Untitled record

Application filed March 13,1890. Serial No. 343,755. (No model.).

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Dubois D. Parmelee, of New York city, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful 5 Improvement in Apparatus for Covering Wire with Plastic Materials, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification.

This invention has reference to the conio struction of apparatus for use in covering wires or like articles with a sheathing or tube of lead or other soft metals or alloys thereof or other plastic or semi-plastic substances. The most convenient mode of manufacturing 15 such articles as lead-covered wire is by the use of a properly-constructed press operatingon theprincipleof the lead-pipe press. Many apparatus or machines have been heretofore devised for this purpose. Their essential 20 parts are a reservoir for the soft lead, a ram, a core-tube for conveying the wire into the reservoir, and a concentric die for forcing the lead around the wire.

The object of the present invention is the 25 construction of an efficient apparatus independent of any particular press, but which may be readily connected with or disconnected from a press or jack of any suitable kind. Such apparatus contains in compact 30 form all the devices necessary for applying the sheath of soft metal or other substance around a wire, and avoids the necessity of a specially-constructed pipe-press. Its application to and use in connection with an ordi35 nary press do not impair the usefulness of the latter for ordinary purposes.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, Figure I is a perspective view of the apparatus. Fig. II is a' 40 central vertical cross-section, and Fig. Ill is a sectional plan on the line A B, Fig. I.

E is a steel crucible.

F is the lid or cover of the crucible, fastened by steel bolts G. On one side of the 45 crucible is a flange or projection 7i,into which a pipe k is screwed. There are also two flanges 7 m projecting from the crucible directly opposite or in line with each other, as shown in Fig. III. At the top of the crucible 50 is a flange n, Figs. I and II, which rests upon a corresponding flange p of a cast-iron case or cylinder r, to which it is fastened by bolts t. At the bottom of the case is a flange u^r, which is bolted to a cast-iron base by bolts v.

Into the flanges Z m, Fig. II, of the crucible 55 are screwed tubes w and y, which reach within the crucible and taper inwardly, as shown in the drawings. At the end of each of these tubes and within the crucible is a steel die. These dies are designated x and z, respect- 60 ively. (See Fig. III.) The die or tip x is screwed into its tube, while the die z is held in position by a taper and flange.

In the case r is a door s, opening to the space below the crucible. At the top of the case, 65 on a line with the top of the crucible interiorly, are apertures u for the passage of the products of the fuel used for heating the crucible.

The outer end of the tube k has screw- 70 threads, as represented in all the figures, for attachment to a cistern or reservoir of melted or plastic metal.

In operation—for example, to incase an insulated wire with lead—the wire is passed 75 into the tube w, Fig. Ill, through the die x, which it closely fits, and then into the die z of the tube y. This die is as much larger · than the die x as the thickness of the case or tube of metal required. The plastic metal or 80 alloy, so rendered by proper regulation of its temperature, is forced into the crucible through the pipe k, filling it, and then it is forced into the space between the die z and the wire inserted in it. It carries the wire by 85 adhesion through the tube y outwardly and continuously to a suitable reel, precisely as long practiced in the manufacture of lead pipe. The feeding of the wire to the tube w is most conveniently done from a reel. The 90 temperature of the crucible is governed by the heat from a portable charcoal-brazier, a Bunsen burner or oil flame placed through the doors under it, and by a cold blast of air from any form of suitable blower when the 95 temperature is to be lowered.

A reservoir or cistern of melted metal, provided with means for exerting sufficient pressure on its surface, is required; but as such apparatus is common and forms no part of the 100

439,581 present invention it is not shown. To this reservoir, near the bottom, is screwed the pipe k, which leads to and enters the crucible E, Fig. III.

An ordinary hydraulic lead-pipe press may be used by simply entering the pipe k. at the side near the bottom of the lead cylinder and closing aperture for the dies of the cylinder without impairing its value for ordinary use, io as tvhen the press is desired for its regular use the pipe k is detached and a solid rod or tap-bolt is screwed in its place.

The dies x z, Fig. 3, employed in the tubes w y of the crucible correspond with the size i5 of the wire or cable to be covered and the thickness of the metal required. These dies may therefore be changed by removing the tubes wy from the crucible and inserting the proper pair, as occasion may require.

2o . The shape of the dies found best in practice is clearly shown in Fig. 3.