US3628361A

US3628361A - Apparatus for guiding prepunched plates through a roll-forming machine

Info

Publication number: US3628361A
Application number: US868144A
Authority: US
Inventors: James L De Rupa
Original assignee: Dana Inc
Current assignee: Dana Inc
Priority date: 1969-10-21
Filing date: 1969-10-21
Publication date: 1971-12-21
Anticipated expiration: 1988-12-21

Abstract

A guide mechanism for guiding prepunched plates through a rollforming machine is provided including a support and guide track means fixed relative to the guide mechanism and a cantilever plate having wheels which roll along the guide track means, the said cantilever plate including a gravity operated latch dog which engages in a slot in a guide bar. The guide bar, in turn, is positively positioned relative to the prepunched plate by the insertion of pins through some of the perforated holes in the plate and corresponding holes in the guide bar. The cantilever plate disengages from the guide bar upon the perforated plate reaching the end of the guide mechanism through the functioning of a cam plate which lifts a latch nose from the slot in the guide bar, thus permitting the perforated plate and attached guide bar to continue through the rolls of the roll-forming machine. The guide bar provides the additional function of centering the perforated plate relative to the rollers while the prepunched plate is in the roller forming area so that an extremely close tolerance can be reached during the rolling operation and the perforated holes in the prepunched plate maintained within + OR - 0.030 inches tolerance in the finally formed structural shape.

Description

United States Patent [72] Inventor James L. De Rupa Reading, Pa. [21] Appl. No. 868,144 [22] Filed Oct. 21, 1969 [45] Patented Dec. 21, 1971 [73] Assignee Dana Corporation Toledo, Ohio [54] APPARATUS FOR GUIDING PREPUNCHED PLATES THROUGH A ROLL-FORMING MACHINE 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 72/181, 72/250 [51] 1nt.Cl B211! 5/08 [50] Field of Search 72/181, 133, 176, 178, 182, 250, 251, 307

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,370,448 2/1968 Ruple 72/176 3,409,071 11/1968 Ci0chetto.... 164/274 2,294,324 8/1942 Wilkins et al. 72/178 X 2,471,490 5/1949 Mercer 72/178 3,349,591 10/1967 Thomas... 72/251 X 147,836 2/1874 Hall 72/250 1,736,331 11/1929 Townsend 72/181 1,807,847 6/1931 Kellogg 72/131 Atrorneyswalter E. Pavlick, Harold D. Shall, Richardson B.

Farley and John F. Teigland ABSTRACT: A guide mechanism for guiding prepunched plates through a roll-forming machine is provided including a support and guide track means fixed relative to the guide mechanism and a cantilever plate having wheels which roll along the guide track means, the said cantilever plate including a gravity operated latch dog which engages in a slot in a guide bar. The guide bar, in turn, is positively positioned relative to the prepunched plate by the insertion of pins through some of the perforated holes in the plate and corresponding holes in the guide bar. The cantilever plate disengages from the guide bar upon the perforated plate reaching the end of the guide mechanism through the functioning of a cam plate which lifts a latch nose from the slot in the guide bar, thus permitting the perforated plate and attached guide bar to con tinue through the rolls of the roll-forming machine. The guide bar provides the additional function of centering the perforated plate relative to the rollers while the prepunched plate is in the roller forming area so that an extremely close tolerance can be reached during the rolling operation and the perforated holes in the prepunched plate maintained within i 0.030 inches tolerance in the finally formed structural shape.

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INVENTOR. JAMES L. DE RUPA ATTORNEY PATEmanneeemn 3628361 SHEEI 2 [IF 3 INVENTOR. JAMES L. DE RUPA I u .BY

ATTORNEY PATENTED 05021 um 3,628,361

SHEET 3 BF 3 INVENTUR. JAMES L. DE RUPA BY M60 01? ATTORNEY APPARATUS FOR GUIDING PREPUNCHED PLATES THROUGH A ROLL-FORMING MACHINE l-leretofore, the usual method of guiding sheets through rollforming equipment to form channellike members or tubular members when the said .sheets were preperforated has not been satisfactory since tolerances on the hole location in the finally formed structural shape would not be maintained within sufficient tolerance so that the formed channel or tubular member could not be easily used successfully in assembly operations. Such prior manufacturing apparatus generally included a number of sets of rollers, with each set of rollers providing slightly more bending to eventually form the flat steel blank into a final desired configuration. However, if holes were prepunehed in this blank, the structural forming provided by the roll-forming machine did not locate and center the steel blank sufficiently so as to maintain sufficient tolerance levels on the preperforated holes when the steel blank was in its finally formed shape. Tolerances obtained by this old method of roll forming usually resulted in hole tolerances that were between 10.050 and 0.070 inches and such tolerances severely complicated the assembly problems encountered when utilizing such a shaped blank in an assembly operation having as its object a finally manufactured roduct that had to be constructed and assembled on the manufacturing floor. Accordingly, it would be very advantageous to provide a roll-forming and guidance arrangement for the forming of structural shapes wherein the hole tolerances of prepunehed holes could be maintained much more closely than heretofore experienced.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a guiding mechanism for a preperforated steel blank to insure that tolerances of the formed holes is maintained in the roll-forming operation. i

It is an additional object of this invention to provide a centering mechanism that is carried along with the plate blank being formed and which interacts with the rollers of the rollforming machinery to tend to center and locate the blank as it goes through the forming operation.

It is an additional object of the invention to provide a mounting and guiding arrangement for the end of the preperforated plate blank so that is it guidingly fed into the roller arrangement with the said guiding arrangement releasing as the plate blank passes over the mounting and guide arrangement.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a roller and guiding arrangement which accurately and expeditiously forms preperforated plate blanks into configured shapes while maintaining extremely close tolerances on the final product including the location of the prepunehed holes.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a guide mechanism is disposed immediately in front of a roll-forming machine. This guide mechanism includes a support and guide track mounted on a conveyor-type frame so as to guide a wheeled cantilever plate with the wheels running in grooves of the supporting guide track to permit horizontal sliding movement of the cantilever plate. A gravity latch dog pivotally mounted on the cantilever plate engages in a slot in a guide bar which, in turn, is mounted on the preperforated steel blank by the use of pin means. Thus, the guide bar is positively located relative to the support and guide track. A roller arm on the gravity latch dog traverses along the top of the support and guide track until near its termination where the latch dog strikes a cam plate raising the roller arm and also lifting the roller latch dog from its engagement with the slot in the guide bar. This permits the preperforated steel blank and the guide bar to continue into the rolleraforming machinery. The cantilever guide plate may then be returned to its starting position manually.

The roll-forming machinery is substantially conventional save that the forming rollers are sized to include provisions for the guide bar so that the guide bar serves as a locating element for the preperforated steel blank as it moves along through the roll-forming machinery. Such a guide bar is normally used on each end of the preperforated steel blank if the blank has perforations throughout its length. In the event that only one end of the preperforated steel blank contains holes then a guide bar is only used on this end and this end is the end which is first passed into the roll-forming machine.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description and claims and may be understood more specifically by reference to the accompanying drawings which, by way of illustration, show a preferred embodiment of the invention and what :is considered to be the best mode for applying the above principles.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of the guiding mechanism;

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the roll-forming machinery:

FIG. 2 is a partial elevational view of one set of engaging rolls and preperforated steel blank taken substantially on line 2-2 of FIG. 1B,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one of the guide bars and,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one type of positioning pin which may be utilized to connect the guide bar to the preperforated steel blank.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, it can be seen in FIGS. 1A and 18, that a guide and support mechanism 10 and roll-forming machine 12 are floor mounted and disposed in aligned relationship so as to provide for the passage of the material to be formed between them. A preperforated steel blank M is illustrated extending between the guide mechanism 10 and the roll-forming machine 12 with the preperforated steel blank M thereby undergoing forming so as to be converted into a channel or similar shape.

The guide and support mechanism 10 comprises a feed or roller conveyor 16 and a guide mechanism 18 physically attached to the feed or roller conveyor 16 by welding or the like (not shown). The feed conveyor 16 includes a frame 20 and a series of horizontally disposed roller 2.2 which are piloted for easy turning between upright members 19 of the frame 20 so as to permit the preperforated steel blank 14 to move with linear motion along the length of the frame 20 and thereby the feed conveyor 16 as the preperforated steel blank 14 is fed into the roll-forming machinery 12. Thus, the preperforated steel blank M is free to slide easily along the feed conveyor 16 towards the roll-forming machine through the aegis of the rollers 22.

The guide mechanism 18 which, as set out previously, is fixedly attached to the feed conveyor 16 includes a support and guide track member 24 formed from a piece of solid steel stock which is mounted so as to extend along the length of feed conveyor 16. The support and guide track member has a longitudinal slot 26 which opensover and inwardly relative to the rollers 22 and extends horizontally and linearly along the entire length of the support and guide track member 24. A vertical cross slot 28 is disposed inwardly of the periphery of the support and guide track member, with this slot disposed perpendicular to and intersecting the longitudinal slot 26 and also extending linearly for the full length of the support and guide track member 24 to thereby form a pair of

slots

26, 28 cruciform in cross section.

Extending into the longitudinal slot 26 is a cantilever plate 30 of truncated triangular shape, the narrow portion of the triangular shape (apex) extending inwardly relative to the frame 20 towards the rollers so as to be disposed over the preperforated steel blank 14. The cantilever plate 30 carries, on its outward wide end,

rollers

32, 32 which are disposed in right angular relationship to the transverse horizontal extent of cantilever plate 30 so that the

rollers

32, 32 can be mounted in the vertical slot 28 to roll therealong, with a portion of the cantilever plate 30 extending into the longitudinal slot 26 so as to place these rollers in this position. The cantilever plate 30 is thereby positively guided'in longitudinal movement along the guide mechanism 18, the vertical slot 28 providing just sufiicient room for the

rollers

32, 32 to operate so that the cantilever plate 30 moves in a substantially parallel manner relative to the roll-forming machinery 12 and the linear extent of the frame 20.

A pivot boss 34 is fixedly mounted on the upper side of cantilever plate 30 with a bore 36 extending through the pivot boss 34 and disposed substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal slot 26 so as to receive a pivot arm 38 of a latch dog assembly 40. A latch 42 is fixedly attached to the inward end of pivot arm 38 to pivot therewith and includes a downwardly depending pawl 44 which, in its locking position, engages in an aperture 46 extending through the thickness of the cantilever plate 30. The opposite end of the latch dog assembly 40 remote from the depending pawl 44 includes a longitudinally extending roller arm 48 disposed parallel to slot 28. This roller arm is integrally fastened-to the pivot arm 38 of the latch dog assembly so as to pivot with it. A pair of rollers 50 and 52 are mounted on opposite ends of the roller arm 48 so that, as the cantilever plate 30 moves horizontally longitudinally along the feed conveyor 16 and guide mechanism 18, the rollers 50 and 52 provide a substantially friction free movement of the roller arm 48 along a top side 54 of the guide mechanism 18.

Near the end of the guide mechanism 18, adjacent to the roll-forming machinery 12, a cam plate 56 is mounted on a front inset face 57 of the support and guide track member 24 so as to extend upwardly and so as to be disposed in the movement of the path of the roller arm 48. it should be clear from the foregoing description that, as the cantilever plate 30 reaches the cam 56, the roller arm 48 will be upset by the inclined plane of the cam 56 so that it will rotate counterclockwise moving the latch 42 in a similar manner counterclockwise thereby removing the pawl 44 from the aperture 46 in cantilever plate 30. By this arrangement, the guide mechanism 18 is released from the steel blank 14 adjacent to the roll-forming machinery l2.

In order to connect the preperforated steel blank 14 to the cantilever plate 30 so that the prepunched steel blank will be guided by the said cantilever plate, a guide bar 58 (FIGS. 1 and 3) having a substantially extended length is physically attached between them. The guide bar 58 extends substantially parallel to the linear extent of the preperforated steel blank 14 and includes a series of longitudinally and aligned

slots

60, 60, 60 that extend linearly along the length of the guide bar 58 intermediate the width of the guide bar. The pawl 44 of the latch dog assembly 40 extends into one of these slots when the latch dog assembly 40 is in locking position so that the guide bar 58 moves with the cantilever plate 30 horizontally over the rollers 32. A pair of bores 62, 62 (FIG. 3) are formed in opposite ends of the guide bar 58' intermediate its width and outwardly of the slots 60. These bores are provided for the reception of positioning pins 64, 64 which are inserted therein and also extend into-and mate withperforated holes 66, 66 which have been preformed in prepunched steel blank 14.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, the positioning pins 64, 64 each comprise two axially offset

sections

68 and 70, with the section 68 being that portion of positioning pin 64 which is inserted in the bore 62 and with the section 70 being that portion which is inserted in the preformed hole 66. This axially offset arrangement is provided since the preperforated holes 66, 66 are not centered relative to the steel blank 14 so that, during forming, if the pin 64 was not offset, the finally formed channel member would have the legs of the channel of unequal length. However, if the preperforated holes 66, 66 are centered relative to the formed channel, the use of an offset pin is not required. A pin-retaining screw 65 securely holds each of the pins 64 in the guide bar 58.

As can be seenjn FIG. 1B, guide bar 58 and preperforated steel blank l4 are moved through a series of roller stands 74,

76, 78, 80 and 82, with each series of rollers of its respective roller stand providing an increasing upward bend to the

legs

84 and 86 of the finished channel form 72. As is conventional,

each of the roller stands 74, 76, 78, 80 and 82 comprise a double series of opposed forming rollers with each series of forming rollers slightly spaced from its opposed alternate pair of rollers. The preperforated steel blank passes between, for example, (FIG. 2) a pair of

upper rollers

88 and 90, that are fixed on a shaft 92 to rotate therewith and a pair of

lower rolleis

94 and 96 that are fixed to and rotatable with a shaft 98, with the previously mentioned opposing rollers88, and 94, 96 giving an increasing upturned disposition to the

legs

84 and 86 than the disposition given to these legs by the immediately preceding roller stand 76.

Disposed on shaft 92 intermediate the

upper rollers

88 and 90 is a holddown ring 100, this ring being fixed to the shaft 92 so as to be rotatable with it. The function of holddown ring 100 is that of providing a pressure on the top of the guide bar 58 so as to tend to maintain that portion of the finally formed channel 72 between the

legs

80 and 78 in a fiat condition. It should be clear from the foregoing description that the guide bar 58 serves a double function, that is, as the preperforated steel blank passes over and along the guide means 10, the guide bar 58 serves as an attaching means for the end of the preperforated steel blank 14 which is not yet undergoing shaping operations in the roller stands 74, 76, 78, 80 and 82. As the same time, after release of one of guide bars 58 from the cantilever plate 30 (by the latch dog assembly 40), the guide bar 58 serves both as a centering and flattening means to insure that proper bending occurs to provide the final shape of channel 72. i

As was set out at the very beginning of the description of the invention, a single guide bar 58 may be utilized if their preperforated steel blank 14 is perforated only on one end and, in such case, the guide bar 58 is mounted so that it and the end of the preperforated steel blank 14 containing the preperforated holes is first fed through the guide and support mechanism 10 and roller stands 74, 76, 78, 80 and 82. ln the event that the preperforated steel blank 14 contains holes throughout its length then a pair of guide bars 58 are utilized one on each end of the preperforated steel blank 14, but in this case only a single cantilever plate 30 and its attached elements are utilized and this plate is disposed on the end of steel blank 14 that is most remote from roll-forming machinery 12. This arrangement provides slightly better guiding for the preperforated steel blank due to double centering afforded by two guide bars 58 and therefore closer tolerances. However, when only a single guide bar 58 is utilized the tolerances for the prepunched holes are still maintained within 0.030 of an inch in the finished form shape.

A single embodiment of this invention has been shown and described but it should be readily apparent that many changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of this invention and without the exercise of inventive skill. For example, the guide mechanism and roll-forming arrangement might be utilized to provide close hole tolerances on a rectangular or square finally formed tubular member which was preperforated. The same could also be used. to form right angle members when preperforation of holes was utilized in such members. in both of these cases, the objects of the invention would be fulfilled in the same or a substantially similar manner is obtained in the apparatus described which is utilized in the forming of a channel shape.

I claim:

1. A guide mechanism and roll-forming assembly for the forming of steel plate blanks comprising; (a) roll-formingv machinery disposed in tandem with a roller conveyor, (b) said roller conveyor including a track means, (cc) said track means formed by a elongated member having a pair of slots of cmciform cross section extending the length of the elongated member, (d) carriage means having guiding rollers riding in the vertical portion of said cruciform cross section slot, (e) said carriage means carrying a pivotally mounted arm, (f) said pivotally mounted arm including an actuating strut at its one end and a latched dog at its other end, (g) said actuating strut being engageable with a'cam means when said carriage is at one extreme of its travel to thereby upset said actuating strut and pivotally move said pivotal arm and latch dog out of latching position, (h) said latch dog when in latching position latching said carriage to means attached to said steel plate blank.

2. The combination set out in claim 11. wherein; (a) a guide bar forms the means attached to said steel plate blank and (b) said latch dog lockingly engages with said guide bar and said carriage.

3. The combination set out in claim 2 wherein; (a) said guide bar includes longitudinally extending slots, (b) said carriage includes holes extending therethrough and (c) said latch dog in latching position engages in at least one of said slots and one of said holes.

4. The combination set out in claim 3 wherein; (a) said guide bar includes a bore extending therethrough, (b) said steel plate blank includes perforations and, (c) pin means are inserted in said bore and one of said perforation to couple said guide bar and said steel plate blank.

5. The combination set out in claim 4 wherein; (a) said guide bar moves with said steel plate blank into said roll-forming machinery for providing a centering and pressing means for said steel blank during shaping of said steel plate blank.

6. The combination set out in claim 5 wherein said pin means is held in said guide bar by screw retaining means.

7. The combination set out in claim 6 wherein; (a) said actuating strut includes rollers mounted on its ends, (b) said rolleis move along a top surface of said guide track during guiding movement of said steel plate blank.

t l m nn

Claims

1. A guide mechanism and roll-forming assembly for the forming of steel plate blanks comprising; (a) roll-forming machinery disposed in tandem with a roller conveyor, (b) said roller conveyor including a track means, (cc) said track means formed by a elongated member having a pair of slots of cruciform cross section extending the length of the elongated member, (d) carriage means having guiding rollers riding in the vertical portion of said cruciform cross section slot, (e) said carriage means carrying a pivotally mounted arm, (f) said pivotally mounted arm including an actuating strut at its one end and a latched dog at its other end, (g) said actuating strut being engageable with a cam means when said carriage is at one extreme of its travel to thereby upset said actuating strut and pivotally move said pivotal arm and latch dog out of latching position, (h) said latch dog when in latching position latching said carriage to means attached to said steel plate blank.

2. The combination set out in claim 1. wherein; (a) a guide bar forms the means attached to said steel plate blank and (b) said latch dog lockingly engages with said guide bar and said carriage.

7. The combination set out in claim 6 wherein; (a) said actuating strut includes rollers mounted on its ends, (b) said rollers move along a top surface of said guide track during guiding movement of said steel plate blank.