US3184077A

US3184077A - Guiding and manipulating apparatus for a rolling mill

Info

Publication number: US3184077A
Application number: US140817A
Authority: US
Inventors: Clark Patrick Alwyne; Shimeld Tom Alexander George
Original assignee: Davy Loewy Ltd
Current assignee: Davy Loewy Ltd
Priority date: 1960-09-30
Filing date: 1961-09-26
Publication date: 1965-05-18
Anticipated expiration: 1982-05-18
Also published as: GB961184A

Description

May'18, 1965 P. A. CLARK ETAL GUIDING AND MANIPULATING APPARATUS FOR A ROLLING MILL Filed Sept. 26, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INvEN'rQRS ATTORNEY y 1965 P. A. CLARK ETAL 3,184,077

GUIDING AND MANIPULATING APPARATUS FOR A ROLLING MILL Filed. Sept. 26, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS ATTOEN EY y 8, 1965 P. A. CLARK ETAL 3,134,077

GUIDING AND MANIPULATING APPARATUS FOR A ROLLING MILL Filed Sept. 26, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 lNVENToR:

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,184,077 GUIDING AND MANIPULATING APPARATUS FOR A ROLLING MILL Patrick Alwyne Clark, Norton, Sheifield, and Tom Alexander George Shimeld, Shefiield, England, assignors to Davy and United Engineering Company Limited, Sheffield, England, a British company Filed Sept. 26, 1961, Ser. No. 140,817 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Sept. 30, 12360, 33,619/ 60 11 Claims. (Cl. 214-1) This invention relates to rolling mills and more pan ticularly to the guidance of billets of an unstable nature in such a mill.

It is usual to employ apparatus for turning billets between successive passes through a mill and such apparatus commonly comprises so-called manipulators. it has been found that when these manipulators are positioned at some distance from the mill, approximately 36 feet in one instance, for example, billets having diamond-shaped and various other sections prove to be unstable between leaving the manipulators and entering the mill.

One object or" the invention is to reduce this difficulty by providing apparatus for guiding and supporting a billet in such circumstances.

It is also usual for the above manipulators to be variable in that they can be adjusted to permit handling of difierent size billets.

Another object of the invention is to provide guide apparatus which is automatically set to the appropriate position with respect to associated manipulators in any operable position of the latter over a predetermined range.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for guiding and supporting elongate material in association with adjustable manipulating means for the material, the apparatus comprising two mutually inclined rollers, and adjusting means for maintaining said rollers substantially symmetrically disposed with respect to said manipulating means.

In another aspect the present invention provides apparatus for guiding and supporting elongate material in association with a pair of relatively adjustable manipulating means for the material, the apparatus comprising two mutually inclined rollers, and adjusting means for maintaining said rollers symmetrically disposed relative to the pass line between said manipulator means, the adjusting means being operatively coupled to, and automatically responsive to, adjustment of said manipulator means.

In the application of the invention discussed above the apparatus will normally be disposed between the rollers of the main table over which the manipulators are opera tive, and the breast rollers of the mill. Since the manipulators and mill may be designed for operation with a greater range of products than that for which the invention is necessary, such as the handling and rolling of blooms, the invention additionally provides according to a further aspect means for rendering said apparatus inoperative.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, the same will now be more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates one embodiment of the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a section IIII of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a section III-Ill of FGURE l, and

EJ8 1377 Patented May 18, 19155 FIGURE 4 illustrates the embodiment of FIGURE 1 in a diiferent disposition.

In FIGURE 1 a diamond-section billet '11 is passed over the two inclined rollers 12 of the invent-ion which are journalled in one end of a support beam 13 disposed between the two

heads

14 and 15 of a manipulator. The support beam 13 is itself supported by a pivot connection 16 to an intermediate point of a linkage member 17, and by a guide roller 18 which is carried at the end of support be am 13 distant from rollers 12 and which is mounted in tracks 19 (FIGURES 1, 3) formed in head 15.

The upper end of linkage member 17 is pivotally connected at 20 to one end of a support arm 21 the other end of which is rotatable about pivot 22 the bearings 23 for which are mounted on the head 15. linkage member 17 also has its upper end pivotally connected at 24 to one end of a rod 25 which is slidably mounted in two projections 26 and 27 carried by support arm 21. The section of rod 25 where it passes through projection 27 is larger than that through projection 26 and a spring 28 is held under compression between projection 26 and the increased section of rod 25. The outer ends of rod 25 are provided with flanges to form stops in cooperation with projections 26 and 27.

Manipulator head 14 is provided with a stop-member extension 29, as shown, with which the lower end of linkage member '17 engages during normal operation.

In the operation of the above embodiment support arm 21 is normally locked so that linkage member 17 is effectively pivotally connected at 26 for rotation about a fixed axis. Thus, adjustment of the position of either of the

manipulator heads

14 or 15 to close the gap therebetween will be accompanied by simultaneous rotation of linkage member 17 about pivot 20 by the engagement of member 7 17 with extension 29, and by compression of spring 28.

At the same time, support beam 13 with rollers 12 are moved by the pivotal connection at 16 for a corresponding adjustment of the position of rollers 12. During the latter adjustment, support beam 13 is rotated about pivot 16 by the action of roller 18 in the track 19 to maintain beam 13 horizontal.

Similarly, adjustment of the posit-ion of either or the

manipulator heads

14 or 15 to increase the gap therebetween is accompanied by a corresponding adjustment of the position of rollers 12, by expansion of spring 28 to maintain the lower end of linkage member 17 engaged with extension 29.

The various linking members with their pivots may be readily designed and disposed so that movement of either manipulator head results in corresponding adjustment of the support beam to maintain the rollers 12 symmetrically disposed with respect to head faces of the manipulator heads, with the intersection of the roller axes centrally disposed between the faces of the manipulator heads.

In the particular embodiment described above there will be a slight arcuate movement of the rollers 12 over the range of adjustment of the apparatus as a result of locking pivot 22 and so fixing the position of pivot 21?. However, this will normally be advantageous since the effect is to raise the level of rollers 12 as the gap between

heads

14 and 15 is narrowed. Since this gap would normally be narrowed in operations such as the progressive reduction of billets in V gates, the reduction achieved may be compensated, as it were, by the rise of rollers 12.

During the above adjustment, the pass line between rollers 12 will be rotated relative to that between the

manipulator heads

14 and 15. This occurs because, during adjustment, pivot 16 is rotated about pivot 20, and so the line between pivot 16 and roller 18 rotates. Although in many cases the resultant rotation of beam 13 will not be significant it may be desirable, particularly in the case of larger ranges of adjustment, to maintain the beam 13 horizontal and so avoid tilting of the rollers 12. This may be achieved by use of suitable curvature for track 19, whereby Wheel 18 rises and falls with pivot 16 over the range of adjustment.

In a, further feature of the invention the rollers 12 may be rendered inoperative by suitable actuating means, so as to render the guide operation ineffective. FIG- URE 4 illustrates one example of such a feature wherein the embodiment of FIGURE 1 is provided with actuating means in the form of an air cylinder 30 pivotally connected at one end to an extension 31 of the head structure 15, and at the other end to an extension 32 from the pivot 22 of support arm 21. If air cylinder 30 is expanded, extension 32 and support arm 21, and consequently the whole guide assembly, are rotated anticlockwise about pivot 22 to lower rollers 12 and render them inoperative. In this lowered position spring 28 will be expanded to the fullest extent defined by the projections 26 and 27.

Inthe normal adjustment of this embodiment, as described above with reference to FIGURE 1, cylinder 30 may be employed to lock the pivot 22.

Although in the introduction above it is stated that guiding means according to the invention may be provided between the manipulators and the mill, the above embodiment shows such means between a pair of manipulator heads. Such an arrangement as shown is found quite suitable for the usual case where a succession of manipulator head pairs are employed, the above pair being the last of the succession prior to entry to the mill. However, it is quite clear that the. guiding means above may be set to one side of the

manipulator heads

14 and 15, between the heads and the mill, say, by providing lateral extensions to carry support member 21 and for engagement with the lower end of linkage member 17.

Although the present invention has been particularly described, by way of example, with reference to a specific embodiment, it is of course not intended to be limited'thereby. The specific embodiment may be modified, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Thus the sequence of pivotal connections along the linkage member can be varied, as also can the position for engagement with extension 29 from manipulator head 14. Also, for example, the support beam 13 could equally well engage a track carried by manipulator head 14' instead of 15.

Furthermore, if support beam 13 is required to be maintained horizontal over the range of adjustment, and

' lowering is not required, the beam may be engaged with tracks such as 19 in both manipulator heads and connected to linkage member 17 by a pin and slot coupling.

It will therefore be appreciated from these further examples that the invention as described above may be readily designed for applicationin various circumstances.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, We have explained the principle and operation of our invention and have illustrated and described what we consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, we desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim: 7

'1. A billet manipulator for a rolling mill comprising a pair of spaced-apart manipulating devices, each of which is movable with respect to the other, a pair of mutually inclined rollers for supporting a billet, a support beam for both said rollers slidably connected to one of said manipulating devices for movement transversely of the spacing between said manipulating devices, and a linkage member pivotally connected to said support beam and to one said manipulating device and engaging the other said manipulating device, for adjusting said support beam automatically on movement of at least one of said manipulating devices, to maintain said pair of rollers symmetrically disposed with respect to said devices for a a given range of separation thereof;

-2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein there is a track on said first manipulating device and mutually inclined rollers are journalled in one end of said support beam, said beam is pivotally connected at an intermediate point thereof to said'linkage member, and which is slidably connected at its other end from said rollers by engagement with said track.

member to said first manipulating'device during normal adjustment of said apparatus, and means for rotating said support member about the latter pivotal connection to lower said mutually inclined rollers.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said locking and rotating means comprises a pressure-actuated cylinder pivotally connected to said support member, or an extension therefrom, at one end, and said first manipulating device at the other end.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein there are means to compensate for tilting of the pass line of said mutually inclined rollers relative to that between said manipulating devices over the range of adjustment of the apparatus.

7. A billet manipulator for a rolling mill comprising a pair of spaced. apart manipulating devices, each of which is movable with respect to the other, a pair of mutually inclined rollers for supporting a billet, said pair of rollers being disposed symmetrically between said manipulating devices, supporting means for said pair of rollers mounted for movement transversely of the spacing between said manipulating devices, and a linkage member operatively connected to said supporting means and to each of said manipulating devices for adjusting said supporting means automatically on movement of at least one of said manipulating devices, to maintain said pair of rollers symmetrically disposed with respect to said devices for a given range of separation thereof.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 comprising also means for rotating said linkage member and the operative coupling therefor with said first manipulating means, whereby said rollers are rendered inoperative.

9. A billet manipulator as claimed in claim 7 in which said linkage member is pivotally coupled to both said supporting means and a first of said manipulating devices, and is arranged to engage with the second of said devices.

10. A billet manipulator as claimed in claim 9 comprising also aotuating means connected to said first device and operative on said linkage member to urge said linkage member into engagement with said second device.

11. A billet manipulator as claimed in claim 9 comprising also a thrust rod pivotally connected at one end to said linkage member, two spaced extension members which are connected to said first device and through which said thrust rod passes, stop means on said thrust rod between each of said extension members and the associated ends of said rod, and a compression spring disposed around said rod between the extension member nearer said linkage member, on the one hand, and further stop means on said rod intermediate said extension member, on the other hand, whereby said compression spring normally acts to rotate said linkage member about the point at which it is pivoted to said first device to maintain the engagement between said linkage member and said second device.

6 References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,112,829 12/63 Modder 8048 FOREIGN PATENTS 613,563 5/35 Germany.

WILLIAM J. STEPHENSON, Primary Examiner.

LEON PEAR, Examiner.

Claims

1. A BILLET MANIPULATOR FOR A ROLLING MILL COMPRISING A PAIR OF SPACED-APART MANIPULATING DEVICES, EACH OF WHICH IS MOVABLE WITH RESPECT TO THE OTHER, A PAIR OF MUTUALLY INCLINED ROLLERS FOR SUPPORTING A BILLET, A SUPPORT BEAM FOR BOTH SAID ROLLERS SLIDABLY CONNECTED TO ONE OF SAID MANIPULATING DEVICES FOR MOVEMENT TRANSVERSELY OF THE SPACING BETWEEN SAID MANIPULATING DEVICES, AND A LINKAGE MEMBER PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO SAID SUPPORT BEAM AND TO ONE SAID MANIPULATING DEVICE AND ENGAGING THE OTHER SAID MANIPULATING DEVICE, FOR ADJUSTING SAID SUPPORT BEAM AUTOMATICALLY ON MOVABLE OF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID MANIPULATING DEVICE, TO MAINTAIN SAID PAIR OF ROLLERS SYMMETRICALLY DISPOSED WITH RESPECT TO SAID DEVICES FOR A GIVEN RANGE OF SEPARATION THEREOF.