US3427643A

US3427643A - Metal finishing apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3427643A
Application number: US534167A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ernest E Murray
Original assignee: Zech Murray Corp
Current assignee: Zech Murray Corp
Priority date: 1966-03-14
Filing date: 1966-03-14
Publication date: 1969-02-11
Anticipated expiration: 1986-02-11

Description

Feb. H, 1969 E. E. MURRAY METAL FINI SHING APPARATUS Filed March 14, 1966 Sheet INVENTOR.

Feb. 11, 3%

E. E. MURRAY METAL FINISHING APPARATUS Sheet g of 6 Filed March 14, 1966 IQWMK Q Kw NQ ANQ Feh. N, 196% E. E. MURRAY METAL FINISHING APPARATUS Sheet Zrzvav? BY jm,

Filed March 14, 1966 Feb. M, 39 E. E. MURRAY 3,427,343

METAL FINISHING APPARATUS Filed March 14, 1966 Sheet 4 0f 6 INVENTOR.

E. MURRAY 3,427,643

METAL FINISHING APPARATUS Filed March 14, 1966 Sheet of 6 INVENTOR.

I 7776192 I f/zxrrw /iiw%d/f@ 7&7/105343 Feb. H, 1969 E. E. MURRAY 3,427,643

METAL FINISHING APPARATUS Filed March 14, 1966 Sheet of e INVENTOR. 23774152 X [fix/727% United States Patent 36 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A metal finishing line for finishing flat sheet metal in which the sheet metal is supported on one edge and is conveyed in a direction normal to the plane of the sheet.

The present invention relates to apparatus for finishing metal in the form of fiat blanks or sheets.

Flat sheet metal stock is used for forming various parts which must be plated or subjected to some after-forming finishing process. Normally the stock is required to be finished only on one side. Prior to this finishing process, however, that one side of the stock must be prepared whereby the scale is removed and the surface polished and coated. conventionally this prefinishing process includes several grinding or polishing stages, i.e., from coarse to fine, a washing stage, a rinse stage, a protective coating stage (i.e., Bonderite), a lubricant coating stage, and a drying stage. In a prefinishing line all of the stages are located in a continuous line. conventionally the blanks are horizontal or fiat during each stage with one blank being treated at a time and the blanks are horizontal when conveyed with one behind the other. In some of the stages the time to process the blanks is longer than at other stages; as a result, in order for the line to move the blank at an optimum speed these stages requiring more process time must be made longer where possible. For example, normally a substantially long Bondrite stage must be provided. The result is a substantially long prefinishing line which requires a considerable amount of floor space.

In the present invention the stock is handled and processed in such a 'way that a relatively short prefinishing line can be used and those stages requiring more process time can be relatively short.

In some instances the scale and pitting of the surface may be of such a depth that more than one pass through one or more of the grinding stages may be required. In conventional prefinishing lines once a piece of stock is in the line it cannot be readily removed for additional grin-ding. In the present invention the stock can be selectively recirculated at the various grinding stages and hence the removal of various imperfections in the stock can be easily accommodated.

Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus for finishing stock.

It is another object of the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus for prefinishing sheet metal stock which requires a relatively small floor space.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus for prefinishing sheet metal stock which apparatus includes stages at which the stock can be recirculated for extra processing.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparatus from consideration of the specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which there is illustrated an embodiment of the present invention, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic representation of preferred form of a prefinishing line embodying features of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top elevational view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1 being the Bonderite and rinsing stages;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of that part of the apparatus of FIGURE 2 enclosed by the dotdash line 3;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged, front elevational view of the Bondrite stage of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of that part of the apparatus of 'FIGURE 2 enclosed lby the dot-dash line 6;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view of the apparatus of FIGURE 6 taken substantially along the line 7--7;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the apparatus of FIGURE 2 as viewed on the direction of the arrows 8-8;

FIGURE 9 is a view of the apparatus of FIGURE 6 as viewed in the direction of the arrows 99; and

FIGURE 10 is a top elevational view of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 9.

Looking now to FIGURE 1 the prefinishing line includes three

grinding stages

12, 14, and 16, a washing, and protective coating or Bonderite stage 18, a lubricant coating stage 24 and a drying stage 26. The

stages

12, 14, and 16 provide rough, medium and finish grind, respectively.

The individual pieces of stock or workpieces are indicated by the letter W and as shown in FIGURE 1 are processed in the grinding stages 12-16 while in a vertical position. The rough grinding stage 12 has a grinder assembly 28 which is fed by an input conveyor screw assembly 30 and has an output conveyor screw assembly 32 which can be operated either to convey the work-piece W coming out of the grinder assembly 28 to the next grinding stage 14 or to recirculate the workpiece W for a second pass through the rough grinder assembly 28. The output conveyor assembly 32 includes a transfer section 34, a recirculating section 36 and an idler return section 38. The transfer section 34 operates to move workpieces W which are finished with operations in stage 12 to stage 14. In general the workpieces W will be moved in the direction of the arrows.

The recirculating section 36 initially receives work pieces W out of the grinder assembly 28 and is used to feed workpieces W, which it receives, back through stage 12 via the idler conveyor section 38 which is connected to the input conveyor assembly 30 whereby the recirculated workpieces W are again fed through the grinder assembly 28.

The medium grind stage 14 has a grinder assembly 40 which is fed by an input conveyor screw assembly 42 which is connected to the output conveyor assembly 32 for receiving workpieces W after operations have been completed thereon at stage '12.

The medium grinding stage 14, in addition, has an output conveyor section 44 and an idler return section 50. The output conveyor assembly 44 includes a transfer section 46 and a recirculating section 48. The input assembly 42, the output assembly 44, including the transfer section 46 and recirculating section 48, and the idler return section 50 serve similar functions to the input assembly 30, the output assembly 32, including the transfer section 34 and recirculating section 36, and the idler return section 38, respectively. Thus workpieces W which are fed into the input assembly 42 are moved thereby and fed one by one to the medium grinder assembly 40. The workpieces W upon finishing the grinding operation are then fed to the output assembly 44 where the workpiece can either be recirculated via the recirculating section 48 or trans- 3 ferred to the finish grind stage 16 via the transfer section 46.

The finish grind stage 16 has a grinder assembly 52 which is fed by an input conveyor screw assembly 54 which is connected to the output conveyor assembly 44 for receiving workpieces W after operations have been completed thereon at stage 14. The finish grind stage 16 also has an ouput assembly 56 which includes a transfer section 58 and a recirculating section 60 and also has an idler return section 62. The input assembly 54, the output assembly 56 including the transfer section 58 and recirculating section 60 and the idler return section 62 are similar to and function in a manner similar to the input assembly 30 and the output assembly 32, including the transfer section 34, recirculating section 36, and the idler return section 38, respectively. After completion of the work on the workpieces W at the finish grind stage 16, workpieces W are then transferred by the transfer section 58 of the output assembly 56 to the next stage 18 at which the workpieces W are washed, rinsed and a protective coating or Bonderite coating is applied. Note that the workpieces W when moving through the stage 18 are still maintained in their vertical or upright positions. Upon completion of the application of the Bonderite coat at the stage 18, workpieces are then located horizontally a at the section 19 and are then transferred to the roller coater stage 24 at which the finish surfaces of the workpieces W are provided with a lubricant coating. The lubricant coating facilitates the deformation of the workpieces W in subsequent stamping operations (not shown). After the workpieces W have passed through the roller coater 24, they are then once again placed in a vertical position for the drying stage 26 at which the workpieces W are dried; there the prefinishing operation is completed and the workpieces W can then be transferred to the subsequent apparatus for stamping or drawing operations.

By handling the workpieces W vertically and by performing the grinding operations upon the workpieces W vertically, a large number can be handled in a relatively small area as compared to a continuous straight line in which work-pieces are transferred horizontally, lengthwise and are processed lengthwise. Not only are the space savings quite dramatic with the apparatus as shown in FIGURE 1, but also apparatus is provided whereby workpieces W can be selectively recirculated at the various stages for extra finishing work. The apparatus for moving the individual workpieces W at the various conveyor sections is similar for all of the sections and, likewise, the apparatus for transferring the workpieces either to a grinding stage or from one section to another section is the same for all the apparatus shown and hence only that apparatus used in conjunction with the washing, rinsing and coating stage 18 will be shown and described; this apparatus is more particularly shown in the drawings of FIGURES 2 through 9.

The stage 18 (see FIGURE 2) includes a first wash stage 64 which receives the workpieces W from the transfer section 58. In the wash stage 64, as the workpieces W first come in they can be inspected and if found to be defective can be transferred to the reject section 66. A stop bar 67 normally stops the incoming workpieces W; however, if that workpiece is defective the operator can cause the bar 67 to be moved out of the way and that workpiece will be transferred to the reject section 66. Those workpieces W which are satisfactory, will be permitted to continue on in the wash section 64. Upon completion through the wash section 64, the workpieces W are then transferred to a hot rinse section 68 at which the workpieces W are subjected to a hot rinsing action to cleanse them from the prior wash section 64. After the hot rinse section 68, the workpieces W are then transferred to the Bonderite section 70 at which the workpieces W are coated with a protective Bonderite coating. After the workpieces W have traveled through the Bonderite coating section 70, they are transferred to the cold rinse section 72 at which the workpieces are given a cold rinse and as workpieces W travel through the section 72 they are moved into the hot rinse section 74 in which they are subjected to a hot rinse. This completes the operation on the workpieces W at the section 18 whereupon the workpieces W are then oriented horizontally at the station 19 and then moved to the roller coater 24. The details of the Bonderite section 70 are shown in more detail in FIG-

URES

4 and 5.

The Bonderite section 70 is generally comprised of an upper section 76 and a lower section 78. The upper section 76 and lower section 78 are fitted together and define an enclosure for housing the workpieces W. The lower section 78 is supported upon a structure generally indicated by the numeral 80, while the upper section 76 is supported upon the lower structure 80 by a means of vertically extending members 82 and 84. The upper section 76 is movably secured to members 82 and 84 as by bracket supports 86 and 88, respectively, whereby the upper section 76 can be moved vertically relative to the lower section 78. This apparatus permits height adjustment to accommodate workpieces W of varying width. Note that rollers 90, 92 and 94 are secured around the periphery of the lower section 78 to engage the walls of the upper section 76 to facilitate the upward and downward movement thereof. The enclosure defined by the upper and

lower sections

76 and 78, respectively, is provided with an entranceway (not shown) to receive the workpieces W from the hot rinse section 68 and an exit way (not shown) whereby workpieces W can be transferred out of the bonderite section 70 to the cold rinse section 72.

Looking now to FIGURE 5, the Bonderite section 70 is provided with a plurality of spray nozzles 96 which are pivotably mounted and are connected together by an osciallating bar 98. The oscillating bar 98 in turn is connected to a pivot arm 100 which is connected to a link 102 which is oscillated by a rotating motor 104. Rotation of the motor 104 causes reciprocation of the link 102 and pivoting of the arm 100 and hence oscillation of the bar 98 thereby causing oscillation of the nozzles 96. Oscillation of the nozzles 96 results in a better distribution of the spray of Bonderite upon the workpieces W. A pair of nozzles 106 and 108 are arranged fixed to spray the first and the last of the workpieces W in the Bonderite section 70. The Bonderite section 70 is provided with a tank 110 which has a plurality of transversely arranged separate compartments 112. Each of the compartments 112 is funnel-shaped and is provided at its outlet with a valve member 114 with the outlet of each valve member 114 being connected to a common outlet pipe 116 which in turn is connected to a sludge pump (not shown). The compartments 112 can be drained separately. The Bonderite recovered in the tank 110 can be processed and used over again, hence minimizing waste and minimizing costs.

The workpieces W are moved through the Bonderite section 70 by means of a plurality of lower screw members 118 and a plurality of upper screw members 120. The upper and lower screw members are similar in construction and are driven by similar means and hence for purposes of simplicity only the construction and drive of the lower screw members 118 will be shown and described. The screw member 118 includes an inner core member 122 and an outer shell member 124. The outer shell member 124 is a smooth cylinder and has secured to its outer surface a pair of

screw flights

126 and 128 which can be made of round bar stock. The

flights

126 and 128 are spaced apart from each other and are helically wound to extend about the outer shell 124 and are secured thereto by a plurality of spokes 125. The spacing between the

flights

126 and 128 is set such that the edge of one of the workpieces W can be located therebetween. As the screw member 118 is rotated, the workpieces W held between the

flights

126 and 128 will be moved forwardly along the length of the axis of the screw member 118. Three lower members 118 and three upper members 120 are provided to provide for support of the workpieces W and also to facilitate their axial movement. Looking to FIGURES 2 and 3, each of the screw members 118 is connected to a common drive mechanism 130 including a one-way, overrunning clutch 132 which is adapted to be driven by a rack 136 which is actuated by a piston 138. For each stroke of the piston 138 and hence of the rack 1-36 in one direction the clutch 132 will slip; for each stroke in an opposite direction the clutch 132 will be rotated a preselected amount after which it will overrun or slip. The purpose of this operation will be seen.

The drive mechanism 130 is located in the front of the washing, rinsing and coating stage 18, and is utilized to drive all of the lower screw members, such as screw member 118 of the Bonderite section 70. The clutch 1G2 drives a pair of oppositely extending shafts 140 and 142 which extend generally transversely of the direction of the screw members. In the stage 18, (FIGURE 2) the wash section 64 and Bonderite section 70 are located one in back of the other and alongside of the reject section 66, the hot rinse section 68, the cold rinse section 72 and hot rinse section 74, all of which latter sections are located one in back of the other. The shaft 140 is connected to three right angle gear boxes 144 which, through shafts 146, are in turn connected to screw members 118. Screw members 118 of the B'onderite section 70 are in turn directly connected to the screw members in the wash section 64. Thus, as rotation of the shaft 140 is caused by the clutch 132, the connecting shafts 146 will be rotated which in turn will cause the rotation of the screw members 118 of the Bon'derite section 70 and of the associated screw members of the wash section 64. R0- tation of the screw members 118 will occur only for movement of the rack 136 in one direction since the clutch 132 is provided to slip in the opposite direction. The clutch 132 is of the overrunning type such that it will provide for rotation of the shaft 140 a fixed amount tor each working stroke of the rack 136. The overrunning feature insures uniform advance of the workpieces W along the screw members for each stroke of the rack 136.

In a similar manner the shaft 142 from the opposite side of the clutch 132 is connected to a plurality of right angle gear boxes 148 and simultaneously drives all the screw members of the hot rinse section 68, the cold rinse section 72 and the hot rinse section 74.

Transfer of the workpieces W between

section

64 and 68, and 68 and 70, and 70 and 72 is performed by pluralities of rollers such as the roller members 150, shown in the Bonderite section 70 (see FIGURES 2, 6 and 7). A plurality of roller assemblies 151 are located in alignment at both the inlet and outlet areas of the Bonde-rite section 70; the roller assemblies have rollers 150 which are provided with knurled head portions 152 which will frictionally engage the bottom edge of the workpiece W as it is located thereupon. The rollers 150 are constantly being rotated and when a workpiece W is located upon the set at the outlet they will transfer the workpiece W to the inlet of the cold rinse section 72. Cold rinse section 72 likewise has a plurality of rollers, similar to the rollers 150, which are continuously being driven and which upon first receiving the workpiece W will aid in the transfer of the workpiece from the Bonderite section 70 into the cold rinse section 72.

All of the rollers such as roller 150 in the Wash, rinse and coating section 18 are driven by a common drive shown in FIGURES 2, 8 and 9. Input power for a gear box 151 at the reject section 66 is derived from a shaft 154 (see FIGURES 2 and 8). Gear box 151 has a rearwardly extending output shaft connected to a drive gear 156 upon which is located a drive chain 158 which drive chain is connected to a plurality of idler gears 160 which are located offset from and between roller drive gears 162 which are connected to the outer ends of the roller members 150 and which are also connected to the chain 158;

The drive chain 158 is intermeshed between the drive gears 162 and the idler gears and as the drive gear 156 is rotated the roller members 150 are rotated. Looking now to FIGURE 2, all of the roller members, such as roller 150, in the reject section 66 and in the inlet to the wash section 64 are driven by the same chain 158. The gear box 151 has a forwardly extending drive shaft 164 which is connected to a gear box 166. The box 166 in turn has a sprocket or drive gear member 168 which in turn drives a chain member 170 which will drive the plurality of rollers at the outlet of the hot rinse section 68. Note that the rollers at the inlet of the hot rinse section 68 are connected to the chain of the reject section 66 and hence will be rotated in the same direction to move the workpieces W in the same direction i.e., the direction of the arrows. However, by virtue of the gear box 166, the rollers at the outlet of the hot rinse section 68 will be driven in an opposite direction to transfer the workpieces W out from section 68 inlet of the Bonderite section 70.

Since the rollers of the wash section 64 are being rotated in the same direction as the rollers of the reject section 66, there will be a tendency to move the workpieces W to the reject section 66. However, this will not occur unless the stop member 67 has been moved out of the way indicating that inspection has shown that particular workpiece W to be defective. The rollers at the inlet of the cold rinse section 72, are connected by means of a connecting shaft 172 to the drive for the rollers of the reject section 66 and hence are rotated therewith by means of drive chain 173. Hence, the rollers for the inlet of the cold rinse section 72 will be rotated in the same direction as the rollers of the reject section 66 and the rollers in the inlet to the hot rinse section 68 to facilitate the reception of workpieces W transferred from the outlet of the Bonderite section 70. The rollers at the outlet of the wash section 64 and at the outlet of the Bonderite section 70 are connected to rollers in the inlet of the wash section 64 by means of a connecting shaft 174 and are driven by drive chains 175 and 177, respectively. The rollers at the outlets of the wash section 64 and Bonderite section 70 will be rotated such as to transfer the workpieces W to the inlets of hot rinse section 68 and cold rinse section 72, respectively. The drive chain 177 for the outlet rollers of the Bonderite section -'70 is connected to a gear box 176 which by means of a connecting shaft 178 and output gear box 180 and a drive chain 182 rotates the rollers at the inlet of the Bonderite section 70 in a direction to receive the workpieces W transferred from the hot rinse sect-ion 68.

In order to aid in the transfer of the workpieces W from one section to another, guide means are provided. Looking now specifically at FIGURES 2, 6, 7 and 10, a bar member 184 is located adjacent each one of the screw members 118 and is provided with a first pair of flanges 186 and a second pair of flanges 188. The forward end of the pivot bar 184 is connected to a crank arm which in turn is connected to a piston assembly 192. The

pairs of flanges 186 and 188 are normally positioned out of the way of workpieces W and hence will not impede their travel as they are moved longitudinally along the screw members. However, upon the arrival of one of the workpieces W at the outlet of one of the sections in the stage 18, the piston assembly 192 is actuated to move the pivot arm 190 to rotate the shaft 184 in a direction to raise the flanges 186 and 188. At the outlet end, the workpiece W will then be located between flanges such as flanges 186 on bar 184 and hence as the workpiece W engages the serrated heads, i.e. such as 152 of the rollers 150, the flanges will aid in maintaining the workpiece W in a straight line as it is transferred out. At the same time at the inlet end of the Bonderite section 70 the flanges 188 are in a raised position and hence as a workpiece W is transferred from the outlet of the hot rinse section 68, it will be guided into the Bonderite section 70 by means of the flanges 188. Each of the sections in the wash, rinse and coating stage 18 is provided with guide means adjacent the lower sets of screw members such as screw member 118. As soon as the transfer of the workpieces W has been accomplished, the piston assembly 192 is actuated to pivot the arm 190 to rotate the shaft 184 such that the flanges 186 and 188 are moved out of the way whereby the workpieces W can again be moved longitudinally along the screw members.

In operation, the rollers, such as 150, are constantly being rotated by the input shaft 154. The screw members, such as 118, however, are intermittently operated by the drive mechanism 130 to longitudinally move the workpieces W. At the same time the guide bars 184 are actuated periodically only when one of the workpieces W has arrived at the outlet of one of the sections in the stage 18. The above sequence of events can be controlled by apparatus receiving signals from appropriately located micro switches which will sense the arrival of one of the workpieces W at the proper position in a selected one of the sections in the stage 18. A micro switch 191 is located in the stop member 67. Upon actuation of micro switch 191, appropriate apparatus (not shown) will be actuated to cause the pistons, such as 192, to pivot the guide bars, such as 184, such that the guide flanges, such as 186 and 188, are pivoted out of position whereby the workpieces W can be moved longitudinally along the screw members, such as 118. Upon movement of the flanges 186 to the downward position, a second micro switch 194, see FIG- URE 6, will be actuated to actuate additional mechanism (not shown) whereby the piston 138 of the drive mechanism 130 will be actuated to cause rotation of the screw members, such as 118, thereby causing indexing of all of the workpieces W in their respective sections in stage 18. Another switch 196 is located to sense the occurrence of a work stroke of piston 138 and will actuate appropriate apparatus (not shown) to cause its return. Apparatus similar to that in stage 18 can be utilized in the other stages shown such that transfer and indexing occur simultaneously in all stages.

Note that in the various finishing or grinding

stages

12, 14 and 16 the workpieces W out from the grinder assemblies 28, 40, and 52, respectively, can be either recirculated at that stage or transferred to the next stage. This can be accomplished by

intermediate sections

200, 202 and 204 which are located between

sections

34, 36 and 48, 46 and 58, 60, respectively. The

intermediate sections

200, 202 and 204 have screw members such as 118 which can be rotated in one direction in which the workpieces W will be transferred to the

recirculating sections

36, 48 and 60, respectively, or can be rotated in an opposite direction in which the workpieces W will be transferred to the

transfer sections

34, 46 and 58 respectively.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiment of the invention disclosed is well calculated to fillfill the objects above stated, it will be appreciated that the invention is suspectible to modification, variation and change without departing from the proper scope or fair meaning of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Metal finishing apparatus for finishing fiat sheet metal blanks comprising: finishing means for working on at least one side of the blanks, and conveying means for transferring the blanks relative to said finishing means, said conveying means including supporting means for supporting the blanks edgewise and for moving the blanks in a direction normal to the plane of the blanks.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 with said supporting means being capable of supporting a plurality of blanks one behind the other and for simultaneously advancing all of the supported blanks in said direction.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 with said conveying means including input conveying means at the input to said finishing means for feeding blanks to said finishing means and output conveying means at the output of said finishing means for receiving and transferring blanks out of said finishing means.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 with said finishing means mounted for finishing the blanks as they are moved edgewise through said finishing means.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 with said finishing means mounted for finishing the blanks as they are moved edgewise through said finishing means.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 with said conveying means further including recirculating conveying means operatively connected with said input and said output conveying means and being selectively operable for transferring blanks from said output conveying means to said input conveying means for an additional pass through said finishing means.

7. The apparatus of claim 3 comprising a plurality of said finishing means and a similar plurality of said input and said output conveying means with each of said plurality of said finishing means being operatively connected with one of said input and said output conveying means.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 in which said plurality of finishing means are located in a selected sequence and with said conveying means further including a plurality of transfer conveying means each for transferring the blanks from one of said output conveying means to the next one of said input conveying means whereby the blanks are progressively moved through said plurality of said finishing means in said selected sequence.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 in which different ones of said plurality of finishing means perform different finishing operations on the blanks.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 in which said finishing means are grinding apparatus with different ones of said plurality of finishing means varying from coarse grinding to fine grinding in said selected sequence.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 with said conveying means further including a plurality of recirculating conveying means each operatively connected with one said input and one of said output conveying means for one of said finishing means and being selectively operable for transferring blanks from that one of said output conveying means to that one of said input conveying means for an additional pass through that one of said finishing means.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 further including washing and coating means for washing and applying a protective coating on the blanks out from the last of said finishing means in said selected sequence and with said conveying means further including additional conveying means for moving the blanks through said washing and coating means.

13. The apparatus of claim 3 with said input conveying means feeding the blanks into said finishing means by moving the blanks along the edge upon which they are supported and transversely to said direction.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 with said conveying means including a screw member having thread means on its outer surface defining a screw thread with said screw thread adapted to receive the edge of the blank for moving the blanks along the axis of said screw member as said screw member is rotated.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 with said thread means comprising a pair of helically wound rod members supported on a roller member and spaced from each other a distance sufiicient to receive the edge of the blanks.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 with said conveying means including a plurality of said screw members with some supporting the blanks on their bottom edges and others engaging the blanks on the upper edges.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 with said conveying means including a plurality of roller members engageable with the supporting edge of the blanks and rotatable for feeding the blanks into said finishing means by moving the blanks along the edge upon which they are supported and transversely to said direction.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 with said conveying means including guide means for guiding the blanks as they are moved by said roller members.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 with said conveying means including first actuating means for rotating said screw member at preselected times and for a preselected distance.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 with said first actuating means including a piston actuated rack and an overrunning clutch member.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 with said first actuating means being actuable by the location of a blank at a selected position.

22. The apparatus of claim 17 with said conveying means including second actuating means actuable for rotating said roller members.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 with said conveying means including guide means for guiding the blanks as they are moved by said roller members, said guide means comprising a connected pair of spaced flanges movable to a position receiving the blanks and third actuating means for pivoting said flanges into said position and being actuable by the location of a blank at a selected position.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 with said conveying means including first actuating means for rotating said screw member at preselected times and for a preselected distance with said third actuating means being actuable when said first actuating means is deactivated.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 with said thread means comprising a pair of helically wound rod members supported on a roller member and spaced from each other a distance sufiicient to receive the edge of the blanks.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 with said conveying means including a plurality of said screw members with some supporting the blanks on their bottom edges and others engaging the blanks on their upper edges.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 with said conveying means including input conveying means at the input to said finishing means for feeding blanks to said finishing means and output conveying means at the output of said finishing means for receiving and transferring blanks out of said finishing means.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 with said conveying means further including recirculating conveying means operatively connected with said input and said output conveying means and being selectively operable for transferring blanks from said output conveying means to said input conveying means for an additional pass through said finishing means.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 comprising a plurality of said finishing means and a similar plurality of said input and said output conveying means with each of said plurality of said finishing means being operatively connected with one of said input and said output conveying means.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 in which said plurality of finishing means are located in a selected sequence and with said conveying means further including a plurality of transfer conveying means each for transferring the blanks from one of said output conveyng means to the next one of said input conveying means whereby the blanks are progressively moved through said plurality of said finishing means in said selected sequence.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 with said first actuating means including a piston actuated rack and an overrunning clutch member.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 with said roller members having roughened surfaces for engaging the edges of the blanks.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 with third actuating means including a chain drive.

34. The apparatus of claim 33 further including washing and coating means for washing and applying a protective coating on the blanks out from the last of said finishing means in said selected sequence and with said conveying means further including additional conveying means for moving the blanks through said washing and coating means.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 with said washing and coating means including upper and lower housing members defining a generally enclosed spray area and means for moving said upper and lower housing members to accommodate blanks of different Width, said others of said screw members being supported on said upper housing member and being movable therewith.

36. The apparatus of claim 22 with said second actuating means continuously actuating said roller members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,386,547 8/1921 Ziska 51-14 1,731,663 10/1929 Howard 5111O 1,803,752 5/1931 Ford 51110 X 2,055,682 9/1936 Copenhaver 5 l74 2,657,504 11/1953 Cadman 51-112 2,835,085 5/1958 Manting 51-215 LESTER M. SWINGLE, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.