US1532607A - Method of manufacturing sheet metal - Google Patents

Description

L. C. STEELE April 7, 1925.

1,532,607 METHOD oF MANUFACTURING SHEET METAI' All@ Fied April Patented pr. 7, 1925.

A 1,532,607 PATENr orFIeE.

LAWRENCE C. STEEIJE, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANA.

METHOD 0E MANUFACTURING SHEET METAL. g

Application `1ed Aprill 18, 1922. Serial No. 554,573.

To aZZ 'whom t may concern:

.Be it hown that I, LAWRENCE C. STEELE, a' citizen of the United States, and resident of Pittsburgh, in the count of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, ave invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Manufacturing Sheet Metal; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to a method of manufacturing sheet-metal.

In the present method of rolling sheets for tin-plate the heated bars are taken from the furnace in pairs and are passed one at a time in succession through the rolls, the bars being fed by hand through. the rolls and passed back over the top of the rolls for three or four passes. The rolled bars are then matched by placing one on top of the other, and are put back in the furnace to be reheated, whereupon they are again brought y out and passed Itogether through the rolls.

This heatm of the matched-bars and passing them t rough the rolls is commonly known as the run-over pass. The purpose of this last-named yrolling operation is more to reduce the thickness of the pack than to obtain elongation, so that the metal can be doubled by hand, which is done after this rolling operation. After the doubling, the pack, which is 4p1y, is put back into the furnace, reheated, brought out, and repassed the required number of times through the rolls,

' when it is opened (this is done by pulling `the sheets apart with tongs), is doubled again to form 8ply, 're-heated, and passed through the rolls a sucient number of passes to bring the pieces to the specified ength. rEhe sheets are then sheared intothe re uired sizes and the packs opened by hand, this being required because the sheets have stuck more or less together in the yprocess of rolling. The sheets are then annealed and treated by subsequent operations to obtain the desired product, such as tin-plate, sheetiron, etc.

. In this old method of handling the sheets in rolling, the bars, in the rst instance when drawn from the furnace, were thrown on the door, where they were picked up by the rolier b tongs to pass through the rolls. After the' ars had been rolled they were matched on the mill-door, and in this matching were liable to pick up grease, scale or dirt from said miil-oor, and as the subsequent doubling was likewise done on the mill-floor, the sheets had further opportunity to pick up grease, scale or dirt, and in the rolling of y the sheets this foreign matter would be rolled into the metal, and when the packs were separated the defects caused by such dirt or scale would show up and the sheets would have to be thrown aside as w'asters.

The object of my invention is to provide a method of manufacturing sheet-metal which dispenses with the run-over ass thereby doing away with the time an ex# pense of the extra heating and rolling of the metal, and thereby greatly reducing the cost. A further object of my invention is to eliminate the danger of scale, grease or dirt getting between the sheets when the sheets arematched or doubled on the mill-floor, thereby greatly reducingthe waste and increasing the production accordingly for the same amount of time and labor expended.

In the accompanying drawing I Ahave illustrated suitable apparatus for carrying out my improved method, although it is understood that this apparatus may be modiied or changed without eifecting the scope of my invention. Fig. 1 of the drawing is a plan view; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

In carryin out 'l my improved method employ suita le heating-furnaces, such as indicated by the numerals 2 and 3, said furnaces being provided with the doors 4 and 5,`respectively. The bars are heated in the furnace 2 and when withdrawn therefrom Aare placed on a suitable feed-table 6 which feeds the bars up to the rolls 7. Thebars are fed automaticallyto the rolls, and passing through said rolls are delivered on to the catcher 8, illustrated diagrammatically. This catcher consists, generally of the skids 9 to receive the sheet or pack; the rotary carrier 10 which lifts the material from the skids and lifts it up to the conveyer 11 which in conjunction with an endless chain on the carrier 10 and the endless chain 12 delivers the material over the top roll to the feedtable 12a to be returned through the rolls. this manner the metal is rolled back and forth through the rolls without comin in contact with the mill-ooiuuntil it has een reduced to the proper gauge, whereupon the sheets, after the nal pa, aredelivered 'to the feed-rolls 13 to be discharged on the feed-table 14 composed of the conveyers 15 'farhich travel at right angles to the travel .of

the rolls 13. From the table 14 the sheets are delivered to the inclined feeder 16 which ydelivers them to the raised platform 17,

Where the sheets are matched and doubled. This doubling ispreferably done by a doubling machine, such' as that illustrated and described in a patent granted to me March 15, 1910, No. 952,052, although it is apparent that the doubling may be done by hand. The platform 17, being raised above the millfloor, is free from the grease, dirt and scale of said mill-floor, and consequently there is no liability of the sheets getting any of such grease, scale or dirt between them which results in defective sheets.

By my method, up to this point, I am able to dispense with the run-over pass, as the metal has been reduced in the rolls, Without reheating, to a gauge suitable for doubling, so that Whenvthe plates are delivered to the platform 17 the matching and doubling takes place as one operation.

The sheetsthus matched and doubled into l-ply are then delivered to the feed-table -18 to be delivered into the furnace 8, a supplemental feed-table 19 being employed to lower the plate down through the opening 5 of the furnace. In this Way, by having the doubling platform 17 andthe feed-table 18 at aproper height, there is no interference With the operators Working around on the mill-Hoor below. The doubled-pack, after beinfr properly heated in the furnace 3, is i-vithrdrawn and delivered to the feed-table 6, which is shifted over in position to receive the pack as it comes from the furnace 3, as clearly indicated in dotted lines, Fig. l, and the pack is delivered to the rolls to be passed back and forth through the same until reduced to the proper gauge, Whereupon the pack is delivered by the feedrolls' 13 to the tables 15 and 16 to be discliargedfon the doubling platform 17 where the pack is again doubled into 8ply. The pack is again delivered to the furnace 3 to be reheated and delivered back to the rollsl for farther rolling, and when the metal has been brought to the propei1 length it -is thrown out in the rear for cooling.- While I prefer to do the doubling at an elevation it may be done on the floor level in the rear of the mill, and carried thence by a conveyer to the furnace Without coming in contact with the mill-Hoor.

By my method the bars, or the pack rolled therefrom, never come. in contact with the mill-licor, and consequently do not pick up the scale, dirt or grease which results in so many Wasters, the doubling and matching all bein done at an elevation Well above the mil -oon This does away with the congestion around the rolls Where the matching and doubling are done on the millfloor, and leaves more space for the operators, which makes it possible to reduce the number of'menrequired to do the Work.

What I 'claim is:

1. The method of manufacturing sheeti metal consisting in rolling the heated bars back and forth in the rolls keeping the metal from contact With the mill-Hoor during rolling until reduced to a gauge for `matching and doubling, elevating the sheets mill-floor, passing the metal back and forth l through the rolls keeping the metal from contact with the mill-floor until reduced to a gauge for matching'and doubling, elevating the sheets to a `point above the milldoor, matching and doubling at this elevation, and passing the sheets While in elcvated position back to the heating furnace.

2l, The method of manufacturing sheetmetal consisting in delivering the heated bars from the furnace to the rolls in a plane above the mill-Hoor, passing the metal back and forth through the rolls, keeping the metal from contact with the mill-floor. until reduced to a gauge formatching and doubling, doubling the metal in the rear of the rolls, and conveyinglthe metal in a plane above the mill-floor back to the heating furnace.

In testimony whereof I, the said LAW- RENCE C. STEELE, have hereunto set my hand.

LAVRENCE C. STEELE.

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