US2259441A - Printer slotter roll adjustment - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 21, 1941. T. s. FITCHETT PRINTER SLOTTER ROLL ADJUSTMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 31, 1940 ll-llllul Oct. 21, I941.

PRINTER SLOTTER ROLL ADJUSTMENT T. s. FITCHETT 2,259,441

Filed May 31, 1940 2 SheetsSlieet 2 T/mmds 5E7'ahsi' I Grimm Patented Oct. 21, 1941 UNITED STATES oF c-E 2,259,441 PRINTER sito'rrnn ROLL Ian nsi'r unn'r Thomas S. Fitchett, Glen Arm, Md., assign0r. to

F. X. HooperCompany, Inc corporation of lvllaryland- Glen Arm, Md., a

Application May 31, 1940 s i rn ees is i Claims. (Cl. 101216) This invention relates to printer slotters used for printing and slotting carton blanks, the same being in the nature of an improvement on the R011 shaft adjustment described and claimed in United States Patent No. 2,191,988, granted to f F. X Hooper Company, Inc., on the application of Henry Bl Greenwood.

In response to the demand for machines of increased capacity, the operating speeds have been extensively increased and for the same reason the number of blanks supported on the machine for feeding and hence the weight of the pile of blanks supported at the feed end has been likewise increased. These blanks, before they reach this machine, are cut to the desired length,

The reciprocating feed in accordance with the 1.

present practice operates at a speed of approximately five hundred strokes per minute and the resulting vibration is of a destructive nature. Also the pressure rolls operate atcorrespondingly high speeds and pressures adding to the stresses to which the metal frames are subjected.

On account of the practice of using in the boxes and similar products made on these. machines, corrugated board of various thicknesses, "it is necessary to provide an a'djustment'of the pressure rolls to accommodate them to the different thicknesses of board. Up to the present time, the bearings of the rolls have been supported in sliding blocks which ride in slots in the frames, but this slotting of the frames has been found to remove so much of the material essential to the support of the rollers that the remaining portion of the frame are necessarily of excessive thickness and weight to give them adequate strength to resist the stresses above mentioned and the frames are not only very heavy but correspondingly expensive. Even with this excess thickness and weight of the frames, failure due to roll pressure and vibration cannot always be avoided.

An important object of the present invention is to provide for the adjustment of the roll to accommodate the machine to different thicknesses of material and at the same time to avoid the .adjustment of the bearings according to the previous practice andtofldo this to better advantage thanjin the'patent above cited.

I While eccentricjadjust nents have been used for this purpose, 1. e., one roll together with its driving gear'being moved eccentrically relatively to the otherhtherehas been great difficulty with thisflarrangem'ent on account of the shifting of the line of contact of thegears which results in ajgrinding noise due to excess friction. This friction results inQloss of power and also tends to ,reduce the life 'of' the gears an'dthere is further'objection to the noise which tires the workers and interferes with the efficiency of shop operation. i While the invention vof the previous patent above 'citedprovid'esflifor the shifting of the rollers inthe adjustment of the machine to different thicknesses of material, avoiding the slotting of the frame and shifting of gears relatively to each other; avoidinggthachang'e of contact with the consequent friction and gr nd ng action, the construction disclosed in the previous patent has thedisadvantage that a separate support for the gears connecting the pressure rollers whereby jone is driven fromjthe other has been found necessary thusincreasing the width of the machine and adding to th complication and increasing the number of parts" and involving a tendency'jto failure and change of the contact linecr pitch. lineofthe intermeshing gears.

The present flinventionirelates to an improved adjustmentwhereb'y the improved result above outlined is obtained, the additional outsid support'forthe gears beingeliminated, thus greatly simplifying the construction and reducing the overall width of the machine and economizing space without injany wayreducing the length of the roll or thecapacity of the machine.

'As the printer jslotte'r construction to which the adjustment of the present application has been applied corresponds directly to that shown in Fig. 1, Patent No. 2,191,988, further illustration of the machine as assembled is considered unnecessarya's such assembly drawing would be identical with said Fig.1; the roll adjustment of the present applic tion being applied to the same rolls to which the adjustment of the said previous patent is applied. The present adjustment may also'beapplied to whatever rollers in this type or other types of printer slotters may require'adjnstment transversely to their axis, i. e.,

to vary the grip of the rolls.

An important object of the present invention the slotting of the frame which is incident to 5 is to provide for adjustment or th pressure mm A as above defined.

one of the most important conditions to be maintained in the operation of a printer slotter because the exact depth of slot and the matching of the colors in printing is essential to a satisfactory product. The device of this invention keeps the gears permanently in perfect mesh and is the only arrangement of gearing which maintains this relation of the gears so that the gears always turn on a true pitch line and for this reason have no back lash or lost motion which would interfere with accurate timing. It is an important advantage of the present construction that a uniform angular relation of the rolls to and with the gears by which they are driven is maintained even though the centers of the rolls are shifted relatively to these gears in making the adjustment. Thus the uniform speed of the drive being maintained, the uniform angular speed of the rollers is likewise maintained, this being a condition which is essential to satisfac-,

tory operation of the machine.

Inthe accompanying drawings, I have illustrated a machine embodying the invention in the preferred form.

In the drawings:

t Fig. 1 is a vertical section through the axes of one pair of pressure rollers, showing the rollers in elevation and the bearings and adjustment features in section. 0

Fig. 2 is an elevation looking to the right from the line 22 in Fig. 1, the driving connection from the gear to the lower roll shaft being shown in section on said line.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, each of which is used to indicate the same or similar parts the difierent figures, the construction shown comprises right and left side frames I and 2 also upper pull rolls 28 mounted on a shaft 29 and lower roller 32 on shaft 1, the shaft 29 having secured thereto the gear 21 which may be driven from theprinter cylinder gear as in the previous instance. This gear 21 on the shaft of the upper pull roller meshes with and drives a gear 30, having a driving connection to the lower roller 32 in a manner to be 7 described.

In the form. of the invention'shown, the shaft 29 of the upper roller is mounted in suitable bearings IOI, I02 in the side frames I and 2 respectively, and the bearings I03, I04 for the shaft In of the lower adjustable roller 32 are mounted in rotatable disc like carriers or eccentrics I05 and I06 which fit rather closely in circular bearings I01, I08 in the side frames I and 2 respectively. The bearings I03 and I04 are eccentrically mounted in said carriers I05 and E05 in order'that the rotation of the said car- 'riers in their respective bearings may provide for adjustment of the roll 32 toand from the roll 28. Thus slotting of the frames is avoided and the full strength of the frame maintained with a relatively reduced weight of material as compared to the previous arrangements which provide adjustmentofthe rolls bymeans of slots The eccentrics or carriers I05 and I00 are provided with gear teeth I09, I I0 and there is an adjusting shaft III mounted in the frame below the roll 32 or in any convenient position, said adjusting shaft III being provided with pinions II2 secured thereto and having teeth meshing with the gear teeth I09, III! on the respective carriers I05, I06 whereby these carriers or eccentrics may be turned uniformly, giving a uniform and equal adjustment of the respective ends of the roll 32 or more particularly of bearings I03, I04 at the respective ends thereof, thus maintaining the roll grip uniform throughout the length of each pair of rolls, one of which is thus adjusted.

An important feature of the invention resides in the provision on th eccentric carrier I06 of an integral rigid bearing support II5 which is apertured longitudinally at II6 to receive and admit the end ofshaft II! of the roll 32 which turns freely therein, said bearing support II5 being concentric with the bearings I01 and I08 in the frames I and 2 and with the outer surfaces I0I I08 of said eccentrics I05, I08 50 that the position of the support H5 is constant and said support merely rotates about its axis when th roll 32 is adjusted the latter being shifted transversely to its axis. This support H5 in the form shown carries an anti-friction bearing II8 for the pressure roll drive gear 30 which gear rotates freely thereon. While there may be some variation in the position of support I I 5 the bearing H8 is essentially concentric with the axis of carriers I05 and I06. The bearing of the gear 30 being concentric with said axis is not shifted transversely to its axis and maintains its position throughout the adjustment, affording a stationary bearing for the gear when the roll adjustment is operated, and at all times.

The roll drive gear 30 is connected to the shaft end III of said gear in any suitable manner as by the floating cOuplingI20 to be described.

This coupling, as shown, comprises a disc I2! at the extreme left in Fig. 1 and rigidly secured to the end of the shaft H1 in any suitable manner as by means of a key I22, and this disc I2I, which has an extended hub portion I20, to provide sufiicient seating surface for the key is provided with pins I25 projecting to the right, i, e., toward the roller 32 in Fig. l and parallel to its axis and the pins may be provided with antifriction rollers I26. These rollers engage opposite slots I21 of radial tendency locatedin a floating disc I28. This disc is apertured at its center at I28 to encircle the hub I24 and is also provided with opposite radial slots I29 at right angles to the slots I21. These slots engage rollers I 30 or are otherwise engaged with correspondingly placed pins I3I seated in a disc or flange I32 integral with the hub of and spaced outwardly from the toothed portion of, the gear 30. It being understood in this connection that the center line of the opposite slots I2'I is at right angles to the center line of opposite slots I29, both these lines extend through or near the axis of the roll shaft I21. Thus the motion of the gear 30 is communicated to the shaft II! and to the roller 32 and suitable support for the bearings of the gear 30 is provided integral with the eccentric carrier I06 whereby the necessity for a separate support for said gear or its bearings as in the previous construction is avoided.

pIm'portant accomplishments of the invention are that the construction is made much more rigid and less liable to failure, and it is also simplified so that it can be built and assembled at a smaller cost and the overall dimension of the machine as measured parallel to the axis of the rolls is considerably reduced.

It should be understood that this adjustment is intended to be applied to all of the various rollers to which the corresponding adjustment in the above cited patent is applied as shown in said patent and to other rolls in this and similar machines.

It is important to note that as the roll 32 moves up and down in order to accommodate corrugated board of different thicknesses or the like, the position of the gear 30 is not changed and it should also be noted that the angular relation between the roll 32 and the gear 30 is constant and there is no relative shifting of the roll 32 relatively to the roll 28 due to the adjustment, reference being had to relative change of angularity.

Important advantages are increased compactness, simplicity, cheapness, reduced dimension, and reduced liability to failure and consequent reduction of service expense in the operation of the machine.

I have thus described specifically and in detail a single embodiment of my invention in order that the manner of constructing, applying, operating and using the same may be fully understood, however, the specific terms herein are used descriptively rather than in a limiting sense, the construction being capable of considerable variation in its application to the purpose in hand, and the scope of the invention is pointed out in the claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a printer slotter, a pair of co-operating rolls adapted to engage the opposite sides of a sheet to be fed by application of gripping pressure thereto to advance the sheet, one of said rolls having a shaft with bearings therefor at the opposite ends of said roll, a carrier for each said bearing, said carrier being rotatable about an axis which is parallel to but eccentrically located as to the axis of said bearings, a bearing support integral with one rotating carrier and a bearing thereon for a drive gear which bearing is concentric with the axis of said carrier, a drive gear for said roll rotating on the bearing on said support and a floating coupling providing a laterally variable driving connection from said gear to said roll shaft.

2. In a printer slotter having presser rolls and gears driving the respective rolls and bearings at the opposite ends of the rolls, a roll adjustment comprising a rotary eccentric carrier for the bearing at each end of one presser roll in which said bearings are eccentrically mounted and a bearing for the gear driving said latter roll, said gear bearing being mounted on one said carrier concentrically with the axis of the carrier.

3. In a printer slotter having a presser roll said roll being one of a pair of rolls adapted to engage opposite sides of a sheet to be advanced by application of gripping pressure thereto, said presser roll having a shaft and bearings therefor, a driving gear and a coupling providing lateral play, and connecting the gear to the roll, rotary carriers for said bearings, one of said carriers having a bearing support for the driving gear for said roll and a bearing for the gear on said support and concentric with the axis of said carrier, both bearings for the roll being eccentrically mounted in said carriers.

4. In a printer slotter a presser roll having a shaft and bearings therefor, and a driving gear, rotary carriers for said bearings, one of said carriers having a bearing support for the driving gear and a bearing thereon concentric with the axis of said carriers, the bearings for the roll being eccentrically mounted in said carriers, and a coupling providing a driving connection between said gear and said roll shaft, means for adjusting both said carriers simultaneously and equally about their centers to adjust the roll transversely to its axis, said coupling comprising a floating disc, a corresponding disc secured to said shaft on one side of the floating disc and a member rotating with the gear on the other side of the floating disc and pin and slot connections from the member to the floating disc on one side and from the shaft disc to the floating disc on the other side, the slots of one set of connections being at right angles to the slots of the other set of connections.

THOMAS S. FITCHETT.

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