The shaft of a lockdown assembly is supported at its ends in the side sections of the stationary frame of a glue applicator. Lockdown legs are mounted to the shaft at each end of the shaft and extend parallel to each other from the shaft toward engagement with the side sections of the movable frame of the glue applicator. A spring biases the lockdown legs toward their locked positions. The shaft can be pivoted to raise the lockdown legs away from the movable frame, the movable frame tilted so as to lift its rolls away from their operating positions with respect to the rolls of the stationary frame, and a hook of one of the lockdown legs engages a catch on one of the side sections of the movable frame to hold the movable frame in its open position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to coating apparatus wherein a solid applicator roll 
contacts the work, with the applicator roll being movable between 
operative positions and open positions. More particularly, this invention 
relates to a glue applicator of the type used to apply liquid glue to 
sheet material, such as to blanks which are ultimately formed into paper 
boxes, with the blanks being processed between rotatable rolls, with 
certain ones of the rolls being locked into their operative positions 
during the operation of the glue applicator and movable from their locked 
positions to opened positions for maintenance when the operation of the 
glue applicator has been terminated. 
Prior glue applicator equipment has been developed for the purpose of 
feeding sheets of material in sequence to a series of processing stations 
and coating the sheet material with glue and other liquids at one of the 
processing stations. As illustrated in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,057, these 
machines typically include equipment for picking off the end sheet from a 
stack of sheet material, feeding the sheet along a path generally parallel 
to the plane of the sheet material past a rotating cylindrical glue 
applicator roll, and then to various subsequent work stations. The glue 
applicator roll usually continuously rotates in contact with a wetting 
roll which is partially submerged in the body of liquid glue or other 
liquid. 
The equipment is constructed so that its various processing rolls can be 
separated from one another, from their usual operating positions to an 
open position. This permits the operator to extract misaligned sheet 
material and other items from between the rolls when the equipment 
malfunctions, and to clean or otherwise maintain the equipment. Certain 
ones of the rolls are mounted at their ends in rotatable relationship with 
respect to a stationary frame while other ones of the rolls are mounted at 
their ends in rotatable relationship with respect to a movable frame. When 
the movable frame is in its operating position, it is desirable to lock it 
in its operating position so that various vibrations encountered by the 
equipment during its normal operating function do not tend to jar the 
rolls apart and cause the rolls to improperly feed the sheet material. 
The prior art equipment has utilized various lock pin arrangements where, 
for example, a lock pin is inserted through aligned openings of the 
movable frame and the stationary frame when the movable frame is in its 
operating position. While the prior art lock pin arrangement assists to 
some extent in reducing the effect of vibration of the movable frame and 
its rolls, extended use of the equipment and the continuous vibration of 
the equipment eventually causes the lock pin and its holes to wear, 
resulting in a loose connection and therefore permitting increased 
vibrations between the movable frame and the stationary frame. This 
increases the likelihood of malfunction of the equipment. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Briefly described, the present invention comprises a lockdown assembly for 
a gluer which positively locks down both side sections of the movable 
frame of the gluer with respect to the stationary frame in the roll 
section of the gluer. The lockdown assembly includes an elongated 
rectilinear shaft rotatably supported at its opposite ends in the side 
sections of the stationary frame, and lock legs mounted at each end of the 
shaft and rotatable with the shaft into locking engagement with respect to 
the side sections of the movable frame to hold the movable frame and its 
rolls in their operating positions with respect to the stationary frame 
and its rolls. The lock legs are adjustable in length so that each leg can 
be adjusted independently of the other leg so as to compensate for wear 
during the life of the gluer, and a spring is arranged to bias the lock 
legs toward their locked positions. The lockdown assembly further includes 
a hook member that is arranged to engage a hook catch on one side section 
of the movable frame, so that when the movable frame is opened away from 
the stationary frame, the hook member engages the catch and holds the 
movable frame in its opened position. 
Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved lockdown 
assembly for the roll section of a gluer which functions to reliably lock 
the movable frame in its operating position, at both side sections of the 
frame. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a lockdown asembly for a 
gluer which is easy to operate, which is reliable to positively lockdown 
the movable frame with respect to the stationary frame in the roll section 
of the gluer, and which can be adjusted to compensate for wear during the 
life of the gluer. 
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become 
apparent upon reading the following specification, when taken in 
conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Referring now in more detail to the drawings, in which like numerals 
indicate like parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 illustrates the 
roll section of a gluer 10 which includes a glue supply pan 11, a glue 
wetting roll 12, a cylindrical glue applicator roll 14, pick finger 
support bar 16, a plurality of pick fingers 18, guide cams 19, and vacuum 
conveyor assembly 20. Sheet supply platform 21 is located at an elevation 
lower than the cylindrical applicator roll 14 and is moved up and down in 
timed relationship toward and away from the suction fingers 22. The 
suction fingers 22 are mounted on a suction tube 24 which oscillates or 
rotates in timed relationship with the system to pick up the upper-most 
sheet 25 from the platform 21 and move the upper-most sheet between the 
pairs of feed rolls 26 and 28. Various guide plates and guide fingers (not 
shown) are used to help direct the leading edge of the sheet 25 to and 
beyond the pairs of feed rolls 26 and 28. The sheets are directed between 
the glue applicator roll 14 and presser roll 29. The glue wetting roll 12 
which is partially submerged in the liquid glue 30 in pan 11 rotates with 
a surface speed approximately equal to the surface speed of glue 
applicator roll 14 in the direction indicated by arrow 13 so as to wet the 
glue applicator roll with glue. When the sheet 25 passes in contact with 
the glue applicator roll 14 it becomes coated with glue. 
Each of the pick fingers 18 includes a curved lower edge 31 which is in 
close juxaposition with respect to the upper curved surface of the 
cylindrical glue applicator roll 14 and a pointed end 32 which faces the 
oncoming sheet material. As the sheet material moves past the line of 
contact between the presser roll 29 and the glue applicator roll 14, the 
pointed end 32 of each pick finger 18 picks the leading edge of the sheet 
material away from the glue applicator roll 14, and the upwardly extending 
edge 34 of each of the pick fingers tends to deflect the oncoming edge 
upwardly toward the guides 19, and the guides 19 further deflect the sheet 
material on toward the suction conveyor 20. The upwardly extending edge 34 
of each pick finger 18 as well as the contacting surfaces of the guides 19 
usually are formed with a curvature that compliments the shape of the 
adjacent portion of the suction conveyor 20. 
Suction conveyor 20 includes a conveyor belt 35 with a plurality of 
apertures 36 formed therein, and the belt moves in the direction indicated 
by arrow 38. The inlet of a blower (not shown) communicates with the 
bottom surface of the upper flight of conveyor belt 35 so as to induce a 
flow of air through the upper flight of the conveyor through openings 36. 
This tends to cause the sheets of material being fed through the system to 
cling to the upper flight of the belt conveyor as the upper flight moves 
in the direction indicated by arrow 38 away from the roll section of gluer 
10. 
Gluer 10 comprises a stationary frame 40 and a movable frame 41. Stationary 
frame 40 comprises a pair of spaced apart sections 46 and 47, while 
movable frame 41 comprises a pair of spaced apart sections 42 and 44. 
Sections 42 and 44 of movable frame 41 are spaced just inside the sections 
of the stationary frame 40. Movable frame 41 is pivotably mounted to 
stationary frame 40 by means of lower pivot pins 45 at each side of the 
frame assembly. 
Stationary frame 40 supports glue wetting roll 12, applicator roll 14, pick 
finger support bar 16 and the first pair feed rolls 26. The rolls 12, 14 
and 26 are rotatably supported at their ends in the stationary frame, and 
drive means are connected to each of the rolls so that they are driven in 
timed relationship with respect to one another. Movable frame 41 supports 
presser roll 29, the second pair of feed rolls 28, conveyor guide rolls 
37, and support shaft 17 of guide cams 19. These elements are supported at 
their ends by side sections 42 and 44 of movable frame 41 and drive means 
are connected to each of these rolls so that they are driven in timed 
relationship with respect to one another and with respect to the rolls of 
the stationary frame. Pivot pin 45 is located to one side of the center of 
gravity of movable frame 41, tending to cause the movable frame to rotate 
counter-clockwise (FIG. 1) until presser roll 29 engages applicator roll 
14. 
Movable frame 41 is movable with respect to stationary frame 40 about pivot 
pins 45 from the closed or operating position as illustrated in FIG. 1 to 
the opened position as illustrated in FIG. 2. When the movable frame 41 is 
titled open in this manner, cam guides 19, conveyor 20, feed rolls 28 and 
presser rolls 29 are moved away from wetting roll 12 and applicator roll 
14 and pickers 18, thus opening the machine to permit the operator to 
extract misaligned sheets of material or to otherwise adjust the 
equipment. 
As illustrated in FIGS. 3-5, gluer lockdown assembly 48 comprises 
rectilinear shaft 49 extending parallel to rolls 12, 14, 26, 28, etc., of 
the roll section of the gluer, with shaft 49 being rotatably supported at 
its ends by stationary frame 40. Lock legs 50 and 51 are mounted to shaft 
49. Each lock leg 51 includes, respectively, a socket 52, 54, leg 55, 56, 
externally threaded extension 58, 59, lock nut, 60, 61 and extension head 
62, 63. The legs 55, 56 extend parallel to each other and normal with 
respect to the length of shaft 49. Each socket 52, 54 includes a central 
opening 64, 65 and a protrusion 66, 67 extending inwardly of the socket 
opening. Alignment slots 68, 69 are formed in the ends of shaft 49, with 
the slots 68, 69 being in alignment with one another. The protrusions 66, 
67 of the sockets 52, 54 extend into slots 68, 69 so as to align lock legs 
50 and 51 with one another at opposite ends of shaft 49. Projection 70 is 
connected to the distal end of leg 56, and extends normal to leg 56. 
Projection 70 functions as a hook in a manner to be described hereinafter. 
Legs 55 and 56 each define an internally threaded bore, and externally 
threaded extensions 58, 59 are threaded into each bore, with the lock nut 
60, 61 locking its extension in fixed position with respect to legs 55 and 
56. 
Handle 71 is conncted to one end of shaft 49. Handle 71 comprises socket 
72, lever 74 and knob 75. The opening 76 of socket 72 surrounds the 
protruding end of shaft 49, and set screw 78 extends through an internally 
threaded opening of the socket 72 into engagement with the end of shaft 49 
to lock handle 79 to shaft 49. Screw 79 is threaded into an internally 
threaded bore of stationary frame 40 at a position above socket 72 of 
handle 71, in the path of handle lever 74, to limit rotation of handle 
lever 74 and lockdown assembly 48. 
Spring assembly 80 is mounted on shaft 49 at the end of the shaft opposite 
to handle 71. Spring assembly 80 includes socket 81 defining an internal 
opening 82 mounted on the end of shaft 49, with set screw 84 extending 
through an internally threaded opening of socket 81 to lock the socket to 
the shaft 49. Spring lever 85 protrudes radially from socket 81 and 
defines spring opening 86 at its distal end. Coil tension spring 88 is 
connected at one of its ends to spring lever 85 through opening 86 and at 
its other end (not shown) to stationary frame 40. Spring 88 thereby biases 
lockdown assembly 48 to the position indicated in FIGS. 1 and 3. 
Lockdown bearing blocks 89 and 90 are mounted on the outside surfaces of 
the side sections 42 and 44 of movable frame 41, and hook protrusion 92 is 
mounted to side section 42 of movable frame 41 above bearing block 89. 
Each bearing block 89 and 90 includes a bearing surface 94 which faces 
lockdown shaft 49 and which is arranged to have an extension head 62, 63 
of a lock leg 50, 51 bear thereagainst. The upper portion 95 of each 
bearing surface is beveled so as to form a cam surface for the extension 
heads 62 and 63 as they move in a downward arc toward their down and 
locked positions. 
When lockdown assembly 48 is moved to the position illustrated in FIGS. 1 
and 3, the movable frame 41 is locked in its operating position and its 
rolls coact with the rolls of the stationary frame 40 to move the sections 
of sheet material sequentially through the gluer, to apply the glue to the 
sections of sheet material and move the glued sections on beyond the 
gluer. When the operator desires to open the gluer, the operator rotates 
shaft 49 by pulling lever 71 which rotates lock legs 50 and 51 in an 
upward arc, thus lifting the extension heads 62 and 63 out of engagement 
with the bearing surface 94 of the lockdown bearing blocks 89 and 90. The 
operator then pulls the movable frame 41, usually by grasping one of the 
upwardly extending protrusions of the frame, and the movable frame tends 
to rotate about its pivot pins 45 from its closed and operating position 
(FIGS. 1 and 3) to its open position (FIG. 2). The operator then permits 
handle 71 to move under the influence of its coil tension spring 88 back 
toward its original position, whereupon its hook projection 70 extends 
about the hook catch 92. Thus, the movable frame 41 is held in its tilted 
open position until the operator is ready to close the movable frame back 
to its operating position. 
While this invention has been described in detail with particular reference 
to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that variations 
and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the 
invention as described hereinbefore and as defined in the appended claims.