Importance

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Abstract

A pair of wire feed clamps are affixed to parallel flights of a pulley-supported steel cable which is axially driven back and forth by an oscillatably rotatable cable drum whereby the wire feed clamps, which reciprocably move in opposite directions, feed a wire strand along a first path. The cable drum is driven by a drive rod reciprocably movable by an orbiting crank pin on a support member which is adjustably mounted on a motor-driven rotatable feed crank. Crank pin orbit determines drive rod stroke, cable drum position, wire feed clamp spacing and travel, and wire segment length. A locking mechanism releasably locks the support member (crank pin) in desired adjusted positions. Two laterally spaced-apart conveyor assemblies, each having conveyor clamps for receiving the wire strand, convey severed wire segments along a second path perpendicular to the first. A motor-driven rotatable threaded shaft adjustably moves the two conveyor assemblies relative to each other to accommodate wire segments of different lengths. A mechanism on one conveyor assembly engages and moves an associated wire feed clamp during conveyor adjusting movement and correspondingly changes the spacing between the wire feed clamps i.e., wire segment length. The locking mechanism unlocks to enable conveyor adjusting movement to change crank pin orbit. An electronic control system controls wire processing and repositioning operations.

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First Claim