US2859729A

US2859729A - Support for can body internal treating devices

Info

Publication number: US2859729A
Application number: US596188A
Authority: US
Inventors: John E Socke
Original assignee: American Can Co
Current assignee: Primerica Inc
Priority date: 1956-07-06
Filing date: 1956-07-06
Publication date: 1958-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 1975-11-11

Description

NOV. 11, 1958 socK 2,859,729

SUPPQR': FOR CAN BODY INTERNAL TREATING DEVICES Filed July 6, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 Z715 Zii7 2 J 5 12 I I Aqua! INVENTOR.

JOHN E. SOCKE ATTORNEYS Nov. 11, 1958 J. E. socKE 2,859,729

SUPPORT FOR CAN BODY INTERNAL TREATING DEVICES Filed July 6, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

JOHN E. SOCKE M4 WXM AT TORNEYVS United States Patent SUPPORT FOR CAN BODY INTERNAL TREATING DEVICES John E. Socke, Pelham Manor, N. Y., assignor to American Can Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 6, 1956, Serial No. 596,188

4 Claims. (Cl. 118-317) The present invention relates to can body treating machines having devices over which can bodies are telescoped for treating their interior surfaces and has particular reference to improved means for supporting the treating devices between advancing can bodies which are successively spaced without interference with their continuous advancement. This is an improvement over United States Patent 2,760,465 issued August 28, 1956 to I. F. Hawkins on Support for Devices for Internally Treating Moving Can Bodies.

An object of the invention is the provision in a can body treating machine of devices for supporting an internally disposed treating device in a manner which permits can bodies to readily pass over the treating device without interference and which provides for a free floating support of the device.

Another object is the provision of such treating device support means in which there is a minimum of wear in.

moving parts and a free smooth uniform operation of rotating parts which tend to maintain the treating device in a stabilized position.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent as it is better understood from the following description, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of principal parts of a can body treating machine embodying the instant invention, with parts broken away and parts shown in section.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially along the broken line 2-2 in Fig. 1, with parts broken away;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through one of the elements of the apparatus shown in Figs, 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a top plan view taken substantially along a plane indicated by the broken line 44 in Fig. 2, parts being broken away.

As a preferred or exemplary embodiment of the instant invention the drawings illustrate principal parts of the side seam spraying portion of a can body making machine such as disclosed in United States Patent 2,220,107 issued November 5, 1940 to W. M. Holloway and referred to in the above mentioned Hawkins Patent No. 2,760,465. In such a machine, sheet metal tubular can bodies A (Figs; 1 and 2) having side seams B are stripe coated on the inside of the bodies along the side seam with a film of coating material as the can bodies are advanced through the machine in a substantially continuous procession.

The can bodies A are advanced through the machine in spaced and timed relation in end-to-end arrangement with their longitudinal axes in horizontal alignment. For this purpose the can bodies are advanced along a pair of spaced and parallel longitudinal magnetic rails 11 (Figs. 1 and 2) which constitute a supporting horn.

These rails 11 are secured to and depend radially of the I members 14 of the main frame of the machine.

can bodies, from a longitudinal horn member 12 supported by brackets 13 which extend up from frame The rails 11 hold the bodies in suspension by magnetic attraction as shown in Fig. 2.

The can bodies A are propelled along the horn rails 11 by an endless chain conveyor 18 having gripper or feed dogs 19 attached thereto at spaced intervals for engaging behind and gripping the can bodies. The conveyor 18 is driven continuously in any suitable manner, preferably as disclosed in the above mentioned Holloway Patent 2,220,107. The lower run of the conveyor 18 is guided adjacent the path of travel of the can bodies by supporting rollers 25 disposed on opposite sides of the conveyor adjacent the gripper dogs 19. These rollers 25 ride in longitudinal grooves or tracks 26 in the horn member 12.

The treating or stripe spraying of the side seams B on the inside surfaces of the can bodies A preferably is effected by a spray head or treating device 31 (Fig. 1) having a discharge nozzle 32 from which an atomized fluid coating material is projected against the seams. This spray head 31 is disposed adjacent the horn rails 11 and in the path of travel of the can bodies, being in substantial alignment with the longitudinal axes of the bodies so that the bodies may readily pass over the spray head telescopically.

The spray head 31 is attached to the discharge end of an elongated tube 33 which constitutes a part of the treating device. This tube 33 extends parallel with the horn rails 11, back toward the can body entrance end of the machine to a station in the machine just prior to the station where the side seam is closed, so that the tube may be solidly supported at this end. The tube 33 contains small pipes 34 which transmit fluid coating material and compressed air to the spray head nozzle 32 from any suitable source of supply of such fluids.

in order to support the free length of the tube 33 without interference with the can bodies A which surround the tube and which are advancing in spaced and processional order along the horn rails 11, one or more support devices are provided and are located one adjacent the spray head 31 and as many more as required, located between the head and the fixed end of the tube, depending upon the length of the tube. These support devices include a pair of spaced and parallel helical support screws 36 (Figs. 1, 2 and 4) which are disposed parallel with and below the tube, one screw being located on each side of the tube as best shown in Figs. 2 and 4. These screws 36 are mounted on a pair of spaced and parallel shafts 37 the ends of which are journaled in bearing brackets 38 secured to the frame members 14.

The shafts 37 are rotated continuously in the proper direction and in time with the chain conveyor 18 by an endless drive chain 41 (Figs. 1 and 2) which operates over a pair. of drive sprockets 42 mounted on the shafts 37 and over an idler sprocket 43 and a driven sprocket 44 mounted respectively on

short shafts

45, 46 journaled in one of the bearing brackets 38. The shaft 46 which carries the driven sprocket 44 also carries a sprocket 48 which is rotated by an endless chain 49 actuated by a sprocket 51 carried on a driven shaft 52 journaled in bearings 53 on the frame 14. The driven shaft 52 extends back through the machine and is connected in any suitable manner as disclosed in the above mentioned Holloway Patent 2,220,017, to the driving devices of the body chain conveyor 18.

The support screws 36 are formed with relatively deep helical threads 55 which project into the path of travel of the can bodies A advancing along the horn rails 11. The pitch of the'screws is slightly greater than the length of a can body A so that the can bodies will readily fit-between longitudinally aligned portions of the threads. The peripheral edges of the helical threads 55 preferably are fiat so as to serve as supports for the treating device. These flat edges of the threads engage against and support an elongated freely rotatable sleeve 57 which concentrically surrounds the tube 33.

The sleeve 57 is of a length substantially equal to the length of the screws 36 and rests in the valley space between the screws. This sleeve 57 surrounds the treating device tube 33 and is mounted on anti-friction bearings or instrumentalities 59- carried on the tube 33. Retaining collars 61 carried on the tube 33 adjacent the ends of the sleeve 57 restrain the sleeve against endwise displacement along the tube.

Hence the sleeve 57 is freely rotatable and is extra sensitive to rotation and thus requires only a slight effort to effect this rotation. The sleeve is of a diameter smaller than the inside diameter of the can bodies so that the advancing bodies can readily pass over and around the sleeve without interference.

With such a sleeve mounting for the treating device, the two screws 36 with the outer peripheries of their helical threads 55 engaging against the freely rotatable sleeve 57 fioatingly support the spray head tube 33 and retain the tube and the spray head 5 attached thereto in a stabilized position substantially coincident with the longitudinal axes of the can bodies A. Such a support sleeve not only rotates exceptionally freely but since its diameter is materially greater than the diameter of the tube 33, the sleeve is subject to a minimum of Wear and thus requires a minimum of maintenance expense and attention.

The helical threads 55 of the screws 36 preferably are identical and extend in the same direction, either right hand or left hand, with the two screws 36 rotating in the same direction, clockwise as shown in Fig. 2 or counterclockwise if desired, depending upon the right or left hand direction of the screw threads, as long as the points of contact between the screw threads and the sleeve 57 advance in the same direction as the travel of the can bodies.

Thus one screw 36 tends to draw the supported treating device tube 33 downwardly while the other screw tends to lift the treating device upwardly. These opposed reactions of the two screws against the sleeve 57 tend to counteract each other with the result that the treating device tube 33 supported by the sensitively mounted sleeve 57, tends to float in a stabilized position with a minimum weight or pressure reaction on the support screws.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. In a machine for treating tubular can bodies on the interior thereof, the combination of a horn for supporting the can bodies, a movable conveyor for advancing the can bodies along said horn, an elongated treating element disposed adjacent said horn in the path of travel of said can bodies so that the bodies pass over and around said element in telescopic relation thereto for interior treatment of said bodies, a freely rotatable sleeve member surrounding said elongated treating element in space relation thereto, a pair of spaced and parallel support screws disposed adjacent the path of travel of said can bodies and having helical threads engaging at their peripheries against said freely rotatable sleeve member for supporting said treating element in a predetermined position, said threads having a pitch greater than the length of said can bodies for accommodation of individual can bodies therebetween, and means for rotating said screws in the same direction in time with the movement of said conveyor for continuously suppporting said treating element without interfering with the advancement of said can bodies along said horn and over and around said treating element.

2. In a machine of the character defined in claim 1 wherein said freely rotatable sleeve member is of a length substantially equal to the length of said screws and wherein said sleeve is freely mounted on and is rotatable relative to said elongated treating element.

3. In a machine of the character defined in claim 2 wherein an anti-friction bearing is disposed between said sleeve and said treating element to provide for sensitive rotation of said sleeve.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,760,465 Hawkins Aug. 28, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 446,660 Italy Mar. 23, 1949