Wire cable dispenser

Abstract

A wire cable dispenser has a stand for resting on a supporting surface in the work area with a pair of reels disposed in confronting relation on the stand to receive a cable coil therebetween for dispensing, such reels defining a coil receiving hub, and a wire guide swingable adjacent the coil for feeding the wire cable from the coil.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to wire cable dispensers which can readily receive pre-wound coils of electric cable such as are offered by electric equipment suppliers and dispense the cable at the work site without it becoming entangled with itself.

2. Background Art

There has been for some time the need to be able to utilize wire cable which comes from the supplier in the form of a pre-wound coil without the cable becoming entangled with itself or nearby objects at the job site. Prior art efforts to allow unwinding of wire cable or the like have generally involved having the wire cable pre-wound on a drum from which it is withdrawn. More recently, wire suppliers have been offering wire cable in coils which are secured against unraveling by wire ties, tape or shrink wrap which are wound around the coils and must be removed in order to dispense the cable. As soon as the coil is freed of this wrapping, it will tend to unwind and unless contained will soon become an entangling mess which requires constant attention by the cable installer, thus slowing down his or her productivity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

I have devised a wire cable dispenser which may be opened up and a coil of wire cable installed therein, and thereafter the wire coil dispensed as needed without entanglement.

My cable dispenser may be adjusted to accommodate various size coils, and the structure of the cable dispenser is such that the wrapping containing the coil may be removed either before or after the coil is installed in the dispenser.

The dispenser is of sufficiently light weight so it is manually portable at the job site, but yet can be placed on the floor or other supporting surface and the cable pulled out of it without the dispenser overturning.

My cable dispenser comprises a portable stand that may be set on the floor or other supporting surface and provided with rubber feet which will help prevent it from sliding as cable is pulled out of it if the floor is quite smooth. The stand has a horizontal bearing shaft on which a pair of opposed reels are rotatably mounted, each reel having a bearing hub with spokes radiating from the hub to an outer circular ring. The spokes of the opposed reels are configured to interleave and define a cable receiving hub, with the hub and those portions of the spokes between the hub and ring being spaced apart to provide a cable containment area. The width of the containment area may be adjusted to accommodate varying size coils of cable by shifting at least one of the bearing hubs toward and away from the other. Finally a wire guide is provided aligned with the containment area and through which the cable is strung to prevent unintended unwinding and entanglement of the cable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of my cable dispenser with a wire cable coil thereon;

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1 but without the cable coil and showing how the spokes of the opposed reels are configured to be interleaved;

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 but with one of the reels removed axially from the horizontal bearing shaft;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view through the cable dispenser showing the interleaving of the spokes of the reels;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the rear reel of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a front view of the front reel of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

As shown in the drawings, my cable dispenser comprises a portable stand 10 having a pair of horizontal tubular feet 12 and 14 having rubber cups 16, 18, 20 and 22 to improve traction on smooth surfaces. An inverted V-shaped frame 26 having uprights 28 and 30 are secured as by welding to a tubular bearing 32 adapted to receive a horizontal bearing shaft 34 provided with a series of transverse pin receiving holes 36 for adjustable reception of the cotter-like pin 38 for determining the width of the cable containment area hereafter described, whereby the dispenser may be adapted to various size coils of cable. A cup-like retainer 40 received over and locked on the shaft 34 prevents the shaft from being withdrawn from the tubular bearing 32 in a direction to the right as viewed in FIG. 4.

Mounted in confronting relationship on the horizontal bearing shaft 34 is a pair of reels 42 and 44 each having a central hub designated in the drawings at 46 and 48 and an outer circular ring designated at 50 and 52. Four spokes extend between the central hub of each reel and its outer circular ring and are secured thereto as by welding. The spokes for reel 42 are designated by reference numerals 54,56,58 and 60, while those for reel 44 are shown at 62,64, 66 and 68. The spokes are spaced at 90 degrees around their respective hubs as best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Each spoke is formed with an axially displaced portion DP adjacent its central hub 46 and 48. Such displaced portions of the spokes of each reel when interleaved with the displaced portions of the spokes of the opposite reel, extend into the 90 degree angular space of the confronting reel. The thus interleaved, eight axially displaced portions form a cable coil receiving hub best visualized in FIGS. 1, 4, 5 and 6 with those portions of the spokes radially outwardly of the displaced portions forming sides on what may be characterized as a containment area A within which a cable coil resides when in the dispenser. Those portions of the legs radially outwardly of the displaced portions DP forming the sides of the containment area are designated by the reference numerals 54a, 56a, 58a, 60a, 62a, 64a, 66a and 68a in FIGS. 5 and 6. The diameter of this cable receiving hub is designed to conform to the inside diameter of the coils of cable to be dispensed, and the width of the containment area may be increased or reduced as necessary to accommodate any particular cable coil by removing and repositioning the cotter-like key 38 on the shaft 34.

A cable guide 70 having an eye 72 is mounted for swingable movement around the shaft 34 to keep the cable centered in the containment area and prevent entanglement as the cable is pulled off the periphery of the cable coil. The guide is of an L-shaped configuration with the end opposite the eye being welded or other wise secured to a disc 74 mounted on the shaft 34 between the tubular bearing 32 and the hub 46 so that the guide may rotate relative to the shaft 34 and also the hub. The cable to be unwound is fed through the cable guide eye and when pulled, the guide will rotate to a position aligning the eye with the direction of pull and tending to keep the unwinding cable aligned with the center of the coil.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that coils of wire cable received from the electrical equipment supply houses may be installed in my cable dispenser simply by removing the cotter-like key 38, then removing the front cable reel, placing the new cable coil over the displaced spokes DP of the opposite reel, and then replacing the removed reel 42 on the shaft 34, inserting the pin 38, threading the cable from the spool through the wire guide, removing the tape or wire ties holding the cable coil together, if they were not removed before inserting the cable into the dispenser, and the dispenser is ready for operation.

The pin 38 and the pin receiving holes 36 act as stops to adjust the width of the cable spool containment area.

While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A cable dispenser for receiving a cable coil and dispensing the same comprising, in combination:

a portable stand to rest on a supporting surface in the work area where the cable is being strung and having a horizontal bearing shaft;

a pair of reels each having an outer circular ring and a central hub mounted in confronting relation on the bearing shaft, with spokes extending between the central hub and ring;

the spokes of the reels defining opposite sides of a cable coil containment area with portions of the spokes laterally displaced and interleaved to define a coil receiving hub; and

a wire cable guide swingably supported for rotation about the axis of said bearing shaft with an eye through which the wire cable runs disposed in alignment with said cable coil containment area to prevent entanglement of the cable as it is withdrawn from the cable dispenser.

2. The invention defined by claim 1 wherein at least one of said central hubs being shiftable axially on the bearing shaft to vary the width of the containment area to accommodate varying axial lengths of a cable coil within the confinement area.

3. The invention defined by claim 2 wherein stops are provided on said bearing shaft to limit separation between the central hubs.

4. A cable dispenser for receiving a cable coil and dispensing the same comprising, in combination;

a portable stand to rest on a supporting surface in the work area where the cable is being strung and having a horizontal bearing shaft;

a pair of reels each having an outer circular ring and a central hub with spokes extending between the central hub and ring;

said central hubs rotatably mounted on the bearing shaft in confronting relation with the rings and spokes being spaced apart to define a cable containment area;

the spokes of the reels having portions shaped to cooperatively define a cable spool receiving hub having a diameter to fit within a cable coil and support the spool for rotation about said bearing shaft; and

a wire cable guide swingably supported for rotation about the axis of said bearing shaft with an eye through which the wire cable runs disposed substantially in alignment with said cable containment area and preventing entanglement of the cable as it is withdrawn from the cable containment area.

5. A wire cable dispenser comprising, in combination:

a portable stand to rest on a supporting surface in the work area and having a bearing shaft;

a pair of reels mounted in confronting relation on the bearing shaft;

said reels having spokes defining a cable-supporting hub for receiving a cable coil, and side walls of a cable containment area; and

a wire guide swingable on the bearing shaft to guide the wire as it is pulled from the dispenser.

6. The invention of claim 5 wherein one of said reels beings removable from its confronting relation with the other reel to permit a cable coil to be installed on the cable supporting hub.

7. The invention of claim 5 wherein said spokes have portions displaced laterally with the displaced portions of one reel interleaved between similarly displaced portions of the confronting reel forming the cable supporting hub.

8. A wire cable dispenser comprising, in combination:

a portable stand to rest on a supporting surface in the work area;

a cable spool receiving hub mounted on the stand for rotation;

spokes extending radially outwardly from said hub to define a cable spool containment area; and

some of said spokes being removable from said hub to permit installation of a cable coil on the hub; and a wire guide swingable about the stand to guide cable wire as it is pulled from the dispenser.