USRE11172E - thompson - Google Patents

Description

3 Sh eets Sheet 1.

w. P. THOMPSON.

Assignor 6f one-half to J. WALKER. WIRE ROD ROLLING-MILL.

N6. 11,172. I Reissued June 23, 1891.

WI TIVESSES: 9;: h 331 big! 1 A TTORNE Y 3 Sheets-411%; 21.

W. F. THOMPSON. Assignor of one-half t'o J. WALKER. L WIRB'ROD ROLLING MILL.

, No. 11,172. Reissued June 23, 1891.

ATTORNEY.

V 3 Sheets Sheet 3. W. P.. THOMPSON. v

Assignqr of one-half to J. WALKER. WIRE. ROD ROLLING MILL.

UNITED STATES OFFICE.

JOHN \VALKER,

OF SAME PLACE.

W-IRE-IROD-ROLLING MILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Reissued Letters Patent No. 11,172,'dated June 23, 1891. Original No. 391,064, dated October 23. 1888. lpplication for reissue filed March 25,1891. Serial Ne. 386,404.

.10 all whom. it may concern; Be it know-1 1 that I, WILLIAM F. THOMPSON, of Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new 5 and Improved Duplex Conductor for Use in Combination with Wire-Rod Mills; and I do hereby decl e that the following is a full, clear, and complete description thereof.

My invention relates ,to improvements in [O conductors for wire-rod mills, and the object.

of the invention is to economize help, to reduce waste by scrap, and to increase the capacity of niills as theygire now-established, all as hereinafter more fully described.

I-Iithc'rto in this art, so far as I am aware, it has been the universal practice to employ a single conductor or guide for the material from one set of rolls to the other at the rear thereof. My improvement comprises two or 26 more of such conductors or guides, and the nature and use of this improvement will up pear from a statement of the practice on which the improvementis made. Primarily the material. is in the form of a billet, say two feet in length and four inches in thickness, and heated to the proper degree for reduction to wire: To work this reduction the billet passes, first, thrcugn'a train of roughing-rolls and. then. through atrain Otfinishing-mlls, and 0 the operation from one train of rolls to the other, and from one set of rolls to the other in the traiils, is continuous. My improvement has to 'do more es )ecially with the finishing rolls. 5 Obviously, thebillet will pass instant-1y through-ithe first setot' rolls, and almost as quickly through the second set, being as yet but slightly reduced. Tl hrough the third set it will heals much longer in pasing as it has been elongated, until, when it travels to the 4.0 first of the, series offinishing-rolls, it has sustained considerable reduction and acquired considerable length. .lllcre the process of gradual reduction is continued from set to set of rolls in. the train, the conductors govcrning the rcturi'i. of the material at the rear of the rolls and the men with tongs feeding; it back at the front, one man. for each licnch or stand of rolls; but in the progress of the material through the rolls it becomes rc I used lo very great. length-say a hundred times greater than the length of the hillct-an.d this necessitates much more time for it"to feed through the last of the train of finishing-rolls than it required to pass through the initial roughing-rolls. 'lhe-difference between these times represented the length of time the roughing-rolls and the men employed with them were idle, because it would not do to start anew change of material until the preceding one was sufficiently out. or". the way, that would necessarily make scrap of the overt'eed, Whatever it might be. The feedinen along, the finishing-train likewise were idle while the full length of the single strand of wire was feeding through their respective rolls, and the sum total of this idleness considerably in excess of the time employed. The difference in time and'speed was in part made up by the greater speed. of the finishingrolls; but this fell far short of obviating the loss of much valuable time. To obviate this loss as nearly as possible,and to increase the output of the mill without makinganyincrease whatever inthe'nun1ber of men or number or character of rolls employed is the object of my invention, and this is accomplished by providing for the handling of two or more separate and distinct lines of material through .the same rolls, and by the aid ot'tlie same men at the same rim cinstead of? only a single line or run,- as heretofore. This is accom plishcd by providing two or more conductors ,or guides for the material at the rear of the rolls, so that two or more strands of material or wire can be fed through at the same time and each have a distinct gr.idewa j from the other, and be adapted to work as freely from the other as if a single line alone were being rolled. The use of two conductors with a double feed doubles the capacity of the will without added expense on any account and with the same force, and the use of three without additional expense or help. A fourth line of material with. .four conductors could he ()pOl'ttllOG. with a like increase in the out put without changing the construction of the rolls or increasing, the working force attending them.

In the accompanying drawings, l ig'ure l. is a rear elevation of a set of rolls with which two conductors or guidcways are employed,

conductors treblcs thecapacity or output ting spindles B of theseveral rolls.

and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line a- .22, Fig. 1, and a plan view of the conductors or guides with a part'thercof in section horizontally. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on line is a), Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a cross-section sub- Fig. 5 is an en:-

stantially on line y'y, Fig. 1. larged face view of a detached section/of a fastening mechanism for one of the conductors and a cross-section" of the conductor, and Fig. 6 is an outer end view of one of the inner sections of the conductors on the return or rear side thereof. Fig. 7 is a plan view of a series of, finishing-rolls and of parts of the field or platform on either side over which the wire loops spread durin the operation of rolling, all as hereinafter more fully described.

In Figs. 1 and 2 are represented what may be termed a bench of rolls set in suitable frame-work A and constituting one bench or a double set of rolls in a train of finishingrolls of like construction and equipment and driven by any suitable powerconnection, (not shown,) power being transmitted from one set of rolls to the other in' the bench and in the train by suitable connection at the abut- No novelty is claimed for this connecting mechanism and it is well known in the art. The arran gement of two grooved rolls and a duin m y or blank roll 0, as here shown, likewise is old and well known. Each bench of rolls is provided with grooved or channeled conductors or guides E at its rear for coriveying the material that is fed by hand intqio'ne set of rolls back through the other set. The direction of feed is indicated by arrows, and as the rolls revolve very rapidly an end of material is no sooner fed into one. set than it flies out through the other set, being guided by the conductor from'one to the others The instant it is thrust through the return set of rolls the end is caught by the tongs of the operator standing at that point and whipped back through the next adjoining set of rolls, Fig. 7, and so on to the end of the train, the flying end of the material or wire threading itself with great rapidity first through one set of rolls and then through the other until the end is reached; but the size of the groove 0 in the rolls 0 of the succeeding sets of rolls gradually diminishes, so that the material is crowded back from the rolls under the pro:

' cess of reduction, and hence forms a gradually increasing loop between any two sets of rolls-as shown, for example, in Fig. 7as long as the ends of; the material are held in said sets, as shown in said figure. This occurs because the material is fed through th first set faster than it can issue reduce; through-the seco nd set. For this reason the conductor serves merely as an initial guide for the material andio convey the leading end automatically from one set of rolls into the other. This done the loop of the material instantly begins to enlarge and is forced out of the conductor upon the floorbcncath,wherc to allow it is free to expand as much as may be necessary. A corresponding loop will of course for non thefront side of the rolls between the respective benches, and the more fi ely drawn the material becomes the larger the loop will be until it reaches a depth of a hundred feet or more.

The central part of the'conductors, as here shown, ei nsists of the part E, provided with two separate and distinct channels d, formed by a-rib eat the centerand flanges c at either side, and thte said part E is open on top, so as the material to spring out of the channels and accommodate itself to the op erationof the rolls,

as hereinbefore described.

At the initial end of part E the rib 8 runs into adouble-walled partition fiserving alike purpose, as 9, but adapted to the spreading end of said part, where separate pipe or tubular connections F complete the conductor and receive the material from the corresponding grooves in the roll. At the opposite or return side of the part Ea double set of guide pipes G and II complete the connection from each guide-channel to the rolls. flaring mouths G, so as to catch the approaching end of the material as it flies around through the channel, and the pipe G is shown as being slightly telescoped inpipe II. The return end of part E is bifurcated for the attachment of parts G, and each part G has a slot f for a locking connection. with the bifurcated extremity of E, and by which it may be laterally adjusted thereto. The pipes G are formed in halves I and m longitudinally and horizontally, and the pipes II are formed similarly of halves '11 andj, each of which set of halves have hinges g, a spring-catch g',and alug h, on which the catch g locks. This construction makes it convenient to open either pipe or set of pipes in case obstruction occurs from tangling of material or wire therein. The sectional construction G and II is employed. because the pipe nearest the rolls will wear out more The pipes G have more certainly quickly than the part 'farthor back, and this allows the worn part above to be replaced by a new pipe, thus saving the expense of mak;

ing. all new.

In the uprights of the frame-work or housing A are vertical grooves I, in which are transversclyarranged slot ted bars J, adj ustablyheld in said slots to fix the elevation of the guides. The guide-holders K are laterally adjustable inbars J, in which they are held by bolts M, whereby alignment is made between the grooves in the rollers and the guides; The holders K have lateral lugs b at their top which are engaged byoverlappingedges 7c of the cover K,which secures the pipe F to the holder K, as clearly seen in Fig. 5. I the top of cover K holds pip'e {securely in position. The pipe F gradual lyjtapers from its mouth at the rolls to its opposite end, so as to more surely guide the-material to and through the center of the curved guiding or coiiducting-channel beyond. The part F is A set-screw 2* through supported on sectional standards N, having slots '11, by which they are adjustable, so as to-give the proper elevation to the said part F. At the inner ends of pipes H are guidelines 0, to direct the ends of the wire into the grooves in the rolls, and these parts are held in place by set-screws.

It will be seen in Fig. '7 that the strands or loops of wire may overlay or overlap one another on the fields R and S with perfect safety and without danger of becoming entangled on that account. Each loop continues to expand untilthe end of the wire isreleased from the preceding rolls, and then'the'wire is drawn through the reducing-rolls with a free end. i

g It is expected that .one strand of wire will quickly follow another, so as to avoid loss of time between them; but if one is started through the roughing-rollsso as to overtake and overlap the tine of the other in the finishing-rolls the latter will become wasteor scrap by as much as it is ahead of time. This can be avoided by having an extra conductor, over and above what is regularly used, to take care of the overfeed, and thus scrapping on this account may be wholly avoided. l

A set of rolls as herein described is understood to mean a series of three rolls, one above the other, and a double set or bench of rolls comprises two sets. The conductors are arranged irom one set to another, as seen in l1igs."1 and 2, and the channels of the curved intermediate section or repeater are semicircular, so as to guide the end of the wire centrally therein and to enable thewire to climb over the wall of the channel after the end enters the return-rolls and the loop forms and enlarges, as herein described. The connecting ends of theconductor are tubular, so as to better answer the purpose of guides. The entire conductor is substantially in the shape of the letter U, and by the term eoni'luetor is meant that construction which guides a single wire from one set of rolls to another. In the drawings two conductors are shown, the central portion 0t which is made in a single piece with a partition between the different conducting-channels. The result would be the same if the two channels were formed from or in different and separate parts. In operation each conductor is entirely independent of the other.

The described mechanism of the conductorsand attachments in connection with the rolls .may be so enlarged and arranged as to lead and conduct more'than two rods simultane- .ously from one set of rolls to the following reducing-rolls in essentially the same way as the transit of two rods from the rolls C of one set to and through the rolls 0 of the other set, before set forth.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is I 1. In a wire-rolling :mill, two sets of rolls provided each with a series of grooves, and a set otcurved conductors extending from one set of rolls to the other, and each conductor matching with different grooves in said rolls, whereby two or more strands of wire may be passed simultaneously through the same rolls, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a rolling-mill, of a curved conducting section or part having separate channels side by side, and separate end sections connecting. with each of said channels and extending to the rolls, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a rolling-mill, of

bination with the curved conductor E, pro-' vided with channels, and the rolls to which said parts form guides for the wire, substantially as described. I

5. The combination of sets of wire rod rolls, the conductors consisting of guide-pipes F at one end, the guidefpipes Gand II at the other end, and the intermediate curved channels completing the circuit of said conductors,

the pipes G having flaring months at their junction with the extremities of the intermediate conducting-channels and removable top portions, substantially as described.

7 WILLIAM F. THOMPSON.

Witnesses:

II. T. FIs'nER, N LLI L. MQLANE.

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