A straightening device for straightening cables includes two rows of rollers, an adjusting device for manually adjusting a distance between the rows of rollers, a measuring device for recording the distance between the rows of rollers, and an indicator device with which deviations of the actual value of the distance between the rows of rollers, determined by the measuring device, from a nominal value is visually indicated. The indicator device has two optical error indicating elements for indicating too high and/or too low an actual value compared with the nominal value of the distance, as well as an optical correct indicating element for indicating that the actual value of the distance corresponds with the nominal value.

A straightening device (15) for aligning a line (11) along a delivery route. The device including a straightening stand (20) having a first row of rollers (21) and a second row of rollers (31) which rows can be moved relative to one another and between which the delivery route of the line runs. At least one of the two rows of rollers (21, 31) has a plurality of rotatable rollers (25, 35). A braking device (40) is provided for braking at least one of the rotatable rollers (25, 35) of at least one of the two rows of rollers (21, 31) in the straightening stand. A method for braking at least one rotatable roller (25, 35) of at least one of the two rows of rollers (21, 31) in a straightening device, a cable processing machine with a straightening device, and an upgrade kit for a cable processing machine.

A metal cord has an M+N construction with two concentric layers. An internal first layer or core includes M wire(s) of diameter d.sub.1, M having a value from 1 to 4. An external second layer includes N wires of diameter d.sub.2 and is positioned around the core, the N wires being wound in a helix. Between the wires of the two layers are gaps, some or all of which include a filling rubber based on an unsaturated thermoplastic elastomer. The filling rubber may be, for example, based on an SBS or an SIS block copolymer. When used in a molten state, the thermoplastic elastomer presents no problem due to unwanted stickiness if the filling rubber overspills outside the cord after manufacture. The unsaturated and therefore (co)vulcanizable nature of the thermoplastic elastomer makes it compatible with diene rubber matrices used as calendering rubber in metal fabrics intended for reinforcing tires.

A method of manufacturing a metal cord with two concentric layers of wires is provided. The cord includes an internal layer of M wires, M having a value from 1 to 4, and an external layer of N wires. The cord is rubberized from within in situ. That is, during manufacture of the cord, the cord is rubberized from inside. According to the method, the internal layer is sheathed with rubber or a rubber compound by passing the internal layer through an extrusion head, and the N wires of the external layer are assembled around the sheathed internal layer to form a two-layer cord rubberized from the inside. The rubber is an unsaturated thermoplastic elastomer that is extruded in a molten state, and preferably is a thermoplastic styrene (TPS) type of thermoplastic elastomer, such as an SBS or an SIS block copolymer, for example.

A steel cord for reinforcing a breaker or belt ply in a rubber tire having a core group and a sheath group. The core group consists of two to four core steel filaments with a first diameter dc and the sheath group consists of one to six sheath steel filaments with a second diameter ds. The ratio dc/ds of the first diameter dc to the second diameter ds ranges from 1.10 to 1.70. The two core steel filaments are untwisted or have a twisting step greater than 300 mm. The sheath group is twisted around the core group with a cord twisting step in a cord twisting direction. The ratio of the difference in residual torsions of the core group and the sheath group to the difference in saturation level between the core group and the sheath group ranges from 0.10 to 0.65, preferably from 0.10 to 0.60.

A multi-strand cord (50) having a 1N structure comprises a single layer (52) of N strands (54) wound in a helix about a main axis (A), each strand (54) having one layer (56) of metal filaments (F1) and comprising M>1 metal filaments wound in a helix about an axis (B). The cord (50) has a total elongation At>8.10% and the energy-at-break indicator Er of the cord (50), defined by Er=.sub.0.sup.At(Ai)dAi where (Ai) is the tensile stress in MPa measured at the elongation Ai and dAi is the elongation such that Er is strictly greater than 52 MJ/m.sup.3.

A steel cord for rubber reinforcement that has a construction with an outer layer and an inner strand surrounded by and adjacent to the outer layer, the inner strand having at least one steel filament with a number of N.sub.1 and an average diameter of d.sub.1 expressed in mm, the outer layer having steel filaments with a number of N.sub.2 and an average diameter of d.sub.2 expressed in mm. The inner strand has a torque T.sub.1 and the outer layer has a torque T.sub.2, the relation between T.sub.1 and T.sub.2 is defined. By doing this, the tip rise problem of the rubber ply reinforced by steel cords is reduced.

An object is to provide a wire straightening device and a wire straightening method, with which it is possible to automatically set the roller spacing in accordance with the type of the wire and to further adjust the roller spacing during operation. A wire straightening device (20) includes a preset value obtaining device that obtains a preset value of roller spacing, which is predetermined for each type of wire (2); a roller spacing automatic setting device that drives an actuator (26a) so that the roller spacing becomes equal to the preset value when the type of the wire (2) is input; and a roller spacing changing device that changes the roller spacing based on an operation by the operator while retaining the preset value during operation of a wire processing device (1).

A multi-strand cord (50) comprises an internal layer (CI) of the cord made up of K=1 three-layer (C1, C2, C3) internal strand (TI), with the internal layer (C1) being made up of Q internal metallic threads (F1), the intermediate layer (C2) being made up of M intermediate metallic threads (F2) and the external layer (C3) being made up of N external metallic threads (F3), and an external layer (CE) of the cord made up of L>1 three-layer (C1, C2, C3) external strands (TE) wound around the internal layer (CI) of the cord, with the internal layer (C1) being made up of Q internal metallic threads (F1), the intermediate layer (C2) being made up of M intermediate metallic threads (F2) and the external layer (C3) being made up of N external metallic threads (F3). The cord (50) has an endurance criterion SL40 000 MPa.Math.mm with $SL=\max \left(\frac{{}_{\mathrm{bending}\_\mathrm{CI}}}{\mathrm{Cp}};\frac{{}_{\mathrm{bending}\_\mathrm{CE}}}{C_r\mathrm{Cp}}\right);$
and a size criterion Ec0.46 with Ec=Sc/Se.