US1443555A - Machine for making ribbed expanded metal - Google Patents

Description

6. W. BAKER. MACHINE FOR MAKING RIBBED EXPANDED METAL.

4 SHEE'IZS'SHEET I FILED Dec; 27, I921.

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. G. W BAKER.

MACHINE FOR MAKING RIBBED EXPAN 4 Fl LED DEC. 27 1921 G. W, BAKER. MACH INE FOR MAKING R IBBED EXPANDED METAL.

F: LED D56. 27. 1921 I 4 SHEETS'SHEETA George Patented Jan. 30, 1923.

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GEORGE W. BAKER, OF JEANNETTE. PENNSYLVANIA ASSIGNOR TO NORTHWESTERN EXPANDED METAL COMPANY. OF CHICAGO. ILLINOIS. A CORPORATION.

MACHINE FOR MAKING RIBBED EXPANDED METAL.

Application filed December 27, 1921. Serial No. 524.881.

To ((7- whom. it may concern Be it known that I. (irEORUJi \V. BAKER. a citizen of the Fnited States. and a resident of Jeannette. county of 'estmoreland. and State of Pennsylvania. have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Ribbed Expanded Metal, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to machines for operating upon metal sheets that are previously cutor slashed to form longitudinally and alternately disposed slitted and unslitted panels or strips and which machines have means for expanding the slitted panels of the sheet as the latter is continuously advanced. and preferably also have means tor shaping the nnslitted panels or strips into strengthening ribs. The invention seeks to provide improved means for ex anding or ownin the slitted 1 portions ot such sheets into nnitorm diamond mesh. More particularly the object of the invention to adapt such improved means to a machine for tornr ing ribbed expanded metal of the type shown in the F. S. Letters Patent of F. t. Arey. No. 1.318.953. dated October l-L. 1919. The invention consists in the features hereinat'ter set forth. illustrated in the preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the. appended claims.

In the drawings Fig. l is an elevation of the expanding portion of a machine of the type set forth in the. above noted Areypatent and to which the present invention is applied. the front wall of the expander head being broken away.

Fig.2 is a horizontal section on the line 22 of Fig. l. I

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail elevation of a portion of the expander mechanism looking in a direction at right angles to the plane of movement of the nnexpanded sheet. or in the direction of the arrow 3 in Fig. t.

Fig. -l is a detail plan of theparts shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view in elevation and Fig. (3 is a perspective view of one of the expan sion plates.

Figs. 7 and 8 are detail sections on the ones 77 and 88 respectively of Fig. 6.

The machine comprises a suitable base upon one end of which is mounted a hollow expander head 1. As in the machine set forth in the Arey patent the expander head v side of the head. these guides being arranged in angular relation to the row of rolls 3 and in a correspomling stepped series.

v The metal sheets. which are previously cut or slashed to term slitted panels A and intermediate nnslitted panels or strips 1) (see Fig. 3). are fed on edge or in a vertical plane between the rolls 2 which are of sufticient length to accommodate the widest sheet to be expanded. Each set of the stepped series of rolls 3 project downwardly below the next set and. while the ex ent of projection of the rear roll may be more. that of the outer or front roll of each set is equal to the combined width of one of the slitted panels and one of the unslitted strips of the sheet. Preferably also the sets of rolls overlap in vertical direction and are of such width that each set overlaps and cngages one of the slitted panels of the sheetand the two adjacent nnslitted strips.

The guides or deflecting devices r, each of which comprises a front rail and a back rail. extend respectively into snug relation with the lower ends otthe back and front rolls 3 of the corresponding set at the delivery side of the bight ot' the rolls. rails of each guide are spaced apart to form a guide-way or pass disposed in a vertical plane and tangent to the front roll of the corresponding set. the guide-way or pass having a. width and depth which substantially correspond to the thickness of the metal sheet and the width of an unslitted strip or panel respectively. I

As theunslitted' panels or strips of the sheet pass beyond the lower ends of the. rolls 3. they are deflected laterally at dift'erent points in the path of travel of the sheet into the parallel vertical passes of. the guides and the intermediate slitted panels are expanded. During this operation, as one of the unslit-ted panels passes the lower end of a set of rolls 3 it enters the corresponding guide if: while the adjacent portion of the u'nslitted panel next above is held between this set of rolls and the next set before it passes into the next guide, and as two adjacent unslitted panels enter the corresponding guides at different points in their path of travel, the mesh sections of the slitted panels between these parts are deflected laterally from the plane of the sheet and the slits are expanded or opened to form diamond mesh. The extent of expansion depends upon-the angle between the guides or deflecting devices 4 and the plane of movement of the unslitted sheet regular shaped pieces 5-of hardened steel as it is advanced by the rolls 2 and 3. Pref -erably this angle is about 30 degrees.

In accordance with the present invention, a series of devices or expansion plates are provided for guiding or predetermining the paths of movement of the mesh sections of the slittedpanels as they are expanded. In the preferred embodiment shown, these guide ing devices or expansion plates comprise irarranged between the outer or front rolls 3 and which are provided with fiat, vertical faces a tangent to these rolls. In the construction shown, the number of guides at exceed by one the number of sets of rolls 3 and the upper expansion plate 5 extends between theupper set of rolls and the upper guide, which is disposed in horizontal alignment with the upper portion of the upper or lastset of rolls. I

Each of the expansion plates is wider at one end than the other and is so arranged that the lower edge Z) of its vertical face a, and also its lower face 0, extend upwardly at an angle from the lower to the upper of the twoirolls between which it is arranged. The vertical face a of each expansion plate is adapted to overlie and engage one of the slitted panels of the sheet as the latterpasses beyond the corresponding set of rolls 3. Preferably als'o each expansion plate is of such width that its vertical face overlies the portion of the unslitted panel of the.

sheet that is engaged by the two adjacent sets of rolls, and the plates form in effect the front rails of a series of short guides arranged between the sets ofrolls 3, the back rails 6 of which are disposed between the rear rolls of the series. It will also be noted that the upper expansion plate and the associated guide thus form in efiect an extension of the upper guide 4. The plates 5 and guides 6 are held in position in any suitable manner, for example, by a series of vertical supports 7 and 8 to'which they are secured. The supports in turn are se cured to suitable ribs or lugs (not shown) cast upon the internal walls of the expander head. Each plate in the form shown is cut it is removably secured.

nae-ates are worn, the plates, as noted, are removably secured in position. i

The wider end of each expansion plate 5 and the adjacent end of the corresponding guide6 are curved to'fit against the faces of the lower of the two' sets of rolls between which they are arranged and the edge portions of the vertical faces of the plates and guides adjacent these rolls are slightly rounded and serve to strip the portions of that'they 'may be readily renewed when these edges the sheet which they engage from the rolls.

The concave end face of one of the end plates is indicated at e in Fig. 5. The narrow opposite end of the plate IS CHt away as at f so that the plate can extend beneath the next higher front roll 3.

The slitted panels of the metal sheet are as usual provided with slit-s arranged in rows with bonds between the slits of each row and opposite the slits of adjacent rows.

With this arrangement the slits in adjacent rows are disposed in inclined series, and each inclined series is adapted to be expanded to form an inclined row of diamond shaped openings. In Fig. 3, line 2? indicates an inclined series of slits, and in Fig. 4: the line 6' indicates an inclined row of diamonds.

The angling or inclination of the edges 6 of the expansion plates corresponds to the angle of the inclined series of slits of the sheet, and the rolls 3, guides/l and expansion plates 5 are so located that, as each in-- clined series of slits passes over the edge I) of the corresponding expansion plate, the

portions of the unslitted panels at opposite ends of a series will be engaged by the rolls 3 of two adjacent sets and deflected through the. corresponding guides at. The expansion plates .5, the co-operating guide rails 6 and the rolls-l thus holdthe mesh sections of' each slitted panel in a'fixed plane and the successive inclined series of slits against ex- 'pansion until each such complete series reaches and passes over the edge I) of, the corresponding expansion plate. In other words, the arrangement serves to hold each inclined series of slits against expansion until the expansion force can be simultanei ously applied to each entire series. This arrangement prevents the sheet from slipping down and causes the expansion force to be applied at substantially to the plane of the unexpanded portions :of the slitted sna panels.to successively open the inclined series of shtsol each panel one at a time. By thus applying the expansion t'orce simultaneously" to each complete inclined series of slits. they are opened or expanded uniformly and to a maximum extent as they pass over the edges of the expansion plates and a set is given to the expanded mesh.

As shown in Figs. 3 and at. an expanded panel of the sheet comprises inclined strands a which extend between the marginal unslitted strips and are connected to one another by substantially horizontal strands s. In Fig. 3 the diagonal and connecting strands are indicated by unshaded and shaded portions respectively. It may also be noted that the metal between two adjacent inclined series of slits forms a diagonal strand and one series of connecting strands. The present construction is designed to et' t'ect the expansion of the slittedpanels ot the sheet by bending the connecting strands s and without stretching the strands. It is noted. to this end. that the rolls. guides and expansion plates are so located that the horizontal distance between the axes of two adjacent sets of rolls 3 and between the ends of two adjacent guides. corresponds to the horizontal distance between the ends of an inclined series ot' slits in one of the slitted panels ot' the sheet. and that the inclined edge 6 of each expansion plate lies along an inclined line w (see Fig. 3) that intersects the vertical lines 3 at the bights of two adjacent sets of rolls at points which are also intersected by the paths of movement-0t the opposite margins of the corresponding slitted panel. In other words. the diagonal distance between the points.at which two adjacent sets ot' rolls register with the margins ot a slitted panel. and.which is indicated in Fig. 3 by line .2. is equal to the length of a diagonal strand or of a diagonal row of slits. and the edge I) of the expansion plate lies along or coincides with theline .r and corresponds to the inclination of the diagonal strands and series ot} slits. \Yith this arrangement each diagonal strand and each diagonal series of slits of the slitted panels of the sheet pass simultaneously over the inclined edge 7) of the corresponding expansion plate and each entire inclined strand a is detlected from the original plane of the sheet by bending the .connecting strands 8. Thus the successive in clined strands and inclined series ot slits are held against expansion until they reach lines a. at which time the portions of the unslitted strips at the end of eachsuch series are deflected from the original plane of the sheet at lines 3 It is also noted that the edges Z) of the expansion plates about which the inclined panels of the sheet are deflected and expanded. are arranged inan inclined series of inclined steps that are vertically spaced apart a sutiicient distance to permit the proper deflection of the unslitted panels about the vertical lines 1 In other words. the entire sheet is progressively deflected about a continuous line which extends at right angles across the paths of movement of the unslitted panels and at an acute angle across the paths of movement of the slitted panels and whichacuteangle, as noted. corresponds to the inclination of the inclined series of slits in the unexpanded sheet.

As noted. the foregoing arrangement permits the expansion of the slitted panels by the bending of the connecting strands and without stretching the metal. To prevent -the expansion from stretching the metal the strands which merge into the unslitted strips. the intermediate panels are angularly slitteth that'is the parallel rows of slits of the panels are slightly inclined relatively to the longitudinal margins of the sheet as shown in Fig. 3. the angle of inclination being determined by the relation between the transverse spacing ot the rows of slits and the longitudinal spacing between the centers of the bonds. .Vith the slits thus disposed each inclined series. which comprises a slit in each row and is adapted to form a. diagonal row of diamond mesh.

are inclined in the same directon as the rows of slits but at an angle equal to twice that at which the individual rows of slits are inclined. It is also noted that. as indicated in Fig. 3. the sheet is fed into the machine 't'ected bv bending and without materially stretching the strands. Moreover. after the deflection of the unslitted strips to effect the expansion of the slitted panels. the strips are maintained substantially straight in longitudinal direction and are not corrugated or shortened.

Preferably the peripheral portion of one of the rolls of each of the'sets of rolls 2 and 3. is provided with annular ribs 9 and the companion rolls are provided with corresponding grooves which serve to form or engage previously torlned shallow ribs in the unslitted panels or strips of the metal sheet. the ribs in the constructitm shown being formed upon the trout roll of each set. lretcrably also the guides -l and 6. additional guides 6 for the unslitted strips and the feed rolls 2 are provided with similar ribs and grooves. By this means the displacement of the sheet from proper position by the force applied to expand the slitted panels is prevented. The guides 6 for the unslitted strips of the sheet extend between theset of feed rolls '2 and the stepped series of rolls 3.

gauge metal sheets having slitted and un-v slitted panels can b'e-- efiected without stretching the strands.

Sets of rolls 11 are preferably providedat the delivery ends of the guides at and these rolls assist in advancing the sheets and also in completing the shaping of the unslittedpanels into stiffenings ribs. The machine may also be provided with additional finishing and straightening rolls. Such additional rolls areset forth in the Arey patent above noted, which also discloses suitable means for operating the rolls at proper speeds. As set forth in that patent, the rolls 2 and 3 are driven from the main shaft 12 through vertical and horizontal countershafts 13 andl i' which are connected together and to the front or driving roll of each set by spiral gears. Also as set forthin the Arey patent, the two rolls of each set areconnected by spur gears and what has been termed as therear roll of each set. is journaled in spring'pressed bearings.

Changes may be made in the details set. forth and the invention applied to different types of machines for expandingsheets have slitted and unslitted panels without departure from the essentials of the invention as defined in the claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a machine for expanding sheet metal having angularly slitted panels and unslitted strips, the combination with feeding means for continuously advancing the sheet and means for guiding and deflecting adjacent unslitted strips into different parallel planes with the strips straight in longitudinal direction .to thereby expand the slitted panels. of a series of guides angularly disposed between the paths of move ment of the strips and over which the mesh sections of the slitted panels are deflected and simultaneously expanded.

2. In a machine for expanding sheet metal having angularly slitted panels and unslitted strips, the combination with means for feeding the sheet and parallel spaced guides for deflecting the unslitted strips to thereby expand the panels, of a series of expansion plates arranged between said guides and over. which plates the slitted panels are longitudinally and continuously advanced, said plates having inclined edges over which the mesh sections of the slitted panels are deflected laterally from one fixed v In Fig. 2, for the sake of clearness, only one such guide is' slitted panels are advanced, said p slitted strips and at an acute angle across the paths of movement of the slitted panels and a series of guides arranged to engage and hold the mesh sections .of the slitted .panels against expansion until they reach the inclined portions of said line.

4; In'a machine for expanding sheet metal having angularly slitted panels and unslitted strips, the 'combination-withmeans for feeding the sheet and means for'engaging the'unslitted strips at different points in their paths of travel and deflecting them transversely of the plane of the sheet into parallel spaced planes with the strips straight in longitudinal direction to thereby expand the panels, of a series of guides angularly disposed between the paths of movement of. the unslitted strips and over each of which one of the slitted panels is deflected from one fixed plane to another.

In a machine for expanding sheet metal having slitted panels and unslitted strips,the combination with means for. feedingv the sheet and a stepped series of guides for engaging the unslitted panels at different points in their paths of travel and deflecting them out of the plane of the sheet into a series of parallel planes to thereby expand the intermediate slitted panels, of a series of expansion plates arranged between said'guides and, over which plates the ates having a series of angularly disposed edges arranged in an inclined series of stepsand over each of which one of the mesh'sections of the slitted panels is deflected laterally from one fixed plane to. anotherand simultaneously expanded.

6. A machine for expanding sheets that arep'reviously cut or slashed to form slitted panels and unslitted strips, comprising sets of rolls and guides disposed in stepped series and arranged to continuously and longitudinallyv advance the sheet and progressively deflect the unslitted strips about lines at right angles to the direction of movement of the sheet to thereby expand the slitted panels, and a stepped series of guide plates for controlling the expansion of the slitted panels having guiding edges lying along parallel lines that are inclined to the direction of movement of the sheet and intersect the ends of the lines about which the unslitted strips are deflected.

7. A machine for expanding metal sheets having slitted panels and unslitted strips, comprising sets of rolls arranged in stepped series, each set being arranged to engage one of the slitted panels-of the sheet and the two adjacent unslitted strips, a stepped series of guides arranged to engage the unslitted strips as they pass the projecting. ends of the sets of rolls and deflect the strips to thereby expand the slitted panels, and a stepped series of short guides disposed between the sets of rolls and each arranged to engage a slitted panel as it passes from the projecting portion of the corresponding set of rolls and the part of the unslitted strip passing between said set of rolls and the next adjacent set, said shortguides having faces tangent to said rolls and inclined edges arranged in a stepped series and over which the mesh sections of the slitted panels are deflected and simultaneously expanded.

8. A machine for expanding metal sheets having alternate slitted panels and unslitted strips, comprising a stepped series of sets of rolls, each set being arranged to engage'one of the slitted panels of the sheet and the two adjacent unslitted strips, and a corresponding stepped series of guides arranged to engage the unslitted strips as they pass the projecting ends of the sets of rolls to thereby deflect the strips and expand the slitted panels, said sets of rolls having ribs and grooves arranged to engage shallow ribs in the unslitted strips of the sheet.

9. A machine for expanding metal sheets having alternate angularly slitted panels and unslitted strips, comprising sets of feeding rolls and guides arranged to continuously advance the sheet and deflect the strips into a series of parallel spaced planes to thereby expand the panels and a series of guiding devices having inclined edges over which the slitted panels are deflected and simultaneously expanded, portions of the rolls and guides having co-operating ribs and grooves arranged to engage longitudinal ribs in the unslitted strips to thereby hold the sheet in position as the slitted panels thereof are expanded.

10. A machine for expanding metal sheets having alternate slitted panels and unslitted strips, comprising sets of feed rolls and guides arranged to continuously advance the sheet and deflect the strips at different points in their paths of travel into a series of parallel spaced planes to thereby expand the panels, the portions of the'rolls and guides arranged to engage the unslitted strips at the points of deflection having 00- operating ribs and grooves for engaging longitudinal ribs in the strips and thereby hold the sheet in position as the slitted panels thereof are expanded. 1 GEORGE W. BAKER.

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