624,682. Wringers. LOVELL MANUFACTURING CO. May 12, 1947, No. 12808. Convention date, May 22, 1946. [Class 138 (ii)] [Also in Group XXIV] In a wringer in which the drive is located in the wringer head, indexing means yieldably hold the wringer in one of a plurality of angular positions under normal wringing torque and safety lock means actuated by greater than normal torque positively limit movement from the selected position. As shown in Fig. 1, the side stile 3 of a wringer frame is pivoted by bolts 5, 8 to bosses 6, 8 on the driving head. A depending tubular sleeve 78 integral with the driving head frame pivotally supports the wringer on a hollow wringer post 85. One of the rollers is driven by a crown gear-wheel 15 which continuously meshes with two pinions 19, 20 rotatably and slidably mounted on a driving shaft 21, axial movement of which is prevented by pins 28, 29 projecting on both sides of the shaft and bearing on thrust washers 24, 25. The pinions 19, 20 which are mounted in a carrier 30 and spaced by a block 37, are provided with tapered clutch teeth 38, 39, one set of which at a time can engage one of the projecting pins 28, 29 upon corresponding axial movement of the carrier and pinions The clutch teeth 38, 39 are so constructed as to tend to move the pinions to the neutral position and provide a substantially constant axial thrust during this movement. The carrier 30 is moved vertically by a crank-pin fixed to a disc 41 on a shaft 46 which is controlled by a handle 49 having its hub 50 loosely journalled on the shaft 46 ; a set-screw 52 which engages a slot in the shaft provides a lost-motion connection of the handle 49 to the shaft. Secured to the hub 50 is a latch plate 53, Fig. 3, controlled by a spring 54, one end of which engages a pin 55 on the latch plate and the other end a bell-crank 58 pivoted on the frame of the driving head. The other leg of the bell-crank 58 has a projection 66 which can engage one of two slots 67, 88 on the carrier 30 to lock it in one or other of the driving positions. The bell-crank 58 projects through a slot 59 in a latch plate 60 which is slidably mounted on a boss 62 on the driving head frame. A pin 63 on the latch plate 60 engages the upper surface of the latch plate 53 and is held by the spring 54 in a detent 64 when the latch plate 53 is in the neutral position. In the driving position, the pin 63 engages one of the shoulders 69 of the latch plate 53, permitting lowering of the latch plate 60 and engagement of the bell-crank 58 with one of the slots 67, 68 on the carrier 30. Because of the lost-motion connection of the handle 49, initial movement of the handle from a driving to the neutral position releases the latch 60 so as to disengage the bell-crank 58 from the carrier 30, and, if the wringer is being driven, the axial thrust between the clutch teeth 38, 39 and the corresponding pin 28, 29 moves the carrier 30 to neutral position. A cam 71, Fig. 2, is fixed on the shaft 46 for co-operation with the forked upper end of an index pin 75. The pin is urged upwardly by a spring 79 and this tends to return the cam 71 to the neutral position shown, in which the shaft 46 is also in neutral position. The wringer is normally indexed in its desired angular position by conical projections 88 on a flange 87 of the sleeve 78 engaging corresponding depressions 89 in a flange 86 on the wringer post 85. Each depression 89 has a central hole 98, and, when the shaft 46 is turned into driving position the lower end of the index pin 75 projects into one of these holes without engaging the hole. The conical projections and depressions are normally held in engagement by the weight of the wringer, but, when the driving torque is excessive, the pin 75 contacts the side of the hole 98 and prevents further movement of the wringer. To prevent the wringer lifting sufficiently to disengage the index pin, a U-shaped member 91 is mounted in verticallyslidable relation on the flange 87, its lower arm 93 being hooked under the rim of the flange 86. By preventing upward movement of the wringer, the member 91 guards against the wringer being driven while it is being angularly adjusted, since the index pin cannot then move downwardly a sufficient distance to cause the shaft 46 to turn to driving position. A spring 90 which is trapped between the upper arm of the member 91 and the flange 87 urges the lower arm of the member 91 into contact with the wringer post 93 and counterbalances the overhung weight of the wringer to prevent binding of the sleeve 78 and wringer post 85. The flange 86 has a slot through which the member 91, by rotating the wringer, can pass when it is desired to lift the wringer from the post 85. To stop the drive in the event of the operator's fingers becoming trapped between the rollers, depending walls 11, Fig. 2, on an extension 10 of the bracket 7, are engaged by bell-cranks 82, the other arms of which engage the underside of the bell-crank 58. A pull or push on the wringer pivots it relative to the driving head about the bolts 5, 8, and acts through the arm 10 and one of the bell-cranks 82 to lift the bell-crank 58 and unlatch the carrier 30 which returns to neutral position. In the modification shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the pinions 99, 100 are rotatably but non- slidably fixed to the driving shaft 102 and have tapered teeth 108, the surfaces of which are helical along the axis of the shaft 102 and which engage similar teeth 107 on a clutch member 106 which is splined on the shaft. The clutch member is moved axially by a crank-pin 111 on a shaft 109 on which the hub 115 of a handle 113 is rotatably held by a set-screw 114. Fixed to the hub 115 is a latch plate 117 which has a pin 118 projecting through a slot 119 in a latch plate 120 keyed to the shaft 109 so as to provide a lost-motion connection between the handle 113 and the shaft 109. The latch plates 117 and 120 are yieldingly centred in the neutral position by a pin 121 on a bell-crank 122 which has a pin-and-slot connection with a second bell-crank 125. Both bell-cranks are held into contact with the sides 11 of the extension 10 of the wringer frame, as shown in Fig. 10, by a spring 129. When the handle 113 is moved from neutral in either direction, the latch plates move together after taking up the relative lost-motion and, when the driving position is reached, the pin 121 drops behind a locking shoulder 132 on the latch plate 120. When the handle is returned to neutral, the latch plate 117 forces the pin 121 over the shoulder 132 so as to release the clutch member 106 which is returned to neutral position by the camming action of the drive on the tapered clutch teeth 107, 108. Identical cam surfaces 134 on each side, of the latch plates 117, 120 are arranged in the neutral position, to be engaged by a yoke 136 fixed to the index pin 75. In either driving position the latch plates force the index pin downwardly against the spring 79. Release of the drive by moving the wringer frame about the bolts 5, 8 is provided by the coaction of the bell-cranks 122, 121, with the extension 10 so as to lift the pin 121 from behind the locking shoulder 132 of the cam 120. The modification shown in Fig. 14, has an index lock similar to the above construction interlocked with a pressure release mechanism which may, if desired, be combined with a stopping device for the roller drive. The pressure-release mechanism is a toggle comprising pivotally-connected links 141, 144, which are connected to a side stile 3a of the wringer at 142 and to a pivoted top frame 2 at 145. In the pressure-applying position, the toggle is held in an unstable position by a U-shaped lever 146 which is pivoted to the side stile 3a at 148 and to a pair of sliding links 154 at 158. Each link 154 has a pin-and-slot connection with the frame of the driving head. Swinging movement of the wringer frame about the bolts 5, 8 moves one or other of the links 154 towards the side stile 3a so as to unlatch the toggle and release roll pressure. To prevent the toggle being unlatched when the indexed position of the wringer is being altered, an interlock is provided between the pressurerelease and the index pin 159 which is in two parts 160, 161 connected by a sleeve 162. The upper pin 160 provides an interlock between the index and the wringer drive, and the lower pin 161 carries a slide 164 adapted to be engaged at its upper end between the sides 11 of the arm 10. When the sleeve 164 connects the two pins 160, 161, movement of the control handle 113 to change the wringer drive to neutral retracts the index pin and causes the slide 164 to engage the arm 10 and so lock the pressure release ; the wringer may then be moved to another indexed position without actuating the pressure-release. When the sleeve is removed, the upper part 160 of the index pin provides a centering force tending to return the wringer drive to neutral position, and when the lower part 161 of the index pin is manually lifted to enable the wringer to be moved, the upper end of the slide 164 locks the pressure-release. Specification 624,628 is referred to.