Wiring head with resiliently locked and resettable guide tube mounting assembly

Claim 2

A wiring head for use in guiding wire along a predetermined path, said wiring head including: housing means having an opening extending centrally therethrough; multi-directional rotatable means mounted within said opening, and confined for movement about a fixed axis center of rotation, said rotatable means having a central bore extending therethrough; expandable spring means communicating with said opening for normally resiliently locking said rotatable means into a predetermined position whereat the bore therethrough communicates with the opening through said housing, said spring means upon being expanded allowing the orientation of said rotatable means into an unlocked position encompassing all possible angles of orientation falling within a predetermined maximum degree of angular displacement in any given direction relative to said locked position, and a wire guide tube secured to said rotatable means, with the bore through the former communicating with the bore through the latter, said guide tube thereby being capable of being tilted from a normal resiliently locked position to any other angle of inclination corresponding to that acquired by said rotatable means, with any force-induced tilting of said guide tube causing said spring means to expand.

Claim 3

A wiring head in accordance with claim 1 wherein said rotatable means comprises a substantially spherical member having a peripheral groove formed therein along a plane perpendicular to the axis of said bore formed therethrough, wherein said spring means comprises at least a substantially annular member circumferentially disposed at least substantially around said spherical member and dimensioned so as to be capable of being only partially confined within the groove thereof, and wherein said housing means includes at least a substantially annular slot, laterally and circumferentially disposed so as to accommodate said expandable member whenever the latter is expanded and forced out of said groove of said spherical member in response to the latter being oriented from the normally resiliently locked position thereof by deflection of said guide tube.

Claim 4

A wiring head in accordance with claim 2 wherein said housing means comprises an outer housing and an inner insert mounted within said opening formed in said outer housing, said insert having a bore therethrough that is axially aligned with the axis of said outer housing opening, and said insert having a central contoured cavity that is axially aligned with and communicates with said bore therethrough, and is dimensioned with partially spherical walls that closely mate with respective spherical wall portions of said rotatable spherical member, said insert further having said slot extending laterally at least partially therethrough so as to communicate with said groove formed in said spherical member when in its normal, resiliently locked position.

Claim 5

A wiring head in accordance with claim 3 wherein said expandable member comprises a helical coil spring, wherein the maximum angle of inclination of said guide tube is restricted by an outwardly tapered wall portion that defines the lower terminating end region of the opening in said outer housing, and wherein the upper end of the bore through said spherical member is formed with an outwardly tapered wall region that allows the latter when resiliently locked to at least substantially merge into both the upper end of the bore in said insert and the adjacent upper end of the opening in said housing, with the peripheral edge of the latter opening being smoothly contoured so as to allow a wire to be fed through the wiring head from any angle without being severely bent.

Claim 6

A wiring head in accordance with claim 2 wherein switch means communicates with said slot formed in said housing means, and being actuated whenever said annular member is expanded so as to be at least partially displaced into said slot.

Claim 7

A wiring head in accordance with claim 4 wherein switch means communicates with said slot formed in at least said insert, and being actuated whenever said coil spring is expanded so as to be at least partially displaced into said slot.

Claim 8

A wiring head for use in guiding wire along a predetermined path, said wiring head including: housing means having an opening extending centrally therethrough; a multi-directional rotatable member of substantially spherical shape mounted within said opening, and confined for movement about a fixed axis center of rotation, said rotatable member having a central bore extending therethrough; expandable spring means circumferentially disposed about and cooperating with said spherical member for normally resiliently locking the latter into a predetermined position whereat the bore therethrough communicates with the opening through said housing, said spring means upon being expanded allowing the orientation of said rotatable means into an unlocked position encompassing any one of all possible angles of orientation defined within a predetermined acute angled imaginary surface of a cone, and a wire guide tube, the upper end of which is secured to said spherical member adjacent the lower end of the bore therethrough such that the axis of said guide tube and bore are in axial alignment, said guide tube thereby being capable of being tilted from said normal resiliently locked position to any other angle of inclination corresponding to that acquired by said spherical member, and with any force-induced tilting of said guide tube causing said spring means to expand.

Claim 9

A wiring head for use in guiding wire along a predetermined path, said wiring head including: housing means having an opening extending centrally therethrough; a multi-directional rotatable member of substantially spherical shape mounted within said opening, and confined for movement about a fixed axis center of rotation, said rotatable member having a central bore extending therethrough; expandable spring means circumferentially disposed about and cooperating with said spherical member for normally resiliently locking the latter into a predetermined position whereat the bore therethrough communicates with the opening through said housing, said spring means upon being expanded allowing the orientation of said rotatable means into an unlocked position encompassing any one of all possible angles of orientation defined within a predetermined acute angled imaginary surface of a cone, and a wire guide tube, the upper end of which is secured to said spherical member adjacent the lower end of the bore therethrough such that the axis of said guide tube and bore are in axial alignment, said guide tube thereby being capable of being tilted from said normal resiliently locked position to any other angle of inclination corresponding to that acquired by said spherical member, and with any force-induced tilting of said guide tube causing said spring means to expand.

Claim 10

A wiring head in accordance with claim 7 wherein: said rotatable member comprises a substantially spherical member having a peripheral groove formed therein along a plane perpendicular to the axis of said bore formed therethrough, wherein said spring means comprises at least a substantially annular member circumferentially disposed at least substantially around said spherical member and dimensioned so as to be capable of being only partially confined within the groove thereof, and wherein said housing means includes at least a substantially annular slot, laterally and circumferentially disposed so as to accommodate said spring member whenever the latter is expanded and forced out of said groove of said spherical member in response to any force-induced tilting of said guide tube.

Claim 11

A wiring head in accordance with claim 8 wherein the bore of said spherical member is axially aligned with both the axis of the opening through said housing means, and the axial bore through said guide tube while said spherical member is in said resiliently locked position, and said wiring head further comprising: switch means communicating with said slot formed in said housing means, and being actuated whenever said annular member is expanded so as to be at least substantially displaced into said slot, in response to any force-induced tilting of said guide tube.

Claim 12

A strand guiding head of the type adapted to guide an advancing strand along a predetermined path, including a housing with a strand-receiving opening extending therethrough, and a strand guide assembly having a tubular end portion and an opposite end multi-directional rotatable portion with a bore extending therethrough, said rotatable portion being mounted within said housing opening and resiliently locked for one particular position relative to the axis of the latter, and said tubular portion extending outwardly from said housing, and wherein the bore of said rotatable portion communicates with both the housing opening and the bore of said tubular portion, the improvement of said combination comprising: means for permanently confining said rotatable end portion of said strand guide assembly within the opening of said housing, and for allowing the orientation of said rotatable end portion about a fixed axis center of rotation into an unlocked position encompassing all possible angles of orientation falling within a predetermined maximum degree of angular displacement in any given direction relative to said locked position, and in further respect to the resilient locking of the upper rotatable end portion of said strand guide assembly into a desired position, the resilient means therefore comprising: expandable biasing means which communicates with said housing opening and continuously engages said rotatable end portion of said strand guide assembly regardless of the orientation of the latter, said biasing means, upon being expanded in response to any force-induced tilting of said tubular end portion of said assembly, unlocking the assembly for relatively free movement in any angular direction defined within said predetermined maximum degree of displacement.

Claim 13

A strand guiding head of the type adapted to guide an advancing strand along a predetermined path, including a housing with a strand-receiving opening extending therethrough, and a strand guide assembly having a tubular end portion and an opposite end multi-directional rotatable portion with a bore extending therethrough, said rotatable portion being mounted within said housing opening and resiliently locked for one particular position relative to the axis of the latter, and said tubular portion extending outwardly from said housing, and wherein the bore of said rotatable portion communicates with both the housing opening and the bore of said tubular portion, the improvement of said combination comprising: means for permanently confining said rotatable end portion of said strand guide assembly within the opening of said housing, and for allowing the orientation of said rotatable end portion about a fixed axis center of rotation into an unlocked position encompassing all possible angles of orientation falling within a predetermined maximum degree of angular displacement in any given direction relative to said locked position, and in further respect to the resilient locking of the upper rotatable end portion of said strand guide assembly into a desired position, the resilient means therefore comprising: expandable biasing means which communicates with said housing opening and continuously engages said rotatable end portion of said strand guide assembly regardless of the orientation of the latter, said biasing means, upon being expanded in response to any force-induced tilting of said tubular end portion of said assembly, unlocking the assembly for relatively free movement in any angular direction defined within said predetermined maximum degree of displacement.

Claim 14

In an apparatus for forming wires in sequence on a wire-receiving member having an array of wiring points defined thereon, and wherein a wire positioning device selectively moves each of a plurality of wiring heads, each including a housing with a wire-receiving opening extending therethrough and an aligned wire guide tube extending downwardly therefrom, and having at least one wire from a respective one of a plurality of wire supplies extending therethrough, through pre-selected ones of the wiring points. independently of the other wiring heads and wire supplies, in accordance with a programmed sequence so as to form a predetermined pattern of wires between said wiring points, the improvement in each of said wiring heads further comprising: multi-directional rotatable means mounted within said opening, and confined for movement about a fixed axis center of rotation, said rotatable means having a central bore extending therethrough; expandable spring means communicating with said opening for normally resiliently locking said rotatable means in a predetermined position whereat the bore therethrough communicates with the opening through said housing, said spring means upon being expanded allowing the orientation of said rotatable means into an unlocked position encompassing all possible angles of orientation falling within a predetermined maximum degree of angular displacement in any given direction relative to said locked position, and said wire guide tube being secured to said rotatable means, with the bore through the former communicating with the bore through the latter, said guide tube thereby being capable of being tilted from a normal resiliently locked position to any other angle of inclination corresponding to that acquired by said rotatable means, with any force-induced tilting of said guide tube causing said spring means to expand.

Claim 15

In an apparatus for forming wires in sequence on a wire-receiving member having an array of wiring points defined thereon, and wherein a wire positioning device selectively moves each of a plurality of wiring heads, each including a housing with a wire-receiving opening extending therethrough and an aligned wire guide tube extending downwardly therefrom, and having at least one wire from a respective one of a plurality of wire supplies extending therethrough, through pre-selected ones of the wiring points. independently of the other wiring heads and wire supplies, in accordance with a programmed sequence so as to form a predetermined pattern of wires between said wiring points, the improvement in each of said wiring heads further comprising: multi-directional rotatable means mounted within said opening, and confined for movement about a fixed axis center of rotation, said rotatable means having a central bore extending therethrough; expandable spring means communicating with said opening for normally resiliently locking said rotatable means in a predetermined position whereat the bore therethrough communicates with the opening through said housing, said spring means upon being expanded allowing the orientation of said rotatable means into an unlocked position encompassing all possible angles of orientation falling within a predetermined maximum degree of angular displacement in any given direction relative to said locked position, and said wire guide tube being secured to said rotatable means, with the bore through the former communicating with the bore through the latter, said guide tube thereby being capable of being tilted from a normal resiliently locked position to any other angle of inclination corresponding to that acquired by said rotatable means, with any force-induced tilting of said guide tube causing said spring means to expand.

Claim 16

In an apparatus in accordance with claim 11, said rotatable means in each of said wiring heads comprising a substantially spherical member having a peripheral groove formed therein along a plane perpendicular to the axis of said bore formed therethrough, said spring means comprising at least a substantially annular member circumferentially disposed at least substantially around said spherical member and being dimensioned so as to be capable of being normally only partially confined within the groove thereof, and said housing including an annular slot, laterally and circumferentially disposed so as to accommodate said expandable member whenever the latter is expanded and forced out of said groove of said spherical member in response to the latter being rotated from said normally resiliently locked position by deflection of said guide tube.

Claim 17

In an apparatus in accordance with claim 12, said housing comprising an outer portion and an inner portion mounted within said opening formed in said outer portion, said inner portion having a bore therethrough that is axially aligned with said opening formed through said outer portion, and said inner portion having a central contoured cavity that is axially aligned with and communicates with said bore therethrough, and is dimensioned with partially spherical walls that closely mate with respective spherical wall portions of said rotatable spherical member, said inner portion further having said housing slot formed in and extending laterally at least partially therethrough so as to communicate with said groove formed in said spherical member when in its normal, resiliently locked position.

Claim 18

In an apparatus in accordance with claim 13, said expandable member in each of said wiring heads comprising a helical coil spring, the maximum angle of inclination of said guide tube being restricted by an outwardly tapered wall portion that defines the lower terminating end region of the opening in said outer housing portion, and the upper end of the bore through said spherical member being formed with an outwardly tapered wall region that allows the latter when resiliently locked to at least substantially merge into both the upper end of the bore in said inner portion and the adjacent upper end of the opening in said outer housing portion, with the peripheral edge of the latter opening being smoothly contoured so as to allow a wire to be fed through the wiring head from any angle without being severely bent.

Claim 19

In an apparatus in accordance with claim 12, each of said wiring heads further including switch means which communicates with said slot formed in said housing, and being actuated whenever said annular member is expanded so as to be at least partially displaced into said slot.

Claim 20

In an apparatus in accordance with claim 14, each of said wiring heads further including switch means which communicates with said slot formed in at least said inner housing portion, and being actuated whenever said coil spring is radially expanded so as to be at least partially displaced into said slot.

Claim 21

In an apparatus in accordance with claim 13, said guide tube being secured at its upper end to said spherical member adjacent the lower end of the bore therethrough, with said normal resiliently locked position of said guide tube being oriented vertically, and the maximum angle of inclination for both said guide tube and aligned bore through said spherical member being restricted by an outwardly tapered wall portion of said outer housing portion through which said guide tube downwardly extends.

Claim 22

In an apparatus in accordance with claim 17, said expandable member in each wiring head comprising an annular coil spring circumferentially disposed about said spherical member, each wiring head further including: a thin-walled member circumferentially disposed about said spring and confined within the slot in said inner portion, said member being of sufficient length so that the ends thereof continuously overlap, and being formed out of a material that results in said member having a tendency to coil, and a microswitch positioned to communicate with said slot, and having a displaceable actuable contact disposed on the side of said thin-walled member opposite said spring, said microswitch thereby being actuated whenever said coil spring is radially expanded into said slot, causing said simultaneously expanded thin-walled member to displace said actuable contact.