US268129A - Wire-wiping apparatus - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

v H. ROBERTS. WIRE WIPING APPARATUS. 210.268.1219. 7 Patented Nov. 28, 1882.

W E SEES N. PETERS. Phmauthn n nur. Washin ton. 0.6.

4 U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' HENRY ROBERTS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

WIRE-WIPING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 268,129, dated November. 28, 1882.

Application filed April 27. 1882. (No model.) i

To all whom' it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY ROBERTS, of Pittsburg, Allegheny county, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire-Wiping Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

It is common to coat iron or steel wires with zinc in. the process known as galvanizing by drawin gthem slowly through preparatory materials-as acid and salammoniac-then through the bath of melted zinc, and immediately afterward through a quantity of material which performs an important function by wiping 01'1" the surplus of melted zinc, leaving a uniform thin coat covering the wire. Twelve or other considerable number of wires are thus taken together through the metal bath and through the preparatory and subsequent treatment, being carried a sufficient distance apart to avoid contact and to allow the several operations to be successfully performed.

The presentinvention relates to the appara' tus for holding the wiping material, and is particularly adapted for use with a box and rollers, as described in my patent of May 17,1881, No. 241,721, and I will so describe it.

By my invention I am enabled to automatically and reliably feed and pack the wiping material against the outconling wires without hand-labor. V Iplace the wiping-box, as usual, over one end of the metal bath, so that the zinc wiped off may flow back into the same. The

bottom is of iron or other suitable material, a.

few inches above the surface of the melted metal, having holes properly arranged to receive the several wires and sutficiently larger than the wires to allow the passage of the knots orjunctions, which are roughly made where one length of wire terminates and another begins. These knots, which seem to be essential to the rough and rapid working necessary in this art, are important to be considered in the wiping mechanism, as they render impracticable the presenting of any close fitting rigid parts in contact with the wire. I provide two shafts held in proper bearings behind the wiping-box and revolved by power. On these shafts are fitted eccentrics, each of which operates a plunger or packer forward and backward through the medium of a correspondinglyshaped eccentric strap. These plungers or packers are constructed so as to allow of proper yielding when the wiping material in the wiping box may for any reason have become too dense. These packers push the wiping material against the wire and feed it to the rollers. I support the apertured bottom referred to on ledges from uprights-one at each side of the bath. Above the bottom plate I mount two side pieces or wings, which extend across the bath and converge upward. The wiping material is held in position by these side pieces or converging wings, the proper pressure being imparted to the material through th umb-screws operatingin the end supports, and bearing with variable force against the wings through the medium of longitudinal rods or bars. I provide two slots in each of the end pieces to accommodate the traverse of these rods.

The following is a description of what I consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section, and Fig. 2 a detail.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in both the figures.-

K is a box, which I term the wiping-box.

L L, 850., are rollers mounted in suitable bearings in the wiping-box, and turned by gearing (not represented) in the directions indicated by the arrows. The surfaces of these several rolls are armed with projections l, which engage with the slag-wool It or other wiping material and drag it along in the direction opposite to the movements of the wires m, asindicated by the arrows. The general tendency of the rollers is to move the wiping material gradually from the back and top to the front and bottom of the wiping-box; or, in other words, toward that part of the wiping-box which overhangs the tank, and which receives the wires m on their first emergingfrom the melted-metal bath.

P P are revolving shafts mounted in fixed bearings, and carryin g eccentrics P ,which give motion to the eccentric rings R and rigidlyconnected tubes B. These tubes R extend in the direction in which it is desired to ram or push the wiping material. Each tube R receives in its interior a sliding bar, T, having its outer end properly formed to be thrust into the wiping material It, and to push a quantity of the same in the direction in which it is required to be forced at each reciprocation; but the bar T, instead of being rigidly connected to the tube R, is connected through a coiled spring, Q, inclosed within the tube R. T is apin inserted in the side of the bar T, and standing in a slot, 1", in the side of the tube R. Under ordinary conditions the spring Q holds the bar T out to its utmost extent with the pin T pressing firmly against the outer end of the slot 1". Thus conditioned, the bar T reciprocates to the same extent as the throw of the eccentric P; but when, through any extraordinary accumulation of the wiping material It in front ofthe bar T, it is impossible to perform the full stroke of the latter without injury to itself or other portions of the apparatus, the spring Q yields and allows the bar T to be received farther within the tube R. This yielding has the effect to give the bar 1, which is the effective end of the rammer or packer, less motion for the time being, and the reduced effieiency of the apparatus, due to this cause, continues until, through the motion of the rolls L or other cause, Ihe unusual obstruction is removed, after which the full stroke of the packer will be resumed, as at first.

The uppermost tier of packers is what I esteem the principal one. It gathers the wiping material and forces it into the upper pair oi rolls, L. The movement of the rolls pa-ssesit down through the machine until itemerges frombetween the lowermost of the rolls, there being a more or less complete circulation of the material in the other portions of the wipingboX by its gradual movement back outside of the rolls to the point where the uppermost packers can again act upon it. The lowermost packers are less important and may have a less stroke. They serve to insure that the hot wiping material which contains the melted metal shall be forced forward and the melted metal allowed to be discharged through the holes where the wires on enter. The circulation of the wiping material from the bite of the lowermost rolls back, to be received by the uppermost packers and forced again into the bite of the uppermost rolls, is mainly in the upper and front rather than in the lower and back portion of the wiping-box.

Modifications may be made in the forms and proportions of the details without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention. Parts may be used without the whole. The lowermost series of packers may be dispensed with. The yielding quality of the packers may be modified or dispensed with altogether. I may provide one packer for each wire, or a less number may serve efficiently. I can widen the acting end of each rammer so that it nearly touches its neighbor on each side. The upper surface of the acting end of each packer T is preferably grooved or coved out, so as to admit of the wire passing up without liability of touching; and I may slightly taper or wedge-shape the entire width of the acting end. i

I claim as my invention The combination of a series of reciprocating packers, T, withthe box K, containing wiping material 70, and with the revolving rolls L, as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, this 24th day of April, 1882, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

H. E. HoLMEs, J. O. BRADY.

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