US3368242A

US3368242A - Multiplaten press system with individual charging sheets

Info

Publication number: US3368242A
Application number: US508653A
Authority: US
Inventors: Loewenfeid Kurt; Reiners Wolfgang
Original assignee: Siempelkamp Giesserei KG
Current assignee: Siempelkamp Giesserei KG; G Siempelkamp GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 1965-08-10
Filing date: 1965-11-19
Publication date: 1968-02-13
Anticipated expiration: 1985-02-13

Description

, 13, 8 'K. LOEWENFELD ETAL" 3,368,242

MULTIPLATEN PRESS SYSTEM WITH INDIVIDUAL CHARGING SHEETS Filed Nov. '19,- 1965 v 5 Shts-Sheet 1 Kurf Loewen feld Wqlfgang Reiners In vemors.

Attorney 1963 K. LOEWENFELD ETAL 3,368,242

MULTIPLATEN PRESS SYSTEM WITH INDIVIDUAL CHARGING SHEETS Filed NOV. 19, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 mm m MM m5 mw Attorney F 1968 K. LOEWENFELD/ ETAL MULTIPLATEN PRESS SY$TEM WITH INDIVIDUAL CHARGING SHEETS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov, 19, 1965 Ku'rf 'Loewenfeld Wolfgang Reiners Inventors.

Attorney Feb. 13, 1968 Filed Nov. 19, 1965 LOEWENFELD ETAL MULTIPLAT'EN PRESS S ISTEM WITH INDIVIDUAL CHARGING SHEETS s l q 5 7V8 v MM 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig. 5C

INVENTORS 1 Kurt Loewenfeld ,Wolfgang Reiners T 00 Attorney Feb. 13, 1968 K. LOEWENFELD ET AL 3,368,242

MULTIPLATEN PRESS SYSTEM WITH INDIVIDUAL CHARGING SHEETS Filed Nov. 19, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS: Kurf Loewen feld f 3W Attorney Wolfgang Reiners United States Patent Oflice 3,358,242 Patented Feb. 13, 1968 3,368,242 MULTIPLATEN PRESS SYSTEM WITH INDIVIDUAL CHARGING SHEETS Kurt Loewenfeid and Wolfgang Reiners, Krefeld, Germany, assignors t Firma G. Siempelkamp & Co., a

corporation of Germany Filed Nov. 19, 1965, Ser. No. 508,653 Claims priority, appiication Germany, Aug. 10, 1965,

7 Claims. ((31. 1817) Our present invention relates to apparatus for the manufacture of so-called pressed board and like ma terials wherein loosely coherent or noncoherent layers of fibrous, granular or powdery material, generally in the presence of a binder, are compressed on respective platens of a multi-opening or multiplaten press into coherent sheets, boards and the like. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a multiplaten press system of this type.

Multiplaten presses for the production of fiberboard from comminuted wood or other cellulosic materials, have become commonplace in the pressed-board industry and much effort has gone into improving the charging and discharging of such presses. It has been proposed, for example, to charge and discharge the presses with the aid of flexible supports for the mats of loosely coherent material to be pressed, these supports being drawn across the press platen and serving as charging sheets which are fed into the press from one side and are drawn out of the press at the other side. For the most part, these chargingsheets are rigid although there has been some use of flexible, generally stainless steel, layers capable of being coiled upon a reel or other device. The considerable mechanical stress to which these layers are subjected, has rendered their use impractical for most purposes.

It is the principal object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an improved multiplaten press system capable of rapid charging and discharging.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide a multiplaten press system with improved but relatively simple and inexpensive means for discharging completed press board from the press.

These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the present invention, in a multiplaten press, preferably of the simultaneous-closing type described in US. Patent No. 3,050,- 777, issued Aug. 28, 1962, to E. Siernpelkamp, and proided with stepped abutment means wherein each of the vertically spaced platens is provided with a respective flexible feed-transfer layer overlying the platen and a respective roller means along a discharge edge of each platen for coiling or winding up the respective feedtransfer layer. Advantageously, the roller means is provided with a continuous drive mechanism capable of slippage and continuously applying torque to the roller means in the wind-up sense, while the free end of the sheet-transport layer or underlay is provided with extending means for drawing the layer across the platen to receive the mat to be pressed. The extending means includes a transverse bar at the free end of the layer cooperating with locking means on the respective platen or press-housing for releasably retaining the free end of the layer in its extended condition against the force of the torque-applying drive means at least during the compression stroke of the press. The locking means can comprise a pair of bellcrank levers pivotally mounted on opposite sides of the layer and having formations engageable in respective formations of the transverse bar.

This arrangement has been found to permit rapid charging and discharging of the press and greatly simplifies at least the discharging operation. The discharging apparatus can be of relatively limited cost as will become apparant hereinafter, while conventional charging and discharging equipment can be used in conjunction with the improved system, thereby further decreasing the plant costs of a multiplaten press system.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an end view of a multiplaten press embodying the invention, diagrammatically illustrating the drive means for the roller assemblies of the respective platens;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary plan view of a platen of the press of FIG. 1, showing in detail the locking means co-operating with the free end of the sheettransfer layer;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side-elevational view, partly diagrammatic, of the multiplaten press of FIG. 1 and illustrating in greater detail the sheet-transfer layer and its extending means;

FIGS. 5A-5C are diagrammatic plan views of a multiplaten press system embodying the invention; and

FIGS. 6A6C are further plan views of another embodiment of this system.

Referring first to FIG. 1, it will be seen that an installation for the production of fiber board, press board and the like from sawdust, wood fibers and other comminuted cellulosic materials or other pulverulent, granular or fibrous substances with or without thermoplastic or thermosetting binders, comprises a multiplaten press having a frame or housing and individual, vertically spaced horizontal platens 1, adapted to receive respective mats of loosely coherent fibers or other materials to be pressed. The press 50 may be provided with a simultaneous-closure device as described in US. Patent No. 3,050,777 or US. Patent No. 3,209,405 issued Oct. 5, 1965, and advantageously has a stepped abutment device for retaining the open platens in spaced relationship as described in the aforementioned copending application. The closure device and the abutment means are not illustrated in FIG. 1 in order not to obscure the specific features of the press to which the present improvements are directed. As can be seen from FIG. 4, each of the platens 1 is provided at its discharge end (right-hand side in FIG. 4) with a roller means 3 whose shaft or core 4 is adapted to reel up a sheet-transfer layer 2 of flexible polytetrafluoroethylene foil, this layer 2 overlying the respective platen 1 when withdrawn from the roller means by an extending

means

10, 11 in the direction of arrow 6. The foil layers 2 of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) can be reinforced, if desired, by a fabric layer underlying the synthetic-resin layer or imbedded therein.

Referring now to FIGS. 5A-5C wherein the principles of this invention are diagrammatically illustrated, it will be seen that the system of this invention can comprise the press StiA and the apparatus associated therewith and to be described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 14, as well as a charging station 511A at the input side of the press, a discharging station 52A at the output side of the press, the extending means 11A for drawing the free end of the layer 2A from the spool or roller means 3A, and locking means diagrammatically shown at 9A for engaging a transverse bar 7A at the free end of the sheet-transfer layer 2A.

As illustrated in FIG. 5A, the extending rneans 11A have drawn the free end of the layer 2A to the left onto the respective stages of the loading station 51A whereupon loosely coherent mats 53A of cellulosic material can be deposited upon the layer 2A via movable conveyor belts of the type illustrated at the press-charging side of the system of U.S. Patent No. 3,077,271, issued Feb. 12, 1963 to E. Siempelkamp. When each of the vertically spaced horizontal layers 2A has received its mat 53A, the extending means 11A can be released to permit the continuously operable drive means for the roller means 3A to draw the layer 2A to the right (FIG. B) thereby winding up the layer 2A and disposing the mat 53A on the platens 1A of the press. In this position, the transverse bar 7A at the free end of each layer 2A is engaged by the locking means 9A to retain the free end of each layer against further displacement to the right under still effective force of the drive means. The press now commences its compression operation and sheet 53A is converted into a pressed board 54A. The lock 9A is then released and the roller means 3A winds up the remaining lengths of the layer 2A, thereby carrying the boards 54A (FIGS. 4 and 5C) onto the stackedconveyor discharge device 52A. The latter is constituted in the manner of the stacked-conveyor stations of the system of Patent No. 3,077,271 and is designed to transport the finished plates or sheets into a kiln or the like for further treatment or to stack the sheets for such transportation. It will be evident that the system of FIGS. 5A to SC requires that the extending means 11A etc. have a suflicient stroke to enable the free end of each layer 2A to be drawn completely across the respective press platen as well as across the respective stage of the charging device. In the systems of FIGS. 6A-6C, however, the stroke of the extending means 11B can be substantially reduced.

In the system of FIGS. 6A-6C, the layer 2B is drawn by the extending means 11B from its roller means 3B only across the length of the respective platen 1B of the press 50B which is of the type described in greater detail in connection with FIGS. l-4. Again, locking means 913 are provided to retain the transverse bar 7B at the free end of the layer 2B in its extended position. In this system, the charging means may include stacked conveyors 51B adapted to shift to the left (FIG. 6A) to deposit the respective mats 53B upon the sheet-transfer layer 2B. Alternatively, the charging station may be constituted by a multistage assembly 51C sing usher means 51C or laterally displacing the mats 53C onto the sheettransfer layer 28. After the mats 5313 or 530 are deposited upon the layer 213, the press enters its compression stroke (FIG. 6B) in which the mat is converted into the press board 54B. The locking means 9B is then released while the continuous drive for the roller reels up the layer 2B and deposits the press board 548 upon the conveyor stages 51B for further transportation of the press board as previously described.

The continuous-torque drive for the roller means 3 of each flexible layer 2 (FIG. 1) comprises a respective rotaryimpeller hydraulic motor 5 Whose output shaft 5a is coupled via a universal joint 5b with a torque-transmission rod 50 and with a further universal joint 5d of the roller shaft 4 of each roller assembly. The hydraulic motors 5, which are shown to be stacked in FIG. 1, have input and

output pipes

5e and 5 respectively, and are of the flow-displacement type whereby a continuous torque is applied to the shaft 4 although this shaft may be locked against rotation, the shaft commencing to rotate upon release of the locking force. The press 50 is, moreover, provided with the usual head plate 55 and bed plate 56; the latter being elevatable by hydraulic pressure cylinders 57.

As can be seen from FIG. 4, the shafts 4 are journaled in bearings 4a at opposite ends of the roller means 3 to the respective platens '1 such that the upper surface of each press platen 1 is substantially tangential to the roller means, the extending

means

10, 11, being engageable with the layers 2 at their free (left-hand) extremities.

At the left-hand extremity of each layer 2, there is provided a transverse bar best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3 and described in greater detail hereinbelow. The extending means includes a pair of hydraulic piston-and-cylinder arrangements 11 (FIGS. 2 and 4) adapted to longitudinally displace the respective connecting rods 10 (diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 4) linked with each of the transverse bars 7. The hydraulic means 11 is designed to displace the layers 2 in the direction of the arrow 6 (FIG. 4).

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that such transverse bar 7 is bolted to the respective flexible sheet-transfer layer 2 of polytetrafiuoroethylene foil by bolts 7a and co-operate with a locking means comprising a pair of bellcrank levers 9 pivotally mounted at 20 upon the respective press platens. The levers 9 have first lever arms 12 provided with male formations 13 engageable in complementary formations (eg. recesses 13) on the transverse bar 7 as well as with abutment formations 14 engageable with the flanks of the press platens 1 (see FIG. 3). The other arm 15 of each bellcrank lever 9 co-operates with a channel iron 16 which extends vertically and thus permits vertical displacement of the pressed platen but which is swingable outwardly (dotdash lines in FIG. 2) for concurrent control of all of the locking arms 9 on each side of the press. It will be evident that, after the layer 2 is drawn in the direction of arrow 6, the locking levers 9 can be swung inwardly for engagement bp their formations 13 and abutment surfaces 14 with the transverse rod 7 on the one hand and the flanks of the pressed plate on the other hand, thereby locking the layer 2 against movement in the direction of arrow 6 under the continuously applied torque of the hydraulic motors 5.

According to a more specific feature of this invention, the input traverses 7 are each guided between a pair of rails 19 flanking the layer 2 along the platen, the traverses 7 extending laterally, advantageously via leaf springs 17 in grooves 18, thereby preventing binding of the layers 2. The platens 1 are provided with passages 1' for heating fluid, preferably as described in patent application Ser. No. 192,040, filed May 1, 1962, and entitled Temperature-Controlled Press, now U.S. Patent No. 3,241,189. The laterally extending cars 20 can serve not only to form pivots for the locking arms 9 but also as a mounting for the guide rails 19.

As described more generally with regard to FIGS. 5A5C and 6A-6C, the compression stroke of the press is effected when the extending

means

10, 11, permits the transverse rods 7 to move into the solid-line position thereof illustrated in FIG. 2, whereby the arms 9 prevent further displacement of the layer 2 in the direction of arrow 22. The press can then close to transform the mats, previously deposited upon the layers 2, into pressed boards. Upon opening of the press, the drive means 5 etc. displaces the layers 2 in the direction of arrow 22 upon the release of the locking means 9 etc. to carry the pressed board 54 onto the discharge station (51A or 51B), thereby simultaneously winding up the layer 2. Prior to the next press stroke, the extension means 10, 11 withdraws the free end 7 of each layer 2 in the direction of arrow 21 until this layer at least extends over the major part of the respective press platen 1.

The invention described and illustrated is believed to admit of many modifications within the ability of persons skilled in the art, all such modifications being considered within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a multiplaten press system for the production of pressed board and the like and including a multiplaten press having a plurality of superposed vertically displacenble press platens adapted to receive mats of a material to be pressed, the improvement which comprises:

a respective flexible sheet-transporting layer overlying each of said platens, said platens each having a side for the discharge of a respective pressed board from the press;

respective roller means mounted on each of said platens along said side for winding up the respective layer;

extending means engaging a free end of each of said layers for drawing same across the respective platen for receiving a respective mat to be compressed and thereafter carrying said mat off the respective platen over said side;

a respective continuously energized fluid motor coupled with each of said roller means for continuously applying torque thereto in a layer-winding sense tending to draw said layers in the direction of said sides; and

locking means on each of said platens engageable with the free end of the respective layer for retaining it in an unwound position overlying the respective platen at least during the compression stroke of the press.

2. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said layer is composed of a polytetrafluoroethylene foil.

3. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein each of said layers is provided with a respective transverse bar at its free end, said locking means including a pair of bellcrank levers fulcrumed on each of said platens for pivotal movement about respective upright axes and flanking the respective layer in an extended condition thereof, one of the arms of each of the levers of the respective platen and the respective bar having cooperating formations engageable in a locked condition of the respective layer for retaining same against the force of the respective motor, and control means engaging the other arms of the corresponding levers of the superposed platens while permitting vertical displacement of same for the concurrent release of said layers.

4. The improvement defined in claim 3 wherein the first-mentioned arms of each of said levers is formed with an abutment engageable with a flank of the respective platen in the locked condition of the respective layer, said platens each being provided with a pair of guide rails extending parallel to the respective rail and engageable by the opposite extremities of the respective bar for guiding same, said extremities of each bar being provided with spring means bearing upon the respective layers, said rails having longitudinally extending grooves receiving said springs.

5. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein each of said platens is provided with laterally extending projections pivotally supporting said levers and carrying said rails.

6. The improvement defined in claim 1, further comprising a multilevel discharge station adjacent said press along said side for receiving the plates discharged by the respective layers, said extending means including rods connected with the respective free ends of said layers from the side of said press opposite said discharge station for drawing said layers away from said discharge station, and fluid means for displacing said rods.

7. The improvement defined in claim 6, further comprising a multilevel charging station disposed between said fluid means and said press with the levels of said charging station each being overlain by a respective layer in the fully extended condition thereof for depositing said mats upon said layers, said drive means thereafter partly rolling up the respective layers to carry said mats onto said platens.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,420,813 5/ 1947 Camerota. 3,050,777 8/ 1962 Siempelkamp. 3,206,800 9/ 1965 Miiller. 3,241,189 3/ 1966 Siempelkamp. 3,286,304 11/ 1966 Falkinger et al.

J. HOWARD FLINT, 1a., Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. IN A MULTIPLATEN PRESS SYSTEM FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PRESSED BOARD AND THE LIKE AND INCLUDING A MULTIPLATEN PRESS HAVING A PLURALITY OF SUPERPOSED VERTICALLY DISPLACEABLE PRESS PLATENS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE MATS OF A MATERIAL TO BE PRESSED, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES: A RESPECTIVE FLEXIBLE SHEET-TRANSPORTING LAYER OVERLYING EACH OF SAID PLATENS, SAID PLATENS EACH HAVING A SIDE FOR THE DISCHARGE OF A RESPECTIVE PRESSED BOARD FROM THE PRESS; RESPECTIVE ROLLER MEANS MOUNTED ON EACH OF SAID PLATENS ALONG SAID SIDE FOR WINDING UP THE RESPECTIVE LAYER; EXTENDING MEANS ENGAGING A FREE END OF EACH OF SAID LAYERS FOR DRAWING SAME ACROSS THE RESPECTIVE PLATEN FOR RECEIVING A RESPECTIVE MAT TO BE COMPRESSED AND THEREAFTER CARRYING SAID MAT OFF THE RESPECTIVE PLATEN OVER SAID SIDE; A RESPECTIVE CONTINUOUSLY ENERGIZED FLUID MOTOR COUPLED WITH EACH OF SAID ROLLER MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY APPLYING TORQUE THERETO IN A LAYER-WINDING SENSE TENDING TO DRAW SAID LAYERS IN THE DIRECTION OF SAID SIDES; AND LOCKING MEANS ON EACH OF SAID PLATENS ENGAGEABLE WITH THE FREE END OF THE RESPECTIVE LAYER FOR RETAINING IT IN AN UNWOUND POSITION OVERLYING THE RESPECTIVE PLATEN AT LEAST DURING THE COMPRESSION STROKE OF THE PRESS.