Continuous vulcanizer

Claim 1

A continuous vulcanizer for continuously curing a covering material on a conductor which comprises: (a) a feed means for feeding the conductor in one direction at a constant speed; (b) an extruder for applying the covering material to the conductor delivered from said feed means to form a cable; (c) a vulcanizing tube extending from said extruder, the cable passing through said vulcanizing tube, said vulcanizing tube having a catenary-shaped curing section extending from its inlet to a location intermediate to its inlet and outlet, and said curing section being filled with a pressurized curing medium; (d) a take-off means disposed forwardly of said vulcanizing tube for hauling the cable in such a manner that the cable is delivered along a predetermined path in said vulcanizing tube, the cable being kept away from the internal wall of said vulcanizing tube over said catenary-shaped curing section; (e) a positioning sensor arranged in said vulcanizing tube for sensing the position of the cable relative to the internal wall of said vulcanizing tube, said take-off means being controlled through said positioning sensor; and (f) a load applying means disposed between said extruder and said take-off means for applying a load to the travelling cable at a location forwardly of said curing section of said vulcanizing tube and comprising a pair of opposed rotational members held against and gripping the cable and a brake means for controlling a force necessary to rotate said opposed rotational members, so that a tension exerted on the cable in a direction opposite to the direction of travel of the cable is applied to the traveling cable, thereby cancelling a tension exerted by the pressure of said curing medium on the cable in a direction of travel of the cable so as to maintain the cable in said curing section in a predetermined catenary shape.