GB1369798A - System for ordered dispensing of strand material - Google Patents

Abstract

1369798 Making wire harnesses HUGHES AIRCRAFT CO 14 Dec 1971 [31 Dec 1970] 58009/71 Heading B3A [Also in Divisions G3 and H2] Strand material is automatically dispensed along predetermined paths in accordance with a stored program; facilities being provided for retaining the strand along the paths and at a termination site on removal of a feeding means. As shown, Fig. 1, cable form boards 18 are mounted by clamps 19a on work-tables 19. Wire-dispensing heads 10 are mounted on opposite ends of a boom 14 of a positioning carriage 13 which is co-ordinately positioned by a numerical control system responsive to individually programmed blocks of a punched tape. The cable-form is made-up by dispensing wires 16 from heads 10 between wire termination sites 15 past retainers 17. The wires are supplied from spools 11 over grooved guide rollers 26 to capstans 25, whereby wire tension is adjusted and the wire initially payed-out at a termination site. The wire emerges through a selected guide tube 22a. A termination site is perforated 40, Fig. 4, and incorporates a slit neoprene diaphragm 53. A selected guide tube 22a, in response to the programme, penetrates the diaphragm and is then retracted to a level at which the wire is to be formed, the wire end being retained by the diaphragm. The wire on the spools 11 is pre-coded by pinched sections which are sensed by a photoelectric device during a sensing period of the programme, occurring when the selected guide tube is inserted in a diaphragm. The sensing of the section causes the wire to be payed-out for a distance which ensures that the wire extends from the feed-tube. It is stated that the two heads can be operated concurrently and in parallel to produce two cable-forms in a cycle or a tool substituted at one head for setting out terminate sites and retainer position. The heads can dispense material other than wire, such as fibres, fibreoptic material, or tubing.