Abstract: A multi-module system for advancing an electrode wire from a supply location to a field welding station via a plurality of spaced conduit sections is described. Each conduit section is succeeded and preceeded by a plurality of wire-advancing heads, with the front-most head adjacent the welding station being driven at constant speed and the remaining heads being driven at a variable tension. The tension in the variable-tension heads is initially set to advance the wire through the conduit sections in a continuous serpentine-like path. When the tension in the wire downstream of the forward-most head increases to impart a "straightening" component to the advancing wire, the forward-most head generates a control signal which is fed back via a regulator on the rear-most head to successively vary the tension in the successive rear heads in a successively decreasing manner corresponding to the decrease in total resistance of the wire tension seen by such successive heads.

Abstract: An electrode-wire feeding device in which the calibrated pushing force exerted on the electrode wire by a pair of rollers is automatically adjusted. This automatic adjustment is effected by a guide cone having an internally threaded bore which is connected to a drive motor. A housing having a hollow cylindrical externally threaded portion is adapted to be threadably engaged with the guide cone with which it is axially aligned. The housing has a pair of parallel bores the axes of which lie in a plane which is perpendicular to the feed direction of the electrode wire which is fed through the guide cone and the housing. A pair of pistons are movably mounted in the pair of bores and support a pair of rollers which are adapted to contact the electrode wire and impart a pushing and guiding force thereto. The pistons are connected to each other by a coil spring. A pair of double-armed levers are pivotally mounted on the housing.

Abstract: Apparatus for the planetary feeding of electrode wire having means for adjusting the pushing force exerted on the electrode wire by electromagnetic means. Opposed canted rolls are mounted for rotation about their axes upon a first housing part which is rotatable about the axis of an elongated electrode wire which passes between and is fed by the canted rolls. A second housing part, which is disposed coaxially of the first housing part, bears means such as a cam or a cone which interacts with roll adjusting means mounted on the first housing part so as to adjust the force with which the canted rolls engage the electrode wire in accordance with relative motion between the two housing parts. The second housing part is driven for rotation about its axis.