Guide assembly for air-expanded thermoplastic tubes
AssigneeGloucester Engineering Co., Inc.
InventorCharles M. Schott, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bubble guide of the type employing guide members mounted on elongated, pivoted support arms. Rotation of the guide members, shown in the form of overlapping arcuate segments, results in dependent reverse rotation of the guides relative to the arms, produced by a compensating mechanism, for orientation purposes. Primary crank arms and connecting rods drive all support arms simultaneously and secondary crank arms and connecting rods produce simultaneous compensatory rotation of all guide members. Downward cantilevered mounting of sets of the guide members enables ready access from below and tilting of the sets enables variation in diameter along the assembly. Reaction of one or more guide members to change in the bubble size is employed to regulate cooling air flow into the extruding tube.
Claims21
In a guide assembly for use with an extruder producing a continuous tube, the tube being expanded by internal air, said guide assembly comprising a set of tube-engaging guide members arranged in a circle encompassing the tube, each of said guide members connected to the end of an elongated support arm, each said arm being pivotally connected at its opposite end to a supporting frame with the line joining said connections of each arm forming a substantial angle with the radius of the tube projected to the respective guide member, whereby rotation of each said arm about its pivot is effective to adjust said guide member in correspondence with change in the diameter of said tube, the improvement wherein each said guide member is pivoted to its said support arm, and a compensatory rotation means is associated therewith dependent upon rotation of said arm for rotating said guide member about its pivot in the direction opposite to the said rotation of said arm in compensatory orienting motion.
In a guide assembly for use with an extruder producing a continuous tube, the tube being expanded by internal air, said guide assembly comprising a set of tube-engaging guide members arranged in a circle encompassing the tube, and adjustment means enabling adjustment of said guide members relative to the axis of the tube to adjust the size of said circle, each of said guide members connected to the end of an elongated support arm, each said arm being pivotally connected at its opposite end to a supporting frame, with the line joining said connections of each arm forming a substantial angle with the radius of the tube projected to the respective guide member whereby rotation of each said arm about its pivot is effective to move said guide member in correspondence with change in the diameter of said tube, and said adjustment means comprising primary rotation means adapted to rotate simultaneously all of said arms about their pivots on the frame to adjust simultaneously the distance of each of said guide members relative to the axis of the tube, the improvement wherein said primary rotation means includes a set of primary crank arms, each associated with a respective said support arm, and a set of primary connecting rods, each connecting an adjacent pair of said crank arms, said primary crank arms and connecting rods arranged to cause equal rotation of all of said support arms.
In a guide assembly for use with an extruder and die producing a continuous tube, the tube being expanded by internal-air, said guide assembly comprising a set of tube-engaging guide members arranged in a circle encompassing the tube, each of said guide members connected to the end of an elongated support arm, each said arm being pivotally connected at its opposite end to a supporting frame with the line joining said connections of each arm forming a substantial angle with the radius of the tube projected to the respective guide member, whereby rotation of each said arm about its pivot is effective to adjust said guide member in correspondence with change in the diameter of said tube, a plurality of said guide members being disposed axially along the axis of said tube, said guide members joined on a common shaft, the improvement wherein each said shaft is supported as a cantilever extending vertically downward from the end of the respective said support arm, in the direction of the die from which the tube extrudes, the assembly providing ready access for the operator to the die.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.