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A wire canister capable of being used by robots during the assembly of a wire harness. The wire canister is capable of accepting, storing and dispensing random lengths of wire, i.e., a wire segment. The leading and trailing ends of the wire segment are constrained in such a way that the ends of the

A wire canister capable of being used by robots during the assembly of a wire harness. The wire canister is capable of accepting, storing and dispensing random lengths of wire, i.e., a wire segment. The leading and trailing ends of the wire segment are constrained in such a way that the ends of the wire segment may be readily acquired by the manipulator of a robot and presented to other supporting equipment for purposes of performing operations on the ends of the wire segment.

대표청구항 ▼

A transportable canister for accepting, storing and dispensing a wire segment to be used by a robot during the assembly of a wire harness, comprising: a cylindrical housing having an access opening for a wire, a cylindrical drum disposed within said housing, the outer surface of said drum being prov

A transportable canister for accepting, storing and dispensing a wire segment to be used by a robot during the assembly of a wire harness, comprising: a cylindrical housing having an access opening for a wire, a cylindrical drum disposed within said housing, the outer surface of said drum being provided with a wire-accepting helical groove and a wire inlet opening, means for enabling said drum to rotate with respect to said housing, a drive plate attached to said drum whereby a rotation of said drive plate effects a rotation of said drum, said drive plate being provided with a wire outlet opening, a wire guide tube disposed within said drum and extending between said inlet opening and said outlet opening, means forming a first releasable clamp for constraining and centering the leading end of said wire segment, said first clamp means being disposed at said outlet opening, and means forming a second releasable clamp for constraining and centering the trailing end of said wire segment, said second releasable clamp means being disposed at said access opening; whereby in use said drive plate and thus said drum may be rotated to initially align said inlet opening with said access opening and subsequently wind said wire into said groove.