Device to separate rolled bars

Details Device to separate rolled bars Device to separate rolled bars

2000-04-21

2001-11-06

Noland, Kenneth W. (Department: 3651)

Conveyors: power-driven

Conveyor system for arranging or rearranging stream of items

By longitudinally respacing successive articles in stream

C414S730000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06311829

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention concerns a device to separate rolled bars as set forth in the main claim.
The device is employed to separate and to reciprocally distance bars arriving from the cooling zone located downstream of the rolling or finishing line, in order to obtain a better and more regular packaging of the bars.
The invention, in cooperation with a counting device, allows a desired number of bars to be arranged in layers or bundles, and prevents errors being made in counting the bars due to the bars being overlapping and twisted along the transport plane.
The device according to the invention is employed in the production by rolling of long products in bars, particularly but not only as they emerge from multi-profile rolling processes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Rolling plants for bars and sections normally include, downstream of the finishing train, a cooling zone and a zone where bundles or layers are formed; here the bars are counted and, when the desired number of bars is reached to form the bundle, they are tied and discharged.
The problem during the process of forming the bundle is that the bars, located on the transport and discharge plane, are often overlapping and twisted lengthwise, particularly when emerging from a multi-profile formation process. It is therefore often very difficult, when the desired number of bars has been counted, to separate the last bar of one layer from the first bar of the next layer, so as to proceed with the tying operation.
Moreover, mistakes in counting are very likely, and therefore the bundle or pack prepared does not have the expected number of bars.
Various separation devices have been proposed which lift at least the leading end of the last bar of one layer with respect to the plane of feed, in order to separate it from the adjacent bar.
However it is sometimes difficult to lift, as it is not possible to separate bars which are overlapping and twisted together for a considerable part of their length.
Together with possible mistakes in the counting, this may lead to the formation of layers which do not have the same number of bars.
Furthermore, the lifting of the bar itself with respect to the plane of feed causes it to be axially misaligned.
Other solutions have proposed to use blades or movable arms which are inserted into the gap between two adjacent bars in order to separate them.
If these means manage to separate the bars in correspondence with the leading ends, they cannot in any case eliminate twisting and overlapping lengthwise to the bars themselves.
These problems therefore cause non-uniform and unhomogeneous layers to be formed, which creates considerable problems in the following step of packaging the bundles of bars.
The risk of this situation developing is even greater in the case of multi-profile rolling where the bars reach the discharge plane even more twisted and overlapping.
GB-A-A.011.217 describes a device suitable to separate a pack consisting of a desired number of bars from a mass of bars arranged on a grid-type transport plane.
The device comprises a plurality of disks, at least partly wedge-shaped, arranged in alignment along the bars and below the transport plane.
The disks are suitable to be moved, with a movement of rotation, from a position underneath the transport plane to a position above the transport plane and progressively inserted between two bars, one after the other from one end of the bars to the other.
The device is not suitable to be employed with bars arriving from a rolling line, and particularly from a multi-profile rolling line, inasmuch as it is not able to separate adjacent bars which arrive twisted and overlapping for a substantial part of their length.
Nor is the device suitable to separate by a certain distance the last bar of the pack to be formed from the first bar of the mass of bars, inasmuch as the wedge shape of the disks allows only a minimum distancing between two adjacent bars.
This can cause problems during counting, and in any case causes handling problems in the operations of tying and packaging of bundles or packs carried out downstream.
The present applicant has designed, tested and embodied this invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art, and to achieve further advantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is set forth and characterised in the main claim, while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the idea of the main embodiment.
The purpose of the invention is to achieve a device which separates and reciprocally distances adjacent bars arriving from the cooling zone, located downstream of the rolling or finishing train, in order to obtain layers which are uniform and orderly both in number and in the arrangement of the bars.
The separator device according to the invention cooperates with a counting device by means of which the rolled bars, fed by the conveyor means located downstream of the cooling zone, are counted so as to form layers with the desired number of bars.
The counting device also has the function of distancing from each other at least the leading end sections of two adjacent bars.
The conveyor means displace the bars, in a direction orthogonal to their axis, from the position from which they emerge from the cooling zone to the discharge and packaging zone.
The conveyor means define the transport plane of the bars and comprise movement elements which are separated from each other lengthwise.
The separator device according to the invention comprises a plurality of separator units arranged substantially aligned parallel to the rolled bars as they are fed by the conveyor means; the separator units are separated lengthwise and arranged in the spaces between adjacent movement elements.
Each separator unit comprises at least a pair of distancing pins associated with relative drive means.
The distancing pins have at least a first inactive position, retracted below the plane on which the bars are fed, and a second active position wherein they are taken progressively above the plane on which the bars are fed and, by inserting themselves between two adjacent bars, cause them to be progressively separated.
According to a variant, each separator unit comprises two pairs of distancing pins aligned parallel to the bars which have to be separated.
According to the invention, the distancing pins in the first inactive position have a reciprocal distance, taken in the direction of feed of the bars, which is less than the reciprocal distance which they have in the second, active position.
According to a first embodiment of the invention, in the inactive position the distancing pins are arranged aligned substantially parallel to the bar, whereas in the active position they are progressively rotated until they are arranged transverse to the bars as they are inserted between them, and thus thrust them apart.
According to a variant, in the inactive position the distancing pins are arranged near each other and aligned substantially transverse to the bars, whereas, as they move to their active position, they progressively become distanced from each other as they rise between the bars and thrust them apart.
According to the invention, the rolled bars as they arrive from the cooling zone are displaced by the transverse movement elements and taken into correspondence with the separator device.
As they advance, the bars are counted by the counting device and at the same time their leading end sections are at least partly separated.
When the counting device has counted the desired number of bars to form a layer or bundle, the distancing pins move from their inactive position to their active position, inserting themselves into the gap between the last bar counted in the layer and the bar immediately adjacent thereto, and then reciprocally separate them.
In a first embodiment, all the separator units are activated simultaneously.
According to a variant, particularly in the event that the bars arrive with their middle portions and their trailing ends particularly twisted and overlapping, first the leading separator unit is act

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Device to separate rolled bars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Device to separate rolled bars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Device to separate rolled bars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2612325