Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Hobart Brothers Company

Marlin Eugene Burns

Darrell Lee Sickels

Eugene G Gibbons

A drive assembly is provided for driving welding wire through a welding wire feeder. The drive assembly comprises an insulating base and a conductive base secured to one another. Both bases have features that allow for mounting in the wire feeder and for mounting various drive components. The conductive base is energized during operation, and the isolative base insulates the conductive base from components of the wire feeder enclosure. Features of the assembly improve operation and facilitate assembly.

Wire feeder drive assembly

A novel system for mounting welding wire spools of different sizes on a mounting spindle of a wire feed system is provided. The invention may reduce or eliminate wire feedability difficulties and welding arc outages arising from misalignment of the wire spool and inconsistent wire feeds. The invention provides a medium and large wire spool mounting system including a spool mounting hub, a movable back plate configured with a locking slot arrangement, and a left threaded nut plate. Furthermore, the invention provides a system for mounting small wire spools on a keyed shaft of a wire feed system comprised of washers, a spring, and a knurled nut. A braking system including washers, a spring, and a knurled nut is provided for the prevention of wire spool free wheeling during non-welding periods.

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Troy, OH, United States of America

Marlin Eugene Burns