US2050649A - Machine for pickling, swilling, and scrubbing metal plates - Google Patents

Description

s. DAVlEs 2,050,649

MACHINE FOR PICKLING, SWILLING, AND SCRUBBING METAL PLATES Aug. 11, 1936.

Filed April l, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 11, 1936. S. DAV|ES 2,050,649

MACHINE FOR PICKLING, SWILLING, AND SCRUBBING METAL PLATES Filed April l, 1955 3 SheebS--Shee'tl 2 Aug.r 11, 1936. s. DAvlEs v Y2,050,649

MACHINE FOR PICKLING, SWILLING, AND SGRUBBING METAL PLATES l Filed April l, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 machine.

Patented Aug. 11, 1936 UNITED TATES PATENT CFFICE MACHINE FOR PICKLING, SWILLING, AND SCRUBBING METAL PLATES pany of Great Britain Application April 1, 1935, Serial No. 14,162 In Great Britain April 3, 1934 12 Claims.

in suitable batches, .are pickled and washed in bulk. This is effected ina separate machine and then the batches of plates are transported to a tinning machine and the plates passed one after another through this machine for the purpose of coating them with metal.

When the plates are pickled and washed in bulk, the treatment liquids do not always eiectively reach the whole-surface of the plates, and the subsequent removal of the plates to the tinning machine involves a multiplicity of operations.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved machine which lenables `the plates to be treated separately or singly and a much more effective and uniform application of the liquids to the plate surfaces to be achieved.

The machine is at the-same time capable of treating plates in succession so that they -may be directly after washingand scrubbing to a tinning In the treatment of plates separately and in succession, however, it is necessary to have regard to the fact that plates of diiferent lengths have to be dealt with inv practice and therefore the invention provides for the improved Ymachine also to be capable of dealing with plates of this nature in an effective and economical manner.

It may here be mentioned that small plates are of different lengths from large plates. The length is as regarde-d in the ldirection in' which the plates are passed through the machine and `when referring to the length of the plates in this specification the dimension in that direction is what is intended. Naturally only plates of one length f are treated at any one time.

According to this invention, a pickling device is vprovided comprising a platev carrier suitable for receiving plates separately or singly and in succession and adjustable to suit the length of plates under treatment, and means operative to discharge the plates from the pickling bath or vat `in succession atsubstantially equal intervals or (Cl. 26S-7) to the length of the plates, for discharge of the plates from the plate carrier in succession at substantially equal intervals or distances apart. The invention also provides a feed device operative at corresponding speeds to feed the plates to the pickling bath or vat. Cam or like mechanism may be used for eecting jigging movement of the carrier and the arrangement is suitably such that several reciprocations are imparted to the carrier before the pick-up device comes into action to bring about removal of the respective plates from the bath or vat. By this apparatus effective treatment of the platesV by the liquid may be achieved and as the plates can be removed at v. substantially equal successive intervals or distances apart irrespective of their dimensions in the direction of travel through the machine, there need be no waste of space and time in the delivery of the plates and plates of all normal sizes can be treated effectively and economically.

For the purpose of swilling and scrubbing the plates or freeing them from acid, it is convenient to employ a swilling and scrubbing device comprising one or more sets of traversing rolls and one or more sets of cleaning rolls which rotate at` different peripheral speed from the traversing rolls. With this arrangement the cleaning rolls are able to effect a scrubbing or wiping of the plates resulting in very effective Washing or cleaning. 30

In order to enable the invention to be readily understood reference is directed to the accompanying drawings in whichz- Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of machine in accordance with these improvements.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of the pickling vat and mechanism.

Figure 3 is a composite longitudinal sectional elevation on the lines III-III and IIIa-IIIa i of Figure 2. '4

Figure 32L is a fragmentary view illustrating a modification.

Figurei isa section on the line IV-IV of Figure 2. y,

Figures 5 and 6 are respectively side and end 45 elevations of a coupling for the shaft of the abutment roll hereinafterreferred to.

Figure 7 is a plan of the swilling-and scrubbing device, and

Figure 8 is a fragmentary View, corresponding to Figure 4, of `a modified construction of pick-up device.

As seen in Figures l to4, the machine comprises aypickling section A, a feed section B and a .55

swilling and scrubbing section C which may be separately installed, or mounted together on a common frame or base. The pickling tank or vat a. is of rectangular form open at the top and tted with a removable frame for the plate carrier and pick-up device hereinafter described. This frame comprises tWo end plates b joined by two tie-rods c, d at the top and by a cross-member e and a tie-rod e (Figures 3 and 4) at the bottom. The frame is carried by the projecting ends of the tie-rods c, d resting between stops c', d', upon pedestals or supports f on the side walls of the vat. The plate carrier g is made of U form (Figure 2) from metal strip and has a straight bottom part on which are provided a series of rests h for the lower edge of the metal plates. In order to suit the carrier to different lengths of plate, it has a series of holes or pegs as at i (Figures 3 and 4) at the upper part of the arms of the U for the purposes of mounting it in vertically adjustable position upon two levers k respectively mounted on the end plates b of the aforesaid frame. These levers are adapted to be oscillated on their pivots l, to reciprocate or jig the carrier, by means of cams m. It is convenient to employ a three-lobe form of cam, see Figure 3, and to mount the cams on the spindle `of a plate-discharge roll n which is mounted in bearings in slots such as y in the frame plates b. The levers 1c are of three-armed nature and the cam action is applied to the arms o. The cams operate to depress the plate carrier g, the return movement being caused by spring means or weights p operative on the free arms of the levers k. The plate-discharge roll n operates in conjunction with a press-roll 7' carried at one end of a pair of levers s mounted on the tie-rod d springs or weights t being provided at the other ends of the levers to press this roll against the discharge roll. The rolls n and r may be rubber-covered. The pick-up device comprises a number of arcuate pressure-shoes u of acid-resisting metal carried by bow-springs n mounted on a spindle w which is supported in bearings in the frame-plate b and driven in the manner hereinafter described. In the machine shown, wherein the vat a is made wide enough for operation on two plates side by side, there may be four of these pressure-shoes u, two for each plate, mounted at appropriate intervals along the spindle w, see Figure 2. The plates side by side are adapted to be alternately lifted by the pickup device into engagement with the plate-discharge and press rolls n, 1' and therefore the respective pairs of pressure-shoes u are mounted diametrically opposite each other on their spindle w. The pressure-shoes operate in conjunction with an abutment roll mounted in bearings in the frame plates b and the spindle w is fitted with a pair of toothed segments y, which are diametrically oppositely disposed and adapted to gear at appropriate times with a gear wheel z on the abutment-roller spindle I. It is to be noted that the spindle w is shown in Figure 2 as turned with respect to the position seen in Figures 3 and 4, the object being to show clearly the diametrically opposite disposition of the pairs of pressure-shoes u and the segments y, The arcual length of the pressure-shoes u is slightly greater than the distance which the plates are required to be lifted to bring them into engagement with the plate-discharge and press rolls n, r, and the arcual length of the toothed segments y is such as to cause corresponding revolutlon of the abutment roll rc. If desired, the

two segments y may be replaced by a complete toothed wheel as illustrated by the wheel y in Figure 3a. This would cause the abutment roll at to rotate continuously but that would not be any disadvantage because such roll is only effective to lift the plate when the pressure shoes u are in operative position.

rIhe frame aforesaid is fitted with two vertical series of bars 2 spaced slightly in front of the abutment roll :t to keep the plates in upright position when the pressure-shoes u are in inoperative position. These bars are bent over at the bottom, as at 2a, and rivetted to the cross-member e of the frame, and bent forwardly at the top and engaged with the tie-rod c. The bars are appropriately spaced apart and the pressureshoes u of the pick-up device are operative between the bars. Forwardly curved guides 3 extend upwardly from the tie-rod d to direct the discharged plates to guides 4, Figure l, leading to a swilling and scrubbing device hereinafter described.

Feed of plates to the pickling vat is effected by a feed device, Figure l, comprising a pair of fly frames 5 and respective feed belts, such as 6, disposed side by side. 'Ihe fly frames 5 are respectively mounted on two directly-geared spindles 'I, carried in brackets such as 8 on a framing 9, and they are operated by a crank and linkage mechanism I0, II, I2 from the driving spindle I3 of the pick-up device, Figures l and 2,

the arrangement suitably being such that when one ily-frame is swung down to deposit a plate on its feed belt, the other is swung up to have a plate placed on it by the operator from a table 3 or bench I4, and vice versa. The feed belts 6 are upwardly inclined and carried on rollers, such as I5, mounted in bearings on the framing 9 and they deliver the plates by Way of guides I6, I'I into the vat a. in the neighbourhood of the pick-up abutment roll Each fly frame suitably comprises a pair of arms, such as I8, xed on one of the spindles I, joined by an adjustable rest I9 for the plates and fitted on the outer side with guide ears such as 20 for the sides of the plates. The arms I8 of each y frame are spaced apart suiciently to pass the sides of the respective feed belt 6 on the downward stroke to enable the frame to deposit its plate, and the lower feedbelt rollers I 5 are disposed out of the path of the adjustable rests I9 so as not to interfere with this movement of the arms. If desired, nip rolls such as 2|, may be mounted at the upper end of the feed belts 6 to facilitate feed of the plates to the pickling vat, a.

In order to bring about discharge of the successive plates at substantially equal intervals or distances apart from the pickling vat, the pick-up device, together with the plate-discharge roll, the ily frames and the feed belts, is adapted to be operated at different speeds according to the length of the plates and for this purpose a changewheel and chain or equivalent drive is provided as will now be described with reference to Figures 1, 2, and '7. At the swilling and-scrubbing device C is a drive shaft 23 having a sprocket pinion 24 thereon over which the lower run of a drive chain 25 is engaged. The chain 25 extends in one direction from the pinion 24 to a jockey or idler sprocket 26 and in the other direction to a change-wheel sprocket 21 which is removably mounted on the spindle of the platedischarge roll n of the pickling device, the upper run of the chain extending directly between the change sprocket and the idler sprocket. The

driving spindle lf3' of the pick-up device'isN operated bysprocket andA chain or equivalent drive 28 from "the discharge-roll spindle, a convenient driving ratio being |-3, and it will be realized that by the use of appropriate change-wheel sprockets 21', the feed ily-frames and the pick-up device can be operated at any desired speed to suit plates of different lengths. Anl appropriate amount of slack is provided in the lower run of the driving chain 2,5, between the drive sprocket Y24 and the change wheel sprocket 21, to accommodate change Ywheels of different diameters.

The feed beltsl 6 are conveniently driven by a vsprocket chain 29 extending between a sprocket Wheel 30 on the spindle of the plate discharge roller n and a sprocket wheel 3| on the spindle of the upper feed-belt rollers l5.

'I'he driving spindle |3 of the pick-up device is mounted in an appropriately packed bearing |3a in one side wall of thepickling vat and in a bearingbracket I3b mounted on that wall, see Figure 2, and it is .connected by a coupling 32 with the vpressure-shoe spindle .w of the pick-up device. This coupling 32 as shown in Figures 5 and 6, comprises a member 33 of bar-like form on the shaft I3 and a companion member 34 of rectangular (or it may be circular) form on the spindle w, the bar 33 engaging a recess 35 in the member 34'. With this construction, the coupling parts can be engaged laterally with each other, thus allowing the plate-carrier and pick-up frame aforesaid to be bodily inserted into or lifted from the vat a without disturbing the pick-up driving spindle 3'. The ends of the bar coupling member 33, may be tapered off, as shown, to facilitate engagement of the coupling parts.

The swilling and scrubbing device C is arranged forwardly of the pickling vat a and suitably comprises a tank 36, Figures l and '7, fitted with a pair of rubber-faced plate-traversing rolls 31 and two pairs of scrubbing or wiping rolls 38, 39 of slightly larger diameter faced with cork or like material. The traversing rolls may be placed centrally in the tank with a pair of wiping rolls onV either side as shown, and the bearings of the several rolls are suitably mounted in opentop slots in frames or supports 48, bolted to the bottom of the tank 35, so that the rolls may be removed easily from the tank. 'Ihe drive for the rolls is by three separate shafts 4|, 42, and 23 (the latter already referred to) which are mounted at one side of the tank 36 on supports 369,

Figure 2, and have spur or like wheels 43, 44, 45, at their inner ends meshed with wheels 46, 41, 48 respectively on the adjacent ends of the spindles of the lower rolls of the sets 39, 31, 38. The jockey or idlersprocket 26 aforesaid is mounted revolubly on the shaft 4|. The shafts 4|, 42 and 23 are removably mounted to allow removal of the rolls 31, 38, 39, as aforesaid and the drive to them is as follows: On the shaft 4| is a sprocket 49 Ato which drive is transmitted by a chain 58 driven, say,v from the entry or feed rolls of a tinning machine hereinafter referred to. The sprocket 49 preferably has a dog clutch 49a associated with it so that-the drive may be connected and disconnected as desired. Also on the shaft 4| is a second sprocket v| which transmits drive through a chain 52 to a sprocket 53 on the shaft 42. The latter in turn has a second sprocket 54 and this transmits drive through a chain 55 to a sprocket 56 on the shaft 23. The upper rolls-off each pair of rolls 31, 38 and 39 are driven from the spindles of the respective lower rolls by spur or like gears of l-l ratio located at "Eil at the opposite ends `of the roll spindlesA 'to' the wheels 4.6, 41,48. The drive ratios adopted for the driving gearing of the rolls, 31, 38', 39 and the size of the rolls themselves are suitably such that the traversing `rolls 31 revolveV at a greater 1 peripheral speed than the rst pair of scrubbing or wiping rolls 38, whilethe second pair of scrubbing or wipingA rolls 39 revolves at a greater peripheral speed than the traversing rolls 31, the

speed suitably being about four times as fast inl each case. This progressively increasing speed of the successive sets ofrolls 38, 31, 39 prevents buckling of the plates between such rollsY during the scrubbing and swilling treatment. Waterjet devices 51, mounted on the frames 40, may be placed forwardly of the second set of wiping-:rolls 39 to complete the washing or swilling of the plates and beyond these jets a pair of delivery rolls 58 may be placed from which the plates may pass direct to a tinning or like machine. The bearings of the rolls 58 may b-e mounted in open-top slots in frames such as 59 carriedon brackets such as 69, disposed one on each of the frames 48 aforesaid, and the rolls may be geared together by gearing of 1-1 ratio at 1| and be driven by extending the driving chain aforesaid from the idler 26 over a sprocket 6| on the spindle of the lower roll as shown. The delivery rolls 58 are rotated at a slower peripheral speed than the last set of scrubbing or wiping rolls 39 in order to prevent too rash feed of theplates to the tinning or like machine, and buckling of the plates between the pairs 39 and 58 maybe prevented in any suitable manner as by arranging for the delivery rolls to allow slip until the plates leave the rolls 39. The distance between the pair 39 and the pair 58 is enough to allow very thin plates to bow without buckling and damaging them. The rolls of each pair in the washing tank 36, may be pressed resiliently together by springs or weights or by hand-screws such as 62 mounted in the roll-bearing retaining plates 62a. In Figure 1, parts havel been cut away, along the line of Figure 7, for clearness of illustration.

In the operation of the apparatus, the plate carrier y in the pickling vat a is first adjusted to suit the length of the plates to be treated. This is effected by engaging the appropriate pegs or holes at z with the levers 7c and the adjustment effected is such that whatever the length of the plates, the upper edges of the latter are about at a constant distance from the plate-discharge roll n when they are placed in the carrier. As a suitable working figure, this distance, measured from the top of the plate to the nip of the roll is approximately three inches less than the circular length of the pick-up pressure-shoes u, so that the latter will raise the plates a suflicient distance to be effectively nipped. by the rollers n, r. The initial adjustments also include the selection of an appropriately-sized change sprocket at.21 to suit the length of plates being dealt with. 'I'he apparatus is now set in motion .and the operator places the black plates alternately on to the two ily frames 5 of the feed device. By the operation of the crank and linkage mech,- anism I8, I, l2., the ily frames are swung down alternately to transfer the plates to the feed belts 6 and from the latter they pass one after another between the nip of the rolls 2| and the belts 6 and by way of the guides i6, l1 to the pickling vat a where they come rest an upright position vin the plate carrier g in front of the bars 2, as seen for instance at 43 in Figure 4. The plate carrier is, of course, being subjected to up-and-down reciprocatory or jigging movements by the cams m and this causes corresponding movements of the plates so that they are effectively treated by the acid in the vat. After several jigging movements the pressure shoes u of the pick-up device come, by rotation of their spindle w, into contact with the respective plates so that the latter are gripped between the pressure shoes and the abutment roll 3:. The latter is rotated by the appurtenant toothed segments or wheel at y on the pressure-shoe spindle w and if the drive is by segments, the roller :c only rotates when a plate is being lifted. The pick-up device thus brings the side by side plates alternately to the plate-discharge and press-rolls n, 1* and from these the plates are successively guided by the guides 4 to the swilling and scrubbing tank 36. As will be realized, small plates will be operated at greater speed than large plates both during feed to the pickling vat a, and during discharge therefrom, and consequently the plates, on delivery, will be at approximately equal intervals or distances apart whatever the length of the plates, so that uniform and high speed operation is attainable.

On reaching the swilling and scrubbing tank, each plate first enters the nip of the first pair of wiping rolls 38 and is then taken up by the traversing rolls 31. As the rolls 31 move with a greater peripheral speed than the rolls 38, a scrubbing or wiping action is exerted by the latter rolls on the plate which is now moved into the nip of the second pair of wiping rolls 59 which, owing to their greater peripheral speed, effect further wiping or scrubbing of the plate. The plate is then taken up by the guide 63 and passed to the water jet 51 by which it is given a final wash-off on each side and it then passes to the delivery rolls 58 which deliver it directly to the tinning or coating machine assisted by a suitable guide such as 64. The delivery rolls 58, or an extra pair of delivery rolls, may be placed before the jet devices 51 if desired. A convenient construction of tinning or coating machine is described in the specification accompanying our concurrent patent application Serial No. 14,161 of even date herewith.

In practice, the substantially equal spacing of the plates on discharge from the pickling bath or vat, can be maintained to a favourable extent through the swilling and scrubbing device and the tinning or like machine, with consequent advantage in the manufacture of coated metal plates.

All parts of the pickling vat mechanism would, of course, be of acid resisting material. The mechanism described provides a very eiicient pickling action, but it will be understood that modifications may be made in the construction of this mechanism and also of the mechanism of the feed and swilling and scrubbing apparatus without departing from the scope of this invention.

An advantageous modification of the pickling mechanism is seen in Figure 8, and consists in using one or more metal plates 65, instead of the series of bars such as 2 aforesaid, for maintaining the pickling plates 43 in upright position in the carrier g. 'Ihe pressure-shoes u of the pickup device would be arranged to engage these plates 65, instead of engaging the pickling plates, and by mounting the plates 65 in vertically movable manner on the carrier and pick-up frame, for instance by a lost-motion connection 66 between it and the spindle of the plate-discharge roll n, the said plates can rise with the respective pickling plates as the latter are lifted for discharge. The pressure-shoes press the plates 65 against the pickling plates and the latter against the abutment roller x to effect the lifting movement and thus there is no direct pressure of the shoes on the pickling plates which is an advantage, for example, when thin plates are being pickled as it avoids denting the plates by the shoes. These loose plates 65 may be guided at the lower end by a bar 61 extending between the frame plates b and may be perforated if desired to facilitate the access of pickling liquid to the pickling plates.

I claim:-

1. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a pickling vessel and a plate-carrier operative in said vessel, adapted to receive plates separately and in succession, means for adjusting said plate carrier to suit different lengths of plates, means operative to jig said plate-carrier, plate-discharge means operative to remove each plate from said plate-carrier after allowing several jigging movements of the plate but before the next following plate is received in said plate carrier and means for operating said plate discharge means to discharge the plates from said pickling vessel in succession at substantially equal intervals apart for all lengths of plates.

2. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a plate-carrier adapted to receive plates separately and in succession, means for adjusting said plate carrier to suit different lengths of plates, means operative to jig said plate-carrier, means adapted to come into operation intermittently to grip the plates and, remove them in succession from said plate-carrier, and means for adjusting the time and speed of operation of said gripping means to suit different lengths of plates.

3. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a pickling vessel, a plate-carrier operative in said vessel and adjustable to suit different lengths of plates, means operative to jig said plate-carrier, means adapted to come into operation intermittently to grip the plates and remove them in succession from said plate-carrier, means for adjusting the time and speed of operation of said gripping means to suit different lengths of plates, and a plate-discharge roll operative at different speeds, according to the lengths of the plates, to discharge the plates from said vessel.

4. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a pickling vessel, a plate carrier operative in said vessel and adjustable to suit different lengths of plates, means operative to jig said plate carrier, a feed device operative at different speeds to feed the plates successively to said pickling vessel and plate carrier, and plate-discharge means operative to remove each plate from said plate-carrier after allowing several jigging movements of the plate but before the next following plate is received in said plate carrier and means for operating said plate discharge means to discharge the plates from said pickling vessel in succession at substantially equal intervals apart for all lengths of plates.

5. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a plate-carrier adapted to receive plates separately and in succession and adjustable to suit different lengths of plates, a multi-lobe cam operative to jig said plate-carrier, and platedischarge means operative to remove each plate from said plate-carrier after allowing said multilobe cam to effect several jigging movements of the plate.

6. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a pickling vat, a plate feed device comprising a swingable ily frame and a travelling feed belt, a plate carrier mounted in said Vvat and adjustable to suit the length of plates under treatment, a multi-lobe cam for jigging said plate carrier, a revoluble pressure shoe for removing plates from said plate carrier after allowing several jigging movements of such plates, and a change-wheel shaft having driving connection with said iiy frame, feed belt, cam and pressure shoe.

7. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a jigging plate carrier which is adjustable to suit plates of different lengths, a pick-up device comprising a resiliently-mounted pressureshoe and a co-operative abutment roll operative for discharging the plates from said plate carrier in succession, and means for adjusting the time and speed of operation of said pressure-shoe and abutment roll to suit diierent lengths of plates.

8. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a jigging plate carrier which is adjustable to suit plates of different lengths, a pick-up device comprising a resiliently-mounted pressure-shoe and a co-operative abutment roll operative for discharging the plates from said plate carrier in succession, means for adjusting the time and speed of operation of said pressure-shoe and abutment roll to suit different lengths of plates, and means for maintaining the plates in upright position in said plate-carrier when said pressureshoe is in inoperative position.

9. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a jigging plate carrier which is adjustable to suit plates of different lengths, a pick-up device comprising a resiliently-mounted pressure shoe and a co-operative abutment roll operative for discharging the plates from said plate carrier in succession, means for adjusting the time and speed of operation of said pressure-shoe and abutment roll to suit different lengths of plates. and a plate for maintaining the metal plates in upright position in said plate-carrier when said pressure shoe is in inoperative position, said plate being pressed against the respective metal 5 plates by said pressure-shoe and rising therewith when such plates are discharged from said platecarrier.

10. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, comprising a pickling vessel, a frame removably mounted in said vessel, a plate carrier mounted in said frame and adjustable to suit plates of different lengths, jigging means mounted in said frame and operatively connected with said plate carrier, a pick-up device also mounted in said frame, said pick-up device being adapted to come into operation intermittently to remove plates in succession from said plate carrier, and means for adjusting the time and speed of operation of said pick-up device to suit different lengths of plates.

11. Apparatus for pickling metal plates, cornprising a pickling vessel, a plate carrier operative in said vessel and adjustable to suit different lengths of plates, a feed device for feeding the plates successively to said vessel and plate carrier and comprising a swingably-mounted ily frame and a cooperative feed belt, means for driving said fly frame and feed belt at different speeds to suit different lengths of plates, and means operative to discharge the plates from said plate carrier and vessel in succession at substantially equal intervals apart for all lengths of plates.

12. Apparatus for pickling, swilling and scrubbing metal plates, comprising in combination a pickling vat, a plate carrier operative in said vat and adjustable to suit plates of different lengths, means operative to discharge the plates from said carrier and vat in succession at substantially equal intervals apart for all lengths of plates, and a plate swilling and scrubbing device comprising sets of traversing and cleaning rolls for receiving plates discharged from said pickling vat, and means for rotating said sets of rolls at progressively increasing peripheral speeds from the rst set to the last.

SAMUEL DAVIES.

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