IMPROVEMENTS IN MOVING THE ROLLERS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Friedrich Asthöwer and Toussaint Bicheroux doing
business under the firm of F. Asthöwer & Co. of Annin, Westphalia
Germany for an invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOVING THE ROLLERS OF
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Friedrich Asthöwer and
Toussaint Bicheroux at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
21st March 1882.
"
+
FRIEDRICH ASTHÖWER and TOUSSAINT BICHEROUX doing business under the
firm of F. Asthöwer & Co. of Annen Westphalia, Germany "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MOVING THE ROLLERS OF ROLLING MILLS FOR IRON STEEL AND OTHER METALS,
BY BELTS."
This invention relates to improvements in the manner in which motion is
imparted to the rollers in mills for rolling iron steel or other metals.
In actuating said rollers by toothed gearing, as was heretofore practised much
power is wasted much noise is produced and breakage frequently occurs by reason
of the jarring caused by the numerous couplings that have to be employed the
number of these latter being increased by the necessity for intermediate gear when
different pairs or sets of rollers have to be driven at different speeds.
The attempts to transmit power to such rollers by belts have heretofore been
limited to the first pair of rollers of a series, but by such means the number of
toothed wheels required is reduced by one pair only.
Now according to our invention we so arrange the means for transmitting power
to a train of rollers that the number of toothed wheels is greatly reduced and that
the relative speed of the various rollers, and the direction of their motion can be
easily varied.
One method of carrying our method into practice is as follows:
We arrange two driving shafts above the train of rollers. One of these shafts
receives its motion from a suitable source of power, the second shaft which is

page_text: parallel to the first is connected with the latter either by toothed gearing or by
belting in such a manner that the two shafts rotate at the same speed but in
opposite directions. If however these two shafts are so arranged as to revolve in
the same direction, some of the belts connecting the shafts with the rollers will
have to be crossed.
Power is, as will be readily understood transmitted from these shafts to the
rollers and in describing how different pairs may be actuated in different ways, we
do not wish to limit ourselves to the precise methods hereinafter indicated, as
these may be varied and any one or several of them may be applied alone or in
combination to any given train of rollers.
A pair of rollers may be driven by running a belt from each of the shafts to one
of the rollers so that one shaft provides power for the upper roller the other for the
lower one. If desired a separate standard may be provided for the pulley and the
pulley spindles in this case will be coupled with the rollers. The latter arrangement
prevents the belts exerting a torsional strain on the rollers, which in some cases
might be undesirable.
Three belts will suffice to drive two pair of rollers if the lower roller of one pair
and the upper roller of an adjoining pair are driven directly from the shafts
overhead whilst the other two rollers are coupled to the spindle of a pulley mounted
in a standard between the two pairs.
When three rollers are mounted in the same frame two may be driven directly
and the third from a pulley mounted in a separate standard.
Instead of using two shafts overhead one shaft only may be used
Power may
be transmitted therefrom to one of the rollers forming a pair (either to the upper
or to the lower one) and the two rollers may be connected at the side opposite to
that where the pulley is, by toothed gearing. The pulley may be mounted directly
upon a prolongation of the shaft of one of the rollers, or it may be mounted in a
separate standard and be coupled with the roller. Instead of toothed gearing cord
pulleys may connect two rollers forming one pair. The cord may be of India-
rubber or leather and about 70 to 80 millimetres in thickness. A good way of
connecting the ends thereof is to cut the same obliquely to lay them together and
wind said ends with wire.
Both the pulley for driving the rollers and the toothed gearing connecting the
same may run in standards separate from the roller frame.
In all the cases above referred to a series of ropes placed side by side may be
used instead of the belts.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Friedrich Asthöwer and Toussaint Bicheroux in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st September 1882.
FRIEDRICH ASTHOWER and TOUSSAINT BICHEROUX doing business under the
firm of F. Asthöwer and Co, of Annen Westphalia Germany. IMPROVEMENTS
IN MOVING THE ROLLERS OF ROLLING MILLS FOR IRON, STEEL AND OTHER METALS
BY BELTS.
Previous attempts to drive rolling mills for iron, steel, and other metals by
means of belting were limited to transmitting the engine power to one of the
driven pulleys by means of a belt instead of by means of a toothed wheel. This
method of transmitting the power is always unsatisfactory as it obviates only the
first pair of wheels whilst leaving the rest of the apparatus with its toothed
gearing coupling spindles and a great number of coupling boxes untouched. The
belt in such case has to transmit the entire power required for driving the whole
train of rollers, and moreover it is impossible without inserting special toothed
gearing to alter the speed of the several pairs of rollers in the train so as to obtain
an increased speed of the pairs following one another, in accordance with the
stretching effected by the preceeding ones. If it is desired to make the rollers
of different diameters (which would have the same effect) another difficulty has
to be met viz when power is brought from one side only the axes of the lower
rollers have all to be on the same line this would cause the upper rollers to be
placed at various heights, according to the difference in diameter of the pairs of
rollers and this would again have to be compensated for by special toothed gearing.
Arrangements of this kind however cause considerable waste of power, much noise
and much breakage.
In consideration of these circumstances we have devised the arrangements shown
in the annexed drawings and the object of our invention therefore is the method of
driving rolling mills by belting in such a manner that each pair of rollers has
perfectly independent motion.
Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings represent a rolling mill on our
system in which each individual roller is driven quite independently from the other
by a belt. To this end two driving shafts. A and B are mounted above the rollers,
and receive motion from any source of power either directly or indirectly. They
are coupled with one another either by toothed wheels as shewn in Figure 4 or by
special belt-gearing a secondary shaft c being inserted for the purpose (Figure 5);
in this case either the belt passing from the pulley a of the driven shaft A to the
pulley b must not be crossed and the belt passing back from C to B must be
crossed, or vice versa, the object being to cause the shafts A and B to rotate at the
same speed in opposite directions. If both shafts rotate in the same direction it
will be necessary to run part of the belts passing from the pulleys to the rollers
crossed and part not crossed we however prefer the first arrangement although we
do not wish to tie ourselves thereto.
Now at the pair I of the train of rollers shown in Figure 1 a belt passes from
the pulley 8 on the shaft A to the pulley of the lower roller whilst the belt from
pulley S on shaft B drives the upper roller; in some cases however the onesided
upward pull exerted upon the upper roller by the belt s¹ will be found dis-
advantageous, and we therefore provide separate standards st st¹ to afford bearings
for the pulleys below as may be seen at the pair of rollers II The journals of the
rollers in this case are connected with the journals of the pulley axles by a coupling
box but without a coupling spindle.

page_text: The pairs of rolls III and IV are arranged in such a manner that 3 belts suffice for
driving both as one belt drives (by means of a pulley mounted in the standard st³)
the lower roller of III and also the upper roller of IV, whilst the upper roller
of III and the lower roller of IV are directly driven by belts passing over pulleys
which are mounted (as in I) on a prolongation of the roller-journals. The set of
three rolls V is driven by three belts whereof two. act directly and the third by
a pulley mounted in a standard & t³.
The advantages of this method of driving the rolls are obvious, the rattling of
the coupling spindles which absorb an excessive amount of power and cause
constant jarring of the working parts, is obviated, suitable speed can be imparted
to the rolls by altering the dimensions of the pulleys so that by the use of the
method say in a wire drawing mill to each pair an appropriate degree of stretching
may be apportioned and so the formation of coils of the wire undergoing the
process of rolling can be exactly regulated, and finally the direction of the motion
can be determined in a very simple manner by choosing the shaft A or B for
driving the upper roller or the lower one. A further great advantage of driving
by belts is that clogging of the rolls will not have any injurious effect, but simply
cause the belts to be thrown off. Each of the belts has in this arrangement to
furnish a trifling amount of duty so that slipping of the belts during the operation
of rolling seems excluded.
If it is desired to work with fewer belts the arrangements illustrated in
Figures 6 and 8 may be adopted. In this one main shaft D only is required. In
the pair of rolls VI the upper one is driven by means of a belt, at VII however
the lower one is driven by belt in either case the journals opposite the pulley are
provided with cog wheels of equal size which produce rotation of the rolls at equal
speed but in opposite directions. At VI the driving pulley is fixed directly upon
the journal whilst at VII the axle coupled to the lower roll runs in a separate
<standard.
At the rolls VIII the upper roll is driven from a pulley mounted in a separate
standard whilst motion is transmitted to the lower roll by a strong cord of India-
rubber or leather passing over adjustable tightening rollers (VIII and
Figure 9.) and over cord pulleys mounted on the projecting journals of the rolls
as will be seen in Figure 9. Such a cord may appropriately be 70 to 80 millimeters
in thickness; for joining its ends they are cut off obliquely laid one over the other
and wound round with wire.
The pair of rolls IX is driven by a pulley and a separate pair of toothed wheels
and the pairs X and XI are driven jointly, separately mounted toothed gearing
being used by a pulley common to both.
.
It is as will be understood from the examples set. forth an easy matter to
alter the velocity, direction of movement and diameter of the rolls, and the
appropriate means for each case will be easily selected.
In all the above cases indicated several ropes, arranged side by side, may be used
for driving instead of belts and our method is not substantially affected thereby.
Having now described the nature of our said invention and the manner of
performing the same we wish it understood that what we claim and desire to
protect under the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is ;
First The method of driving the individual rolls of the pairs of rolls in a train
of rolls by means of belts or ropes off two power-transmitting shafts (without the
employment of toothed gearing) whether the belts or ropes run directly on pulleys
fixed on the projecting roll-axles or whether the spindle of the driving pulley is
mounted in a separate standard and coupled with the roll to be rotated, or both,
especially also when applied to a three high system as shown at V Figure 1.
Second-The method of driving the individual pairs of rolls in a train of rolls.
by the joint use of toothed gearing and of belts or ropes, the toothed wheels being
fixed either upon the projecting spindles of the rolls, or having bearings in separate:
standards and the application of this method of driving to two adjoining pairs of

page_text: rolls by means of a belt or rope pulley common to both as illustrated at X and XI
Figure 6.
Third The driving of the upper or the lower roll of a pair of rolls by belts or
ropes either directly or by a pulley mounted in a separate standard and by trans-
mitting the motion to the driven roll by means of strong cord running over
tightening pulleys as set forth in VIII Figures 6 and 9.
Fourth-The combination as may be desired of the methods of driving (set forth
in claims 1 to 4) the rolls or pairs of rolls of a train, or in further combination
with rolls or pairs of rolls driven by known methods.
In witness whereof we the said Friedrich Asthöwer and Toussaint Bicheroux
have hereunto set our hands and seals this twelfth day of September in the
year of Our Lord Oue thousand eight hundred and eighty two.