US1806590A

US1806590A - Feeding sheet glass to leer conveyers

Info

Publication number: US1806590A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1931-05-26
Anticipated expiration: 1948-05-26

Description

May 26, 1931. M. FINCKE FEEDING SHEET GLASS TO LEER CONVEYERS UHD DHD-

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ruggine/Illia May 26, 1931. 'M FINCKE FEEDING SHEET GLASS TO LEER CONVEYERS Filed June 5. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @@pmwowmmw @www M INvEN'ro/e Michael lncle,

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Patented May 26, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MICHAEL FINCKE, OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THE AMERICAN IBICHEROUX COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0F DELAWARE .FEEDING SHEET GLASS TO LEER CONVEYERS Application led June 3, 1929, Serial No. 368,067, and in Germany October 12, 1928.

In the lehring of glass sheets formed by the so-called intermittent process, such for instance as the Bicheroux process, certain difliculties arise from the fact that the speed at which the sheet is formed is much higher than the speed at which it is desirable to feed the sheet through the lehr. Various schemes have been proposed to eHect a slowing down of the travel of the sheet from the speed at which it is taken from the forming pass to the speed at which it is to move through the lehr. Many of these involve the use of a conveying bed formed of a series of rolls on which the glass is supported and by the rotation of which the glass is fed, with means for changing the speed of rotation of a group of contiguous rollers from that corresponding to the high speed of sheet formation to the speed of lehring, and driving the rollers in advance of the change speed rollers at high speed and those behind at low speed. This necessitates the use of a variable speed drive for the group of variable speed rollers, and has numerous disadvantages..

Among these disadvantages is the difficulty of feeding the sheets to the lehr conveyer that the contiguous sheets are spaced closely together for the presence of long intervals between the sheets reduces the lehring ca- 0 pacity as well as requiring longer intervals.

between the successive forming operations.

By this invention, the sheets as formed are fed at the speed of sheet formation directly over but out of contact with the lehr conveyer, and are then deposited thereon by a downward movement of sheet, whereby the leading end of a sheet may be lowered on the conveyer immediately behind the trailin end of the preceding sheet. I prefer to e fect this deposit of the sheet on the conveyer by moving the still plastic sheet from over the end of a table which at the time is moving rearwardly in respect to the feed effected by the lehr conveyer.

I further propose to accomplish the change in speed of the sheet between that of formation and that of'lehring, not by changing the speed of the rotation of sheet-carrylng rollers, but by a bodily movement of rollers rotating at a constant speed and in a constant direction. The glass is received on these rollers from the forming machine at the speed of sheet formation, this being accomplished either by a rotation of the rollers at a peripheral speed equal to the speed of sheet formation, or by a rotationV of the rollers at less lspeed and a movement of the rollers as a whole in the direction of move'lent of the sheet during formation. The sheet, after delivery to the rollers, is located above the lehr conveyer and its feed thereto is effected by a reverse motion of the rollers as a whole, the motion of the rollers as a whole at this time being equal to `the difference between the peripheral speed of the rollers in question and the speed of feed lehring.

My invention further consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of its several parts of which it is composed, as well as hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

Referring to the accompanyin drawings in whlch corresponding parts are esignated by corresponding marks of reference,-

Figures l and 2 are schematic sections of the mechanism embodying my invention, and showing two conditions of use thereof.

Figure 3 is a similar showing like Figure 1 with the sheet of glass being discharged from the take-off table onto the lehr rollers.

Figure 4 is a transverse section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

a represents an intermittent forming machine and b the discharge apron thereof down which glass formed thereby is delivered. d is a suitable lehr structure provided with a conveyer f preferably of the roller type, which is driven at a desired lehring speed by the motor fr through the shaft s. Above the lehr conveyer f and below the apron b of the forming machine moves at the entrance end of the lehrthe take-oil table c having a glass receiving surface formed bv rollers la, driven by the motor m through the shaft n. This take-0E table c may be reciprocated along the axis of the lehr above the rollers f by wheels z' resting on the rails g. Its longitudinal movement is controlled by the motor t through the gears u and which mesh Ywith the under edge of the frame c of the take-oli' table. The forward end of the take-off table terminates in a discharge apron k over which the glass is conveyed to reach the rear rollers A structure such as above described may be operated in several ways. For instance, presuming that upon the commencement of the rolling of a sheet the parts are in the position shown in Figure 1, that is to say with the rear end of the take-ofi' table below the apron b, if the rollers h of the table are rotated with a peripheral speed substantially equal to the speed of sheet formation, the sheet will be fed over and out of contact with the lehr conveyer and deposited along the length of the table, the table at this time being stationary. When the sheet has been so deposited, the continued rotation of the rollers h will feed the sheet down the discharge a ron k of the table and onto the conveyer f o the lehr. If the table is at this latter time being moved backward at a speed equal to the difference between the peripheral speed of the rollers h of the table and the feeding speed of the lehr conveyer, the sheet will be deposited on the conve er without lapping. It will be noticed that uring this period the sheet is in rapid motion over the rollers of the table, its movement in respect thereto being equal to the speed of formation, and hence sagging during this period, in which the sheet is relativel soft. The sheet having been deposited on the lehr conveyer during the backward movement of the table, the table is then advanced to its initial position to receive the following sheet. However, if desired, the table may be in motion in the direction of feed of glass from the forming machine when glass is delivered to it, an intermediate portion of the table being under the apron at the commencement of delivery of the sheet to the table, as is shown in Figure 2. In this case, as it explained in the application of Gentil, filed August 6, 1928, Serial No. 297,715, the peripheral speed of the rollers of the table -will be equal to the difference between the speed of translation of the table and the forming speed. Inasmuch as the speed of rollers in this case will be lower than the case rst considered, the speed of backward movement of the table in delivering glass from the table to the lehr conveyer will be less than was the s eed of the table in the case represented in igure 1.

It will be noticed that in both cases with the construction shown the deposit of a sheet on the conveyer of the lehr starts at a point well in advance of the point where the tail of the sheet is deposited on that conveyer, and hence it follows that a lehr having a constant speed of sheet conveying may be fed from an intermittent forming machine, Without voids or spaces between the successive sheets which decrease the annealed output of the lehr.

, A special case is that in which the table has a speed of movement prior to the delivery of the sheet therefrom which is relatively high in respect to the lehring speed. Considering the delivery of two successive sheets to the lehr under such conditions, it will be seen that during the interval between the delivery of the two sheets to the lehr conve er the first sheet will have advanced throug a given space, which is the product of the time interval in question and of the lehring speed. This results, unless special provision is made, in a separation of the forward end of the last sheet and the trailing end of the first sheet by a distance equal to the space through which the first sheet has advanced. However, by the high speed travel of the table the second sheet may, during a part of the interval in question, be advanced at a much higher speed than the first sheet is being fed through the lehr. Hence results the ability by the proper selection of time interval, speed of take-ofi' table, etc., of depositing the forward end of the last sheet upon the lehr conveyer immediately behind the trailing end of the first sheet. Indeed in the construction shown the forward end of the last sheet may be caused to lie over the trailing end of the first sheet if such be an advantage. l

Having thus described my invention what l claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The hereinbefore described method of delivering glass to a lehr conveyer having a feeding movement at the time of such d elivery, which consists in feeding the glass off a movable supporting table at a rate equal to the dierence of the speed of feed of the lehr conveyer and of the movement of the table.

2. The hereinbefore described method of delivering sheet glass to a lehr conveyer having a feeding movement at the time of such delivery, which comprises moving the sheet bodily over the conveyer, and then depositing it on the conveyer by a downward movement of sheet commencing at the forward end thereof.

3. The hereinbefore described method of delivering a sheet of glass to a lehr conveyer having a feeding movement at the time of such delivery, which comprises moving the sheet to over the conveyer, supporting it thereover and withdrawing the support rearwardly in respect-to the movement of the conveyer, whereby the sheet is delivered downwardly to the conveyer, lsuch delivery commencing at the leading end of the sheet.

4. The hereinbefore described method of delivering a sheet of glass to a lehr conveyer having a feeding movement at the time of such delivery, which comprises moving the sheet to over the conveyer, supporting it thereover, and withdrawing the support rearwardly in respect to the movement of the conveyer While moving the sheet on the support in the direction of the feed of the conveyer at a speed equal to the difference between such feed and the rearward movement of the support.

5. The hereinbefore described methodof receiving sheet glass from an intermittent forming machine and delivering it to a lehr conveyer having a feeding movement at the time of such delivery, which comprises receiving the sheet from the forming machine and feeding it over and out of contact with the conveyer at the speed of sheet formation, supporting it in this position, and Withdrawing the support rearwardly in respect to the movement of the conveyer while moving the sheet onthe support in the direction of the feed of the conveyer at a speed equal to the difference between such feed and the rearward movement of the support.

6. The combination with a lehring conveyer, of a glass supporting table movable over the conveyer and having a glass supporting surface movable in respect to and in line of reciproca-tion of the table.

7. The combination with a lehr conveyer, of a table reciprocated thereover, and means for moving a sheet of glass from off the table in the direction of feed of the conveyer.

8. The combination with an intermittent sheet glass forming machine, of a lehr conveyer having a feeding speed less than the speed of sheet formation, a travelling glass supporting surface on the table, means for driving the supporting surface in the di rection of feed of the glass from the forming machine, to feed the glass over the conveyer, and means for simultaneously moving the table in direction opposite the feed of the glass and driving the supporting surface, to deliver the sheet from off the table to the conveyer.

9. 'Ihe combination with a lehr conveyer of a table delivering sheet glass thereto an moving in direction opposite to the movement of the conveyer and means for moving a' sheet of glass from off the table to the contion, the take-off table being movable over the conveyer to deposit the sheet thereon.

12. The combination with an intermittent sheet glass forming machine, of a lehr conveyer, having a feeding speed less than the speed of sheet formation, a take-off table re"- ciprocable in the line of feed of the lehr conveyer and moving over the latter, and receiving glass from the former, the table having means for feeding the glass from-off the forward end thereof onto the conveyer.

13. The hereinbefore described method of feeding glass sheets through a lehr which comprises delivering a sheet to a lehr conveyer from a table moving reversely to the feed of the lehr conveyer, feeding such sheet through the lehr at a relatively low speed and delivering a second sheet to the lehr conveyer at the time of such delivery from a table which, prior to the delivery of such second sheet, moves in theV direction of the feed of the plrior sheet through the lehr at a relatively igh speedy, the delivery of the forward end of the sheet from the table to the conveyer being effected at a point in advance of the pointat which the trailing end of the previous sheet was delivered to the conveyer.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aix my signature.

MICHAEL FINCKE.

veyer at a speed substantially equal to the difference of the speed of the conveyer and of the table.

l0. The combination with a lehr conveyer, of a table delivering sheet glass thereto and moving in direction opposite to the movement of the conveyer, and a series of glasssupporting rollers on the table driven at a peripheral s eed substantially equal to the difference o lthe speed of the conveyer and of the table.

11. The combination with an intermittent sheet glass forming machine, of a lehr conveyor having a feeding speed less than the speed of sheet glassv formation in the machine, and a take-off table receiving glass from the forming machine and feeding it over the lehr conveyer at the speed of sheet forma-