Wire braid forming apparatus

Claim 2

Wire braid forming apparatus comprising an array of spaced apart upstanding pegs; a mounting means adapted to continuously traverse said array of pegs; a supply of wire; a coding wand carried by said mounting means, adapted to move at one end to one of a plurality of positions with respect to said array of pegs, and adapted at said end to guide said wire; means for sensing the position of said coding wand with respect to said array of pegs and producing a synchronizing signal indicative thereof; and means for driving said coding wand to a selected one synchronism with the alignment of said coding wand with the spaces between said pegs; whereby as said mounting means continuously traverses said array of pegs and said coding wand is driven to selected positions with respect to said pegs said wire is routed from said supply through said coding wand into a selected pattern with respect to said pegs.

Claim 3

Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said array of upstanding pegs is a linear array, said mounting means traverses the length of said linear array, and said coding wand is adapted to be driven between adjacent pegs to one of two positions on either side of said array.

Claim 4

Apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said mounting means comprises first and second substantially parallel rails, a wheeled carriage adapted to engage and roll upon said rails, and said linear array of pegs being disposed adjacent to and parallel with one of said rails.

Claim 5

Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said supply of wire is adapted for mounting on and movement with said mounting means.

Claim 6

Apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said coding wand driving means includes a rotary electromagnet disposed on said mounting means, and having an armature affixed to said coding wand.

Claim 7

Apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein each said peg in said array is formed of a base portion of a selected dimension and has an enlarged head portion, the enlarged portion of all of said pegs being linearly arranged in substantially a single plane; and said wire guiding end of said coding wand extends substantially to said plane such as to route said wire about said enlarged portions of said pegs.

Claim 8

Apparatus as recited in claim 6 further including a wire compactor comprising an extended support member adapted for rotation about a longitudinal axis disposed substantially parallel to said array of pegs, and a plurality of flexible tines extending from said support member intermediate said pegs such that on rotation of said support member said tines remove wire routed about said enlarged portions of said pegs and deposit it about said base portions of said pegs.

Claim 9

Apparatus as recited in claim 2 further including means for sensing the completion of a traverse by said mounting means of said array of pegs, and means for reversing the direction in which said mounting means traverses said array at the end of each such traverse such that said mounting means repeatedly reciprocally traverses said array.

Claim 10

Apparatus as recited in claim 8 further including means disposed at each end of said array for receiving and retaining said wire at the end of each said traverse of said array by said mounting means.

Claim 11

Apparatus as recited in claim 9 wherein each said wire receiving and retaining means comprises a flat plate adapted for rotation about a vertical axis disposed in substantial alignment with said linear array, a plurality of spaced apart wire holding fingers disposed on said plate in an arcuate array centered at said vertical axis, and means for rotating said plate in preselected increments at the end of each said traverse such that said wire is routed by said coding wand around one of said wire holding fingers on said plate.

Claim 12

Apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein said wire holding fingers are pivotally disposed on said plate, and further including means for outwardly biasing said fingers such as to hold said wire under a preselected tension.

Claim 13

Apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein said plate rotating means comprises means for torsionally biasing said plate about said vertical axis, a staggered double row of spaced apart downwardly extending pins affixed to the underside of said plate in an arcuate pattern centered at said vertical axis, a pair of plate stepping arms extending upwardly to alternately engage said downwardly extending pins, and means for alternately disengaging said stepping arms from said pins, whereby said plate is rotated in preselected increments determined by the spacing between said pins.

Claim 14

Apparatus as recited in claim 10 further including means for removably mounting an electrical connector on said plate such that wire routed around said wire holding fingers is also routed and retained over selected terminals of said connector.

Claim 15

Apparatus as recited in claim 2 further including a carrier plate adapted to receive and retain said linear array of pegs in a fixed relationship with one another.

Claim 16

Apparatus as recited in claim 1 further including a coding instruction storate means coupled to said sensing means and responsive to the output therefrom to provide a signal indicative of the position to which said coding wand is to be driven.

Claim 17

Apparatus as recited in claim 15 wherein said sensing means comprises a vertically linear array of light sources, a like vertically linear array of photoelectric detector elements spaced apart from and in substantial alignment with said array of light sources, said light source and said detector arrays being disposed on and movable with said mounting means, an aperture plate interposed between said light source and detector arrays in a fixed spatial relationship with respect to said array of pegs, and having a plurality of apertures each corresponding to a space between adjacent pegs of said array, and each said detector element producing an output signal when an aperture of said aperture place is aligned with a light source and detector of said array.

Claim 18

Apparatus as recited in claim 16 wherein said coding instruction storage means comprises a binary coded tape having a plurality of coding instructions stored at each position along the length thereof, and a tape reader coupled to said photoelectric detector element array and responsive to the output therefrom to read coding instructions from said tape and provide an output signal indicative of the position to which said coding wand is to be driven, said aperture plate further including arrays of coding apertures corresponding to the coding instruction on said tape to be read by said tape reader, and tape advance apertures corresponding to the last coding instruction to be read at a selected position on said tape, and said detector elements providing output signals to said tape reader for controlling the reading and advancing of said tape.

Claim 19

Apparatus as recited in claim 17 further including a light opaque shield affixed to the end of said coding wand opposite said wire guiding end, first and second light sources dispersed adjacent a first side of said shield, first and second photoelectric detector elements disposed adjacent the opposite side of said shield and in substantial alignment with said first and second light sources, said shield operating to interrupt light falling on one said detector when said coding wand is in a first position with respect to said pegs and to interrupt light falling on the other said detector when said coding wand is in said other position with respEct to said pegs, said detectors operative to produce an output signal indicative of the side of said array of pegs to which said coding wand is driven, and means coupled to said first and second detector elements and to said tape reader for comparing the signal indicative of the position to which said coding wand is to be driven and the signal indicative of the side of said array of pegs to which said coding wand is driven and produce a coding error signal when said signals from said detector elements and said tape reader do not correspond.

Claim 20

Apparatus as recited in claim 17 wherein said aperture plate and said peg carrier plate are integrally formed of a single sheet of light opaque material whereby said arrays of apertures are substantially permanently aligned with said array of pegs.

Claim 21

Apparatus as recited in claim 8 further including means coupled to said coding wand driving means for sensing the direction in which said mounting means traverses said array of pegs.