Orbiting wire accumulator

[0021] To more fully automate the process in wire manufacturing such as wire insulation lines, the present invention offers a new approach for collecting wire in connection with basket switching and scrap wire removal operations. The new approach provides controlled wire collection pattern formation where wire collection forms a geometric pattern such as the pedal lay pattern. When the collected wire drops to the basket it tends to maintain its geometric pattern. Note that all coilers, whether in bare or insulated wire manufacturing equipment, have an accumulator. In order to better understand the principles of the invention, it is described first in the context of a wire insulation line as shown in FIG. 1 (the so called “wire insulation system”).

[0022] In general, a typical wire insulating line consists of a bare wire payoff device 102, the insulation equipment 104, and a coiler 120. As shown in more detail in FIG. 1, a wire insulation system preferably includes: a bare wire payof...