US1768325A - Dletoww - Google Patents

Description

Jim 24, 1930 D. E. LEWELLEN 1,768,325.

CONTROL MECHANISM FOR PAPER MAKING IACHINES Filed June 27, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ElKQm n G w vk gwtwntow z DarcgE Leweiien GranuilleRzecher June 24, 1930. D. E. LEWELLEN ET AL 1,768,325

CONTROL MECHANISM FOR PAPER MAKING MACHINES Filed June 27. 1928 2 SheetsSheet 2 gnwntow DarcyELewellen GranuiIleRZw/rer Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE mac! n. nnwnnnmw, or connmms, mnraiu, Ann eamvmn ie. woman, or am- DLETOWN, OHIO CONTROL MECHANISM FOR rnmuame iucnnms Application am June 27, ms. semira' aaam.

Our invention relates to devices for controlling the thickness of pa r in a aper making machine. It is an ohiect of t e invention to provide a device responsive to variations in the thickness of the pa er passing through the machine for contro ling the thickness of the paper, in order to keep it at a predetermined thickness.

t is a further object of the invention to provide a controlling device which shall re ulate the thickness of the paper by contriling the speed with which the strip of paper asses through the paper making machine.

Still another object is to provide a control l6 device for paper making machines which shall be sensitive to the slightest variation in the thickness of the paper, and which will control the machine so as to keep the paper within a predetermined thickness, and to do 2 this with a precision unknown in the present art of paper making.

Referring to the accompanyin drawings which are made a art hereof an on which similar reference c aracters indicate similar 7 Figure 1 is an elevational view of a paper making machine showing-the application of my control device thereto,

Figure 2, an elevation of the 0 trolling apparatus,

Figure 3, a plan view of the same,

Figure 4, an enlarged view in elevation of the gaging device, and

Figure 5, an enlarged view in the control device.

In a copending application of D. E. Lewellen and Granville R. Zecher Serial No. 272,255, filed April 23, 1928, for control mechanism for paper making machines, is disclosed a paper making machine having a controlling device thereon for controlling the thickness of the paper by controllin the amount of stock fed to the filler rolls 0 the paper making machine. In that device slight variations in the thickness of the paper cause operation of devices for supplying only suflicient stock to the machine to bring the paper up to the required thickness, or to reduce the stock so as to bring the thickness down to accurate thickness in case the paper speed conelevation of "speed of the engine.

going through the machine is too thick. The evice forming the-subject matter of the a plication now presented controls the thickness of the paper by controlling the s d with which it passes through the mac ine. It should be very-clear that if the amount of stock being fed to the filler rolls remains constant, the thickness of the paper may be varied by varying the speed with which the paper travels through t e machine. In the device herein presented the stock ates are open to a predetermined point an remain so, and the speed of travel of the paper through the machine is varied. This is done by varying the speed of the engine which drives the rolls and cylinders which co'ntrol the speed of the paper passing through the machine. a

The speed of the engine is varied by varying the relative speed of the main drive wheel and a governor which controls, the In steam en" ines con trolled by centrifugal governors t e governor runs at a more or less constant speed; Any change between the relative speed of the mam drive wheel and the speed of the centrifugalgovernor will affect the speed of the engine, while the governor will run substantially with the same speed. Itmay readily be seen therefore that to change the speed of the engine it is onl necessary to change the relative speed of the engine and the governor. In our device we provide for changing the relative speed of the engine and the governor by using a well known Lewellen variable speed transmission for driving the centrifugal governor. A control device'sensitive to variations in the thickness of the paper causes operation of a motor which is geared to the shifting screw of the variable speed transmission to drive it in the proper direction to change the speed ratio b etween the engine governor and the engine crank shaft, to bring about the desired change ofspeed in the engine.

In the drawings, numeral. 10 indicates the usual stock box from which aper, flows through pipes 11, 12 an -13 to the filler cylinders 14, 15 and 16. These cylinders deposit the paperon a felt belt 17, m

which passes between a series of rolls 18 and a belt 19 running over a series of rolls 20. The paper emer es from the last rolls 18 and 20 as a stri 0 paper 21 now of suificient strength to supported without the assistance of belts. TlllS strip of pa er passes over a roll 22, thence between ca ' pering rolls 23 and 24 of the ga 'ng device and passes thence to drying ro ls 25. All the rolls just mentioned except rolls 22, 23 and 24 are driven by means of belts 26 on pulleys 27 mounted on a shaft 28, the rolls 22, 23 and 24 being driven by the paper strip 21 as it passes over them. The shaft 28 is driven by an engine 29 through means of a belt 30 driving a pulley 31 on the said shaft 28. a

The gaging device, shown as a whole at 33, anda controlling device shown at 34 operate switches which operate a motor 35 which latter controls the variable speed transmission shown as a whole at 36. The gaging device consists of two rollers 23 and 24. The roller 24 is mounted in bearings on the framework of the machine. The roller 23 is rotatably mounted in bearin on the outer end of an arm TlllS arm is pivotally mounted on a pin 71' and has a short inte ral arm 72 extending at r' ht angles to t e arm 70. An L-shaped arm 7 3 is pivoted also on the pin 70. A link 74 passes loosely through a bore in the end of the arm 72 and is attached to the arm 73 at 75. A compression spring 76' surrounds the link 74 and is positioned between the arm 7 2 and a washer 77 on the outer end of the link 74. The arm 70 has a rearwardly extending end 78 on which is adjustably mounted a weight 79. The arm 73 has on its upper side, adjacent the end, a knife edge 80 adapted to engage a lever 81 near the ivot point 82. The lever 81 has also a knife edge 83 which engages the lower side of a lever 84. This lever is pivoted at 85 and has on its outer end rack teeth 86 adapted to engage a pinion 87. A pointer 88 is secured upon the pinion. To give it greater inertia the pointer 88 has a weight 89 secured thereto. This pointer 88 has a downwardly extending arm 90 adapted to engage at times with one of the contact points 91, 92 and 93. The arm 90 also carries a binding post 94. lVires 95, 96, 97 and 98 are attached res ectively to the points 94, 93, 91 and 92. hese wires connect with relay switches in circuit with the motor 35 as more fully described in the copending application above referred to.

From the foregoing description it may clearly be seen that any movement of the roller 23 will be magnified through the levers and arms 70, 73, 81, 84 and rack bar 86 to move the pointer arm 88. If, therefore, a thick strip of paper-21 passes between the rollers 23 and 24 the roller 23 will be raised and through the lever mechanism just described will swing the contact arm 90 to enga e the contact 93. If the paper becomes t inner than desired when it passes between the rollers, the roller 23 will drop and, through the magnified motion just indicated, the contact arm 90 will swing to engage with contact point' 91. The weight 89 provides means for holding the arm against constant oscillation. The spring 76 normally holds the arm 72 and 73 in contact.

If chips or small objects pass between the rollers 23 and 24 the spring will yield rather than move the weighted pointer arm 88 due to the inertia of the weight 89. The weight 79 balances the roll 23.

As more fully described in the copending application above referred to, the motor 35 does not operate continuously when the arm 90 is in contact with either 91 or 93 but it operates intermittently when the arm 90 is in either of the positions just mentioned.

The mechanism for imparting intermittent operatin impulses to the motor is shown as a w ole at 34 and is the same as that described in the copending application. This mechanism consists of a cam 99 operatively connected through a system of gears 100 with the roll 22. This train of gears is arranged so that the cam 99 is driven through one revolution in a time somewhat greater than that required for the stock to pass from the stock box 10 to the rollers 23 and 24. The reason for this will later be evident. An arm 101 is pivoted so as to have its outer end 102 rest upon and engage the outer surface of the cam 99. A deep notch 103 in the under side of the end 102 allows this end of the arm to drop down after it has passed over the highest point of the cam indicated at 104. The arm 101 carries a contact point 105 adapted to engage a contact 106 on an arm 107. Wires 108 and 109 are attached respectively to the contact points 105 and 106. These wires lead to a relay in circuit with the motor. 35 as described in the application referred to. When the arm 90 is in contact with the point 93 the motor will be operated intermittently for a short period. The periods vary at intervals somewhat longer than the time required for the paper to pass from the stock box to the gaging rolls 23 and 24 as indicated. The motor 35 is therefore operated at short intervals intermittently whenever the gaging device 33 has its contacting arm moved to close the circuit to the motor. Instead of operating the gates in the stock box 10 as done in the application referred to, the motor is geared to and drives a shaft 37 which controls the relative speed of the cones 38 and 39 of the variable speed transmission. The variable speed transmission device shown as a whole in Fig. 3 may be any well known transmission device, such for example as that shown in a patent to Lewellen #1,377,593 granted May 10,1921. a

As shown in Fig. 2 the variable speed transmission forms the driving connection between the crank shaft of the engine and a centrifugal governor 40. The driving connection is as follows: A belt 41 on a pulley 42 on the end of the crank shaft 43 of the "engine forms driving connection between the said shaft and a pulley 44 on the outer end of a shaft 45 by means of which the cone 38 is driven. A belt 46 forms driving connec tion between the cone 38'and the cone 39 The collars 47 and 48 are geared to the shafts 45 and 49 respectively so as to be slidable on the shafts and rotatable therewith. Levers 50 and 51 ivotally connected at 52 and 53 are pivoted also at 54, 55, 56 and 57 to the collars 48, 47, 58 and 59 respectively. 'A shaft 37 having right hand and left hand threads 60 and 61 respectively is screw threaded through the ends of the levers 50 and 51 respectively. On the outer end of the shaft 49 is a bevel gear 62 which meshes with a similar bevel gear 63 on the lower end of the shaft 64 of the centrifugal governor. The operative connection between the-governor and the throttle of the engine is of well known structure, the details of which need not be shown. The motor 35 drives the shaft 37 through driving connection shown as a gear 65, shaft 66, gear 67, meshing with a gear 68 held between collars (9 and 70. The collar 70 has a bevel gear-71. which meshes with a like gear 72. The gear 72 is secured on the end of the shaft 37. Rotation of the motor 35 in either direction therefore will rotate the shaft 37 to change the relative speeds of the cones 38 and 39. As previously stated, the motor 35 is operated only when the paper passing between the calipering rolls 23 and 24 is either above or below a predetermined thickness. If the paper passing between the said calipering rolls is too thick the motor 35 will be operated in a direction so as to rotate the shaft to change the ratio of the cones 38 and 39 so as to drive the centrifugal governor at a speed relatively slower than the speed at which it has just been driven. This will cause the main engine crank shaft to rotate at an increased speed. This will speed up movement of the strip of 7 paper through the machine, which as a consequence will thin the sheet of paper down because, since the amount of stock being delivered to the machine remains the same, the same amount of stock will now be covered over a longer strip of paper, with the obvious result of makin the paper thinner.

A signal box 75 has white, green and red lights positioned therein to indicate whether the paper passing through the machine is the right thickness, or whether it is too thick or too thin. If too thick a red light will show, if too thin a green light will show, and if just right a white light will show. The cabinet indicated as a whole at 76 contains the electrical connecting switches, etc. The device shown at 77 is a tachometer which indicates the speed of travel of the'paper through the machine. This tachometer is controlled by a generator 78 which has driving connection with the main driving shaft 28. Since the speedof the paper in feet per second is directly-controlled by the speed of the shaft 28 the tachometer 77 ma he graduated to show the speed of travel 0 the paper through the machine. The tachometer-is operated by a. generator 78 driven from the shaft 28.

While we have shown our device as responding to variations in the thickness of t e paper, it is obvious that it might equally be adapted for controllin the paper in response to variations in t e wei ht of the paper. For example, we have s own it as an improvement over the control device described in the application Serial No. 272,255 above referred to, by which the paper is controlled by variations in its thickness. Instead of the thickness control device, we might use the weightcontrol device shown in the application of D. E. Lewellen, Serial No. 268,187 filed April 7, 1928, for control mechanism 7 for paper making machines. The speed of travel of the paper obviously determines the weight of the paper as a finished article.

While we have shown and described this invention as used in a paper making m hine it is obvious that its use is not restricte to a machine for making paper. It could obviously be used for controlling the thickness of any product which is made in sheet form in a manner somewhat similar to the making of ]paper.

t will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in our device without departing from the spirit of the invention, and we, therefore, do not limit ourselves to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but .only as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus fully described our said in-.

vention, what we claim as new and desire to paper through the machine, the said speed varying means operatin intermittently for short durations when t e thickness of the paper varies from predetermined standards, substantially as set forth.

2. A machine for making products in sheet governinform comprising means for feeding sheet forming material to the machine,- means for moving said material through the machine, means for varying the speed of said last named means whereby the thickness of the sheet ma be varied, and means for controlling sai last named means in response to variations in the thickness of the sheet, the said speed varying means operating intermittently at predetermined intervals and for redetermined durations, substantially as set orth.

3. In a machine for-making products in sheet form, means for controlling the thickness of the product comprising means for feeding sheet forming material to the machine, means for moving a sheet through the machine, means for varying its speed of travel through the machine and means responsive to variation in its thickness at a predetermined point in its travel through the machine for varying its speed of travel through the machine, and means limiting operation of the speed varying means to predetermined intervals and predetermined durations, substantially as set forth.

4. In a machine for making products in sheet form, means for feeding sheet forming material to the machine, means for moving the sheet through the machine, a motor for driving the said last named means, a governor adapted to control the speed of the motor, a gaging device responsive to variations in the thickness of the product as it passes a given point in its travel through the machine, the said device being operatively connected to means for varying the relative speed of the said motor and the said device, whereby the relative speeds o the motor and the governor may be varied in response to variations in the thickness of the paperas it asses tlirou h the gaging device, substantial y as set fOf 'l.

5. A control device for paper making machines comprising means for feeding paper stock to the machine, means for moving the stock through the machine to form a sheet of paper, a motor for driving said means, a centrifugal governor for controlling the speed ofsaid motor, a variable speed transmission operatively connecting said motor and said centrifugal governor, a device responsive'to variations in the thickness of t e paper passing through a given point in the machine, an electric motor controllable by said last named device, and means whereby operation of said last named motor will vary the relative speed between the first named motor and the centrifugal governor, whereby'the speed of the first named motor may be varied in response to variations in the thickness of the paper, substantially as setforth.

6. In a paper making machine, the com- -bination of a change speed drive for regu- 'lating the thickness of the paper, of means for operatin said change speed device, a gage res onsive to variations in the thickness of t 0 paper arranged to'control operation of the change speed device, and means limiting the operation of said change speed device to predetermined intervals and predetermine durations, substantially as set forth.

7. In a paper making machine, gage operated when the thickness of the paper varies from predetermined limits in control of means for varying the speed of travel of the paper through the machine, and means limitmg the operation of said control means to predetermined intervals and predetermined durations, substantially as set forth.

8. In a paper making machine, means for I keeping the thickness of the paper within predetermined limits comprising a ga e means for varying the speed of travel of t e paper through the machine, the said speed variations operating in response to movements of the said gage and means for causing operation of said speed varying means during predetermined intervals only, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination with a paper makin machine, of a paper thickness gage mounted at a oint in said machine where the paper is su ciently formed to determine its thickness, means controlled by saidgage for changing the speed of travel of the aper through the machine to vary the thic ness within desired limits, and means for interrupting the o eration of said last named means at pre etermined intervals, substantially as set forth.

10. In a paper machine, a gaging device adapted to respond to variations in the thickness of the paper passing through the machine, the said device being in control of 'means for varying the s eed of travel of the paper through the mac inc, and means for limiting the operation of said speed controlling means to predetermined durations, substantially as set forth.

11. In a paper maln'ng machine, stock feeding means, means operable to move the paper through the machine, a motor, a change speed drive connection between the motor and the paper moving means, a gage responsive to variations in the thickness of the paper passin through the machine, means controlled y said ga e for varying the speed of the motor and t e paper moving means, whereby changes in the thickness of the paper will vary the speed of the paper through the machine and means for limiting operation of the speed varying means to predetermined durations, substantially as set forth.

12. In a paper ,maki machine, a gage responsive to variations in the thickness of the paper, means for moving .the paper through the machine, means for changin the speed of travel of the paper throug the machine, the said last named means be? ing controlled by the gage to operate to vary the thickness of the aper as it passes through the machine, an means operated in timed relation with the speed of the paper passing through the machine for limiting operation of t e speed changing means to predetermined durations, substantially as set forth.

13. In a paper making machine, means responsive to variations in the thickness of the paper, means for movin the paper through the machine, means or changing the speed of travel of the paper through the machine, the said last named means being controlled by the gage to operate to vary the thickness of the paper as it asses through the machine, the sa1d speed c anging means operating intermittently and through predetermined durations, substantially as set forth.

14. In a paper making machine, in combination a gage responsive-to variations in the thickness of the paper, means for moving the paper throu h the machine, means for varyingits s eeg of travel through the machine the sai last named means bein controlled by the said gage, and a contro device limiting operation of the speed varyin means to short predetermined durations, substantially as set forth.

15. In a paper making machine, means for keeping the paper a predetermined thickness comprising means for moving the paper through the machine, means for controlling its speed of travel throu h the machine, a gage adapted to respon to variations in the thickness of the paper, electroresponsive means controlled by the said gage for operating the said speed control means for the paper, and means limiting operation of said electro responsive means to predetermined intervals and for predetermined durations, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands at Middletown, Ohio, this 9th day of June, A. D. nineteen hundred and twenty-eight.

DARCY E. LEW'ELLEN. GRANVILLE R. ZECHER.

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