DEVICE TO PERMIT INSERTION OF BODIES PROFILED IN AN INSERTION DIRECTION

Abstract: A device to permit insertion of bodies (1) profiled in an insertion direction (10), with different dimensions under automatic tight contact against the profiled surfaces (2) of the bodies (1). The device is provided with an appropriate number of fingers (3a, 3b, etc.), which in one end (3a1), etc. are pivotably attached largely in the insertion direction (10) and localized essentially uniformely distributed around a circle (6) and which are spring-tensioned (4) against the insertion direction (10) and which are aligned essentially in towards the center of the said circle (6) and in that the pivotability of the said fingers (3a, 3b, etc.) is limited by a stop device (5) to permit turning by means of the spring-tension (4) of the fingers (3a, 3b, etc.) towards the insertion direction (10) maximum largely to in the vicinity of the center of the said circle (6).

Description: DEVICE TO PERMIT INSERTION OF BODIES PROFILED IN AN INSERTION DIRECTION Lars Gunnar Edstrδm The present invention relates to a device to permit insertion of bodies profiled in an insertion direction and having different dimensions under.automatic, tight contact agains**the profiled surfaces of the bodies. At the present time it is necessary, for instance when scraping off water from rollers after cleaning from printing ink to dry the rollers manually. No suitable aids for continuously scraping off water from rollers are currently available and this circumstance applies especially if rollers with different diameters are to be wiped off. It is also generally true that in the case of elongated bodies with different profiles it is on the whole difficult or impossible to accomplish with currently available aids an insertion of such bodies into a treatment space under automatic, tight contact against such bodies. Such continuous and tight insertion of an elongated profiled body would be interesting for several reasons. Firstly, a tight contact upon insertion of a profiled body would mean that the tight contact in itself would be able to serve for instance as a wiper of ink, water, cleaner, as a s oothener of applied material etc. Secondly, the tight contact could also be used as a separation wall between different treatment sections, for instance in that a first treatment section were used for cleaning with solvent, a second . treatment for cleaning with water, etc. Thirdly, if the device were adapted for this purpose automatic adaption of the aperture could take-piace to the profile or the diameter which for the moment was inserted in the device. The object of the present invention is to solve the aforesaid and other tasks and is characterized in the type of device mentioned in the preamble to the description in that an appropriate number of fingers, which in one end are pivotably attached largely in the insertion direction and located essentially uniformely distributed around a circle and which are spring-loaded towards the insertion direction and which are aligned essentially in towards the centre of the said circle and in that the pivotability of the said fingeεβ* is limited by a stop arrangement to permit by means of spring tension turning of the fingers towards the insertion direction maximally mainly to in the vicinity of the centre of the said circle. The invention will be described in greater detail below and with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 shows a perspective view, partly cut away, of an embodiment of the device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 shows a plurality of devices according to Fig. 1 connected in series with each other to give different treatment sections for elongated profiled bodies with differing dimensions and profiles, and Fig. 3 shows a side view of a section through some details in the device according to Fig. 1. The embodiment according to Fig. 1 comprises a casing 9 with a lug 8 in its lower part and a cover 12 attachable in an appropriate manner to the casing 9 in its upper part. OMPI Against the lug 8 rests a coiled spring 4, which is guided by the inside 11 of the casing 9. The other end of the spring 4 rests against a piston 7 which is also guided by the inside surface 11 of the casing 9 and which is pressed by the spring 4 with its inclined surface 13 towards a number of fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc, which are pivotably attached in an insertion direction ' 10 in a stop device 5, preferably essentially along a circle 6, in their respective one end 3al, etc. The fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc consist in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 of overlappiήgly disposed sheets, appropriately made of stainless steel, which are preferably made slightly bowl or dish-shaped or concave, viewed in the insertion direction 10 for an elongated, profiled object or body 1, the profiled surface 2 of which is intended to be treated, for instance wiped. The stop device 5 - see especially Fig. 3 - forms not only a pivoted attachment point for the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc bι*fralso a limitation for the pivoted movement of the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc towards the insertion direction 10 in that it prevents the pivoted movement of the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc from going further in the said direction than at most to the centre point of the circle 6. In the insertion direction 10, the pivoted movement of the .fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc is limited by the pisrton 7 and by the spring force of the spring 4 and in the limit case by the inside surface 11 of the casing 9. If the device is used as a wiper, for example for wiping off water from a cleaned printing roller, the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c etc may be provided with holes or perforations to facilitate removal of wiped-off water. If the device, in contrast, is to be used in a treatment unit which consists of several devices connected in series as above with fitted connections for removal and supply respectively of treatment liquid in each treatment section 91, 92, 93, etc - see Fig. 2 - all fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc, at any rate in the I JREΛ OMPI sections 91-9n which separate these - are made without the said holes to give an essentially tight separation between each treatment section 91, 92, 93 etc, whereby different liquids and/or gases can be used in the different treatment sections 91, 92, 93, etc, without risk of any significant mixing of the said liquids and/or gases. The spring characteristics of the spring 4 essentially determines the contact force of the other ends 3a2 etc of the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc against the profiled body 1 which is inserted into the device. The inherent resiliance of the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc and their overlap action relative to each other also has a not insignificant influence on the contact force of the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc against the body 1 as well as the surface 13 of the piston 7 that actuates the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc towards the insertion direction 10. The device according to Fi-g. 1 functions essentially in the fo-rlowing manner. A printing roller 1 which, for example, is to be wiped off, is led with its one end surface towards the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc, which prior to insertion of the roller 1 in the device have their other ends 3a2 etc located in the vicinity of the centre of the circle 6, and if the force with which the roller 1 is " inserted in the device is significantly greater than the counterforce generated by, inter alea, the spring 4, the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc swing aside around their pivoted attachments in the stop device 5 in the insertion direction 10, whereby the other ends 3a2 of the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc are moved and form an aperture the size of which is largely exactly adapted to the outer surface 2 of the roller 1. The other ends 3a2 etc of the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc will thus drag against the outer surface 2 of the roller 1 when the roller 1 is inserted in the device. It should be noted that.the essential extensions of the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc are appropriately so directed in relation to their pivoted attachments in the stop device 5 and that the fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc are also disposed to such a high extent overlapping relative to each other that even at maximum opening there is tight contact against the inserted body 1. Moreover, the other ends 3a2 of the ' fingers 3a, 3b, 3c, etc can naturally also be adapted in shape to the profile of the inserted bodies 1 and the said ends can similarly be provided with suitable friction, sealing, wiping-raising or -lowering means etc. In the embodiment according to Fig. 2 a plurality of devices according to Fig. 1 are connected in series and a profiled body 1 which is inserted into the assembled device can, for example in the device 91, be exposed to mechanical scraping and sprayed with solvent to dissolve dried ink, - residual solvent can be wiped off and the roller 1 rinsed with a*first solvent in the device 2, the roller be rinsed with a second rinser etc in the device 2 and the last cleaning residues be scraped off in the device 9n, any remaining liquid and gas residues being extracted through the lines connected to this 9n. By this means a completely closed washing, cleaning and treatment of a profiled body can be performed without any residual products, such as injurious fumes, needing to come out from the assembled closed device. The environmental risks in treatment of profiled bodies will by this means be extremely tiny. In the above description the principal subject has been cleaning of printing rollers but it is quite natural that the invention can also be used for many different types of profiles on which different kinds of treatments are to be performed, whereof mention may be made as an example of wood sections in processing, impregnating and painting, metal profiles for cleaning, surface treatment, surface coating etc. OMPI

Claims: AMENDED CLAIMS [received by the International Bureau on 30 May 1984 (30.05.84); original claims 1 to 6 have been replaced by new claims 1 to 7] 1. A device to permit unidirectional insertion in an apparatus of bodies (1) profiled in an insertion direction (10) with different dimensions c under automatic, tight contact against the profiled surfaces (2), which device comprises an appropriate number of fingers (3a, 3b, etc) which in one end (3al, etc) are pivotably attached largely in the insertion direc¬ tion (10) and localized essentially uniformely distributed along a circle (6) and which are spring-tensioned (4) towards the insertion direction ■J_ Q (10) and which fingers are aligned essentially in towards the centre of the said circle (6), c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said fingers (3a, 3b, etc) are stationa¬ rily disposed, that the pivotability of the said fingers (3a, 3b, etc) is limited by a stop device (5) to permit by means of the spring preten- 15 sion (4) turning of the fingers (3a, 3b, etc) towards the insertion direc¬ tion (10) maximally largely to in the vicinity of the centre of the said circle (6). 2. A device in accordance with claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the extensions of the said fingers (3a, 20 3b, etc) are so selected that the fingers (3a, 3b, etc) in essential parts are mutually overlapping. 3. A device in accordance with claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in th_c the other ends (3a2, etc) of the said fingers (3a, 3b, etc) are so elaborated that they make tight contact with 25 the profiled bodies (1) upon insertion of the said profiled bodies in the insertion direction (10) in the device. 4. A device in acordance with any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the spring tension is supplied to ■ •-he fingers (3a, 3b, etc) from a spring (4) which works between a stop (8) 30 in a casing (9) for the device and a piston (7) which in turn works against the fingers (3a, 3b, etc) on their sides facing away from the in¬ sertion direction (10) and which is guided by the inside surface (11) of the casing (9) . 5. A device in accordance with any of the preceding claims, 35 c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the said fingers (3a, 3b, etc) are made of thin leaves, for example resiliant stainless steel, and in that the OMPI said fingers (3a, 3b, etc) have a length which exceeds the radius of the said circle (6) . 6. A device in accordance with claim 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the said leaves are shaped concave view¬ ed in the insertion direction (10) and preferably dished. 7. A device to permit insertion of bodies (l) profiled in an insertion direction (10) having different dimensions under tight contact against the profiled surfaces (2) of the bodies (1), c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that it consists of a plurality of devices according to any of the preceding claims connected together in series. OMPI

Inventors: EDSTROEM LARS GUNNAR, EDSTROEM, LARS, GUNNAR
Applicants: EDSTROM LARS GUNNAR, EDSTROEM, LARS, GUNNAR
Application year: 1984
Main classification: B41F35
IPC codes: B41F35