Machine for corrugating a trough-shaped metal strip
United States Patent 1 1 1111 3,874,214 Racicot Apr. 1, 1975 MACHINE FOR CORRUGATING A 3,664,170 5/1972 Davis 72/385 TROUGH-SHAPED METAL STRIP Primary E.\&#39;aminerC. W. Lanham [76] Inventor: Andre Racicot, 8495 Gouin Blvd.,  
 E Riviere des Prairies, Quebec, Asszstant Examiner-M. J. Keenan Canada 1221 Filed: Apr. 16, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT A machine for transversely corrugating a metal 7 Appl&#39; 351534 trough-shaped member for longitudinally arching the member and conferring rigidity thereto to form a [52] US. Cl. 72/307, 72/385 building arch component, The machine comprises a [5 1] Int. Cl B21d 13/02 corrugating press, a feeder carriage moving at a conl Field Of Search 72/307, 189, stant speed and a feeder foot carried by said carriage 2/3 5. 166 through the intermediary of spring means to thereby allow continuing movement of the carriage when the [56] Ref e C e trough-shaped member is arrested during the corru- UNITED STATES PATENTS gating stroke of the press. The press includes a pair of 808 001 12/1905 Briede 72/189 resiliently mounted lateral Clamping members associ- 822:8; 6/1906 72/252 ated with the die members to clamp the sides of the 840,426 1/1907 Briede 72/189 trough ng p essing of a corrugation. 2.922.459 l/l96(l Beebe 72/429 3.071190 H1963 Appel 72/421 6 Clams, 13 Drawmg Flgures 11.1 J J- 114f I&#39; H 712 15 1:&#39; z 1 1 L:-  
  L 117 o o 98 J&#39; 1.-  
  J Fig2 ,l&#39; j: &#39;1 I l f&#34;. 1| i1@ 96 a r i H1 99 2 i 11 1 I, 107 .u 98 772 I 16 11a 11a 109 UV r I Lj 1x1. 1 I? &#34;5 12}- 1 .&#34;I :1: I I I: I I I T- r? 96 111 E T-&#34;JENTED APR 1 i975 m N g E 3 w we? 3 PATEHTEB I 1 75 SHiETBDFS 39 h Km) 15 F ig.4  
 viz-mum!!!&#34; PMENTED 1 I975 MACHINE FOR CORRUGATING A TROUGI-I-SI-IAPED METAL STRIP troughs by means of which the arches are fitted together. Such arches are made by first bending a flat metal strip to a trough-shaped cross-section and then corrugating the strip transversely, thereby automatically longitudinally bending the trough to an arched shape. To obtain the arched shape, the corrugations in the sides of the central trough decrease in depth outwardly from the bottom of the central trough towards the edges of the strip and terminate short of the lateral troughs.  
  In conventional corrugating arrangements, since the travel of the strip or sheet must be arrested for the duration of each pressing operation, it is customary to provide a complex feeding mechanism capable of intermittent operation.  
  By contrast in the present invention, the feeding action is continuous and effected at constant speed, and the feeding pressure during each shaping interval is taken up by resilient means connecting the feeder foot to the feeder mechanism, thereby to obtain equally spaced corrugations.  
  The invention further contemplates a clamping mechanism for positively holding the strip in place during the pressing interval, such mechanism comprising according to the invention one or more pairs of clamping members. one of each pair being preferably mounted on the press head and the other resiliently supported so as to give with the movement of the first clamping member.  
  Preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:  
  FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a machine according to a first embodiment of the invention;  
  FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-section along plane 22 of FIG. 1, shown on an enlarged scale;  
  FIG. 3 is a cross-section along plane 3-3 of FIG. 1 showing the press portion of the machine;  
  FIG. 4 is a cross-section of the press portion taken on plane 44 of FIG. 3;  
 FIG. 5 is a detail section on plane 5-5 of FIG. 3;  
  FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on plane 66 of FIG. 3;  
 FIG. 7 is a plan of an alternative feeder member;  
 FIG. 8 is a section along plane 8-8 of FIG. 7;  
  FIG. 9 is a rear elevation of the alternative feeder member shown in FIG. 7;  
  FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the alternative feeder member:  
  FIG. 11 is a fragmentary elevation of another embodiment of a clamping mechanism;  
  FIG. 12 is a fragmentary elevation of a still further embodiment of the clamping mechanism; and  
  FIG. 13 is a detail on an enlarged scale of press dies in section along the same plane as FIG. 4.  
  Referring to FIG. 1, the corrugating machine according to the invention includes two main sections consisting of a press section 20 and a feeder section 21.  
  The press section, shown in greater detail in FIGS. 3 and 4, consists essentially of a press comprising a frame including uprights 22, top and bottom plates 23 and 24 and a cross brace 25. One of the uprights 22 has a switch box 26 with electrical conduit 27 leading into and out of it.  
  On the top place 23 are mounted a motor 28 and a gear box 29. The motor shaft 30 carries a pulley 31 on which runs a belt 32 driving a pulley (not shown) on the input shaft 33 of the gear box 29. The lastmentioned pulley is hidden by a cover 34.  
  The output shaft 35 of the gear box 29 carries a sprocket wheel 36 on which is mounted a chain 37, which drives a sprocket wheel 38 mounted on a main shaft 39.  
  The main shaft 39 is journalled in bearings 40 attached to uprights 22 and in bearings 41 secured to brackets 42 attached to the underside of the top frame plate 23. The main shaft 39 carries a pair of eccentrics 43 (FIG. 5) rigid therewith, on which, through the intermediary of bushings 44, are rotatably mounted journals 45. Four eccentric flywheels 46 are also mounted on the main shaft 39.  
  Brackets 47, fastened to the journals 45, have eye bolts 48 suspended therefrom by means of pins 49. Each eye bolt 48 has threaded thereon a gear wheel 50 borne in a box 51 and in engagement with a worm screw 52 (FIG. 6), also borne in the box 51. Each worm screw 52 has a shaft portion 5.3 extending outside the box 51 with a sprocket wheel 54 mounted thereon.  
  The two boxes 51 are fastened to the top of a press head 55, the edges of which are slidably mounted in channels formed by slide members 56, 57 secured to the inner sides of uprights 22. The press head carries an idler sprocket 58 and a sprocket 59 provided with a crank 60; chain 61 interconnects sprockets 58 and 59 with the two sprocket wheels 54.  
  A male die plate 62, bolted to two reinforcing plates 63, is attached to a beam 64 bolted to the bottom of the press head 55 by a pair of bolts 65 passing through slots (not shown). The press head has at the bottom thereof a pair of brackets 66 in which are mounted adjusting screws 67 provided with lock nuts 68. The ends of screws 67 engage either side of a bracket 69 secured to the beam 64.  
  The male die plate 62 and the reinforcing plates 63 are of inverted U shape. The die surface proper, indicated at 70, extends within the interior of the U shape and decreases in depth from the center outwardly. A pair of clamping members 71 are bolted to the ends of the legs of the U.  
  A base plate 72 is mounted between the uprights 22 and is supported by a bracing plate 73. Two female die plates 74 and a reinforcing plate 75 are mounted on the base plate 72 and bolted together. An adjusting screw 76, mounted in a bracket 77 secured to the base plate 72 behind the female die assembly, engages the reinforcing plate 75.  
  The female die plates 74 have an outline matching the U shape of the male die plate 62 and define therebetween a groove 78 of the same outwardly decreasing depth as the die surface 70. A second positioning groove 78&#39; is provided by reinforcing plate 75 (FIG. 13).  
  Two clamping sockets 79 matching and facing the clamping members 71 are rigidly assembled together by cross braces 80 in sliding contact with opposite faces of the female die assembly 74-75. The clamping socket assembly 79-80 is mounted on rigid posts 81 pivoted at the bottom to links 82 which are themselves pivoted to the ends of a leaf spring 83 centrally supported on a shelf 84 secured to the bracing plate 73. A pair of stops 85, carrying adjusting screws 86, is also secured to the bracing plate 73 and is positioned to limit the upward travel of the leaf spring 83. Screws 86 are provided with lock nuts 87.  
  A support tray 88 is mounted behind the dies with its end adjacent the dies pivoted in a vertical plane, and is supported at the other end by a threaded post 89 provided with a handle wheel 90 and engaged in a nut 91 secured to a bracket 92 pivoted with respect to uprights 22.  
  In the modified embodiment of FIG. 11, the clamping socket assembly 79-80 is suspended from a pair of tension coil springs 83 hung from the uprights 22.  
  In the modified embodiment of FIG. 12, the clamping socket assembly 79-80&#34; is supported on six pistons 81&#34; slidably mounted in bores 82&#34; in the baseplate 72&#34; and backed by compression coil springs 83&#34; supported at the bottom by face plates 84&#34; secured to the base plate 72&#34;.  
  In the two modified embodiments of FIGS. 11 and 12, posts 81, links 82 and leaf spring 83 are of course omitted. The upward travel of the clamping socket assembly, which is limited in the first embodiment by the stops 85, is limited in the embodiment of FIG. 11 only by release of tension of the springs 83&#39;, and in the embodiment of FIG. 12 by the pistons 81&#34; reaching the ends of bores 82&#34;.  
  FIG. 11 further shows a modification of the clamping members 71 which are bolted to the male die plate 62&#34; by means of vertically slotted brackets 93 with compression coil springs 94 being mounted between the die plate 62&#39; and the clamping members 71.  
  The feeder section 21 (FIGS. 1 and 2) of the corrugating machine according to the invention comprises a pair of parallel rails 95 supported by legs 96 and secured at one end to the bracing plate 73 of the press section (FIG. 3). A carriage 97 is mounted to run on the rails 95 by means of rollers 98 engaging the tops of the rails, rollers 99 engaging the bottoms of the rails and rollers 100 engaging the inner sides of the rails.  
  The carriage has secured thereon a nut 101 which engages a lead screw 102 borne at one end by a bearing 103 (FIG. 3) secured to the bracing plate 73 and at the other end by a bearing 104 connected to the rails 95. The ends of the screw extend beyond the bearings 103 and 104 and carry pulleys driven through belts 105 and 106 respectively by a forward motor 107 mounted on the outer end of rails 95 and a back-up motor 108 mounted on the bottom frame plate 24.  
  The carriage 97 is engageable with switches 109 and 110 mounted on the rails 95 at the ends of the carriage run and controlling the operation of motors 107 and 108 through electrical circuitry indicated schematically at 111.  
  The carriage 97 has mounted thereon a superstructure 112 comprising at the front end a plate 113 connected by compression coil springs 114 to a feeder foot 115. Guide rails 116 are mounted on either side of the feeder foot 115, being supported from the rails by bolts 117 and brackets 118.  
  In the alternative construction of the feeder foot shown in FIGS. 7 to 10, the feeder foot 119 is hook shaped and is fastened on a rotating sleeve 120 mounted on a transverse rod attached to the carriage 121. The sleeve 120 also carries an arm 122 and a plate 123 with a bottom slot 124. A rod 125, secured to the carriage 121, passes through the slot 124 and carries a compression coil spring 126 engaging the carriage at one end and the plate 123 at the other end.  
  The carriage 121 has a bar 127 to which is secured a journal 128 for the pivot shaft of a lever 129 normally bearing against arm 122. A safety release rod 130 passes through a guiding sleeve 131 of carriage 121 and bears against the lower end of arm 122 at one end, while its free end has a head 132.  
 OPERATION A straight metal strip 133 (FIGS. 4, 11, and 13) which has previously been shaped to a cross-section, as indicated in FIG. 11, comprising a flat bottom large central trough and flat bottom smaller lateral troughs, is placed on guide rails 116 with one end between the dies 62 and 74 and between the clamping members 71 and the clamping sockets 79.  
  Motor 107 drives screw 102 and advances carriage 97 whereby feeder foot 115 or 119 engages the other end of strip 133 and pushes it forward.  
  Meanwhile motor 28 drives shaft 39 rotating the eccentrics 43 causing the journals 45 to move the press head 55 up and down through the intermediary of brackets 47, bolts 48, gears 50 and boxes 51.  
  As the press head 55 moves down, the lateral troughs of the strip 133 are clamped between the clamping members 71 and the clamping sockets 79. Forward movement of the strip 133 is thus stopped. With further downward movement of the head 55, the spring 83 or springs 83&#39; or 83&#34; give, thereby allowing such further movement until the dies 62, 74 engage the central trough of the strip 133 therebetween and form a corrugation therein. The head 55 then moves up and clamping action between members 71 and sockets 79 is released, thus allowing the strip 133 to move forward. As the aforesaid clamping action is released, the sockets 79 move up, thus lifting the corrugation out of the groove 78 and facilitating such forward movement. During the next pressing interval, the last-formed corrugation falls into groove 78, thus ensuring accurate spacing between the corrugations.  
  Lateral positioning of the die 62 with respect to the dies 74 can be adjusted by means of screws 67, while the positioning in the travel direction of the strip 133 can be adjusted by means of screw 76. Vertical positioning of the die 62 and, consequently, the grooving depth, can be adjusted by turning crank 60, thereby rotating sprockets 54, worm screws 52, and gears 50 and raising or lowering the head 55 with respect to journals 45.  
  The effect of the corrugations, which, due to the shape of die surface 70 and the groove 78, is of outwardly decreasing depth. is to gather the strip 133 on the side of the bottom of the central trough, thereby arching the strip. The overall curvature of the strip is determined by adjusting the height of the head 55 as aforementioned, and the tilt of the supporting tray 88 is adjusted accordingly.  
  During the pressing interval, when the strip is clamped and held stationary, the carriage 97 or 121 of the feeder section continues its forward travel, and advances with respect to the feeder foot 115 or 119, thereby compressing the springs 114 or the spring 126. Upon release of the strip 133 at the end of the pressing interval, the foot 115 or 119 is thus advanced not only by continued forward movement of the carriage, but also by the action of the aforementioned springs.  
  In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the forward movement of the feeder foot 115 under the action of springs 114 is only limited by stretch of the springs 114, while in the embodiment of FIGS. 7 to the forward pivoting movement of the feeder foot 119 is stopped by arm 122 abutting lever 129. Lever 129 and rod form also a safety release in case the forward motor does not stop to rotate feeding screw 102 when carriage 121 reaches the limit of its forward stroke. Head 132 of safety release rod 130 hits a stop member (not shown) and causes clockwise rotation of lever 129 (see FIG. 8), which causes anticlockwise rotation of arm 122 and, consequently, of feeder foot 119 which clears the end of the strip 133 being corrugated.  
 What I claim is:  
  1. Machine for corrugating a trough-shaped metal strip comprising an intermittently operable corrugating press, a carriage, a feeder mechanism for continuously moving said carriage towards said press, a feeder foot engageable with the strip, and resilient means connecting said feeder foot to said carriage and yieldable in the direction opposite to the direction of movement of said carriage, whereby said resilient means yield to allow continuing movement of said carriage when said feeder foot and strip are arrested during the corrugating stroke of the press, said feeder mechanism comprising a stationarymotor-driven screw, and a nut secured to said carriage and engaged with said screw, said resilient means comprising compression springs interposed between said feeder foot and said carriage, said feeder foot being pivotally mounted on said carriage and a stop is provided defining the forward position of said feeder foot.  
  2. Machine for corrugating a trough-shaped metal strip according to claim 1, with adjustable means for said stop to vary the forward position of said feeder foot.  
  3. Machine for corrugating a trough-shaped metal strip comprising an intermittently operable corrugatng press, a carriage, a feeder mechanism for continuously moving said carriage towards said press, a feeder foot engageable with the strip, first resilient means connecting said feeder foot to said carriage and yieldable in the direction opposite to the direction of movement of said carriage, whereby said first resilient means yield to allow continuing movement of said carriage when said feeder foot and strip arrested during the corrugating stroke of the press, said press comprising a reciprocat ing head and a stationary base, male and female dies on said head and base, two pairs of opposed clamping members, one pair being mounted on the head and the other pair mounted on the base, the clamping members of each pair disposed on either side of said dies and coplanar therewith, the clamping members of one pair beng structurally interconnected as a unit and second resilient means resiliently mounting said unit to urge the clamping members thereof towards the clamping members of the other pair, said second resilient means yieldable in the direction of the operational movement of the die carried by said reciprocating head.  
  4. Machine for corrugating a trough-shaped metal strip according to claim 3, wherein said second resilient means include a centrally mounted leaf spring which carries said clamping member unit on the ends of said leaf spring.  
  5. Machine for corrugating a trough-shaped metal strip according to claim 3, wherein said second resilient means include a pair of tension coil springs, said unit being suspended therefrom.  
  6. Machine for corrugating a trough-shaped metal strip according to claim 3, wherein said second resilient means include a plurality of compression coil springs supporting said unit.