US2837763A

US2837763A - Drive mechanism for a rubber mill or similar machine

Info

Publication number: US2837763A
Application number: US441965A
Authority: US
Inventors: Warren C Whittum
Original assignee: Farrel Birmingham Co Inc
Current assignee: Farrel Birmingham Co Inc
Priority date: 1954-07-08
Filing date: 1954-07-08
Publication date: 1958-06-10
Anticipated expiration: 1975-06-10

Description

June 10, 1958. 3 w. c. WHITTUM 2,837,763

DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL OR SIMILAR MACHINE Filed July 8, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVVENTOR mM W em 6M ATTORNEY June 10, 1958 w. c WHITTUM 2,337,763

DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL OR SIMILAR MACHINE Filed July 8, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR W Q Wm BYg h ATTORNEY June 10, 1958 w. c. WHITTUM DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL 0R SIMILAR MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 8, 1954 1N VENTOR M 6 m h ATTORNEY.

QllHiI 5 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 kl l '1. v HUME H km N M ww I I N VENTOR WW (1 M4 222 June 10, 1958 w. c. WHITTUM DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL OR SIMILAR MACHINE Filed July 8, 1954 HHI BY 5 E Z ATTORNEYS DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL on SIMILAR MACHINE Warren C. Whittum, Ansonia, Conn., assiguor to Farrel- Birmingham Company, Incorporated, Ansonia, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application July 8, 1954, Serial No. 441365 9 Claims. c1. 18-2) This invention relates to a drive mechanism for a rubber mill or similar machine and more particularly to a unitary and compact drive mechanism which may be employed with a rubber mill, and which may be mounted in close coupled relation with the mill so as to occupy relatively little floor space.

As illustrated in the drawing, the drive is applied to a two-roll rubber mill, the rolls being mounted side by side or in a horizontal plane. It will be understood, however, that the drive is not restricted to this particular type of mill.

In mills of this character, it is common practice to mount a large drive gear or bull gear upon one of the rolls, this gear being driven through suitable reduction gearing from a motor or other source of power. Upon the side of the mill opposite that upon which the bull gear is disposed, the rolls are provided with intermeshing pinions so that the second roll will be driven from the first, upon which the bull gear is mounted and the rolls will, of course, be driven in opposite directions.

The bull gear is driven by a pinion mounted upon a separate gear reducer usually having an outboard bearing attached to one of the end frames of the mill, and this gear-reducing mechanism is driven by a motor usually through a flexible coupling.

In such an arrangement, the location of the bull gear with respect tothe pinion will gradually change due to the wear of the main bearings, particularly in case of poor maintenance attention. This results in poor contactbetween the gear teeth which in turn causes rapid wear and noisy operation. The same trouble may also be caused by faulty alignment and installation and by gradual settling of the foundation.

In the present construction, the large driven gear or bull gear received upon the projecting end of one of the roll necks is one of a plurality of speed-reducing gears mounted in a gear housing adjacent the mill stand, so

that all of the gearing, including the speed-reducing gearing, is contained in, and supported by, this housing. Moreover, the motor is also supported by the housing and on the same side thereof as'the mill itself so that a considerable economy in required floor space is achieved.

In addition, the present arrangement avoids the potential misalignment referred to above, as well as gear wear and gear noise through having all ofthe gearing permanently mounted in one gear-reduction case so-that the original alignment and relationship of the parts of the drive are obtained throughout the life of the gears and bearings. I

The motor casing may be mounted upon the gear case by the provision of appropriate flanges on the two members so that these flanges may be bolted together, the

motor casing being supported from the case for the reduction gearing.

In addition, the gear case is split upon a horizontal plane which passes throughthe shafts of the gears so thatthe mechanism maybe readily assembled. T I

'One object of the invention is to provide a compact and close coupled gear drive for a'rubber mill, or like mechanism, wherein the drive for the ,driven roll of the mill comprises a plurality of speed-reducing gears mounted in a case adjacent the mill, the gearing being driven from a motor disposed upon the same side of the casing as the mill itself.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a drive mechanism for a rubber mill, or like device, wherein a motor is mounted upon a gear case disposed adjacent the mill and the motor shaft connected with one of the mill rolls by a system of reducing gearing compactly mounted within the case so that the drive occupies a relatively small amount of floor space.

Other objects of the invention and other advantages flowing from the novel structure and arrangement of parts will appear as the disclosure proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a rubber mill having my improved drive mechanism applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the gear case of the drive mechanism, the motor and a portion of the mill being shown in full lines;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional view on a reduced scale on line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is an end elevational view of a mill and gear casing.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have'sho'wn in plan view on Fig. 1 of my drawings a rubber mill of more or less'co'nventional type comprising a base 10, side frames 11 and 12 and a pair of cooperating

rolls

13 and 14, these rolls being mounted in suitable bearings and held in the frames by

end caps

15 and 16. It will be understood that, as usual, the rolls are mounted in a horizontal plane and suitable adjusting screws 17 and 18 are providedin the end frames to adjust the bite between them.

At one end, the lefthand end, as shown in Fig. 1, connecting gears or pinions the roll necks, these pinions' being enclosed within a housing 21. The roll 13 is driven from :a suitable source of power and as will be seen from Fig. 2 this roll is provided with an extended neck 22 of tapered form driven from a large bull gear 23 which is connected to the roll neck in a manner to be hereinafter described.

The gear 23 is, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, mounted in a gear case which also houses the reduction gearing employed between this large gear and the driving motor. This gear case is a split case comprising the-lower part 24 and the upper part 25, the two parts being provided with

flanges

26 and 27 through which bolts may be passed to hold the parts in assembled position. As will be hereinafter described, the upper and lower parts 24 and of the gear case meet in the plane of the center line of the. shafts uponwhich the reduction gears are mounted so that the parts may be readily assembled.

As shown more especially in Fig. 2, the-bull gear 23 is secured by a key 28 to a sleeve-or hollow hub member 29.which in turn is secured by a key 30 to the taperedroll neck 22 so that the gear is nonrotatably secured to the roll13. The sleeve is rotatably mountportion of p the ed in journals In the gear, case by bearings31 and32 so that the gear 23 will be' suitably supported by the case itself.

The gear 23 is driven from apinion 34 mounted upon a shaft 35, which shaft is mounted in bearings 36 and 37, these bearings being adjacent the end of-the shaft and mounted in the side walls of the lower portion 24 lower ortIon 24 of the 'g'earcase so as to be supported thereby. It may here benoted'th'at the axes of the Patented June 10, 1958 I19 and 20 are provided upon t a 7. roll neck 22 and of the shafts and are all located in the same horizontal plane so as to lie at the division between the upper and lower portions of the gear case.

Also mounted upon the shaft 40 between the walls of the gear case is a gear 43, this gear being in mesh with the teeth of a pinion 44 (Figs. 3 and 4) mounted upon the shaft 45 of an electric motor housed in the motor casing 46.

The lower portion 24 of the gear case is, as shown more particularly in Fig. 4, provided with an opening 47 to receive a reduced portion 48 of the motor casing, the opening 47 being provided in a flange member 49 secured in the inner 'wall of the case 24, and the motor casing is provided with a radially projecting flange 50 which may be bolted to the flange 49 by thebolts 51.

With this construction, it will be seen that the motor is -secured to the gear case and it will be seen that it is mounted upon the same side of the gear case as the mill itself, so as torequire a minimum amount of floor space. Moreover, the motor shaft projects Within the gear case and the driving pinion 44 is mounted upon this projecting end of the shaft so that the entire train of gearing extending from the motor shaft to the driven roll 1'3 is contained within the case and closely coupled to the mill itself.

it may also be noted that as the bearings for the shafts, upon which the gears are mounted, are disposed within a single horizontal plane, and the gear case is split upon ing the bull gear 23 and the sleeve 29, the case may be moved horizontally toward the mill so that the tapered end 22 of the roll 13 will be receivedin the sleeve 29, thus securing the gear 23 nonrotatably to the roll neck 22. The outer bearing 32 of the gear 23 may be held in place by a cap 53 so that access may be had if desired to the bearings about the sleeve 29. A cap 54 is provided to hold the sleeve on the tapered roll neck 22.

The gear case may be supported upon a bracket 55 carried by the adjacent side frame, as shown in Fig. 5.

through the member 58 of the bracket 55 bears against a pressure pad 59 on the bracket 56 and holds the gear case in place.

While I have shown and bodiment of my invention,

motor for driving said reducing gears, said gear case being split along a horizontal plane, and said first-named gear and the reducing gears being so mounted in the case that their axes lie in said plane.

3. A rubber mill or like device comprising a mill stand having a pair of cooperating rolls, side frames in which said rolls are rotatably mounted, a gear case mounted adjacent one of said side frames, one of said roils having a neck portion extending into said case, a gear rotatably mounted in bearings carried by the case and having a hollow hub member in which the roll neck portions so nonrotatably received, a train of reducing gears rotatably supported in bearings carried by last of which meshes with said first named having a shaft extending into the case, and a pinion secured to said shaft having its teeth in mesh with those of the first of said train of reducing gears.

4. A rubber mill or like device comprising a mill having a pair of cooperating rolls, side frames in wh In said rolls are rotatably mounted, a gear case mounted adjacent one of said side frames, one of said rolls having a neck portion extending into said case, a gear rotatably mounted in bearings carried by the case and having a hollow hub me ,iber in which the roll neck portion is nonrotatably received, a train of reducing gears rotatably supported in bearings carried by said case, the last of which meshes with said first-named gear, a motor supported by the ear casing and having its shaft extending into the gear casing, and a pinion se cured to the shaft and drivingly connected to said getr train to drive the latter.

5. A rubber mill or like device comprising a mill stand having a pair of cooperating rolls, side frame in which said rolls are rotatably mounted, a ew case mounted adjacent one of said side frames, one of said rolls having a neck portion extending into said case, a gear rotatably mounted in bearings carried by the case and having a hollow hub member in which the roll neck portion is nonrotatably received, a train of reducing gears rotatably supported in bearings carried by said case, the last of which meshes with said first-named gear, a motor having a flanged casing secured to a side wall of the gear casing and having a shaft extending into the gear casing, and a pinion on the extended end of said shaft within the casing and drivingly connected to said gear train.

6. A rubber mill or like device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the motor comprises a flanged casing secured to and supported by the side wall of said gear casing.

7. A rubber mill or like device comprising a mill stand having a pair of cooperating rolls, side frames in which said rolls are rotatably mounted, a gear case mounted adjacent one of said side frames, hollow hub member rotatably mounted in bearings carried by said case, a driving bull gear nonrotatably secured to said hnb her, one of said rolls having a neck portion extending within the gear case into said hub member and nonrotatlably secured to the latter, gearing in said case drivingly secured to said bull is secured to the adjacent end frame for support thereby.

9. Mechanism as in claim 7 wherein a motor is secured to said gear case for support thereby and the shaft of said motor is drivingly connected to said gearing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS- U. 5. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PATENT OFFICE l CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No 2,837,763 warren 3 w itt June 10, 1958 It is hereby certified that error appears .in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correctien and that the said Lettera Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 4, line 8,, for "portions so" read portion is Signed and sealed this 5th day of August 1958,

(SEAL).

Attest:

KARL AXLINE ROBERT c. WATSON Attesting Officer Comiseioner of Patents