US3234769A - Rolling-mill stand with exchangeable rolls - Google Patents

Description

E. BRETSCHNEIDER LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LS Filed July 17, 1962 IN VE N TOP fi m/f a e/duh,

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ROLLING-MILL STAND WITH EXCHANGEABLE ROLLS Filed July 17, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.2

INVE N TOR 5 7 A :3 mike/ Z aid 01/ United States Patent 3,234,769 ROLLING-MILL STAND WITH EXCHANGEABLE ROLLS Erich Bretschneider, Dusseldorf, Germany, assignor to Friedrich Kooks, Dusseldorf, Germany, a German firm Filed .luly 17, 1962, Ser. No. 210,469 5 Claims. (Cl. 72-238) My invention relates to a rolling-mill stand with exchangeably journalled rolls.

In rolling-mill plants the stands or frame structures on which the rolls are mounted must be so designed that worn rolls can be removed with relative ease in order to be substituted by new rolls. Many proposals in this regard have been made. Nevertheless, the exchange of rolls, as a rule, still requires considerable effort and time. Often an entire continuous tandem plant must be shut down many hours or a full day for roll exchange.

It is an object of my invention to provide a roll stand for rolling mills which affords exchanging the roll with considerably less effort and within much shorter time than heretofore necessary.

Another object of my invention is to devise a roll stand of the type mentioned in which the insertion of the rolls is likewise facilitated so as to require relatively little effort and little time.

A further object of my invention is to provide a roll stand of the type described in which the removal and insertion of the rolls requires relatively little skill.

Still another object of my invention is to produce a roll stand for rolling mills in which those parts that must be taken out of the stand for exchanging the rolls have relatively small weight, whereas the heavier parts remain situated in the stand.

It is also an object of the invention to devise a roll stand for rolling mills in which those parts that have been taken out of the stand for exchanging the rolls, can easily and without appreciable elfort be re-inserted after a new roll has been placed into the stand.

To achieve these and more specific objects as will appear from the following, and in accordance with my invention, I provide a stand for at least two rolls with two journal or neck pins for each roll, the pins being coaxially aligned for engagement with the roll at axially opposite sides thereof. At least one of the two neck pins is axially displaceable in the roll stand a distance suflicient for disengaging the neck pins from the roll. I further provide for each roll a tensioning bolt extending axially through the roll and coaxially joining the two neck pins with the roll by clamping and stressing them together.

The foregoing and further objects, advantages and features of my invention, said features being set forth with particularity in the claims annexed hereto, will be ap- .parent from, and will be mentioned in, the following description of the roll stand embodying the invention by way of example and illustrated on the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the roll stand, partly in section along the line II in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 2 is a section along the line II-II in FIG. 1.

The illustrated embodiment constitutes a two-high roll stand whose two rolls jointly define a circular cross-section of the material to be rolled. Such rolling mills are used, for example, in the production of tubing from sheetmetal strip material, the resulting longitudinal slit to be subsequently sealed by welding. However, the invention is also applicable for rolling-mill stands and rolls of other types and designs as used for various other milling purposes.

The frame structure of the illustrated roll stand generally denoted by is composed of a base 11 and two vertical standards 12 and 13. Journalled. between the two standards are two rolls 14 and 15 located vertically one above the other and having their periphery profiled to form a circular opening at 16. The structure 10 with the bearing components mounted thereon and described below, constitutes the stand in which the rolls 14 and 15 are so mounted that they reliably withstand all stresses occurring during rolling operations, but from which they can readily be removed and substituted by new rolls when excessively worn.

in the illustrated embodiment the means for journalling and exchanging the upper roll 14 have the same design and arrangement as those for the lower roll 15. It is therefore suflicient to describe these means only in conjunction with the upper roll 14. Some of the parts in the lower halves of FIGS. 1 and 2 that coincide with .parts in the upper halves are denoted by the same respective reference characters except that the suffix a has been added.

The standard 12 which appears at the left in FIG. 2 has a bore 17 of large diameter coaxially opposite a similar bore 18 in the right standard 13 of the frame structure. The bore 17 accommodates a bushing 19 that constitutes the outer ring and race of a roller bearing whose rollers are denoted by 20. The bushing 19 is axially displaceable in bore 17, but is not rotatable. For this purpose it sutfices, for example, if the fit of the bushing in the bore is made snug so that the resulting friction prevents rotation of ring 19 in bore 17. The roller bearing 20 serves for journalling a neck pin 21 which forms the inner ring or inner race of the roller bearing. A threaded ring 22 is screwed into the bushing 19, and another threaded ring 23 is screwed onto the pin 21 for preventing the bearing rollers 20 from dropping out, while on the other hand permitting the rollers to be inserted into the bearing when assembling the roll with the stand.

The neck pin 21 constitutes a carrier for the roll 14. For this purpose the pin 21 is provided with a flange 24 with a peripheral ring portion 25 protruding axially toward the roll 14 and engaging a peripheral shoulder 26 formed at the left end face of the roller 14.

A bore 18 in the right standard 13 of the frame structure is engaged by a bushing 28 which to some extent is similar to the above-described bushing 19. However, while bushing 19 can be axially displaced in bore 17 against slight frictional resistance, the bushing 28 is neither displaceable nor rotatable in bore 18. For this purpose the bushing28, on the one hand, has a flange 29 abutting against the standard 13 and, on the other hand, is provided with a threaded ring 29' screwed onto the bushing 28. Similar to bushing 19, bushing 28 also forms the outer ring or outer race of a roller bearing whose rollers 30 serve for journalling a neck pin 31.. This pin con stitutes the second carrier for rotatably supporting the roll 14. For this purpose the pin 31 is provided with a flange 32 whose axially protruding rim 33 engages a pe ripheral shoulder 34 of roll 14. The pin 31 also serves to transmit driving torque to the roll 14. To this end, a prismatic key rod 35, extending radially to the axis of roll 14, engages a groove 36 of roll 14 as well as a paral lel mating groove 37 of flange 32. The neck pin 31 has a cylindrical extension 38 upon which a sleeve 40 with a flange 39 is seated. A key 41 of the type generally employed in machine constructions, joins the parts 38 and 40 with each other. The bearing rollers 30 are inserted before the sleeve 40 is shoved upon the cylindrical extension 38 of neck pin 31. Thereafter a threaded ring 42 is screwed into bushing 28 for securing and protecting the bearing rollers 30. A flange 39 of sleeve 40 serves for connecting the neck pin 31 with a drive shaft (not illustrated).

For accurately and reliably mounting the roller 14 in the bearings 20 and 30, the two neck pins 21 and 31 are axially tensioned firmly against a roll 14. This is done by means of a bolt 43 and a sleeve 44. The left end of bolt 43 is squared at 45 to form a head for engagement by a wrench. The right end of bolt 43 has a screw thread 46 by means of which the bolt can be screwed into a threaded bore 47 of the neck pin 31. The sleeve 44 has an external thread 48 by means of which the sleeve is screwed into an axial bore 49 of the neck pin 21. The tensioning bolt 43 passes through the sleeve 44 and through an axial bore 50 of roll 14. A radially protruding shoulder portion 51 of bolt 43 is located between the right end face 52 of sleeve 44 and a shoulder 53 in the bore 49 of neck pin 21.

In normal rolling-mill operations the bolt 43 is tightened so that its shoulder portion 51 forces the flange 24 of neck pin 21 against the front face 27 of roll 14 and simultaneously the flange 32 of neck pin 31 against the face 54 of roller 14. Consequently, the parts 21, 14, 31 normally constitute a single rigid entity which is rotatable in bearings 20, 30 but is axially not displaceable.

When the roll 14 is worn to such an extent that it is to be substituted by a new roll fundamentally of the same type and shape, the bolt 43 is loosened by turning it at the square head 45 and thereby screwing its threaded end 46 out of the threaded bore 47 in neck pin 31. Simultaneously, the shoulder portion 51 of bolt 33 presses against the end face 52 of sleeve 44, thus shifting the neck pin 21 to the left. The axial length a of the threaded end 46 is longer than the sum of the two lengths denoted by b and c in FIG. 2. Consequently, when the bolt 43 is completely screwed out of neck pin 31, the spacing between the flanges 24 and 32 is larger than the distance between the end faces 27 and 54 of roll 14. Before this condition is reached, however, a rope is placed about the roll 14 and seized by a crane, so that the roll cannot drop down at the moment when it becomes released from flanges 24 and 32.

Now, while the crane keeps the roll 14 suspended, the sleeve 44 is screwed out of the neck pin 21. For this purpose the sleeve is provided with square teeth 55 engageable by a wrench or the like tool. After removing the sleeve 44, the bolt 43 can be fully pulled out of the neck pin 21 so that the bolt no longer enters into the bore of roll 14. The roll 14 can now be lifted by the crane and transported away. Thereafter the same removing operation can be performed with the lower roll 15, which previously can be loosened partially by some of the operations described above. After removal of roll 15 the stand is ready to receive new rolls.

When a new roll is to be inserted, the flanges 24 and 32 are still in the position occupied when the worn roll was being removed. Therefore, the new roll suspended by a rope from a crane, can readily be lowered between the flanges 24 and 32. Thereafter the bolt 43 is again inserted. This requires neither effor nor careful fitting because all bores traversed by the bolt 43 are considerably wider than the corresponding diameters of the bolt. The bolt is then screwed into the threaded bore 47 and forcefully tightened by means of a wrench placed upon the bolt head 45, so that the new roll 14 is firmly tensioned axially between flanges 24 and 32. It only remains necessary to screw the sleeve 44 into place. Already during this last operation, the roll 14 may be loosened from the crane and the crane may travel away and the rope be removed from the roll.

It will be recognized that by virtue of the invention there is provided a rolling-mill stand which affords exchanging the rolls in a particularly simple and convenient manner with a minimum of effort and time.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that with respect to structural details, my invention permits of a variety of modifications, and that the invention can be applied to roller stands of various types and designs, or to stands wtih more than two rolls, and hence can be given embodiments other than particularly illustrated and described herein, without departing from the essential features of my invention and within the scope of the claims annexed hereto.

I claim:

1. A rolling-mill stand with at least two rolls, comprising a frame structure having two coaxially aligned neck pins for journalling each of said rolls, said two neck pins being rotatable in said structure, cooperating means on axially opposite sides of said roll and on said two neck pins, said cooperating means being radially spaced from the common axis of said two neck pins and engageable for centering and solely supporting said roll between said two neck pins, at least one of said two neck pins being axially displaceable relative to said structure a distance sufficient for disengaging said roll from said pins so that said roll can be removed and replaced, and a removable tensioning bolt extending axially through said roll and releasably interconnecting said two neck pins for axially joining and tensioning said pins and said roll.

2. A rolling-mill stand according to claim 1, wherein said cooperating means comprises frictionally engageable abutment members at radially opposed locations of said roll and of said two neck pins, said cooperating means being engageable for coaxially aligning said roll with said two neck pins.

3. A rolling-mill stand according to claim 1 wherein said cooperating means comprises an annular flange formed on each of said two neck pins and an annular shoulder formed on each of said axially opposite sides of said roll.

4. A rolling-mill stand with at least two rolls, comprising a frame structure having two coaxially aligned neck pins for journalling each of said rolls, said two neck pins being rotatable in said structure and having an end face respectively opposite one another, said roll being receivable between said end faces and having axially opposite faces each respectively opposing one of said end faces, a radially spaced annular flange formed on one face of each of said opposing pairs of faces and a radially spaced annular shoulder formed on the other face of said opposing pair of faces, said annular flange and said annular shoulder being engageable for centering and solely supporting said roll between said two neck pins and for transmitting between said roll and said two neck pins forces tangential to the common axis of said two neck pins, at least one of said two neck pins being axially displaceable relative to said structure a distance for disengaging said roll from said pins so that said roll can be removed and replaced, and a removable tensioning bolt extending axially through said roll and releasably interconnecting said two neck pins for axially joining and tensioning said pins and said roll.

5. A rolling-mill stand according to claim 4 including torque transmitting means comprising a key member receivable in opposed transversely extending slots in at least one of said axially opposite sides of said roll and in at least said one of said two neck pins.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,543,540 6/1925 Anderson 29-125 2,049,842 8/1936 Kling 31.1 2,195,502 4/1940 Smitmans 803l.1 2,646,103 7/1953 Kiss 8058 2,941,465 6/1960 Zimmerli -155 3,050,101 8/ 1962 Nitkiewicz.

FOREIGN PATENTS 398,479 9/1933 Great Britain.

WHITMORE A. WILTZ, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A ROLLING-MILL STAND WITH AT LEAST TWO ROLLS, COMPRISING A FRAME STRUCTURE HAVING TWO COAXIALLY ALIIGNED NECK PINS FOR JOURNALLING EACH OF SAID ROLLS, SAID TWO NECK PINS BEING ROTATABLE IN SAID STRUCTURE, COOPERATING MEANS ON AXIALLY OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID ROLL AND ON SAID TWO NECK PINS, SAID COOPERATING MEANS BEING RADIALLY SPACED FROM THE COMMON AXIS OF SAID TWO NECK PINS AND ENGAGEABLE FOR CENTERING AND SOLELY SUPPORTING SAID ROLL BETWEEN SAID TWO NECK PINS, AT LEAST ONE OF SAID TWO NECK PINS BEING AXIALLY DISPLACEABLE RELATIVE TO SAID STRUCTURE A DISTANCE SUFFICIENT FOR DISENGAGING SAID ROLL FROM SAID PINS SO THAT SAID ROLL CAN BE REMOVED AND REPLACED, AND A REMOVABLE TENSIONING BOLT EXTENDING AXIALLY THROUGH SAID ROLL AND RELEASABLY INTERCONNECTING SAID TWO NECK PINS FOR AXIALLY JOINING AND TENSIONING SAID PINS AND SAID ROLL.

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