US3385417A - Coil-handling mechanism - Google Patents

Description

May 28, 1968 J. l. DIXON COIL'HANDLING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 15, 1966 United States Patent 3,385,417 COIL-HANDLING MECHANISM John I. Dixon, Fox Chapel Borough, Pa, assignor to Mesta Machine Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Aug. 15, 1966, er. No. 572,377 3 Qimkns. (Cl. 198-25) AESTRAJT OF THE DHSCLOSURE A coil-handling mechanism having a rotatable member with a plurality of coil-receiving stations transferring a coil from a first movable delivery station intersecting the path of the rotatable member to a second delivery station intersecting the path of the rotatable member while upending the coil through 90.

The present invention relates to coil-handling mechanism, and more particularly to apparatus described for rapidly transferring coils of strip material or the like, of various sizes, between stations which are disposed on differing elevations or in which the coil is disposed in differ ing oriented positions or both.

Although particular reference is made herein to handling strip steel, my improved mechanism can be advantageously employed for handling other materials.

In the steel fabrication industry, steel strip is frequently handled in the form of coils which may weigh up to 50 tons and may have an outside diameter and width of up to 86 or more inches. The coils are necessarily bulky and heavy and therefore require massive lifting and tilting systems. Conventional tilting mechanisms or up-enders, because of their massiveness and the weight of the coil loading are rather slow in operation. Accordingly, it is virtually impossible for a single tilting mechanism of mown construction to accommodate a single high speed, hot strip mill, which is presently capable of producing 120 or more such coils per hour.

In the manufacture of steel strip, the strip is coiled upon a tensioned reel as it comes from the rolling mill. Owing to the weight of the coils, it must be handled with considerable care to prevent damage to the strip. As the reel is usually supported at one end only, with its axis horizontal, the coil must be removed from the unsupported end of the reel with the coil axis also in the horizontal position. In further handling the processing of the coil strip such as stacking the coils in a furnace for annealing, or in various inspection and storaging procedures, it is desirable that the coil be disposed with its axis vertical and thus it becomes necessary to up-end the coil after it has been removed from the reel.

It is also necessary at various stages of the manufacture of steel strip to unwind the coils of strip, for example, during pickling operations. This is accomplished by placing the coil on a payoff reel, which acts as a center spindle during the unwinding operation. As the reels are preferably handled in the vertical axis position during the intermediate operations they must be turned through 90 to permit them to be placed on a payoff reel having a horizontal axis. It will be understood therefore that my improved coil-handling mechanism can be readily adapted for use with tension reels where the axis of the coil is turned or up-ended from horizontal to vertical or with payoff reels where the axis is turned in the opposite direction from vertical to horizontal or with other strip or coil-handling equipment such as conveyors.

The problem of handling heavy strip steel coils is complicated by the use of conveyors or the like for removing the coils to or from the strip reels and other items of coil Patented May 28, 1968 handling or fabricating equipment. It is diflicult to abruptly alter the conveyor elevations and concurrently change the position or up-end the steel coils, i.e., from a horizontal axis position to a vertical axis position or vice versa, particularly between the collector conveyor and the storaging facilities conveyor. in known forms of up-ending equip ment for this purpose the equipment must receive the coils from one conveyor, up-end the coils to another conveyor, index the coils off the up-ender, and then return the upender to its down position. With the time sequence involved it is virtually impossible for the conventional upender mechanism to keep pace with recently developed hot strip mills. As pointed out previously this problem is aggravated by the extremely large weights of the coils and the massiveness of the coil-handling equipment.

In my invention, I have eliminated the aforementioned problems by providing a coil-handling mechanism comprising a rotatable member having a number of coil-receiving stations, and means for rotating said rotatable member so that a coil when placed in one of said coil-receiving stations is transferred from a first coil delivery station to a second coil delivery station, said delivery stations being mounted adjacent said rotatable member. In specific examples of the invention, the rotatable member can be operated in a single rotative direction both for turning or up-ending the coils and for raising or lowering the coils between coil-delivering stations at differing elevations. My coil-handling mechanism, in one illustrative arrangement thereof, is organized for transferring coiled strip from one conveyor to another, where the conveyors are at differing elevations and/ or where the coils are horizontally disposed on one conveyor and vertically disposed on the other. The construction of my novel mechanism is such that auxiliary equipment for indexing the coils on or off my mechanism is obviated.

With this novel arrangement, there is no waste motion of my coil-handling mechanism; for example, the mechanism never has to reverse its motion in order to pick up the succeeding coil. In other words the coil-handling mechanism is continuously rotated in a given direction during all of the described handling operations, with the result that the time required to return conventional coil up-enders to receive the next coil is eliminated. Thus, my mechanism can utilize a power system for delivering the required energy over a longer period of time, since the required torque is reduced by half or more. In the case of an electromechanical power system, a smaller AC drive can be utilized, or in the case of hydraulic systerns, smaller and lower pressure systems can be used.

My novel coil-handling mechanism is capable of handling coils of various sizes and can be easily modified for accommodating conveyors or other strip handling equipment disposed at the same or differing elevations. Moreover, varied horizontal distances between the conveyors or stations can be readily accommodated. Finally, the numerical and load capacity of the coil-handling mechanism is considerably greater than that of conventional equipment, and thus my mechanism is not threatened with obsolescence by the rapidly increasing capacities of present day hot strip mills.

In the foregoing paragraphs numerous objects, features and advantages of the invention have been alluded to. These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be elaborated upon during the forthcoming description of certain presently preferred embodiments of the invention, together with presently preferred methods of practicing the same.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown certain presently preferred embodiments of the invention and have illustrated certain presently preferred methods of practicing the same, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of one form of coilhandling mechanism of my invention and including conveyors and an intermediate coil up-ender and elevator;

FIGURE 2 is a vertically sectioned view of the mechanism shown in FIGURE 1 and taken along reference line IIII thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of another form of coilhandling mechanism arranged in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a similarly vertically sectioned view of another form of the coil-handling mechanism shown in FIGURE 3 and taken along reference line IVIV thereof;

FIGURE 5 is a relatively reduced, elevational view of another form of coil-handling mechanism of the invention arranged for up-ending and elevating coils to another elevation; and

FIGURE 6 is a similar view of still another form of coil-handling mechanism of the invention, illustrated for purposes of transferring and up-ending coils between stations at the same elevation.

Referring now to FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, the illustrative form of the invention shown therein comprises a coil up-ender 10 which is generally interposed between a first horizontal conveyor 12 and a second, generally similar conveyor 14, which in this example is mounted at a different elevation as better shown in FIG- URE 2. Desirably, each of the conveyors 12 and 14 is of a double chain or split construction, with the chains and associated components of each conveyor being generally longitudinally aligned with a pair of spaced side plates 16 and 18 forming part of the rotatable member or coil up-ender 10. When thus spaced, the side plates 16 and 18 and the respective chains of the conveyors 12, 14 can accommodate therebetween relatively short, and in this example, single chain transfer conveyors 20 and 22. The transfer conveyor 20 thus projects between the adjacent end portions of the chain runs forming part of the conveyor 12 while the transfer conveyor 22 similarly projects between the chain runs of the other conveyors 14. As better shown in FIGURE 2, both transfer conveyors 20, 22 extend between the paths of the load bearing projections 24 and 26 of the up-ender side plates 16 and 18, when the up-ender 10 is rotated.

In the arrangement shown the segments 28 of the transfer conveyor 22 are each provided with a longitudinally extending shallow V groove 30 to accommodate the circumferential surfaces of coil 32 in its horizontal axis position as better shown in FIGURES 1 and 2. On the other hand conveyor segments 34 of the transfer conveyor 20 are substantially flat to accommodate coil 36 in its vertical axis position.

The side plates 16 and 18 of the coil up-ender 10 are mounted in this example upon a horizontal shaft 38 provided with bearing journals 40. The shaft 38 is suitably constructed, as is suitable supporting mechanism (not shown) therefor for bearing the extremely heavy loads imposed thereon by the coils and by the weights of the side members 16, 18 as shaft 38 rotates. For rotating the shaft 38 and the spaced side plates 16, 18 rigidly and spacedly secured thereto, suitable drive means are provided (not shown) which can be reduced in size relative to the drive means of conventional coil-handling mechanism as a result of driving the up-ender 10 in a single rotative direction and thereby eliminating the necessity for indexing and reversing the up-ender 10.

Each of the side plates 16, 18 is provided with a plurality of pairs of co-operating load-carrying projections 24, 26. As better shown in FIGURE 1 the projections 24, 26 of one side plate are angularly aligned respectively with the projections 24, 26 of the other side plate so that pairs of the projections 24 or 26 co-operate to form load-carrying platforms of the coil up-ender 10. If desired, platelike members or the like (not shown) can be secured to the cooperating pairs of the load bearing lateral edges of the projections 24, 26. In this example the surfaces 42 of each pair of projections 26 are disposed substantially in the same plane in order to support the flat side of the coil adjacent its vertical axis position 36 at the conveyor 20-. On the other hand, the load carrying surfaces 44 of each pair of projections 24 are inclined toward one another in order to support the circumferential contour of the coil adjacent its horizontal axis position 32 at the conveyor 22.

In the arrangement of the up-ender 10 shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 each rotatable member 16 or 18 includes four of the load carrying projections 24 arranged in an alternating array with a similar number of load projections 26. Accordingly, the coil up-ender 10 is rotated through in transferring, up-ending, and elevating a coil from the position 36 on the lower transfer conveyor 20 to the position 32 on the higher transfer conveyor 22. In this example the fiat surface projections 24 are disposed respectively at about right angles to the inclined surface projections 26 so that the coil is moved from its vertical axis position 36 to its horizontal axis position 32 during each quarter turn of the up-ender 10 and resultant transfer of a coil thereby. In making this and succeeding transfers, the up-ender 10 is rotated continuously in the direction denoted by arrow 46 (FIGURE 2). It will be understood, of course, that the up-ender 10 can be rotated in the opposite direction in order to transfer and up-end coils from the higher conveyor 22 to the lower conveyor 20, in which case the coils are tip-ended from their horizontal position 32 to their vertical position 36.

To effect the aforementioned changes in elevation, as better shown in FIGURE 2, the plane of the load-bearing surfaces 42 of the projections 26 is displaced a smaller distance from the rotational axis 48 of the shaft 38 than that of the plane defined by the top edges of the loadcarrying surfaces of the projections 26, with the result that the coils are raised or lowered between the coildelivery stations, represented by coil positions 36 and 32 on conveyors 12 and 14 respectively depending upon the direction of rotation of the up-ender 10. The distances of the aforementioned planes 50, 52 from the rotational axis 48 are indicated by dimensional arrows 54 and 56, respectively, and of course the difference between the distances 54, 56 represents the difference in elevation between the coil positions 36 and 32 on conveyors 12 and 14.

It will be understood that the number and spacing of the load projections 24, 26 can be varied depending upon the amount of resultant angular displacement, if any, which must be imparted to the axis of the coils as they are moved between the conveyors 12, 14 or other stations. For example two each of the projections 24, 26 can be provided generally diametrically opposite on each of the plates, 16, 18, with one of the groups of projections 24 or 26 being provided with a bracket or the like (not shown) extending generally parallel to the surfaces of the other projections to provide load-bearing surfaces for the other flat side of the coils, as the latter are turned through about for those applications where his desired only to elevate the coils without changing their axial dispositions.

In the latter arrangement of the invention the rotatable member 10 (or 10' of FIGURES 3-5) may be stopped momentarily at the associated conveyors respectively to facilitate coil loading and unloading purposes.

As better shown in FIGURE 5 of the drawings, it will be appreciated that the load bearing surfaces 42' of the projections 26' can be disposed on a plane 50 passing closer .to the shaft axis 48' as denoted by dimensional arrow 58 and/or the load bearing surfaces 44' of the arms 24' can be disposed on a plane 52' displaced farther from the shaft axis 48' as denoted by dimensional arrow 60, or both. Accordingly, the coils are elevated through a greater distance, for example, about 2 /3 times the distance indicated in FIGURE 2, as they are moved from their vertical position 36 to their horizontal position 32 on conveyors 62 and 64 respectively. It will also be appreciated that the respective positions of the planes 50,

52f can be reversed with respect to the shaft axis 48', along with the elevations of the conveyors 62, 64 with the result that the. coils are lowered a similar distance for the same direction of up-ender rotation as denoted by arrow 46.

It will be seen, moreover, from FIGURE 6 that the planes 50', 52', in which the respective load-bearing surfaces 42, 44' lie, can be displaced the same distance from the shaft axis 48', as denoted by dimensional arrows .166, with the result that the coils are up-ended between conveyors or other stations without positive or negative changes in elevation.

The coil up-ender of FIGURE 5 or 6 can be constructed as described above with reference to FIGURES 1 and 2 or below with references to FIGURES 3 and 4.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURES 3 and 4 of the drawings, another form of the coil-handling mechanism is disclosed wherein the coil up-ender 10' is arranged for transferring coils directly from the double chain conveyor 12' to a double chain conveyor 14' disposed in this example at a different elevation. In this arrangement of the invention, the single chain transfer conveyor 20, 22 of FIGURES 1 and 2 are eliminated and the double chain conveyors 12', 14' are placed correspondingly closer together as shown. The side plates 16, 18' of the up-ender 10 of FIGURES l and 2 are likewise eliminated and a single rotatable plate member 68 is substituted. The plate member 68, however, is provided with similarly disposed projections 24', 26 and is secured to shaft 38' for rotation therewith. Each of the load-carrying projections 24' or 26 is provided with a generally transversely extending load-carrying plate 70 or 72. The widths of the plates 70, 72 are such that they pass closely between the adjacent end portions of the chain runs of the conveyors 12', 14, respectively, so that the plates 70, 72 can pick up and deliver coils to the conveyors 14' and 12 respectively. In this example, the plates 72 are provided with a flat load-carrying surface to accommodate the coils adjacent their vertical chain outline portion 36 while the load-carrying plates 70 are provided with a V trough or rounded surface to accommodate the circumferential contour of the coils adjacent the horizontal position 32' thereof.

If desired, the single plate member 68 of FIGURES 3 and 4 can be fabricated from correspondingly thicker or otherwise stronger structural material as indicated in FIGURE 3 or the plate member 68 can be fabricated from a pair of relatively closely spaced plates and strengthening truss arrangements therebetween (not shown) to provide the necessary structural strength to transport the largest coils encountered.

In FIGURES 2 and 4 the smaller coil outlines 74, 76 or 74', 76 indicate that my novel coil-handling mechanism can accommodate coils of various sizes in either the horizontal or vertical positions.

With thecoil up- ender 10 or 10 as described herein it will be readily apparent that it can accommodate for example 240 coils per hour when driven at a speed of only 1 r.p.m. Since the fastest present day hot strip mill produced only about half this number of coils per hour, it can be seen that my coil-handling mechanism can easily keep pace with present day hot strip mills and moreover will not be obsoleted by future developments and corresponding increases in production. Furthermore, the very slow speed of rotation of my up-ender 10 or 10' permits the use of a relatively small and inexpensive drive mechanism therefor.

In the operation of my invention with reference primarily to FIGURES 1 and 2, the rotatable member 10, which comprises the side plates 16, 18 and the shaft 38, thus has a number of coil-receiving stations 31 preferably spaced equidistantly about the periphery of the rotatable member. Each of the coil-receiving stations 31 includes, in this example, first load-carrying means comprising the surfaces 42 of the associated projections 26 and second load-carrying means comprising the surfaces 44 of the associated projections 24. As the rotatable member 10 is turned the first load-carrying means 42 successively move into positions of generally parallel alignment with the adjacent end portion of the delivery conveyor 20, which end conveyor portion thus constitutes a first coil delivery station. A coil is moved to the first delivery sta tion denoted by chain outline 36 as one of the first load carrying means 42, for example 42a, is moved by rotation of the rotatable member or up-ender 10, into a position substantially flush with the top surface of the com veyor 20. At this time the associated second load-carrying means 44 has been moved out of the way as indicated by the position of the projections 24a. Further rotation of the up-ender 10 causes the projections 26a, which in this example, straddle the adjacent end portion of the chain portion 20 to pick the coil off the conveyor 20.

Further rotation of the up-ender 10, in this example through about brings the coil to the coil position 32 whereat the coil now rests entirely upon the other or second load means 44b and the associated projections 24b straddle the adjacent end portion of the other single chain portion 22. Further rotation of the up-ender 10 transfers the weight of the coil from the second load-carrying means 44b of the rotatable member entirely to the adjacent end portion of the conveyor 22, which thus constitutes the second coil delivery station. The conveyor 22 then moves the coil 32 to the right as viewed in FIGURES 1 and 2 and out of the way of the associated projections 26b. This arrangement thus permits continuous rotation of the up-ender 10, without stopping and without additional equipment for indexing coils thereof.

At the first coil delivery station represented by the conveyor 20 each pair of the load-carrying projections 26 26 of the rotatable member, in this example, are moved successively into positions of substantial parallel alignment with the adjacent top surfaces of the conveyor 20, as better shown in FIGURE 2. At the second coil delivery station the load-carrying projections 24-24- are successively moved into positions of substantially similar parallel alignment with the other conveyor 22.

Substantially the same relationships occur in the mechanism illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 4, wherein turning of the rotatable member having a single plate member 68 causes the single projections 24' and 26' of each station 31' to be successively straddled by the adjacent end portions of the main conveyor 12' and 14'. The adjacent end portions of the main conveyors 12' and 14 constitute, in the latter example, the first and second coil delivery stations respectively.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that novel and efficient forms of coil up-ending mechanism and related equipment have been disclosed herein. While I have shown and described certain presently preferred embodiments of the invention and have illustrated presently preferred methods of practicing the same, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. Coil-handling mechanism comprising a rotatable member having a number of coil-receiving stations, each of said stations including first and second projection means disposed independently of the projection means of others of said stations, first and second coil delivery stations intersecting the path of said rotatable member stations at angularly displaced positions thereabout, each of said stations including movable conveyor means, said first projection means being alignable in straddling relationship with the conveyor means of said first delivery station, said second projection means being alignable in straddling relationship with the conveyor means of said second delivery station, and means for rotating said rotatable member so that a coil when placed in one of said coil-receiving stations is transferred between said first and said second delivery stations.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said rotatable member includes a pair of substantially identical laterally spaced plates, said first and said second projection means include an alternating array of first and second projections on each of said plates and laterally aligned with similar projections on the other of said plates, the conveyor means of each of said delivery stations include a pair of generally parallel conveyor structures disposed outwardly but generally in the planes of said rotatable member plates and a transfer conveyor extended between the nearer end portions of said conveyor structures and positioned in straddled relation between the respective rotational paths of said plate projections, each lateral pair of said first projections being aligned in straddling relation with the transfer conveyor of said first delivery station when at said first delivery station and each lateral pair of said second projections being aligned in straddling relation with the transfer conveyor of said second delivery station when at said second delivery station.

3. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said rotatable member includes a single plate, said first and said second projection means are an alternating array of first and second projections formed integrally with said 8 plate, a load-bearing platform is mounted on each of generally apposing surfaces of each pair of said first and said second projections at each of said coil-receiving stations, each of said delivery stations includes a pair of generally parallel conveyor structures, the nearer end portions of the conveyor structures of each delivery station straddling said first and said second projections and the load bearing platforms thereon, said first projections each being aligned in straddled relation with the conveyor structures of said first delivery station when at said first delivery station, and said second projections each being aligned in straddled relation with the conveyor structures of said second delivery station when at said second delivery station.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,426,569 8/1947 Stewart 214-130 2,538,408 1/1951 Baker 198-33 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,363,024 4/1964 France. 875,438 6/ 1942 France.

RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner.

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