US1906981A - Process of and apparatus for coating printers' rollers - Google Patents

Description

May 2, 1933o o. UNDER ET AL 1,906,981

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR COATING PRINTERS; ROLLERS Filed Dec. 2. 1929 s sheets-sneet 1 ATTORNEY.

May 2, 1933. Q UNDER ET AL 4 1,906,981

PROCESS 0F AND APPARATUS FOR COATING PRINTERS ROLLERS Filed Dec. 2. 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 2, 1933. o. UNDER ET AL. 1,905,981

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR COATING' PRINTERS ROLLERS Filed Dec. 2, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY.

Patented May 2, i933 I E E F F l C E OSCAR LINDER, OF CORAL G-ABLES, FLORIDA, AND FRANK E. WILLSON, OF CHICAGO,

ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO SAML. BINGHAMS SON MFG. CO., OF CHICAGO, ILLINCIS,

A CORPORATION F ILLINOIS PROCESS OF AIN D AFPARATUS FOR COATING PRINTERS ROLLERS Application filed December 2, 1929. Serial No. 411,099.

This invention relates to an improved method of an apparatus for coating printers rollers of the type consisting of a steel shaft or stock, a durable and lasting body portion of rubber, composition or other suitable material cast thereon, sometimes but not necessarily, enclosed by a tubular casing or jacket of fabric, rubber or other suitable material, which encases the body portion of the roller,

lo and a thin coating of roller composition of substantially uniform thickness, as near as may be, applied to the outer cylindrical surface of said casing or jacket, said coating of roller composition being removable-as by washing-and renewable when necessary, to

restore standard performance of the rollers 1n use.

As is generally Well lmown to persons familiar with the manufacture and use of printers rollers, several different methods of and apparatus for coating printers rollers of the general type specified are known and in use at the present time.

The object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved method of and apparatus for coating printers rollers of the general typer specified, both new and used, with an outer coating of roller composition. As the invention relates to an improved 20 method of coating printers rollers, it consists of the various stepshereinafter specified and as it relates to an apparatus for carrying out our improved process, the invention consists of thev various features, combinations of features, and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, in which the invention is fully illustrated,

Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in section, of 43 a printers roller of the general type to which the present invention relates.

Fig 2 is a side view, partly in section, of a printers roller and means for applying roller composition thereto in accordance with our improved process.

` present invention relating solely to the meth- Fig. 3 is a side view illustrating means for coating a ,roller supported in inclined position, both to the horizontal and vertical.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the receptacle for containing coating material used in coating inclined rollers.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of receptacle for containing coating composition, adapted for use in the practice of our improved process.

Fig. 6 is a side view substantially similar to Fig. 1, of coating apparatus which includes mechanical means for supplying liquid coating composition to the applying receptacle during operation; and

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic side view illustrating still other means for applying coating composition in accordance with our invention.

Describing the invention with particular reference to the drawings and referring in the first instance to the embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, of the drawings A designates as a whole, a printers roller of the general type to which the present invention relates, comprising a body portion consisting of a central stock or shaft 10, a body portion 11 of rubber, composition, ,or other suitable material, a casing or jacket 12 of rubber, fabric or like material, which ,encases the said cushion body 11, and a relatively thin, renewable outer coating 13 of roller composition. Rollers of the general type specified are old and well-known, the

odof and apparatus for applying the external coating 13 of roller composition to the roller body.

To effect this coating, said roller bod 11 is mounted with its axis disposed at an appreciable angle to the horizontal, preferably substantially vertical, as indicated in Fig. 2, with the lower end of the stock or shaft 10 in engagement with a suitable bearing 14, secured to the floor or other suitable fixed sup- 9o port, and its upper end in engagement with a bearing indicated at 14. A receptacle 15, preferably made in the form of an inverted, truncated cone, and provided with an opening 16 in its smaller end, adapted and arranged to t over the roller body 11 with slight clearance, is arranged about said roller body and filled with roller composition indicated at 17. Said roller composition 17 is that commonly used for the purpose, or any suitable composition, and is applied in melted condition, in which it will iiow freely. In applying said coating of roller composition to the vroller body 11, the receptacle 15 is started at the top of the roller body and is moved downwardly along the same, thereby applying the coating 13 to the surface of said roller body by adhesion of the liquid composition to the surface of the body portion of the roller'. By moving the receptacle l5 slowly, practically all drainage of the coating material, due to gravity, will be returned directly into said receptacle, so that there will be little, if any, drainage after the coating of the roller has been completed. After the coatingof roller composition has been thus applied to the entire surface of the roller to be coated, said roller may be removed from the apparatus and deposited in upright position in a rack provided for the purpose, and permitted to remain until drainage ceases, and the coating 13 of roller composition sets or hardens. By properly manipulating the receptacle 15, a surface coating of great uniformity and smoothness can be obtained.

If it is desired to increase the uniformity of the coating, the lower portion of the roller body 11 may be heated or the upper portion thereof cooled, which will tend to expedite or retard drainage, and thus equalize the thickness of the coating, inasmuch as there is a natural tendency of the coating to drain downwardly and thereby thicken slightly at the lower end of the roller. This graduated heating can be effected without the employment of special means for the purpose by progressively increasing the time of contact of the heated body of roller composition with the roller. as said body of roller composition moves from top to bottom of the roller, that is by gradually retarding the movement of the receptacle downwardly along the roller.

Preferably, but not necessarily, the roller A will be rotated slowly on its axes during the application of the coating composition thereto. Such rotation will tend to further increase the uniformity of the coating 13 of pose can readily be devised by mechanics of ordinary skill without the exercise of invention. For example, rotation may be imparted to the roller by means of a crank or dog 18, secured to the upper end of the stock or shaft 10 above the support 14.

In order to catch any roller composition which may drain from the roller or from the receptacle 15, when said receptacle passes below and out of engagement with the lower end of the roller body, an inclined drain age board 19 is arranged, as indicated, to cooperate with a vessel 20, whereby coating material draining from the roller 11, or the receptacle 15, may be collected and reused.

Where, as not infrequently happens, the rollers to be coated are too long to be mounted with their axes disposed vertically, our invention contemplates mounting them with their axes disposed at such considerable angle to the horizontal as may be necessary to mount them in the space available. This manner of mounting such long rollers is shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

Except as regards certain necessary changes in detail, as presently pointed out, the adaptation of our improved process and apparatus for coating rollers thus supported in inclined position, is practically identical with the method and apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2, and corresponding parts are, therefore, designated by the same reference characters.

As regards the changes in detail required for coating rollers when supported in inclined position. one of these consists in making the hole 16 in the small end of the receptacle 15 elliptical in shape, the shape thereof conforming to the shape in cross-section of the roller in the plane of the opening 16. which usually will be a substantially horizontal plane.

Obviously, the hole or opening 16 being elliptical in shape. the shape of the receptacle 15 in plan View. desirably will conform generally to that of said hole or opening 16.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings, a plan view of a receptacle suitable for thus coating rollers supported in an inclined position. is shown.

In Fig. 5 of the drawings, a modified form of receptacle adapted to contain a larger quantity of coating composition than the receptacles shown in Figs. 2 to 4. To accomplish this. the receptacle, designated 15 is substantially cylindrical in form and is provided in its bottom with an opening 16 adapted to fit over the roller body 11. The operation of this form of receptacle is precisely the same as the operation of the receptacles 15 shown in Figs. 2 to 4 and will be readily understood from the drawings without a. separate description thereof in detail.

In Fig. 6 of the drawings, a somewhat more elaborate apparatus than that shown in Figs. 2 to 4 and heretofore described is shown. As regards its general features and excepting as hereinafter particularly described, the apparatus shown in Fig. 6 is substantially the same as that shown in Figs. 2 to 4, and corresponding parts thereof are designated by the same reference characters, the description of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2 referring equally to that of Fig. 6.

The principal feature in which the apparatus shown in Fig. 6 diers from that shown in Fig. 2, consists in connecting the receptacle 153 with a source of supply of roller composition, as shown, a tank 23 supported at a somewhat higher level than the upper end ot the roller A, a discharge opening iu the lower end of which is connected with a nipple 24 at the lower end of the receptacle 153, whereby roller composition may be supplied to the receptacle 153 from said tank 23 during the entire coating operation. As shown, also, the nipple 24 is controlled by means of a valve 25 adapted to regulate the quantity of liquid composition supplied to said receptacle 153, thus providing for maintaining a substantially uniform depth of coating composition in said receptacle, which will operate to render the application of coating material more unifor'm in thickness than would be the case if the depth of coating material in said receptacle were to vary during the progress of said receptacle downwardly along the roller.- Obviously, also the provision of means for thus supplying coating composition to the receptacle 153 during the coating operation will insure au adequate supply of coating composition to properly coat the roller.

As still a further modification of the apparatus for coating printers rollers with roller composition, in accordance with our improved process` instead of moving the receptacle containing the coating composition downwardly along the roller to be coated, our invention contemplates equally a construction in which the receptacle which contains the liquid coating composition is mounted in fixed position and the roller to be coated is passed endwise upwardly through said receptacle, the relation being such that the coating material will be applied progressively from the top of the roller downwardly.

What we now consider preferable means for supporting the roller and passing it upwards through the receptacle containing coating composition, consists in suspending the roller by one end by means of a flexible cord or cable which passes over a pulley supported above the receptacle, which in operation contains the coating composition and in then raising said roller through said receptacle, by a pull on the cable in the proper direction, which may be done either manually or by means of a simple form of winch.

This modification is shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings, inl which A designates the roller,

154 the receptacle mounted in fixed position, the relation being such that, initially the rectacle 154 will be positioned adjacent the upper end of the surface of the roller to be coated. 17 indicates coating composition contained in the receptacle, 26 a flexible cord or cable b-y which the roller A is suspended by its upper end, 27 a pulley over which said cord or cable passes and 28 a simple form of winch to which the cable is anchored and upon which it may be wound or unwound by rotation of said winch in the proper direction, thus raising or lowering the roller, as may be desired.

In all embodiments of the invention, the depth of the receptacle for containing the coating composition is so proportioned that the body of coating composition will cover only`a restricted portion of the surface of the roller to be coated, thereby causing the coating composition to be applied to said roller progressively from its top downwards The process of coating printers rollers herein described, is very simple and efficient and its practice requires the use of practically no machinery. Also very little composition Will be wasted, as practically all composition which drains from the rollers during the coating process, drains directly back into the applying receptacle, while any small amount of drainage which occurs aft-er the completion of the coating operation, will be caught by the drain board 19 and delivered into the receptacle 20, from which it may be recovered and used again. Thus a minimum amount of coating composition will be used with a resulting saving of waste.

Instead of employing the drain board 19 and receptacle 20 for recovering liquid composition which may drain from the roller A or receptacle 15, our invention contemplates providing said receptacle with a stop cock 29, see Fig. 6, positioned adjacent its lower end, by means of which excess coating composition may be drawn oli from said receptacle 15 into a separate receptacle, notshown, before the hole 16 in the lower end of the receptacle passes out of engagement with the body of the roller.

While the preferred method of and apparatus for practicing the invention have been illustrated and described, these are capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is, therefore, not desired or intended to limit the patent protection to the precise details herein disclosed, but'to include therein also such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Reference in the specification and claims, to rollers mounted at an appreciable angle to the horfiontal, is intended to designate and include any angular position of a roller in which it may be coated by means of our improved process, it being understood that,

preferably, the roller will always be mounted with its axes as nearly vertical as possible. In practice, the minimum angle of inclination for coating rollers in accordance with our improved process, can readily be determined by simple experiment, which, in view of our disclosure, will not involve invention.

We claim: l. The method of coating printers rollers with roller composition, which, consists in imparting relative axial movement to a roller disposed with its axis at an appreciable angle to the horizontal, and a confined vbody of liquid coatin composition held in contact with the sur ace of the roller to be coated and which entirely surrounds 'a restricted portion axially thereof, the roller emerging axially upwards from the body of coating composition.

2. The method of coating printers rollers with roller composition, which consists in imparting relative axial movement to a roller disposed with its axis substantially vertical,`

and a confined body of liquid coating composition held in contact with the surface of the roller to be coated and which entirely surrounds a restricted portion, axially thereof, the roller emerging axially upward from the body of coating composition.

3. The method of coating printers rollers as specified in claim 1, which also consists in maintaining the body of coating composition in Contact with the roller, of substantially uniform depth.

4. Apparatus for coating printers rollers, comprising means for mounting a roller with its axis disposed at an appreciable angle to the horizontal, a receptacle which initially entirely surrounds a restricted portion, axially, of the surface of roller adjacent its upper end, and means for imparting relative movement to said roller and receptacle, causing application of the roller composition progressively from top to the bottom ofthe roller, the roller emerging axially upwards from the body of composition.

5. Apparatus for coating printers rollers, comprising means foiLmounting a roller with its axis disposed at an appreciable angle to the horizontal, a receptacle which initially entirely surrounds a restricted portion, axially, of the surface of the roller to be coated adjacent its upper end, and means for imparting relative axial and turning movement to said roller and receptacle, the roller emerging axially upwards from the body of composition.

6. Apparatus for coating printers rollers, comprising means for mounting a roller with its axis disposed at an appreciable angle to the horizontal, a receptacle which `initially entirely surrounds a restricted portion, axially, of the surface of the roller to be coated adjacent its upper end, means for imparting relative axial movement to said roller and receptacle, and means for 'turning said roller on its axis, the roller emerging axially upwards from the body of composition.

7 Apparatus for coating printers rollers, comprising means for m-ounting a roller to be coated withits axis disposed substantially vertical,a receptacle which initially entirely surrounds a restricted portion, axially, ofthe surfaceA of the" roller adjacent'its upper end, and means for imparting relative movement to the roller and receptacley of said roller, causing the coating composition to be applied progressively from top to bottom of said roller, the roller emerging, axially vupwards from the body of composition.

8. Apparatus for coating printers rollers, comprising means for mounting a roller with its axis disposed at an appreciable angle to the horizontal, a receptacle which initially entirely surrounds a restricted portion, axially, of said roller'adjacent its upper end, means for maintaining a substantially constant depth of liquid coating composition in said receptacle, and lmeans for imparting relative movement to saidroller .and receptacle, causing the coating composition to be applied progressively from top to bottom of said roller, the roller emerging axially upwards from the body of composition.

9. Apparatus for coating printers rollers, comprising means for mounting a roller with its axis disposed at an appreciable angle to the horizontal, a receptacle which initially entirely surrounds a restricted portion, axially, of said roller adjacent its upper end, means for maintaining a substantially constant depth of liquid coating composition in said receptacle, and means-'for imparting movement to said receptacle downwardly along the surface of said roller, the roller emerging axially upwards from'the body of composition.

` 10. Apparatus for coating printers rollers, comprising means for mounting a roller with -its axis disposed aty 'an appreciable angle to the horizontal, a'reoeptacle which initially encloses a portion of the rolleradjacent itsl upper end and which entirely surrounds said roller, an elevated reservoir 'for containing liquid coating composition, a flexible hose which connects said reservoir a-nd receptacle, and means for imparting relative movement to said roller and. receptacle causing the coating composition to b'e applied progressively from top to bottom of'said roller, the roller emerging axially from the body of composition and formation of the coating being effeclted by the action of adhesion and drainage on y. Y v

11. Apparatus for coating printers rollers, comprising means-'for lmounting a roller with its .axis disposed-at 'an appreciable angle to the horizontal, a'frecepta'cle which initially encloses a. .portionf'ofthe roller adjacent its upper end, and means for. imparting relative movement to said roller and receptacle causing coatin composition vto be applied yprogressively rom top to bottom of said roller the roller emerging axially from the body oi 5 composition and formation ofthe coating being eected by the action of adhesion and drainage only, a drain board beneath said roller and a receptacle into which said drain board discharges,

3@ iin Witness that We claim the foregoing as our invention, We ax our signatures this 21st day of November, 1929.

f @SCAR LENDER.

E5 FRANK E. WILLSUN.

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