Roteq Machinery Inc.

Michael Marshall

Andrew Blackmore

Paul White

An apparatus and method for continuous operation for the production of conductors that include twisted or stranded wires or filaments includes supply payoff for providing a plurality of strands that have been work hardened. The wires or strands are annealed in line with the payoff and subsequently cooled by a chiller in line with the annealer for cooling the annealed strands output from the annealer to a predetermined temperature. A strander in line with the annealer and cooler or chiller is provided for imparting at least one twist to the annealed and cooled strands. Speed control, for example a dancer, is provided in line between the cooler and the strander for adjusting and controlling the speed or velocity of the strands moving along the line to maintain a speed compatible with the take up speed of the strander. The predetermined temperature is selected to be the ambient operating temperature of the strander for copper or aluminum cable.

Method of annealing multiple individual aluminum and copper wires in machine line in tandem with a stranding machine for continuous operation

Machine line and method of annealing multiple individual aluminum and copper wires in tandem with a stranding machine for continuous operation

A concentric strander has an elongate concentric shaft that defines a shaft axis and supports for rotatably supporting the concentric shaft. A number of wire bobbins are spaced at substantially equal intervals along the shaft to form spaces between the bobbins. Each bobbin has an axis substantially coextensive with the shaft axis for rotation about the shaft, and each bobbin has a maximum radial diameter. The strander has take-off sheaves, mounted on the shaft, that are associated with a wire bobbin and that take the wires from the bobbins and guide them to a point radially outwardly beyond the maximum predetermined radial bobbin diameter. The take-off sheaves subsequently guide the wires in a direction substantially parallel to the shaft axis and define, on rotation of the concentric shaft, a cylindrical envelope. At a downstream end of the shaft, the strander has a closing device that receives the wires from the bobbins and applies them on a core. A drive rotates the shaft, and the wire take-off sheaves are rotated by the interaction between the sheaves and the paid-off advancing wires. The interbobbin spaces needed to support the wire take-off sheaves have axial dimension substantially independent of the diameters of the wires to be processed by the strander.

Compact universal concentric strander with take-off sheaves mounted on strander shaft

A concentric tape applicator has a support shaft that defines an axis and includes a structure for supporting a tape pad for rotation with the support shaft about the axis. Guide rollers are mounted on the support shaft for rotation concentrically about the axis for guiding tape from the tape pad for application to an elongated member advancing along the axis relative to the support shaft. A drive is directly coupled to the guide elements. A differential clutch is provided that has an input shaft directly coupled to the drive and an output shaft coupled to the support shaft for applying braking forces to the pad. A feedback circuit is provided for sensing the speed of rotation of the pad and applying a feedback signal to the clutch for regulating the excitation of the clutch to maintain a substantial uniform tension on the tape dispensed from the pad so potentially independently of the amount of tape remaining on the pad.

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Richmond Hill, Canada

Michael Marshall