US3163032A

US3163032A - Flexible sheet handling mechanisms

Info

Publication number: US3163032A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles F Fitzgerald
Original assignee: United Shoe Machinery Corp
Current assignee: United Shoe Machinery Corp
Priority date: 1963-07-09
Filing date: 1963-07-09
Publication date: 1964-12-29
Anticipated expiration: 1981-12-29

Description

1964 c. F. FITZGERALD 3,163,032

FLEXIBLE SHEET HANDLING MECHANISMS Filed July 9, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 fnvamor Ckar'les FFizzgcrald By his Af for-nay Dec. 29, 1964 c. F. FITZGERALD 3,163,032

FLEXIBLE SHEET HANDLING MECHANISMS Filed July 9, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1366- 1954 c. F. FITZGERALD FLEXIBLE SHEET HANDLING MECHANISMS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 9, 1963 United States Patent Ofifice 3,163,032 Patented Dec. 29, 1964 3,163,032 FLEXBLE SHEET HANDLING MEtZHANISMS Charles F. Fitzgerald, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boston, Mass, a corporation of New Jersey Filed July 9, 1963, Ser. No. 293,774 11 Claims. (l. (Zr-4A1) This invention relates generally to machines for working on flexible sheet material such as leather and the like and more particularly to mechanism for handling and conveying flexible pieces as they undergo processing operations. The invention has particular application to leather working or shoemaking machinery and will be hereinafter described with reference to a leather splitting machine but it is to be understood that the invention may be applied to flexible Work piece handling machines of all types.

In the past, work pieces emerging from processing machines such as leather splitting and skiving machines or other machines which cut away all or part of a surface of a flexible sheet-like work piece, have been allowed to fall to the floor or into containers placed behind and beneath the splitting or skiving locations. This has been due mainly to the size and location of the splitting or skiving mechanism (i.e. knife location) with respect to the driving mechanism which prevented the mounting of any useful conveying mechanism in close proximity. Furthermore, many splitting machines are not suitably constructed even to permit placing a collecting receptacle in a useful position and require an extra operator for removing finished work pieces as they pass beyond the knife. Also, in certain types of splitting and skiving machinery havin manually adjustable feed rolls, rather than permit the work blank to be fed all the way through the machine and fall to the floor, the operator releases the rolls and pulls the work piece past the knife and out of the machine, commencing before it has been completely split and providing the final feeding motion himself. Neither condition is particularly desirable and the latter is, of course, time consuming, productive of less than optimum results and subjects the operator to the danger of contact with the knife.

An object of this invention is to provide means for removing flexible sheet-like work pieces from the more inaccessible and dangerous areas of sheet processing machinery.

Another object of this invention is to provide a work piece removal system that can conduct work pieces away from the operating area of a machine to a location where they can be conveniently stacked or otherwise accumulated.

Feed rolls usually employed with splitter and skivers of the above-described type generally push the work against the knife and, while they are located in close proximity to the knife, they have a tendency, at times, to buckle the Work piece as they push it, particularly when the work piece is initially thin and pliable.

It is, therefore, another object of this invention to provide in a flexible sheet processing machine, such as a leather splitter and the like, means for feeding the work without buckling it and for conducting the work piece after it has been processed to a locality where it can safely be removed.

An obvious expediency would be to provide one or more puller rolls which cooperate with the pusher rolls. This has been tried, however, with little success particularly since power driven puller rolls which operate faster than the pusher rolls, while they successfully convey the work piece away from the processing tool, i.e. knife, tend to stretch the work piece and puller rolls which operate at the same speed, while they do not stretch the work,

generally are unable to convey it away from the knife with sufficient speed or force to locate it where it can conveniently be collected or safely removed from the machine.

In accordance with these objects and as a feature of the invent-ion there is provided in a machine for proc essing flexible sheet material such as leather and the like which has an operating tool such as a splitting knife and primary work feeding means such as pusher rolls in advance of the knife, the improvement which comprises a puller roll located closely behind the tool, which puller roll has radially disposed flexible fins and is driven at a peripheral speed slightly in excess of the speed of the primary work feeding means. Cooperating with the pull: er roll is a curved flexible plate against which the fins of the puller roll press the work piece as it passes from the tool. An endless belt conveyor system is provided to conduct the work piece upwardly and rearwardly of the tool location so that it may be conveniently stacked, collected or otherwise removed. Various Work piece deflection means are provided to assure that the work piece is efliciently located on the conveyor system.

The above and other features of the invention including various novel details of construction and combinations of parts will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims. It will be understood that the particular machine embodying the invention is shown by way of illustration only and not as a limitation of the invention. The principles and features of this invention may be employed in vvaried and numerous embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a front elevation as viewed by an operator of a leather splitting machine embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a left side elevation of portions of the machine shown in FIG. 1 partly in section and on enlarged scale with parts broken away for clarity;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the portion of the split: ting machine shown in FIG. 2 and on the same scale; and,

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the machine taken in the direction of the arrow IV on FIG. 2 on the same scale as FIGS. 2 and 3.

The machine will hereinafter be illustrated as embodied in a band knife leather splitting machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patents Nos. 2,645,921, issued July 21, 1953, to A. S. Dumas and 1,382,755, issued June 28, 1921 to W. C. Baxter, to which reference may be had for a more detailed description. Briefly, however, the band knife splitter includes a main frame 2, an endless band knife 4 having an edge 5 and continuously driven by drums or driving Wheels 6 and 8, and a worktable 10. Upper and lower primary feed rolls 12 and 14 (FIG. 2) are rotatably driven about parallel horizontal axes A and A, located respectively, above and below the worktable. It will be noted that the cutting edge 5 of the band knife 4 begins at and extends behind (or to the left as viewed in PEG. 2) of the line joining the axes A and A of the feed rolls. Thus, the rolls are pusher rolls when considered with respect to the knife 4. Also in close proximity to the feed rolls 12 and 14 is a knife holddown plate 16, the upper beveled surface 18 of which is engaged by and supports work blanks B as they move past the knife. The severed pieces or splits S pass beneath the knife and onto the floor.

Since the primary feed rolls 12 and 1d are pusher rolls i with respect to the knife 4, even though the knife edge 5 is at or close to the line between the axes A and A, there has in the past been a tendency for the flexible work blanks B to buckle slightly due to the frictional engagement with the surface 18 and the remainder of the blade sneaosa 4'. Furthermore, the movement of the work pieces away from the knife depended entirely upon the inertia imparted to them by the pusher rolls which meant that there was no assurance that the work pieces would pass upwardly of the surface 13 a sufflcient amount to permit their removal by the operator in a safe manner. As stated above, it has been a practice of the operator to release the pressure on the rolls 12 and 14 during splitting and complete the operation by pulling the work in cooperation with the rolls through the final increment of the cut. This meant that the operators hand was in a dangerous location with respect to the knife.

In accordance with one of the features of this invention, an auxiliary feed roll 29 is mounted in

brackets

21 and 22 on the machine frame behind the rolls 12 and 14 slightly above the sloping surface 18 of the holddown plate 16. Cooperating with the auxiliary roll Ztl or puller roll as it is also called is a curved flexible or yieldable guide plate 23 extending as a continuation of the beveled surface 18 of the knife holddown plate 16. Positioned above and slightly to the left of the auxiliary feed roll 26 is a flexible work piece deflector plate 24 secured by brackets 26 (only one of which is seen) to the

brackets

21 and 22. The puller roll 24 is driven about an axis A" paralleling the axes A of the main feed rolls 12 and 14, by an endless chain 28 deriving its power through a double sprocket 3% on a speed reducer 32 which is driven by an electric motor 34. A second endless chain 36 is also driven by a sprocket 39 on the speed reducer 32 and supplies power to mechanism hereinafter to be described.

The pulley roll Ed is provided with a plurality of flexible radial fins 38 made of rubber or other equivalent material. Each of the fins 38 comprises a series of closely spaced separated projecting members 40. The deflector plate 24 includes a plurality of downwardly extending fingers 42 entering between the individual members 4 of the fins 38.

The shape of the flexible plate 23 closely follows the shape of the peripheral path of the fins 38. While the peripheral pathof the fins 38 may be spaced from the flexible guide plate 23 an amount not exceeding the anticipated thickness of the work piece W after it has been split from the blank B by the knife it may also just touch the flexible plate 23. The roll 2% is driven at a peripheral speed which'is slightly in excess of the peripheral speed of the primary feed rolls 12 and 14.

Cooperating with the auxiliary feed roll 28 and the plates 23 to remove the work piece W from the knife is an endless conveyor system comprising a flexible belt 50 which passes around an idler roll 52 journaled in the

brackets

21 and 22 behind the auxiliary feed roll 26 and located slightly below the deflecting plate 24. The belt 50 is driven in a counterclockwise direction about the roll 52 by a driving roll 54 and passes upwardly about a roll 56 thence downwardly around

rolls

56 and 60. The roll 54 is driven'by the chain 36, referred to above, which derives power from the double sprocket attached to the speed reducer 32 Each of the rolls 563, 53 and tl are idler rolls journaled in

plate members

64 and 66 which extend vertically from a rear portion 63 of the main frame of the machine. The roll 54 is also journaled in the

plates

54 and 66.

A tension applying roller 7Q is journaled between the free ends of levers '72, 74 fixed to a shaft '76 extending between and through the

plates

64, 66. Srpings 7S and 8t) adjustably secured to the

plates

64, 66, respectively, apply tension to levers 82 and 84 fixed to the outer ends of the shaft'76 to force the roller 70 against the belt, urging the belt to the left as seen in FIG. 2 and thereby tensioning it.

The conveyor system also includes a second endless belt' 86 passing around the driven roll 54 and a companion roll 88 journaled between the

plates

64, 66 below the roll 56. An idler pressure applying roll 90 engages the belt urging it, as seen in FIG. 2, against the main conveyor belt 50. A deflector plate 592 is mounted on brackets 94 (only one of which is seen) adjacent the roll 88. Beneath the deflector plate 92 is located a removable receptacle 96 supported in a bracket 98 suspended from the

plates

64 and 66.

In operation, a work blank B is fed by the operator across the table 10 then through the primary feed rolls 12 and 14 which push it against the knife 4. As will be obvious to one skilled in the art, the knife may be a fixed splitting blade of conventional type or a skiving knife which removes only part of the surface of a workpiece. As the blank B is split by the knife 4, the upper portion or workpiece W passes upwardly of the inclined surface 18 of the knife holddown 16 into position where it is engaged by one or more members 40 which form the flns 38 of the auxiliary or puller roll 20. Since the peripheral speed of the fins 38 is greater than that of the rolls 12 and 14, it applies a component of force to the workpiece W as it presses it against the flexible plate 23.

Because the fins 38 are flexible, there will be slippage between them and the surface of the workpiece that they engage when the workpiece is still within the grip of the primary feed rolls 12 and 14. However, after the workpiece leaves the control of the feed rolls, slippage decreases as the then split workpiece W is accelerated over the curved flexible plate 23 in a direction generally upwardly and rearwardly of the knife 4. Thus, not only will the entire work blank B be split without buckling but sufl-lcient inertia is imparted to the split workpiece W to move it rapidly away from the knife 4. Simultaneously, the lower portion or split S passes beneath the knife and drops either to the floor or into a collecting receptacle.

The fingers 42 on the plate prevent a workpiece W from being carried around by the fins 38 in a clockwise direction, as seen in FIG. 2, should the workpiece be particularly thin.

As the workpiece W is accelerated by the roll 26 upwardly, the undersurface of the workpiece W may engage the traveling conveyor belt 50 where it passes about the idler roll 52, which assists the workpiece in striking the deflector plate 24. It then changes direction and falls upon the upper surface of the conveyor belt 50. The workpiece is carried by the conveyor belt 56 around the driving roll 54 whereupon its upper surface is engaged by the second conveyor belt 86.

The

belts

50 and 86 being urged together by the cooperative actions of the

rolls

54, 9t and 88 lift the split workpiece W between them until it passes around the roll 88 in a clockwise direction, as seen in FIG 2, and passes from between the

belts

50 and 86 falling onto the upper deflector plate 92 and thence into the receptacle 96.

It will be understood that although one configuration of conveyor belts has herein been illustrated it is by way of example only and numerous variations in details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine for processing flexible sheet material such as leather and the like which has an operating tool and primary work feeding means located in advance of the tool, the improvement comprising a puller roll located closely behind said tool and having radially disposed flexible fins which are engageable with a workpiece as it leaves the tool, and means for rotating the roll with the peripheral speed of the flns slightly in excess of the speed of the primary work feeding means.

2. In a machine for processing flexible sheet material such as leather and the like which has an operating tool and primary work feeding means located in advance of the tool, the improvement comprising a puller roll lo cated closely behind said tool and having radially disposed flexible fins which are engageable with a workpiece as it leaves the tool, means for rotating the roll with the peripheral speed of the fins slightly in excess of the speed of the primary work feeding means, and conveyor means adjacent the puller roll to conduct the workpiece away from the roll and the tool.

3. In a machine for processing flexible sheet material such as leather and the like which has an operating tool and primary work feeding means located in advance of the tool, ,the improvement comprising a puller roll located closely behind said tool and having radially disposed flexible fins which are engageable with one surface of a workpiece as it leaves the tool, a curved flexible plate mounted adjacent a portion of the peripheral path of the fins and engageable with the opposite surface of the workpiece, and means for rotating the roll with the peripheral speed of the fins slightly in excess of the speed of the primary feed means whereby the puller roll and flexible plate cooperate with the primary feed means to pull and conduct the workpiece past and away from the operating tool.

4. In a machine for processing flexible sheet material such as leather and the like which has an operating tool and primary work feeding means located in advance of the tool, the improvement comprising a puller roll located closely behind said tool and having radially disposed flexible fins which are engageable with one surface of a workpiece as it leaves the tool, a flexible plate engageable with the opposite surface of the workpiece, said plate being mounted adjacent the tool and shaped to conform closely to the circumferential path of said fins, means for rotating the roll with the peripheral speed of the fins slightly in excess of the speed of the primary feed means whereby the puller roll and flexible plate cooperate with the primary feed means to pull and guide the workpiece past and away from the operating tool, an idler roll located adjacent the flexible plate, and an endless belt passing about said idler roll whereby the belt is engageable with the workpiece as it emerges from between the puller roll and the flexible plate to cooperate therewith in guiding the workpiece away from the tool.

5. In a machine for processing flexible sheet material such as leather and the like which has an operating tool and primary work feeding means located in advance of the tool, the improvement comprising a puller roll located closely behind said tool and having radially disposed flexible fins engageable with one surface of a work piece as it leaves the tool, a flexible plate engageable with the opposite surface of the work piece, said plate being mounted adjacent the tool and shaped to conform closely to the circumferential path of said fins, means for rotating the roll with the peripheral speed of the fins slightly in excess of the speed of the primary feed means whereby the puller roll and flexible plate cooperate with the primary feed means to pull and guide the work piece past and away from the operating tool, an idler roll located adjacent the flexible plate, an endless conveyor belt passing about said idler roll whereby the belt is engageable with the work piece as it emerges from between the puller roll and the flexible plate to cooperate therewith in guiding the work piece, and a deflector plate above the idler roll and the flexible plate to deflect the work piece onto the conveyor belt after it has emerged from between the puller roll and the flexible plate.

6. In a machine for processing flexible sheet material such as leather and the like which has an operating tool and primary work feeding means located in advance of the tool, the improvement comprising a puller roll located closely behind said tool and having radially disposed flexible fins engageable with one surface of a work piece as it leaves the tool, and a flexible plate engageable with the opposite surface of the work piece, said plate being mounted adjacent the puller roll and shaped to conform 6 v closely to the circumferential path of said fins, means for rotating the roll with the peripheral speed of the fins slightly in excess of the speed of the primary feed means whereby the puller roll and flexible plate cooperate with the primary work feeding means to pull and guide the work piece past and away from the operating tool, a belt conveyor system mounted adjacent the flexible plate and leading away from said tool, and means for directing the movement of the belt of the conveyor system in an upward path with respect to the machine to carry the work piece to a location where it may be collected and removed.

7. In a leather working machine which cuts away part or all of a surface of a flexible sheet-like work piece, a cutting knife which operates in a relatively fixed location, primary feed rolls engageable with opposite surfaces of the work piece and located in advance of the knife to push the work there against, a puller roll located closely behind the knife and having radially disposed flexible fins engageable with one surface of the work piece as it leaves the knife, means for rotating the roll with the peripheral speed of the fins slightly in excess of that of the primary feed rolls, and conveyor means adjacent the puller roll to conduct the work piece away from the knife operating location.

8. In a leather working machine which cuts away part or all of a surface of a flexible sheet-like work piece, a cutting knife which operates in a relatively fixed location, primary feed rolls engageable with opposite surfaces of the work piece and located in advance of the knife to push the work there against, a puller roll located closely behind the knife and having radially disposed flexible fins engageable with one surface of the work piece as it leaves the knife, a curved flexible plate mounted adjacent a portion of the peripheral path of the fins and engageable with the opposite surface of the work piece whereby the puller roll and flexible plate cooperate with the primary feed rolls to pull the work piece past and away from the knife and conduct it away therefrom.

9. In a leather working machine which cuts away part or all of a surface of a flexible sheet-like work piece, a cutting knife which operates in a relatively fixed location, primary feed rolls engageable with opposite surfaces of the work piece and located in advance of the knife to push the work there against, a puller roll located closely behind the knife and having radially disposed flexible fins engageable with one surface of the work piece as it leaves the knife, a curved flexible plate mounted adjacent a portion of the peripheral path of the fins and engageable with the opposite surface of the work piece, an idler roll located adjacent the flexible plate, and an endless belt passing about said idler roll whereby the belt is engageable with the work piece as it emerges from between the puller roll and the flexible plate to cooperate therewith in guiding the work piece away from the knife.

10. In a leather working machine which cuts away part or all of a surface of a flexible sheet-like work piece, a cutting knife which operates in a relatively fixed location, primary feed rolls engageable with opposite surfaces of the work piece and located in advance of the knife to push the work there against, a puller roll located closely behind the knife and having radially disposed flexible fins engageable with one surface of the work piece as it leaves the knife, a curved flexible plate mounted adjacent a portion of the peripheral path of the fins and engageable with the opposite surface of the work piece, an idler roll located adjacent the flexible plate, an endless belt passing about said idler roll whereby the belt is engageable with the work piece as it emerges from between the puller roll and the flexible plate to cooperate therewith in guiding the work piece away from the knife, and a deflector plate located above the idler roll and the flexible plate to deflect the work piece onto the conveyor belt after it has emerged from the puller roll and the flexible plate.

11. In a leather working machine which cuts away part or all of a surface of a flexible sheet-like work piece, a

cutting knife which operates in a relatively fixed location, primary feed rolls engageable with opposite surfaces of the work piece and located in advance of the knife to push the work there against, a puller roll located closely behind the knife and having radially disposed flexible fins engageable with one surface of the work piece as it leaves the knife, a curved flexible plate mounted adjacent a portion of the peripheral path of the fins and engageable with the opposite surface of the work piece, a belt conveyor system mounted adjacent the flexible plate and leading away from the knife comprising an idler roll located adjacent the flexible plate, an endless belt passing about said idler roll whereby the belt is engageable with the work piece as it emerges from between the puller roll and the flexible plate to cooperate therewith in guiding the work piece away from the knife, and means for directing the movement of the endless belt in an upward path with respect to the knife operating location to carry the work piece to a location where it may be conveniently and safely collected and removed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 479,461 Randall July 26, 1892 1,140,392. Novick May 25, 1915 1,920,842 Cogswell Aug. 1, 1933 l 2,281,77l Johnston May 5, 1942 2,571,269 Maciejowski et a1 Oct. 16, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 2,097 Great Britain of 1913

Claims

1. IN A MACHINE FOR PROCESSING FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL SUCH AS LEATHER AND THE LIKE WHICH HAS AN OPERATING TOOL AND PRIMARY WORK FEEDING MEANS LOCATED IN ADVANCE OF THE TOOL, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING A PULLER ROLL LOCATED CLOSELY BEHIND SAID TOOL AND HAVING RADIALLY DISPOSED FLEXIBLE FINS WHICH ARE ENGAGEABLE WITH A WORKPIECE AS IT LEAVES THE TOOL, AND MEANS FOR ROTATING THE ROLL WITH THE PERIPHERAL SPEED OF THE FINS SLIGHTLY IN EXCESS OF THE SPEED OF THE PRIMARY WORK FEEDING MEANS.