Inventors:
John F. Otis - Westford MA
International Classification:
B65H 7540, B65H 4900
Abstract:
A cable dispenser stores and dispenses cable from one of several coils of cable held on separate interchangeable cable coil holding reels stacked one above another on shelves on a cart each reel including a spool on a turntable platform that has four outside corners providing four points of support therefor, at least two shelves on the cart spaced apart one above another a distance sufficient to clear the height of a reel loaded with a coil of cable, each shelf holding one loaded reel at the four points of support therefor, in a position from which cable can be dispensed from the outside of the coil held thereby. The cart shelves above the bottom shelf is sufficiently open at the center thereof that loaded reels can be lifted from the cart or placed on the cart through the center openings in the shelves above, for easy loading and unloading of the cart. In a preferred embodiment, a cable guide is provided on the cart having a cable entrance and exit through which the cable from the outside of one of the reels loaded on the cart is fed and emerges essentially straight and free of spirals or kinks.