US1309986A - Planograph co - Google Patents

Description

R. A. JONES.

SOAP PRESSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.8.1913. RENEWED APR. 29, 1916.

l ,809,986. Patented July 15, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET I.

THE COLUMBIA PLANQQRAPH C0" WASHINGTON, n. c

R. A. JONES.

SOAP PRESSING MACHINE. APPLICATlON FILED APR. 3. 1913- RENEWED APR 29. 1916. 1 ,809,986, Patented July 15, 1919.

5 SHEETSSHEET 2.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co-. WASHINGTON, D. c.

R. A. JONES.

SOAP PRESSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8, I913. RENEWED APR. 29,1916. 1,309,986.

Patented July 15, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3- THB coLUM BlA PLANOGRAPH co.. IVASHING'NN. D. C.

R. A. JONES.

SOAP PRESSING MACHINE.

APPUCATION FILED APR.8| I913- RENEWED APR. 29, I916. 1 ,3Q9,986 Patented July 15,1919.

5 SHEETS SHEET 4.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 50-. WASHINGTON, D. L-

A; JONES.

SOAP PRESSING MACHINE. I APPLICATION FILED APR. 8. I913. RENEWED APR. 29, I916.

5 SHEETSSHEET 5.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAi'H cp., WASHINGTON, n. c.

RUEL A. JONES, 0F COVINGTON, KENTUCKY.

SOAP-PRESSIN'G MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 15, 1919.

Application filed April 8, 1913, Serial No. 759,764. Renewed April 29, 1916. Serial No. 94,519.

To all whom. it may concern Be it known that I, Rent. A. J ONES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Covington, in the county of Kenton and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Soap-Pressing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

While the machine embodying this invention is not limited in its use to the pressing of soap, it was devised primarily for that purpose, and will be described as a soap pressing) machine.

ne of the steps in the manufacture of soap is the pressing of the soap into cakes. This is usually performed by dies which, as a general rule, are provided with means to apply to the surface of the soap letters or designs in relief or intaglio, as the case may be.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an automatic machine for doing this work, which shall be simple in construction and efficient in operation.

In order to more fully describe my said invention, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1, is a top plan view of a machine embodying one specific form of my inven-.

tion;

Fig. 2, a side elevation of the said machine partly in section, and with portions removed;

Fig. 3, an end elevation of the said ma chine with portions removed;

Fig. 4, a detail top plan view partly in section of a portion of the driving mechanism;

Fig. 5, a detail side elevation partly in section showing the feeding mechanism;

Fig. 6, a detail section on line 6 6 Fig. looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 7, a top plan view partly in section of the parts shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 8, a fragmentary detail top plan view showing the mechanism for holding th soap cakes within the carrier in the die pressing position;

Fig. 9, Fig. 8;

Fig. 10, a fragmentary detail top plan View partly in section of the carrier and associated parts, including the mechanism for imparting step-by-step movement to said carrier;

a detail section on line 9 9 Fig. 11, an enlarged detail View partly in section showing the diesin the act of coming together on a cake of soap; and,

Fig. 12, a perspective view of a cake of soap after being pressed.

Referring to the accompanyin drawings, 1 represents the main frame of the machine consisting of a metal casting preferably made heavy to reduce vibration, and 2 the main driving shaft journaled in frame 1 hanger 3 made fast to said frame. Shaft 2 is driven from any desired source of power through pulley 4 which acts also as a fly wheel. This pulley is rotatable on shaft 2 and constitutes the loose running member of a friction clutch comprising, among other parts, a clutch member 5 connected to said shaft to rotate therewith, but slidable longitudinally thereon by means of links 6, fork 7, connecting rod 8, and hand operated lever 9.

Power from shaft 2 is transmitted through a pair of miter gears 10 and 11, to a vertical shaft 12, and intermittent rotary motion is imparted from this shaft 12 to another vertical shaft 13, and thence through gears 14: and 15 to another vertical shaft 16, which latter shaft carries at its upper end a carrier 17, having a sleeved hub 18, which slips over the upper end of shaft 16, and is made fast thereto as shown. This carrier has three radial arms 20 (see Figs. 8 and 9), spaced equally about its hub, and all lying in the same horizontal plane, and in each of these arms is formed an opening 21 which passes vertically through the carrier. I

The intermittent motion of shaft 13 is effected through the medium of a Geneva clutch comprising a driver 22, and a follower 23, the driver 22 being made fast to shaft 12, and the follower fast to shaft 13. The follower 23 is provided with six slots 24:, spaced equally radially and adapted to be engaged successively by an upright stud or spindle 25 of the driver, so that each revolution of the shaft 12 imparts one-sixth of a revolution to the shaft 13. Gears 14: and 15, however, are so proportioned that for each step of the shaft 13, the shaft 16 will rotate one-third of a revolution.

The three steps to a revolution, of the carrier 17 correspond to three acts performed upon the soap for a given. cake. The first and in a its act is to deliver a blank of soap to the carrier; the second, is to die press this blank; and the third, is to expel the pressed cake from the carrier to a suitable conveyer which transports it away from. the machine.

Taking up the mechanisms for PBIfOlll'lring these several acts in the order named, reference will first be had :to the delivery or feeding mechanism. This mechanism in the case shown comprises, among other parts, a chute 26 made fast to an angle plate 27 secured to a bracket 28, which is in turn secured to the main frame of the machine as shown. In the particular case illustrated, it is assumed that the blanks of soap 29, fed to the machine, are cylindrical in form, which is the usual form employed when the finished cakes are convex top and bottom, as shown in Fig. 12', where 30 represents the present cake. In this case the blanks 29 are placed in the chute as shown, a portion of the chute being vertical, or substantially so,

so that the successive blanks will rest one upon the other. Adapted to travel across the lower end of the chute which has an open mouth, is a reciprocating blade or plate 31, which normally supports the soap blanks in the chute against gravity. Thls plate is made fast to the under side of a cross-head block 31 which is mounted to slide on a slotted arm 32, made fast to the chute as shown. Reciprocating motion is imparted to cross-head 31 through lever arms 33 and 34, which, receive their motion through a link or connecting rod 35, connected to a vertically reciprocating bar 36, which receives its motion through mechanism hereinafter more particularly described.

On each step of the carrier 17, one of the openings 21 thereof stops immediately beneath the mouth of the delivery chute, and immediately that this happens, the support ing plate 31 travels backward, therebyremoving its support from the soap blanks and allowing one of these to drop into said opening, but before the carrier takes up its rotation, this supporting plate passes forward between the lowermost soap blank and the next one in the tier, thereby supporting the blanks within the chute and leaving the one in the turn-table free to travel with said table. This operation is repeated at regular intervals on each one-third revolution of the carrier.

When delivered to the openings 21 of the carrier, the soap blanks rest for a time upon a platform comprising a plate 37 which follows the path of the travel of the soap cake around to the point 37 where the said platform terminates. (See Fig. 10). This platform is supported upon a suitable upright or bracket 38, made fast to the main frame of the machine.

The soap blank having been delivered to the carrier 17 as described, the said carrier takes up its step-by-step motion, and carries the blank around to the die pressing position where it again stops.

Passing next to the die pressing mechanism, this comprises, among other parts, two dies 39' and 40, made fast respectively totwovertically reciprocating plunger bars 36 and 41, mounted in suitable bearings secured to the machine frame as shown. These two dies move equally in opposite directions simultaneously so as to engage opposite sides of the soap blank as the latter is brought into the path of the dies by the carrier 17.

The required motion is imparted to plunger rods 36 and 41 from the main driving shaft 2 through the following mechanism (see Figs. 3 and 4) Made fast to the shaft 2, is a crank disk 42, having a crank pin 43 to which is connected a pitman 44, in which is mounted a yieldable plunger block 45, movable longitudinally in a slot in said pitman against the compression of a spring 46, the tension of which may be varied or regulated by screw 47 Plunger block 45 is connected by bolt 48 to one arm of a bellcrank lever 49, fulcrumed as at 50, on the frame of the machine as shown, said bolt passing through slot 51 in the arm of said lever and resting upon the upper end of an adjusting screw 51*. By adjusting this screw 51 the distance of bolt 48' from the fulcrum 50 may be varied so as to vary the throw of lever 49. For example, if the bolt 48 is slid toward the fulcrum 50, the throw or travel of the lever is increased, while if it is slid in the opposite direction the throw is diminished. The reason for this adjustment will hereinafter more readily appear. The other arms 52 and 53 of lever 49 are connected respectively through links 54 and 55, with the vertically reciprocating plungers 36 and 41.

It will therefore be seen that as shaft 2 rotates, rocking motion will be imparted to the arm 52 and 53 of the bell-crank lever 49, which causes the dies 39 and 40 to approach each other, and then separate periodically.

When the pitman 44 travels so as to bring the dies together; that is, to the left in Fig.

3, motion is imparted to lever 49 through the spring 46. Both dies are therefore brought against the soap against the compression of but one and the same spring. This not only simplifies the construction, but it insures absolute uniformity in the cushion-ing of the dies.

The next stop of the carrier 17, after a given piece of soap has been fed into it as described, brings this soap blank around in position in alinement with the dies, when the carrier momentaril stops. The operation of these dies is so timed with respect to the movement of the carrier 1'7, that when the carrier stops the soap blank in the pressing position, the lower die has risen to a point to receive the blank as it passes off the platform 37. The dies continuing their movement toward each other close in on the soap, entering the opening in the carrier and pressing the blank, in the case shown, into the form shown in Figs. 11 and 12.

Just about the time the pressure on the soap by the die begins, fingers 56 and 57 enter the opening 21 in the carrier then in alinement with the dies. (See Fig. 8). The soap is then pressed by the dies around the portion of the fingers extending into the opening, which thereby become molded into the soap. These fingers remain thus in the soap until just after the dies have separated from it and move outward only in time to just clear the carrier before it commences to travel, thereby preventing the cake from dropping onto the lower die before the carrier begins to move.

It is true, as a general rule, that the cake after being pressed, and after the dies have separated therefrom, will remain in position in the carrier largely by adhesion to the sides of the opening, but in case this adhesion is not effective, the fingers 56 and 57 will hold the cake'long enough after the dies have separated and a sufliciently short time before the movement of the carrier to permit the carrier to transport the cake to the ejecting position without really giving it time to fall out before it reaches that position.

Also in case one of the dies should adhere to the cake more than the other and thus tend to draw the cake along with it on its separating travel, the fingers; 56 and 57 would prevent this.

These retaining fingers 56 and 57 operate through slots 56 and 57 a of the carrier, there being two such slots for each arm of the carrier.

Motion is imparted to the retaining fingers 56 and 57 through levers 58 and 59, to which said fingers are rigidly attached as shown. These le vers are fulcrume-d as shown on a bracket 60 made fast to the main frame of the machine, and receive their motion respectively from two disk cams 61 and 62, having grooves 63 and 64:, in which travel rollers 65 and 66, mounted on levers 58 and 59, respectively. These cam disks are mounted fast on shaft 12, and rotate continuously during the operation of the machine.

When the soap has been pressed as described, and the retaining fingers 56 and 57 have traveled away from each other sufficiently to clear the path of the rotating carrier 17, this carrier again rotates another step, or one-third of a revolution, bringing the pressed cake into position to be expelled from the carrier.

This expelling mechanism comprises a vertically reciprocating lunger 67, having a head 68, which comes own on the cake of soap and pushes it through the carrier 17, when said cake drops upon a belt conveyer 69. The plunger 67 receives its reciprocating motion from the die plunger 36, through a lever 70, connected to said die plunger by pivotal bolt orpin 71, and fulcrumed on the frame of the machine as at 72. (See Figs. 3 and 7). The plunger 67 is connected to lever 70 by pin 73 which engages a slot 7f in said lever as shown most clearly in Fig. The plunger 67 reciprocates in a guideway in bracket 28.

The conveyer belt 69 is carried by two rollers 75 and 76 (see Fig. 8) the former being supported for rotation by two arms 77 and 78, bolted to the machine frame as shown. The roller 76 is fast on a shaft 7 9, journal-ed in a bracket 80, and this shaft receives its motion through miter gears 80 and 81, the former fast on shaft 79, and the latter fast on shaft 12. Roller 76, therefore, imparts continuous motion to the belt conveyer 69 during the operation of the machine.

While the three operations above described, of delivering, pressing and expelling the soap, take place as to any given cake in a succession of three steps, the mechanisms for performing these acts all operate simultaneously, so that the operation is continuous; that is to say, while the delivery mecl1anism is operating to deliver soap to the carrier, the preceding blank will be undergo ing the pressing operation, and the second preceding blank will be passing from the carrier 17 to the conveyer belt 69, assuming that the two blanks have been fed into the carrier.

The distance of the travel of the dies toward each other may be adjusted by shifting the position of bolt 48, as described, so as to adjust the dies to different thicknesses of soap cake.

The shape of the openings 21 of the carrier 17 will, of course, vary according to the shape of the soap cake to be pressed, as is also the case with respect to the chute 26.

The specific arrangement of the whole feeding mechanism will depend more or less upon the nature of the soap blank to be handled.

Various other modifications may be made in the construction of this machine, and still be within the scope of my invention.

What I claim as my invention is 1. A machine of the class stated, comprising a carrier having a series of openings in which the material to be pressed is inserted, dies for pressing said material in said openings, mechanism to effect movement of said dies whereby they are brought into engagement with said material from opposite sides and then separated, holding means movable with respect to said opening, mechanism to send said holding means into position to engage With the material operated upon before the dies leave it and to Withdraw said holding means from said material after the said dies leave it, and mechanism. to operate said carrier to bring said material into operative relation to said dies.

2. A machine of the class stated, comprising a carrier-having an opening extending through it, dies adapted to approach said opening from opposite sides to compress material Within said opening, mechanism comprising a pair of movable fingers adapted to enter said opening and to be molded into said material by the compression thereof by said dies, and mechanism to operate said fingers to cause them to enter said opening before the dies have completed the pressing 'of the material and to Withdraw them from said opening after the dies have separated from said material.

3. A machine of the class stated, comprising a member having an opening in which the material to be pressed is inserted, die pressing means adapted to operate upon said material in said opening, holding means movable With respect to said opening, and

mechanism to send said holding means into position to be molded into said material by the action thereon of said die pressing means and to Withdraw said holding means from said material after the pressing operation.

4. A machine of the class stated, comprising a carrier having a series of openings through it adapted to receive the material to be pressed, a pair of dies adapted to ap proach said openings from opposite sides to compress material Within them, stap-by-step mechanism to bring said openings periodically into operative relation to said dies, a

impart step-by-step rotary movement to said I carrier, mechanism to feed material to said openings and comprising a delivery chute having an open mouth registering With one of the stopping positions of said openings and a plate adapted to reciprocate across the mouth of said chute to alternately support the material in said chute and allow the same to be discharged therefrom into said openings, mechanism to reciprocate said plate, a stationary support on Which the material Within said openings is carried during the first step of the carrier after receiving the material, a pair of reciprocating dies adapted to engage the material in the second stopping position of" said carrier and press it Within said opening, means comprising a reciprocating plunger adapted to engage the pressed material on the third stopping position of said carrier and eject the same from the carrier, a power shaft, and means connecting all said mechanismsto said power shaft.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

RUEL A. JONES.

Witnesses:

J OHN BOLsINGER, THOS F. MCGUIRE.

091" of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 4

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