Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
2~ 836
The presen~ invention relates to an apparatus for
manufacturing shaped metallic sections by feeding metal
strips between mated palrs of cooperating shaping rollers.
More particularly, the present invention ls concern~d with a
device which enables to substantially instantaneously change
over from one set of cooperating rollers to another in order
to start producing a different metallic section, without
having to interrupt the production line for an important
period of time. Specifically, the present invention relates
to a roll former with quick automated tool changer.
In the manufacture of shaped metallic sections, it
is well known that whenever a new design is to be produced,
the operation of the machine must come to a halt, and the
various metal shaping rollers have to be dismantled and
replaced by others which will give the new design. This
operation will cause the machine to be out of use for a
period which sometimes may extend up to three or four days.
In addition to being cumbersome ar~d time consuming, since the
change over means a substantial loss of production time, this
operation is obviously extremely costly due to the lack of
production during that period.
In the field of metal shaping, the prior art would
not seem to suggest an easy way to change over from one set
of rolls to another when a new design is required for the
manufacture of shaped metallic sections. U.S. Patent No.
3,306,197 relates to alternative print drums for applying
indicia to one surface of a moving sheet or web. These drums
are alternatively usable by rotating a common shaft carrying
them. U.S. Patent No. 1,443,164 on the other hand describes a
plurality of rotatable marking wheels enabling wheel changes
Z~1~.)083~
to suit pieces to be marked. Other reEerences of interest
include U.S. Patent Nos. 3,400,657; 3,730,080; 4,286,451; and
4,776,194.
It will be noted that the prior art does not teach
the rapid change of me-tal shaping rollers in apparatuses for
forming shaped metallic sections.
It is therefore an object of the present invention
to provide a machine including a plurality of metal shaping
rollers adapted to produce various preselected designs and
which can be rapidly changed over to vary the designs of the
metallic shaped sections.
In accordance with the present invention, there is
provided an apparatus for manufacturing shaped metallic
sections by feeding metal strips between mated pairs of
cooperating shaping rollers, and obtaining different sections
therewith. The apparatus comprises first rotatable means
holding a plurality of first metal shaping rollers and second
rotatable means mounted opposite the first rotatable means
and holding a plurality of second metal shaping rollers. The
first metal shaping rollers are formed with specific metal
shaping patterns which differ from roller to roller, and the
second metal shaping rollers are shaped so that a given
second roller meshes with one only first roller. There are
provided means enabling to rotate the first rotatable means
and the second rotatable means so as to oppositely dispose a
given first roller and a corresponding second roller to
provide a strip of metal with a predetermined section, means
locking the first and second rotatable means in positions
relative to one another corresponding to predetermined shaped
metallic sections, and means to unlock the first and second
z~)00836
rotatable means f.rom a given locked position producing a
predetermined shaped metallic section, and to rotate same to
another position producing a different metallic section.
The invention will now be illustrated by means of
an embodiment, it being understood that the invention is not
limited to that embodiment. In the drawings, which illustrate
the invention,
FIGURE 1 is a schematic representation of a roller
holder arrangement according to the invention;
FIGURE 2 is a view in elevation partly in
cross-section of an apparatus for manufacturing shaped
metallic sections according to the invention;
FIGURE 3 is a schematic illustration of a frame
support and rollers to be used when the device operates
simultaneously with two sets of rollers in an internal duplex
mode, one set of rollers being movable with respect to the
other set; and
FIGURE 4 is a schematic illustration of a frame
support and rollers to be used when the device operates
simultaneously with two sets of rollers in an external duplex
mode, the two sets operating independently.
With reference to the drawings which illustrate a
preferred embodiment to which the present invention is not
necessarily restricted, it will be seen that the apparatus
which is illustrated generally comprises a housing which
includes an inner frame support 1 and an outer frame support
3, each being vertically mounted respectively on base
supports 5 and 7. Between the frame supports 1 and 3, there
are disposed an upper turret head 9 and a lower turret head
11, both being rotatable around horizontal axes defined by
shafts 13 and 15.
Z~)( )(~83~;
Figure 2 shows only two rollers being carried by
each upper and lower -turret head 9 and 11, namely upper
rollers 17 and 19 carried by upper turret head 9 and rollers
21 and 23 carried by lower turret head ll. Of caurse, since
we are dealing with the Eield of metal shaping, the rollers
are intended to be used in pairs to complement one ~nother.
For example, roller 17 is intended to be used along with
roller 21, while roller l9 is intended to be used along with
roller 23. In addition, although Figure 2 shows only two
rollers for each turret head, it is obvious that a turret
head will normally carry at least two and most of the time
more than two, e.g. three or more rollers as shown
schematically in Figure 1. In addition a machine can consist
of a succession of upper and lower turret heads 9,11 if the
pattern needed requires it, it being understood that a pair
of upper and lower turret head will be equivalent in
construction to any other pair following it. The present
invention will therefore be described with reference to a
single pair of oppositely disposed upper and lower turret
head, although a machine according to the invention may
comprise a plurality of such pairs.
Included with the machine is of course a driving
unit which includes a reduction unit 25 and two universal
couplings 27,29 which will be used to drive an upper and a
lower roller for the purpose of producing a particular
design. Of course, other means of driving the shaping rollers
can be used as will readily be apparent to one skilled in the
art without departing from the scope and spirit of the
present invention.
2t-)()0836
The inner frame support 1 is formed with an upper
bore 31 and a lower bore 33, while the outer frame support 3
has an upper opening 35 which is in exact alignment with the
bore 31 and a lower openin~ 37 which is in exact alignment
with the bore 33. A sleeve 39 is disposed in known manner in
bore 31 and it will be noted that the sleeve 39 extends
exteriorly of the bore 31 on the side of the frame support 1
facing frame support 3, into a gear housing 41. The turret
head 9 will therefore be seen to consist of a rotary roller
holder 43 which is mounted over the gear housing 41 and is
adapted to rotate relative thereto by means of a system of
ball bearings 45 as is well known to those skilled in the
art. The turret head also comprises roller holder 47 which
is mounted on the shaft 13 and is adjacent to the outer frame
support 3, all as shown in Figure 2 of the drawings.
The rotary roller holders 43 and 47 are connected
together by means of shaft axle 13 which is fixedly engaged
at one end at 49 in the central part of the rotary roller
holder 43 while the other end of the shaft axle 13 extends
through a bore 53 provided in the rotary roller holder 47 and
in the opening 35 provided in the other frame support 3 where
it is freely rotatable by being supported with a system of
ball bearing 55, into a ratchet clutch 57 which enables, in
known manner, to precisely rotate the turret head when a
change of metal shaping rollers is indicated. Of course, the
turret head 11 may be rotated by other means known to those
skilled in the art without departing from the present
invention. It will therefore be seen that since the rotary
roller holder 43 is freely rotatable over the gear housing
41, and the rotary roller holder 47 is fixedly mounted on the
shaft axle 13 while the latter has its outer end freely
Z~1~)0836
rotatable in -the opening 35, -the turre-t head 9 can easily be
rotated around the shaft axle 13 until a suitable metal
shaping roller is placed in a position, in cooperation with a
lower roller, to provide a specific metallic s~ction in a
strip of me~al.
Although this invention is being described only
with reference to turret head 9, it is obvious that turret
head 11 is similar in all respect except that it is a mirror
of turret 9. The description will therefore be restricted
exclusively to turret head 9.
Referring again to the drawings, it has been
mentioned above that the sleeve 39 extends into a gear
housing 41 which is located inside the rotary roller holder
43. The gear housing 41 contains a gear driving mechanism
which is intended to transmit motorized power from the motor
25, universal joint 27, to a selected metal shaping roller
~uch a8 17 ns illustrated in the drawlngs.
For this purpose, there is provided a driving shaft
59 which is rotatably mounted in the sleeve 39 and is coupled
in known manner at its inner end 61 to the universal joint
27. At the outer end of the driving shaft 59, inside the
gear housing 41 there is a fixedly mounted gear 63. A gear
65 which meshes with the gear 63 at 67 is mounted on a shaft
69 over which it is allowed to freely rotate. The gear 65 is
allowed to partly extend outside gear housing 41 at 71.
At this time, it is essential that the mounting of
the metal shaping roller 17 which respect to the rotary
roller holders 43 and 47 be described, it being understood
that all the other metal shaping rollers 19, 21, 23 and
others will be the same. The metal shaping roller 17 is
fixedly mounted, in known manner, over a roller shaft 73
Z~0C)836
having an end 75 ro~atably mounted in the rotary roller
holder 47 while the o-ther end is provided with a gear 77
fixedly mounted over the roller shaft 73 and being engageable
with the portion 71 of the gear 65. It will therefore be
seen that when a metal shaping roller, such as 17, is placed
in operating position as shown in the drawings, gear 77 will
engage with gear 65 which is engaged with gear 73 the latter
being rotated through shaft S9, universal coupling 27 and
reduction unit 25. In other words, when one specific metal
section is required, the upper and lower rotary roller
holders 43 and 47 are rotated until appropriate upper and
lower metal shaping rollers are placed opposite one another,
such as 17 and 21 as shown in the drawings, with the gear 77
being engaged by the gears 65 which is engaged by the gear
63. The result would be a production of a metal section
shaped by the rollers 17 and 21.
The rotary roller holder 43 contains a number of
locking bores 79 while the rotary holder 47 contains a
corresponding number of locking bores 81. A corresponding
number of spring loaded locking pins (and/or air cylinders)
83 are transversely mounted in frame support 1 and similar
locking pins 85 are transversely mounted in frame support 3.
These pins are well known to those skilled in the art. The
only requirement is that they should be insertable in
appropriate bores 79 or 81 upon proper alignment. When the
pins are engaged in the locking bores, the apparatus is
locked in a position where two cooperating rollers are
adapted to produce a particular metallic section. When a
change ovPr of design is needed, the spring loaded locking
pins 83,85 are pulled from the bores 79,81, the roller
2~ 836
holders are rota-ted until cooperating rollers capable of
forming a new design are placed opposite one another and the
pins are thereafter inserted into the locking bores.
In order to impart flexibility to the device
according to the invention, for example ~o enable it to be
used in conjunction with rollers of various lengths, it is
preferable that the inner frame support 1 be fixed relative
to the base support 5 while the outer frame support 3 is
mounted in known manner on base support 7 to be movable in
the direction indicated by arrow 87. In this manner, rollers
of various lengths can be used with the machine according to
the present invention. The arrangement will hereinafter be
referred to as the duplex mode of the device according to the
invention.
Referring to FIGURE 3, there is schematically
illustrated an internal duplex mode. The system includes two
series of rollers 89,91 on the same base 93. An adjustable
device not shown enables to adjust the space between the two
sets of rollers to permit the shaping of both edges of a
strip which may vary in width. The strip is supported at 94
between the two sets of rollers.
Referring now to FIGURE 4, there is schematically
illustrated an external duplex mode. In other words, there
will be provided an intermediate frame support 95 which is
mounted on a base 97. The intermediate frame support 95
holds a pair of roller holders 99,101 on either sides thereof
so as to enable the device to hold two groups of rollers,
thereby enabling to produce two different metallic sections
on the same machine by separately feeding metal strips on
both sides of the apparatus.
-- 8 --
2~ 836
Finally, it is desirable that the pressure that
rollers 17 exert on rollers 21 be adjustable when forming a
particular metallic section. For this purpose an adjusting
system 90 well known to those skilled is provided on both
frame supports 1 and 3, which permits to adjust the pressure
exerted by rollers 17.
Although the invention has been described with
reference to the turret head 9, as mentioned above, it will
be understood that turret head 11 ls the same except that it
is a mirror of the latter.
In addition, with reference to Figure 1, it is
obvious that the invention can be used with a succession of
rollers according to the invention if the design of the
metallic shape so requires.
