Claims:
What we claim is
1. A guiding roller structure, which includes: a shaft having a pivot at each end, a plurality of substantially axially aligned tubular mantle sections surrounding said shaft and being rotatably supported thereby, said tubular sections extending over the major portions of the length of said shaft and their outer surface forming the guiding surface of said guiding roller structure, each of said pivots of said shaft adjacent the outer ends of the end mantle sections having two substantially plane and parallel guiding surfaces located opposite each other, bushing means respectively arranged around said pivots, each of said bushing means having its inside provided with two substantially parallel sides longer than that diameter of the pertaining pivot which is located in that plane of symmetry of the pertaining pivot which is parallel to said parallel guiding surfaces thereof so as to permit a relative displacement of said bushing means with respect to the pertaining pivot, two self-aligning antifriction bearing means respectively interposed between said bushing means and the adjacent end portion of the respective adjacent tubular section for rotatably supporting the latter, and actuating means respectively associated with said bushing means and operable independently of each other from the outside of said roller structure for effecting a relative movement of said bushing means with respect to the pertaining pivot to thereby adjust the respective adjacent end portion of the respective adjacent tubular section relative to said shaft.
2. A guiding roller structure according to claim 1, in which said shaft is surrounded by three substantially axially aligned tubular mantle sections, separate bearing means being provided for rotatably supporting said mantle sections independently of each other.
3. A guiding roller structure according to claim 1, in which each of said actuating means respectively associated with said bushing means includes: bolt means extending through and connected to the pertaining pivot and having one end provided with a threaded hole, and a threaded pin axially non-displaceably connected to the pertaining bushing means and threadedly and adjustably engaging the threaded hole in said bolt means.
Description:
The present invention relates to guiding rollers for calenders, especially glazing calenders, with a tubular mantle rotatable by bearing means about a stationary axle, said mantle being divided along at least one plane perpendicular to its longitudinal axis.
For purposes of guiding the goods on calenders, customarily guiding rollers are employed which are intended to so influence the path of the goods or web of goods from one calender gap or bite to the other that no air or steam bubbles and folds of the goods move into the bite of the rollers.
The heretofore customary guiding rollers with undivided tubular roller mantle do not afford any possibility of compensating for a bend. Therefore, the diameter of such guiding rollers should be so selected that the bend of the guiding roller remains within small limits. However, with increasing calender width, continuously increasing guiding roller diameters become necessary. As a result thereof, the distance between the guiding roller and thus also between the servicing platform and the roller gap or bite increases automatically whereby the manual introduction of the web of goods into the bite is made considerably more difficult. Moreover, the large fly wheel or gyrating mass of such guiding rollers impedes the starting of such guiding rollers and their movement by the frictional forces of the web of goods as well as the stopping of such guiding rollers when a tear occurs in the web of goods.
In order to compensate for the bend of guiding rollers having a great length, guiding rollers have been suggested which are provided with a mantle of two tubular sections which are rotatable one behind the other through the intervention of two self-aligning bearings and are journalled on a stationary shaft. While the bearing means arranged toward the center of the roller are always concentrically supported by the axle, the two bearings at the ends of the guiding roller are adapted through the intervention of two eccentric bushings arranged one within the other to be adjusted eccentrically in conformity with the bend of the axle. This compensation of the bend by means of eccentric bushings is, however, not possible during the movement of the goods. However, it is desirable to effect the compensation of the bend of the guiding roller during the movement of the goods because the magnitude of the axial bend as well as its angular position depends on the resultant from the weight of the roller and the uneven and mostly unknown pulling forces of the web of goods. Even if the pulling forces of the web of goods are known, also the looping as well as the incoming and outgoing angle of the guiding rollers change after each roller change in conformity with the roller diameter. This fact brings about a change in the bend of the guiding roller.
In view of the division of the roller mantle of the guiding roller into two tubular sections which are rotatable independently of each other on the stationary axle, it is possible, in contrast to an undivided roller mantle, to obtain a decrease in the diameter in view of the fact that the bearing distance has been halved. With large calender widths, however, the central axle load of guiding rollers with halved mantle does not for static reasons correspond to a diameter for the guiding roller which does not correspond any longer to the desired size.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a guiding roller for calenders, especially glazing calenders, which will be free from the drawbacks of the above mentioned guiding rollers.
This object and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows the arrangement of a guiding roller with regard to the pertaining calender rollers.
FIG. 2 illustrates a heretofore known guiding roller with a two-sectional roller mantle and with the stress analysis pertaining thereto.
FIG. 3 represents a guiding roller according to the invention with a three-sectional roller mantle and the stress analysis pertaining thereto.
FIG. 4 represents a longitudinal section through a guiding roller according to the invention.
FIG. 5 illustrates on a larger scale than that of FIG. 4 an adjusting device according to the invention for compensating for a bend of the guiding roller.
FIG. 6 is a cross-section taken along the line VI--VI of FIG. 5.
The guiding roller according to the present invention is characterized primarily in that a bushing is placed over the axle end pivot while the cylindrical surface section of the bushing has by means of a self-aligning bearing rotatably journalled thereon the outer end of each roller mantle section, said bushing being displaceable relative to the axle end pivots by hydraulic, pneumatic or mechanical adjusting means through the intervention of the flat guiding surfaces of the bushing and a section of the axle end pivots which have parallel plane surfaces. The said adjusting means engage bolts rigidly connected to said pivots and extending perpendicularly thereto or therethrough.
The present invention thus consists in a novel eccentric adjusting device to compensate for the axial bend of the guiding roller, said adjusting device being operable during the movement of the goods and during the rotation of the mantle of the guiding roller.
According to a further development of the invention, the roller mantle may consist of three tubular sections which in the longitudinal direction of the roller are arranged one behind the other and which are independently of each other rotatable on the roller shaft. In view of the three-sectional mantle of the guiding roller, a further reduction in the diameter of the guiding roller can be realized over a heretofore known guiding roller with a two-sectional mantle.
According to a further advantageous development of the invention, the means for compensating for the axial bend may consist of a screw engaging a threaded bore in the bolt and being rotatably but longitudinally non-displaceably radially inserted into the bushing. Instead of these mechanics, also hydraulically or pneumatically actuated means may be provided for compensating the bend of the guiding roller.
Referring now to the drawings in detail, FIG. 1 illustrates the arrangement of a guiding roller 1 relative to the calender rollers 2 which latter with each other form the roller gap or bite 3. On its path from one bite 3 to the next bite 3, the web of goods 4 hits the guiding roller 1 at the incoming angle 5 and leaves the guiding roller 1 after forming a looping angle 6 at the outgoing angle 7. The pulling force 8 exerted by the web of goods at the incoming side, the pulling force 9 of the goods on the outgoing side, and the vertical force of gravity 10 of the guiding roller 1 together produce the resulting force 11 on which the bend of the guiding roller depends. It will be obvious that changes in the angles 5, 6 and 7 as they occur frequently when the diameter of the calender rollers 2 is changed, will influence or affect the size and angular position of the bend of the guiding roller 1.
From a comparison of the dynamic stress diagrams for guiding roller 1 with a two-sectional mantle 14 (FIG. 2) and for a three-sectional roller mantle 14-16 (FIG. 3), the advantage of a three-sectional roller mantle design over a two-sectional roller mantle design will be obvious. The tubular roller mantle sections 14, 15 and 16 are individually through two self-aligning bearings 15 each rotatably journalled on the stationary shaft 12 of guiding roller 1, shaft 12 being supported at 13. The force arrows of the respective load diagrams receive the friction of the resultant force 11 from FIG. 1. The highest load force in the guiding roller center is, in conformity with the guiding roller according to the invention having a three-sectional roller mantle, considerably smaller than with the heretofore known two-sectional design of the roller mantle according to FIG. 2.
The adjusting device according to the invention for compensating for an axial bend will now be described in connection with FIGS. 4-6. The three tubular sections 14, 16 and 14a are in axial arrangement one behind the other by means of self-aligning bearings 15 rotatably journalled on the stationary guiding roller shaft 12. The guiding roller shaft 12 is by means of its pivots 12a supported in customary manner in bearings 13 which are mounted on supports 17 on the bearing housing of the calender rollers or the connecting surfaces of the calender stands.
The outer bearings 15 of the tubular sections 14, 14a do not directly rest on the shaft 12 but rest on a cylindrical surface section of a bushing 18 which surrounds the pivots 12a. In bushing 18 there is provided a flat guiding surface 20a through which extend the shaft pivots 12a. The pivots 12a are within the region of the flat surface means 20a of bushing 18 provided with parallel plane surfaces 20 which are located opposite to adjacent plane surfaces 18a of the bushing 18. Bushing 18 is displaceably guided with its surface means 18a by said plane surfaces 20. The spacing between the oppositely located plane surfaces of the pivot 12a therefore corresponds to the width of the flat guiding surface means 18a the height of which is greater than the diameter of the pivot section which passes through the flat guiding surface means 18a.
In order to permit a compensation of a bend of the guiding roller, according to the illustrated embodiment of the invention, a bolt 21 passes through each pivot 12a and is rigidly connected thereto by means of a transverse bolt 22. Instead of this arrangement, however, also a bolt could be welded to or screwed into the pivot 12a in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of pivot 12a.
Means referred to in detail further below are provided for displacing the bushing 18 and the ends of the tubular sections 14, 14a of the roller mantle which sections are journalled on the bushing 18. These means engage the pivots 12a of the guiding roller shaft 12 eccentrically with regard to the pivots 12a through the intervention of the respective bolt 21 and through the flat guiding surface means 18a in bushing 18. In this way, when the guiding roller shaft is bent, an alignment of the tubular sections of the roller mantle can be realized. Over heretofore known eccentric adjusting devices, the novel and advantageous feature of the present invention is seen in the possibility of effecting the adjustment during the operation, i.e. during the rotation of the guiding roller, so that a straightening of the roller mantle can be obtained when an axial bend occurs.
According to the illustrated embodiment, to this end, a screw 19 is radially rotatably inserted into the bushing 18 but is longitudinally non-displaceable. Screw 19 has its threaded section 19a in threaded engagement with an axial threaded bore 21a of bolts 21. When rotating screw 19, its threaded section 19a will more or less enter the threaded bore 21a of bolt 21 whereby the bushing 18 and consequently also the roller mantle sections 14, 14a rotatably journalled thereon are displaced relative to the pivot 12a. In this way all axial bends can directly during the movement of the goods be compensated for in such a way that the roller mantle sections are in alignment with each other, in other words, that their mantle lines in spite of the axial bend of shaft 12 extend approximately parallel to each other.
For effecting a stepless adjustment of any angular position of shaft 12 for purposes of compensating for an axial bend in any direction, a clamping connection 23 (FIG. 4) may be provided. The guiding roller shaft 12 can be arrested after a rotation in any desired position. In view of the rotation of the guiding roller shaft 12 and the flat surface 20 thereof, also surface 18a and bushing 18 rotate so that a bend of the guiding roller shaft 12 in any angular position can be compensated for by the above mentioned adjusting means according to the invention.
It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular construction shown in the drawings but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.