US1901306A - Vulcanizing or drying apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Marc h 14, 1933. e. H. KNOWLTON ,9o1,3o6

VULCANIZING OR DRYING APPARATUS Filed April lO, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l fi l ///U/fl////////flfl/////////////////// 7/7 JJJMJ J Tuz/enjoy:

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March 14, 1933. KNQWLTON 1,901,306

VULCANIZING OR DRYING APPARATUS Filed April lO, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 14, 1933.

KNOWLTON 1,901,306

VULCANIZING OR DRYING APPARATUS Filed April lO, 1929 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 QE& S v 21 I i 30 a %ll/IA Invenor.

ditar/?ey l atented Mar. 14, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE E. KNOWLTON, OF WESTBROOK, MAINE VULCANIZING OR DRYING APPABATUS Application filed April 10',

The invention to be hereinafter described relates to app'aratus for continuous feeding of sheet material into and out of a vulcanizer or drier oven after one side of the sheet has been coated with a preparation, one of the ingredients in which is rubber or any material that needs drying or vulcanizing.

In Operating this class of apparatus it is essential, if a s mooth and evenly dried or Vulcanized coating on the sheet material is to be procured, that the coated side of the sheet be always kept out of contact with the feeding rolls or other supporting elements in the sheet-feeding mechanism, and that the sheet be kept in constant motion to prevent over 'vulcanizing or drying in any one place or sheet. t

To accomplish this, which is one of the object-s of my present invention, I provide a 30 plurality of driven rolls disposed in parallel relation and acting synchronously at a uniform speed, the sheet passing through the vulcanizing or drying chamber in a draped or festooned arrangment, forming loops which hang Suspended from between each respective pair of rolls, with the uncoated side of the sheet only Contacting with th rolls.

A further object of the invention is to provide'means to equalize the lengths 'of the loops when, for instance, one of the rolls has over-fed the sheet and the loop adjacent has become distended beyond the others. I attain this object by lifting the sheet from one side of the over-feeding roll, thereby shortening its Contacting surface and delaying or stopping the feeding of the sheet at the said roll and thereby causing the overfed portion to be taken up by the feeding 40 movement of the other rolls`without stop-t ping or 'checking the movement of the sheet as a whole through the vulcanizing chamber.

A still further object resides in the extremely large Capacity of this sheet-feeding mechanism, attainable by reason of the quantity of sheet material which may be taken Care of in the depending loops and which allows of substantially the entire space within the vulcanier chamber being utilized.

The character of the invention may be best 1929. Serial No. 354,050.

description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which an illustrative embodiment thereof is disclosed, which at 'the present time I consider preferable to other possible forms in which the invention might be carried out. u

` In the drawings, in which like characters 'understood by referenceto the following Fig. 3 is a side elevation of' the same, and

further, showing a fragmentary view of the feed-roll and drag-bar.

Fig. 4 is an assembly of three complete hangers, shown in 'end elevation, the side wall of the vulcanizing or drying chamber being removed for convenience of illustration.

Figs. 5 and 6 are diagrammatical illustrations showing two positions of the sheet--feeding and non-feeding, tively.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional detail of the feed roll.

Referring to Fig. 1, A isa vulcanizing or drying chamber enclosing the entire apparatus, except for the exteriorly arranged sprockets by means of which the stop-feed mechanism is actuated, and B represents the steani pipes which supply heat for vulcanizing or"drying purposes. In practice, the steam pipes Bwill be arranged at the bottom and the side and rear wall of the chamber, but any other suitable heating means may beemployed.

, In this figure isalso shown in abbreviated' Outline the general arrangenent of the parts having to do with the feeding of the sheet, and the position which the sheet occupies as it depends from one feed roll, is formed into a loop, and rises to and passes over thenext feed roll, and so on, to drape or festoon the sheet to form depending loops.

The sheet S starts from the coating marespecchine (not shown), and passing-over the equalizing roll 1, forms into a varable compensating loop 2, the purpose of which will which maintain the sprocket chain in a' stretched condition.

i The main 'drive is through the sprocket' chain 8 Operating on a sprocket on the shaft 9. From this shaft the first feed-roll 3 is driven through the chain 10 and the windmachine drive is through the chain 11.

in %n Figs. 2 and 3, details of the hanger and stop-feed mechanism are illustrated.

On an I-beam 12 is adjustably Secured the frame 13 of the hanger, it being understood,

of course, that there is a hanger on each end of the roll 3,- and in the bearing 14 thereof is journalled the shaft 15, integral with' the roll 3, which' latter is preferably tubular in I form.

On the inner side of the hanger and adjustably secured thereto is the plate 16, at the lower end of which, in the aperture 16' is a collar 17 in which is located the gudgeon end 18 of the drag-bar 19. This latter is circumferentially adjustable in the collar 17 upon releasing the set-screw 20. i

- On thegsurface of the roll 3 and also on the drag-bar 19 are ribs 21 and 22, respectively, these ribs spiralling in difl'erent directions from the lengthwise center of the rolls and drag-bar, outwardly toward the` ends thereof.

' The object of this Construction is for the purpose of exerting a slight tension on the surface of the sheet material acting from the central portion outwardly, this tending to keep it taut and smooth.

In an arcuate slot 23, in the plate 16, is a shaft 24 which extends across the vulcanizer to the correspondingplate 16 on the hanger opposite. On this shaft -is fixed a pinion 25 making meshing engagement with the segment of a gear 26 which is bolted to the plate 16 concentric with the arcuate slot. On the end of the shaft which rojects out'- wardly from the vulcanizer c amber is a sprocket wheel 27 operable manually by the sprocket chain 28.'

The hangers are arranged in pairs, one hanger on. each end' ofeach feed-roll 3, and as each is equipped with the elements just previously described, it is 'obvious that by rotating the sprocket 27- the. shaft 24 will be' elevated in the slot 23 with its axis always parallel, or approximately parallel, with that of the feed-roll, and further, that when so raised, as shown in dot and dash lines in Fig. 2 and cliagranmatically illustrated in Fig. 6, will cause the sheet material S to loose its grip of the feed-roll to such an extent as` to stop its further movement over such feed-roll, the drag-bar. 19 assisting in offering more or less resistance to forward movement of the sheet.

The operation of this stop-feed mechanism and the object in' equipping the hangers therewith may be more comprehensively understood by reference to Fig. 4.

Let it be assumed that the first feed-roll 3 has, from some cause, overfed the sheet S and a longer loop 29 formed. By actuating the chain 28, the shaft 24 is raised and this delays or entirely stops further forward movement of the portion Sa of the sheet S. But the other rolls 3 are still actively .drawing the sheet forwardly and continue to 'do so until the bottom 'of the loop 29 is raised to' alevel with the other loops,o r as shown in dot and dash lines (Fig. 4), at which'point the shaft 24, which was elevated, is lowered to its normal position in the bottom of the slot 23 and the feeding of the sheet is now efected by all of the rolls in regular order. i

During the time in which the sheet is idling over the first feed-roll 3 the equalizer roll 1 continues to feed the sheet for,-

uwardly, so that a length of sheet equal to the extra amount in the loop 29 is added to the variable compensating loop 2, extending itas shown at 2a. u

This action may'take place on any one of the rollsin the' line shown in Fig.- 1, and when it occurs on any of the centrally'located ones, those over which the sheet has already traveled must be given the same treatment. as has just been described. regarding the first one, the surp lus length of overfeed being eventually transferred to the variable compensating loop 2, which 'by proper takeup mechanism in ,the coating machine may be kept within bounds. v

A detail in the Construction of the feed roll is illustrated in Fig. 7. The roll is first grooved to receive the round wire 21,

the depth of the groove 30 being somewhat greater than one-half the diameter of the wire. The roll is placed on Centers, in a lathe or windi'ng machine, and the wire' tightly wound into the groove, at the same time an upsettingtool engages the surfaces t, t, rolling the shoulders of the groove firmly against the wire and rigidly securing it.

The plate. 16 is adjustably Secured to the hanger at 31, a slot 32 allowing the plate to be lowered or raised on a pivot 31a with a consequent effect of moving the drag-bar 19' toward or from, respectively, a central, vertical line through the hanger bearing. The pivot 31c is located at one side of the hanger and the bolt 31 and the slot 32 are located at the other side of said hanger.

XVhen adjustments are made at 31, corresponding adjustments are usually required to be made in the angular. position of the drag-bar 19, made through relaxing the screw 20.

As will be noted by observing Figs. 2 and 3, the hangers are adjustable lengthwise of the I-beam by releasing the holding cleats 33. This is sometimes required when sheets of different pliability or thicknesses are to be coated-a difference in this pliability. generally being accompanied by either greater or less space between the depending sides of the down-handlng loops, necesstatng, n some cases, more room between the successive folds of the material. i

hat is claimed:

1. An apparatus of the class described, including means for supporting a sheet of material draped or festooned to form a series of depending loops having free lower ends, the said means being arranged for continuously feeding the sheet of material for passing the same into, through and out of a drying and vulcanizing ,chamber, and means for i varving the frictional contact between the sheet and the .feeding means, whereby overrun or feed of the material in the loops may be taken up without interrupting the feed of the sheet.

2. An apparatus of the class described, including means for supporting a sheet of material draped or festooned to form a series of depending loops having free lower ends, the said means being arranged for continuously feeding the sheet of material for passing the same into, through and out of a drying and vulcanizing chamber, means for Varying the frictional contact between the sheet and the feeding means, whereby over-run or feed of the material in the loops may be taken up without interrupting the feed of the sheet through the apparatus,

and means for forming 'a varia'ble com-' canizing chamber, and means for Varying, the length of the depending loops to take' up any overfeed of the sheet and maintain the loops of a substantially uniform length without interrupting the continuous feed of the sheet.

4. An apparatus of the class described, including a series of overhead rolls arranged to support a sheet of material draped or festooned to form a plurality of depending loops having free lower ends, "means for arranging the rolls different distances apart to vary the width of the space between the sides of the loops, means fr rotating the rolls for continuously feeding the sheet, and means for varying the frictional contact between the sheet and the feeding means for varying the length of the loops without'interrupting the feed of the sheet.

5. An apparatus of the class described, in-

cluding overhead rolls arranged to support a sheet of material 'draped or festooned to form a series of depending loops havingfree lower ends, the rolls being arranged to continuously feed the'sheet, and separate manually operable means associated with the rolls for interrupting the feed of any individual roll without interrupting the feed of the sheet to vary the length of the loops and take up any overflow or run of the material in the said loops.

6. An apparatus of the class described' including overhead rolls arranged to support a sheet of material draped or `festooned to form a series of depending loops having free lower ends, means for rotating the rolls to continuously feed thesheet, separate manually operable means associated with the rolls for varying the frictional contact of the sheet with any individual roll without interruptingthe feed of the sheet to vary the length of theloops and take up any overflow or run of the material in the said loops,

and fixed transverse bars extending through the upper portions of the loops in spaced relation with the feed rolls' and coacting with the said devices for retarding the feeding of the sheet.

i 7. An 'apparatus of the. class described,

including overhead feed rolls arranged to support a sheet of'material draped or`festooned to form a plurality of depending loops having freelower ends, said feed rolls being provided with reversely arranged spiral ribs extending from the centers to the ends of the rolls to spread a sheet laterally, means for rotating the rolls to continuously feed the sheet during the drying or vulcanizing operation, fixed drag-bars extending through the upper portions of the` loops and provided with reversely arranged diverging ribs to spread or Stretch the sheet laterally. i i

8. An apparatus of the class described, including overhead feed rolls arranged to support a sheet of material draped or' festooned'to form' a plurality of depending loops having free lower ends, said. feed rolls being provided with reversely arranged spiral ribs extending from the centers to theends of the rolls to spread a sheet laterally, means for rotating the rolls to contin-- 4 devices including transverse rods extending through the upper portions of the loops between the feed rolls and the fixed drag-bars andmovable to partially lift the sheet from the feed rolls to interrupt the feed of the sheet to the individual loops for varying the length of the latter.

9. An apparatus of the class described including overhead feed .rolls arranged to support a sheetof material draped or'festooned to form a pluralt of depending loops having free lower end s means for rotatng the rolls to feed the sheet, fixed transverse drag bars extending through the upper portions of the loops and engaging the sheet at one side of each of the loops, pivotally mounted plates supporting the fixed drag bars and movable to adjust the fixed drag bars toward and from 'the other side of the loops, and clamping means for engaging the pivoted plates to secure the same in their adjustment.

10. An apparatus of the class described, including hangers arranged in pairs`,`overhead feed rolls mounted in the hangers and arranged to support a sheet of material draped or festooned to form a plurality of depending loops having free lower ends,

plates pivotally mounted on the hangers at one side thereof and having depending portions, fixed drag bars mounted in the depending'portions of the plates and extending through the upper portions of the loops in spaeed relation with the feed rolls, *and mounted on the hangerat V clamping 'means the other side thereof and connected with the pivoted plates for securing the latter in their adjustment.

11. An apparatus of the class described'- includng overhead feed rolls arranged to support a sheet of material, draped or festooned to form a plurality of depending loops having free lower ends, transverse rods extending through the upper portions of the loops in spaced relation with the feed rolls, and manuallyoperable means for p moving the transverse rods substantially in the arc of a 'circle with respect to-the feed rolls .to partially lift the sheet from'the feed rolls for interrupting the feed of the sheet to the individual loops without interrupt- *ing the feed of the sheet through the appa I e I r carried by the said member and n mesh ratus.

12. Au'apparatu's of the class described including a plurality of overhead feed rolls arranged to support a sheet of material draped or festooned to form a plurality of depending loops having free lower ends, arcuate gudes located adjacent the rolls, transverse rods extending through' the upper portions of the loops and Operating in the guides, fixed toothed segments concentric with the guides, and gears nounted on the rods and meshing with the segments and adapted to move the rods in the guides w hen the said rods are rotated, whereby the sheet is lifted from the feed rolls to interrupt the feeding of the sheet to the individual loops Without interrupting the feed of the sheet through the apparatus.

apparatus of the class described includin a plurality of overhead feed rolls arrange to support a sheet of material draped or festooned to form a plurality of depending loops having free lower ends, arcuate guides located adjacent the rolls, transverse rods extendin'g through the upper portions of the loops and Operating in the guides, fixed toothed segments concentric with the guides, and `ge rs mounted on the rods and meshing With the segments and adapted to move the rods in the uides when the said rods are rotated, where y the sheet is lifted from the feed rolls to interrupt the feeding of the sheet to the individual loops without interrupting the feed of the sheet to admit of draping sheet material thereover to provide loops and means for rotating the rolls to feed the material thereover, :of means for Varying the frictional contact between the material, and a roll to admit of varying the length of a loopwithout stopping or changing the speed of the roll.

15. The combination With rolls disposed to adnit of draping sheet material thereover to provide loops and means for rotatng the rolls to feed the. material thereover, of a vertically movable member reach of the loop, and manually operable means for lifting the said member to vary the frictional contact of the sheet with the roll .to vary the feed and length of the loop of the sheet without stoppng or changing the speed of the roll.

.16. The combination with rolls,di'sposed toadmit of'draping sheet material thereover `to provide loops and means for rotating the rolls to feed the material: thereover, of a vertically movable member engaging a reach `of a loop, a toothed element, a pinion engaging a with the toothed element, and means for rotatimi mova.

the p'mion to eflect a, liftn le member and portion of t of the e sheet passing thereover to vary the length of the loop.

In testimony whereof I hve hereunto set my hand, this 5th day of April, 1929.

GEORGE H. KNOWLTON.

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