US1466029A - Peeking mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 28, 1923. 1,466,029

A. W. PETERS FEEDING MECi-IANISM Filed March 22 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 28, -1 923.

A. w. PETERS FEEDING MECHANISM Filed March 22 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 28, 1923. 1,466,029

A. W. PETERS FEEDING macnmlsu Filed March 22 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 M A Wk Patented Aug. 28, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR W. PETERS, F NEXV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE SURFACE COMBUSTION CO. INCORPORATED, OF NEN YORK, N. L, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

FEEDING IYIECHANISJSI.

Application filed March 22, 1921.

T 0 aZZ whom it may concern.

Be it known, that I, ARTHUR IV. Pnrnns, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of Bronx and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feeding Mechanism, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to feeding mcchanism which while particularly adapted to moving articles through a heating furnace may nevertheless be used whenever it is desired to convey an article.

The feeding mechanism comprises two or more relatively reciprocatory longitudinal members which may for convenience be termed rails. The operative surface of each rail is formed to provide a series oi spaced engaging surfaces and a series of rearwardly sloping inclines alternating with the engaging surfaces. The relative reciprocation of the two members is in a direction inclined to the rail and the length of the stroke is not less than the distance between successive engaging surfaces so that the reciprocation causes an article placed upon the rails to move forward along the rails.

The feeding mechanism takes the place of a moving conveyor, but is much simpler and more economical to construct than such a conveyor and may be operated with. materially less consumption of power than a moving conveyer. It may be applied to carrying articles through a furnace in which so high a temperature is maintained that the use of a moving conveyor is impracticable.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown an embodiment of the invention, comprising a mechanism for feeding bars or similar articles through a heating fur nace. In the drawings F ig. 1 is a plan view of the device, show ing the furnace sectioned upon the line 11 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is side elevation of the device partly sectioned on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4i is a fragmentary perspective view showing the rails and a bar upon them;

Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are fragmentary Serial No. 454,343.

sectional elevations on the lines 5 of Figs. 1 and 3, showing two of the rails. Fig. 5 illustrates the position of these parts at the beginning of the forward stroke of the movable rail; Fig. (3 shows them during the forward stroke; Fig. 7, at the end of the forward stroke; Fig. 8, during the rearward stroke; and Fig. 9, at the end of the rearward stroke.

The furnace 10 shown in the drawings may be tunnel-shaped. The details of its construction are not material to the present invention. The feeding mechanism includes a plurality of rails 11, 11, 12, 13, 13 and 14 which extend through the furnace and project through openings at both ends of it. Certain of the rails are adapted to be reciprocated relatively to the others. In the device illustrated the rails 11, 12, 18, let are fixed while the rails 11' and 13 are movable. The rails are supported upon transverse beams 15. The fixed rails are secured to one of the beams 15. The way in which the movable rails are mounted on the beams 15 is hereinafter described. Those of the beams 15 which are within the furnace may be set into the floor of the furnace as indicated in Fig. 2, while the beams which support the portions of the rails outside the furnace are mounted upon a frame 16.

The operative surfaces of each of the fixed rails 11, 12, 13, 14 are formed to pro vide a series of engaging surfaces 30, 31, 32 etc. and a series of rearwardly sloping inclines 40, 41, 42 etc., alternating with the engaging surfaces. In the form shown in the drawing the engaging surfaces 30, 31 32, etc., are vertical and at the top of each of the inclines lO, 11, l2 etc., is a short horizontal surface lt), a1 etc. (Fig. 4:).

The operative surface of each of the movable rails 11, 13 is formed to provide a series of engaging surfaces 31', 32 etc. and a series of rearwardly sloping inclines 41, 42' etc., alternating with the engaging surfaces. In the form illustrated in the drawings, the engaging surfaces 80 31, 32 are perpendicular to the inclines a0, 41', 42'.

It is, however, not essential to the operation of the device that the engaging surfaces 30, 31, 32 etc. and 30, 31, 32 etc., and the inclines 10, 11,42 etc., and 40', 41, 42 etc., have the exact form illustrated. It is sufiicient that the engaging surfaces of each rail be adapted to engage the article to be' moved and to prevent rearward movement of the article relative to the rail; that is to say, to prevent the article from moving 'rearwardly when the rail is stationary, or to cause the article to move forward with the rail when the rail. is moved. forward. It is suiiicient that the inclines of each rail have a rearward slope permitting relative rearward movement of the rail with respect to the article. Such relative movement may be either a rearward movement of the rail when the article is stationary or a forward movement of the article when the rail is stationary, or simultaneous forward movement of the article and rearward movement of the rail.

Meansiu'e provided for giving the rails 11, 1.3 a reciproca-tory movement relative to the rails 11, 12, 13, 1 1 in a direction inclined to the rails. The stroke and direction of this relative reciprocatory movement such that at, or near, one end of the stroke, the outer edge of each engaging surface 31, 32 etc. of one set of rails is in alignment with a point between the inner and outer edges of one of the engaging surfaces 30, 31, 32 etc. of the other set of rails; and that at, or near, the other end of the stroke, apoint betweenthe inner and outer edges of each engaging surface 30, 31, 32 etc. of the first set of rails is in alignment with the outer edge of the next succeeding engaging sur face 31, 32, 33 etc. of the second set of rails.

The relative reciprocatory movement thus defined is adapted to cause a step by step forward movement of an article placed upon the rails as hereinafter described in detail.

It should be noted that the relative reciprocatory movement defined has a component longitudinal of the rails, the stroke of which is not less than the distance between succeed ing engaging surfaces, and a component transverse to the rails, the stroke of which is not greater than the sum of the depth of one of the engaging surfaces 30, 31, 32 etc. and, the depth of one of the engaging surfaces 30, 31. 32 etc. In order to give the engaging surfaces the greatest possible grip upon the article it is most desirable that the stroke of the transverse component be approximately half this sum.

In the form shown in the drawings, successive engagingsurfaces 30, 31, 32 etc. and successive engaging surfaces 30, 81', 32 etc. are equally spaced and of equal depth so that the inclines 10, 41, 4:2 etc. are substantially parallel to the inclines 40, 11, 42 etc., and the transverse component of the stroke of the relative reciprocatory move ment is substantially equal to the depth of eaclrengaging surface so that the direction of the reciprocation is substantially parallel to the inclines. lVhile this arrangement has proved most satisfactory in practice, the details of this particular arrangement described in this paragraph are not essential to the operation of the device.

Various different mechanical means may be provided for causing this reciprocatory movement. The arrangement shown in the drawings forms a simple and satisfactory means for this purpose: In the arrangementillustrated, operating mechanism is provided for giving the rails 11, 13 a reciprocatory movement in the direction of their length, and these rails are provided on their lower surfaces with projections 17 having inclined surfaces 18 which rest upon inclines 19 formed in the beams 15 between the rails 11 and 12 and the rails 13 and 14.. The inclined surfaces 18 and 19 are substantially parallel to the inclines 40, 11, 42 and 10', d1, -12 etc., so that when the movable rails are given a reciprocatory movement in a longitudinal direction by the operating mechanism, they slide up the inclines 19 on their forward stroke and down the inclines 19 on their rearward stroke, which results in giving them. a reciprocatory movement in a direction substantially parallel to surfaces of the inclines 10, 41, 42 etc. and 40, 11, -12 etc.

While any form of operating mechanism adapted to give the rails 11, 13 a reciprocatory movement in the direction of their length may be used in connection with the inclines on which the rails are mounted, the operating mechanism illustrated has been found a desirable means for giving the slow reciprocatory movement required for feed ing articles through the furnace. The mechanism includes a motor 20 connected by a belt to a pulley 21 on a worm shaft 22. The worm on the shaft 22 drives a gear on the worm shaft 23, and the worm on the shaft drives a gear on the eccentric shaft 24. An eccentric band mounted on an eccentric on the shaft 24: oscillates the lower end of a beam 25 which is pivotally mounted at 26. The upper end of the beam is connected to one end of a link 29, the other end of which is connected to a transverse shaft 27, the outer ends of which are mounted in fittings 28 attached one to each of the rails 1.1, 13. The length of the stroke of reciprocation given to the rails by the operating mechanism is slightly greater than the distance between successive engaging surfaces 30. 31. 32, so, 31', 32'.

In the use of the device described, the bars to be fed through the furnace are placed upon the rails at their rear end, that is, the left hand end, in Figs. 1 and 2. The reciprocation of the rails 11', 13 causes each bar to travel forward into the furnace 10 through the furnace and out at the opposite end of the furnace.

The operation of the feeding mechanism may best be understood from Figs. 4 to 9.

The bar A to be fed through the furnace extends across all six of the rails as indicated in Fig. 4:. While the provision of a plurality of moving rails and of fixed rails has the advantage of moving both ends of the bar evenly the operation of the device may best be explained by considering only one fixed rail and one moving rail, as, for example, the rails lland 11 shown in Figs. 5 to 9. At the beginning of the forward stroke of the rail 11 the bar A rests upon the incline 40 and against the engaging surface 30 of the rail 11 (Fig. 5). As the rail 11 moves forward and upward in a direction parallel to the inclines 40', 4:1 etc. its engaging surface 30 pushes the bar A up the incline 4C0 of the rail 11 as shown in Fig. 6. The forward and upward movement of the rail 11 continues until the engaging surface 30 has pushed the bar all the way up the incline 40 so that the bar falls down upon the incline l0. of the rail 11 as shown in Fig. 7 The rail 11' then moves in the reverse direction, that is, rearwardly and downwardly. In this movement the bar A is brought against the engaging surface 31 of the rail 11. The bar is held against rearward movement by the engaging surface 31, while the incline 40 of the rail 11 slides under the bar as shown in Fig. 8. The rearward and downward movement of the rail 11 continues until the incline L0 has passed entirely under the bar A, permitting the bar A to fall down upon the incline 41 of the rail 11, as shown in Fig. 9. It is thus seen that one complete reciprocation of the movable rail 11 has served to move the bar A from a position against the engaging surface 30 of the fixed rail 11 to a position against the succeeding engaging surface 31 of the fixed rail. It is thus apparent that continued reciprocation of the rail 11 will carry the bar A forward step by step along the fixed rail 11.

From the above description of the operation of the feeding mechanism it is apparent that the forward movement of the bar results from the relative reciprocatory movement of the rails which may, of course, be attained by reciprocating either of them while retaining the other stationary, or by giving each a reciprocatory movement so timed that the forward stroke of one rail corresponds to the rearward stroke of the other.

Among the advantages of this feeding mechanism when applied to a heating furnace are the following: The only moving parts within the furnace are portions of the reciprocatory rails 11, 12, so that lubrication within the furnace is not required. The power consumption of thedevice is small as it is necessary merely to give a short reciprecatory movement to the moving rails. A portion of the rails is retained outside the furnace, while the portion of the rails within the furnace is not moved out of the furnace, so that no part of the rails is subjected to changes of temperature which would cause the material of which they are made to deteriorate. The feeding mechanism is, therefore, greatly superior to a moving conveyer which, because it possesses none of the advantages above enumerated, has been found unsatisfactory as a means for feeding articles through a heating furnace.

The feeding mechanism has been found in practice to possess another advantage of great importance. This is its ability to sort out articles such as bars from a mass and to move the bars forward individually. It has been found that if a mass of bars be piled upon any part of the rails in such a way as to lie across the rails, the mass of bars remains stationary while individual bars are withdrawn from the bottom of the mass and moved forward one by one along the rails. This occurs even though no means for sup porting the mass of bars other than the rails themselves is provided. The ability of the device to sort out individual bars from the mass is a great practical advantage, since it makes it possible simply to dump the bars to be fed through the furnace upon the rear end of the rails (the left-hand end in Figs. 1 and E2), and thus eliminates the labor or mechanical contrivances which have heretofore been necessary to deliver the bars to the feeding mechanism one at a time.

It should be clearly UIIdBISbOOCl, however, that the utility of the feeding mechanism is by no means limited to its use in connection with furnaces, as it iscapable of use whenever it is desired to convey articles.

Furthermore, as pointed out in the course of the description it is not essential that the operative surfaces of the rails have precisely the form illustrated, nor that the relative reciprocatory movement of the rails be in the exact direction provided in the form illustrated.

The use of the word rails in referring to the relatively reciprocatory longitudinal members is not intended to imply that each of these members need consist of a single piece of metal. It is apparent that where one of the longitudinal members is stationary this stationary member may be constructed of separate pieces of metal forming the successive engaging surfaces and inclines and that these pieces of metal may even be spaced from one another. Such an arrangement is, however, equivalent to the type of longitudinal member shown in the drawings and should be understood to be included in the term rail. If desired, the movable longitudinal members may be made of separate sections attached together and if the members are of great length, such sectional construction is advantageous in reducing warping. Such sectional construction should be understood to be included in the term rail.

lVhat is claimed is:

1. hlechanism for moving an article, co1nprising two rails, each having an operative surface comprising a series of spaced engaging surfaces approximately perpendicular to the rail and adapted to prevent rearward movement of the article relative to the rail and a series of rcarwardly sloping surfaces alternating with said engaging surfaces materially greater in length than said engaging surfaces and inclined to the rail at an angle materially less than 45, said rearwardly sloping surfaces being adapted to permit relative rearward movement of the rail with respect to the article, and means for causing between the rails relative reciprocatory movement having a large component longitudinal of the rails and a small component transverse to the rails.

2. Mechanism for moving an. article, conr prising two horizontal rails, each having an operative surface comprising a series of approximately vertical spaced engaging sur faces adapted to prevent rearward move ment of the article relative to the rail and a series of rearwardly sloping surfaces alternating with said engaging surfaces mm terially longer than said engaging surfaces and inclined to the horizontal at an angle materially less than K)", said rcarwardly sloping surfaces being adapted to permit relative rearward movement of the rail with respect to the article, and means for causing between said rails a relative reciprocatory movement having a large horizontal component and a small vertical component.

3. Mechanism for moving an article, comprising two rails, each having an operative surface comprising a series of parallel rearwardly slopingsurfaces inclined to the rail at an angle materially less than 45 and a series of engaging surfaces alternatingwith said rearwardly inclined surfaces approximately perpendicular to the rail and materially shorter than said rearwardly inclined surfaces, and means for causing between said. rails a relative reciprocatory movement in a straight line parallel to the rcarwardly inclined surfaces of the rails.

l. Mechanism for moving an article, comprising two rails,,each having an operative surface comprising a series of spaced engaging surfaces transverse to the rail and a series of parallel rearwardly sloping inclines alternating with said engaging surfaces, and means for causing between said rails a relative 'reciprocatory movement in a straight line parallel to the inclines of the rails.

5. Mechanism for moving an article, comprising a fixed rail and a movable rail each having an operative surface formed to provide a series of spaced engaging surfaces and a series of parallel rearwardly sloping inclines alternating with said engaging surfaces, a plurality of supports for said movable rail each having a bearing surface sub-- stantially parallel to said inclines, said movable rail being provided with a plurality of bearing surfaces substantially parallel to said inclined bearing surfaces of the sup port and resting thereon, and operating means adapted to give to said movable rail a longitudinal reciprocatory movement the stroke of which is not less than the distance between any two successive engaging surfaces.

6. Feed mechanism for moving articles into, through and out of a furnace, con iprising a fixed rail extending through the furnace and projecting from each end thereof, a movablecontinuous rail parallel to said first-mentioned rail extending through the furnace and projecting from each end thereof, a mounting for said movable rail permitting a reciprocatory movement thereof in a direction inclined to the rail, and mechanism located outside the furnace and connectedto one of the projecting ends of said movable rail for giving it a reciprocatory movement, said rails having operative surfaces adapted to engage the articles and cause a step by step forward movement of the articles along the rails as the movable rail reciprocates.

7. Feed mechanism for moving articles into, through and out of a furnace, compri ing parallelrails extending through the furnace and projecting from each end thereof, one of said rails-being fixed and the other slidably mounted, supporting bearings for said slidably mounted rail inclined to the rail, and mechanism located outside said furnace for giving to the slidably mounted rail a longitudinal reciprocatory movement, the stroke of which is short with respect to the length of the rails, said rails having operative surfaces comprising a series of transverse engaging surfaces and a series of parallel rearwardly sloping inclines alternating with said engaging surfaces and substantially parallel with the bearing surfaces on which said slidably mounted rail is mounted.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR W. PETERS.

\Vitne'sses Rona, F. CoNLnr, Marsrn lWAURUS.

Images