GB1581991A

GB1581991A - Sheet levelling machine

Info

Publication number: GB1581991A
Application number: GB88578A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: ZERHOCH VORRICHTUNGS MASCH
Current assignee: ZERHOCH VORRICHTUNGS MASCH
Priority date: 1977-02-04
Filing date: 1978-01-10
Publication date: 1980-12-31
Also published as: CH614870A5; DE2704684C3; DE2704684B2; JPS53102261A; JPS5744409B2; DE2704684A1

Abstract

The levelling machine has an upper roller frame (1) and a lower roller frame (2) which, in mutually opposite bearing plates, contain a plurality of upper levelling rollers (12) and lower levelling rollers (32), which are arranged transversely to the feed direction of the material and can be driven positively. The levelling rollers (12) of the upper roller frame (1) are staggered relative to those (32) of the lower roller frame (2). The upper roller frame (1) can be swung upwards relative to the lower roller frame (2), allowing easy access and thorough cleaning of the levelling rollers. In order to allow it to be swung upwards, there is a special gearing for the levelling rollers of each roller frame and the two gear trains are preferably connected to one another via an articulated-joint shaft. <IMAGE>

Description

(54) SHEET LEVELLING MACHINE (71) We, HORST ZERHOCH VORRICH TUNGS- UND MASCHINENBAU G.m.b.H. & Co. K.G., a German Kommanditgesellschaft, of Am Tiefen Weg, 7573 Sinzheim, Federal Republic of Germany, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: Levelling machine for levelling sheets and flat stock This invention relates to a levelling machine for levelling sheets and flat stock, comprising a lower and an upper roller frame, each having mounting bars arranged at some distance apart to hold the positively driven upper or, respectively, lower levelling rollers, the upper and lower levelling rollers being staggered in relation to each other so that the rollers of the upper frame are in alignment with the spaces between the rollers of the lower frame.

In known roller levellers of this type, each levelling roller of the upper frame, and similarly each levelling roller of the lower frame, has its own separate drive shaft through which it is driven from a transmission which is fixed, together with the respective roller frame, for example to a bed prate or the like. This means that one drive shaft is required for each levelling roller. In addition, four stay bolts secured by a lock nut are normally screwed into the lower roller frame to insure correct alignment of the upper to the lower roller frame, in particular to prevent parallel relative displacement between the levelling rollers of the upper frame and the lower frame rollers which should be exactly aligned with the spaces between the rollers of the upper frame. Mounted on each of these stay bolts is a compression spring so that the upper roller frame is cushioned on the lower frame. The upper frame can be moved towards or away from the lower frame, for example by turning a nut acting on the stay bolt.

In these known levelling machines, the upper roller frame can only be raised very slightly away from the lower frame, particularly because of the arrangement of the driving mechanism, with the result that the levelling rollers are relatively inaccessible and cleaning of the levelling apparatus is very difficult and time consuming. The arrangement of the driving mechanism prevents the upper roller frame from being tilted upwards because this would cause the individual drive shafts of the levelling rollers to be twisted over one another.

Moreover, the compression springs on t stay bolts would have to be placed back into position every time because they would fall off whenever the frame were opened.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a roller leveller for sheets and flat stock in which the levelling rollers of an upper and lower roller frame, which cooperate with each other during the levelling process, can easily be moved far enough apart to allow for much easier cleaning of the machine and/or simple replacement of individual parts, for example individual levelling rollers.

According to the invention there is provided a levelling machine for levelling sheets or other flat material comprising a lower and an upper roller frame each carrying respective lower and upper driven rollers arranged transversely to the direction of transport of the material, the upper rollers being staggered in relation to the lower rollers wherein the upper frame is pivotable in relation to the lower frame about an axis parallel to the rollers, a transmission on each frame for driving the associated rollers and a shaft through which drive is transmitted from one transmission to the other, said shaft having an axis which lies in the pivotal axis between the upper and lower frames. The shaft is preferably a universally jointed shaft so that the upper roller frame can be slightly shifted away from the lower frame to adapt the space between them to the thickness of the material, the levelling pressure, etc., without the need for separate drives for the upper and the lower roller frame.

In order that the compression springs, which provide the flexible pressure of the upper roller frame against the lower frame, will not fall off as mentioned above, they are not mounted on the stay bolts but moved slightly away from them and constructed, for example, as separate spring bolts.

The invention and advantageous details thereof are described below with reference to the drawing which illustrates embodiments by way of example.

Fig. 1 is a side view of a roller leveller having the features according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a front view of the roller leveller of Fig. 1 with the upper roller frame tilted up; Fig. 3 shows the manner in which a stay bolt is fixed in a roller leveller of Figures 1 and 2; Fig. 4 represents the driving means of an individual levelling roller; and Fig. 5 represents a drive shaft through which the levelling rollers of the upper frame and those of the lower frame are drivingly connected.

The structure of the roller leveller will first be described with reference to Figures 1 and 2: A machine frame (not indicated in detail) is fixed to a bench 100, bed plate or the like. This machine frame has a fixed lower roller frame 2 and serves as support for an upper roller frame 1 which is pivoted to it through a pivot bearing 8, 9 arranged on the left or right. The upper frame 1 is kept in the correct operating position by a supporting guide 16, 16' which is automatically adjusted by a guide block 13, 13' fixed in the lower roller frame 2. Fixed into the upper roller frame is a pair of mounting bars 1 la, 1 ib which are placed sufficiently far apart to leave a gap between them equal to the maximum width of the material which is to be levelled. As can be seen clearly in Fig. 2, the two parallel bars 1 la, 1 ib rotatably mount and support a first set of levelling rollers 12 which are placed at equal distances apart.

In order to counteract any tendency of the levelling rollers 12 to bend upwards when subjected to severe pressure from the material which is to be levelled, back-up rollers 31 are provided, which are mounted to be freely rotatable in, for example, four pairs of mounting bars 29. The six backup rollers situated on the extreme left in Fig. 2 are coaxial with the back-up rollers in the third row from the left while the axes of the back-up rollers of the second and fourth row from the left are in alignment with each other and staggered with those of the back-up rollers of the second and fourth row from the left. The upper roller frame contains, for example, six back-up rollers in each of the first and third row of back-up rollers from the left (see Fig. 2) and five back-up rollers 31 in the second and fourth row from the left. The axial position of the back-up rollers is indicated in Fig. 1 by the reference numeral 30.

Analogously to the construction of the upper roller frame 1, mounting bars 28a and 28b placed at a suitable distance apart are provided in the lower roller frame 2 for rotatably mounting and supporting a lower group of parallel levelling rollers 32 placed at equal distances apart transversely to the direction of transport of the material. Four pairs of mounting bars 33 (see Fig. 2) analogous to the four pairs of bars 29 for back-up rollers are provided in the lower roller frame for supporting freely rotatable back-up rollers 14. These backup rollers 14 in the lower frame similarly prevent sagging of the levelling rollers 32 under pressure exerted transversely to the axis of the rollers during the levelling process.

According to Fig. 1, when the upper roller frame is closed, the axes of all the upper levelling rollers 12 lie in a plane parallel to the plane of the axes of all the levelling rollers 32 of the lower roller frame 2. The gap between the two groups of rollers 12 and 32 is adjusted in known manner by spindles 37, 37' operated by hand wheels 17, 17'. It is possible to provide for a slight difference in this levelling gap between the inlet end for the material and the outlet end by using a different pitch and/or different adjustment of the supporting nuts (not shown) for the spindle 37, 37' on the two sides of the machine, i.e. the right and left hand side in Fig. 1.

Suitable compensation for the inclination on the pivot bearing 8, 9 can be achieved by providing a supplementary pivot bearing 7.

To reduce noise and vibration, the whole arrangement comprising the upper and lower roller frames 1 and 2 is supported on the machine bed 100 by powerful rubber springs 19.

The number of levelling rollers is obviously not restricted to the number illustrated here of 11 rollers 12 in the upper frame and 12 levelling rollers 32 in the lower frame. Any number of levelling rollers could, in principle, be employed although the number in one group of levelling rollers (for example the number of lower rollers 32) should always be one greater than the number of levelling rollers in the other group (in the example represented here, the group of upper levelling rollers 12). The same applies to the number of mounting bars 29 and 33 for the back-up rollers and the number of back up rollers 31 and 14 in the upper and lower roller frame.

As represented in Fig. 2, the levelling rollers 12 of the upper roller frame 1 are driven from the left hand end by an upper transmission with interposition of couplings 20 which yield in a direction parallel to the axis, so called Oldham couplings (see also Fig. 4). For the sake of simplicity of the drawing, only the upper gear box 3 has been shown in Fig. 2 since the transmission mechanism itself is not a subject of the present invention. The upper gear box 3 is closed by a gear cover 4.

The partly sectional view of Fig. 4 shows the driving mechanism for an individual levelling roller 12. A pinion 23 mounted at one end on a needle case 21 in the gear cover 4 and at the other end in a needle bushing 22 in the opposite wall of the gear box 3 is connected by way of the Oldham coupling 20 to the levelling roller 12 which is mounted in the mounting bars lla, llb.

The group of lower levelling rollers 32 is similarly driven by a transmission from the opposite side, i.e. from the right in Fig. 2, by way of Oldham couplings. Here again, only the lower gear box 5 with gear cover 6 has been shown in order not to complicate the drawing. The group of upper levelling rollers 12 is thus driven by its own transmission which is associated with the upper roller frame 1 and arranged on the left hand side in Fig. 2 while the group of lower levelling rollers 32 is also driven by way of a separate transmission associated with the lower roller frame 2.

The transmission for the upper roller frame 1 (hereinafter referred to as upper transmission) and the transmission for the lower roller frame 2 (hereinafter referred to as lower transmission) are connected through a universally jointed drive shaft 10 whose axis is substantially in alignment with the pivotal axis of the upper roller frame 1. This driving connection between the lower transmission on the right hand side and the upper transmission on the left hand side through a drive shaft 10 provides for the adjustable positioning of the upper roller frame in relation to the lower frame.

The drive for all the levelling rollers is preferably first transmitted by way of the lower transmission to the lower group of levelling rollers 32 and from there through the drive shafts 10 and upper transmission to the upper levelling rollers 12.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of the drive shaft 10 and its mounting means. The drive is transmitted from the transmission associated with the lower roller frame 2 to the transmission associated with the upper roller frame through a pinion 135 mounted by ball bearings 24 in the lower gear box 5 and lower gear cover 6 and through a pinion 135' mounted in ball bearings 24' in the upper gear box 3 and upper gear cover 4.

Four stay bolts 27 are firmly fixed in the upper roller frame 1. When the upper roller frame 1 is pivoted into the operative position, these stay bolts 27 are inserted into corresponding bores 35 in the framework of the lower roller frame 2, or the machine bed plate thereby ensuring that the levelling rollers 12 of the upper roller frame will be correctly positioned in relation to the lower levelling rollers 32 of the lower frame. As can be seen in Fig.

3, the bottom end face of the stay bolts 27 has a step (see Fig. 3B) which abuts against a stop 34 screwed into the base of the lower roller frame 2, thereby limiting the excursion of the stay bolts 27 in the axial direction. The stay bolts 27 are further secured in the vertical direction in the operative position of the roller leveller by means of axially displaceable transverse bolts 26 mounted in the lower roller frame 2 or the machine bed plate and which can be pushed into position through a notch 36 in the lower part of the bolts 27 only when the stay bolts 27 are in their correct position.

The invention is a complete solution to the problem it sets out to solve. A roller leveller according to the invention affords the special advantage that the upper roller frame can be tilted up so that the levelling rollers, back-up rollers and other parts of both roller frames are readily accessible.

Servicing and cleaning are thereby considerably simplified. Constructional simplifications are also achieved since the use of separate transmission dispenses with the need for separate drives with drive shafts for each individual levelling roller. The whole construction is considerably simpler and has smaller overall dimensions.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: -- 1. A levelling machine for levelling sheets or other flat material comprising a lower and an upper roller frame each carrying respective lower and upper driven rollers arranged transversely to the direction of transport of the material, the upper rollers being staggered in relation to the lower rollers wherein the upper frame is pivotable in relation to the lower frame about an axis parallel to the rollers, a transmission on each frame for driving the associated rollers, and a shaft through which drive is transmitted from one transmission to the other, said shaft having an axis which lies in the pivotal axis between the upper and lower frames.

2. A machine according to Claim 1, wherein the shaft is a universally jointed shaft.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. up rollers 31 and 14 in the upper and lower roller frame. As represented in Fig. 2, the levelling rollers 12 of the upper roller frame 1 are driven from the left hand end by an upper transmission with interposition of couplings 20 which yield in a direction parallel to the axis, so called Oldham couplings (see also Fig. 4). For the sake of simplicity of the drawing, only the upper gear box 3 has been shown in Fig. 2 since the transmission mechanism itself is not a subject of the present invention. The upper gear box 3 is closed by a gear cover 4. The partly sectional view of Fig. 4 shows the driving mechanism for an individual levelling roller 12. A pinion 23 mounted at one end on a needle case 21 in the gear cover 4 and at the other end in a needle bushing 22 in the opposite wall of the gear box 3 is connected by way of the Oldham coupling 20 to the levelling roller 12 which is mounted in the mounting bars lla, llb. The group of lower levelling rollers 32 is similarly driven by a transmission from the opposite side, i.e. from the right in Fig. 2, by way of Oldham couplings. Here again, only the lower gear box 5 with gear cover 6 has been shown in order not to complicate the drawing. The group of upper levelling rollers 12 is thus driven by its own transmission which is associated with the upper roller frame 1 and arranged on the left hand side in Fig. 2 while the group of lower levelling rollers 32 is also driven by way of a separate transmission associated with the lower roller frame 2. The transmission for the upper roller frame 1 (hereinafter referred to as upper transmission) and the transmission for the lower roller frame 2 (hereinafter referred to as lower transmission) are connected through a universally jointed drive shaft 10 whose axis is substantially in alignment with the pivotal axis of the upper roller frame 1. This driving connection between the lower transmission on the right hand side and the upper transmission on the left hand side through a drive shaft 10 provides for the adjustable positioning of the upper roller frame in relation to the lower frame. The drive for all the levelling rollers is preferably first transmitted by way of the lower transmission to the lower group of levelling rollers 32 and from there through the drive shafts 10 and upper transmission to the upper levelling rollers 12. Fig. 5 illustrates an example of the drive shaft 10 and its mounting means. The drive is transmitted from the transmission associated with the lower roller frame 2 to the transmission associated with the upper roller frame through a pinion 135 mounted by ball bearings 24 in the lower gear box 5 and lower gear cover 6 and through a pinion 135' mounted in ball bearings 24' in the upper gear box 3 and upper gear cover 4. Four stay bolts 27 are firmly fixed in the upper roller frame 1. When the upper roller frame 1 is pivoted into the operative position, these stay bolts 27 are inserted into corresponding bores 35 in the framework of the lower roller frame 2, or the machine bed plate thereby ensuring that the levelling rollers 12 of the upper roller frame will be correctly positioned in relation to the lower levelling rollers 32 of the lower frame. As can be seen in Fig. 3, the bottom end face of the stay bolts 27 has a step (see Fig. 3B) which abuts against a stop 34 screwed into the base of the lower roller frame 2, thereby limiting the excursion of the stay bolts 27 in the axial direction. The stay bolts 27 are further secured in the vertical direction in the operative position of the roller leveller by means of axially displaceable transverse bolts 26 mounted in the lower roller frame 2 or the machine bed plate and which can be pushed into position through a notch 36 in the lower part of the bolts 27 only when the stay bolts 27 are in their correct position. The invention is a complete solution to the problem it sets out to solve. A roller leveller according to the invention affords the special advantage that the upper roller frame can be tilted up so that the levelling rollers, back-up rollers and other parts of both roller frames are readily accessible. Servicing and cleaning are thereby considerably simplified. Constructional simplifications are also achieved since the use of separate transmission dispenses with the need for separate drives with drive shafts for each individual levelling roller. The whole construction is considerably simpler and has smaller overall dimensions. WHAT WE CLAIM IS: --

1. A levelling machine for levelling sheets or other flat material comprising a lower and an upper roller frame each carrying respective lower and upper driven rollers arranged transversely to the direction of transport of the material, the upper rollers being staggered in relation to the lower rollers wherein the upper frame is pivotable in relation to the lower frame about an axis parallel to the rollers, a transmission on each frame for driving the associated rollers, and a shaft through which drive is transmitted from one transmission to the other, said shaft having an axis which lies in the pivotal axis between the upper and lower frames.

3. A machine according to Claim 1 or

2, wherein each transmission is connected to its associated rollers through couplings adapted to yield in a direction parallel to the axis.

4. A machine according to any preceding claim, wherein several stay bolts having corresponding guide bores in the lower frame are fixed to the upper frame, which stay bolts are secured by transverse bolts displaceable in the lower frame or a machine bed plate when the frames are in the closed position.

5. A levelling machine constructed and arranged substantially as herein described and shown in the accompanying drawings.