US2012414A - Ingot transfer arm - Google Patents

Description

Patented Aug. 27, 1935 UNITED STATES t an PATENT orriee INGOT' TRANSFER ARM James L. Adams, J12, Youngstown, Ohio 7 Application ,July 18, 1933, Serial No. 680,967

15 Claims. ((1212 39),

The present invention relates broadly to the art of handling heavy metal ingots, preparatory to their delivery to'a suitable ingot-carriage or buggy, or to their handling into and out of 5 heating furnaces, preparatory to rolling, and

more particularly to the manipulation of ringingots, such as those in process of preparation for use in a continuous beltrolling mill, similar tothat covered by my co-pending application, Serial No. 674,661, filed June 7th, 1933, or ingots being entered into and Withdrawn from heating furnaces similar to those disclosed in my copending application, Serial No, 655,185, filed February 4th, 1933, and being delivered to or from an ingot-carriage as per co-pending application, Serial No. 652,142, filed January 17th, 1933, although I do not limit the applications of my invention to' the handling of ingots, as it is equally adaptable to lifting and transferring other classes of heavy articles.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a transferring mechanism particularly adapted to the inter-furnace and furnace-toingot-car handling of heavy ring-ingots, as one element of the general assembly of apparatus which includes the devices disclosed in the above applications, and my centrifugal casting machine application Serial #680,570, filed July 15th, 1933.

Another object is to provide a type of transfer which can get into and out of a furnace of the general type referred to above, with as little loss of hot-gases therefrom as possible, and which can selectively be applied to the ingot desired, whether that ingot happens to be the next one in sequence in the furnace, or not.

This provides for selective heating of any ingot, independently of the rest, in case some cooler ingots are being brought up to temperature, as where most are taken direct from casting-wheel, but a few have some cold from storage pile.

Another object is to furnish an ingot transfer means which can readily be operated over any one of three ways in any succession required, as from ingot-car to an initial heating furnace, from thisfurnace to a second-stage heating furnace and from the latter back to ingot-car, and with either furnace made the first one to be entered, since the condition of the brick-work may necessitate use of either one at times, as the furnace of the higher temperature maintenance.

Still another object is to provide a transfer which can be set to pick up at one end of its travel, and release at the other, or reverse the ends so acting.

Another object is to provide a transfer which might be substituted, without automatic features,

can be readily made to travel either 120 degrees .in the horizontal plane, as the path of delivery of the material is followed from pick-upto delivery-end, or to swing right across in one vertical plane throughout, so as to deliver 180 de- 5 grees from the starting point, approximately, should this be desired in some cases.

Another object is to make this 120 degrees of horizontal plane travel selective, and with the delivery in either direction along each 120 de- 10 grees, as required.

Another objectis to provide a transfer-arm, which, if loaded, will automatically complete the full swing required for proper delivery. of the burden. but which, if unloaded, will automat- 15 ically stop on the next return of the arm to its top-most position, unless this stoppage is intentionally prevented by proper switch closure by operator.

An important object is to provide a transfer 20 mechanism which, for the first time, will combine all the above valued objects in a single, practical, and sturdy apparatus.

Other objects of commercial value will be self evident to anyone versed in the art to which 25 my invention appertains.

With all these and other objects in mind, I

have provided a substantially constructed means for quickly and accurately picking-up, transferure 1, looking with the arrows, while for parts below line BB of Figure 2, this figure is in sec- 40 tion, as per line 1113-4113, of above Figure 1, again pointing with the arrows.

Figure 3 is an elevation showing gripping-arms spread and just released from ingot permanently,

by the closure of latch indicated at the left.

Figure 4 illustrates a wiring diagram of the complete transfer equipment, including its operating motor, and the top-position interlock stop,

although in some cases a straight hand-control withoutdeviating from the letter or spirit of my invention.

In all the figures, identical parts are indicated by the same part numbers. This drawing is shown for purposes of illustration on1y,and not beveled prominences, or bosses 50, 5!, 52, located about as shown, but relatively displaced in a direction axially of shaft l3, so that boss 58 contacts with the operating rolls 53, 54, only, to close the normally open contacts 55, 56, respectively, while boss 5! connects with roll 5? only, to open the normally closed contacts 53, and boss 52 clears all rolls except 59 and 66, with which it is shown in contact in the drawing, and which rolls serve to close the normally open contacts 8i, and respectively, as is likewise indicated by the drawing.

All the rolls 53, 54, 57, 59, and 66, are preferably of bakelite-micarta or other suitable insulating material, or if of metal, are then well insulated from the respective contacts.

Rolls 53 and st are mounted upon the oscillable metal bar 63, rolls 5 and 5t upon the similar bar dd, both bars being mounted freely upon the stationary shaft 65, but insulated therefrom by suitable insulating material 66, said shaft being carried by an appropriate bracket 67, at tached in any convenient way to plate 6.

Bars E3 and E4 carry at their right-hand ends the insulated rolls 68 and 6%, respectively co-opcrating with the twin-dip springs Hi, i l, each appropriately mounted upon bracket Si, by any convenient means, and adapted to hold the respective rolls in either one of the two dip positions indicated, until forcibly shifted over to the other. These bars provide means whereby contests 55 and 56 will always be opened up before contacts .5! and 62 close, and vice versa, all said contacts then maintaining their. status quo until the next forced motion of bar 53, or bar as, occurs, these two bars function similarly, but independently.

From a point near the axis of bars 53, 6 3, flexible conductors are taken off to the right and left-hand throw points i2, and 13, respectively, of a single-pole, double-throw switch it, whose mid-point terminal is connected to one of the contacts 58, and also to lead 34, from contacts before referred to, the remaining lead 35 from which connects to opposite side of contacts 58 through suitable flexible conductor, and to one terminal of single-pole, single-throw knife switch the opposite terminal of which is connected to flexible lead 34, above mentioned.

From switch '55, lead 35 extends on as incoming line iii from suitable source of preferably direct current supply, the opposite line ll of which enters through suitable disconnecting switch 18, (which may be double-pole, if desired), and on through the lead 79 to contacts 88 and 8!, on opposite throws of the primary contactor 62.

From contacts 36 and 8!, connections are made through shunt coils 83 and 8t and leads 85 and S6, to outboard side of contacts 55, 56, and 61, 52, respectively, as shown in the figure, it being noted that coil 83 controls the right-hand swing of arm it, as indicatedby the R adjacent to said coil, while coil 34 is concerned with the left swing thereof, as indicated by the L nearby, this control being by means of lines 81, 88, from the upper-throw contact 89, and lower-throw contact S3, of primary contactor .82, tothe re spective R and L throw coils 9i, and 92, of the heavy, or secondary contactor 93, and thence the leads Q 5 and 95, respectively, to side it of incoming power line, the opposite side T19, of which, connects through the lead 96 to terminals s; and 98, one on each throw of the contactor 93, which carries two independent sets of bridging contacts 99, and M3, on the insulating crossbar thereof, as pointed out by the numeral 93, just mentioned.

The remaining top right-hand contact point co-operating with bridge 99 connects across to lower left hand contact under bridge 69, while the remaining bottom right contact under bridge 99 cross-connects to upper left hand contact of bridge lilil, these upperand lower left-hand contacts for bridge lull connecting further through the leads liii, Hill, with the respective brushes of motor 45, while the top and bottom right-hand contacts associated with bridge mil, connect together, thence through series coil [S3 of said motor, and conductor we, to incoming line it. The twin-core elements of the two contactors 82 and 93 shown, are normally held in mid-position so that all contacts are open, by the respective spring suspensions Hi5 and use, these fiat springs being suitably supported upon the stationary mountings ill! and H28, properly held in position by any convenient means, (not shown).

If desired, small dash-pot elements may be added to the moving systems supported by the springs m5, H36, in order to prevent'chattering, and rebound elfects.

In all the figures, forward directions of travel, or of current flow, are indicated by solid arrows, and reversed directions by dotted arrows.

In connection with the design of crank-arm d3,

slide ts, link 45, and segment 4 mounted in line with shaft 38, of Figure 2, the preferred construction involves such a choice of relative dimensions of these elements, as will bring arm 43 substantially perpendicular to the slot in link 46, at the end of stroke of said arm, so that delivery of ingot, and the picking-up of new one, will occur about on dead-centre position for the slide 35. This is slightly better than is shown in Figure 2, and the ingot approach to limit positions in the horizontal swing directions will, therefore, be'more gradual.

This completes the presentation of parts of my invention, and since it is' believed that the operation of the total assembly thereof will be self-evident to anyone skilled in the art to which said invention appertains, the supplementary comments on operation willbe made as brief as possible consistent with clearness of presentation.

The method of setting the transfer-arm for the particular 120 degree horizontal swing required, as well as the action of the picking-up and release mechanisms, having already been described, I will confine the further description of operations to the functioning of the essentially electrical parts presented upon the wiring or connection diagram, Figure 4. If the pick-up of load is to be on right end of swing of arm H5, or where it is shown in this figure, then roll of Figure 2 will be set in. place, and roll 3! may or may not be removed, while lower switch i i, of Figure 4, will be thrown to the right, or as shown, thereby bringing rolls 5S and es, and corn tacts 55, 51 into action. Contacts 56 and 62 will now be idle, so that the former contacts govern the action, and these being displaced a little to the right, this causes the reversal contactsito function a little earlier in the stroke on the movement of arm M to the right, than is thecase for its throw to the left, so that the latching-up of arms l1, l8 occurs only at the left, or release position.

As shown, contact 6! is closed by roll 59, permitting a circuit to be traced from line it, through switch 18 at upper left, line 19, lower or left throw governing coil 88 of primary contactor or relay 82, on through lead and contacts iii, to point 12 on right side of lower switch it, up through contacts 58, and out on the left to line 16 of the incoming power supply, thus completmg the circuit and closing primary contact-or in the downward direction, after which a further circuit can be traced through ll, 78, Hi, point St to pointed on relay 82, via lead 88 to heavy shunt coil 82 of main contactor S3, and through conductor to outgoing line 76 of the power line. Whereupon this contactor 93 closes in the downward or left throw governing'directicn of arm lt,'giving a new circuit from ll through 73 and 19, to lead 96 and contact 91, across bridge 99 along the underneath section thereof to the point on right side, and thence past thejust now unused upper left point of contact of bridge on through lead it! to one brush of motor t 5, out through the other brush and wire M2 to lower left contact point of bridge use, through lower section of latter to lower right point, on through series coil we of motor 4i, and line we and thence to return line it. Motor ll being thus energized in proper direction to swing arm it to the let the latter rises, and assuming an ingot present to be picked-up thereby, the said ingot will be carried along, eventually wiping buttonhead of pin 33, or a roll set to replace the same, closing contacts 32 just before the circuit through contacts 58, in parallel therewith, is opened by contact of roll 5? with the mid-point boss 59, so that circuit throughrelay coil 8% is not disturbed, and the swing proceeds on to left until .boss 59 touches roll 53 and forces it down, thereby opening up the contacts 6i, releasing relay 82, and an instant later closing contacts 55, and circuit through upper or right swing governing coil 83, of relay 82.

This circuit may be traced from incoming line 17, through switch 78, lead 19, point 85 and shunt coil 83, on via lead 85 to points 55, back to right-hand terminal '72 of lower switch It, up through contacts 53, and out to left to return line it. Relay 82 therefore rises, and a new circuit can now be traced from l9 through point 8 of this relay,- across to point 89, out through line 81 to upper or right swing controlling coil 9! of main contactor $23, and on via wire 94 to return line it, thereby closing this contactor upward, and giving a circuit from incoming line 19 through lead 95 to top left point 98 thereon, through bridge 99 to top right point, and down through lower left point under bridge I 0 and on to what was before the outgoing brush, but now the incoming brush of motor ii 2, through the lead it: connected therewith, then out from remaining brush via line ii]! to upper left contact over bridge lilti, acrossthe latter to upper right point, thence to now unused lower right point and on to motor series coil Hi3 and back via lead lot to outgoing line 16 again, it being noted that direction of current flow through series coil is the ceeds on upward and'to right, until boss 5! hits roll 57, and opens up contacts 58, while contacts '32 remain open this time, since no ingot is present to close them. Hence circuit through relay coil 83 is forced to open, in turn opening that through contactor coil SI, and stopping the motor M, with the arm l4 left in approximately vertical position.

As soon as a new ingot is ready to be lifted on right, however, the operator closes switch :5 for a moment or two, circuit through coil 83 is re-established, re-closing that through coil 9i of main oontactor, and the arm if: proceeds on to right, and down to the position shown in Figure 4, when the reversal of the contacts 35 and Si, by the boss 52, functioning roll 5'3, causes another reversal of swing of arm i l, the load is picked up, and the procedure repeated as before outlined.

In an actual construction, motor 45 would probably not be a plain series wound machine, as such would tend to speed up greatly on the down half of swing, when arm Hi was under full load of ingot, so that a motor with heavy shunt winding cumulatively assisting the series is indicated, and furthermore, by making this shunt coil very powerful, and placing a resistance in series therewith, properly shortcircuited during middle of swing, but cut in near either end thereof, by appropriate and well known contact means likewise functioned'by the respective bosses 5t and 52, or others out of alignment with the latter, and placed angularly just a little nearer the mid-stroke position of counterweight it, the end of each swing can be made at slow speed, approximately that of the intermediate full speed positions, and thus greatly facilitating the stop and reversal actions, the former of which may be still further augmented if necessary by the addition of a series operated electric brake. These changes in motor operation and structure, however, represent well known improvements of, and not essential elements per e of my invention, and are therefore not shown on the drawing, in order not to complicate the presentation, such changes forming no part of my present claims.

It might be noted that usually the counterweight l5 will be so designed as to just about balance out 50% of the ingot weight, more or less.

By shifting the pin id, of crank-arm to the position 44' below, it acts as a lock, preventing any horizontal rotation of plate 4i, segment i'l standing still, and the ingot being delivered straight across, 180 degrees away from starting point, without any further changes, except that if this action is contemplated, handle 8 would regularly be built in position at a slot degrees around king-pin 3, from its position as shown on Figure 2, so as not to come immediately under delivery point of ingot] it is obvious that if such straight across delivery is the only type of motion desired, then a much simplified structure might be substituted for that shown, but in many cases the three-way delivery feature is very important, as in connection with various furnace and ingot-car locations, so I have indicated it as my preferred construction, without wishing to limitmy present application to the somewhat more elaborate structure shown and described therein, and it will be understood that changes in the construction or arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, or the scope of my broader claims.

Similarly it will be obvious that a purely manual control might be substituted for the more or less automatic type of action which I have preferred to show, and I do not desire to forego the use of such simplified apparatus, or to delete it from my claims. In certain cases, trip rolls 3i] and SI of Figure 2 may both be left in, so that entire change from right to left pick-up can be made by throwing switch 7 Certain very definite advantages accrue from the use of my ingot transfer-arm, in that it permits a wide diversity of pick-up and delivery points to be selected, without material changes in the apparatus, and it is able to lift up any se lected ingot from a passing series thereof, without disturbing the rest, and thus permitting selective ingot heating to be practiced in any furnace with which it is associated. The majority of ingot transfers must take successive ingots, whether or no, and thus make selective heating thereof impossible.

Other advantages accrue from its mid-point stop feature, when unloaded, so that the arm is kept well out of the way, during transit of other cooperating apparatus.

Other important advantages will'be self-evident to anyone skilled in the art to which it appertains.

I claim: a

i. In a material transfer apparatus, a stationary base provided with a horizontally positioned shaft, a swingable transfer arm mounted rotatably on said shaft, a material grab means mounted rotatably on outer end of said arm on a pin mounted substantially parallel to said shaft and also included herein, two successively positioned limit stops mounted operatively for deter mining the end of a given throw of said arm by contact therewith, and a selector means applicable to elect manually which stop is to function.

2. In a material transfer apparatus, a stationary base provided with a vertically projecting element, a horizontal shaft mounted in said element, a swingable transfer arm mounted rotatably on said shaft, 2. pin mounted substantially parallel to said shaft but near outer end of said arm, a material grab means mounted rotatably on said pin, two limit stop means, one mounted for contact with elements of said arm at one end of the swing thereof, and the other at the end of the opposite swing, but respectively positioned to give a longer throw on one side of the vertical centre-line of throw of said arm than on the other, and power means applicable to swing said arm in either direction, as required. I

3. In a material transfer apparatus, a stationary base element, an arm mounting means carried by said element, a swingable transfer arm mounted rotatably on said arm mounting means for movement in a substantially vertical plane, .a horizontal pin mounted near the outer end of said arm and substantially parallel to axis of swing of said arm, a material grab means mounted rotatably on said pin, two limit stop means, one mounted to functionally contact with elements of said arm at the end of one swing thereof, and the other at the end of the opposing swing, but with said limit stop means so mounted as to function farther away from vertical centreline position of said transfer arm when latter is at one end of swing than at the other, further means for inter-changing the long and the short throw directions manually, as required, and power means applicable to propel said arm in successively alternate directions.

4. A claim as in 2, but in which said material grab means includes two pendant arms mounted tained, and thereby withhold said grab means from functioning as such.

5. A claim as in 2, but adding that said material grab means includes two pendant arms mounted in such wise as to be individually rotatable on said pin and so as to be angularly separable when required, and a latching means operative to maintain a wide separation of said pendant arms when once attained, said transfer arm including a trip eans mounted conveniently thereon to contact with said latching means and re-set the same, after a load has been released by said grab means.

6. A claim as in 2, but in which said material grab means includes two pendant arms mounted so as to be individually rotatable on said pin and so as to allow angular separation of said pendant arms when required, and a spreader means on lower side of each of said pendant arms, which spreader means is positioned to contact with the load after the latter is deposited and widely spread said arms for latchingpurposes by'a brief continuation of the swing of said transfer arm beyond the initial load-release position, as determined by the limit stop giving the longer throw thereto.

7. A claim as in 2, but in which there is con- 0 nected in circuit an additional limit stop of the normally-open type, which is mounted so as to contact with the working load being carried, when said transfer arm is at about mid-swing position, and thereby allow said arm to continue on its course, in spite of a mid-throw opening-up of one of the remaining limit switches, by a mid-point projection conveniently mounted upon a moving element of said transfer arm.

8. In a material transfer apparatus, a stationary and substantially flat subbase, a substantialcircular fiat base-plate rotatably mounted thereon and operable about a vertical axis, a manually operable indexing means to position said base-plate on said sub-base at a plurality of angular positions, as required, a vertically projecting cap-plate element mounted rotatably on said base-plate and operative also about a vertical axis, a swingable transfer arm mounted to swing about a horizontal axis positioned in said element, a direct mechanical. driving connection between said transfer arm and said baseplate, said connection being rotatably mounted upon said cap-plate element, a material grab means mounted on a pin located near the outer end of said transfer arm and rotatably movable in a vertical plane thereon, said pin being substantially parallel with the last mentioned axis, power means applicable toswing said transfer arm and said element over definite vertical and horizontal arcs respectively and concomitantly, by the connection above mentioned, and a latching' up means applied to said grab means to allow release of the workng load automatically at a predetermined length of swing, as set by included limit stop means.

9. A claim as in 6, but in which two limit stops areincluded, one at each end of swing of said transfer arm, respectively, and positioned to make successive swings non-symmetrical about the vertical centre-line, through axis of said transfer arm.

10.111 a material transfer apparatus, a power operable swinging transfer arm, said arm being arranged to swing through a vertical substantially mid-position, a pair of limit stop means one of which is located adjacent the line of swing on each side of the said vertical mid-position respectively, the two being at different angular distances therefrom however, a contacting device mounted on said transfer arm to contact with said limit stop means and thereby provide for stopping said arm at unequal distances on each side of said Vertical mid-position, power driving means for said transfer arm and which power means is connected to and operable under control of said limit stop means, a mounting base supporting said transfer arm in swingable relation thereto, a selector means providing for the interchange of the two different angular distances of stop from normal mid-position as above mentioned, and so as to reverse the direction of longest throw of said transfer arm, a material grab mounted freely on a pin near outer end of said transfer arm, and a grab latching-up means arranged to free it from the load on contact therewith at the end of the longer swing of said v arm only,

i 11. In a material transfer apparatus, a swingable transfer arm rotatably mounted for travel 1 vertical axis, connected mechanical means providing definite respective angular arcs of vertical and horizontal travel for said transfer arm concomitantly, indexing means providing a manual selection of the centre-line of the horizontal arc of travel, a power driving means operatively connected with said transfer arm to swing the latter in either direction as required, and a material release means operable by an excess length of throw of said arm in either direction, as determined by location of said limit stop positions at the respective ends of travel of said arm.

'12. A material transfer apparatus, comprising a stationary sub-base, superposed base-plate rotatably indexed thereto, and manually adjustable angularly thereon about a substantially vertical axis, a cap-plate rotatably operable over said base-plate and through a definitely determined angle, by power means connected thereto, a said cap-plate being operable likewise about a substantially vertical axis, a swingable transfer arm mounted rotatably about a horizontal axis in said cap-plate, and likewise operable bypower means to points on each side of said axis last mentioned, and limit stops mounted to contact with elements on said transfer arm and determine the successive lengths of swing to each side of the vertical position thereof, as required.

13. A material transfer apparatus, comprising a stationary sub-base, a substantially horizontal base-plate mounted thereon and adjustably rotatable about a substantially vertical axis carried thereby, a manually operable indexing means applied to said sub-base and said base-plate to determine the angular position of the latter with respect mounted integrally on said cap-plate, a swingable transfer arm mounted rotatably about a substantially horizontal axis in said element, and positioned near one end of said arm, a material grab means mounted rotatably on an axis near the other end of said arm, and operable by a definite extent of swing of said arm away from the vertical position thereof, a latch on said grab means and operable to contact with load and release said grab means from the said load on the occurrence of a definitely greater swing than above mentioned, a plurality of throw limit stops positioned to contact with said transfer arm at the respective ends of the throw thereof and operative to determine a somewhat greater throw in one direction of swing thereof than on the other, and a power means applied to said cap-plate and to said transfer arm to give concomitant rotation thereof through definite angles, and repeatable indefinitely, as required.

14. In a material transfer apparatus, a stationary base, a vertically projecting element mounted rotatably on said base and about a substantially vertical axis, a swingable transfer arm mounted rotatably on said element and operable about a substantially horizontal axis, a direct mechanical connection between said transfer arm and said base, said connection being rotatably mounted on a horizontal axis attached to said projecting element, a material grab means mounted rotatably near the outer end of said transfer arm on a horizontal axis substantially parallel to said axis last mentioned, power means applied to rotate said element and said transfer arm over precisely and definitely determined respective angles concomitantly and to reverse the precise motion repeatedly as required, latch mounted upon said material grab means to hold it in released position, and a projecting latchcontacting means applied to said transfer arm to release said latch after deposition of a working load, and after the reversal of motion of said transfer arm at the end of its swing, substantially as shown by part 3! in the drawing.

15. In a material transfer apparatus, a sta tionary base, a vertically projecting element mounted rotatably on said base and about a substantially vertical axis, swingable transfer arm mounted rotatably on said element and operable about a substantially horizontal axis, a direct mechanical connection between said transfer arm and said base, said connection being rotatably mounted on a horizontal axis attached to said projecting element, a material grab means mounted rotatably near the outer end of said transfer arm on a horizontal axis substantially parallel to said axis last mentioned, power means applied to rotate said element and said transfer arm over precisely and definitely determined respective angles concomitantly and to reverse the precise motion repeatedly as required, and two limit stops of which one contacts with a moving part near one end of its swing and the other near its other end of swing, and thereby determining the precise length of said swing in each direction of travel of said part, according to the positioning of said stops, and. for load pick-up and discharge purposes.

JAMES L. ADAMS, JR.

E. G. BAILEY Aug. 7, 1935.

FURNACE 2 Sheefs-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 6, 1931

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