of the electric wires, a crimping step of pressing terminals together with the bared ends of the electric wires in crimp contact, an inserting step of inserting into connectors the terminals pressed in crimp contact, etc. This system has an apparatus for each step modularized, and a module incorporated in the system can be increased or decreased in number depending upon a type of the desired wiring harness. For example, it is assumed now that a wiring harness fabrication line consists of an automated wire laying out module (1), a stripping module (3), two terminal-crimping modules (5), and a terminal-inserting module (7). When the type of the desired wiring harness is changed, additional automated wire laying out module (1) and terminal-inserting module (7) are provided in this fabrication line, and eventually, there can be incorporated two of the automated wire laying out modules (1) and two of the terminal-inserting modules (7) in this fabrication line. Thus, the automated fabricating system according to the present invention is a system pliably adjustable to the change of a design of the wiring harness.

Wiring harness fabricating system

A method of water-proofing a connected portion of electric wires is disclosed which improves the efficiency of water-proofing and prevents the connected portion from becoming enlarged after working. An injector 10 filled with a water-proof insulation adhesion agent 11 is disposed above a tapping roll 7 of a known tape winder so that a nozzle 9 of the injector 10 is directed to the roll 7. A water-proof sheet 1 cut in a desired size is fed on the tapping roll 7. A predetermined amount of the adhesion agent is dropped on the sheet 1 from the nozzle 9 to form a deposit 2 of the adhesion agent. A supplementary sheet 4 made of a water-proof insulation material is applied to the connected portion 3 and then the connected portion 3 with the supplementary sheet 4 is put on the deposit 2 to form a sandwich type construction in which the portion 3 is disposed between the sheets 1 and 4. Then, the connected portion 3 is pushed down into a slot 8 of the tapping roll 7. The sheets 1 and 4 are wound around the connected portion 3 to seal it by rotating the roll 7.

Method of water-proofing a connected portion of electric wires

A method and apparatus for connection of wires to a connector is disclosed. A means is provided for exerting a predetermined tension on the wires so that they are held in alignment while being pressed into the connector.

Method and apparatus for connecting electrical wires

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Yokkaichi, Japan

Fujio Ogawa