GB1571624A - Apparatus for producing composite material sheets - Google Patents

Description

(54) APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING COMPOSITE MATERIAL SHEETS (71) We, CONTINENTAL GUMMI-WERKE AKTIENGEsELLscHAFr of Continental-Haus Postfach 169, 3000 Hannover, Federal Republic of Germany; a German body corporate do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- The present invention relates to apparatus for producing composite material sheets from rubber or plastics sheet materials for building conveyor belt cores or covers having means for superposing two or more sheets provided between sheet winding off and sheet winding on stations.

It is frequent practice in the rubber and plastics sheet material processing industry to continuously produce laminated materials from individual sheets of different or identical materials in several plies superposed one on the other. Conventional manufacturing devices in the basic arrangement are provided with several winding off stations having storage drums for the starting material sheets, a device, for example, in the form of a multiple roller calender for superposing two or more sheets, and one or more winding on stations for collecting the finished sheets in series one after the other.According to intended use quality requirements and other stated conditions, additional devices may be provided for winding on and winding off intermediate layers which prevents the sheets from sticking together for transverse cutting and also trimming of the sheet edges, and for accurately guiding the moving sheets in the right direction. These additional devices are provided with suitable drive and brake means. The processing stations, which extend one after the other must be sufficiently spaced so as to allow control checks and subsequent corrections to be made, and require considerable floor space, above all in installations having a high material throughput and a correspondingly large storage capacity in the winding on stations.The large spacing in the longitudinal direction makes them difficult to oversee and the required synchronous coupling of the individual units poses a problem.

Moreover, fixed process schedules must be strictly adhered to and more complicated manufacturing changes are possible only with difficulty.

It is an object of the present invention to accommodate such manufacturing equipment on substantially smaller floor space thereby maintaining or even increasing the level of efficiency and capacity and, at the same time, to make it possible to effect modifications and alterations in the plant.

According to the present invention there is provided an apparatus for producing composite material sheets from rubber or plastics sheet materials for building conveyor belt cores or covers, having means for superposing two or more sheets provided between a plurality of sheet winding off stations and one or more sheet winding on stations, in which the sheet winding off stations are located on a substantially horizontal plane above the sheet winding on station(s); Preferably, the sheet superposing means is located below the plane of the winding off stations substantially on the same level with the winding on station(s). Desirably, the winding off and winding on stations are provided on both sides of the sheet superposing means.

The present invention departs completely from the conventional idea by having a tiered or storey-wise arrangement of the functionally different winding stations, and results in a closely-packed, space-saving construction which, despite a spatially narrow association of the essential units relative to one another, permits the necessary maintaining of the guide paths and the desired general view for monitoring and control ofthe process. Relative to comparable devices the saving in space is substantially half which, apart from immediate advantages in construction, also affects the operation of the device as far as the operating and feeding of the device is simplified and transporting is reduced.Since the material sheets, instead of extending in a straight line from one end of the apparatus to the other, the sheets describe a curve which changes direction in the sheet superposing device, and therefore the apparatus in accordance with the invention, whilst maintaining optimal economic aspects, can be incorporated with reduced space requirements in the entire operation. On a larger scale, a most preferred embodiment of the invention comprises division of the plant whereby winding stations are provided on both sides of a single common device for superposing the sheets.

The use of the device of the invention is in the production of elastomeric structural components for fabric and steel wire reinforced conveyor belts. For example, heavy duty conveyor belts, so-called steel wire belts, which, for absorbing the driving forces, contain steel wires embedded in the core which extend solely in the longitudinal direction and parallel to one another are often basically constructed by covering the steel wires with plies of tightly stretched rubber sheets comprising an adhesive core and abrasion-resistant surface layer mixtures.

Although preparation of such multi-ply, ready-for-use, surface layer sheets for conveyor belts of conventional dimension already require the manufacturing plant to be of high efficiency and produce goods of high quality, additional problems occur when it concerns belts of more than the usual width. This includes all belts, the width of which may be kept within the width dimensions of the available vulcanizing press but the elastomeric starting material of which however, can no longer be produced in one operation using available extrusion presses or other moulding devices. The limiting value, depending upon the available operating devices, lies at about 2 m. In addition, the sheets have to be placed together using narrower width sections. In order to obtain better continuity the longitudinally extending butt joints in the individual plies have to be mutually offset.The apparatus in accordance with the invention is particularly suitable for solving the technical manufacturing problems connected therewith. It permits the accommodation of a plurality of winding stations having suitable cutting and guiding devices for the various and differently dimensioned raw material sheets in a relatively small space but having far reaching possibilities for changing and adapting to varying manufacturing schedules. The manufacture of rubberised fabric sheets for fabric-reinforced conveyor belts in optional lamination and dimensions is controllable in the same manner as that for pure rubber sheets as surface layer material for steel wire conveyor belts.The invention, moreover, also provides an additional more economical planning of the entire manufacturing process, in that for better uflilsation ofthe available vulcanizing presses, s blanks are basically made which are wider than usual and which are divided into the desired narrow belts when vulcanizing has finished (French Patent Specification 1318725).

Preferably continuous conveyors which collect the sheets are provided between the device for superposing the sheets on the one hand and the winding off and winding on stations on the other hand, thus ensuring tension-free guiding and straight edges of the sheets. Since the operation of the winding stations on the lower- floor by means of sheet lifting gear from above is very difficult if not impossible, it is advisable, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, to dispose vertically below the axle of each of the winding stations lifting cylinders which are fixedly mounted and which are provided with extendible connecting rods having abutments for receiving or picking up the sheets. With the use of such lifting cylinders, the entire sheet length can be lifted out without difficulty and temporarily deposited or, for further conveyance, be lowered onto trolleys.

The present invention will be further illustrated, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which the single Figure illustrates a side view of a device for the manufacture of conveyor belt covers whereby, for the sake of clarity, all details not necessary to understand the invention have been omitted.

The manufacturing device shown vertically staggered, is divided into a lower floor I and an upper floor II, symbolised by arrows at the right hand side of the drawing. A calender 4 for superposing the sheets is set up on the workshop floor 3 in the region of the lower floor and forms the connecting link and the transition between both floors. The calender 4 is shown in the drawing as a double roller; however such arrangement is not essential.

In the lower floor I there are located two axially movable winding on stations represented by winding on drums 1. They are either assembled directly on the floor 3 or suspended from the support structure. Three winding off stations represented by drums 2 are accommodated on the upper floor II.

As shown in the drawing, similar winding off stations 21 are provided on the same level on the other side of the calender 4, and it is within the scope of the invention to provide further winding on stations on the other side of the two-roller calender 4 on the lower floor I. The stations 1, 2 and 21 have associated therewith the usual driving and braking devices as well as additional devices for withdrawing and winding on intermediate sheets and for guiding the sheets in a straight line, as well as for separating and cutting the sheets. These means are not shown in the drawing.Transport to and from the calender 4 is taken care of by a conveyor belt 5 on the lower floor I and by conveyor belts 6 and 61 in the upper floor II. The conveyor belts each extend over the whole region of the associated winding stations and are driven synchronously with the calender 4 in the direction of the arrows V and VI. Below the winding on stations 1, there are provided lifting cylinders 7 inserted into the workshop floor 3. The extendible piston rods support tightly fitting coupling means 17 for engaging the winding drums. By means of a motor driven means, not shown, the winding drums 1 can be raised and moved from the plant laterally in the axial direction.

The sheet portions 12 and 121 which are drawn off the winding off drums 2 and 21 on the upper floor II are received by the conveyor belts 6 and 61 and transported to calender 4 for formation of layers side by side and one upon the other. The unification to form a ready-to-process cohesive sheet II is achieved by passing the layers between the rollers. The sheet 11 runs over reversing rollers 8 onto the conveyor belt 5 on the lower floor I and, after passing a further reversing roller 9, is drawn onto one of the two winding on drums 1. When one drum 1 is fully wound, the sheet 11 is severed by a cutting blade 10 in a transverse direction in order to be fed subsequently to a second drum 1. The full drum may then be lifted out of its mountings by means of the associated lifting cylinder 7, run out laterally from the plant and replaced by an empty drum.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. An apparatus for producing composite material sheets from rubber or plastics sheet materials for building conveyor belt cores or covers having means for superposing two or more sheets provided between a plurality of sheet winding off stations and one or more sheet winding on stations, in which the sheet winding off stations are located on a substantially horizontal plane above the sheet winding on station(s).

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the means for superposing two or more sheets is disposed below the plane of the winding off stations and substantially at the same level as the winding on station(s).

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the winding off and winding on stations are provided on both sides of the means for superposing the sheets.

4. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 in which continuous conveyors for collecting the material sheets are provided between the means for superposing the sheets and the winding off and winding on stations.

5. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the winding on station(s) each have lifting cylinders fixedly mounted with vertical spacing below the axes of each winding on station, the cylinders being provided with drivable piston rods for engaging the material sheets.

6. An apparatus for producing composite material sheets, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (6)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. belt 5 on the lower floor I and by conveyor belts 6 and 61 in the upper floor II. The conveyor belts each extend over the whole region of the associated winding stations and are driven synchronously with the calender 4 in the direction of the arrows V and VI. Below the winding on stations 1, there are provided lifting cylinders 7 inserted into the workshop floor 3. The extendible piston rods support tightly fitting coupling means 17 for engaging the winding drums. By means of a motor driven means, not shown, the winding drums

1 can be raised and moved from the plant laterally in the axial direction.

The sheet portions 12 and 121 which are drawn off the winding off drums 2 and 21 on the upper floor II are received by the conveyor belts 6 and 61 and transported to calender 4 for formation of layers side by side and one upon the other. The unification to form a ready-to-process cohesive sheet II is achieved by passing the layers between the rollers. The sheet 11 runs over reversing rollers 8 onto the conveyor belt 5 on the lower floor I and, after passing a further reversing roller 9, is drawn onto one of the two winding on drums 1. When one drum 1 is fully wound, the sheet 11 is severed by a cutting blade 10 in a transverse direction in order to be fed subsequently to a second drum 1. The full drum may then be lifted out of its mountings by means of the associated lifting cylinder 7, run out laterally from the plant and replaced by an empty drum.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. An apparatus for producing composite material sheets from rubber or plastics sheet materials for building conveyor belt cores or covers having means for superposing two or more sheets provided between a plurality of sheet winding off stations and one or more sheet winding on stations, in which the sheet winding off stations are located on a substantially horizontal plane above the sheet winding on station(s).

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the means for superposing two or more sheets is disposed below the plane of the winding off stations and substantially at the same level as the winding on station(s).

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the winding off and winding on stations are provided on both sides of the means for superposing the sheets.

4. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 in which continuous conveyors for collecting the material sheets are provided between the means for superposing the sheets and the winding off and winding on stations.

5. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the winding on station(s) each have lifting cylinders fixedly mounted with vertical spacing below the axes of each winding on station, the cylinders being provided with drivable piston rods for engaging the material sheets.

6. An apparatus for producing composite material sheets, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.