US1402160A

US1402160A - Apparatus and method of calendering rubber

Info

Publication number: US1402160A
Application number: US476974A
Authority: US
Inventors: Joseph S Gwozdz
Original assignee: Fisk Rubber Co
Current assignee: Fisk Rubber Co
Priority date: 1921-06-13
Filing date: 1921-06-13
Publication date: 1922-01-03
Anticipated expiration: 1939-01-03

Description

` 1.8. GWOZDZ.;

APPARATUS AND METHOD oF CALENDERING RUBBER.

APPLICATION FII .ED JUNE I3, 1921.

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RMIWIIHVIII Ulli /7 M 0 A INVENTOR f JOSE/DH 5. @A1/0,202

ATTORN entre@ stares' Parent carica.;

eosnrn s. ewoznz, orcnrcornn rants, raassaenusnrra v"assiettes, 'ro 'rm rrsn arianna COMPANY, or cmcoran FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, a conroaarron or MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS AND METHOD F CLENDERENG RUBBM.

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Speciicaton of Letters Patent.

" Patent-eci aan. s, ieee..

.application mea :une 1a, 1921. serial no'. 476,974.

To aZZ whom t may concern:

citizen of the United States of America, re-

siding at Chicopee Falls, in thecounty of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain` new and useful improvements inv Apparatus and Method of Calenderin Rubber, of which the following is a spec cation.

My invention relates toimprovexnents in calendering and sheeting rubber stock and cutting the stock into a plurality of strips o f definite widths. The object of my inventlon is to improve the eiiici'ency of calenders of this type, to preserve the condition of the rubber stock during periods of adjustment of the strip cutting devices, and to greatly increase the output for a given installation.

The manner in which these objects are accomplished, as well as additional objects, will appear from the description of the in vention which will now be given in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which, l

Fig. 1 is a transverse section through a calender adapted for use with my invention, taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a front viewof the same, lookingrfrom the left 4in 1;

1g. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the method of operating the calender during the period of adjustment of the knives;

Fig. 4 is a detall of the knives; and

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

have illustrated a calenderA havingthree rolls 10,11 and 12, which may have the usual steam and water connections for regulating their temperature. l-These connections, not forming part of my invention, have not been illustrated. These rolls arejournaled in a frame 13, the middle roll 11 v'having lined bearings, while the upper roll 1() has its bearings in blocks 14 controlled as by a screw and hand wheel 15, and the lower roll 12 has its bearings in blocks 16 controlled as by a screw and hand wheel 17. The shaft of the center roll 11 carries a gear 18 driven from a pinion 19 on the shaft of a motor 20. The center roll 11 and the bottom roll 12 are connected by gearing 21 so that they rotate in opposite directions at the same peripheral speed, and the center roll 11 and the top roll arel connected by gearing 22 so that they rotate-n opposite directions with the top roll rotating referably at about two-thirds the periphera speed of the center roll.

The. Stock is sheeted between rolls 10 and 11 from a feed r bank 23 into a wide sheet 24, and the latter is severed into strips 25 ofl the desired widths by knives 26. Each knife 26 is secured in a holder 27 freely rotatable about a bushing 28 Aand held against axial movement thereon by a flange 29 on onesend of the bushing and a \collar 3() screwed onto the other-end. The series of bushin s supporting the knives are clamped indivi ua'lly, as by setscrews 31, upon a shaft 32 running transversely oo f the Vma-l chine.` The knives are individually. urged,

yieldingly against the calender roll by elastic bands 33 passing around the knives abovev the holder and looped over pins 34 on a bar 35. By disconnecting a band 334 from its l pin 34 the knife to-which it is connected may be lswung from the active positions'hown in fullplines in Fi 4 to the position shown in dotted linesI without 'disturbing the longi-Q tudinal adjustment of the knives. AThev strips 25 passaround roll 12 (which is acljusted so as not to press the rubber stock .against roll 11) andare wound up on takeof spools 36 (the core ofwhichds mounted 'to slide on upwardly slanting shelves as indicated) .together with a suitable hner sup- -joins the feed or bank 23.

' I am aware that calenders have previously been operated by sheetingcstock between the two upper rolls of av three roll calender, cutting it into strips on the mlddle roll, and winding up the cut strips after passing them around the bottom roll. But in these prlor methods of operating calenders vmuch tune was lost, particularly in changing from one kind of rubber stock to another, and 1n adjusting a large number of knives from one width of stripv to another across the whole face of the calender or Such a large part ofit as to materially interfere with taking o enough rubber from the calender 1n desired form to keep the bank or feed'of rubber in good condition. 1f the same 'stock is repeatedly run around and between calender rolls it becomes too greatly heated for, proper v lll calender-ing, it tends to Scorch or partially cure with certain types of compounds, and tends to lse its fibrous strength giving structure. f course if minor intermittent `adjustments of the knives are necessary'in the prior methods there yis no difficulty in making them. The diiliculties in the prior art which my invention avoids arise only when it is necessary or desirable to make a major change in the calendering operations of my invention which I will now describe.

Iwidth can graduall merge with the I have discovered that if stock is drawn off from one side of a calender the stock from the other side, instead of going around and around on its own side, will commingle with the stock on the whole width of the calender and will gradually move over to thel sidev from which the rubber is being drawn oil'. The stock will therefore not remain on the calender for a sufficient length of time to be injured. In order to apply this principle to a calender such asis described above, I employ a relatively wide calender and arrange the knives andwindup spools in two sets A and B longitudinally of the calender rolls. In the normal operation of the calender both sides are 1n operation, as shown in Fig. 2, that figure illustrating the two sides as delivering strips of different Widths althoughof course strips of the same be made if desired. If now it is desired to change the width of stock that is being delivered on one side of the calender, the side B for example, the calender is kept running and delivery of stock kept up from side A. The strips 25 that were passing around the lower roll on side B are severed and led around the middle roll back -into the feed of rubber. The knives on side B may now be adjusted, or some of them thrown out of operation, until the strips that are passing around the middle roll on this side are of the widths desired. The strips are now severed from the sheet passing around the middle roll and again started around the bottom roll. During this period of adjustment the stock on side B will j stock being delivered rom side Aso that it will not remain on the calender for a long enou h period to become injured. During this su stant'ial number of adjustments the calender continues to deliver its product in useful form in a substantial proportion of its full vcapacity and no useless stock needs to be wound up with the'lin'eron the `take-olf roll Laoaieo as would be the case if the knives and takeol devices were not arranged and placed in operation by corresponding sets.

I n changing from one compound to another a somewhat similar process may be employed. When the nature ofthe stock is changed the widths of strips delivered are usually also changed. In ys uch a case the delivery of stock from the calender is restricted to one side, as A, and the knives on ,side B' areset'to give the new widths of stock. Ater the setting of the knives is completed the stock is allowed to run out and a new batch started. Side B is ready to commence the delivery of the new stock immediately and keeps lthe new batch of stock in condition during the adjustment of theknives on side A. Theplan of changing the stock run can of course be followed by starting on either side A or B and the calender arrangement is thus made more flexible' and susceptible to a more continuous calender operationv all with benefit to the stock being run by the calender. j

Having thus described my invention', I claim: 1

l.` A calender of the type having' two ,rolls between which rubber is sheeted, knives ad-4 justablj,v arranged adjacent the second roll and adapted to cut the Astock into a plurality' of strips, a third roll around which the strips are delivered, and means for receiving the cut strips from this roll;` characterized by the arrangement of the knives and receiving means in 'a plurality ofsets longitudinally 0f the calender rolls, and constructed and.

arranged for operation either simultaneously or independently, whereby the rubber may be maintained in condition during the period while one set of knives is being ad justed.

2. An apparatus for sheeting and cutting rubber on a calender comprising a calender of the type having two rolls operable at dlfferent speeds and between which the rubber is sheeted out of a rubber-bank in a bight of the rolls, two sets of adjustable cutting devices and calender take-off devices operable independently or simultaneously to take off the cut and calendered sheeted rubber strips fed from the whole width of said rub- 'ber bank whereby the calender may continue its operations during an adjustment of the cutting or takeoff devices or a change in the bank of rubber in the bight of the rolls without injury to thev rubber.

3. An apparatus for sheeting and cutting rubber on a calender comprising a calender of the type having two rollsoperable to sheet rubber between them from the whole width of a bank of rubber in the bght -of the rolls,two sets of adjustable-strip cutting knives operable across the face of the calenderedV sheet together or independently and a calender take-0E device for' each 'set incenso of knives operable when its set of knives is Jperated7 the respective sets of knives and take-ori" devices being operable together or independently of each other, all constructed and arranged to feed rubber from the Whole width of the bank of rubber Whenever either or both sets of knives is in operation, ofor the purpose described.

4i. A11 apparatus for sheeting and cutting rubber on a calender comprising a calender of the type having ytvvo rolls operable at dif ferent speeds and between which the rubber is sheeted out of a rubber bank or feed in the bight of the rolls, a series of adjustable cutting device operable across the face of the calender roll on the sheet of rubber and two calender take-off devices operable simultaneously or independently to take o enough rubber strips cut from the sheet to prevent excessive reworking of the rubber between the rolls, all constructed and arranged so that major changes in the calender operation can be eected by alternating the operation of the two calender take-oli' devlces during such changes while continuing the operation of the calender.

5. The method of operating calendars upon which the rubber is sheeted and cut into strips, comprising providing two sets of cutting and delivering instrumentalities spaced longitudinally of 'the calender rolls, restricting the delivery of stock to'one set While supplying stock in a feed the Width of both sets,fadjusting the cutting means of the second set While the delivery is so restricted, and resuming the delivery of rubber strips from the second set after the adjustment hasbeen completed.

Josnrn s. ewoznal