Apparatus for stranding wire

Claim 1

Apparatus for stranding wire comprising: a single tube defining a single axial passage which provides at least two side-by-side feedpaths for wire along the passage, the passage shaped to prevent wires from moving from feedpath to feedpath, the tube being rotationally flexible about an axis to torsionally twist the tube and thus the passage around said axis from an untwisted position so as to cause the feedpaths to follow a helical path around the axis; holding means to hold the tube against rotation about said axis at an upstream position of the tube; wire twisting means at the downstream position of the tube to torsionally twist the tube, the twisting means rotatable with the downstream part of the tube, said feedpaths extending through the twisting means; rotating means for rotating the twisting means together with the downstream part of the tube for a predetermined number of revolutions about the axis alternately in one direction and then the other; direction changing means to change the direction of rotation of the twisting means after the twisting means has rotated the predetermined number of revolutions in each direction; and resilient means associated with one of the ends of the tube to enable movement of said one end in the axial direction during twisting and untwisting of the tube.