1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wire spring forming machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known in the prior art as relating to the structure herein are the following U.S. Patents:
a. U.S. Pat. No. 3,351,101 to Halverson et al requires the use of an arbor to coil a spring and can coil only in a left hand or right hand direction. The spring coiled is wound about an arbor from which the spring is required to be unwound in a reverse coiling action for release from the arbor.
The machine herein feeds wire continuously in a wire feeding direction, the spring coil being formed free of being wound and retained about an arbor or without the use of an arbor and each spring upon being fully formed is cut off from the wire feed stock without any reversal action. During the time that Halverson is releasing a spring from an arbor by a reverse coiling action, the machine herein forms another spring.
b. U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,889 to Clay assigned to Baird Corporation. Here two feed rolls are used with a groove formed on each roll requiring a change in feed rolls to accommodate changes in wire size and in addition liner sections and deflecting tools have to be changed.
The machine herein is adapted to receive a range of wire sizes and the only change required is that of a simple replacement of a quill having the appropriate size of passage therethrough to align with a corresponding size passage in the feeding apparatus of the machine.
c. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,025,889, 3,025,890 and 3,025,891 to Clay assigned to Baird Corporation disclose the use of a segmental gear which provides limited forward feeding motion to the extent of the gear which is intended to feed the length of wire required for a given spring and the gear is then reversed to its starting position for the next wire feeding cycle and thus there is no continuous forward feeding action of the wire feeding elements as is the case with the machine described herein.
During the interval of time in which the segmental gears in the above indicated patents are reversed to a starting position, the machine herein will produce another spring and thus have on the order of twice the production output in producing wire springs as with the case of the above described patents.