Untitled record

Application filed October 26,1891. Serial No. 409,837. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, Henry D. Winton, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Wellesley, in the county of Norfolk and 5 State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Bending Electric Trolley-Wires, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying io drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in explaining its nature.

This invention relates to an improvement in wire-bending machines for bending or kinking trolley-wires where it is intended to se15 cure the attaching-clamp which holds the trolley-wire to the supporting-insulator.

The improvement consists of a device which can be carried along the line and hooked over the trolley-wire at such points as it is desired 20 to place a supporting-insujatof, and by holding it firmly in one hand and turning a lever forming part of a cam the wire is given the proper-shaped kink by a single turn of the lever, so that the clamping-ears can be at25 tached to the wire.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of the machine. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the wire-clamp, showing the wire secured 30 within it. ... ' .

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2; Ajs;a casting forming the main body portion of the machine. This casting is provided with two projecting ears on each side, having slots in the 35 center the size of the diameter of the wire to be kinked. These ears are shown at a a' a²a³. The lower part of the casting at a³ is hub-shaped, so that a rod a³ can be driven into it, at the extremity of which there is a 4° handle a¹. It will be seen that this main casting with the handle can be hung by means of the ears upon the trolley-wire. In the center portion of the main body-casting is a hole a⁴, which forms a bearing for an eccentric 45 cam/, which is constructed as follows: The portion b' of the cam, being round, is made to fit the bearing in the body-casting, so that it will turn freely. The circular portion of the cam B is provided with a groove, as shown at 5° b³, corresponding in shape to the wire which is to be kinked. On the front of this eccen-1 trie cam is a square projecting piece b², suitable to receive a wrench. This whole eccentric cam is mounted in the bearing a⁴ upon the main casting and held therein by a col- 55 lar b^s, and in such relation to the slots in the ears that when the cam is set at its lowest point the wire can slip into the slots without coming in contact with the cam. To economize space, I flatten a place on the cam, as 60 shown at b⁴, and, having fitted a wrench upon the square-shaped portion b², it will be seen that by twisting this around after the wire has been placed in the slots the cam will engage with the wire and bend it to conform with it. 65 It will assume a form shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. In order that this wire may be very easily kinked, I make the rod a³, which forms a portion of the handle, of considerable length, and also the wrench C, which is 70 provided with a bend, (shown at c',) so that I obtain considerable leverage.

To operate this machine, it is only necessary to hang it upon the trolley-wire after it has been supported at certain points upon 75 the line by means of the slotted ears, and giving one turn of the handle it will produce the kink or bend of the wire indicated by the dotted lines. This kink or bend of course can be changed in shape by the amount of ecen- 80 tricity given the cam and the distance between the ears and may be varied to suit the circumstances. The groove δ³ (shown upon the cam) is for the purpose of holding the wire as the cam is turned so that it cannot 85 get out of the slotted ears—that is, if the cam were made perfectly flat the tendency would be to crowd it one way or another and it would not operate perfectly; but by means of the groove when once the cam is engaged with 90 the wire it is impossible for the wire to come out of the slotted ears until it has received its full bend. Having turned the wrench a complete turn, the machine maybe rapped off the wire and the wire is then ready for a clamp, 95 a sectional view of which is shown in Fig. 3. It consists of a clamp portion E, which is a casting split in two portions, excepting at the bottom, where it has a sectional shape, (shown at e'.y It is provided with threads e, formed 100 partially in each portion of the clamp, and a yoke F, which is formed to fit over the split

475,861 end, thereby preventing it from spreading, and at the same time extended portions of the yoke are formed with grooves/'/² to fit over the wire.

G represents a stud or the extremity of an insulator, which is screwed into the slotted thread and which when forced down tightly binds the yoke upon the two extremities of the wire, which, having been kinked and io fitted into the slot, is bound tightly together, leaving a perfectly-smooth true run for the trolley.

I have shown my preferred form of kinking-machine, it being perfectly simple and :5 quickly applied and operated. Some modifications can be made which would embody the principle of my invention and which I consider part of the same—as, for instance, a change in the form of the cam, so that instead zc of making a complete turn of the cam it could be given a partial turn and accomplish the bending; also, the body-casting A can be extended to include a handle instead of making it separately and putting it on; also, the 25 wrench C can be cast integral with the cam.