Reel stand with line guide

Abstract

A stand for carrying a reel around which a linear product such as wire may be wound. The stand comprises a base and a support member for engaging the reel in a manner that permits the reel to rotate so that the linear product may be unwound therefrom or wound thereon. The stand comprises a line guide having a guide head designed to guide the linear product during the winding or unwinding process. The guide head is carried on a guide arm which is configured to be mounted on the stand. Optionally, the line guide and stand are configured to provide a position on the stand where the line guide may be stowed when not in use. Preferably, the guide arm is flexible to permit the desired positioning of the guide head and, optionally, to facilitate stowage.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a reel stand and, more particularly, to a reel stand having a line guide.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Reel stands for reels of wire are used extensively in the building and trade industries as a relatively easy means for supporting a wire reel while unrolling the extensive lengths of wire that need to be run throughout a construction site. There exist in the art various types of reel supports that are used to facilitate the unwinding of the wire from the reel. Examples of such supports may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,601,960 issued July 1952 to Hick, U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,071 issued May 1968 to Godson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,422 issued July 1983 to McDonald and U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,078 issued May 1988 to Setzke. A particular support arrangement that is collapsible when not in use is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,194, issued to E. M. Parsen on Nov. 18, 1975. The Parsen wire reel support comprises a set of three nested U-frames. When fully separated, the three frames form a “Y” configuration, with two arms used as ground support and the remaining arm used to hold the wire reel. In one particular configuration, each frame can hold a separate reel, such that three reels may be simultaneously loaded onto the support. Although the Parsen support can be described as an improvement over the state of the art, it may be subject to unwanted collapse, since a chain is the only means used to maintain the “open” configuration of the support.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention provides a reel stand for supporting a reel comprising a linear product wound about the reel. A stand in accordance with this invention comprises a reel support member for supporting at least one such reel in a manner which permits the reel to rotate, a base supporting the reel support member and a line guide. The line guide comprises a guide arm and a guide head for guiding such linear product from the reel.

[0004] In accordance with one aspect of the invention, at least one of the reel support and the base of the stand are configured to carry the line guide in a stowed position. Optionally, at least one of the support member and the base may comprise a hollow structure configured to receive the guide arm therein.

[0005] Optionally, the guide arm may comprise a flexible guide arm.

[0006] Stated differently, the present invention relates to an improvement in a stand for supporting one or more reels of a linear product such as wire. The improvement comprises that the stand includes a line guide mounted on the stand for guiding the product as it is withdrawn from a reel mounted on the stand. An optional further improvement may be that the stand is configured to carry the line guide thereon in a stowed position.

[0007] According to another aspect of this invention, the line guide may optionally comprise a friction fit member for engaging a surrounding structure within which the line guide may be stowed.

[0008] In a particular embodiment, a stand in accordance with the present invention may comprise a pair of “U”-shaped frame members, each member comprising a central horizontal portion and a pair of vertical leg portions. The pair of frame members are attached so that the horizontal portions rest on the ground and the opposing leg portions are joined as a hinge capable of being separated to form an opened inverted “V” position and a closed collapsed position. A pair of angle members is attached to one frame member and forming a fixed angle with relation to the remaining frame member in the opened position to control the amount of separation between the frame members when the reel stand is in its opened inverted “V” position. There is a pair of bearing members attached to the joined legs of the frame members, each bearing member including an aperture and a principal support bar for supporting a wire reel, said principal support bar disposed through the apertures of said pair of bearing members and releasably attached thereto. There is also at least one side support bar for supporting a wire reel and releasably attached between the vertical leg portions of a frame member, wherein the principal support bar and at least one side support bar remain attached to said frame members in the closed, collapsed position, and a line guide as described above mounted on the stand.

[0009] Optionally, the line guide may be mounted on the stand in a stowed position.

[0010] Other and further features of the present invention will become apparent during the course of the following discussion and by reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a reel stand and stowed line guide in accordance with a particular embodiment of the invention, carrying a single wire reel (illustrated in phantom);

[0012] FIG. 1A is a view of an exemplary support bar attachment area illustrating in particular an exemplary releasable attachment configuration suitable for attaching support bars to the stand;

[0013] FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the wire reel stand of FIG. 1 without the line guide, in its “closed” position;

[0014] FIG. 3 is a cut-away view of a section of FIG. 2, taken along line 3-3, illustrating in particular the attachment of the support bar to the stand and showing an optional stowage tube for carrying a line guide in accordance with an alternative optional embodiment of this invention;

[0015] FIG. 4 is a side view of the wire reel stand of FIG. 1 in its “open” position with the optional stowage tube of FIG. 3 with a line guide disposed therein, illustrated as carrying a wire reel on one of the side bar support members;

[0016] FIG. 5 is a view of a portion of one frame member, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4, illustrating in particular one of the side guards used to prevent a wire reel from inadvertently coming into contact with the stand;

[0017] FIG. 6 is an elevation view of a line guide in accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the line guide of FIG. 6 in position for mounting on frame member 14a of the stand of FIG. 1;

[0019] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the stand of FIG. 1 with the side support bars on the upper pins, showing how each side support bar may support a plurality of wire reels with the line guide gathering the wire from each reel;

[0020] FIG. 9 is a partially cross-sectional view of the line guide of FIG. 6 in a stowed position in support bar 36 as shown in FIG. 1; and

[0021] FIG. 10 is an elevation view of the line guide of FIG. 6 equipped with a friction fit sleeve.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0022] The present invention provides an improvement to reel stands for holding reels of linear products such as wire. The improvement relates to a line guide which serves to guide the linear product as it is unwound from the reel. The line guide comprises a guide head which contacts the wire or other linear product and an arm which supports the line head. The line guide and stand are preferably configured so that the line guide can be mounted on the stand and, preferably, so that it can be stored on the stand in a stowed position when not in use. The arm of the line guide may be flexible so that the position of the guide head can be adjusted as desired even when the line guide is mounted at a fixed position on the stand. The flexibility of the guide arm may also facilitate stowing the line guide on the stand.

[0023] Generally speaking, a stand in accordance with this invention comprises a reel support member for supporting a reel in a manner which permits the reel to rotate, a base on which the support member is carried and a line guide. An exemplary reel stand 10 for a reel of wire, in its “open” position, is illustrated in FIG. 1. A conventional reel 12 is illustrated in phantom as being supported by stand 10. Stand 10 includes a pair of U-shaped frame members 14 and 16 which provide the base of the stand. Frame members 14 and 16 are positioned so that the middle section of each frame member (designated 14A and 16A in FIG. 1) rests against the ground and the end legs of each “U” are joined to form (in a side view, such as that of FIG. 3) an inverted “V” structure. A pair of angle irons 18 and 20 are permanently attached to frame member 16 and are positioned to brace against frame member 14 in the open position. Angle irons 18 and 20 are chosen to provide the desired degree of opening between frame member 14 and 16. For example, a 70-degree angle has been found to provide a sufficient opening for the present purposes. A pair of bearing members 22 and 24 are attached to the terminating ends of frame members 14 and 16. Each bearing member 22, 24 includes an aperture so that a principal support bar 26 (which comprises a reel support member of this embodiment) may be inserted through the apertures and used to support a reel, such as reel 12, in a manner which permits the reel to rotate. Optionally, support bar 26 may have a length greater than the width of the reel stand such that its ends protrude from both sides of the stand and can serve as carrying handles. A releasable attachment mechanism, such as a pair of spring clips, is used to fix support bar 26 between rod support members 22 and 24. Support bar 26 may be a pipe or a solid rod, either being considered to provide sufficient support for a wire reel.

[0024] For the arrangement as depicted in FIG. 1, only a single reel is being supported. In this configuration, additional support bar members 36 and 42 are attached at lower positions on the frame members that do not interfere with the rotation of reel 12 as wire is removed. Frame member 14 includes two sets of location pins, a first, lower set 28 and 30, and a second, higher set, 32 and 34. Side support bar 36 is illustrated as releasably attached to lower pins 28, 30 by means of a pair of apertures 28a, 30a that fit over pins 28, 30. For the particular illustrated embodiment, support bar 36 is releasably attached by using locking pins. Support bar 42 is similarly attached to frame member 16 at a pair of lower pins 46, 48, where frame member 16 also includes a pair of pins 49, 50 that may be used to locate support bar 42 at a second, higher position. One exemplary locking pin is illustrated in detail in FIG. 1A. As shown, the pin 48 includes a rotatable end portion that may be held in a first, coaxial position (that is, in line with the body of the pin) when it is desired to place a support bar over the pin. Once the support bar is in place, the end portion of the pin is rotated into a second, perpendicular position (that is, perpendicular to the body of the pin) so that the support bar cannot be inadvertently removed. It is to be understood that various other releasable attachment mechanisms may be used; for example, pins 28, 30 could be threaded, and a nut (such as a wing nut) may be used to releasably attach support bar 36 to frame member 14. As long as the attachment is “releasable” such that the bar may be moved between a lower, unused position, and an upper position to serve as a reel-carrying bar, any appropriate attachment means may be used. A pair of side guards 51, 53 are attached to frame 16 (or alternatively, may be attached to frame 14) and used to prevent the end faces of reel 12 from coming into contact with frame members 14 and 16. The side guards will be described in detail below in association with FIG. 5. Stand 10 includes a line guide in a stowed position within side bar 36 so that only guide head 56 is visible. (The line guide will be described in greater detail below.) Stand 10 is equipped with a mount for the line guide where the line guide may be mounted in its working position as will be described further below. In the illustrated embodiment, the mount comprises a threaded hole 27 in support 14 in which the line guide may be received.

[0025] A collapsed configuration (or “closed position”) of wire reel stand 10 is shown without the line guide in FIG. 2. In the closed position, frame members 14 and 16 are folded together. Bearing members 22 and 24 may be rotated slightly to one side so that support bar 26 rests off-center in the folded arrangement. As mentioned above, an advantage of the collapsible stand arrangement of the present invention is that all of the pieces can remain attached to the stand when closed and the line guide can remain stowed as shown in FIG. 1, allowing for easy storage without losing any of the parts. In the illustration, support bar 36 is depicted as separated from pins 32 and 34 merely to illustrate the location of the associated apertures 32a, 34a in bar 36 and illustrate the method of attaching support bar 36 to frame 14. As in the other illustrations, and as clearly illustrated in FIG. 1A, a pair of locking pins (i.e., each pin including a rotatable end portion) is used to attach support bar 36 to frame 14 (as well as side bar 42 to frame 16). For storage purposes, support bars 36 and 42 may be attached at either the lower position or upper position along the respective frame member.

[0026] FIGS. 3 and 4 further describe stand 10 but also show an optional additional structure, stowage tube 44, in which the line guide may optionally be stowed when not in use. FIGS. 3 and 4 otherwise show portions of stand 10 as described in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 3 shows a portion of stand 10 in the closed configuration of FIG. 2, illustrating the location of frame members 14 and 16, as well as bearing member 22 and support bar 26. As shown, a spring clip is used to releasably attach support bar 26 at bearing member 22 (a similar spring clip provides attachment of rod 26 at support member 24).

[0027] FIG. 4 is a cut away side view of collapsible wire reel stand 10, in the open configuration, configured to support a wire reel 44 (shown in phantom) on support bar 36, which is mounted on frame member 14. In this view, the line guide is shown in the stowed position in tube 44. Tube 44 is sized to receive the guide arm of the line guide therein, but guide head 54 serves as a stop so that in the stowed position only guide head 56 visible. For the particular arrangement of FIG. 4, support bar 42 remains in its lowered, unused position. However, it is possible for both support bars to simultaneously support reels, since the separation between frame members 14 and 16, as controlled by angle irons 18, 20 is sufficient to keep the reels on each side of the stand from touching each other. As mentioned above, reel stand 10 may further include a pair of side guards 51 and 53, fixed to each leg portion of frame member 16 (or alternatively, on frame member 14). As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, side guards 51 and 53 are disposed to protrude a predetermined distance into the interior region of stand 10. FIG. 5 contains an enlarged view of side guard 51 and its relationship to spool 12. In general, as the wire is unwound from the spool, the spool will “travel” back and forth between the ends of the stand. The amount of movement will, of course, be a function of the length of the spool as related to the length of the support bar. Side guards 51 and 53 serve to protect the ends of the reel from coming into direct contact with the base of stand 10. Referring to FIG. 5, guard 51 protrudes beyond frame member 16 by an amount d sufficient to maintain a space between frame member 16 and reel 12.

[0028] A line guide in accordance with a particular embodiment of this invention is shown in FIG. 6. Line guide 54 comprises the guide head 56 mounted on one end of guide arm 58. In the illustrated embodiment, guide head 56 is rotatably mounted on guide arm 58, e.g., by a swivel joint. The opposite end of guide arm 58 is configured to be mounted on the stand by means of screw threads 58a. Line guide 54 further comprises a ring magnet 60 positioned about guide arm 58. Guide arm 58 may be rigid or, in a preferred embodiment, may be flexible, e.g., it may comprise a manually flexible goose-neck structure. The flexibility of guide arm 58 can be useful in providing options for storing line guide 54 on the stand when not in use and for positioning guide head 56 as desired during use. Guide head 56 defines a guide hole 56a through which the linear product, e.g., wire, on the reel supported by the stand may pass. Preferably, guide hole 54a is contoured so that it does not have sharp edges and so will not damage the product passing therethrough.

[0029] In use, line guide 54 may be mounted on stand 10 in any convenient manner and at any suitable position. As previously indicated with reference to FIG. 1, frame member 14 is equipped with at least one threaded hole where line guide 54 can be mounted as shown in FIG. 7. Optionally, either or both of frame members 14 and 16 may have a plurality of threaded holes therein to provide multiple sites where line guide 54 may be mounted. FIG. 7 also illustrates the flexibility of line guide 54 by showing a right-angle bend therein.

[0030] The guide hole 56a (FIG. 6) may be configured to accommodate one or more lines of product moving therethrough. A multi-line size guide hole can accommodate multiple lines therethrough from multiple reels mounted on the stand. FIG. 8 illustrates such an arrangement by showing stand 10 with support bars 36 and 42 mounted in their upper positions so that each support bar can carry a plurality of reels of wire thereon. Line guide 54 is mounted on frame member 14 with guide head 56 gathering the wires from the various reels on the stand.

[0031] As previously indicated, the flexibility of line guide 54, in addition to allowing adjustment of the position of guide head 56, may facilitate stowage of the line guide on the stand. In particular, FIG. 9 provides a partially cross-sectional view of line guide 54 in the stowed position of FIG. 1. As seen in FIG. 9, guide arm 58 is configured to fit within support bar 36 and is sized so that it can be diverted within bar 36 to permit location pin 30 to pass therethrough as well. Thus, stowage of guide arm 58 into bar 36 does not prevent the mounting of support bar 36 on frame member 14. If bar 36 comprises a suitable metal, ring magnet 60 on line guide 54 helps retain line guide 54 in a fully inserted position within bar 36.

[0032] It will be understood that a similar configuration for the stowage of line guide 54 can be achieved on other hollow and similarly sized structures of stand 10. Alternatively, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the stand may optionally comprises a stowage tube 44 into which guide arm 54 may be inserted. Optionally, guide arm 58 may be equipped with a friction fit sleeve 62. Sleeve 62 is configured to provide a region of increased diameter of arm 58 and may be sized to establish a friction fit with a surrounding hollow structure of stand 10 such as tube 44. With a suitable friction fit established by sleeve 62, line guide 54 will stay in the stowed position in stowage tube 44 regardless of the spatial orientation of the stand on which it is stowed and despite the effect of vibrations or other minor dislodging forces.

[0033] It is to be understood that although this invention has been described by reference to preferred embodiments, various modifications in shape, size, arrangement of parts and materials may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention and these modifications are meant to be covered by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A reel stand for supporting a reel comprising a linear product wound about the reel, the stand comprising:

a reel support member for supporting at least one such reel in a manner which permits the reel to rotate;

a base supporting the reel support member; and

a line guide comprising a guide arm and a guide head for guiding such linear product from such reel.

2. The reel stand of claim 1 wherein at least one of the reel support member and the base are configured to carry the line guide in a stowed position.

3. The reel stand of claim 1 wherein at least one of the support member and the base comprises a hollow structure configured to receive the guide arm therein for storage.

4. The reel stand of claim 1 wherein the guide arm comprises a flexible guide arm.

5. The stand of claim 3 wherein the line guide comprises a friction fit member for engaging a surrounding structure in which the line guide may be stowed.

6. In a stand for supporting one or more reels, the improvement comprising a line guide mounted on the stand.

7. The stand of claim 6 wherein the line guide comprises a guide head carried by a flexible guide arm.

8. The stand of claim 6 configured to carry the line guide thereon in a stowed position when not in use.

9. In a collapsible wire reel stand comprising

a pair of “U”-shaped frame members, each member comprising a central horizontal portion and a pair of vertical leg portions, the pair of frame members attached so that the horizontal portions rest on the ground and the opposing leg portions are joined as a hinge capable of being separated to form an opened inverted “V” position and a closed collapsed position;

a pair of angle members attached to one frame member and forming a fixed angle with relation to the remaining frame member in the opened position to control the amount of separation between the frame members when the reel stand is in its opened inverted “V” position;

a pair of bearing members attached to the joined legs of the frame members, each bearing member including an aperture;

a principal support bar for supporting a wire reel, said principal support bar disposed through the apertures of said pair of bearing members and releasably attached thereto;

at least one side support bar for supporting a wire reel and releasably attached between the vertical leg portions of a frame member, wherein the principal support bar and at least one side support bar remain attached to said frame members in the closed, collapsed position, the improvement comprising

a line guide mounted on the stand, the line guide comprising a guide head on a guide arm.

10. The collapsible wire reel stand of claim 9 wherein the line guide is mounted on the stand in a stowed position.

11. The wire reel stand of claim 9 wherein the line guide comprises a guide head mounted on a flexible guide arm.

12. The wire reel stand of claim 9 wherein the line guide is mounted on the stand with the guide head in position for guiding a wire being drawn from a reel on the stand.