US3496749A - Rolling mill for shaping bars - Google Patents

Description

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Feb. 24, 1970 F. R. KRAusE 3,496,749

ROLLIG MILL FOR SHAPING BARS Filed Nov. 28, 196? 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

FRA/VK A. @4055 BY Feb. 24,'1970 F. R. KRAusE 3,496,749

ROLLING MILL FOR SHAPING BARS Filed Nov. 2, 9e?

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I W i Il N l() ln lEFI u 1 M I L* INVENTOR.

FRANK e. ,1f/9,4055 BY Arrow/5K5.

Fe. 24, 1970 F, R. KRAusE 3,496,749

ROLLING MILL FOR SHAPING BARS Filed Nov. 28. 1967 .4 Sheets-Sheet 4 F 1g g INVENTOR.

FRANK A. Mem/5E BY ATTORNEYS.

U.S. Cl. 72-215 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mill housing provided with a horizontal passage has a carriage normally located in starting position adjacent one end of the passage. A roll is mounted in the carriage, in which it is movable up and down. At at least one end of the housing there is an anvil for supporting a heated bar. This anvil is moved through the housing and beneath the roll. The carriage moves forward also and as it does so its roll rolls against a cam plate above itand thereby shapes the bar. There may be a carriage at the other end of the housing also, and also another anvil. While one anvil is being unloaded and loaded, the other anvil can be moved through the housing and back again.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a bar shaping mill, which allows bars to be fed into and out of one end of the mill while bars previously rolled therein are unloaded from the opposite end and new bars are loaded for entering that end to be rolled, and in which an anvil carries bars through the rolling operation.

The preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. l is a layout of the mill and the apparatus cooperating with it;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the mill;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section of the mill taken on the line III-III of FIG. 2, but showing an anvil between the rolls;

FIG. 4 is a reduced fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line IVIV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an end View of an anvil;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal section of an anvil;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary vertical section showing an anvil part way through a roll carriage; and

FIG. 8 is a cross section taken on the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 7.

Referring to FIGS l, 2 and 3 of the drawings, a long rolling mill housing 1 is provided with a large passage 2 extending through it from end to end. The iioor of the passage is substantially flat and the sides are vertical. Disposed in the ends of the passage are roll carriages 3 and 4, each containing a pair of vertically spaced rolls. The lower rolls 5 are supported by the oor of the passage and their necks are journaled in the sides of the carriages. The upper rolls 6 are spaced from the top of the passage and are movable vertically in the carriages. For this purpose the necks of these rolls may be journaled in vertical slots in the sides of the carriages and urged upwardly by coil springs 7, or other means, in the slots. Each upper roll engages a cam plate 9 mounted above it in the mill housing and having a lower surface that is contoured to give the work the desired shape. The cam plates shown have lower surfaces that are inclined downwardly from these outer ends. The inner end of the plate may be pivotally connected to the housing by a pin 10, and its outer end may be adjusted vertically by a wedge 11 slidably mounted in a transverse opening 12. through the housing as shown in FIG. 3. The inner end of the wedge engages an inclined surface on the top of the plate and can be adjusted in and out by nuts 13 on a States ate screw 14 projecting from one side of the housing and extending through the upturned outer end of the wedge. This adjustment "will change the inclination of the lower surface of the plate. If desired, the entire plate can be made adjustable vertically by any suitable means.

The carriages 3 and 4, which are movable lengthwise of the mill housing, are held upright and guided by a pair of laterally spaced tracks 15 extending through the housing passage and away from its opposite ends. These tracks are located between the sides of the carriages and about midway between the top and bottom thereof. As shown in FIG. 3, the sides of the carriages are provided with horizontal slots 16 that receive the adjoining portions of the tracks to connect the carriages to the tracks. The tracks are supported a their ends by suitable posts 17. Inside the mill housing the tracks are fastened to it by spacing blocks 18 at each end of the passage and by spacing bars 19 at the center of the passage.

The two tracks are provided with inwardly opening longitudinal channels 22, in which at least two pairs of rollers 23 are supported. These rollers support the opposite ends of a rectangular anvil 24. For most economical use of this mill, there should be a similar anvil 25 at the opposite end of the housing. Means are provided for moving the anvils along the tracks, such means preferably including an endless chain 26 that extends around vertical sprockets 27 journaled in pedestal bearings 28 beyond the ends of the mill housing. The bottom of each anvil is provided with an upwardly extending longitudinal slot 29 that receives the upper length of the chain; that is, the anvil straddles the chain. The upper length of chain may be supported in the mill housing by a bar 30 (FIG. 3), the ends and center of which can be supported by the housing. The lower length of the chain extends through the housing beneath its floor. A tension sprocket 31 can be supported by either pedestal bearing 28, or there can be one for each pedestal, to take up slack in the chain. In order to drive the chain in opposite directions so that the anvils can be moved back and forth through the housing, each sprocket can be operatively connected in any suitable manner with its own driving motor (not shown). One motor will drive its associated sprocket in one direction while the other motor will drive its sprocket in the opposite direction. Of course, only one sprocket is driven at a time.

The anvils normally are not connected to the chain, but to connect either anvil to the chain each end of each anvil is provided with a pivoted hook 35 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the outer end of which can be swung down into engagement with the chain by any suitable means, such as by an air cylinder 36 mounted on the anvil. When the hook at the leading end of either anvil is engaged with the chain, the chain will pull the anvil through the housing, so the anvil will pass through one roll carriage and at least part way through the other carriage. As it does so, the anvil engages the lower rolls. When the anvil reaches a predetermined position at the opposite end of the housing, the leading hook can be disengaged by reversing the air cylinder or by mechanical means. The chain then is reversed and the hook at the other end of the anvil, which then becomes the leading end, is engaged with the chain for the return trip through the housing.

The reason for moving the anvils through the housing is to taper metal bars carried by them, in order to form automobile leaf springs, for example. Accordingly, the top of each anvil is provided with one or more, but preferably at least two longitudinal channels, each of which will snugly receive a heated bar 40 that is to be tapered. Midway between the ends of each channel a rigidly mounted pin 41 (FIG. 4) projects into a hole that has 3 been formed at the middle of each bar. The pins correctly position the bars lengthwise in the channels and prevent them from moving bodily therein. The upper rolls are provided with annular recesses 42 so that the rolls will t in the channels of the anvil.

To facilitate loading of the bars in the channels and especially to make it easy to remove them after tapering, the inner walls 43 of the channels are movable toward each other temporarily to widen the channels. To accomplish this, pairs of wedge bars 44 between `the inner walls are secured to them at their opposite ends, and a wedge 4S tits between each pair of wedge bars with the wide ends of the wedges located near the center of the anvil. When the two wedges are forced apart, they will move the inner walls of the channels against the heated bars in the channels, but when the wedges are drawn toward each other the inner walls of the channels will be released. The two wedges can be moved toward and away from each other by any suitable means, such as by screws or a fluid pressure cylinder 46 (FIG. 4) between them provided with double pistons.

In the operation of this mill as described, a pair of heated center punched bars of uniform thickness from end to end are placed in the channels of either anvil while the inner walls of the channels are released. Then the two wedges 45 are moved away from each other to force channel walls 43 into proper position relative to the two bars. Assuming that anvil 24 is the one that is loaded, the hook at its leading or housing end is lowered into engagement with the chain, which is then started moving if it is not already in motion, by driving the sprocket at the opposite end of the housing to pull the anvil into the housing passage. At this time, the two roll carriages are in their outermost or starting positions shown in FIG. 2. The anvil is pulled forward between the rolls of the nearest carriage until positioning pins 41 have passed between the rolls. At this time the anvil trips a switch 50 that can be mounted on a. track and that operates solenoid coils 51 mounted in the anvil midway between its ends to project pins 52 from its bottom as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, whereupon the carriage is moved forward rapidly until stop surfaces on it strike the pins. The stop surfaces may be formed by the upper ends of brackets 53 adjustably mounted on a cross bar 54 secured to the opposite sides of the carriage in front of its lower roll. The carriage may be moved in various ways, such as by a piston rod 55 secured to the carriage andV extending into a fluid pressure cylinder 56 supported by a cross beam 57 in the center of the housing passage.

After the carriage engages the stop pins 52, the piston rod 55 continues to pull the carriage ahead with the anvil until the upper roll frictionally engages both the overlying cam plate and the heated bars on the anvil, and the lower roll engages the underside of the anvil. As soon as that happens, the rolls will slow down the fofward advance of the carriage to about half the speed of the anvil, and the downwardly moving upper roll will taper the rear portion of the bars toward their rear or righthand ends. If desired, pins 52 can be projected before they reach brackets 53, in which case they will push the carriage along until its upper roll frictionally engages the cam plate and the bars on the anvil. The pins then must be quickly returned because the carriage will now move more slowly than the anvil.

In either case, after the bars leave the upper roll, the carriage can be returned to its starting position by cylinders 56, but the anvil continues to the left and passes at least part way through the other carriage. It travels far enough for its projecting stop pins to approach near to stop brackets, like brackets 53, in carriage 4. At the proper moment the hook is disconnected from the chain, the chain is stopped, the hook at the opposite end of the anvil is engaged with the chain, and the chain is reversed to pull the anvil back through the housing.

As the anvil starts back, a lower cylinder 61 connected 4 with carriage 4 moves that carriage rapidly forward until its stop brackets engage the stop pins 52 and then the carriage moves with and at the same speed as the anvil until the upper roll frictionally engages the overlying cam plate 8 and the heated bars on the anvil, and the lower roll engages the bottom of the anvil. As the anvil pulls away from the carriage, due to the rolls now moving forward at about half the speed of the anvil, the upper roll tapers the left-hand end portions of the bars. After the bars leave the rolls, the lower cylinder 61 returns carriage 4 to its starting position while the anvil completes its round trip through the housing and travels out of it to its outermost position shown in FIG. 2. At that point the leading hook is disengaged from the chain and the chain is stopped. The wedges on the anvil then are moved toward each other to release the inner walls of the anvil channels so that the tapered bars can easily be removed and placed on a delivery table. While this is occurring, the other anvil 25 is being loaded with heated bars and then is pulled by the chain through the mill l housing and back again to taper both ends of the bars on that anvil. In the meantime, the rst anvil is being loaded with new bars for its next trip through the mill. As a result, no time is wasted while an anvil is being unloaded and loaded again, so the productivity of the mill is greatly increased.

It is desirable to provide both ends of the pa-ssage Ifloor areas engaged by the lower rolls with slight reliefs to allow those rolls to disengage from the anvils Iat both ends of the carriage travel. In some cases the lower rolls might lbe `dispensed with if the tracks and rollers are strong enough to support the anvil during the rolling operation.

In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a preferred layout for operating this mill most advantageously. The mill housing `1 is located between two simliar lines, each of which includes a feeder for delivering bars 40 to a furnace 7-1, through which the bars ytravel to one of the anvils. The heated bars are carried through the mill housing yand back again to taper their ends, and then the tapered bars are unloaded onto a conveyor or delivery table 72. While bars are being removed from one anvil and placed on the adjoining table and other bars are being removed Ifrom fu-rn-ace 71 and loaded on the anvil, the other anvil is carrying bars through the mill housing and back out agaln.

It will be realized that the most advantages `are obtained when loading and unloading are conducted at both ends of `the mill, but there is no reason why yloading and unloading cannot be limited to only one end in oase there is only one furnace line. Also, there may be times when only one carriage may be needed.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle of my invention and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the Vappended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specilically illustrated and described.

Iclaitn:

1. A rolling mill for shaping bars, comprising a stationary housing provided with a horizontal passage therethrough, a roll carriage in said passage, the carriage normally being sta-tionary adjacent one end of the hou-sing but movable toward the opposite end, a horizontal roll associated with the carriage and extending transversely thereof, means connecting the roll with the carriage for up and down movement therein, an anvil at said one end of the housin-g adapted to support a heated bar, means lfor moving the anvil forward into and through said passage beneath said roll, means for supporting the anvil beneath the roll, a cam plate mounted in the housing above the roll and having a lower surface with a predetermined shape, means operative when at least a portion of the anvil has moved forward beneath lthe roll for moving the carriage forward with the anvil until the roll frictionally engages both the overlying cam plate and a heated bar on said anvil, whereupon said Ifrictional engagement will cause the roll to advance at about half the speed of the anvil and shape the bar, means for -returning the carriage to its starting position, and means for then moving the anvil back through said passage.

2. A rolling mill according to claim 1, in which said carriage-moving means include a uid pressure cylinder and piston connected to said housing and carriage.

3. A rolling mill `accor-ding to claim .1, in which said means for moving the carriage forward with -the anvil include -a normally retracted stop carried by -the anvil, a stop surface on the carriage, means for projecting said stop into the path of said stop surface after passing that surface, and means for then moving the carriage rapidly forward until said stop surface engages said stop and then forward with the anvil at the same speed,

4. A rolling mill according to claim 1, in which said means for moving the carriage forward with the lanvil include a stop surface on the carri-age, a stop projecting from the anvi-l for engaging said stop surface to move the carriage forward with the anvil, and means for retracting said stop as soon as the ladjacent upper roll frictionally engages both the overlying cam plate and the central portion of a heated bar on the anvil.

5. A rolling mill according to claim 1, in which said anvil-moving means includes a chain extending through said housing passage, means for moving the -chain lengthwise in either direction, and means for connecting the anvil to the chain.

6. A rol-ling mill according to claim 5, in which said connecting means include a hook pivotally mounted on each end of the anvil, and means for moving the hook at the leading end of the anvil into `and out of engagement with the chain.

7. A rolling mill according to claim 1, including guide rails for said anvil extending through said passage and rigidly secured to the housing, said carriage being supported and guided by said rails also.

8. A rolling mill .according to claim 1, in which said anvil is provided with a pair of laterally spaced upwardly opening channels extending lengthwise thereof for receiving `a pair of heated hars, the inner 'walls of the channels are movable toward and away lfrom each other, wedge means are disposed between said inner walls for holding them their maximum dist-ance apart, and means are provided for retracting said wedge means.

9. A rolling mill for shaping bars, comprising a stationary housing provided with a horizontal passage therethrough, a pair of longitudinally spaced carriages in said passage, the carriages normally being stationary in predetermined starting positions but movable toward each other, a horizontal roll associated with each carriage and extending transversely thereof, means connecting each roll with the associated carriage for up and down movement therein, an anvil at an end of the housing adapted to support a heated bar, means for moving the anvil forward into and through said passage beneath each of said rolls, in succession, means for supporting the anvil 'beneath the rolls, a cam plate mounted in the housing above each roll and having a lower surface with a predetermined shape, means operative when at least a portion of the anvil has moved forward beneath the roll at said end of the housing for moving the adjoining carriage forward with the anvil until the roll frictionally engages both the overlying cam plate and the central portion of a heated bar on said anvil, whereupon said frictional engagement will cause the roll to advance at about half the speed of the anvil and shape the trailing end of the bar, means for stopping the anvil after its leading end has passed beneath the roll of the other carriage, means for then moving the anvil back through said passage, means for moving said other carriage along with the anvil until its roll frictionally engages both the overlying cam plate and the central portion of the bar on the anvil, whereupon that roll will shape the unrolled end of the bar, and means for returning each carriage to its starting position after its roll has shaped the bar.

10. A rolling mill according to claim 9, in which said anvil-supporting means are lower rolls in `said carriages.

11. A rolling mill according to claim 9, in which said anvil-moving means include a chain extending through said housing passage, and means for moving the chain lengthwise in either direction, said mill including a second anvil normally disposed at the opposite end of the housing, and means for detachably connecting each anvil to the chain independently of the other anvil.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 608,908 8/1898 Price et al 72-214 1,714,108 2/1928 Schlafly 72-214 2,161,064 6/1939 Krause 72-214 2,223,039 ll/ 1940 Krause 72--214 2,432,566 12/ 1947 Findlater 72-215 3,199,327 8/1965 Krause 72-210 FOREIGN PATENTS 921,393 3/ 1963 Great Britain.

CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner E. M. COMBS, Assistant Examiner

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