US2167049A - Article feeding apparatus - Google Patents

Description

INVENTORfi 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 65066: I? Mnaemw G. A. MAURATH ET AL ARTICLE FEEDING APPARATUS Filed May 17, 1938 L V nNHHII U fiwer 0. Zia/m6 Mf/WMQ A RNEYS My 25, 1939- e. A. MAURATH ET AL 237,049

ARTICLE FEEDING APPARATUS,

Filed May 17, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTORS 66' EA Mal/e19 r BY #4 0. [[Vflffff ATTORNEY Patented July 25, 1939 Wire 5 ARTICLE. FEEDING APPARATUS George A. Maurath, Cleveland, and Henry D. Leverett, East Cleveland, Ohio; said Leverett assignor to said Maurath Application May 17, 1938, Serial No. 208,504

11 Claims.

This invention relates to article feeding apparatus and more particularly to apparatus of this kind, which is of simple and compact construction and capable of efiicient and reliable operation at both loW and high speeds.

An object of our invention is to provide novel feeding apparatus of this character, embodying a pair of cooperating feed rolls to which the articles to be fed are supplied and which have a space of tapering width therebetween for gripping the individual articles in succession.

Another object of our invention is to provide improved article feeding apparatus having a chute adapted to contain a series of articles to be fed and a pair of cooperating tapered feed rolls having a space therebetween to receive articles from said chute and adapted to cause gripping of the lowermost article of the series.

A further object of our invention is to provide article feeding apparatus, of the type referred to, in which means is provided for causing relative lateral adjustment of at least one of the rolls for varying the width of the space therebetween.

Still another object of our invention is to provide article feeding apparatus in which a pair of cooperating feed rolls have a downwardly converging article receiving space therebetween for gripping the lowermost article and in which means is provided for limiting the extent of movement of such lowermost article into the convergmg space.

Another object of our invention is to provide article feeding apparatus having a pair of cooperating feed rolls and a hopper for supplying articles thereto, and in which a pair of oscillating rollers define the discharge opening at the bottom of the hopper and facilitate the passage of articles therefrom.

Other objects and advantages of our invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation with the parts broken away showing one embodiment of our article feeding apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a partial plan view with parts in section showing the means for mounting and driving the feed rolls.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken through the apparatus as indicated by line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing one of the chute forming members in detached relation.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view with parts broken away and with the feed rolls removed, illustrating the construction and arrangement of certain parts of the apparatus, and

Fig. 6 is an end View of the machine with parts broken away, showing the means for driving the oscillating rollers of the hopper.

More detailed reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which We show what we now regard to be a preferred form of our article feeding apparatus. Before proceeding with the detailed description it should be understood, however, that the drawings are mainly illustrative and that the invention may be embodied in various other forms of apparatus capable of feeding articles of different size and shape.

In the embodiment of the invention herein illustrated we show feeding apparatus having a frame l0 which may include an elongated substantially horizontal base plate ll having a pair of longitudinally spaced upright end plate members l2 and I3 mounted thereon, and a longitudinally extending upright web member M. The latter member is relatively low in height as compared with the end members !2 and i3 and may project through openings l5 and iii of the latter located substantially on the longitudinal mid plane of the apparatus.

An important part of our feeding apparatus consists in the provision of a pair of cooperating feed rolls I9 and having a downwardly converging article receiving space 2| therebetween to which the articles A can be supplied, preferably in a series, so as to cause gripping of the lowermost article 22 of the series. wardly converging article receiving space 2! may be obtained by mounting cylindrical feed rolls on relatively inclined shafts or axes or, as illustrated in this instance, may be provided by constructing the rolls [9 and 20 with a taper and mounting the rolls to rotate on laterally spaced substantially parallel upright shafts 23 and 25. The angle of taper of the rolls I 9 and 20 may be varied or selected to obtain the best operating condition and to suit the characteristics of the articles to be fed.

When the articles to be fed are relatively long, thin articles such as the rods or Wires A illustrated in this instance, we may provide longitudinally spaced pairs of the feed rolls I9 and 20, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The pairs of rolls are of similar construction and are mounted in a similar manner on the upright web or plate member l4.

As best shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, the shaft 24 for the roll 20 is journaled in vertically spaced bearings 25 which are mounted against one side of the upright web It. A gear 26 mounted on this shaft is disposed between the spaced bearings 25 and meshes with a gear 2? of a longitudinally extending driveshaft 28. The shaft 23 for the roll I9 is carried by a laterally swinging arm or lever 29 so as to provide for relative lateral adjustment of the roll I9 and variation in the width of the downwardly converging space 2!. The arm 29 may have a forked end which is pivotally connected to a projection 30 of the Web 1-4 by means of the hinge pin 3 I. The po- This downsition of adjustment of the roll l9 relative to the roll 26 may be determined and maintained by adjusting means comprising a compression spring 32 acting on the arm 29 and a set screw 33 carried by such arm and engageable with the web H3. The

spring 32 may be mounted on a stud 34 which is carried by the web I4 and extends through an opening 35 of the arm. The inner end of the. spring bears against the outer side of the arm 29 and a nut or head 36 on-thefstud' provides an abutment for the outer end of the spring.

The shaft 28 may be driven, as by means of the sprocket 2811, from an electricmotor orany other suitable source of power and, through the gears 26 and 21, will cause rotation of the feed roll 20. The apparatus-may be operated with the roll iii acting as an idler or back-up roll for the driven roll 28, butwe prefer to .alsodrive the roll l9 so that relative rotation between the rolls cannot take place. For this purpose we provide the rolls with annular gears 39 and 40 which mesh with each other and cause the roll Hi to be driven from the roll 28. These gears are formed with teeth of sufficient length or depth to remain in mesh with each other, even though the roll. I9 is adjusted laterally away from the roll 20 by means of the set screw 33.

The articles A are preferably supplied in a series to the converging space between the feed rolls and for this purpose we provide a downwardly extending guideway or chute 4| which leads to this space. as a substantially vertical slot defined by the inner edges of a pair of aligned arms 42 and 43 which are carried by longitudinally extending.

this instance, we form the plate members 44-- and 45 with several of the arms 42 and 43, spacedlongitudinally therealong, so as to form a guideway or chute extending for a substantial distance in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the apparatus, and in which such relatively long articles may lie in a series with their axes substantially parallel to each other and extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the machine.

A supply of the articles to be fed may be maintained at the upper end of the chute 4| by a suitable hopper 49. The bottom of this hopper may be formed, in part, by longitudinal side plates 7 50 which are secured to the end plates |2 and |3 and, in part, by downwardly and laterally inclined bars 5| which are carried by such side plates.- The bars 5| may be provided in suitable number to support the supply of articles, for example,

they may correspond in number and location with the longitudinally spaced arms 42 and 43 which define the chute 4|.

To facilitate passage of the articles from the bottom of the hopper to the upper end of the chute 4|, we provide a pair of rollers 53 and 54 which form a partial bottom for the hopper and define therebetween a discharge opening 55 leading from the hopper to the upper end of the chute. These rollers are mounted in suitable This chute may be formed bearings such as the bearing blocks 56 and 51 carried by the end plates I2 and I3 of the machine and are adapted to be oscillated about their axes to cause agitation of the articles and thereby facilitate the passage of the articles from the 7 bottom of the hopper into the upper end of the chute.

' the-hopper'and engage and support the articles located immediately above the upper end of the chute 4|. By oscillating these rollers the articles at this point can be agitated and thereby'caused to arrange themselves in regular order and to pass through the discharge opening 55 into the upper end of the chute without sticking or jamming.

To permit of variation in the width of the discharge opening 55 so as to accommodate artices of different size, we provide for lateral shifting of the bearing blocks 5! of the roll 53. This may be accomplished by constructing the end plates l2 and I3 with lateral slots 58 therein which accommodate the bearing blocks 5?. These bearing blocks may be shifted in such slots, and locked in the desired position of adjustment therein, by means of suitable adjusting screws 59.

The rollers 53 and 54 of the hopper may be oscillated by any suitable means and, for this purpose, we may provide levers 52 and 53 which are keyed to the respective rollers and may be connected by a link 64. The lever 62 may be a bell crank lever and may have its angular extending arm 65 connected with the upper end of a connecting rod 65. The lower end of this connecting rod may be. mounted on an eccentric 61 which is driven by the shaft 28.

From the arrangement of apparatus above described it will be seen that when a supply of articles is placed in the hopper 49 and the apparatus set in operation by rotation of the shaft 28, the rollers 53 and 54 will be oscillated to cause articles to be supplied to the chute 4 The feed rolls l9 and 20 will also be driven and as the lowermost article of the series is applied to the downwardly converging space 2| from the chute it will be gripped by the rolls and will be fed thereby longitudinally of its axis and thus ejected from'between the rolls. As each article of the series becomes the lowermost article it will, in turn, be gripped by the rolls, and as it is ejected therefrom it will push the preceding articles ahead of it.

To prevent the lowermost article 22 from moving too far downwardly into the converging space 2| between the feed rolls we may use the top portion or upper edge of the web I4 as a rest or stop to be engaged by such lowermost article. If desired, notches 69 may be formed in the top of the web l4 to accommodate the pairs of feed rolls I9 and 20, leaving a portion of the web upstanding to form such a stop or rest for the lowermost article of the series. The opening |5 of the end plate I2 of the machine may have a suitable guide, such as a guide Hi, mounted therein to receive the articles from the feed rolls and direct the same to an article advancing means which conveys the articles to the point of use. This article advancing means may comprise pairs of cooperating grooved rollers ll and '52 which are located at spaced points outwardly of the guide HI and receive the articles therefrom. The rollers 72 of such pairs of rollers may be driven from the shaft 28 by suitable gearing 13.

From the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings it will now be readily seen that we have provided a novel and efiicient article feeding apparatus, which is of relatively simple construction, but which can be operated at any desired rate of speed to cause smooth and uninterrupted feeding of articles. While our apparatus operates very efficiently in the handling of elongated articles, such as rods or wires, the principle of the invention can be embodied in different machines for handling articles of various shapes and sizes.

Although we have illustrated and described the feeding apparatus of our invention in a somewhat detailed manner, it should be understood that we do not Wish to be limited to the precise details of construction and arrangement of parts herein disclosed, but regard our invention as including such changes and modifications as do not involve a departure from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In article feeding apparatus, means providing a chute adapted to contain a series of articles to be fed, a pair of feed r-olls adapted to receive articles therebetween from said chute, at least one of said rolls being tapered to cause the lowermost article of the series to be gripped therebetween, and means for driving said rolls for delivering the articles therefrom in succession.

2. In article feeding apparatus, a hopper adapted to contain a quantity of articles to be fed, means providing a chute of substantially single-article width adapted to receive articles in succession from the hopper and to contain a series of the articles to be fed, a pair of feed rolls having therebetween a space adapted to receive articles from said chute and which tapers in width to cause gripping of the lowermost article by the rolls, and driving means connected with at least one of said rolls.

3. In article feeding apparatus, means providing a chute adapted to contain a series of articles to be fed, a pair of feed rolls having therebetween a space adapted to receive articles from said chute and which converges to cause gripping of the lowermost article by the rolls, driving means connected with at least one of said rolls, and means for limiting the extent of movement of the lowermost article into the converging space.

4. In article feeding apparatus, means providing a chute adapted to contain a series of articles to be fed, a pair of feed rolls, means mounting said rolls to receive articles from said chute therebetween and providing for relative movement between the rolls to adjust the same for gripping of the lowermost article, driving means having connection with at least one of the rolls, and means for limiting the extent of downward movement of articles between the rolls.

5. In an article feeder, means providing a chute of substantially single-article width adapted to contain a series of articles to be fed, a pair of feed rolls adjacent the lower end of said chute, said rolls being tapered and providing a converging space therebetween adapted to receive articles from said chute and to grip the lowermost article, and means having driving connection with at least one of said rolls.

6. In an article feeding device, a pair of feed rolls having an article receiving space therebetween, means for driving said rolls to discharge articles laterally in succession therefrom, means defining a chute leading to said space and adapted to contain a series of the articles to be fed, a hopper having a pair of spaced rollers defining a discharge opening connecting with the upper end of said chute, and means for oscillating said rollers to facilitate the passage of articles from the hopper to the chute.

'7. In a device for feeding rod-like articles, a pair of feed rolls having an article receiving space therebetween, means for driving said rolls to discharge articles laterally in succession therefrom, means defining a chute leading to said space and adapted to contain a series of the articles to be fed, a pair of spaced elongated rollers adjacent the upper end of said chute, a hopper adapted to contain a supply of the articles and having a bottom formed in part by said spaced rollers, and means for oscillating said rollers to facilitate passage of articles to the chute.

8. In a device for feeding rod-like articles, a pair of feed rolls having an article receiving space therebetween, means for driving said rolls to discharge articles laterally in succession therefrom, means defining a chute leading to said space and adapted to contain a series of the articles to be fed, a pair of spaced elongated rollers adjacent the upper end of said chute, a hopper adapted to contain a supply of the articles and having a bottom formed in part by said spaced rollers, means for oscillating said rollers to facilitate passage of articles to the chute, and means for relatively adjusting said rollers to vary the width of the space therebetween.

9. In a device for feeding rod-like articles, a pair of feed rolls having an article receiving space therebetween, means for driving said rolls to discharge articles laterally in succession therefrom, means defining a chute leading to said space and adapted to contain a series of the articles to be fed, a pair of spaced elongated rollers adjacent the upper end of said chute, said rollers having s p a c e d circumferentially extending grooves therein, a hopper adapted to contain a supply of the articles and having portions thereof extending into the grooves of said rollers, and means for oscillating said rollers.

10. An article feeding apparatus comprising a frame having a longitudinal upright member with a recess in the top thereof, a pair of feed rolls having peripheral portions thereof extending into said recess, means mounting said rolls with said peripheral portions defining a downwardly converging space, means for directing articles in succession into said space to be gripped by said rolls, and means for driving the rolls to discharge articles laterally along the top of said member.

11. An article feeding apparatus comprising a frame having an upright web with a recess in the top thereof, a pair of feed rolls having peripheral portions thereof extending into said recess and defining a downwardly converging recess. means mounting said rolls on said web including a swinging arm carrying one of the rolls and providing for relative adjustment between the rolls, means providing a chute leading to said space and adapted to contain a series of the articles to be fed, and means for driving said rolls to discharge articles laterally along the top of said web.

GEORGE A. MAURATH. HENRY D. LEVERETT.

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