Patents Assigned to Artos Engineering
  • Patent number: 4879926
    Abstract: A programmable wire stripper is provided for cutting and stripping selectively variable length insulation portions from the end of wire segments presented at a workstation. The stripper includes a base frame mounted in fixed relation to the workstation and a carriage mounted on the base frame for movement toward and away from the workstation by a first drive. A turret is mounted on the carriage for movement relative thereto. The turret has a plurality of individual mounting positions and an insulation cutting mechanism is mounted on the turret at each of the mounting positions for movement between open noncutting and closed cutting positions. A second drive is provided for moving the turret to place any selected mounting position and its associated cutting mechanism at the workstation. A first actuator is provided to effect closing of the cutting mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1988
    Date of Patent: November 14, 1989
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Kenneth Wollermann, Ragnar Gudmestad
  • Patent number: 4873901
    Abstract: An apparatus for cutting a portion of insulation adjacent the ends of wire segments having different gauge conductors for the purpose of stripping the cut portion therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 1988
    Date of Patent: October 17, 1989
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventor: Herbert M. Stoehr
  • Patent number: 4856187
    Abstract: A wire feed mechanism alternately feeds a pair of parallel wire strands A and B through spaced-apart turret jaws on a rotatable turret, through a cutter-stripper head, through a wire gathering device and through spaced-apart conveyor clamps in a conveyor. When a desired length of first wire strand A is fed, a first conveyor clamp closes on strand A and the cutter-stripper head severes a wire segment 12A from strand A and strips the newly-severed ends of strand A and wire segment 12A. The turret then rotates 90.degree. in one direction to present the stripped end of strand A to a first terminating machine which attaches a terminal thereto. While termination of strand A occurs, a desired length of the other strand B is fed through the cutter-stripper head and wire gathering device and through a second conveyor clamp, whereupon the latter clamp closes on strand B and the cutter-stripper head severs a wire segment 12B from strand B and strips the severed ends of strand B and wire segment 12B.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 1988
    Date of Patent: August 15, 1989
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventor: Gerald Blaha
  • Patent number: 4819533
    Abstract: Wire processing apparatus comprises a wire selector/feed mechanism for feeding a selected one of a plurality of different wire strands lengthwise into a wire insertion mechanism which then presents a wire segment severed by a wire cutter mechanism laterally to the infeed ends of a pair of laterally spaced apart conveyor units of a conveyor mechanism. Each conveyor unit comprises a support frame on which a conveyor belt assembly is mounted. The conveyor belt assembly is adjustably positionable on the support frame to enable wire segment end portions of desired length to project from the conveyor belt assembly. The wire selector/feed mechanism comprises a wire selector device including a pair of spaced apart rotatable plates having pairs of aligned holes for releasably supporting the wire strands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 1987
    Date of Patent: April 11, 1989
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Kenneth Wollermann, Ragnar Gudmestad, Terry R. Kroening, John E. Conrardy
  • Patent number: 4811633
    Abstract: A programmable apparatus for automatically stripping insulation from a wire end being conveyed by a wire conveyor, thereby leaving a portion of exposed conductor. This apparatus includes an insulation cutting mechanism for transversely cutting the insulation. The cutting mechanism includes opposed blades having facing cutting surfaces, at least one of those blades being movable toward the other by a blade closure device. To effect stripping, the cutting mechanism is moved away from the wire end after the cut is made. The apparatus includes a stepper motor for adjusting for the size of the wire and the thickness of the insulation. Another stepper motor is provided to control the length of the stripped portion. As the cutting mechanism is moved, a blade holder holds the cutting blades in position. A slider rod is connected to the holder and slidably engaged in a support frame connected to the conveyor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 1988
    Date of Patent: March 14, 1989
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: David M. Bueschel, Kenneth A. Wollermann
  • Patent number: 4724695
    Abstract: Paired roller carrying shafts of a roller forming machine are arranged in two side-by-side sets on a table normally supported on a fixed base but elevatable for 180.degree. rotation. Thus, either selected one of the two sets can be in operation, coupled to drive heads on the base, along one side of it, while the other set is idle, adjacent to the opposite side of the base for possible change of forming rollers. One end portion of every roller shaft is journaled in an outboard support that is near a side edge of the table; its opposite end portion is journaled in an inboard support near the longitudinal centerline of the table. To facilitate change of forming rollers, gears for connecting the upper and lower roller shaft of each pair are secured to their inboard end portions and the outboard supports are detachably mounted on the table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 1986
    Date of Patent: February 16, 1988
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventor: Herbert M. Stoehr
  • Patent number: 4713880
    Abstract: A machine including apparatus for accurately measuring and inserting into the machine almost any desired predetermined length of insulated wire, a device for cutting the wire to that length and stripping the insulation from the ends of the wire, and apparatus for attaching a terminal to one or both of the stripped ends. The measuring apparatus includes a pair of belts each reeved about a pair of pulleys. From the measuring apparatus the wire passes through a flexible tube and through two linearly aligned grippers, separated by the cutting and stripping device. Once the wire is fed to the proper length, the two grippers grip the wire, and the wire is cut and stripped, creating a lead of the predetermined length. As the wire and lead are drawn back, the stripped ends may be inspected by an inspection device so as to ensure that they are properly cut and stripped before electrical terminals are applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 1987
    Date of Patent: December 22, 1987
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Robert O. Dusel, Harold J. Keene, James Berres, Gerald Blaha
  • Patent number: 4707913
    Abstract: An apparatus for crimping a terminal onto a stripped end of a wire lead, including an anvil positioned on a frame, and a movable die mounted on a shuttle on the frame so as to be reciprocally vertically slidable thereon. The die is positioned so as to align with the anvil in the indicated direction, and generally so that the die impacts on a terminal held on the upper surface of the anvil. An actuator, such as a shaft having an eccentrically mounted crankpin, is adapted to impart reciprocating motion to the die along said predetermined direction via a link having a variable length connected between the shuttle and the actuator. This link includes an adjusting bolt for adjusting the length of said link means during setup of the apparatus, and a stepped spacer for quickly and easily adjusting the length of the link between runs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 1986
    Date of Patent: November 24, 1987
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventor: Edward F. Moline
  • Patent number: 4663822
    Abstract: Apparatus is provided for repeatedly severing cable segments of desired lengths from a continuous strand of thick multi-conductor cable for stripping desired lengths of tough outer insulation sheath from the strand and segment ends, and for coiling the stripped segments. The apparatus comprises a cutter/stripper machine, a long-strip attachment mechanism, and a coiling mechanism. The cutter/stripper machine comprises an axially retractable/extendable wire guide tube into which the cable strand is fed while the tube is extended and a movable clamp grips the lead end of the strand. A stationary clamp grips the exposed portion of the strand when the tube retracts. A cutter/stripper head mechanism between the clamps severs the strand and scores the insulation sheath. The cutter/stripper mechanism and the movable clamp move away from the stationary clamp at different rates of speed to effect stripping, open to release the stripped cable segment, and then return to their starting positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 1985
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1987
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Gerald Blaha, Robert O. Dusel
  • Patent number: 4649621
    Abstract: A series of wire processing machines strip insulation from wire segment ends and attach electric terminals to the ends. A quality control device inspects each stripped end and sends signals which prevent the terminal attachment machine from operating upon the defective stripped end. The quality control device comprises an illuminated field at which the stripped end momentarily stops, an optical lens opposite the illuminated field for providing an optical image of the stripped end, and a converter for converting the optical image to an electronic image signal. Solid state electronic circuits compare the image signal to a reference signal, provide an error signal if the stripped end is defective and store the error signal in a memory circuit. The error signal, if present, is recalled from the memory at the appropriate time and converted to an output signal which prevents the downstream terminal attachment machine from operating on the defective wire end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 1986
    Date of Patent: March 17, 1987
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Robert O. Dusel, Harold J. Keene
  • Patent number: 4638904
    Abstract: Apparatus which repeatedly severs wire segments from a wire strand and conveys them for further processing comprises a pair of wire feed clamps which are reciprocably movable in opposite directions to feed the wire strand along a first path. The 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. The cable drum is oscillatably driven by a rack-and-pinion mechanism which includes a drive rod or rack bar reciprocably movable by an orbiting crank pin on a support member which is adjustably mounted on a motor-driven rotatable feed crank. A locking mechanism releasably locks the support member and its crank pin in selected positions relative to the feed crank. The crank pin orbit determines drive rod stroke, cable drum position and wire feed clamp spacing and travel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 27, 1987
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Magnus Randar, Terry R. Kroening
  • Patent number: 4584912
    Abstract: A small, simple, accurate, low-cost wire cutting and stripping apparatus includes a wire feed mechanism which periodically feeds a measured length of an insulated wire strand to a wire cutter/stripper mechanism which clamps the wire strand, severs it and scores the insulation, axially separates the wire segment cut from the wire strand and strips the scored insulation during such axial separation. The wire feed mechanism is driven intermittently by a continuously rotating electric motor through an electrically-operated wire feed clutch/brake, the clutch mechanism of which engages in response to an electric signal from a timer switch (start wire feed) and which disengages in response to an electric signal from an electric wire measuring encoder (measure and stop wire feed). The wire cutter/stripper mechanism includes a stationary pair of separable clamps, a movable pair of separable bladed cutter/stripper heads and a movable pair of separable clamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 1985
    Date of Patent: April 29, 1986
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Ragnar Gudmestad, Robert O. Dusel, James Berres
  • Patent number: 4561155
    Abstract: Apparatus is provided for manufacturing electrical cords comprising modular multi-contact connectors attached to opposite ends of a segment of a multi-conductor sheathed cable. Each connector comprises a plastic housing having a cavity for receiving an end of the cable segment, displaceable anchors for mechanically engaging the cable sheath and the insulation on the conductors, and flat contacts displaceable for piercing the insulation on the conductors and making electrical contact with the wires therewithin. The apparatus includes: machinery for cutting segments from a strand of cable and for conveying them along a path; strippers along the path for removing small portions of the sheath from the ends of the segments to expose the ends of the insulated conductors therewithin; trimmers along the path for trimming the exposed ends of the insulated conductors; and connector attachment machines along the path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1983
    Date of Patent: December 31, 1985
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Magnus Randar, David G. Moore
  • Patent number: 4553418
    Abstract: Flat metal strip of indeterminate length is apertured in a punch press having a flying die set to define a lengthwise succession of identical workpiece blanks connected by strap-like portions of the strip adjacent to its longitudinal edges. That press, each time it operates, makes two apertures that define respective end edges of a blank. The strip is pulled lengthwise through that press by roller forming apparatus which imparts a predetermined transverse profile to it and propels it through a flying shear press whereby each blank is severed from the rest of the strip. On a conveyor having two stretches bridged by the severed blank and moving faster than the strip the severed blank is carried to a folding press. There a ram rises from between the conveyor stretches, lifting the blank off of the conveyor and clamping it against a folding die.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 1984
    Date of Patent: November 19, 1985
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Herbert M. Stoehr, John J. Toben
  • Patent number: 4546526
    Abstract: A machine cuts elongated wire segments from a continuous wire strand. A belt type conveyor conveys each segment in incremental steps along a path, with the axis of each segment transverse thereto. The conveyor initially grips a segment near one end and presents it to a first terminal attachment machine on one side of the conveyor where a first terminal is attached. Then, separator devices cause the conveyor to temporarily release its grip on the wire segment to allow wire shifter devices, first, to axially shift the wire segment very rapidly a great distance so that the conveyor can regrip the wire segment near its other end and, secondly, to axially shift the wire segment slowly for a short distance to precisely position its opposite end in final position wherein a second terminal attachment machine on the other side of the conveyor attaches a second terminal to the opposite end. A control system comprises sensors for determining when the wire segment has been moved by the wire shifters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1983
    Date of Patent: October 15, 1985
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Robert O. Dusel, Gerald E. Blaha
  • Patent number: 4521946
    Abstract: A belt type conveyor is provided for conveying segments of wire cut from a continuous strand by a cutting machine to other wire processing machines, such as terminal attachment machines or the like. The conveyor comprises a pair of endless flexible belts supported one above the other by pulleys and guide rails so that the upper flight in the lower belt closely confronts the lower flight in the upper belt whereby wire segments entrapped between the flights are movable along the path of travel of the confronting flights. Each wire segment is disposed so that its axis is perpendicular to the path of travel of the flights and the ends of the segment extend beyond the sides of the flights so as to be accessible to the processing machines. A drive mechanism drives the confronting flights in steps or increments in the same direction and at the same speed. The belts and guide rails are constructed so that the confronting flights are biased toward each other to ensure a firm grip on the wire segments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 1984
    Date of Patent: June 11, 1985
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Robert O. Dusel, Gerald E. Blaha
  • Patent number: 4502586
    Abstract: A belt type conveyor is provided for conveying segments of wire cut from a continuous strand by a cutting machine to other wire processing machines, such as terminal attachment machines or the like. The conveyor comprises a pair of endless flexible belts supported one above the other by pulleys and guide rails so that the upper flight in the lower belt closely confronts the lower flight in the upper belt whereby wire segments entrapped between the flights are movable along the path of travel of the confronting flights. Each wire segment is disposed so that its axis is perpendicular to the path of travel of the flights and the ends of the segment extend beyond the sides of the flights so as to be accessible to the processing machines. A drive mechanism drives the confronting flights in steps or increments in the same direction and at the same speed. The belts and guide rails are constructed so that the confronting flights are biased toward each other to ensure a firm grip on the wire segments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 1982
    Date of Patent: March 5, 1985
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Robert O. Dusel, Gerald E. Blaha
  • Patent number: 4493233
    Abstract: Apparatus is provided for repeatedly cutting segments from a strand of wire or cable and for conveying them to work stations so that either or both ends can be processed to provide a partly or fully finished wire lead or cord.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1983
    Date of Patent: January 15, 1985
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Robert O. Dusel, James J. Berres, Harold J. Keene
  • Patent number: 4464920
    Abstract: Disclosed is a roller forming machine for converting a flat metal strip into a louver having long, narrow fins that extend lengthwise of the strip and are all bent laterally in one direction oblique to the plane of the strip. The fins are produced by a pair of fin forming rollers which slit the strip and bend out the fins to a larger acute angle to the plane of the strip than is desired in the finished louver. The strip then tends to twist along its length due to asymmetrical residual stresses generated by fin formation. To remove the twist, the strip is passed between cylindrical straightening rollers whereby the fins are bent partway back towards coplanarity with the strip, thus generating new residual stresses which oppose the original ones due to fin forming. One straightening roller is adjustable towards and from the other so that said new residual stresses can be empirically brought into equilibrium with the original ones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 1982
    Date of Patent: August 14, 1984
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventors: Herbert M. Stoehr, John J. Toben
  • Patent number: 4412443
    Abstract: At least one head on a roller forming machine can be fixed at any of several different positions along the length of its frame. A line shaft extending along the frame has a bevel pinion for each head, meshing with a driven bevel gear on the head, to drive forming rollers on the head. Each bevel pinion comprises a front two-part pinion member and a rear two-part collar member. Each two-part member has a coaxial bore through it, and its two parts, held together by clamping screws, separate on a plane containing its axis. The bore through the pinion member has a sliding fit on the line shaft, that through the collar member has an interference fit, and the opposing surfaces of the collar member parts are taken down so that the collar member tightly clamps the line shaft. In the front surface of the collar member and the opposing rear surface of the pinion member are radially extending keyway grooves in which keys are received whereby the collar member constrains the pinion member to rotate with the line shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 1, 1983
    Assignee: Artos Engineering Company
    Inventor: Herbert M. Stoehr