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Westech Gear Corporation

John M Franchuk

James Appling

An apparatus for pulling small-diameter fragile cable without damaging or deforming the cable. The apparatus includes resilient wheels and at least two flexible bar assemblies. The bar assemblies are entrained around the wheels and include a plurality of bars, each having a flat surface. The bars transfer the resilient pressure of the wheels to the cable and distribute normal tension forces over the area defined by the surface of each bar, thus eliminating point-loading.

Apparatus for pulling small-diameter fragile cable

A self-threading capstan drive includes two sheaves mounted in a frame, each having a spiral groove with approximately three turns. The sheaves are slightly misaligned so that an elongated sonar array is directed from one sheave to the next without lateral bending. A pair of containment troughs are aligned with the top and bottoms of the sheaves to direct the sonar array between the sheaves. At least one of the sheaves is motor-driven such that its direction of rotation is reversible, the sonar array being reeled onto and off of a storage reel. Each of the sheaves and the containment troughs includes a groove with an inner channel whose dimensions accommodate the sonar array and an outer channel of larger diameter accommodating an endless tubular belt which recirculates over both sheaves and makes contact throughout most of its length with the sonar array, positively driving and carrying the sonar array in either direction.

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Lynnwood, WA, United States of America

John M Franchuk