US2779253A - Adjustable slice for papermaking machinery - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 29, 1957 T. M. OWENS ADJUSTABLE SLICE FOR PAPERMAKING MACHINERY Filed Dec. 24, 1953 2 She'ets-Sheet l 4 mw m N 1- VM MU o S f A mom m, Y B

Jan. 29, 1957 T. M. OWENS 2,779,253

ADJUSTABLE SLICE FOR PAPERMAKING MACHINERY Filed Dec. 24, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. THOMAS M. Owens ammmw United States PatentQ 2,779,253 ADJUSTABLE SLICE FOR PAPERMAKING MACHINERY Thomas M. Owens, Wanakena, N. Y. Application December 24, 1953, Serial No. 400,199

3' Claims. (Cl. 92-44 from the head box onto the forming wire through an adjustable opening which largely controls the rate of flow and amount of the stock being deposited on the wire. This opening is defined by the head box apron and side walls and an adjustable slice or slice assembly which can be moved towards or away from the apron to regulate the size of the opening. Since it has long been recog-' nized that the flow of stock may vary in density across the discharge opening, the slice is frequently provided with some kind of a flexible slice plate or lip which may be variably adjusted over its length to compensate for density variations in the stock. Usually, this slice plate adjustment is carried out by means of a plurality of drawbars or rods which are secured at regular intervals to the plate, and which are individually adjustable to permit predetermined portions of the plate to be moved closer or farther awayfrom the apron as necessary. The drawbars are individually adjusted in almostevery case by means of hand-wheels which are in threaded engagement therewith.

Unfortunately, the usual draw-bar-hand-wheel adjustment arrangement does not permit very accurate control of the stock flow for the reason that thread play and backlash make accurate measurement of the amount of adjustment being made very difficult. In addition, such adjustments after being made are frequently nullified due to skidding of the stock which means lateral shifting of the flow currents and consequent rearrangement of the density pattern across the opening. These difiiculties in obtaining stock fiow of uniform density across the discharge opening are greatly amplified at the present provide improved stock flow control structure for paper making machinery which is practical and eflicient to operate.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide very accurate adjustment controls for a vertically adjustable, flexible slice lip.

Another specific object of the invention is to provide an improved distributor roll for operation in conjunction with said improved slice adjustment controls.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like refertime because the speed of machine operation and the vide a paper making machine of the Fourdrinier type Y which is particularly well adapted to produce high grade paper at the increased speeds and in the wider, webs required by modern production methods. I

A further important object of the invention is. to provide improved stock flow control means for paper making machinery which can be practically applied to machine installations of conventional design.

Still another important object of the invention is to ence numbers refer .to corresponding parts in all the views.

In'the drawings;

Figure 1 is a plan view of a Fourdrinier machine head box incorporating the improved stock flow control means of the invention; 7

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the head box of Figure 1 with portions of the slice frame broken away to illustrate the control linkage to the flexible'slice lip;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of the prising a bottom 11 supported on a column 12, a back wall 14 and left and right side walls 15, 17, respectively. Paper stock is delivered to the head box 10 through a pipe 18 which communicates with the partitionedopening- 20 in the bottom of the box. The stock is discharged from the head box onto a conventional forming wire 21 whichis mounted on guide rollers 22 and passes around the breast roll 24. The forward edge of the bottom of the head box formsan apron 25 adjacent the forming wire, and the discharge opening 27, Figure 3, for the stock is defined by this apron, side walls 15, 17 and a vertically adjustable main slice generally indicated at 28.

Located behind the main slice 28 in the head box, adjacent the discharge opening 27, is a distributor or vane roll, generally indicated at 30. A vertically adjustable secondary slice or darn 31 is mounted in the head box behind the vane roll 30. The purpose of the secondary slice 31 is to control the velocity and amount of stock passing through the vane roll to the discharge opening, and also to act as a dam to maintain a head of stock in the after part of the head box. In addition, the slice 31 aids in the recirculation of stock remaining in the head causing it to mix with fresh, incoming stock from the delivery pipe 18. The vane roll 30 supplants the conventional holy roll usually found in Fourdrinier type machines, and one of its purposes is to agitate the stock flowing therethrough so as to break up any unseparated masses or lumps of fibre and effect a thorough intermingling or intermeshing of the fibres in order to form a strong web. To this end, the vaneroll shaft 32 is journalled in the head box side walls, and is motor driven at 60-80 R. P. M. Another important purpose of the vane roll, and the particular construction thereof, will be explained hereinafter in connection with the descrip- ,tion of the main slice adjustment controls. 7 V

Themain'slice 28, Figures 2 and 3, comprises essentially a vertically adjustable slice frame 34 and a slice lip Patented Jan. 29, 1957 n mounted forvertical adjustment within the frame. Slice frame 34 is formed with parallel front and back plates 37, 38 integrally secured together as by the web or shelf 48. Back plate 38 is reinforced by thickening at 41, and is formed with an upstanding plate. extension. 42 which terminatesin a horizontal flange or shelf 44 overlying the shelf 40. Secured to each end of the upper shelf 44 is an enlarged lugor arm member 45 which extends over the uppervedge of the adjacent head box side wall. Lugs 45 are threaded to, receive the, threaded shanks 47 of hand-wheels 48, the hand-wheel shanks terminating in smooth cylinders 50, Figure 4, which are rotatable in and confined by socket members 51 secured to the upper edge of the side walls. In this manner, the hand-wheels 4-8 maybe turned to raise or lower the main slice.

The above-described vertical adjustment for the main slice is provided with indicator means adjacent each end of the slice. An angle bar 52, Figures 3 and 4, is secured as by bolts 54 to the back side of each lug 45, and these bars extend outwardly from thelugs beyond the outside edges of the head box side walls 15, 17. The outer end of each bar is formed with a bore in which a threaded stud 55 is adjustably fixed as by lock nuts 57. Each stud is connected by a link 58 to a pointer lever 60 which; is pivoted at 61 and coacts with a graduated indicator plate 62 secured as by screws 64 to the head box side wall. As the hand-wheels 48 are turned-to raise and lower the lugs 4-5 and main slice supported thereby, the pointer 68 will pivot about point 61 to indicate the amount of adjustment made. As will be understood by those familiar with the art, indicator means are required at each end of the slice to insure that both ends are at all times exactly the same distance above the apron 25; otherwise, subsequent adjustments across the slice to secure a web of uniform profile would be unavailing.

The slice lip 35, which is mounted for vertical adjustment within the main slice, is a long flexible strip, Figures 2 and 3, of some suitable material such as Micarta. The li-p must not be deformable in the transverse or horizontal direction by the force of the stock flowing thereagainst, and accordingly the lip is backed up and maintained in a single vertical plane by means of a flange 65 integral with the front plate 37 of the slice frame. It is necessary, however, that the lip be deformable or distortable in the vertical direction in order to permit variable adjustment throughout its length, and to this end, the lip is notched with relatively deep notches 67 at spaced points along its upper edge to facilitate such distortion. The slice lip is adjusted within the slice frame through a plurality of drawbars 68 which are pinned or otherwise secured to the lip as shown in Figured, and which are threaded at their upper ends. The upper ends of these drawbars pass freely through bores in the shelf 48 and are engaged by hand-wheels 78 which turn in socket members 71 secured by any suitable means to the shelf. By adjusting the hand-wheels 70, initial adjustment of the slice lip may be effected as will be more fully described hereinafter. The hand-wheel-drawbar arrangement per se is -substantially conventional and will be referred to henceforth as the primary controls for vertically adjusting the slice lip.

Since the primary slice adjustment controls have no adequate locking means and involve a certain amount of thread-play and backlash, it is very diflicult to obtain highly accurate variable adjustment with them. To enable such adjustment the inventionprovides secondary slice adjustment controls cooperable with the primary controls and with a portable dial indicator which may be graduated to .005 inch. To this end, each drawbar 68 is provided with a threaded extension portion 72 which extends up through and above its hand-wheel 7t and on which a lock nut 74 and the enlarged base portion 75 of a meter rod 77 are threaded. The meter rods extend upwardly through the upper frame shelf; and a meter 4 block 78, the shelf and block having aligned bores in which the rods are received witha free fit. As best shown in Figures 1 and 3, a single meter block serves each pair of meter rods, and these blocks are secured to the shelf 44 as by bolts 79. Slots 80 are cut in the ends of each meter block 78, Figure 5, and these slots communicate with the bores 81 provided for the meter rods so that the latter may be locked in any adjusted position with respect to the block by means of clamping bolts 82 which are threaded into the blocks at 83. The upper surfaces of the meter blocks are accurately machined so that a portable dial indicator assembly, generally indicatedat 84, can be positioned thereon to sense the position of the end of a meter rod 77 with respect to the machined surface as will be more fully explained hereinafter.

The dial indicator assembly 84 may comprise a conventional dial indicator 85, suchas a Starrett indicator, and an ind icator supporting block 87, Figures 3 and 6. Indicator 85 is provide d with the usual sensing plunger 88, and is adjustably held in a bore in the block by set screw 89. Block 87 is formed with feet 98 at each corner thereof to minimize the surface contact between it and the meter block since particles of stock fibre and other adventitious material sometimes collect upon the surface of the latter. The bottom surfaces of feet are also accurately machined so that all four surfaces are co-planar whereby block 87 will rest squarely upon the meterblock.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The main slice frame 34 is first adjusted by means of the handwheels 48 so the endsof the frame are equidistant from the apron 25' and theslice lip 35 is approximately spaced the proper distance from the apron for the desired weight of paper. Thereafter, if the discharge opening is to be /;"high, for example, a /8" feeler gage is successively positioned on the apron under each drawbar 68 and the hand-wheels 70 adjusted so that the lower edge of the lip just touches the gage. In this manner, initial vertical adjustmentof the lip is effected and the lower edge of the lip is substantially parallel to the apron throughout itslength.

After the slice frame and primary slice lip controls have been adjusted as described, the secondary adjustment controls for the slice lipare put into operation in the following manner. The portable dial indicator 85 is removed from its case and set to zero. The indicator supportiug block 87 is then set upon the machined surface of any of the meter blocks 78, with the set screw 89loosened, and theindicator is inserted in the bore of the block and pushed down until the indicator arrow makes one complete revolution and returns to zero, at which point the set screw 89 is tightened. This permits the adjusted indicator assembly 84 to read zero when resting upon a perfectly level surface, but also permits it to read minus (to sense depressions) as well as plus (to sense projections). Thereafter, the indicator assembly is successively positioned on each meter block with its sensing plunger over each meter rod bore 81, and the meter rods 77 are adjusted up or down on the drawbar extensions 72 until the indicator reads zero which indicates that the ends of the meter rods are flush with the machined surfaces of the meter blocks. The lock nuts 74 are then tightened so that the rods become fixed extensions of the drawbars, and the clamping bolts 82 are also tightened so that the rods and their corresponding drawbars are effectively locked in their initially adjusted P s t s.-

After the above-described adjustments have been made, the secondary slice or dam 31 is vertically adjusted by means of hand-wheels 91, operable in the same manner as the main slice hand-wheels 48, to position the darn so that the paper stock will flow thereunder to the distributor or vane roll EOWith the proper velocity. The vane 'roll is then setto rotating and stock is introduced into the head box through the delivery pipe 18 so that a head of stock is built up behind the dam and a portion thereof commences to flow thereunder. The rate of stock feed into the head box may be controlled by conventional means, not shown, and largely determines the height of the head behind the dam and the ultimate weight of the paper being formed.

After several hundred feet of paper have been run off on the machine, a sample of the paper will be tested to determine the amount of weight variation across the profile of the web. This is accomplished by conventional methods whereby a section of the web is usually cut into lengthwise strips which are very accurately weighed to determine whether the weight variation is within permissible limits, or in other words, whether the profile is substantially uniform. Usually, the variation will not be within permissible limits due to variation in the density of the stock flowing under the slice, and variable adjustment of the slice lip must be made to compensate for such variation. From the test strips it is determined which portions of the slice lip must be moved closer to or farther away from the apron and,.in accordance with the invention, this adjustment is carried out in the following manner. The dial indicator assembly 84 is successively positioned over each meter rod 77 corresponding to a portion of the lip needing adjustment, and the clamping bolt 82 for the rod is loosened. The rod remains fixed to its corresponding drawbar 68 due to the lock nut 74. The hand wheel 70 for the drawbar is then turned to adjust the latter up or down as necessary, and the amount of adjustment is accurately recorded by the dial indicator. When the proper amount of adjustment has been made, the clamping bolt 32 is again tightened to lock the rod and its drawbar in adjusted position. As previously mentioned, the dial indicator 85 is preferably graduated to .0005 inch so that very minute adjustments can be accurately carried out regardless of the amount of thread play between the handwheel and drawbar because the actual vertical movement is measured by the indicator and not by the amount the hand-Wheel is turned. Heretofore, it was possible to obtain adjustment to approximately .03 inch but since there was no adequate locking means the adjustment could only rarely be maintained. With the controls of the invention, however, adjustment to within .0005 inch can be made, and such adjustment can be maintained due to the effective locking action of bolts 82. Only one dial indicator is needed to make all the necessary adjustments, and when not in use the indicator can be stored in its case as is proper for any sensitive measuring instrument.

While the above-described controls enable very accurate variable adjustment of the slice lip, their effectiveness in producing paper webs having closely regulated, truly uniform widthwise profiles is greatly enhanced by the particular structure of the distributor or vane roll 30 provided by the invention. Thus, the vane roll comprises a plurality of circular plates or discs 92 mounted in spaced relation to one another on the roll shaft 32 with the spacer members 94 interposed between the plates. As noted hereinabove, the vane roll serves to break up unseparated masses of fibres and effect a thorough intermingling of the fibres, but equally important is the action of the plates 92 in guiding the stock through the discharge opening in paths which are parallel and substantially perpendicular to said opening. This action eliminates the tendency of the stock to skid or travel laterally and therefore insures that the slice lip adjustments, when once made, will continue to be effective. Previously, with the conventional type of holy roll, the stock frequently shifted laterally or pulled from either side to flow into an area of the discharge opening Where the lip had been moved farther from the apron. This lateral drawing of stock from one area to fill another, of course, reduced the effectiveness of the lip adjustment. With the present arrangement, however, sideways drawing is effectively curtailed and any additional stock needed to fill a widened portion of the opening is drawn from the reservoir or head behind the dam 31.

It should also be noted that the construction of the vane roll 30 aids in the production of better paper in that it provides no areas where slime can collect or lumps of fibres can form to later ruin portions of the paper as frequently happens with the conventional holy roll and modifications thereof. Thus, the rounded edges of the plates 92 and contoured spacers 94 offer no jagged edges to catch portions of the stock, and anything momentarily sticking to the roll will be quickly cleaned off due to its constant rotation through the stock.

This invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The embodiments disclosed are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

I. In a paper making machine having a vertically adjustable slice frame and a slice lip mounted for vertical adjustment within said frame, said lip being distortable in the vertical direction: adjustment controls for said lip comprising a plurality of link elements supported in said frame and secured to said lip at spaced intervals along its length, means to raise and lower each link element to effect initial vertical adjustment of said lip in said frame, means forming an upwardly projecting extension on each link element and adjustable independently of said element to a zero reference point on said said frame after said element has been initially adjusted, and means to lock said extension means on said link elements after adjusting the former to said zero reference, whereby further adjustment of pre-selected link elements by said raising and lowering means can be accurately measured at said zero reference by means of a dial indicator.

2. A machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said slice lip is formed with relatively deep notches along its upper edge to facilitate distortion thereof in the vertical plane.

3. In a paper making machine having a vertically adjustable slice frame and a slice lip mounted for vertical adjustment within said frame, said lip being distortable in the vertical direction: adjustment controls for said lip comprising a plurality of drawbars supported in said frame and secured to said lip at spaced intervals along its length, a hand wheel threadedly engaging each drawbar to raise or lower it, said hand wheels being adapted to effect the initial uniform vertical adjustment of said lip in said frame, a meter rod adjustably mounted on each drawbar above its hand wheel, said meter rods being adjustable to a zero reference point on said frame after initial adjustment of said drawbars, means to lock said meter rods to said drawbars after adjusting the former to their zero reference points, whereby each drawbar and its corresponding meter rod forms a rigid unit structure between said lip and the zero reference point, and a portable dial indicator adapted to coact with said meter rods at their zero reference points to accurately measure the distance a particular drawbar is further raised or lowered by its hand wheel regardless of the amount of play or baclolash between the hand wheel and drawbar, and means to lock said drawbar in its further adjusted position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,552,629 Mason et al Sept. 8, 1925 1,890,634 Wenzel Dec. 13, 1932 1,906,355 Bagley et al. May 2, 1933 2,418,600 Ostcrtaag Apr. 8, 1947 2,548,108 Hornbostel Apr. 10, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 679,926 Great Britain Sept. 24, 1952

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