Patent GB-191500107-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Separating and Feeding Sheets to Cold Rolls, Pickling, Tinning, and Galvanizing and like Machines.
Inventor: DAVIES DAVID
IPC: C23C2/40
Filed: 1915-01-04
Abstract: 107. Davies, D. Jan. 4. [Cognate Application, 9710/15.] Sheet-separators; carriers; guides; pile tables for sheet feeds.-Relates to suction devices for separating and conveying sheets from one or more piles to cold rolls or pickling, tinning, galvanizing, and like machines. The suction head is mounted in an oscillating frame, and mechanism is provided between the frame and the head for effecting a vertical reciprocation of the head when in sheet-taking position and for controlling the head so that the sheet is carried parallel to itself. In one arrangement, the suction head 7, Figs. 1 and 2, is carried on a spindle 6 supported in an arm 5 projecting from a lever 1, which is pivoted at 17, 17", or 17<b> to the base bracket 16, according to the weight of the sheets tohe fed, and rocked in a vertical plane so as to receive a quick-return motion by a slot in the lever engaging a pin 9 on a crankdisk 4 driven through change-gear 20, selected according to the size of the sheets to he fed, and a throw-out clutch, from the first rolls or other part of the machine fed or from an independent motor. The head 7 is lowered and raised to and from the pile to separate the sheets by a camlever 2 pivoted a.t 2<a> to the rocking lever 1 and rocked by a pin 11 on a block 10 fixed to the crank-pin 9, the lever 2 being linked to a rock spindle 24 supported from the arm and carrying a fork engaging between collars on the head 7. The suction head is maintained in a vertical position by providing on its supporting-spindle 6 a lever 3 which is slotted to engage another pin 12 on the block 10. An adjustable block 13 on the lever 3 acts through a Bowden-wire 13<a> or other connexion to operate a valve on the head 7 or its flexible connexion 15 for controlling the vacuum at the required times. In another arrangement, the suction head 7, Fig. 5, is carried by a plate 28, which is rocked horizontally about a pivot 28<a> by a lever 25 oscillated direct from a crank on the cold rolls or other machine fed, or from a slide so reciprocated and provided with a cam-groove adapted to oscillate a bell-crank connected to the lever 25 that two or three oscillations are imparted at each revolution of the cold rolls &c. The lever 25 carries a pin which engages a slot 26<a> in the plate 28 and also engages a slotted lever 29 for actuating the suction pump 34, a slotted lever 35 adjustably linked to the head 7 to rock it in the plate 28 so that a sheet is not rotated during conveyance, and a slotted lever 30 actuating a pivoted bell-crank and fork-ended lever 31 for raising and lowering the head. The suction is controlled by a valve 33 actuated through a connexion 34<a> from an adjustable member 32 on the lever 30. The suction head 7, Fig. 4, comprises a cylinder fitted with a rubber ring 7<d> secured by a nut 7<e> and preferably with an interposed split metal ring 7<f>. A sliding collar 7<b>, through which the vertical reciprocating movement is imparted, is provided at the upper part of the head, and a spring 7<c> arranged between this and a shoulder 7<a>. The pump may be formed in the head, the upper part constituting the plunger and being operated by connexions similar to the levers 29, 31, Fig. 5. The vertically oscillating lever arrangement first described may lie arranged to separate and convey the sheets into position for the horizontally oscillating lever arrangement to take and convey them to the machine. Several suction devices feeding from separate piles of different-sized sheets can be operated from one shaft by a suitable selection of the change-gear driving each device. To compensate for the reduction of the pile, the suction apparatus may be supported on a vertical screw which is rotated to lower the apparatus by a ratchet mechanism, an adjustable member being provided in the path of the pawl by means of which its action and the amount of lowering can be adjusted to suit the thickness of the sheet. In this case, the sheets are forwarded by two pairs of rolls in a frame pivoted on the machine to be fed and resting on the feedapparatus, one pair of rolls being arranged adjacent to the machine, and the other adjacent to the feed supply. In a modification, the decreasing pile, which may be immersed in a tank of liquid, is lifted by a chain passing to a drum driven through worm gear from ratchet gear controlled as described above, or by a vertical screw similarly actuated by ratchet gear and supported on a trolly, the screw being provided with a squared head for operation, to raise an empty pile table, by a spanner adapted when out of use to rest in a recess on the table top.