US2116222A - Method of making rubber thread or yarn, and machine for making the same - Google Patents

Description

May 3, 1938. M SPENCER 2,116,222

. METHOD OF MAKING RUBBER ,THREAD 0R YARN, AND MACHINE FOR MAKING THE SAME Original Filed July 25, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet lwywu ATTORNEYS.

INVENTOR.

May 3, 1938. w. M. SPENCER METHOD OF MAKING RUBBER THREAD OR YARN,

AND MACHINE FOR MAKING THE SAME Original. Filed July 25, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 "W": I) I 'INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

SPENCER METHOD OF MAKING RUBBER THREAD OR YARN,

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 May 3, 1938. w.

AND MACHINE FOR MAKING THE SAME Original Filed July 25, 1934 INV NTOR. fi zlaw 7% v ME ATTORNEY Patented May 3, 1938 METHOD OF MAKING RUBBER, THREAD R YARN, ANDRMACHINE FOR MAKING THE SAME William M. Spencer, Trenton, N. J., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Filatex Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 25, 1934, Serial No. 736,898.

- Renewed July 14. 1937 6 Claims.

My invention relates to a new and improved method of making rubber thread or yarn, and a new and improved machine for making the same.

One of the objects of my invention is to produce rubber thread or yarn, which shall be uniform in all respects, and which can be covered with one or more helices of cotton thread or silk thread or the like, in order to produce the familiar covered rubber yarn of commerce.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a simpleand efiicient machine, whichshall operate in a uniform manner, in order to produoerubber thread of any desired length, from latex, or any suitable solution or suspension of rubber.

Another object of my invention is to produce an improved machine and method of the type, in which the rubber thread or yarn is continuously produced from the latex or the like, without the use of any extrusion devices.

Other objects of my invention will be setforth in the following description and drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment-thereof.

Fig. l is a top plan view.

Fig. 2 is a side'elevation.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing certain of the essential parts of the machine. 7 i

Fig. 4 is a cross section of the rubber thread or yarn, before any covering has been applied thereto.

30 Referring to Fig. 3, this illustrates the fundamental operations of the improved method.

Latex or the like, is located in one or more troughs or other suitable receptacles. In this particular embodiment of mp invention I have shown two receptacles C and Ca.

Thereceptacle C is provided with a roll 23, which is turnably mounted, and the lower part of said roll 23 clips into the latex or the like. Said roll may be provided, if desired, with a central circular ridge 23a. Said ridge may be omitted, but I prefer to use the same.

The receptacle Ca is provided with a similar roll 25a which is mounted upon a shaft 25. Said 45 roll 25a is provided, if desired, with a ridge 2%.

The cross section of each said ridge 23a and 25b is preferably triangular, so that the edge of each said ridge is sharp. However, there may be considerable variations in the shape of each said ridge.

Each of said rolls 23 and 25a picks up a thin film of latex or the like, uponthe ridges 23a and 25b. These applicator rolls 23 and 25a,. supply the thin films of latex, to a collector roll 26,-which has a central groove 26a. The cross section of the groove 26a may be semi-circular. However there may be considerable variation in the shape of said groove 26a. For example, the depth of said groove 26a may be seven-thousandths of an inch, and its width may be ten-thousandths of an inch, so that the cross-section of said groove 26a need not be exactly semi-circular.

The roll 26 is suitably heated. The rolls 23 and 25a successively insert or force thin films of latex into the groove 26a of said roll, so that said, groove 26a is substantially filled with, the latex. The heat of roll 26 is sufiicient to partially coagulate the latex which is deposited by roll 25a, so

that the latex which is deposited by roll 23, can cling to the previously partially-coagulated latex, without running out of groove 26a. The roll 26 is suitably heated, so as to" gradually coagulate the latex or the like, so that said latex is coague lated into coherent thread form, before the latex is stripped from the roll 26. The cross-section dusting medium. The receptacle 3'! is continuously moved or vibrated in any suitable manner, so as to agitate the finely powdered material therein, and to deposit said finely powdered material upon the thread of latex.

The dusted latex thread is then passed between a pair of guide rolls 35 and 36, and the thread is then wound up upon a suitable cardboard cylinder or the like, which is mounted upon the driven roll 9.

' Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a motor M operates reduction gearing, which is mounted in a casing R, and said reduction gearing drives a pulley I. The pulley l is connected by means of a belt 2, with a relatively large pulley 3 of the shaft 4. The shaft 4 is provided with a pulley 5, which is connected by means of a belt 6, to the pulley 1. This pulley l is mounted upon the shaft 8 of the take-up roll 9. i

The operation of the machineisrather slow, as the roll 26 only has about 1 revolutions per minute, and the diameter of the roll 26 is about four inches.

Of course the capacity of the machine can be increased, by increasing the diameter of the roll 25, or by otherwise suitably increasing the speed of operation. I

An endless chain II engages the sprockets l0, l2, l5, l6, and IS.

The sprocket ID is mounted upon the shaft 4, so as to turn in unison therewith.

The guide roll 33 is mounted upon the shaft 4.

The roll 28 is mounted upon the shaft I4, which is driven by means of the sprocket l2.

The roll 23 is mounted upon a shaft, which is provided with a pulley, which is driven by means of a belt 22, which passes around the pulley 20, said pulley 29 being mounted upon the shaft I8, which is turned by the sprocket l5.

The roll a is mounted upon the shaft 25, and said shaft 25 is provided with a pulley which is driven by the belt 24. Said belt 24 passes around a pulley 2!, which is mounted upon the shaft 3. I

Any suitable means can be provided for adjusting the shafts, in order to regulate the positions of the rolls 23 and 25a, and to regulate thetensions of the driving belts.

For example, the shaft of the roll 25a. may be mounted in a vertically slidable block. The shaft of the roll 23 may be provided in a horizontally slidable block, and any suitable and well known regulating means may be providedlso that the ridges 23a. and 251 have their sharply tapered points just entering the groove 26a, but without any contact between the walls of said groove and the walls of said ridges.

The roll 25a. initially supplies a certain amount of latex to the groove 26a, and said latex is retained within the groove 26aby natural adhesion or capillaryattraction. The roll 26 may be made of steel, such as stainless steel, and the rolls 25a and 23 may be madeof duralumin.

However, and if desired, the ridges 23a. and 251) could be omitted, as it is only necessary to have the film of latex introduced into the groove 26a,

from which it is picked off by the natural adhesion of the walls of said groove.

The latex is applied to the collecting member 26 in the form of a thin surface film which is formed on the surface of one or more applicator rolls. Whenever I refer to a thin surface film in the claims, it is to' be understood that I refer to a film or layer of latex which, adheres to the surface of an applicator or pick-up member, which picks up a surface film of latex from a body of latex and which transfers the picked up film of latex to the collecting member 26 or its equivalent.

' As shown in Fig. 4, the latex is deposited in the groove 26a in laterally continuous form, instead of being deposited in the form of two separated strips upon the edges of said groove 26a.

The first roll 25a introduces a preliminary deposit of latex into the groove 26a, and the second roll 23 completes the deposit of the latex.

As shown in Fig. 2, the roll 26 is provided with any suitable'electrical heater H, which is provided with connecting wires 3|, which are connected to a suitable rheostat 32.

Said wires 3! are connected to the heater H by means of brushes 3!), which touch plates 3|].

The guide roll 33 is providedwith a belt 34, which drives the lower guide roll 36, by means of a suitable pulley. The top roll 35 may be omitted, and if used it is frictionally driven by means of the lower roll 36.

The rolls 35 and 36 are preferably plain cylindrical rolls.

Referring to Fig. 2, the receptacle 3'! is mounted on a pivot 38.

The pivot 38 is of any suitable friction type,

so that the receptacle 3! can be adjusted to any angle, and it will remain at said adjusted angle.

The receptacle 3'! is vibrated by means of an armature 39, which is vibrated by means of any suitable electromagnetic device, which is located within the casing 40. This electromagnetic device is supplied with current from a battery 42; by means of wires 4| and Ma.

Any suitable form of make-and-break or buzzer mechanism may be used, for rapidly vibrating the armature 39.

' The sprocket l 9 is mounted upon a shaft 43 and said shaft 43 is provided with a drum 44, and said drum 44 is provided with a face cam 45.

Said cam 45 contacts with a roller 46a, which is connected to an arm 46. A spring 48 is connected to the arm 46, which is mounted on a pivot 46c. Said spring 48 maintains the roller 46a pressed against the cam 45.

The arm 46 is provided with an extension 41,

and said extension arm 41' has an eye 49, through i 4 While I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is clear that numerous changes and omissions could be made without departing from its spirit. For example, the process can be used for forming a rubber object of any desired length and of any desired shape and of any desired thickness. Likewise the method claims "are not to be restricted to any particular mechanism. Likewise, it is'to be understood that the latex or similar material contains suitable vulcanizing ingredients, together with suitable accelerators, so that the temperature which is utilized is sufiicient to directly coagulate, and if desired, to partially vulcanize the rubber. The roll 26 may be heated to a temperature of 80 C., and preferably less than 100 C. After stripping, and before dusting, the coagulated rubber thread may be heated so as to completely vulcanize the same. I prefer to' strip the rubber thread, after it has been substantially vulcanized. The final product is stretchable and elastic.

Likewise, the rubber material such as latex, which is used as the starting material ,pan be partially vulcanized if desired. This can be done by heating the latex, compounded with vulcanizing material and accelerator, at a temperature of about 95 0., for about half an hour, without any substantial evaporation of the water in the and uniform mass of latex. This pressure may be very low and even zero, or it may be as high as is desired. Likewise, I do not wish to be limited to the use of rolls or other rotating members, in the broader aspect of the invention. While I prefer to use a heated member having a groove or depression therein, for receiving and heating the latex or the like, the invention is not necessarily limited to a grooved and heated member.

Whenever I refer to latex, either in the description or in. the claims, I wish to include any equivalent or similar rubber suspension or solution, and I also wish to include materials other than rubber, and having properties similar to rubber.

For convenience, the pools of latex in the tanks C and Ca may be referred to as sources of latex, and it will be noted that the heated roll is out of contact with said sources of latex, in forming the rubber body. The invention generally applies to the use of a single tank, and the use of a single applicator device. By an applicator device, I include any device for feeding or supplying latex to the heated roll or other heated and moving member. Likewise, the invention includes the use of a source of heat external to roll 25 or any equivalent device, for setting the latex thereon. Hence, whenever I refer to a heated and moving member, I wish to include the use'of an external source of heat.

The tanks C and Ca can be partially filled with latex, and the upper part of each said tank can be filled with an inert gas, such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide, in order to prevent the formation of surface films in said pools of latex material. The latex material may include suitable fillers (in addition to the sulphur) and such fillers may be clay, zinc oxide. Likewise the latex material includes anti-oxidants and accelerators. Likewise, I prefer to add casein or other protective colloid or colloids, in order to prevent the coagulation which may result from the addition of clay or the like. As an illustration, a working formula of the latex material is as fo1lows:-

Latex rubber by weight) -cc 1'76 Zinc oxide gms 3 Sulphur gms 3 Accelerator (No. 552) gm 1 Anti-oxidant (Neozone L) i gm 1 Clay gms 10 10% solution of caseinin ammoniawater cc 5 I claim:

1. A method of forming a coherent and elastic rubber thread, which consists in supplying latex in the form of a thin surface film to the groove of a moving member, the latex being supplied to said groove in laterally continuous form intermediate the edges of said groove, said moving member being out of contact with the source of said latex, setting the latex into coherent and elastic form in said groove by means of heat, and then stripping the rubber member which has been thus formed, from said groove.

2. A method of forming a coherent and elastic rubber thread, which consists in supplying latex to the groove of a moving member in a plurality of steps, the latex being supplied to said groove in laterally continuous form intermediate the edges of said groove the latex which is thus supplied in said steps forming a single member in said groove, and then setting said rubber member into coherent and elastic form by means of heat, and stripping said rubber member from said moving member.

3. A machine for making a coherent and elastic rubber member, comprising a source of latex, a roll having a groove and being out of contact with said source of latex, means for turning said roll, means. for heating said roll, and turnable roller means for supplying latex from said source into the groove of said heated roll in laterally continuous form.

i. A machine for making a coherent and elastic rubber member, comprising a turnable roll having a groove therein, means for heating said roll, means for turning said roll, and an applicator roll which is in contact with a source of latex, a portion of the outer surface of said applicator roll registering with and being narrower than said groove, and means for turning said applicator roll, said heated roll being out of contact with said source.

5. A machine for making a coherent and elastic rubber member, comprising a turnable roll having a groove therein, a plurality of latex-feeding devices adapted to supply latex to said groove in laterally continuous form intermediate the edges of said groove, means for heating the latex deposited within said groove.

6. A machine for making a coherent and elastic rubber member, comprising a turnable roll having a groove therein, a plurality of latex-feeding devices adapted to supply latex to said groove in laterally continuous form intermediate the edges of said groove, means for heating the latex deposited within said groove, said latex-feeding devices being turnable rolls.

WILLIAM M. SPENCER.

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