Modular edge conditioner

Treatment means for metal strip edges provide opposed carriages designed to simultaneously treat opposite edges with treatment tools. Rollers on the carriage are located to contact the edges of the strip on the same side as that carriages edge treatment tool and allow accurate positioning of the tools relative to the strip edges.

This invention relates to edge treatment tools for metal strip. 
In the production of metal strip for stampings or other uses the strip is 
frequently cut or subject to a slitting operation to form a number of 
narrow strips out of a wide strip. Strips formed in such ways and strips 
otherwise formed frequently have burrs or other edge defects generally due 
to the method of forming the strip. 
It is an object of this invention to provide an edge treatment tool for 
metal strips which will scarf, swage or roll the edges of such strip while 
it is travelling. 
It is an object of this invention to provide an edge treatment tool for 
travelling metal strips adaptable to scarf, swage, roll or correct the 
camber of the strip. 
To "scarf" the edge is to cut the edge of the travelling strip to remove 
unwanted edge material. 
To "swage" the edge is to press upon the edge of the travelling strip to 
reform it. 
To "roll" the edge, is to deform it by pressure using a rolling action. 
To treat the "camber" is to correct a tendency of the strip to curve in a 
direction transverse to its longitudinal, travel direction, and in the 
plane of the strip. 
It is an object of the invention to provide an edge treatment tool for 
travelling metal strip wherein a carriage is movable in the plane of the 
strip and transversely of the strip travel direction and mounts a pair of 
rollers, spaced from each other in the strip travel direction which are 
designed to contact the edge of the strip and define the relative spatial 
position of the strip edge and the rollers. A slide is mounted on the 
carriage adjustable to move relatively to the carriage in the plane of the 
strip and transversely to the strip travel direction. The slide mounts a 
tool for scarfing or swaging the strip edge and due to its association 
with the datum relationship provided by the carriage rollers on the strip 
edge can be accurately adjusted for the scarfing or swaging operation 
required. 
It is an object of the invention to provide an assembly comprising two 
carriages, operable as described in the previous paragraph, mounting edge 
treatment tools, as described and directed toward contacting the opposite 
edges of the travelling strip. 
It is an object of the invention to provide an assembly as described in the 
previous paragraph where the assembly includes a frame, and the frame 
provides a pair of rods extending transversely of the strip on which both 
carriages are mounted. Each rod is rotatable and has a threaded connection 
to one carriage and a sliding connection to the other carriage. Thus each 
carriage is controllable in transverse location by rotating the relevant 
rod and the assembly as a whole is a compact and efficient means for edge 
treatment of both edges of a strip. 
It is an object of the invention as described in the previous paragraph to 
provide carriages with alternate roller locations to those described 
above. This allows the rollers of the two carriages to be located opposite 
one another to roll the strip edges. In an alternative roller arrangement 
the rollers of the two carriages on the strip may be arranged, where the 
strip has an unwanted camber, to have a pair of rollers on the concave 
strip edge located upstream and downstream of a roller on the convex strip 
edge whereby the opposed rollers may be caused to exert the pressure to 
correct the camber.

In the drawings a frame 10 is constructed to provide a pair of mounting 
bars 12 and 14 parallel to and on opposite sides of the strip travel locus 
defined by dotted lines S--S with the arrow indicating the strip travel 
direction. In the upstream portion of the frame a pair of rods 16 and 18 
extend between the mounting bars 12 and 14 on which they are rotatably 
mounted. Each rod is provided with a square end 19 for rotation by an 
adjustment tool not shown. Carriage platforms 20 and 22 are provided, each 
mounted on the two rods and located on opposite sides of the strip travel 
locus. The carriage mounting is such that carriage platform 20 is 
threadedly coupled to rod 16 by the threading T on its right hand end and 
complementary threading not shown on the carriage, and slidably mounted on 
rod 18. While carriage platform 22 is slidably mounted on rod 16 and 
threadedly on rod 18 with threading T on its left hand end connecting to 
complementary threading not shown on the carriage 22. Thus rotation of rod 
16 controls the transverse location of platform 20 and rotation of rod 18 
controls the transverse location of platform 22 while a compact assembly 
is provided for both carriages, their control and use as hereinafter 
described. 
`Left` and `right` hand herein are relative to the travel direction shown 
by the arrows. 
Each carriage slidably mounts a tool holder slide 24 slidable transversely 
relative to the strip travel direction and relative to the carriage. The 
slide 24L is toward the downstream extent of carriage 22 and is 
controllable by rotation of a threaded bolt 28L., as control nut 30L is 
fixed on the other end of bolt 28L for rotating it and a lock nut 32L is 
loosened to allow rotation of the bolt and tightened to fix the bolt in 
position. The slide 24R is located toward the upstream extent of carriage 
20 and control nut 30R adjust the position of slide 24R as did the similar 
members on carriage 22. The two tools 40 mounted on each slide will be 
hereinafter described. The carriages 20 and 22 and tools have identical 
members although the rollers and slides are staggered in the strip travel 
direction. It will be convenient to refer to the roller and tools of left 
hand carriage 20 with an `L` suffix and those of carriage 22 with an `R` 
suffix. 
Rollers 34L and 36L straddle the tools 40L in the strip travel direction. 
It will be noted that carriage 20 is identical to carriage 20 but carries 
slide 24R on its upstream extent. The rollers 34R and 36R again straddle 
the tools 44R in the strip travel direction. It will also be noted that 
opposite rollers 36R near the upstream end of carriage 20 is a roller 
mount aperture 38L. Opposite roller 36L near the downstream end of 
carriage 20 is a roller mount aperture 38R. 
With the rollers 34L,36L,34R,36R, as shown located for the scarfing or 
swaging operation, their disposition in the strip travel direction is as 
follows : roller 36R, cutting tools 40R, roller 34L, roller 34R cutting 
tools 40L, roller 36L. Thus each pair of tools may be accurately 
positioned after the rollers of its own carriage have been brought into 
contact with the strip edge to define accurately the carriage position 
relative to the strip. Moreover it will be noted that rollers 34L and 34R 
are staggered relative to each other in the strip travel direction which 
allows the carriages to be brought closer to each other than opposed 
rollers would permit for dealing with thin strips. Further locating roller 
34L upstream of roller 34R provides that each of such rollers is 
relatively closely located in the strip travel direction, to the location 
of the respective tool pair 40R or 40L, on the opposite carriage to 
support the strip near the opposed application of tool pressure. The 
function of the unused roller holes 38L,38R will be discussed hereafter. 
The rollers 34 or 36 as shown in FIG. 3, have a V groove with about a 
90.degree. included angle, designed to contact the strip edge corners and 
accurately define the relative positions of strip and carriage. 
The tools may, within the scope of the invention, be of any desired form, 
suitable for the scarfing or swaging operation. However, I prefer to use 
the tool arrangement shown best in FIG. 4 and to be described. Each slide 
tool 40 preferably is designed for use on a lathe. Each lathe tool 40 is 
square in plan with rectilinear edges and usually made of very hard 
carbide steel. One square side 42 is concave with outwardly projecting 
corners and the opposite side 44 is flat. It will be noted that midway 
along each concave side the section of the tool gives an acute cutting or 
scarfing edge, best shown in FIG. 5. Thus although such tools are designed 
for use on a lathe where the cutting is performed by one of the corners of 
the square, this invention uses the mid sides of the concave side as the 
scarfing cutting implement. As best shown in FIG. 1 the tool pairs on each 
side mounted in a holder shaped so that the tools are rigidly held in 
place by the holder shaping and a bolt 40, that is against rotation or 
translation relative to the holder. The tools are oriented with a corner 
projecting transversely and parallel to the plane of the strip and 
displaced vertically from each other so that the lower edge-adjacent side 
of the upper tool and the upper inward side of the lower tool form a edge 
facing V wherein the tool sides referred to cut the strip on the upper and 
lower edges as best shown in the enlarged FIG. 4A. The tools are then 
oriented about a vertical axis so that the edge-adjacent side of each tool 
is slightly downstream from the edge remote side to provide a suitable 
angle of scarfing or cutting. The angle of scarfing or cutting is best 
shown in FIG. 5. 
If swaging instead of cutting is desired the tools may be interchanged, or 
each tool rotated 180.degree. about a transverse axis in the strip plane 
(not shown). FIG. 6 shows the respective disposition of the tools after 
interchange. The tools then again contact the strip edges along the same 
locations on their square sides with the edge-remote side of the tool 
downsteam of the edge adjacent side as best shown in FIG. 7, and the angle 
of the tools is such that the forward portion of each tool edge is spaced 
from the strip which therefore contacts the strip at the trailing edge of 
the square side as best shown in FIG. 7. 
For either cutting or swaging, the tools are oriented for the operation 
desired and the control of rod 16 or 18 for the respective carriages 
operated until the rollers 34-36 are in firm contact with the strip. With 
lock nut 32 loosened, the nut 30 for each tool is then adjusted until the 
desired cutting negative clearance or swaging pressure is obtained. Lock 
nut 32 is again tightened. One aspect of the cutting operation is of 
interest. As will be noted from FIGS. 2,1, and viewed in plan one of the 
two cutting tools of a pair can be considered as upstream of the other. It 
is found that the upstream tool has a better cutting action than the 
other. Thus if it is known that the strip will have larger burrs or 
materials on one side than the other, the tools are arranged so that the 
upstream cutting tool contacts the poorer strip edge. 
As shown in FIG. 3 a pair of wiping pads 50 with an adjustable pressure 
control 52 are provided downstream from the cutting tool to firmly wipe 
both sides of the strip and remove cuttings, or other metal fragments. 
FIGS. 8 and 9 show other operations which may be performed by the assembly. 
For rolling treatment of the edges, FIG. 8 as shown schematically the tool 
hoders have been retracted or removed and the rollers 34L and 34R 
relocated in respective apertures 38L and 38R at the corners of their 
respective carriages. Thus roller 38L is directly opposite roller 36R and 
roller 38R is directly opposite roller 36L. Thus both carriages may be 
moved directly inward to apply the desired rolling pressure to the opposed 
edges of the strip. 
To correct camber the rollers are arranged as shown in FIG. 9 again with 
the tools retracted or removed. The unwanted strip camber will provide a 
concave and a convex edge. Such unwanted camber has been exaggerated in 
FIG. 9 where the upper side is shown as concave. As shown a single roller 
34R in its regular location on the convex edge is straddled by upstream 
and downstream rollers 34L and 36L on the concave edge. The roller 34L is 
relocated in the corner location in aperture 38L. Applying the requested 
amount of pressure will correct the degree of camber. 
In all applications, where there is a tendency either because of the 
inventive assembly or otherwise of the strip to buckle upwardly or 
downwardly, hold down rollers (not shown) may be provided, in accord with 
techniques well known to those skilled in the art.