Cylinder mold former with flow box and pressure lid

The method of forming paper on a cylinder mold by means of a unitary flow box having a manifold tapered in the cross-machine direction and separated by an apertured plate from an explosion chamber, an upstanding imperforate planar baffle in said chamber, and a spring leaf pressure lid with a cantilevered tip, which method comprises the steps of

• directing influent stock along said tapered manifold and thence through relatively short apertures in said apertured plate directly into the explosion chamber of said flow box;
• then impacting said stock in a direction normal to said upstanding imperforate planar baffle and then flowing said stock upwardly along said baffle and against a wall of the explosion chamber to impact said stock perpendicularly for a second time;
• then flowing said stock through a narrow passage, for development of pressure shock;
• and
• then flowing said stock through a divergent diffuser section to reform eddies and create turbulent mixing prior to delivering it through an outlet throat of the explosion chamber to said pressure lid for paper formation on said cylinder mold.

In combination with a cylinder mold paper making machine,

• a cyinder mold former comprising:
• a. a unitary enclosed flow box having:
• a manifold tapered in the cross-machine direction and separated from a juxtaposed explosion chamber by an apertured plate, said flow box having an upstanding imperforate baffle centrally of said chamber,
• said baffle having a vertical, rearward, planar face normal to the axes of the apertures in said plate for receiving stock normal to the plane thereof and spreading and mixing the same and a top face spaced from the roof of said chamber, and
• said explosion chamber including an expansion section directing stock upwardly, a narrow diffusion section directing stock forwardly over the top face of said baffle and an outwardly tapered throat directing stock downwardly and out of said flow box;
• and
• b. an elongated pressure lid of flexible, resilient spring leaf material having an upstanding integral rearward flange attached to said flow box to form a hinge therewith, and a forward, free terminal tip spaced at least a twelve inch arc from said flange to form an elongated pressure enclosure under said lid in which stock suspension received from said unitary flow box may contact the cylinder mold.

In combination with the foraminous moving surface of a paper making machine, a unitary enclosed flow box former mounted thereon containing a manifold tapered in the cross-machine direction and delivering stock through an apertured plate perpendicularly against an upstanding imperforate baffle within an expansion chamber and through an outlet throat of the expansion chamber to a pressure lid;

• said pressure lid being a flexible, resilient spring leaf material adapted to form a pressure enclosure substantially the full width of said foraminous moving surface and extending over an area of the said surface for at least twelve inches from a forward free terminal tip to an integral upstanding rearward flange,
• a cantilevered forward tip end on said lid establishing a predetermined tip clearance from said surface,
• means for attaching said flange to said former;
• and profile adjustment means including a plurality of fine threaded adjustment screws spaced across said lid and supported on said former for varying said predetermined clearance of said tip during operation of said machine.