Enterprises International, Inc.

Scott E McNeal

Donald Smith

David Richard Doyle

Darrell D Robinson

Andrew D Hall

Michael Kindsvogel

Systems and methods for threading and feeding a length of wire into a wire-tying track, for withdrawing at least some of the wire from the wire-tying track to tension the wire around one or more objects, and for extracting waste wire from the system. The object of the invention herein being a feed and tension mechanism comprising a feed and tension wheel, an accumulator disk, a primary nip mechanism for frictionally engaging the wire at the contact region between the primary nip and the feed and tension wheel, a drive system having two independently operable motors, and wire guiding devices for directing and routing the wire through the feed and tension mechanism. The present invention may further comprise a supplementary nip mechanism to facilitate the threading of the wire into the mechanism, a wire stripping mechanism for extracting any waste wire from the mechanism, and a series of wire sensing devices in communication with a control system to sequence and control the operational cycles of the system. The feed and tension mechanism further includes a frame that structurally supports the major assemblies and attaches to the wire-tying machine.

Apparatus and methods for wire-tying bundles of objects

Apparatus and methods for wire-tying one or more objects. A wire accumulating and feeding mechanism feeds the wire axially through the hollow axle of an accumulator drum and then out to a drive wheel. The wire is wrapped around the periphery of the drum to accumulate the wire during tensioning. A wire gripping mechanism is a simple, economical device including a gripper block having a wire receptacle formed therein, an opposing wall positioned proximate the wire receptacle, and in one embodiment a tapered gap formed in the gripper block proximate the wire receptacle and opposite from the opposing wall, and a gripper disc mounts in a gripper release lever constrained to move within the tapered gap and frictionally engageable with the length of wire disposed within the wire receptacle, the gripper disc being driven into the tapered gap by frictional engagement with the length of wire and pinching the length of wire against the opposing wall when the drive motor is operated in the tension direction. In an alternative embodiment the gripper release lever pinches the wire against the gripping wall. In another embodiment, an apparatus includes a track assembly including multiple modular segments forming a corner of the track. In yet another aspect, a twisting assembly includes a twist motor coupled to a rotatable twist axle having a plurality of cams attached thereto, the primary functions of the twisting assembly being cam-actuated.

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Aberdeen, WA, United States of America

Scott E McNeal