GB1431879A - Rod loader - Google Patents

Abstract

1431879 Road loaders for rolling machine W FIELDS 1 May 1975 [12 Dec 1972] 57199/72 Heading B3M A rod loader, suitable for a skew-roll straightening machine 2 (Fig. 1) comprises a slide 12 which is movable along a bed frame 6, a partspherical bush carried within the slide, and a two-part clamping sleeve 23 which can clamp the end of a rod 3 to be loaded. The bush 18 (Fig. 3) has a frusto-conical inner surface, corresponding to the outer surface of the sleeve 23, and has dovetail grooves to house corresponding projections 25 (Fig. 7) on the sleeve. In operation, the leading end of a rod 3 is fed manually through a guide tube 28 and within the sleeve 23. A double acting pneumatic cylinder 33 moves the tube and sleeve towards the slide. Co-operation of the sleeve with the shaped bush 18 causes the sleeve parts to contract and grip the rod, and then to feed the slide towards the rolls. After the rod has been rotated by the skew rolls 4 of the machine, the sleeve contacts a stop 10, and the slide is moved further by a hand wheel 36, thereby unclamping the rod and enabling it to be drawn by the rolls into the machine. A sensor 35 detects rotations of the sleeve and initiates restriction of the sleeve and tube 28. In an alternative embodiment (Fig. 14, not shown) the slide is mounted by a lostmotion connection on an axially slidable rack. The rack is directly connected to a two-part sleeve for effecting clamping and feeding movements. The sleeve is split in a horizontal, rather than a vertical plane.