Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to a spool or drum for
holding flexible linear elements.
Long lengths of flexible material such as hose,
cables, and linear pieces of extruded plastic are commonly
packaged and shipped by being wound on reels or drums.
These are usually in the form of a cylindrical member on
which the material is wound, with two disks at the ends of
the cylinder for retaining the wound material. The spool is
usually made of inexpensive material such as corrugated
~ cardboard, and the three elements, namely, the drum or
cylinder and the two end disks, are usually shipped to the
user in flat, pre-cut form. The user then assembles them
~; according to his needs, and winds them on the reels for
~storage and shipment at the end of his fabrication process. -
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The usual method of assembly is by means-of adhesives,
staples~etc., which require a certain amo~nt of skill, and
are-~also fàirly time-consuming. It is an object of the
; present invsntion to~provide such a spool which~can be ~ -
assembled by unskllled help rapidly and at low cost.
2~0~ According to the inventlon thls is accomplished by so shap-
~ ing thè pieces which comprise the spool that~they can be
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; locked by folding tabs on the material through suitable apertures
so as to form a firm and rigid spool structure. The manner in
which this is done will be shown in more detail below.
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In addition, provision is made for, in effect, reducing
the diameter of the spool after it has been wound with flexible
material. The reason for doing this is that, when winding flexible
plastic extrusions on a reel, after the reel is fully wound, the
pressure produced by the outer turns of the winding upon the inner
turns tends to flatten and distort the soft plastic material.
provision is therefore made of an extra spacer which is wrapped
around the reel core in such manner that it is somewhat spaced from
the surface of the core, prior to winding the extrusions onto the -
core, and after the reel has been fully wound, this spacer can be ~
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i flattened against the reel core to provide more space for the
innermost turns, so that the tension on them is therefore relieved
and they are prevented from distorting. The manner in which this
is done will also be shown in more detail below.
In accordance with the present invention there is
provided,
20 ~ a. an interlocked spool of semi-rigid material such as
cardboard for carrying flexible linear elements,
`1 b. said spool comprising a hollow body member in
the form of a right cylinder, and two disk-like side
I members coaxially fixed to said cylindrical body
J~ member at its ends,
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¦~ c. said body member being an originally flat sheet of ~
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cardboard rolled up into a hollow cylinder, the
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, circular edges of said cylinder having integral uni-
formly spaced pro~ections extending in a generally
axial direction,
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d. each said projection being a tab having straight
sides and a rounded end, with a slde notch on each
straight side just below the rounded end,
e. each said disk member having an outer concentric
circle of perforations dimensioned to receive respective
tabs of said cylinder so that the disks are snug against
the respective ends of the cylinders with the tabs extending
through said perforations,
f. each disk member having also an inner concentric
circle of slots dimensioned to flictionally receive -
the rounded ends of said tabs with the main body of
each tab bent to lie flat against its disk so that each
tab extends outwardly from the cylinder through
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; one of said first perforations and then inwardly
' back into the cylinder through one of said slots,
.1 g. the said side notches of said tabs engaging the
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3 disk to deter withdrawal of the tab from its engaged slot, -~
sald slots being formed by a shallow U-shaped cut
through the disk materlal with a strip of material
~ remaining attached to the disk at the top of the U
so that the disk material is bent inwardly toward
the other disk by the rounded tab end and engages
~~ the tab end to further deter its withdrawal from the
'- ~ slot. -
The specific nature of the inventlon, as well as other
ob~ects and advantages thereof, will clearly appear from a
~description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accom- ;
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panying drawing, in which:
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Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a spool according to
~, 30 the invention;
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Fig. 2 is a slde view of one of the disk ends of the
spool prior to assembly;
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: Fig. 3 is a side view of a cylindrical member of
the spool in flat condition prior to assembly;
Fig. 4 is a view of a portion of the spool during
assembly;
- Fig. 5 is a side view of a portion of the assembled
. spool;
` Fig. 6 is a flattened-out view of the spacer unit prior
to assembly on the reel;
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Fig 7 is a sectlonal view taken on line 7-7 of
Fig. 9;
Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7, but showing a
later stage in the assembly after the spacer has been
collapsed; and
Fig. 9 is a side view of a por-tion of the assembled
spool with the spacer in place shown partly broken away.
As shown in Fig. 1, the assembled spool has a
central drum in the form of a right cylinder 2, and two end
disks 3, attached to the circular ends of-the drum for
retaining a long length of flexible material for storage,
shipping, etc. Such spools are in common use for -this purpose,
but are generally made by gluing or stapling the three ~ -
elements together, which is time-consuming and expensive. ~ -
The drums are usually made of heavy corrugated cardboard,
but any sheet material having similar characteristics may be
~ used. The elements of the drum are cut or stamped out of
~ the sheet material and are shipped to the user in flat form,
in order to save space in shipping. The personnel of the
1 20 user then assembIes the reels as needed. It will therefore
~ be~apparent that reels which can be assembled~more rapidly
~ ;are cheaper for the~user, and in addition,~ if less~skill is
required, there will also be less waste due to imperfect
reel assembly. : ~ ~
FLg. 2 shows one of the disks 3 prior to assembly ~ -
It ~ls~formed with;an outer concentric clrcle of apertures 4
and an~inner ~concentric circle of slots 6 which are made by
~i cutting through the materlal as shown at 6a, 6b and 6c to
form three sides of the final~slo-t when the disk material is
bent inwardly~along the fourth side of the slot 6d, leaving
a strip of the disk material so that when a tab is pushed ` :
~through the slot, this strip, due to its tendency to return
to its original position, engage5 the side of the tab to help
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retain i-t in place. In addi-tion, oval hand holds 7 are cut
in the disk a suitable distance from a central thumb hole 8
so that -the spool can be easily carried. The central
aperture 8 can also receive a pole or rod for winding or
unwinding the spool.
; Fig. 3 shows the drum or cylinder 9 in the flat
condition before it is rolled into its final cylindrical
shape. Its length is sufficient so that when it is rolled up
with the ends 11 and 12 abutting, it has the desired drum
diameter. The sides 13 and 14 carry projecting tabs 16 to
; that when the sheet 9 is rolled up into a drum, the sides 13
and 14 form the circular ends of the drum, which is now in the
form of a right cylinder with the tabs 16 projecting in the
` ~ generally axial direction of the drum. The spacing of the
tabs 16 is made to conform to the circumferential spacing of ~;
the apertures 4, and the end disks are now slipped into place ~ -
with the tabs ex-tending through the apertures 4 as shown in ~`
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. Fig. 4.
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i~ 20 putting it through the apertures 4 and slots 6, and just`
below this rounded end are two side notches 18 formed in the
sides l9 of the tabs. These notches are~slightly wider than
the thickness of the cardboard. ~ -
After~the~tabs 16 are positioned~as shown in Fig. 4,
the tabs are bent inwardly as shown at 16a and the rounded
ends~are a~gain bent~as shown at 16b so that they can now be
pushed through apertures 4,~bending the disk material at 6d,
with the main body~of the~tab lying ~flat along the outer
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~ ;sur~ace of disc 3 as shown in Fig. 5, where one tab is shown
i~ 30 at 21~;1ylng flat against the disc~but with the end of the
tab~still straight prior to being bent. At 22, the tab end
has been pushed through slot 6 and is~in its flnal position,
in which the notches I8 tend to engage the underside o~ the
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disk and prevent withdrawal, aided by the strips formed at
6d, w~lch is now pushed inwardly as above described. Although
the resulting friction fit holds the assembly :Eirmly
together, it is easily possible to disassemble the pieces by
reversing the process and they can be laid flat to conserve
space and can be shipped back or otherwise re-used.
Thus the spool can be readily assembled by hand by
unskilled labor, without the use of special tools, glue,
staples, etc., as formerly done.
For convenience in shipping, notches 32 are preferably
formed in the outer circumference of the disks, to hold tape
or string after the spool has been wound with the material
it is to carry, or the wound material can be confined in any
other way, e.g~, by slipping an outer cylinder over the
entire wound assembly.
Figs. 6-9 show an additional feature of the invention
which solves a problem that occurs when ~inding soft plastic
extrusions on a reel. When the extrustion has an irregular
shape or is hollow, it often becomes distorted after winding
; ~20 on the reel because of the pressure of the outer layers of
wound e~trusion upon the inner layers. This pressure builds
up a= the material is wound on the reel since a certain amount
of~tenslon must be malntained during the winding operation.
The construction of Figs. 6-9 enables this pressuxe on the
~ inner turns to be r=lieved by, in effect, reducing the di=meter
j of the reel core after the extrusion has been wound~ For
thi=~purpose, a =pacer 40-i= prov1ded having a main body -
portion 42 of the~ =ame width as th= spacing betwe=n the reel :
disks 3, and of sufficient length to at least span the
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~ 30 circumferential distance between two adjacent slots 4 with
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some ci.rcumferential overhang as shown at 42a. This spacer is --
; pref=rably of a material similar to that of the reels -
corrugated cardboard has been found satisfactory for the
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purpose.
The main body 42 is provided with at least four
tabs 44 spaced to extend through two adjacent slots 4
(Fig. 2). Each tab has four distinct sections 48, 50, 52 -
and 54 preferably formed by pre-bending the tab along the
lines shown as dotted lines 48a, 50a, 52a and 54a respectively,
so that the tab will easily bend at these lines into the
configuration shown in Fig. 7. The spacer is then placed
on the reel core 2 which has previously been assembled into
its final form as shown in Figs. 1 and 5; for this use, at -~
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least the slots 4 through which the tabs 44 are to be passed
are preferably made somewhat larger than usual, since they -
must also take the thickness of tabs 44 as well as tabs 19
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previously described, although if the material used is
corrugated cardboard, it is possible to merely make all of
3J ~ ~ the slots a little larger so that they can take either a
single or the douhle thickness ~satisfactorily, due to the
relative softness of this material.
,~ ; With the spacer set on -the reel as shown in Figs.
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Z~O ~7;and 9, it will be seen that due t~o the ledge ormed by
sect1ons 48 and~ 50, the main body 42 is spaced away from
reeI core 2. The spacer is retained in this position by
notches~56 which~engage the sides of slots 4. ~The extrusion
58 is;then wound on the~reel~in~the usual fashion.
After the reel is fully wound~, the tabs 44 are
pul;led out through the slots 4 as far as~they will go, thus ~ ;
collapsing the main body 42 so~as to~lie flat~agains the
core surace 2 as shown in Fig. 8, thus relieving the pressure
on~the inner turns of the wound mater1al, whlch is the
desired object. The extra tab length thus formed is then
fastened down by pushing the~tab ends~52 through~the slots
6 where they are held in place by notches 60, so that the
wound reel now presents a neat and compact appearance and
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can be stacked with o-ther reels.
As a further refinement, colored marks 62 can be
provided so that they will be visible only when the -tab 44
has been completely pulled out, which shows that the
spacer has been completely collapsed and that the exposed
tab length is sufficient so that the notch 60 will engage
the disk 3 when end 54 is inserted in-to slot 6. This also
enables an inspector to ascertain at a glance that the tab
has been fully inserted so that it will not later come out
of its slot.
' It will be apparent that instead of only two tabs
44 on each side of the body portion 42, there could be
three or more such tabs so that a greater amount of relief
is provided when the tabs are pulled out. However, in
~!, practice two such tabs have been found to provide sufficient ;
relie-f in most cases. ~
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