EP0143523B1

EP0143523B1 - Roller entry guide

Info

Publication number: EP0143523B1
Application number: EP84306310A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Mario Fabris
Original assignee: FABRIS INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING Ltd
Current assignee: FABRIS INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING Ltd
Priority date: 1983-09-19
Filing date: 1984-09-14
Publication date: 1988-12-14
Also published as: JPS60106548A; CA1237299A; KR850002047A; ATE39224T1; DE3475601D1; EP0143523A1

Abstract

A roller entry guide comprises a body with a pair of roller assemblies mounted on the body. The spacing between the assemblies is adjustable by a gear mechanism that induces relative longitudinal displacement between the body and the assemblies. Slides acting between the body and the assemblies produces a lateral component of movement to move the assemblies toward or away from each other whilst maintaining them parallel.

Description

The present invention relates to roller entry guides and in particular to a roller entry guide that provides the possibility of adjustment during operation.
Roller entry guides are used on a rod mill to guide the rod into the next stage of the mill. Such guides conventionally have a tapering inlet chute that guides the rod between a set of rollers. The rollers then ensure that the rod is presented to the rolls in the correct orientation.
The roller entry guides are normally set up at the start of a production run so that the spacing between the rollers corresponds to the nominal diameter of the rod that will be passing between them. It has been found however that variations in the stock size induce undue wear on the rollers and leads to frequent stoppages for adjustment and maintenance.
Proposals have been made to bias the rollers against stops so that the rollers may swing out of the set position should an increase in stock diameter be encountered. Whilst this has been proposed for rollers utilising two rolls it has not been possible to use it where the guide has four rollers arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the material. The use of four rollers is preferred because of the increased stability it provides in operation but it is then essential that the pairs of rollers be maintained parallel to one another at all times. However, with the currently available arrangements of four roller entry guides, any variation in material thickness requires a production run to be stopped for subsequent readjustment of the roller enry guides.
A known type of roller entry guide with the features of the preamble of claim 1 is described in DE-U-82 26 070.
The aim of the invention is to provide a roller entry guide which enables adjustment to be made whilst the material is passing through the roller entry guide to obviate or mitigate the above disadvantages.
The present invention provides a roller entry guide for guiding material along a longitudinal axis, the guide having a body, a pair of generally parallel roller assemblies movably nounted on the body, each of the roller assemblies being located on an opposite side of the longitudinal axis to define a passageway for material moving along the longitudinal axis, each of the roller assemblies including an arm and a roller rotatably mounted on the arm for engagement with material passing through the passageway, adjustment means acting between the roller assemblies and the body to induce relative movement therebetween, and guide means acting between the roller assemblies and the body to guide the roller assemblies towards, and away from, the longitudinal axis, characterised in that the guide means comprises cooperating slides which inhibit rotation of the arms relative to the body, the slides maintaining the roller assemblies in a predetermined disposition relative to the longitudinal axis upon movement induced by the adjusting means to displace the roller assemblies relative to the longitudinal axis, the guide means being such as to move the roller assemblies in a direction that is inclined to the longitudinal axis.
An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a general perspective view of a roller entry guide.
Figure 2 is a side view of he roller entry guide shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is an end elevation of the roller entry guide shown in Figure 2 taken in the direction of arrow A in Figure 2 with portions removed for clarity.
Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.
Figure 5 is a plan view, with the top plate removed and partly in section, of the roller entry guide shown in Figure 2.
Figure 6 is a view of the underside of the top plate used on the guide shown in Figures 1 to 5.

Referring now to the drawings, a roller entry guide 10 comprises a base plate 12 and a top plate 14 which are located on opposite faces of a body member generally designated 16 and secured thereto by set screws 50. The body member 16 is provided with a bore 1Tthat extends along the longitudinal axis of the guide 10 from a rear face 19 to a contoured nose 21. An inlet chute 18 having a throat 20 of progressively reducing cross section is threaded into the bore 17 and secured by set screws 23.
Projecting from the rear face 19 of the body 16 is an annular boss 36 that has a male thread 38 to cooperate with a female thread 39 of a collar 40. The rear portion of the collar 40 is flared to accommodate the inlet chute 18 and terminates in an outwardly directed circumferential groove 72.
The base plate 12 and top plate 14 project laterally and forwardly beyond the perimeter of body 16 to provide upper and lower opposed surfaces 42, 44 respectively. Each of the opposed surfaces 42, 44 of the plates 12, 14 is provided with guide means in the form of four grooves 46 arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis. The grooves 46 in each pair are parallel to one another and are inclined to the longitudinal axis of the roller entry guide 10. The grooves 46 on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis are inclined at equal but opposite angles to the longitudinal axis to converge rearwardly toward the rear face 19 of body 16.
The top plate 14 is provided with an upstanding boss 52 that projects rearwardly from the top plate 14 and is provided with a transverse bore 54. Located in the bore 54 is a worm wheel 56 that is rotatably supported at opposite ends by bearings 58. The worm wheel 56 is formed with a hexagonal recess 60 at each end to receive a standard hexagonal wrench. A slot 48 is provided in the undersurface of boss 52 to intersect the bore 54 and receive a ring gear 62 that meshes with the worm wheel 56. The ring gear 62 is provided with internal splines 64that mesh with external splines 66 provided on the outer surface of the collar 40. The splines 64-66 are orientated along the longitudinal axis of the roller entry guide 10 so that the collar 40 may move along the longitudinal axis relative to the ring gear 62. Longitudinal movement of the ring gear 62 is prevented by opposed walls 68 of the slot 48 in the under surface of the boss 52.
Located between the top plate, and base plate 14-12 are a pair of roller assemblies 22, each of which comprises an arm 24 carrying a pair of rollers 26 spaced along the longitudinal axis of the arm 24. Each of the rollers 26 is mounted on a vertical spindle 30 and provided with conventional bearing assemblies for rotation about a vertical axis.
Projecting rearwardly from each of the arms 24 is an extension 76 that is part circular in cross- section to accommodate the collar 40 and allow rotation of the collar about the longitudinal axis. Each extension 76 terminates in a transversely directed flange 74 that is received in the groove 72 of collar 40.
Upper and lower surfaces 78 80 respectively of the roller arms 24 are each provided with a pair of upstanding ribs 82 that are complementary in shape to the grooves 46 and co-operate with the grooves 46 so that longitudinal displacement of the arms 24 induces a corresponding lateral displacement. Each of the rollers 26 is waisted so that opposed rollers 26 define a passage for rod passing through the chute 18 to the roll. For close control of the entry of the rod into the roll of the mill the spacing between the opposed surfaces of the rollers 26 should correspond to the nominal diameter of the rod. The guide 10 permits adjustment of this spacing during passage of the rod to accommodate minor variations in stock size.
Adjustment of the spacing between the rollers 26 is achieved by rotation of the worm wheel 56 in the bore 54. Upon rotation of the worm wheel, the ring gear 62 rotates about the longitudinal axis and causes a corresponding rotation of the collar 40. Such rotation causes intermeshing threads 38, 39 between the annular boss 36, and collar 40 to induce longitudinal displacement of the collar 40. This motion is transmitted to the roller arms 24 through the flanges 74 to cause a corresponding longitudinal displacement of the roller assemblies. The co-operating grooves and ribs 82 cause the roller assemblies to move laterally upon longitudinal displacement and thereby alter the gap between the rollers. However, because the roller arms 24 are supported at two locations by the grooves, the two arms remain parallel to one another so that the spacing between the front and rear pairs of rollers 26 remains constant.
The disposition of the ribs and projections ensures that adequate lateral support is provided for the roller assemblies to resist the lateral forces produced by the rod material passing through the roller entry guide 10 whilst at the same time ensuring that the sets of rollers remain parallel at all times. The worm and wheel arrangement permits adjustment of the roller entry guides from the side of the guide without interrupting the flow of material and can be used to either increase or decrease the space between tne rollers depending upon the direction of rotation of the worm wheel.

Claims

1. A roller entry guide (10) for guiding material along a longitudinal axis, the guide (10) having a body (16), a pair of generally parallel roller assemblies (22) movably mounted on the body (16), each of the roller assemblies (22) being located on an opposite side of the longitudinal axis to define a passageway for material moving along the longitudinal axis, each of the roller assemblies (22) including an arm (24) and a roller (26) rotatably mounted on the arm (24) for engagement with material passing through the passageway, adjustment means (40) acting between the roller assemblies (22) and the body (16) to induce relative movement therebetween, and guide means (46, 82) acting between the roller assemblies (22) and the body (16) to guide the roller assemblies (22) towards, and away from, the longitudinal axis, characterised in that the guide means comprises co-operating slides (46, 82) which inhibit rotation of the arms (24) relative to the body (16), the slides (46, 82) maintaining the roller assemblies (22) in a predetermined disposition relative to the longitudinal axis upon movement induced by the adjusting means (40) to displace the roller assemblies (22) relative to the longitudinal axis, the guide means (46, 82) being such as to move the roller assemblies (22) in a direction that is inclined to the longitudinal axis.

2. A roller entry guide according to claim 1, wherein each of the roller assemblies (22) includes a pair of rollers (26) rotatably mounted on the associated arm (24) such that the rollers (26) are spaced apart along the longitudinal axis, the rollers (26) of opposed assemblies (22) defining an elongate passageway extending along the longitudinal axis, and the guide means (46, 82) acting to maintain the lateral spacing between the rollers (26) uniform.

3. A roller entry guide according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein a plurality of slides (46, 82) act between the body (16) and each of the roller assemblies (22), the slides (46, 82) associated with each roller assembly (22) being spaced apart along the longitudinal axis to inhibit pivotal movement of that roller assembly (22) relative to the body (16).

4. A roller entry guide according to claim 3, wherein each of the slides includes a groove (46) and a complemenary rib (82).

5. A roller entry guide according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the adjustment means includes a collar (40) co-operating with each of the roller assemblies (22), and connected to the body through interengaged threads (38, 39), rotation of the collar (40) relative to the body (16) inducing longitudinal displacement of the collar relative to the body (16), and thereby inducing longitudinal movement of the roller assemblies (22).

6. A roller entry guide according to claim 5, wherein rotation of the collar is induced by a worm (56) and ring gear (62).

7. A roller entry guide according to claim 6, wherein the worm (56) is mounted for rotation about a transverse axis, and the ring gear (62) is splined to the collar (40) to permit relative longitudinal movement of the ring gear (62) relative to the collar (40).