ES378089A1 - A method and apparatus for applying electrical connectors to the end of driving wires. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for applying connectors 6 to the stripped ends of wires 3, 4 comprises a conveyer 12 with grippers 14 to move the wires transversely to their axis to a set of crimping machines 16, 18 and a deflector plate arrangement 140, Fig. 8, which serves to deflect the ends of all the wires held in a gripper except one which extends into a machine to receive a connector. At the next machine the wire ends are all deflected except for a different one to which a connector is applied. In one embodiment there are two wires 2, 4 fed from reels to a cutting and insulation stripping machine 10. The grippers 14 receive the wires between jaws 82, 84, Fig. 3, from jaws 28 of the machine 10. The jaws 82, 84 are closed by raising a clevis block with a shaft 96 on which the jaws pivot. The shaft has a roller 100 at one end which is raised to open the jaws by a lever (126), Fig. 6 (not shown), operated by a solenoid (138). The jaws 82, 84 are held in their closed and open positions by spring biased plungers 108. The deflector plate 140, Fig. 8, comprises a flat horizontal part 142, with a chamfered end 144 to separate the wires and upper and lower flanges 146, 148 to deflect the wire ends in turn. The conveyer is moved intermittently by a drive operating through a solenoid operated clutch. During the dwell periods the connectors are crimped to the wire ends by crimping dies 154, 156 and 1541, 1561 respectively. At each crimping machine the wire end is held relative to the dies by grippers 157, 159. These grippers are operated through linkage (174)-(184, Fig. 7 (not shown), by a solenoid (186). The solenoids which control the movement of the conveyer and various apparatus parts are controlled by microswitches in the stripping machine controlled by microswitches in the stripping machine 10. In a second embodiment, Fig. 12 (not shown), three wires (2)-(4) are superimposed in each gripper 14 of the conveyer and are fed to three crimping machines where a connector is applied to one wire end in each machine. In a third embodiment, Fig. 13, there are two crimping machines along each side of a double-chain conveyer 232, 234 each with grippers 236, 238. The wires are held in bunches between corresponding grippers and a connector is applied to each end of each wire in turn.