Improvements in Mechanical Feed Devices, applicable to Ironing, Printing, Folding, and like Machinery.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Jan., 1897-Accepted, 17th Apr., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mechanical Feed Devices, applicable to Ironing,
Printing, Folding, and like Machinery.
I, EDWARD WATSON BUELL, of 395, Fifth Avenue, Chicago, in the County of
Cook, and State of Illinois, United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to mechanical feeding devices which may be employed for
feeding material usually in sheet form and without regard to lateral or longitudinal
dimensions, or the number of plies; iu fact, the invention may be employed or
applied to all of that character of machinery which operates upon materials in sheet
form of which class of machinery may be mentioned ironing machines, printing
machines, folding machines, and in fact any machinery which treats or operates
upon material that is preferably or necessarily fed in successive pieces. There may
be many instances in which such material is not, strictly speaking, in the sheet
form, so that the invention or any use of the same is not limited to this particularly-
specified form of material.
The construction, mode of operation, results and advantages of the present
invention will be set forth in the following description and the accompanying
drawings which illustrate what appears to me to be a practical illustration of one
of the many forms of mechanism which may be employed in a practical application
of my invention to the principal elements of machines of the class referred to.
Among the objects of the present invention may be mentioned the following:
To automatically adjust the tension of the apron to ensure the keeping in position
of the said apron under all circumstances and to prevent its running to one side
and folding up; to provide for the shrinking and stretching of the apron and to
permit it to accommodate itself in accordance with the amount of moisture imparted
thereto by, or absorbed from, the goods being passed over said apron. It has been
found from practice that the apron by becoming wet by the moisture from the
goods is liable to get too tight and to run hard which has a tendency to wear
out the apron.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter appear in the
following description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out
in the appended claims.
Referring to the drawings:
Figure 1 illustrates a side elevation of my improved feeding device with a portion
of the frame-work of the machine to which the device is applied and with the roll
or drum and heating devices of such machines shown diagrammatically and in end
elevation.
Figure 2 is a partial plan of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a substantially-central, vertical, longitudinal section.
Figure 4 is a detail partly in elevation and partly in section showing the support of
the small roller and its tension spring, and
Figure 5 is a vertical, cross section with a portion broken away, the section
being taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.
Like letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views.

page_text: Referring now to the details of the drawings by letter, A designates a roll, which
in a mangle may be the clothed roll or cylinder or in paper-working machinery one
of the primary feed rolls. B designates the co-operating device which in paper-
working machines may be the other feed roll, as indicated by dotted lines, or in
laundry machinery such as a mangle it may be the heated roll, or, as indicated by
full lines, it may be the steam pan often used in lieu of a heated roll, but serving
substantially the same function in connection with the clothed roll A as does the
heated roll, or in either class of machinery these devices may be reversed, i.e. A may
represent the impression cylinder and B the printing cylinder of paper-working
machines, and similar modifications may be made in the various classes of machinery
to which the invention may be applied.
My invention embodies the use of the well-known feeding apron, band or belt,
that is to say the apron C may be either a single piece of material or practically
the entire width of the operative portion of the machine to which it is applied, or it
may be of two or more pieces of any required width, so long as it is endless or
mounted for operation after the manner of apron feeds as heretofore constructed.
D represents the frame-work for the parts constituting my present improvement. It
is shown as capable of having slight movement upon a pivotal support d, and a brace-
rod D having provision for longitudinal adjustment is connected with the rod d'
at the lower portion of said frame and to some fixed part D 2, as
Figure 1.
seen in
E is a transverse shaft carrying the driving roll F and upon each end thereof is a
loose sprocket-wheel G. H are chains passing over said sprocket-wheels and over
smaller sprocket wheels H at the opposite end of the bed and to these chains are
connected the side edges of the belt or apron C, as indicated best in Fig. 5.
The ends of the shaft E are mounted in movable bearings E adapted to move in
suitable guides upon opposite sides of the elongated slot e, in the side of the frame D,
it being understood that there are two of these frames one upon each side of the
machine, and these bearings are adapted to adjust themselves automatically in
accordance with the shrinking and stretching of the apron.
I are screw-threaded rods, one connected with each bearing and passed through a
lug or projection i, on the frame.
I is a spring, one upon each of these rods, and one end of each spring being
seated in a socket in the outer face of the bearing, as indicated in Fig. 1, and the
other end bearing against the plate or collar which is arranged adjustable by
means of the nut l' as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 so that the tension of the spring I¹
may be regulated as circumstances may require. This spring serves normally to
automatically adjust the tension on the apron; when the apron gets wet and tightens
up, the spring also will draw up and when the apron gets dry, it will automatically
return to its normal position.
K is a spring around the shaft E of the roller F being located in a socket or
depression in a casting in the end of the roller as indicated, and serving to keep the
apron from running to one side, the outer end of the spring finding a bearing against
the sprocket wheel G.
The smaller sprocket wheel H' is carried by a forked piece L which is mounted
for end wise movement in the portion X of the frame, and is provided with a lug 1,
against which is designed to act a spring L' confined within a socket or recess in
said portion of the frame, as seen more clearly in Fig. 4, the construction being
such that the roller H¹ is adjustable automatically, so that when the driving roll is
adjusted the chain will always keep a tension and be held against jumping from
the sprocket-wheel.
On the shaft h, which carries this sprocket-wheel and which is held in the
bifurcated end of the fork L is a collar or plate M. which serves as a guide for and
prevents outward movement of the chain and consequent lateral movement of the
apron or belt. A spring M¹ arranged around this shaft between the inner arm of
the fork and the sprocket-wheel serves in connection with the sprocket-wheel H¹

page_text: and the larger sprocket-wheel G and spring K to keep the apron from running off to
one side, it being understood that the sprocket G is loose upon the shaft and that the
roll F does all of the driving.
The frame is suitably braced by brace- or truss-rods, as circumstances may
require.
n,
The bed N may be of any approved form of construction, and provided at its
upper end with an extension N₁ in the form of a metallic plate extending the entire
width of the machine and over which the apron is designed to run as indicated
in Fig. 3. This plate or extension has its upper end compressed slightly as seen at
and the extreme upper edge turned slightly upward as seen at n¹, and rounded, as
seen best in Fig. 3, so as to give to the goods a tendency to turn upward instead of
drop down. Beneath this extension at the upper end is the plate O in the form
of an angle-iron in which is held the wooden block O' the under face of which is
rounded and tapered up at the ends so as to allow the chains to run practically
straight, while the apron travels in the path seen in Fig. 3 and by dotted lines
in Fig. 1.
P is a truss rod disposed in close proximity to the vertical portion of the angle-iron
as indicated in Fig. 3, and this truss-rod is engaged between its ends in the lower
ends of the depending arms or brackets P¹ beneath the extension N'. The ends of
the said truss-rod are extended through the side portions X¹ of the frame as seen best
in Fig. 5 and receiving a nut a¹ so that the same may be adjusted as occasion
may require. This truss-rod serves to prevent sagging of the iron plate in the
middle. The block O¹ prevents contact of the apron with its truss-rod.
In some classes of machines working upon certain characters of materials it may
be necessary or advisable to employ a surface-roller in order to maintain the material
in its flat, smooth condition upon the apron as it moves in the direction of the arrow
in Fig. 3 carrying said material to the machine designed to operate thereupon, and
I have shown such a roller Q which may be supported in suitable bearings above the
apron as indicated, in this instance the bearings being shown in the lugs or vertical
portions q, extending upward from the side of the frame. This roller may be
removably supported in its bearings so as to be removed when not desired for use, and
is shown as capable of automatic adjustment so as to permit of the passage of articles
having buttons or other protuberances thereupon without injury to the goods or to
the machine.
In practice the feed device may be applied to the machine in proper position in any
desired manner; in this instance, it is shown as held to the frame R of such machine
in such manner as to be adjustable thereupon as circumstances may require, the side
portions R having elongated slots through which pass the set screws S which
provide for the necessary adjustment and further adjustment is provided for when
necessary by the adjustable holt T, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2 but other means of
adjustment of the feed device to the machine to which it is to be applied may be
provided.
Operators of machinery intended for treating textile fabrics, paper, cloth, leather,
sheet metal or plastics and familiar with the peculiar characteristics of each of
these materials can readily adjust these mechanical feed devices to the necessities
of the case.
By the means of the adjustment provided the tension of the apron is controllable
independently of the amount of its surface contact with the roll and the mechanical
feed may be thoroughly tempered to any peculiarities existing in the material to be
operated upon. The automatic adjustment and action of the parts tends to greatly
facilitate the work, lessens the necessity of attention on the part of the operator and
ensures the apron running more evenly and of more regular tension and will be kept
nuch drier than aprons under similar circumstances in devices as previously
constructed.
Modifications in detail may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the
nvention or sacrificing any of its advantages,

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The combination with a roll and an endless apron and its moving and guiding
mechanisms, of means for automatically adjusting the tension on said apron,
substantially as described.
2. The combination with a roll and an endless apron and its moving mechanism, of
means permitting the automatic adjustment of the apron in accordance with the
shrinking and stretching thereof, substantially as described.
3. The combination with a roll and an endless apron and with its moving and
guiding mechanisms, of an apron-supporting bed having an extension, the upper
extreme end of which is turned upward and rounded and over which said apron passes,
substantially as described.
4. The combination with a roll and an endless apron, of an apron-supporting bed,
an extension at the upper end thereof having its extreme end turned upward and
rounded, the said apron being arranged to move in direct contact with said rounded
portion, substantially as described.
5. The combination with an apron-supporting bed and an endless apron, of means
for moving said apron, and mechanism for deflecting the apron from its path,
substantially as described.
6. The combination with an apron-supporting bed and an endless apron, of chains
to which the edges of the apron are attached, means for moving said chains, and
means for deflecting the apron out of the plane traversed by said chains, substantially
as described.
7. The combination with a roll and an endless apron, of a framework for supporting
said apron and its mechanism mounted adjustably to and from and independently of
said roller, and means for automatically adjusting the tension of said apron,
substantially as described.
8. The combination with a roll and an endless apron, of a framework for supporting
said apron and its mechanism mounted adjustably to and from and independently
of said roller, means for automatically adjusting the tension of said roller, and
means for preventing lateral displacement of the apron, substantially as described.
9. The combination with an endless apron, of the chains to which the edges of
said apron are connected, of the sprockets over which said chains pass, and a driving
roll on the shaft of which one of said sprockets is loosely mounted, substantially as
described.
10. The combination with an endless apron, of the chains to which the edges of
said apron are connected, of the sprockets over which said chains pass, a driving roll
on the shaft of which one of said sprockets is loosely mounted, and springs
around the ends of said shaft acting upon the sprockets, substantially as described.
11. The combination with the roller and its shaft mounted in spring-held
bearings, of sprockets loose on said shaft, springs around the shaft bearing against
the sprockets, and spring-held arms carrying the other sprockets, substantially as
described.
12. The combination with the roller and its shaft mounted in spring-held
bearings, of sprockets loose on said shaft, springs around the shaft bearing
against the sprockets, spring-held arms carrying the other sprockets, and means
for deflecting the apron out of the plane of the chains, substantially as described.
13. The combination with the frame having sockets, of the forked pieces at
opposite sides of the frame mounted to move endwise in guides therein, and having
lugs disposed in said sockets, sprockets carried by the shafts mounted in said
arms, and springs located in the sockets and bearing on the lugs, substantially as
described.
14. The combination with the frame having sockets, of the forked pieces at
opposite sides of the frame mounted to move endwise in guides therein, and having
lugs disposed in said sockets, sprockets carried by the shafts mounted in said arms,

page_text: springs located in said sockets and bearing on the lugs, and collars on said shaft,
substantially as described.
15. The combination with the frame having sockets, of the forked pieces at
opposite sides of the frame mounted to move endwise in guides therein and having
lugs disposed in said sockets, sprockets carried by the shafts mounted in said arms,
springs located in the sockets and bearing on the lugs, collars on said shaft, and
springs around said shaft bearing against the inner faces of the sprockets substantially
as described.
16. The combination with the side frames and the truss-rod connecting the same,
of the bed and its extension, and a block disposed beneath said extension and having
rounded under face to deflect the apron out of the plane traversed by its moving
chains, substantially as described.
17. The combination with the side frames and the truss-rod connecting the same,
of the bed and its extension, a block disposed beneath said extension and having
rounded under face to deflect the apron out of the plane traversed by its moving
chains, and an angle plate disposed beneath the extension and in which said block is
located, substantially as described.
18. The combination with the roll and an endless apron having its supporting
mechanism mounted independent of that of the roll and adapted to support the apron
with relation to the roll, and means for automatically adjusting the tension of the
apron, substantially as described.
19. The combination with an endless apron and its supporting bed, of means for
automatically controlling the tension on the apron and for automatically preventing
lateral displacement of such apron during its travel; substantially as described.
Dated this 18th day of January 1897.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents or the Applicant.