WELDING CABLE REEL

BOBINOIR POUR CABLES DE SOUDAGE A L'ARC

English Abstract

ABSTRACT
A reel for winding insulated single - conductor electrical
cable, particularly welding cable. The reel has a rectangular frame
which supports a floating shaft - drum assembly and two cable guid-
ing rollers. Assembly further comprises a pair of slipping conduct-
ors which also serve as wire terminals. Slipping conductors are
pushed together by means of a shaft mounted spring which pulls a
drum towards a frame, and thus squeezes conductors located between
the drum and the frame.
- 1 -

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A cable reel for winding insulated electrical cables,
having an enclosed rectangular frame, and a drum which is attached
to a floating shaft, said shaft protruding on both sides of the frame,
and having on one end attached a handle, said assembly comprising
further a stationary electrical conductor, mounted on said frame
and a rotating electrical conductor, mounted on said drum, both said
conductors having flat ends positioned in the center of the drum,
and having wider sides parallel with the side of the drum, both said
conductors having planar surfaces in continuous electrically con-
ductive engagement by means of axially clamping said conductors,
between said frame and said floating shaft and drum assembly.
2. A cable reel as defined in claim 1 in which conductors
are pushed together by means of a compression spring, disc spring,
resilient plastic, or any other spring-like element, causing axial
pressure on the shaft of the drum and thus squeezing said conductors
between the drum and frame.
3. A cable reel as defined in claim 2 and further compris-
ing nuts on a threaded portion of the shaft for adjusting tension
in the spring.
4. A cable reel as defined in claim 2 and further compris-
ing fasteners such as bolts, retaining rings, dowel-pins or similar,
used to retain the spring element in the desired place, and transfer
the axial force from the spring element on to the shaft of the drum.
5. A cable reel as defined in claim 1 in which an additional
piece of flat electrical conductor, a slip-washer, is positioned
between two conductors, thus eliminating direct contact between said
conductors.
6. A cable reel as defined in claim 1 having parts of the
- 4 -

conductors, which are in electrical conductive engagement, spherical
ly shaped.
- 5 -

Description

5~1~
ABSTRACT
~ reel for winding insulated single - conductor electrical
cable, particularly welding cable. The reel has a rectangular frame
which supports a floating shaft - drum assembly and two cable guid-
ing rollers Assembly further comprisee a pair of slipping conduct-
ors which also serve as ~ire terminals. Slipping conduc-tors are
pushed together by means of a shaft mounted spring which pulls a
dru~ towards a frame9 and thus squeezes conductors located between
the drum and the frame.
~0 SPECIFICATION
~ his -invention relates to devices used for wlnding insu
lated electrical cables, for the purpose of temporary storage, and
more particularly to a reel for winding welding cable~.
Most of the truck mounted welding machino~ and also some
of the ln-shop used machines have long welding cables. Between ~ob~
or at the ~nd of the working day, cables are usually hand-coiled on
a hook near the welding machine.
The desirability of mechanising this work has been reco~-
nized in the pa~t, and several products attempting to solve this
problem have been introduced. None of these devices were thoroughly
accapted by welders for numerous reasons, such as small storage ca-
pacity and complexity of de~ign.
The ob~ect of this invention is to provide a simple, re-
liable and :inexpensive device, which will eliminate the time con-
suml~g hand-coiling of cables.
In drawings which illu~trate pre~erred embodiments of
the invention,
Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section~ take~l upon
the plane indicated by the section line A - A of Figure 2,
~d~

~S~ L3
Fi~ure 2 is a side view of a cable reel, showing side B
as indicated in Figure 1,
~ i~urcs 39 4, ~nd 5 are fragmentary sectional views, sho~-
ing c~rtain structural featur0s of a ~odified cable rcelO
The device illustrated comprises a frame 1 ~ith two sha~t
supporting bushings 2, and two rollers 3, used for guiding an elec-
trical cable. A drum 4 attached to a shaft 5 is rotated by usi~g a
handle 6 which i~ attached to the shaft 5.
Electrical current is transmitted from a stationary elec-
trical cable, attached to a conductor 7 on the ~rame 1, lnto a ro-
tating cable, attached to a conductor 8 on the drum 4. Tbe conductor~
7 and 8 are electrically insulated ~rom the frame 1 and the drum 4
by dielectric washers 9 and dielectric sleeves 10. Conductor 8 ro-
tates with the drum 4, while the conductor 7 is stationary.
Disc spring 12 on the end of the shaft 5 provide pre~suro
needsd to keep the conductors 7 and 8 in good contact by pulling the
drum 4 towards the bushing 2, and ~quee~ing th~ conductor~ together~
Pressure can be adjuæted by nuts 6. The said onductors also act as
a brake, uhich i8 needed for uncoiling~ the cable to prevent the
drum 4 from overrunning while pulling on the cable.
~ igures ~, 4 and 5 sho~ three dlfferent methods of spring
desi~n. In Figure 3~ a rubber ~asher 13 i8 used in place of disc
æprings. In Figure 4 and 5 a compression coil spring 14 i~ used as
a substitute for the disc springs. Fi~ure 5 also illustrates a dlf~
fer~nt way of boldi~ a ~pring i~ place by using a bolt 15 and a
washer 16 instead of the nuts 6.
~ conductlve slip-washer 11 (Figure 1~ could be added
between the conductors 7 and 8. Thls washer, made of material havin~
different hardness and frlction coefficient tha~ conductors, can
slow the wear on said bars.
Pigure 3 also illustrates how engaging end~ of the conduct-
ors 7 and 8 may be spherically shapedO This modification assures good
-- 2

5~3
electri~l contact on the full enga~ing sur~ace of said conductors if
~olid, nonfle~ible conductoræ are used, because ~aid modi~ication al-
lows small movement of said conductors, needed to compensate for mis-
ali~nment or incorrect bends on the conductors ? and 8.
While the invention i~ susc~ptible to various modlfication~
and alternative constructions, certain illustrative embodiment~ have
been ~hown and described. It ~houlfl be understood, however, that
there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific form6
disclosed9 but, on the contrary9 the intention i5 to cover all modi-
flc~tions, alternative con6tructionæ and aquivalents ~alling withinthe spirit anfl scope o~ the invention as expressed in th~ appended
claims.