US3048182A - Apparatus for pickling wire or strip stock - Google Patents

Description

1962 o. RUTHNER 3,048,182

APPARATUS FOR PICKLING WIRE OR STRIP STOCK Filed April 21, 1958 FIG.1

FIG.2 /7

FIG.4 6

INVENTOR. OTHMER RUTHNER Patented Aug. 7, 1962 fire 3,048,182 APPARATUS FER PICKLING WERE R ST STQCK Othmar Ruthner, 12 Saimgasse, Vienna, Austria Filed Apr. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 729,892 Claims priority, application Austria Jan. 10, 1958 4 Claims. (Cl. 134--63) This invention relates to apparatus for pickling wire or strip stock, which apparatus is simple and inexpensive in construction, involves low maintenance costs and enables a quick movement of the stock through the apparatus while ensuring an effective treatment.

The known apparatus for pickling wire or strip stock are expensive and can often be operated only by specially skilled operators. In many cases these apparatus can be economically operated only above a minimum capacity, which cannot be achieved by smaller plants. Another disadvantage of the known apparatus is the large space requirement.

It is a feature of the invention to provide an apparatus for pickling wire or strip stock, which apparatus comprises a towerlike structure, having a substantially acidresisting inside wall and having in its interior means for guiding the stock to be pickled up and down along a winding course and means for applying pickling acid to the stock to be treated, means being provided for pulling said stock through the towerlike structure.

It is another feature of the invention that the tower is self-supporting and has a lining of acid-resisting bricks.

It is a further feature of the invention to provide photoelectric cells in the pickling tower for controlling the speed at which the stock to be pickled is pulled through the tower, which photo-electric cells are responsive to the brightness of the strip or wire surface bypassing them. An illustrative embodiment of the pickling plant according to the invention is diagrammatically shown in V the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the pickling plant;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view in elevation of the upper reversing device, and

FIGS. 3 and 4 are views respectively of two other embodiments of an upper reversing device.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, specifically to FIG. 1, the strip or wire 2 to be treated is fed from a supply reel 1 by Way of a series of subsequently arranged auxiliary devices such as straightening rolls 2.0, a shear 21, a welder 22 and a cleaning plant 23 to the actual pickling plant 3. This has the form of a tower. Any existing tower of any desired construction may be used for this purpose irrespective of the purpose for which it was used before. The tower may consist of metal, plastic or masonry and is lined with acid-resisting bricks on the inside. The tower is suitably gas-tight or substantially gas-tightly sealed towards the outside in order to enable the use of acid fumes within the tower. The cover 7' of the tower is desirably removable and hinged. It is obvious that other provisions may be made to enable an opening of the cover 7 or to provide access to the interior of the tower from the top. If the tower is gas-tight or substantially gas-tight the cover 7 of the tower 3 must also be gas-tight or substantially gas-tight.

Guide rollers 4 are arranged at the inlet'and outlet of the tower and reversing rollers 5 are arranged between said guide rollers and cooperate with upper reversing roller 6 in such a mannre that the reversing rollers 5 and 6 guide the strip or wire up and down along a winding course. For the sake of simplicity only one upper and two lower reversing rolls are shown in the drawing sothat the strip 2 or the wire forms only a single loop. It is obvious, however, that any desired number of such rollers may be arranged in series to guide the strip-or wire repeatedly up and down and thus to prolong its residence time in the tower 3 or to enable a lower construction of the tower. The following description will refer only to one upper reversing roller 6 and two lower ones 5. Where a larger number of reversing rollers are provided the measures which will be described hereinafter may readily be applied to the additional upper and lower reversing rollers, respectively.

To form the strip or wire loop at the beginning of the pickling process, the upper roller 6 may consist of two tapered half- rollers 6, 6", as is shown in FIG. 2. These half-rollers are laterally moved out of their operating position in the direction indicated by the arrows when the strip is introduced at the beginning of the pickling operation. The taper of the rollers will enable an accurate guidance of the strip and prevent a lateral displacement of the strip during its movement through the tower. The half rollers 6', 6 may be provided with lateral deflector discs 36 for safety reasons.

A travelling crab 10 is arranged on a frame 9 over the tower and is movable on rails. After the cover 7 has ben removed a gripper 30, a hoop or the like can be lowered from this travelling crab into the tower. With this construction the strip may be introduced at the beginning of the process by pulling the strip through in a horizontal direction below the lower reversing rollers 5, as is indicated in broken lines in FIG. 1. When the halfrollers 6, 6" are now laterally extended and the cover 7 is opened, the gripper 30 of the travelling crab 10, which has previously been moved over the desired point, may be lowered into the tower as far as to the strip. The gripper 34} holds suitably a carrier 31, which is passed below the strip, as shown in broken lines in FIG. 1, after the gripper has been lowered. The gripper 30, which is suitably formed as a tongs, then grips the carrier 31 and is subsequently pulled up by the traveling crab 10 until the halfrollers 6, 6" can be moved under the strip, which forms a loop. At this time the travelling crab 10 will stop the upward movement of the gripper, the half- rollers 6, 6" are moved under the strip and finally the gripper 36 is lowered until the strip will be supported by the half-rollers 6', 6" when the carrier 31 is removed.

Another method of forming the strip or wire loops 26, which is rotatable in both directions and driven by a reversible motor 27. V

The vertical displacement of the reversing roller 6a serves mainly for pulling in the strip or wire at the. beginning of the process. For this step, the roller 6a is lowered below the lower reversing rollers 5 so that the strip or wire can be pulled through between the rollers 5 in a horizontal direction, as indicated by the broken line in FIG. 1, just as in the previously described operation. While the supply reel 1 is running continuously, the roller 6a is then lifted to guide the strip or wire in the form of a loop.

In order to reduce the weight of the upper reversing roller 6 it is desirable to divideit into a plurality of rollers 6b smaller in diameter, which are arranged along an imaginary arc and carried by a common support 37. This is shown in FIG. 4. This support together with the rollers can be moved out of its operating position and can be lowered, if desired, as has been described hereinbefore for the half-rollers 6', 6 and the roller 6a.

This construction affords the further advantage that the strip will be engaged only by narrow areas at the point of reversion so that the friction is much lower than in a construction having integral rollers. It is obvious that the lower reversing rollers 5 may also be divided in like manner into a plurality of rollers.

The pickling liquor, which is required for treating the strip or wire, is introduced in several levels by means of annular nozzles 11, which spray the pickling liquor on the strip from all sides. The pickling liquor which is running down is collected in a collecting space 17 at the bottom of the tower 3 and is recycled to the nozzles .11 through a regenerating plant, not shown, and the conduit 39 by means of the pump 40. In the drawing the pump 4%) is shown directly connected to the space 17, for the sake of simplicity. It is understood that fresh acid must be added to compensate the consumption.

Photo- electric cells 41, 42, 43 are provided on various levels, in the present case in three tiers, in the tower 3. These photo-electric cells control the speed at which the strip or wire moves through the tower in dependence on the brightness of the strip or wire bypassing the photoelectric cells. The photo-electric cells are adjusted to be non-responsive to a predetermined brightness of the strip passing by; in that case they will not actuate the control mechanism. The brightness value to which the photoelectric cells are set decreases progressively from the lowermost tier to the uppermost one. Thus, the zero brightness for the cell 43 is higher than that for the cell 42 and that for the cell 42 is higher than that for the cell 41. If the strip is moving too fast through the tower so that it is not adequately pickled, its brightness will be lower than desired or prescribed. In this case the strip surface bypassing the lower cell 43 has a brightness below the zero setting of that cell. As a result, the cell will influence the control mechanism so that the latter reduces the speed at which the strip is moving through the tower so that the strip will be exposed to the action of the acid for a longer time. The regulation may be eifected in such a manner that the impulse delivered by the photoelectric cells varies the speed of the drive means for the wind-up reel 13 and for the wind-off reel 1. If the strip is moving too slowly through the tower the uppermost photo-electric cell 41 will be bypassed by a strip surface which is brighter than the adjusted zero brightness so that the photo-electric cell 41 responds and causes an acceleration of the strip. In the first case an insufiicient pickling, in the second case an excessive pickling, which would embrittle the material, is prevented. Instead of or in addition to a variation of the speeds of the two reels, an upward or downward movement of the upper reversing roller 6 may be employed to control the passage time of the strip or wire. When the roller 6 is continuously raised, more stock will enter the tower at the guide roller 4 than leaves the tower at the outlet guide roller so that the strip or wire will remain longer in the tower. This will be reversed if the roller 6 is lowered to reduce the stay time of the strip or wire in the tower.

The last-described function of the roller 6 may also be used for storage purposes. If the roller 6 is in an elevated position it may be slowly lowered to maintain the movement of the strip through the pickling plant in the case of an interruption in the feeding of the strip, e.g. if the strip is to be welded in the welding plant 22. Overpickling could result if the strip were to remain stationary in the tower during the welding operation unless the supply of liquid was interrupted. Even if the supply of acid was interrupted the acid which adheres longer than necessary to the strip would deteriorate the strip surface. When the normal movement of the strip is resumed after the described interruption, a faster movement of the strip from the wind-01f reel can be effected at the beginning while the roller 6 is raised to ensure that a length of strip is in reverse, as before the interruption, for unforeseen events. When the roller 6 has reached its upper position the speed of the strip through the tower 3 is adjusted to normal.

Pans 5t? may be disposed below the lower reversing rollers 5 for collecting the pickling acid running down, which will then wet the lower bends of the strip. The pickling acid flows from these pans into the tank 17. It is desirable that the pans 50 with their fixing means can be moved out of their operative position so that the strip to be pickled can be freely pulled through below the rollers 5 at the beginning of the process.

After having left the tower 3 the strip or wire is moved through rinsing devices 55, a drying plant 56 and a shear 57 to one of the two wind-up reels 13. The provision of two wind-up reels has the advantage that when one reel is filled and the strip or wire has been cut the same can be immediately passed on to the second reel without need for an interruption of the movement of the strip or wire. Two wind-off reels 1 may be provided for the same reason. In this case the second reel may be used as soon as the first reel has been emptied so that the operation can be continued without interruption. In the meantime, a full reel can be replaced for the empty one.

It is suitable to provide inspection windows 15 for watching the pickling operation in the side wall of the tower 3. On the side of the tower a cage 16, which can be moved like a lift, is provided for the operator or for the person in charge of the maintenance of the tower. Manholes, not shown, for repair purposes also provided in the wall of the tower.

The tower may form a self-supporting structure and is suitably provided with iron reinforcements. If the tower is gas-tight, warm to hot acid may be used. The fumes which develop contribute to a high degree to the pickling so that the operation can be performed more intensively and quickly and with a much smaller consumption of acid than with the known processes. The acid which is used consists preferably of I-lCl or H The tower may be constructed as a gas chamber, in which the acid fumes are under superatmospheric pressure to accelerate the pickling process.

The tower may have any desired height, e.g.,, meters. An entirely closed tower may also be used. The tower may have the form of a chimney existing chimneys may be used for this purpose.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for pickling wire and strip stock, comprising a vertically elongated substantially gastight housing having an acid-resisting inside wall, upper and lower reversing rollers for guiding the stock to be pickled in a path vertically up and down through said housing, said upper reversing roller being temporarily movable out of an operable position in which the stock is engaged to an inoperable position out of the path of the stock, nozzles for spraying a pickling liquor on the stock, said housing being provided with entry and exit openings for the stock, said openings and said lower reversing rollers being so arranged that upon initial feeding of stock through the housing it extends effectively horizontally therethrough, and means on said housing for pulling the effectively horizontally extending stock vertically with respect to the housing to form a loop of sufiicient length, to reach the upper reversing roller to facilitate the threading of stock over the upper reversing roller.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said stock pulling means includes a crab movable on the upper portion of the housing, a gripper depending from the crab and movable vertically with respect thereto, and said gripper including means for engaging the stock which has been initially fed through the housing for pulling the stock toward the crab to form a loop of sui'licient length to reach the upper reversing roller. 7

3. Apparatus for pickling wire and strip stock, comprising a vertically elongated substantially gastight housing having an acid-resisting inside wall, upper and lower reversing rollers for guiding the stock to be pickled vertically up and down through said housing, nozzles for spraying a pickling liquor on the stock, said housing being provided with entry and exit openings for the stock, said openings and said lower reversing rollers being so arranged that upon initial feeding of stock through the housing it extends effectively horizontally therethrough, said upper reversing roller being mounted for selective vertical movement between the upper portion of the housing and a lower position below the plane of the stock when it is initially fed through the housing, whereby said upper roller may be moved into its lower position before initial feeding of stock through the housing and moved to its upper position after such feeding to facilitate threading of the stock over said upper reversing roller.

4. Apparatus for pickling wire and strip stock, comprising a vertically elongated, substantially gastight housing having an acid-resisting inside wall, upper and lower reversing rollers for guiding the stock to be pickled vertically up and down through said housing and thereby forming at least one elongated loop in the stock, means on the housing for initially gripping and drawing up the end of the stock to form the loop about said upper and lower reversing rollers, a cover on said housing forming a gastight seal with the housing when closed and when opened permitting the introduction through the top of the housing of said means, sets of vertically spaced nozzles for spraying a pickling liquor on the stock from all sides,

said nozzles being arranged throughout the length of the upwardly and downwardly moving portions of the stock, said housing being provided with openings in its lower portion through which the stock enters and leaves the housing thereby preventing the rising vapors of the pickling liquor from escaping, and means at the bottom of the housing for collecting the pickling liquor which runs down along the stock and for recycling the collected liquor through a regenerating plant to said nozzles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,976,611 Gulliksen Oct. 9, 1934 2,018,648 Dinley Oct. 22, 1935 2,104,103 Ruthven Jan. 9, 1938 2,216,544 True et al. Oct. 1, 1940 2,292,511 Ferm Aug. 11, 1942 2,318,419 Plott May 4, 1943 2,366,949 Woppman et al. Jan. 9, 1945 2,422,651 Ayers June 29, 1947 2,578,625 Bowers et al Dec. 11, 1951 2,628,924 Johnson Feb. 17, 1953 2,649,099 Hufi Aug. 18, 1953 2,650,599 Campbell Sept. 1, 1953 2,733,999 Rodman Feb. 7, 1956

Images