Patent Application
20080047083
Show venues, such as concerts, Broadway shows, or the like, often use many cables which need to be extended to various places at the venue. The cables may carry control signals, power, and the like. Because the items which require the power may be very far from the controlling deck and/or the source of power, those cables must be correspondingly long. However, other cables are shorter.
The venue is often wired by a wiring contractor, e.g., a stage rental company. After the venue is completed, the cables are returned to the rental company. The wires are then bundled and sorted.
This has typically been done by manually pulling the cables, and then bundling the cables onto either a spindle or into a bundle.
The present application teaches an automated cable handling system that automatically processes the cable.
Aspects include parts that clean the cable during the operation. Another aspect includes a part that automatically monitors the cable type and length, thereby sorting the cable automatically.
The general structure and techniques, and more specific embodiments which can be used to effect different ways of carrying out the more general goals, are described herein.
The present application describes an automatic cable handling system, which allows automated processing of the cable.
One of the issues found with cable handling in the prior art is that the cable was effectively stretched across a work floor. This stretching and the subsequent coiling was done manually, and required significant manual effort. The cables laid across the floor, hence causing a hazard. Moreover, the cables got very dirty during their time on the floor. The stretched cables were then bundled up.
Embodiments address these issues.
One aspect of this application cleans the cable while the cable is being conveyed. A cable clamp holds various sizes of cable, conveying the cable along a conveyor.
In operation, the cable is first sorted by type. The cable sorting may be done on a dock or other table. The cables may then be sent, for example, to the input stage of the conveyor shown in
After attachment, the cables are first conveyed to a soap and water wash spot, which may include a presoak area 129 which presoaks the cables. The cables are then each washed by brushes. Brushes 125, 126 are shown for a first cable, and 127, 128 for a second cable. It should be understood that there may be other brushes in other locations.
The cables are then rinsed with water or solvent in a rinse area 130. Water is blown off the cables at 135 by an air blower device.
The cables pass through area 140, held by the cable clamp/grippers 145 in
The cable continues being conveyed to the section of
Since the conveyance path is along a support, the conveyance surface can be open, to allow foreign objects such as dirt and liquid, to fall off. This is different than a belt style conveyance, in which all dirt and foreign objects would fall on the belt, for example.
A side view of the conveyor is shown in
The area under the conveyance path, in the area of washing and rinsing, is preferably a mesh structure, e.g., a metal mesh.
Since these cables are heavy and bulky, an important feature is the emergency switch. An emergency off switch 530 is located within the reach of each operator.
The two pieces 800, 805 are opened by the movement of a linear driving part such as piston 820. This causes the bottom piece 805 to tilt downward, opening the area between the top and bottom pieces.
The gripper assembly itself is connected to a carriage 850 but moves on rollers 852 along the conveyor.
In an embodiment, a foot pedal may be provided that allows the operator to press the foot pedal to raise the first movable surface, after which the cables are placed into position, and the foot pedal is released to lower the first movable surface.
An important feature of this system is that pans and troughs may be located under the device to catch runoff.
This structure allows the cable to be pulled and washed at the same time. All customer markings can be removed by washing, as well as dirt and the like. An automatic release system allows the end of the cable to be released once the cable end reaches the correct area. An automatic bundling system may be used at that area.
The printer may print a barcode that is associated with the cable, and which states characteristics of the cable. After bundling the cable, a barcode may be scanned into an inventory management system, which indicates that a bundle, having those specific characteristics, is ready to rent. The cable is then placed on pallets for storage, for example, and when rented, the barcode is scanned again, removing the cable from inventory.
In operation, operators may be on each side of the conveyor. A conveyor button may be pressed when the conveyor is ready for work. The next available cable gripper opens automatically, on the side of the operator where the conveyor button was pressed. The operator inserts the cable into the open gripper area, and then presses a pre-start part, for example a prestart switch on the floor, to close the gripper. As a safety measure, the operator may be forced at that point to press either a wash, or a pass selector switch to start the operation. The wash switch causes the cables to be washed, by raising the brushes via the piston 1105, while the pass switch just passes the cables without washing.
The cable, while gripped, is passed through the washer area. Depending on the buttons which are pressed, either wash operations or no wash operations is performed. If wash has been selected, a selected sensor will read the cable gripper and start a wash cycle.
The different structure shown along the conveyor includes a prewash cycle which begins using a water and soap solution. The cable is then passed through foam brushes where one brush moves over the cable, and a second brush moves up from the bottom. The cable is then rinsed with water, and finally passes through an air blower area. Cable droop may prevent some part of the cable from being washed.
When the cable reaches the end of the conveyor, the clamping device automatically releases the cable at the discharge area via the unclamping ramp in the area 510.
In one embodiment, emergency stop buttons are mounted in each corner of the conveyor, near each location where a worker might be located. Pressing any of the emergency stop buttons causes all equipment functions to stop.
The general structure and techniques, and more specific embodiments which can be used to effect different ways of carrying out the more general goals are described herein.
Although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above, other embodiments are possible and the inventor(s) intend these to be encompassed within this specification. The specification describes specific examples to accomplish a more general goal that may be accomplished in another way. This disclosure is intended to be exemplary, and the claims are intended to cover any modification or alternative which might be predictable to a person having ordinary skill in the art. For example, other kinds of bundling can be used.
Also, the inventor(s) intend that only those claims which use the words “means for” are intended to be interpreted under 35 USC 112, sixth paragraph. Moreover, no limitations from the specification are intended to be read into any claims, unless those limitations are expressly included in the claims. The computers described herein may be any kind of computer, either general purpose, or some specific purpose computer such as a workstation. The computer may be a Pentium class computer, running Windows XP or Linux, or may be a Macintosh computer. The computer may also be a handheld computer, such as a PDA, cellphone, or laptop.
The programs may be written in C, or Java, Brew or any other programming language. The programs may be resident on a storage medium, e.g., magnetic or optical, e.g. the computer hard drive, a removable disk or media such as a memory stick or SD media, or other removable medium. The programs may also be run over a network, for example, with a server or other machine sending signals to the local machine, which allows the local machine to carry out the operations described herein.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/839,756, filed on Aug. 23, 2006. The disclosure of the prior application is considered part of (and is incorporated by reference in) the disclosure of this application.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60839756 | Aug 2006 | US |
