CA2033453A1 - Apparatus for rubber coating of cords - Google Patents
Apparatus for rubber coating of cordsInfo
- Publication number
- CA2033453A1 CA2033453A1 CA002033453A CA2033453A CA2033453A1 CA 2033453 A1 CA2033453 A1 CA 2033453A1 CA 002033453 A CA002033453 A CA 002033453A CA 2033453 A CA2033453 A CA 2033453A CA 2033453 A1 CA2033453 A1 CA 2033453A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- liner
- assembly
- rubber
- take
- cord
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C48/00—Extrusion moulding, i.e. expressing the moulding material through a die or nozzle which imparts the desired form; Apparatus therefor
- B29C48/25—Component parts, details or accessories; Auxiliary operations
- B29C48/92—Measuring, controlling or regulating
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C2948/00—Indexing scheme relating to extrusion moulding
- B29C2948/92—Measuring, controlling or regulating
- B29C2948/92009—Measured parameter
- B29C2948/92019—Pressure
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C2948/00—Indexing scheme relating to extrusion moulding
- B29C2948/92—Measuring, controlling or regulating
- B29C2948/92323—Location or phase of measurement
- B29C2948/92361—Extrusion unit
- B29C2948/9238—Feeding, melting, plasticising or pumping zones, e.g. the melt itself
- B29C2948/924—Barrel or housing
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C2948/00—Indexing scheme relating to extrusion moulding
- B29C2948/92—Measuring, controlling or regulating
- B29C2948/92504—Controlled parameter
- B29C2948/92514—Pressure
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C2948/00—Indexing scheme relating to extrusion moulding
- B29C2948/92—Measuring, controlling or regulating
- B29C2948/92504—Controlled parameter
- B29C2948/9258—Velocity
- B29C2948/9259—Angular velocity
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C2948/00—Indexing scheme relating to extrusion moulding
- B29C2948/92—Measuring, controlling or regulating
- B29C2948/92819—Location or phase of control
- B29C2948/92857—Extrusion unit
- B29C2948/92876—Feeding, melting, plasticising or pumping zones, e.g. the melt itself
- B29C2948/92885—Screw or gear
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C2948/00—Indexing scheme relating to extrusion moulding
- B29C2948/92—Measuring, controlling or regulating
- B29C2948/92819—Location or phase of control
- B29C2948/92857—Extrusion unit
- B29C2948/92876—Feeding, melting, plasticising or pumping zones, e.g. the melt itself
- B29C2948/92895—Barrel or housing
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C2948/00—Indexing scheme relating to extrusion moulding
- B29C2948/92—Measuring, controlling or regulating
- B29C2948/92819—Location or phase of control
- B29C2948/92857—Extrusion unit
- B29C2948/92904—Die; Nozzle zone
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C2948/00—Indexing scheme relating to extrusion moulding
- B29C2948/92—Measuring, controlling or regulating
- B29C2948/92819—Location or phase of control
- B29C2948/92933—Conveying, transporting or storage of articles
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Tyre Moulding (AREA)
Abstract
A suitable number of cords are supplied from a cord feeder to an extruder, passed through the crosshead of the extruder and coated with a raw rubber material. The rubber-coated material is pulled by a pull roll assembly disposed downstream from the extruder and wound up on a take-up assembly disposed downstream from the pull roll assembly. The winding speed of the take-up assembly is adjusted in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of wound-up coated material. A liner is supplied from a liner feeder to the take-up assembly and interposed between the portions of the coated material wound up. When the liner being drawn out for use in winding the rubber coated cords around the take-up drum approaches its rear end, another new liner is arranged so as to adhere automatically to the running liner without making any stop to the rubber coating operation.
Description
TITLE OF THE INVENTION ~,033453 APPARATUS FOR RUBBER COATING OF CORDS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
The present invention relates to an apparatus for coating a suitable number of cords with a raw rubber material and winding up the coated cords.
A predetermined number of cords (e.g., one to tens or more) are coated with a raw rubber material to obtain a belt or strip (e.g., 0.~ mm to 30 mm in width), for example, a single nylon cord band or a nylon band of a narrow width for use in tires. Such belts or strips are conventionally made from a cord fabric having a large width (e.g., 900 to 1200 mm) and woven of wefts, by coating the fabric with rubber using a topping calendar of large width to obtain a strip of rubber-coated fabric, and then slitting the strip into strips of desired narrower width.
However, when the strip of rubber-coated fabric is slitted in the predetermined width, it is likely that some of the cords will be also cut along with the rubber material or damaged. Difficulty is therefore encountered in preparing a rubber-coated material of narrow width (rubber-coated tape). Further coating fabric of narrow width using at standard calendar is less justifiable in terms of efficiency, since the width of the topping calendar is determined in conformity with the maximum width of the material to be coated.
Such a rubber coated material is wound up on a take-up drum usually with a liner made of cloth, thin plastics sheet or like the ..
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2033~53 interposed between the adjacent layers of the coated material to preclude adhesion between the superposed layers, whereas the required length of the coated material is determined in accordance with the specifications and the quantity of production of the product for which the coated material is to be used, and is not always the same as the length of the liner.
Accordingly, in the case where the liner happens to be shorter than the rubber-coated material, it is conventional practice to stop the production of the coated material (coating operation) and replenish the apparatus with another length of liner before resuming the production. This method is therefore no good in terms of productivity.
SUMMARY~aF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide a coating apparatus which is adapted to coat one to several tens of (a suitable number of) cords with a raw rubber material easily and rapidly and to wind up the rubber-coated material.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a liner joining device which is adapted to join to a liner being applied to a rubber-coated material another length of liner during the production of the rubber coated material without interrupting the operation so as to continuously supply the liner to a take-up drum for winding up the rubber-coated material.
To fulfill the first object, the present invention provides as a first feature thereof an apparatus for coating a suitable number of .
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~033~53 cords with a raw rubber material, the apparatus being characterized in that the appara-tus comprises:
a cord feeder for sending out the cords in a downstream direction, an extruder for coating the cords with the raw rubber material to produce a rubber-coated material while the cords sent out from the cord feeder are traveling in the downstream direction, a take-up assembly for winding up the rubber-coated material on a take-up drum, a supply adjusting assembly for adjusting the winding speed of the take-up assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material, and a liner feeder for supplying a liner to the take-up assembly during the winding of the rubber-coated material on the take-up drum of the take-up assembly.
The present invention further provides as a second feature thereof an apparatus for coating a suitable number of cords with a raw rubber material, the apparatus being characterized in that the apparatus comprises:
a cord feeder for sending out the cords in a downstream direction as p&id off from a bobbin, a small-sized extruder hsving the interior of its extruder head held at an optimum rubber pressure in accordance with the characteristics of the cords for coating the cords with the raw rubber material to produce a rubber-coated material while .
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20;~3~53 the cords sent out from the cord feeder are traveling in the downstream direction, a pull roll assembly for pulling the resulting rubber coated material in the downstream direction, a take-up assembly disposed downstream from the pull roll assembly for winding up on a take-up drum the rubber-coated material from the pull roll assembly, a supply adjusting assembly disposed between the take-up assembly and the pull roll assembly for adjusting the winding speed of the take-up assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material, and a liner feeder for supplying a liner to the take-up assembly during the winding of the rubber-coated material on the drum of the take-up assembly to interpose the liner between the opposed . upper and lower portions of the coated material on the drum and prevent the rubber coated material from adhering to each other.
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. According to the first and second features of the present invention, one or several tens of cords are sent out from the cord feeder into the extruder and coated with a raw rubber matorial within , the 0xtruder, whereby a rubber-coated material is produced free of ; spew. The coated material is pulled by the pull roll , assembly against the internal pressure of the extruder, guided toward the downstream direction via the supply adjusting assembly and wound up on the take-up drum of the take-up assembly at a speed -. -. . . - - : . .
adjusted by the adjusting assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material.
During the winding, a liner is supplied from the liner feeder to the take-up drum and interposed between the opposed upper and lower coated material on the drum. Thus, the coated material is continuously wound on the take-up drum without sticking to each other.
The coating apparatus according to the first and second features of the present invention has the advantage that one cord or a rank of cords of small width can be easily and reliably made into a rubber-coated material, thus not necessitating the step of coating a cord fabric having a large width and then slitting the rubber coated fabric into a number of narrow width strips.
Further according to the first and second features of the present invention, it is desirable to provide a traverse assembly for reciprocatingly moving the rubber-coated material in directions approximately perpendicular to the direction of travel of the material while the coated material is being wound up on the take-up drum.
The provision of the traverse assembly results in the advantage of preventing the rubber-coated material from being wound up on the drum locally concentrically to preclude the roll of the material from collapsing, further permitting the drum to wind up an increased length of coated material.
Further according to the second feature of the present invention, it is desired that the pull roll assembly comprise a pair :
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r ,.~ 3~53 of upper and lower rolls having their axes positioned in separate horizontal planes, the axes of the respective rolls being displaced from each other by a small angle.
The pull roll assembly has the advantage that even when the rubber-coated material is wound around the rolls several turns, the coated material can be pulled toward the downstream direction under definite tension without lapping over itself.
To accomplish the first object, the present invention further provides as a third feature thereof an apparatus for coating a suitable number of cords with a raw rubber material, the apparatus being characterized in that the apparatus comprises:
a crosshead having a cavity for the raw rubber material to be forced thereinto from a direction perpendicular to the axis of the cord by the rotation of a screw having a diameter of at least 20 mm, a sensor for detecting the internal rubber pressure of the , crosshead, a control system for determining the number of revolutions of the screw based on the detection signal of the sensor to maintain the interior of the crosshead at an optimum rubber pressure in accordance with the characteristics of the cords, and a servomotor or like motor for rotating the screw in response to a rotation command from the control system.
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According to the third feature of the present invention, a ; 6 ~. .- : , . .
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Z033~53 rubber-coated material of specified shape can be extruded free from spew because the screw having a diameter of at least 20 mm is rotated at a speed which is so determined from the detected internal rubber pressure of the head that the internal rubber pressure will be an optimum value in conformity with the characteristics of the cords to be coated.
Further to achieve the second object, the present invention provides a liner joining device which is characterized in that the device comprises:
a pair of adhering rollers respectively arranged in the vicinity of a pair of rolls of liner removably mounted on a holdert a pair of holding assemblies for releasably holding the leading end portion of the respective liners, and pressing assemblies for moving the rollers toward each other into contact with each other and causing the rollers to adhere the leading end of one liner roll, the leading end held by one of the holding assemblies, instantly with the running liner of the other roll when the running liner approaches its rear end.
The liner joining device of the present invention is so adapted that the leading end of one liner roll is held by one of the holding assemblies while the other liner roll is being drawn out and when the running liner of the other roll approaches its rear end, the pair of joining rollers are moved toward each other into contact with each other by the pressing assemblies, whereby the leading end of the above-mentioned one liner roll is automatically adhered and joined to . .
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~03~53 the other liner being drawn out. Upon the adhesion, the holding assembly lets go of the leading end of one liner roll. Accordingly, the liner of one roll can automatically be joined to the running liner of the other roll without making any ~epP Of the operation.
Thus, the rubber-coated material of desired length can be wound up.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. l is a front view showing an embodiment of the invention;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same;
Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in section of an . .
extruder;
Fig. 4 is an enlarged front view partly in sec-tion and showing a pull roll assembly;
Fig. 5 is an enlarged front view of a supply adjusting assembly;
Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the same;
Fig. 7 is an enlarged side elevation of a traverse assembly;
Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of a take-up assembly;
Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of a liner feeder;
Fig. 10 is an enlarged front view of the same;
Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a line control system; and Fig. 12 is a block diagram of a control system for the extruder.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
An embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.
Figs. 1 and 2 show a coating apparatus of the invention in its ':. '.' . . ' . . : ' .`
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~0;~3453 entirety. The apparatus is adapted to coat a suitable number of cords, e.g., one cord 1 (see Fig. 3), with a raw rubber material (see Fig. 3). The apparatus comprises a cord feeder 3 for sending out the cord 1 in a downstream direction, an extruder 5 for coating the cord 1 from the feeder 3 with the raw rubber material 2 to produce a rubber-coated material 4 (see Fig. 3), a pull roll assembly 6 for pulling the coated material 4 toward the downstream direction against the internal rubber pressure of the extruder 5, a take-up assembly 8 for winding up the coated material 4 from the pull roll assembly 6 on a take-up drum 7, a supply adjusting assembly 9 disposed between the take-up assembly 8 and the pull roll assembly 6 for adjusting the speed of winding of the coated material 4 in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up coated material, and a liner feeder 11 for supplying a liner lO to the take-up assembly 8 to interpose the liner between the adjacent windings of the coated material 4 on the drum 7.
The cord feeder 3, the extruder 5 and the pull roll assembly 6 are mounted on a carrier 13 having casters 12 and are movable.
The cord feeder 3 comprises a base frame 14 provided upright on the carrier 13, a motor (d.c. servomotor) 15 mounted on the base frame 14, and a shaft 17 connected to the drive shaft of the motor 15 by a helical coupling ]6. A bobbin 18 having the cord 1 wound there-around is attached to the shaft 17. The bobbin 18 comprises an unillustrated paper tube fitted around the shaft 17 and having the cord 1 wound thereon. More specifically, the paper tube with the cord 1 wound thereon is fitted around the shaft 17, and air is ,:
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injected into the shaft 17, expanding an expandable member within the shaft 17 to project the member from the shaft 17 through a slit therein and thereby firmly attach the paper tube to the shaft.
The base frame 14 is provided with a tension sensor 19. The cord 1 drawn out from the bobbin 18 passes through a cord guide , , .
member 20 and then through the tension sensor 19, by which the tension on the cord 1 is measured. The tension sensor 19 is, for example, a tensiometer. The tensiometer comprises a pair of guide rollers and a sensor roller and measures tension with an image sensor.
As shown in Fig. 3, the extruder 5 has a cross head 22. It is a small-sized extruder having a screw diameter of at least 20 mm and is adapted to produce extrudates free of spew. The head 22 comprises a main portion 23, and a flow guide 24 and a die 25 provided inside the main portion 23. The cord 1 is inserted through an axial bore of the flow guide 24 and the hole of the die 25 in alignment therewith. The raw rubber material 2 is forced into a cavity 28 from a direction perpendicular to the axis of the cord 1 by the rotation of the screw (not shown) which is rotated by a motor 33 such as an a.c. servomotor. The cord 1 is coated with the extruded rubber material to make the rubber-coated material 4, which is forced out from the extruder 5.
The thickness of the rubber coating varies with the internal rubber pressure of the head (i.e., the number of revolutions of the screw) and the speed of travel of the material through the cross head. To obtain the extruda-te of specified shape, therefore, there . . . .
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;~0;33~53 is a need to establish the abovementioned relationship and determine the internal pressure of the head. Accordingly, the pressure is detected for the control of the speed of rotation of the screw in order to maintain the pressure at a predetermined value. Since the internal head pressure varies more rapidly when producing extrudates free from spew than when allowing spewing, it is necessary to use, for example, an a.c. servomotor which permits effective control of the speed of rotation of the extruder. Furthermore, the size of the extruder, i.e., the diameter of the screw, must be at least 20 mm so that the rubber material can be fully plasticized at the rotational speed of the screw which provides the predetermined head pressure.
As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the extruder 5 has a body 35 which is supported by upright legs 34 on the carrier 13, and the motor 33 is mounted on the top of the body 35. The body 35 has the crosshead 22.
A d.c. servomotor or d.c. motor may be used as the motor 33.
The rubber-coated material 4 formed in the extruder 5 is pulled toward the downstream direction by the pull roll assembly 6, which comprises upper and lower rolls 36, 37 and a motor 38 for rotating these rolls 36, 37. The upper and lower rolls 36, 37 draw the cord 1 out against the internal rubber pressure of the head 22 by rotating with the coated material 4 wound therearound. With reference to Fig.
4, the upper and lower rolls 36, 37 are rotatably supported by a roll holder 40 mounted on a base frame 39 provided upright on the carrier 13. The motor 38 is attached to a motor holder 41 mounted on the base frame 39 flnd has a drive shaft 38a which is connected to the shaft 43 of the upper roll 36 by a coupling 42. The shaft 43 carries : .
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a pulley 44. The shaft 44 of the lower roll 37 also carries like pulley 46. Belts 47 are reeved around the pulleys 44, 46.
Accordingly, the motor 38, when driven, rotates the upper and lower rolls 36, 37.
The axis of the upper roll 36 extends perpendicular to the axis of the coated material 4, while the axis of the lower roller 37 is slightly displaced in a horizontal plane from the axis of the upper roll 36. This prevents the cords 1 from lapping over themselves even if wound around the rolls several turns. The line speed is dependent on the surface speed of the upper and lower rolls 36, 37.
The take-up assembly 8, the supply adjusting assembly 9 and the liner feeder 11 are mounted on a base 48. The supply adjusting assembly 9, which adjusts the winding speed to the line speed of several hundreds of millimeters per minute, comprises a roller holder 49 extending upright from the base 48, an upper roller 50 rotatably supported by the upper end of the holder 49, and a slide roller supported by the holder 49 and movable upward and downward as seen in Figs. 5 and 6. The coated material 4 from the pull roll assembly 6 is reeved around the rollers 50, 51 as fitted in grooves 50a, 51a thereof, and the winding speed of the take-up drum 7 is controlled by shifting the slide roller 51 vertically. The slide roller 51 moves upward or downward by being guided by rollers 53 which move upward or downward along guide members 52 on the front side of the holder 49.
Although the stroke length of the roller 51 is several tens of centimeters, the assembly 9 so functions that the stroke length is increased several times since the material 4 is reeved around the . .
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rollers 50, 51 several turns. As a result, the winding speed can be fully controllable in accordance with the variation in the diameter of the winding on the take-up drum 7 and the variation in the line speed even if the speed is several hundreds of meters. More specifically stated with reference to the present embodiment, the maximum speed of the rubber-coated material is 200 m/min, and the variation in the winding speed at the adjusting assembly is 1/10 of the value. The winding speed is so adjusted as to reduce the speed variation to zero upon detecting the variation.
A traverse assembly 54 is provided at the upper end of the holder 49 of the supply adjusting assembly 9. The coated material 4 is supplied to the take-up drum 7 while being traversed by the assembly 54 over the entire width of the roll. The traverse assembly 54 comprises a pulley 55 for guiding the travel of the coated material 4, a support 56 for rotatably supporting the pulley 55, a bar 57 for holding the support 56, and a linear motor 58 for reciprocatingly moving the holding bar 57 in directions perpendicular to the direction of travel of the coated material 4. The reciprocating movement of the holding bar 57 reciprocatingly moves the pulley 55 in the directions perpendicular to the direction of travel of the coated material 4 and traverses the material 4 within the width of the liner 10 to increase the length of the material 4 to be rolled up and prevent the resulting roll from collapsing. The pulley 55 serves also to measure the length of the material 4.
Next with reference to Fig. 8, the take-up assembly 8 comprises a base 59, a drum holder 60 provided upright on the base 59, the .
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.:, i~O;~3~53 take-up drum 7 rotatably supported by the holder 60, etc.
The holder 60 comprises a front holder portion 60a for supporting the front portion of the drum 7, and a rear holder portion 60b for supporting the rear portion of the drum 7. Shaft members 61, 62 are fixedly inserted in the respective ends of the body 63 of -the drum 7 for rotatably supporting the drum 7. The shaft members 61, 62 are reciprocatingly movable axially thereof as indicated by arrows by means of cylinder mechanisms 64, 65, respectively. The drum 7 is removably supported by the holder 60.
The base 59 is mounted by interposed members 67 on guide members 66, 66 mounted on the base 48 and is connected by a connector 69 to a piston rod 68a of a cylinder mechanism 68 disposed under the base 48.
The base 59 is reciprocatingly movable along the guide members 66, 66 in directions perpendicular to the direction of travel of the coated material 4 by the piston rod 68a of the cylinder mechanism 68.
Indicated at 70 is a motor for rotating the shaft members 61, 62 to rotate the drum 7. The speed of the drum 7 is dependent on the line speed and on the s-troke of the supply adjusting assembly 9.
With reference to Figs. l, 2 and 9, the liner feeder 11 comprises a support 71 provided upright on the base 48, guide rollers 72, 73 rotatably supported by the support 71, shaft members 75, 75' rotatably supporting a pair of liner rolls 74, 74', respectively, etc. When ~running liner 10 of one of the rolls, 74, comes to run . , short of during operation, the leading end of the liner 10' of the other roll 74' is adhered to the liner 10 of the roll 74 by a liner joining device 76 mounted on the support 71.
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;~03;~453 As shown in Figs. 2, 9 and 10, the liner joining device 76 comprises two opposed pressing assemblies 77, 77' each in the form of a cylinder mechanism, and adhering rollers 78, 78' attached to the .piston rods 77a of the pressing assemblies 77, 77', respectively.
The opposed rollers 78, 78' are reciprocatingly movable between the solid-line position and the phantom-line position as illustrated by the operation of the pressing assemblies 77, 77'. In the phantom-line position, the opposed rollers 78, 78' are in pressing contac-t with each other to join the liners 10, 10' by adhesion. The pressing assemblies 77, 77' are provided with holding assemblies 83, 83', respectively, for holding the liner leading ends of the rolls 74, 74' releasably. The holding assembly 83 comprises a cylinder mechanism 84 having a piston rod 84a reciprocatingly movable vertically, and a bearing member 85 for the forward end of the piston rod 84a to bear on. The holding assembly 85 holds the leading end of one liner of the rolls, 74, between the forward end of the piston rod 84a and the bearing member 85. Like the holding assembly 83, the holding assembly 83' comprises a cylinder mechanism 84' and a bearing member 85'. Indicated at 86 in Fig. 10 are sensors for detecting the diameter of the roll 74 of liner to be supplied.
When the roll diameter sensors 8fi detect the approach of the rear end of the running liner 10 (on the left-hand side in Fig. 10) being paid off from the roll 74 on the shaft member 75, the rollers 78, 78' move toward each other into contact with each other as illustrated in phantom lines to adhere and join the leading end of the liner 10' of the other roll 74' to the liner 10 being sent out.
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Z0~3453 In this case, the liner 10' not yet sent out has its leading end held by the holding assembly 83' as illustrated on the right-hand side of Fig. 10, so that if the leading end is released upon completion of advance of the adhering rollers 78, 78', the two liners 10, 10' pass as fitted together through the nip of the pair of rollers 78, 78', whereby the two liners can be adhered to each other effectively. Further when the liner 10 of the roll 74 on the shaft member 75 has been sent out, the pressing assemblies 77, 77' are operated to return the rollers 78, 78' to the standby position indicated in solid lines, a new roll 74 of liner is set on the shaft member 75, and the leading end of the liner thereof is held by the holding assembly 83. The liner 10 can then be supplied continuously without any interruption in the same manner as above.
The liner 10' of the roll 74' has an adhesive or adhesive tape applied to a portion m close to its leading end and opposed to the liner 10 of the roll 74 for the adhesion of the liners 10, 10' with the adhesive or tape. Accordingly, when the rear end of the first liner roll 74 is about to be paid off during the supply by the liner feeder 11, the liner 10' of the adjacent roll 74' is joined to the liner 10 during operation for continued operation.
More specifically, when the rear end of the liner lO approaches during the supply, the sensors 86 detect the reduction of the roll diameter, whereupon the pair of rollers 78, 78' move into contact with each other, whereby the liner lO' held by the holding assembly 83' is automatically adhered and joined to the line 10 during the operation.
',:, ; 16 .
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' ,` ., ~ " ~ ' '; ' . ~. ' The liner is a strip of paper, cloth, plastics film, thin metal sheet or the like, and has a width of about 100 mm for use in the present embodiment. Indicated at 81 in Fig. 9 is a powder brake, and at 82 a rotary joint.
A description will be given of the process for coating the cord 1 with the raw rubber material 2 by the coating apparatus having the above construction.
First, the rubber material 2 is heated by a temperature controller 79 (see Fig. 2) and filled into the body 35 of the extruder 5. The cord 1 is inserted through the crosshead 22 of the extruder 5, the rubber material 2 in the head 22 is heated to a suitable temperature, the cord 1 is further wound around the upper and lower rolls 36, 37 of the pull roll assembly 6 and passed through the supply adjusting assembly 9 and the traverse assembly 54 and the leading end of the cord is wound on the drum 7 of the take-up assembly 8 in preparation for a winding-up operation.
Next, the cord 1 is set to predetermined tension for paying off using a setting unit 91 of the line control system 90 shown in Fig.
11.
The interior of the head 22 is then set to a predetermined rubber pressure using a head pressure setting unit 96 of the extruder control system 95 shown in Fig. 12.
The pull roll assembly 6 and the take-up assembly 8 are then driven to travel the cord 1, and the extruder 5 is subsequently initiated into operation. Upon the internal rubber pressure of the head 22 building up to about 90% of the set value, the control "~ .
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In the line control system shown in Fig. 11, the tension determined by the setting unit 91 and the tension measured by the tsnsion sensor 19 are compared to obtain a signal. The control system 90 further checks the current line speed and gives a speed command and torque command to the motor 15 connected to the bobbin 18 to control the tension on the cord to be sent out. In other words, a regenerative braking force is applied to the cord by the d.c.
servomotor 15, that is, a torque opposite to the direction of rotation is produced for braking to obtain optimum tension. In Fig.
11, the pull roll rotating motor 38 and the take-up drum rotating motor 70 are controlled by detecting the position of the slide roll 51 of the supply adjusting assembly 9 and the line speed setting to adjust the winding speed according to the variation in the line speed and the variation in the wound-up roll. Indica-ted 92 is a position sensor for the slide roll 51 of the adjusting assembly 9.
The extruder control system 95 shown in Fig. 12 controls the extruder 5 independently of the line control. The internal rubber pressure of the crosshead 22 needs to be altered since the optimum value of the pressure varies with the characteristics of the cord 1, i.e., the material (such as nylon, aramid fiber, steel or thc like), size, shape and structure of the cord 1. The control system 95 therefore has a head pressure setting unit 96. The speed of rotation of the screw must be different for starting the extruder and the manual operation thereof, so that the control system 95 has a screw speed setting unit 97. For manual operation, the screw of the '~
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' ;~033453 extruder 5 only rotates according to the speed setting. For the pressure control, the system gives a rotation command on compairing the signal from a pressure sensor 98 with the setting signal so that the extruder 5 can be maintained at a constant pressure at all times.
The line speed is controlled by the line control system 90, and the extruder 5 by the control system 95 to prepare the rubber-coated material 4.
When the coated material 4 is wound up on the take-up drum 7, the liner 10 is supplied to the drum 7 by the liner feeder 11 to interpose the liner 10 between opposed upper and lower portions of the coated material 4. The liner 10 is about 100 mm in width as already mentioned, while the coated material 4 is less than 1 mm to several tens of millimeters in width. Accordingly, the coated material 4 is traversed by the traversing assembly 54 within the range of width of the liner 10. If wound up on the drum 7 without traversing, the coated material 4 would be wound up on the drum locally concentrically, rendering the resulting roll liable to collapse.
Although one cord is used for the above embodiment, several cords are of course usable as desired. While preferred coated materials 4 are in the range of one to 30 in the number of cords 1 and about 0.8 mm to about 30 mm in width, tho~e comprising a larger number of cords and having a larger width can of course be prepared.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
The present invention relates to an apparatus for coating a suitable number of cords with a raw rubber material and winding up the coated cords.
A predetermined number of cords (e.g., one to tens or more) are coated with a raw rubber material to obtain a belt or strip (e.g., 0.~ mm to 30 mm in width), for example, a single nylon cord band or a nylon band of a narrow width for use in tires. Such belts or strips are conventionally made from a cord fabric having a large width (e.g., 900 to 1200 mm) and woven of wefts, by coating the fabric with rubber using a topping calendar of large width to obtain a strip of rubber-coated fabric, and then slitting the strip into strips of desired narrower width.
However, when the strip of rubber-coated fabric is slitted in the predetermined width, it is likely that some of the cords will be also cut along with the rubber material or damaged. Difficulty is therefore encountered in preparing a rubber-coated material of narrow width (rubber-coated tape). Further coating fabric of narrow width using at standard calendar is less justifiable in terms of efficiency, since the width of the topping calendar is determined in conformity with the maximum width of the material to be coated.
Such a rubber coated material is wound up on a take-up drum usually with a liner made of cloth, thin plastics sheet or like the ..
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2033~53 interposed between the adjacent layers of the coated material to preclude adhesion between the superposed layers, whereas the required length of the coated material is determined in accordance with the specifications and the quantity of production of the product for which the coated material is to be used, and is not always the same as the length of the liner.
Accordingly, in the case where the liner happens to be shorter than the rubber-coated material, it is conventional practice to stop the production of the coated material (coating operation) and replenish the apparatus with another length of liner before resuming the production. This method is therefore no good in terms of productivity.
SUMMARY~aF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide a coating apparatus which is adapted to coat one to several tens of (a suitable number of) cords with a raw rubber material easily and rapidly and to wind up the rubber-coated material.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a liner joining device which is adapted to join to a liner being applied to a rubber-coated material another length of liner during the production of the rubber coated material without interrupting the operation so as to continuously supply the liner to a take-up drum for winding up the rubber-coated material.
To fulfill the first object, the present invention provides as a first feature thereof an apparatus for coating a suitable number of .
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~033~53 cords with a raw rubber material, the apparatus being characterized in that the appara-tus comprises:
a cord feeder for sending out the cords in a downstream direction, an extruder for coating the cords with the raw rubber material to produce a rubber-coated material while the cords sent out from the cord feeder are traveling in the downstream direction, a take-up assembly for winding up the rubber-coated material on a take-up drum, a supply adjusting assembly for adjusting the winding speed of the take-up assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material, and a liner feeder for supplying a liner to the take-up assembly during the winding of the rubber-coated material on the take-up drum of the take-up assembly.
The present invention further provides as a second feature thereof an apparatus for coating a suitable number of cords with a raw rubber material, the apparatus being characterized in that the apparatus comprises:
a cord feeder for sending out the cords in a downstream direction as p&id off from a bobbin, a small-sized extruder hsving the interior of its extruder head held at an optimum rubber pressure in accordance with the characteristics of the cords for coating the cords with the raw rubber material to produce a rubber-coated material while .
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20;~3~53 the cords sent out from the cord feeder are traveling in the downstream direction, a pull roll assembly for pulling the resulting rubber coated material in the downstream direction, a take-up assembly disposed downstream from the pull roll assembly for winding up on a take-up drum the rubber-coated material from the pull roll assembly, a supply adjusting assembly disposed between the take-up assembly and the pull roll assembly for adjusting the winding speed of the take-up assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material, and a liner feeder for supplying a liner to the take-up assembly during the winding of the rubber-coated material on the drum of the take-up assembly to interpose the liner between the opposed . upper and lower portions of the coated material on the drum and prevent the rubber coated material from adhering to each other.
.
. According to the first and second features of the present invention, one or several tens of cords are sent out from the cord feeder into the extruder and coated with a raw rubber matorial within , the 0xtruder, whereby a rubber-coated material is produced free of ; spew. The coated material is pulled by the pull roll , assembly against the internal pressure of the extruder, guided toward the downstream direction via the supply adjusting assembly and wound up on the take-up drum of the take-up assembly at a speed -. -. . . - - : . .
adjusted by the adjusting assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material.
During the winding, a liner is supplied from the liner feeder to the take-up drum and interposed between the opposed upper and lower coated material on the drum. Thus, the coated material is continuously wound on the take-up drum without sticking to each other.
The coating apparatus according to the first and second features of the present invention has the advantage that one cord or a rank of cords of small width can be easily and reliably made into a rubber-coated material, thus not necessitating the step of coating a cord fabric having a large width and then slitting the rubber coated fabric into a number of narrow width strips.
Further according to the first and second features of the present invention, it is desirable to provide a traverse assembly for reciprocatingly moving the rubber-coated material in directions approximately perpendicular to the direction of travel of the material while the coated material is being wound up on the take-up drum.
The provision of the traverse assembly results in the advantage of preventing the rubber-coated material from being wound up on the drum locally concentrically to preclude the roll of the material from collapsing, further permitting the drum to wind up an increased length of coated material.
Further according to the second feature of the present invention, it is desired that the pull roll assembly comprise a pair :
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r ,.~ 3~53 of upper and lower rolls having their axes positioned in separate horizontal planes, the axes of the respective rolls being displaced from each other by a small angle.
The pull roll assembly has the advantage that even when the rubber-coated material is wound around the rolls several turns, the coated material can be pulled toward the downstream direction under definite tension without lapping over itself.
To accomplish the first object, the present invention further provides as a third feature thereof an apparatus for coating a suitable number of cords with a raw rubber material, the apparatus being characterized in that the apparatus comprises:
a crosshead having a cavity for the raw rubber material to be forced thereinto from a direction perpendicular to the axis of the cord by the rotation of a screw having a diameter of at least 20 mm, a sensor for detecting the internal rubber pressure of the , crosshead, a control system for determining the number of revolutions of the screw based on the detection signal of the sensor to maintain the interior of the crosshead at an optimum rubber pressure in accordance with the characteristics of the cords, and a servomotor or like motor for rotating the screw in response to a rotation command from the control system.
.
According to the third feature of the present invention, a ; 6 ~. .- : , . .
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Z033~53 rubber-coated material of specified shape can be extruded free from spew because the screw having a diameter of at least 20 mm is rotated at a speed which is so determined from the detected internal rubber pressure of the head that the internal rubber pressure will be an optimum value in conformity with the characteristics of the cords to be coated.
Further to achieve the second object, the present invention provides a liner joining device which is characterized in that the device comprises:
a pair of adhering rollers respectively arranged in the vicinity of a pair of rolls of liner removably mounted on a holdert a pair of holding assemblies for releasably holding the leading end portion of the respective liners, and pressing assemblies for moving the rollers toward each other into contact with each other and causing the rollers to adhere the leading end of one liner roll, the leading end held by one of the holding assemblies, instantly with the running liner of the other roll when the running liner approaches its rear end.
The liner joining device of the present invention is so adapted that the leading end of one liner roll is held by one of the holding assemblies while the other liner roll is being drawn out and when the running liner of the other roll approaches its rear end, the pair of joining rollers are moved toward each other into contact with each other by the pressing assemblies, whereby the leading end of the above-mentioned one liner roll is automatically adhered and joined to . .
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~03~53 the other liner being drawn out. Upon the adhesion, the holding assembly lets go of the leading end of one liner roll. Accordingly, the liner of one roll can automatically be joined to the running liner of the other roll without making any ~epP Of the operation.
Thus, the rubber-coated material of desired length can be wound up.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. l is a front view showing an embodiment of the invention;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same;
Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in section of an . .
extruder;
Fig. 4 is an enlarged front view partly in sec-tion and showing a pull roll assembly;
Fig. 5 is an enlarged front view of a supply adjusting assembly;
Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the same;
Fig. 7 is an enlarged side elevation of a traverse assembly;
Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of a take-up assembly;
Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of a liner feeder;
Fig. 10 is an enlarged front view of the same;
Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a line control system; and Fig. 12 is a block diagram of a control system for the extruder.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
An embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.
Figs. 1 and 2 show a coating apparatus of the invention in its ':. '.' . . ' . . : ' .`
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~0;~3453 entirety. The apparatus is adapted to coat a suitable number of cords, e.g., one cord 1 (see Fig. 3), with a raw rubber material (see Fig. 3). The apparatus comprises a cord feeder 3 for sending out the cord 1 in a downstream direction, an extruder 5 for coating the cord 1 from the feeder 3 with the raw rubber material 2 to produce a rubber-coated material 4 (see Fig. 3), a pull roll assembly 6 for pulling the coated material 4 toward the downstream direction against the internal rubber pressure of the extruder 5, a take-up assembly 8 for winding up the coated material 4 from the pull roll assembly 6 on a take-up drum 7, a supply adjusting assembly 9 disposed between the take-up assembly 8 and the pull roll assembly 6 for adjusting the speed of winding of the coated material 4 in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up coated material, and a liner feeder 11 for supplying a liner lO to the take-up assembly 8 to interpose the liner between the adjacent windings of the coated material 4 on the drum 7.
The cord feeder 3, the extruder 5 and the pull roll assembly 6 are mounted on a carrier 13 having casters 12 and are movable.
The cord feeder 3 comprises a base frame 14 provided upright on the carrier 13, a motor (d.c. servomotor) 15 mounted on the base frame 14, and a shaft 17 connected to the drive shaft of the motor 15 by a helical coupling ]6. A bobbin 18 having the cord 1 wound there-around is attached to the shaft 17. The bobbin 18 comprises an unillustrated paper tube fitted around the shaft 17 and having the cord 1 wound thereon. More specifically, the paper tube with the cord 1 wound thereon is fitted around the shaft 17, and air is ,:
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injected into the shaft 17, expanding an expandable member within the shaft 17 to project the member from the shaft 17 through a slit therein and thereby firmly attach the paper tube to the shaft.
The base frame 14 is provided with a tension sensor 19. The cord 1 drawn out from the bobbin 18 passes through a cord guide , , .
member 20 and then through the tension sensor 19, by which the tension on the cord 1 is measured. The tension sensor 19 is, for example, a tensiometer. The tensiometer comprises a pair of guide rollers and a sensor roller and measures tension with an image sensor.
As shown in Fig. 3, the extruder 5 has a cross head 22. It is a small-sized extruder having a screw diameter of at least 20 mm and is adapted to produce extrudates free of spew. The head 22 comprises a main portion 23, and a flow guide 24 and a die 25 provided inside the main portion 23. The cord 1 is inserted through an axial bore of the flow guide 24 and the hole of the die 25 in alignment therewith. The raw rubber material 2 is forced into a cavity 28 from a direction perpendicular to the axis of the cord 1 by the rotation of the screw (not shown) which is rotated by a motor 33 such as an a.c. servomotor. The cord 1 is coated with the extruded rubber material to make the rubber-coated material 4, which is forced out from the extruder 5.
The thickness of the rubber coating varies with the internal rubber pressure of the head (i.e., the number of revolutions of the screw) and the speed of travel of the material through the cross head. To obtain the extruda-te of specified shape, therefore, there . . . .
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;~0;33~53 is a need to establish the abovementioned relationship and determine the internal pressure of the head. Accordingly, the pressure is detected for the control of the speed of rotation of the screw in order to maintain the pressure at a predetermined value. Since the internal head pressure varies more rapidly when producing extrudates free from spew than when allowing spewing, it is necessary to use, for example, an a.c. servomotor which permits effective control of the speed of rotation of the extruder. Furthermore, the size of the extruder, i.e., the diameter of the screw, must be at least 20 mm so that the rubber material can be fully plasticized at the rotational speed of the screw which provides the predetermined head pressure.
As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the extruder 5 has a body 35 which is supported by upright legs 34 on the carrier 13, and the motor 33 is mounted on the top of the body 35. The body 35 has the crosshead 22.
A d.c. servomotor or d.c. motor may be used as the motor 33.
The rubber-coated material 4 formed in the extruder 5 is pulled toward the downstream direction by the pull roll assembly 6, which comprises upper and lower rolls 36, 37 and a motor 38 for rotating these rolls 36, 37. The upper and lower rolls 36, 37 draw the cord 1 out against the internal rubber pressure of the head 22 by rotating with the coated material 4 wound therearound. With reference to Fig.
4, the upper and lower rolls 36, 37 are rotatably supported by a roll holder 40 mounted on a base frame 39 provided upright on the carrier 13. The motor 38 is attached to a motor holder 41 mounted on the base frame 39 flnd has a drive shaft 38a which is connected to the shaft 43 of the upper roll 36 by a coupling 42. The shaft 43 carries : .
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a pulley 44. The shaft 44 of the lower roll 37 also carries like pulley 46. Belts 47 are reeved around the pulleys 44, 46.
Accordingly, the motor 38, when driven, rotates the upper and lower rolls 36, 37.
The axis of the upper roll 36 extends perpendicular to the axis of the coated material 4, while the axis of the lower roller 37 is slightly displaced in a horizontal plane from the axis of the upper roll 36. This prevents the cords 1 from lapping over themselves even if wound around the rolls several turns. The line speed is dependent on the surface speed of the upper and lower rolls 36, 37.
The take-up assembly 8, the supply adjusting assembly 9 and the liner feeder 11 are mounted on a base 48. The supply adjusting assembly 9, which adjusts the winding speed to the line speed of several hundreds of millimeters per minute, comprises a roller holder 49 extending upright from the base 48, an upper roller 50 rotatably supported by the upper end of the holder 49, and a slide roller supported by the holder 49 and movable upward and downward as seen in Figs. 5 and 6. The coated material 4 from the pull roll assembly 6 is reeved around the rollers 50, 51 as fitted in grooves 50a, 51a thereof, and the winding speed of the take-up drum 7 is controlled by shifting the slide roller 51 vertically. The slide roller 51 moves upward or downward by being guided by rollers 53 which move upward or downward along guide members 52 on the front side of the holder 49.
Although the stroke length of the roller 51 is several tens of centimeters, the assembly 9 so functions that the stroke length is increased several times since the material 4 is reeved around the . .
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rollers 50, 51 several turns. As a result, the winding speed can be fully controllable in accordance with the variation in the diameter of the winding on the take-up drum 7 and the variation in the line speed even if the speed is several hundreds of meters. More specifically stated with reference to the present embodiment, the maximum speed of the rubber-coated material is 200 m/min, and the variation in the winding speed at the adjusting assembly is 1/10 of the value. The winding speed is so adjusted as to reduce the speed variation to zero upon detecting the variation.
A traverse assembly 54 is provided at the upper end of the holder 49 of the supply adjusting assembly 9. The coated material 4 is supplied to the take-up drum 7 while being traversed by the assembly 54 over the entire width of the roll. The traverse assembly 54 comprises a pulley 55 for guiding the travel of the coated material 4, a support 56 for rotatably supporting the pulley 55, a bar 57 for holding the support 56, and a linear motor 58 for reciprocatingly moving the holding bar 57 in directions perpendicular to the direction of travel of the coated material 4. The reciprocating movement of the holding bar 57 reciprocatingly moves the pulley 55 in the directions perpendicular to the direction of travel of the coated material 4 and traverses the material 4 within the width of the liner 10 to increase the length of the material 4 to be rolled up and prevent the resulting roll from collapsing. The pulley 55 serves also to measure the length of the material 4.
Next with reference to Fig. 8, the take-up assembly 8 comprises a base 59, a drum holder 60 provided upright on the base 59, the .
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.:, i~O;~3~53 take-up drum 7 rotatably supported by the holder 60, etc.
The holder 60 comprises a front holder portion 60a for supporting the front portion of the drum 7, and a rear holder portion 60b for supporting the rear portion of the drum 7. Shaft members 61, 62 are fixedly inserted in the respective ends of the body 63 of -the drum 7 for rotatably supporting the drum 7. The shaft members 61, 62 are reciprocatingly movable axially thereof as indicated by arrows by means of cylinder mechanisms 64, 65, respectively. The drum 7 is removably supported by the holder 60.
The base 59 is mounted by interposed members 67 on guide members 66, 66 mounted on the base 48 and is connected by a connector 69 to a piston rod 68a of a cylinder mechanism 68 disposed under the base 48.
The base 59 is reciprocatingly movable along the guide members 66, 66 in directions perpendicular to the direction of travel of the coated material 4 by the piston rod 68a of the cylinder mechanism 68.
Indicated at 70 is a motor for rotating the shaft members 61, 62 to rotate the drum 7. The speed of the drum 7 is dependent on the line speed and on the s-troke of the supply adjusting assembly 9.
With reference to Figs. l, 2 and 9, the liner feeder 11 comprises a support 71 provided upright on the base 48, guide rollers 72, 73 rotatably supported by the support 71, shaft members 75, 75' rotatably supporting a pair of liner rolls 74, 74', respectively, etc. When ~running liner 10 of one of the rolls, 74, comes to run . , short of during operation, the leading end of the liner 10' of the other roll 74' is adhered to the liner 10 of the roll 74 by a liner joining device 76 mounted on the support 71.
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;~03;~453 As shown in Figs. 2, 9 and 10, the liner joining device 76 comprises two opposed pressing assemblies 77, 77' each in the form of a cylinder mechanism, and adhering rollers 78, 78' attached to the .piston rods 77a of the pressing assemblies 77, 77', respectively.
The opposed rollers 78, 78' are reciprocatingly movable between the solid-line position and the phantom-line position as illustrated by the operation of the pressing assemblies 77, 77'. In the phantom-line position, the opposed rollers 78, 78' are in pressing contac-t with each other to join the liners 10, 10' by adhesion. The pressing assemblies 77, 77' are provided with holding assemblies 83, 83', respectively, for holding the liner leading ends of the rolls 74, 74' releasably. The holding assembly 83 comprises a cylinder mechanism 84 having a piston rod 84a reciprocatingly movable vertically, and a bearing member 85 for the forward end of the piston rod 84a to bear on. The holding assembly 85 holds the leading end of one liner of the rolls, 74, between the forward end of the piston rod 84a and the bearing member 85. Like the holding assembly 83, the holding assembly 83' comprises a cylinder mechanism 84' and a bearing member 85'. Indicated at 86 in Fig. 10 are sensors for detecting the diameter of the roll 74 of liner to be supplied.
When the roll diameter sensors 8fi detect the approach of the rear end of the running liner 10 (on the left-hand side in Fig. 10) being paid off from the roll 74 on the shaft member 75, the rollers 78, 78' move toward each other into contact with each other as illustrated in phantom lines to adhere and join the leading end of the liner 10' of the other roll 74' to the liner 10 being sent out.
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Z0~3453 In this case, the liner 10' not yet sent out has its leading end held by the holding assembly 83' as illustrated on the right-hand side of Fig. 10, so that if the leading end is released upon completion of advance of the adhering rollers 78, 78', the two liners 10, 10' pass as fitted together through the nip of the pair of rollers 78, 78', whereby the two liners can be adhered to each other effectively. Further when the liner 10 of the roll 74 on the shaft member 75 has been sent out, the pressing assemblies 77, 77' are operated to return the rollers 78, 78' to the standby position indicated in solid lines, a new roll 74 of liner is set on the shaft member 75, and the leading end of the liner thereof is held by the holding assembly 83. The liner 10 can then be supplied continuously without any interruption in the same manner as above.
The liner 10' of the roll 74' has an adhesive or adhesive tape applied to a portion m close to its leading end and opposed to the liner 10 of the roll 74 for the adhesion of the liners 10, 10' with the adhesive or tape. Accordingly, when the rear end of the first liner roll 74 is about to be paid off during the supply by the liner feeder 11, the liner 10' of the adjacent roll 74' is joined to the liner 10 during operation for continued operation.
More specifically, when the rear end of the liner lO approaches during the supply, the sensors 86 detect the reduction of the roll diameter, whereupon the pair of rollers 78, 78' move into contact with each other, whereby the liner lO' held by the holding assembly 83' is automatically adhered and joined to the line 10 during the operation.
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' ,` ., ~ " ~ ' '; ' . ~. ' The liner is a strip of paper, cloth, plastics film, thin metal sheet or the like, and has a width of about 100 mm for use in the present embodiment. Indicated at 81 in Fig. 9 is a powder brake, and at 82 a rotary joint.
A description will be given of the process for coating the cord 1 with the raw rubber material 2 by the coating apparatus having the above construction.
First, the rubber material 2 is heated by a temperature controller 79 (see Fig. 2) and filled into the body 35 of the extruder 5. The cord 1 is inserted through the crosshead 22 of the extruder 5, the rubber material 2 in the head 22 is heated to a suitable temperature, the cord 1 is further wound around the upper and lower rolls 36, 37 of the pull roll assembly 6 and passed through the supply adjusting assembly 9 and the traverse assembly 54 and the leading end of the cord is wound on the drum 7 of the take-up assembly 8 in preparation for a winding-up operation.
Next, the cord 1 is set to predetermined tension for paying off using a setting unit 91 of the line control system 90 shown in Fig.
11.
The interior of the head 22 is then set to a predetermined rubber pressure using a head pressure setting unit 96 of the extruder control system 95 shown in Fig. 12.
The pull roll assembly 6 and the take-up assembly 8 are then driven to travel the cord 1, and the extruder 5 is subsequently initiated into operation. Upon the internal rubber pressure of the head 22 building up to about 90% of the set value, the control "~ .
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In the line control system shown in Fig. 11, the tension determined by the setting unit 91 and the tension measured by the tsnsion sensor 19 are compared to obtain a signal. The control system 90 further checks the current line speed and gives a speed command and torque command to the motor 15 connected to the bobbin 18 to control the tension on the cord to be sent out. In other words, a regenerative braking force is applied to the cord by the d.c.
servomotor 15, that is, a torque opposite to the direction of rotation is produced for braking to obtain optimum tension. In Fig.
11, the pull roll rotating motor 38 and the take-up drum rotating motor 70 are controlled by detecting the position of the slide roll 51 of the supply adjusting assembly 9 and the line speed setting to adjust the winding speed according to the variation in the line speed and the variation in the wound-up roll. Indica-ted 92 is a position sensor for the slide roll 51 of the adjusting assembly 9.
The extruder control system 95 shown in Fig. 12 controls the extruder 5 independently of the line control. The internal rubber pressure of the crosshead 22 needs to be altered since the optimum value of the pressure varies with the characteristics of the cord 1, i.e., the material (such as nylon, aramid fiber, steel or thc like), size, shape and structure of the cord 1. The control system 95 therefore has a head pressure setting unit 96. The speed of rotation of the screw must be different for starting the extruder and the manual operation thereof, so that the control system 95 has a screw speed setting unit 97. For manual operation, the screw of the '~
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' ;~033453 extruder 5 only rotates according to the speed setting. For the pressure control, the system gives a rotation command on compairing the signal from a pressure sensor 98 with the setting signal so that the extruder 5 can be maintained at a constant pressure at all times.
The line speed is controlled by the line control system 90, and the extruder 5 by the control system 95 to prepare the rubber-coated material 4.
When the coated material 4 is wound up on the take-up drum 7, the liner 10 is supplied to the drum 7 by the liner feeder 11 to interpose the liner 10 between opposed upper and lower portions of the coated material 4. The liner 10 is about 100 mm in width as already mentioned, while the coated material 4 is less than 1 mm to several tens of millimeters in width. Accordingly, the coated material 4 is traversed by the traversing assembly 54 within the range of width of the liner 10. If wound up on the drum 7 without traversing, the coated material 4 would be wound up on the drum locally concentrically, rendering the resulting roll liable to collapse.
Although one cord is used for the above embodiment, several cords are of course usable as desired. While preferred coated materials 4 are in the range of one to 30 in the number of cords 1 and about 0.8 mm to about 30 mm in width, tho~e comprising a larger number of cords and having a larger width can of course be prepared.
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Claims (6)
1. An apparatus for coating a suitable number of cords with a raw rubber material, characterized in that the apparatus comprises:
? a cord feeder for sending out one cord or more the cords in a downstream direction, ? an extruder for coating one cord or more with the raw rubber material to prepare a rubber-coated material while the cord sent out from the cord feeder are traveling in the downstream direction, ? a take-up assembly for winding up the rubber-coated material on a take-up drum, ? a supply adjusting assembly for adjusting the winding speed of the take-up assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material, and ? a liner feeder for supplying a liner to the take-up assembly during the winding of the rubber-coated material on the take-up drum of the take-up assembly.
? a cord feeder for sending out one cord or more the cords in a downstream direction, ? an extruder for coating one cord or more with the raw rubber material to prepare a rubber-coated material while the cord sent out from the cord feeder are traveling in the downstream direction, ? a take-up assembly for winding up the rubber-coated material on a take-up drum, ? a supply adjusting assembly for adjusting the winding speed of the take-up assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material, and ? a liner feeder for supplying a liner to the take-up assembly during the winding of the rubber-coated material on the take-up drum of the take-up assembly.
2. An apparatus for coating a suitable number of cords with a raw rubber material, the apparatus being characterized in that the apparatus comprises:
? a cord feeder for sending out one cord or more in a downstream direction as drawn out from a bobbin, ? a small-sized extruder having the interior of its extruder head held at an optimum rubber pressure in accordance with the characteristics of the cord for coating the cord with the raw rubber material to prepare a rubber-coated material while the cord sent out from the cord feeder are traveling in the downstream direction, ? a pull roll assembly for pulling the resulting rubber-coated material in the downstream direction, ? a take-up assembly disposed downstream from the pull roll assembly for winding up on a take-up drum the rubber-coated material from the pull roll assembly, ? a supply adjusting assembly disposed between the take-up assembly and the pull roll assembly for adjusting the winding speed of the take-up assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material, and ? a liner feeder for supplying a liner to the take-up assembly during the winding of the rubber-coated material on the drum of the take-up assembly to interpose the liner between the opposed upper and lower coated material on the drum and prevent the material portions from adhering to each other.
? a cord feeder for sending out one cord or more in a downstream direction as drawn out from a bobbin, ? a small-sized extruder having the interior of its extruder head held at an optimum rubber pressure in accordance with the characteristics of the cord for coating the cord with the raw rubber material to prepare a rubber-coated material while the cord sent out from the cord feeder are traveling in the downstream direction, ? a pull roll assembly for pulling the resulting rubber-coated material in the downstream direction, ? a take-up assembly disposed downstream from the pull roll assembly for winding up on a take-up drum the rubber-coated material from the pull roll assembly, ? a supply adjusting assembly disposed between the take-up assembly and the pull roll assembly for adjusting the winding speed of the take-up assembly in accordance with the line speed and the variation in the diameter of the wound-up material, and ? a liner feeder for supplying a liner to the take-up assembly during the winding of the rubber-coated material on the drum of the take-up assembly to interpose the liner between the opposed upper and lower coated material on the drum and prevent the material portions from adhering to each other.
3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 or 2 which comprises a traverse assembly for reciprocatingly moving the rubber-coated material in directions approximately perpendicular to the direc-tion of travel of the coated material while the coated material is being wound up on the take-up drum.
4. An apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein the pull roll assembly comprises a pair of upper and lower rolls having their axes positioned in separate horizontal planes, the axes of the respective rolls being displaced from each other by a small angle.
5. An apparatus for coating a suitable number of cords with a raw rubber material, the apparatus being characterized in that the apparatus comprises:
? a crosshead having a cavity for the raw rubber material to be forced thereinto from a direction perpendicular to the axis of the cord by the rotation of a screw having a diameter of at least 20 mm, ? a sensor for detecting the internal rubber pressure of the crosshead, ? a control system for determining the number of revolutions of the screw based on the detection signal of the sensor to hold the interior of the crosshead at an optimum rubber pressure in accordance with the characteristics of the cords, and ? a servomotor or like motor for rotating the screw in response to a rotation command from the control system.
? a crosshead having a cavity for the raw rubber material to be forced thereinto from a direction perpendicular to the axis of the cord by the rotation of a screw having a diameter of at least 20 mm, ? a sensor for detecting the internal rubber pressure of the crosshead, ? a control system for determining the number of revolutions of the screw based on the detection signal of the sensor to hold the interior of the crosshead at an optimum rubber pressure in accordance with the characteristics of the cords, and ? a servomotor or like motor for rotating the screw in response to a rotation command from the control system.
6. A liner joining device characterized in that the device comprises:
? a pair of adhering rollers respectively arranged in the vicinity of a pair of rolls of liner removably mounted on a holder, ? a pair of holding assemblies for releasably holding the respective rolls each at the leading end portion of the liner, and ? pressing assemblies for moving the rollers toward each other into contact with each other and causing the rollers to adhere the leading end of one liner held by one of the holding assemblies with the other running liner when the other running liner approaches its rear end.
? a pair of adhering rollers respectively arranged in the vicinity of a pair of rolls of liner removably mounted on a holder, ? a pair of holding assemblies for releasably holding the respective rolls each at the leading end portion of the liner, and ? pressing assemblies for moving the rollers toward each other into contact with each other and causing the rollers to adhere the leading end of one liner held by one of the holding assemblies with the other running liner when the other running liner approaches its rear end.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002033453A CA2033453A1 (en) | 1990-12-31 | 1990-12-31 | Apparatus for rubber coating of cords |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002033453A CA2033453A1 (en) | 1990-12-31 | 1990-12-31 | Apparatus for rubber coating of cords |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2033453A1 true CA2033453A1 (en) | 1992-07-01 |
Family
ID=4146738
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002033453A Abandoned CA2033453A1 (en) | 1990-12-31 | 1990-12-31 | Apparatus for rubber coating of cords |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2033453A1 (en) |
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN111936292A (en) * | 2018-04-09 | 2020-11-13 | 住友橡胶工业株式会社 | Rubber-coated cord manufacturing device and rubber-coated cord manufacturing method |
| CN113183440A (en) * | 2021-04-28 | 2021-07-30 | 重庆科技学院 | Butyl rubber vibration damping belt production line and tension control method |
-
1990
- 1990-12-31 CA CA002033453A patent/CA2033453A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN111936292A (en) * | 2018-04-09 | 2020-11-13 | 住友橡胶工业株式会社 | Rubber-coated cord manufacturing device and rubber-coated cord manufacturing method |
| CN113183440A (en) * | 2021-04-28 | 2021-07-30 | 重庆科技学院 | Butyl rubber vibration damping belt production line and tension control method |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
| FZDE | Discontinued |