GB2170831A

GB2170831A - Paper guide finger mounting

Info

Publication number: GB2170831A
Application number: GB08503448A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Anthony John Sissons; Reginald Robert Green
Original assignee: Interfic Engineering Ltd
Current assignee: Interfic Engineering Ltd
Priority date: 1985-02-11
Filing date: 1985-02-11
Publication date: 1986-08-13
Also published as: GB8503448D0

Abstract

A mounting, for holding a paper guide finger (F) serving to strip corrugated paper from one of a pair of corrugated rolls in a corrugating machine, has a carrier (7) for mounting in the machine along and adjacent to the rolls, the carrier having a transverse linear guideway (9) receiving a slidable finger holder (10-13), and resilient loading means (18) acting on the finger holder to urge it towards the rolls to an extent limited by a stop (16, 17). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Paper guide finger mounting This invention relates to the mounting of paper guide fingers in working position adjacent to a corrugating roll of a paper corrugating machine.

The object of the invention is to provide a mounting having advantages in assembly, setting up, and operation which will be apparent from the following description.

According to the present invention, a paper guide finger mounting, for use in a paper corrugating machine having a pair of coacting corrugating rolls, comprises a carrier member having a linear guideway and adapted for securing in the machine with said guideway extending perpendicular to the axial direction of the rolls, a paper guide finger holder slidably engaged in the guideway, a resilient loading means acting between the carrier member and the holder to urge the holder along the guideway, and stop means acting between the carrier member and the holder to limit extent of movement of the holder under the action of said loading means.

The holder may comprise a releasable clamp for the paper guide finger.

The guideway may be a cylindrical bore in the carrier member, with the holder including a cylindrical plunger axially slidable in said bore.

For locating the plunger against rotation in the bore, whilst permitting the axial sliding thereof, the carrier member and plunger may have a tenon and recess keying structure, e.g.

a longitudinal keying recess in the plunger and a keying screw on the carrier member engaging into that recess.

The resilient loading means may be a coiled compression spring positioned in the guideway and abutting the carrier member and the holder, and the stop means may be a threaded stem on the holder slidably disposed through a portion of the carrier member and carrying lock nut means.

Usually, the carrier member will be adapted to be secured to an existing finger bar of the paper corrugating machine in place of a conventional paper guide finger mounting. Each conventional mounting would be replaced by a mounting of the invention whereby the finger bar would carry a plurality of mountings of the invention spaced longitudinally therealong.

However, other means of securing the carrier in the machine can be provided. In particular, an elongate carrier member could be provided having a plurality of longitudinally spaced guideways each with its respective paper guide finger holder, resilient loading means and stop means, said carrier member being secured in the machine in place of the finger bar.

In order for the carrier member to be secured to an existing finger bar, it is preferred that the carrier member has a shoulder adapted to abut a longitudinal shoulder in the finger bar and a threaded bore for alignment with a screw-receiving bore in the finger bar when said shoulders abut.

In order that the nature of the invention may be readily ascertained, an embodiment of a paper guide finger mounting in accordance therewith is hereinafter particularly described with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a schematic end elevation to show the main corrugating and pressure rollers of a machine for producing corrugated paper; Fig. 2 is an end view, partially in elevation and partially in cross-section, of a finger mounting assembly; Fig. 3 is an elevation viewed in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a cross-section taken on the line A-A of Fig. 2.

The machine, of which part is shown in Figure 1, operates to produce a two layer assembly of paper sheets. One of the paper sheets is transversely corrugated and the crests of the corrugations are coated with adhesive. Then the second sheet, of plain paper, is brought into contact with the adhesivecoated face of the first sheet and the two are passed through the nip between a lower corrugating roll and a pressure roll.

The first sheet, to be corrugated, is fed in at St, and the second, plain, paper sheet is fed in at 9. The first sheet is carried partially about a top corrugating roll 1 and passes into the nip, at 2, between the top roll and a bottom corrugating roll 3. Both of the rolls 1 and 3 are axially grooved at circumferentiai intervals, and the crests and grooves of one roll interfit with the grooves and crests of the other roll, with the result that the paper sheet S' becomes transversely corrugated as it passes between the rolls 1 and 3. It is then necessary to strip the corrugated sheet S off the top roll 1, and for this purpose there is provided a series of paper guide fingers 4.

There is thus a set of fingers F which are all parallel and equally spaced from each other.

The upper end of each finger is tapered so as to engage substantially tangentially into the grooves of the top roll 1 slightly downstream of the nip between the two rolls 1 and 3. The fingers thus cause the corrugated sheet to be stripped away from the top roll 1 and follow round the circumference of the bottom roll 3.

The fingers are concentric with the bottom roll 3 and are arranged at a small radial spacing therefrom, just sufficient for passage of the corrugated sheet.

The corrugated sheet, during its passage about the circumference of the bottom roll 3, is coated on its corrugation crests with adhesive at a station AC. The coating operation is conventional in the art and does not form part of the invention, and will not be described in detail.

The coated sheet is then guided into the nip 4-between the bottom roll 3 and a pressure roll 5. The second plain sheet 9 is fed partially about the circumference of the pressure roll, and into the nip 4 where it is pressed firmly into engagement with the adhesive coated face of the first sheet SI. The composite two layer sheet SrS2 then emerges for collection, packaging etc.

The present invention is concerned essentially with the mounting and adjustment of the fingers F. The action of stripping the corrugated sheet from the grooves face of the top roll 1 subjects the tapered tip of the fingers to heavy wear. The fingers are conventionally made of brass, and an average life with prior art constructions of finger mounting has been of the order of 4-8 weeks, after which the fingers must be removed and replaced. It is important that the set of fingers shall be all correctly positioned in relation to each other and to the grooves of the top roller 1, i.e.

shall all be concentric with the top roll 1. It has been common practice in the art to set up the fingers initially with the aid of a jig incorporating a cylinder with a plain surface against which the fingers are abutted and then tightened into place on a support bar carried by the general frame structure of the machine.

Various forms of finger mounting are known in the art, e.g.: (i) securing all of the fingers rigidly, after positioning and adjustment, to the finger bar which can be tiltable as a whole, about its longitudinal axis, for shifting the tips of the fingers arcuately into and out of the working position; (ii) mounting such finger to the finger bar by an individual micrometer adjustment device for each finger; (iii) mounting each finger movably on the finger bar, but under resilient pressure from a plurality of ganged air bags; (iv) mounting each finger movable arcuately by floating linkage with respect to the finger bar and under resilient pressure from a respective spring.

It is desirable, for enhancing the working life of the fingers, that they shall be resiliently loaded into their working position. It is essential, for proper operation of the fingers, that they shall be maintained in a truly concentric condition with respect to the bottom roll 3, and thus that any movement of adjustment or play shall always be precisely radial with respect to the axis of the bottom roll. These two conditions have not be fulfilled by the prior art constructions, but are achieved by the improvement of the present invention.

Referring now to Figure 2 of the drawings, there is shown a finger bar 6 which is a rigid static portion of the general structure of the machine. The finger bar 6 includes a positioning shoulder 6a extending along its length.

A plurality of carrier members 7 are assembled at spaced intervals to the underside of the bar 6 by respective screws 8. A shallow recess is provided in the upper face of each carrier 7 to permit firm and accurate seating of the carrier against the underface of the finger bar 6. A corresponding shoulder is provided on the upper face of the carrier member 7, to abut against the shoulder 6a of the finger bar, and thus ensure precise positioning of the carrier member in the direction essentially tangential to the top roll 1.

Within the carrier there is provided a cylindrical guide bore 9. In bore 9 there is disposed a cylindrical plunger 10 which is a close sliding fit in the bore. At the protruding external end of the plunger 10 there is secured a bracket 11 carrying a clamping plate 12 which can be tightened onto the finger F by means of screws 13,13. The finger F is thus rigid with the plunger 10.

To prevent rotation of the plunger 10 in the bore 9, the plunger has a longitudinal keying recess 14 in which rides the plain upper end of a keying screw 15.

On the inner end of the plunger 5 is provided a threaded stem 16 carrying locking nuts 17,17 by which extent of movement of the plunger 10, and thus of the finger F, towards the bottom roll 2 can be adjusted and fixed.

A compression spring 18 is seated between the end of the plunger 10 and the adjacent end wall of the bore 9. The action of the spring is to urge the plunger 10, and thus also the finger F tangentially to the top roll 1.

The arrangement thus provides the following advantages: (i) each of the fingers F can be set in position by simple adjustment of the lock nuts 17, thus greatly increasing setting speed; (ii) each of the fingers F is individually resiliently loaded by its respective spring 18 into its working position and hence individually compensates for wear; (iii) the only movement which is permitted to the fingers F is strictly linear and radial to the bottom roll 3; (iv) if necessary, the movement available to each finger F can be subsequently adjusted by use of the lock nuts 17; (v) replacement of individual fingers is easy to carry out with certainty of accurate positioning.

(vi) the working life of the fingers is found to be increased, e.g. in an embodiment constructed in accordance with the invention the working life was increased to at least 13 weeks.

Claims

1. A paper guide finger mounting, for use in a paper corrugating machine having a pair of coacting corrugating rolls, comprising a carrier member having a linear guideway and adapted for securing in the machine with said guideway extending perpendicular to the axial direction of the rolls, a paper guide finger holder slidably engaged in the guideway, a resilient loading means acting between the carrier member and the holder to urge the holder along the guideway, and a stop means acting between the carrier member and the holder to limit extent of movement of the holder under the action of said loading means.

2. A paper guide finger mounting, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the holder comprises a releasable clamp for the paper guide finger.

3. A paper guide finger mounting, as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said guideway is a cylindrical bore in the carrier member, and the holder includes a cylindrical plunger axially slidable in said bore.

4. A paper guide finger mounting, as claimed in Claim 3, comprising a tenon and recess keying structure on the carrier member and plunger for locating the plunger against rotation in the bore whilst permitting axial sliding thereof.

5. A paper guide finger mounting, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the resilient loading means is a coiled compression spring positioned in the guide way to abut the carrier member and the holder.

6. A paper guide finger mounting, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the stop means is a threaded stem on the holder slidably disposed through a portion of the carrier member and carrying lock nut means.

7. A paper guide mounting as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims adapted to be secured to an existing finger bar in the machine to replace a conventional paper guide finger mounting.

8. A paper guide finger mounting, as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the carrier member has a longitudinal shoulder for abutting a longitudinal shoulder in a finger bar of the machine and a threaded bore for alignment with a screw-receiving bore in the finger bar when the said shoulders abut.

9. A paper guide mounting as claimed in Claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. A paper guide finger assembly, for use in a corrugating machine having a pair of coacting corrugating rolls, comprising a plurality of paper guide finger mountings as claimed in any one of the preceding claims spaced apart longitudinally with their guideways parallel, and a plurality of guide fingers each secured in a respective finger holder.

11. A paper guide finger assembly as claimed in Claim 10, wherein the said mountings are each rigidly secured to an elongate finger bar adapted to be secured in the machine longitudinally in the axial direction of the rolls.

12. A paper corrugating machine comprising a structure supporting a pair of coacting corrugating rolls and an assembly as claimed in Claim 10 or Claim 11 disposed such that the guideways extend perpendicularly to the axial direction of the rolls whereby the fingers remain concentric with the bottom roll upon sliding movement of the holder in the guideway.