Spool Handling Device With Wheeled Carriers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing material handling equipment, such as cranes or forklifts, is too large to maneuver large spools of coiled materials through confined areas, making manual manipulation laborious and risky, and there is a need for a compact device that can lift and rotate spools to facilitate movement and unwinding/winding operations.
Innovation Solution
A compact device with wheeled carriers and screw jacks that lift and rotate spools by engaging the flanges with rollers, allowing for movement through confined spaces and efficient handling of various spool sizes, featuring adjustable screw jacks and a drive motor for spool rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a crane or forklift is used to lift and maneuver a large spool, then the spool can be lifted and moved, but the equipment is too large to maneuver through confined areas
Solution Approach 1:
The device divides the spool handling function into two separate carriers, each responsible for one flange. This segmentation allows each carrier to be compact and maneuverable in confined spaces while collectively providing the full lifting and maneuvering capability needed for large spools.
Solution Approach 2:
The device introduces rollers as an intermediary mechanism between the spool flanges and the carriers. The rollers engage with the flange rims and provide mechanical advantage through leverage, enabling compact carriers to lift heavy spools without requiring large equipment.
2Area of stationary object
If manual manipulation of the spool is used to move it through confined areas, then the spool can be positioned, but the task is laborious, time-consuming and poses injury risk
Solution Approach 1:
The device enables self-service handling by allowing one or two operators to control the carriers through simple manual effort on the spool itself. The spool's own structure (flanges and rims) is utilized as part of the lifting mechanism, eliminating the need for external large equipment and reducing manual manipulation time and risk.
3Volume of moving object
If a compact device with rollers is used to lift the spool, then the device can maneuver through confined areas, but the device must have high load-carrying capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The rollers act as intermediaries that transfer and amplify the lifting force. By positioning the rollers to engage with the flange rims and using the carrier frames as leverage arms, the device achieves high mechanical advantage, allowing compact structure to generate sufficient lifting force for heavy spools.
Solution Approach 2:
The device transitions the lifting problem from a vertical force challenge to a rotational engagement problem. The rollers engage with the circular flange rims, converting vertical lifting into a rotational clamping action that is more efficient for compact mechanisms.
4Ease of operation
If the device engages the flanges with rollers to lift and rotate the spool, then movement through confined spaces is facilitated, but the device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The carriers are designed as universal, self-contained units that can independently engage and lift either flange of the spool. Each carrier integrates rollers, framing, and positioning capabilities into a single module that performs multiple functions: positioning, engagement, lifting, and transportation of the spool section it handles.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables safe and efficient movement of spools through confined areas, supports a wide range of spool sizes, and facilitates unwinding/winding operations without damaging the material, with a high load-carrying capacity and resistance to tipping.
Implementation Method 1
the device further includes a screw jack arranged within the frame and adapted, upon rotation, to move the inner tube relative to and along the length of the outer tube in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the outer tube so as to selectively change the distance between the opposite end portions of the frame
Implementation Method 2
The device further includes four rollers for rollably engaging the rims of the flanges of the spool
Implementation Method 3
floor-engaging wheels for supporting the frame above the floor
Data Source
AI summary
A device for handling a spool having a barrel about which a wire or cable is wound and two flanges at each end of the barrel includes a pair of wheeled carriers wherein each carrier includes an elongated frame having two opposite end portions and wherein the opposite end portions of the frame are adapted to be moved toward and away from one another. A roller is rotatably supported at each end portion of each frame and is arranged so that the rotational axis of the two rollers of each frame are substantially parallel to one another, and a screw jack is incorporated within each frame for moving the rollers of each frame toward one another so that by positioning each carrier of the device adjacent a corresponding flange of the spool and then moving the end portions of the carrier toward one another, the flange of spool is raised to an elevated condition above the floor.