Patent GB-864374-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to universal couplings
IPC: B21B35/14
Filed: 1957-04-12
Abstract: 864,374. Universal joints. UNITED ENGINEERING & FOUNDRY CO. April 12, 1957 [April 12, 1956], No. 12048/57. Class 80 (2). In a rolling-mill coupling wherein spindles 22, 23 are universally connected at their opposite ends to motor shafts 16, 15 and rolls 12, 13 respectively, and each spindle is adapted to be retracted axially away from its roll to disconnect the roll coupling and permit removal of the roll, the said axial retraction of the spindle raises a cradle 57 for supporting the disconnected joint member 24 and maintaining it in axial alignment, thus facilitating replacement of the roll. Each spindle 22, 23 is carried in bearings 41, 56 in a frame 27, the weight of which, together with that of the spindles and associated joint parts, is supported during normal running by cylinders 32, 33 subject to a constant fluid pressure, the bearings 41 being slidable axially in the frames 27, whilst those, 56, are fixed in the frames and the spindles can slide axially through them. The frames 27 are supported at the motor ends by bell-cranks 36, pivoted to the frames at 37, to a fixed support at 38, and to rods 39 carrying adjustable springs which take the weight of the frames. The universal joints at the motor ends (described below) permit relative axial movement for spindle retraction, whilst those at the roll ends (described below) do not, but their driven members 73 have an axial slip-off drive connection with the flatted necks 80 of the rolls. To retract the spindles for roll removal, fluid pressure is exhausted from the frame-support cylinders 32, 33 and applied to retraction cylinders 49, 55, which through linkage 46, 44 draw the spindles 22, 23, through their bearings 41, axially to the right, until the joint parts 73 slip off the roll necks, as in Fig. 3, leaving the rolls free for removal. Towards the end of this movement each joint part 73 is supported in alignment with its spindle by the underlying cradle 57 which is turned clockwise about a pivot 58 on the frame 27 by its right end being thrust downwards to lift the left end of the cradle and bring rollers 62 thereon into supporting engagement with the joint part 73. Such downward thrust is produced by a cam bar 69, which is drawn axially rightwards by the sliding bearing 41 through a guide slot in the fixed bearing 56, a widened end of the bar thrusting downwards on the right end of the cradle 57 through a spring-returned plunger 66. An adjustably spring-loaded bolt 71 determines the initial working clearance between the cradle rollers 62 and the joint. The universal joint at the roll end comprises the slip-off driven member 73, with bolted-in wear plates 79, Fig. 5, engaging the roll-flats 80, and a flat-faced tongue 82 engaged by slippers 84 in cylindrical engagement with a driving member 72 integral with or welded to the spindle 22. A pin 91 passes transversely through the slippers 84 and a bushing in the tongue 82, and is retained by screw plugs 92, one of which has a wear button 93 whilst thrust at the other end of the pin is taken from a shoulder 94 on the pin by the adjacent slipper 84. Lubricant from a reservoir 97 reaches the slippers 84 through passages controlled by set screws 96. The joint at the motor end of the spindle 22 is similar except that the tongue 105, Fig. 6, rigidly connected to the motor shaft 16, has an axial slot slidable over the transverse pin of the joint, the tongue being received in a slot 103 in the driven joint member 25 when the spindle 22 is retracted.