US3491572A - Apparatus for reducing the thickness of metal - Google Patents

Description

Jan.- 27, 1970 K. SAX]. 3,491,572

APPARATUS FOR REDUCING THE THICKNESS 0F METAL Filed July 21, 19s? 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 27, 1970 K. SAXL 3,491,572 I APPARATUS FOR REDUCING THE THICKNESS OF METAL Filed July 21, 196? s Sheets-Sheet a jivuwrarz 769652. QSKQXL' Ai 'PAn-A'wus FOR REDUCING THE THICKNESS 0F METAL Filed July 21, 196A? K. SAXL Jan. 27, 1970 3 Sheets-Sheet S United States Patent O 3,491,572 APPARATUS FOR REDUCING THE THICKNESS OF METAL Karel Saxl, Sutton Coldfield, England, assignor to Imperial Metal Industries (Kynoch) Limited, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, a corporation of Great Britain Filed July 21, 1967, Ser. No. 655,122 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Aug. 11, 1966, 36,009/ 66 Int. Cl. B21b 39/20, 31/20 U.S. Cl. 722S2 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to apparatus for reducing the thickness of metal.

Description of the prior art Apparatus for reducing the thickness of metal is known comprising a pair of oscillatable arms pivotally mounted upon a frame and having free ends which lie in closer relationship than the pivotal axes of the arms, these free ends having freely-rotatable work rolls mounted thereon for reducing the thickness of metal when the arms are synchronously oscillated.

In practice, it has been found necessary to provide guide means for guiding the metal as it leaves the machine. However, if conventional guide means in the form of members having converging surfaces for engagement with the surfaces of the metal are employed, difliculty in guiding the metal arises because, as the arms oscillate during rolling, they move towards or away from the guide means so that there are gaps provided between the guide means and the arms through which rolled metal may pass to result in damage to the apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, apparatus for reducing the thickness of metal comprises a frame, a pair of oscillatable arms each pivotally mounted about an axis upon the frame for synchronous oscillation of the arms through a common plane in which the pivotal axes lie, and the arms having free ends which lie in closer relationship than their pivotal axes, a freely-rotatable work roll mounted upon the free end of each arm, and guide means disposed on the output side of the work rolls on each side of a pass line for metal, each guide means comprising a guide member disposed on the frame and a guide member disposed upon an arm with parts of the guide member on the frame being closer to the common plane than parts of the guide member on the arm during at least part of the oscillatory movement of the arms.

Preferably in each guide means, one guide member comprises at least one guide element and the other guide member comprises a plurality of guide elements which are spaced apart in the axial direction of the work rolls,

the at least one guide element lying within a gap provided between the spaced apart elements during at least part of the arm oscillatory movement. Alternatively, the guide members of each guide means extend towards and overlap one another during arm oscillation.

In one preferred construction, a plurality of guide elements are provided upon each guide member of each guide means. In this case at least one of the elements of each guide member on the frame may be a guide roller, the guide rollers of the two guide members on the frame being disposed in opposition, one on each side of the pass line for rolling engagement with the reduced metal. When a single guide roller only is provided for each guide member on the frame, the guide roller is preferably disposed symmetrically with respect to the median radial plane of the work rolls. In this case other guide elements of the guide member on the frame are a plurality of guide projections and the roller and projections lie in mesh with guide projections of the guide member on the arm. In a further construction, two guide rollers are provided as guide elements of the guide member on the frame together with the guide projections, the guide rollers being located so as to be symmetrically positioned one on each side of the median radial plane of the work rolls.

In another construction, the guide member on the frame is provided with a guide roller and two guide elements are provided upon the guide member upon the arm, these two guide elements being spaced apart and receiving between them the guide roller during at least part of the arm oscillatory movement.

In each of the above constructions in which the guide member on the frame comprises a guide roller or rollers, it is preferable that for at least one guide means, positioning means are provided alternately for moving the roller towards the pass line and towards the roller of the other guide means to enable the rollers to grip reduced metal to assist in guiding it from the apparatus and for withdrawing the roller from the pass line so that the rollers do not grip the metal while it is being moved along the predetermined path. It is also preferable that the roller or rollers of at least one of the guide means is provided with driving means so that the rollers may assist in drawing the reduced metal from the apparatus.

In another construction, in each guide means, the guide elements on the frame consist wholly of guide projections.

The invention also includes metal which has been reduced in thickness by use of apparatus according to the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic side elevational view of apparatus for reducing the thickness of metal, together with ancillary equipment;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view, partly in crosssection, of part of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view on line IIIIII of the apparatus of FIGURE 2 showing three positions of part of a guide means of the apparatus;

' FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 of a modification of the embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT The apparatus as shown in FIGURES l to 3 is basically of similar construction to that described in the specification of our British Patent No. 889,662. This basic construction will now be described briefly, followed by a more detailed description of the parts of the apparatus which relate to the present invention.

Briefly, therefore, with reference to FIGURE 1, the apparatus comprises a pair of freely-rotatable work rolls 1 and 2 mounted upon the free ends of a pair of oscillatable arms 3 and 4, pivotally mounted upon a frame (not shown) for pivotal movement about parallel axes 5 and 6.

Driving means are provided for oscillating the arms in synchronism on each side of their full outline positions 7, in which the arms lie on the common plane which extends through their pivotai axes, the arms being oscillatable between limiting chain-dotted positions 8 and 9. The driving means comprises, in respect of each arm, a lever 10 pivotally mounted at ends 11 and 12, respectively, to the arm and to a crank 13 of a crankshaft 14. The two crankshafts are drivable by a common drive motor through gearing (not shown).

The apparatus will now be described in greater detail with reference to FIGURES 2 and 3.

As shown in the lower part of FIGURE 2, each work roll is provided with supporting rollers 15, and as shown in the upper part of that figure, each work roll is also provided at each of its ends with a spacer 16 to resist movement towards each other of the work rolls when the rolls are located a predetermined minimum distance apart.

On each side of a pass line AA for metal passing through the apparatus, the apparatus is provided with a guide means 18 for ensuring that the rolled metal is maintained substantially on the pass line as it issues from the apparatus. As shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, each guide means comprises guide members 19 and 20. The guide member 20 is secured to an arm 3 or 4, as the case may be, on the output side of the work rolis, while the guide member 19 is pivotally mounted to the frame, by its end 21 remote from the arm, in a position adjacent the pass line AA. The guide members are each provided at their free ends, with a plurality of guide elements in the form of projections 22 (FIGURE 3) which are spaced-apart laterally of the predetermined path of movement of rolled metal, i.e. in the axial direction of the work rolls. The projections of the guide member 19 are aligned with gaps 23 provided between spaced-apart projections of the guide member 20 so that during a metal reducing operation as the arms oscillate, the projections lie in mesh, as will be described. 7

Each guide member 19 also comprises a guide roller 24 which is rotatably mounted in bearings 25, the upper roller being driven by a coaxial driving shaft 26' extending through bearing 25, the driving shaft being drivable by an endless driving belt 27 passing around a pulley wheel 28 secured to the shaft and around another pulley wheel (not shown) secured to an electrically driven shaft 27a.

The two rollers of the guide members lie in opposition to one another on each side of the pass line and are disposed symmetrically with respect to the median radial plane of the work rolls. Positioning means are provided for moving the roller of each guide means towards the roller of the other guide means to grip the reduced metal as it leaves the apparatus. In respect of each guide means, the positioning means comprises two fluid-operated piston and cylinder assemblies 29 (see FIGURE 2) which are pivotally mounted upon the frame and upon integral webs 30 formed at the ends of the guide member 19, to effect and control pivotal movement of the guide member about its pivoted end 21.

On the output side of the work rolls, a conveyor of freely rotatable rollers 31 is provided to convey reduced metal from the apparatus.

In operation, a strip 32 of metal (FIGURE 1), the thickness of which is to be reduce-cl, is fed between a pair of feed rollers 33 and through a heating chamber 34, and the heated strip is then fed between the pair of freely rotatable work rolls which act on opposite sides of the strip. The reduced strip is then passed over the conveyor rollers 31 (FIGURE 2) and between a pair of pinch rolls 4 35 (FIGURE 1) and a pair of guide rolls 36, and is wound upon a coiling drum 37.

As the leading edge of the strip is passed through the apparatus, the guide members 19 are held in their full outline positions by the assemblies 29, as shown in FIG- URE 2 so that the surfaces of the reduced leading edge of the strip are engaged by the rollers 24. The upper roller 24 is driven by the driving belt 27 to assist in feeding the leading edge of the reduced strip through the apparatus and onto the conveyor rollers 31. While the guide members 19 are held in their full outline positions, the projections 22 of the guide members of each guide means are continuously in mesh as shown in FIGURE 3. Oscillation of the arms results in movement of the projections 22 of the guide members 20 but the projections of these members only move between limiting meshed positions 22a shown in chain-dotted outline in FIGURE 3.

When the leading edge of the reduced strip has been fed onto the conveyor rollers 31, the assemblies 29 are operated to move the guide members 19 away from one another until they assume positions shown in chain-dotted outline in FIGURE 2. In this position, the projections 22 of the guide members are no longer in mesh. However, in both of the above described positions of the guide members 19, parts of the projections 22 of these guide members continuously lie closer to the common plane of the pivotal axes of the arms 3 and 4, than parts of the projections of the guide members 20. The members 20, therefore, continuously bridge the gap provided between the guide members 19 and the arms to prevent reduced metal, which may wander from the pass line AA, from passing through the gap.

In the above described embodiment, the guide members may, alternatively, be held continuously in their full outline positions shown in FIGURE 3 and means may be provided for disconnecting the drive to the upper roller 24 to allow the upper, as well as the lower, roller to be freely rotatable by passage of the strip along the pass line after the leading edge of the strip has moved beyond the rollers. In this alternative method of use, therefore, the rollers continuously hold the reduced metal strip substantially on the pass line AA to assist the guide members in guiding the strip.

In a modification of the above described embodiment, the upper roller 24 is drivably connected to the driving shaft 26 by a sprag clutch (not shown) which allows the roller to be freely rotatable in the direction of rotation to assist the feeding of strip from the apparatus. In this construction in the event that the leading edge of strip passing beneath the upper roller is moving along the pass line AA at a speed greater than the peripheral speed of the roller while being driven by the belt 27, then the frictional engagement of the strip with the rolier causes the roller to rotate with a peripheral speed substantially equal to the speed of movement of the strip. The provision of the sprag clutch, therefore, substantially eliminates any dragging action of the upper roller upon the strip in these circumstances.

In another modification as shown in FIGURE 4, each guide member '38 on the frame is not provided with guide elements in the form of projections as described for the member 19 in the embodiment. In contrast the member 38 comprises a guide roller 39 which lies with its axis parallel with those of the work rolls. This guide roller is preferably drivable in a manner similar to that described for the rollers 24 of the first embodiment. A guide member 40 on an arm provided for each guide means has two guide elements which are spaced-apart projections 41. These projections receive between them the guide roller 39 during oscillation of the arms to reduce the thickness of metal strip. In use of this modified construction, metal strip to be reduced in thickness by the apparatus must be sufitciently wide to ensure that the projections 41 overlap or lie within the edges of the reduced strip.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for reducing the thickness of metal comprising a frame, a pair of oscillatable arms each pivotally mounted about an axis upon the frame for synchronous oscillation of the arms through a common plane in which the pivotal axes lie, and the arms having free ends which lie in closer relationship than their pivotal axes, and a freely rotatable work roll mounted upon the free end of each arm, wherein the improvement comprises a guide means disposed on the output side of the work rolls on each side of a pass line for metal, each guide means comprising a guide member disposed on the frame and a guide member disposed upon an arm, the guide member on the frame having parts thereof which are closer to the common plane than parts of the guide member on the arm during at least part of oscillatory movement of the arms.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein in each guide means, one guide member comprises at least one guide element and the other guide member comprises a plurality of guide elements which are spaced apart in the axial direction of the work rolls to provide a gap, the at least one guide element lying within the gap between the spaced apart elements during at least part of the arm oscillatory movement.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein, in each guide means, a plurality of guide elements are provided upon each guide member, at least one of the elements of the guide member on the frame being a guide roller, the other elements of the guide member on the frame and the elements of the guide member on the arm being projections with the projections and guide roller of the frame guide member lying in mesh with the projections of the other guide member during at least part of the arm oscillatory movement, and the guide rollers of the two guide means are disposed in opposition one on each side of the pass line for rolling engagement with reduced metal.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, in each guide means, the guide member on the frame comprises a guide roller, and the guide member on the arm comprises two guide elements which are spaced apart and receive between them the guide roller during at least part of the arm oscillatory movement.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein, for atleast one guide means, positioning means are provided alternately for moving the guide roller towards the pass line and towards the guide roller of the other guide means to enable the rollers to grip reduced metal to assist in guiding it from between the work rolls, and for withdrawing its associated guide roller from the pass line.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein at least one of the guide rollers is provided with driving means so that the rollers may assist in drawing reduced metal from between the work rolls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,549,527 8/1925 Fielding 72-189 1,810,886 6/1931 Neuberth 72189 3,103,139 9/1963 Saxl 72190 3,143,010 8/1964 Saxl 72-240 FOREIGN PATENTS 227,219 1/ 1925 Great Britain.

CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner E. M. COMBS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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