US3438351A - Means for simultaneously indicating the spacing between two opposed attritioning elements and their condition of wear - Google Patents

Description

April 15, 1969 MEANS FOR SIMUILTANEOUSLY INDICA'IING THE SPAGING BETWEEN TWO OPPOSED ATTRI-TIONING ELEMENTS AND THEIR CONDITION OF WEAR Filed Sept. 2. 1966 Fla 1' INVENTOR. ROBERT 5. HI RKWOOD ATTORNEY B.KIRKWOOD 3,438,351-

April 15, 1969 R. B. KIRKWOOD 3,438,351

MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY INDICA'IING THE SPACING BETWEEN TWO OPPOSED ATTRI'IIONING ELEMENTS AND THEIR CONDITION OF WEAR Filed Sept. 2. 1966Sheet 2 of 2 IINVENTOR.

ROBERT B. KIRKWOOD ATTORNEY United States Patent MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY INDICATING THE SPACING BETWEEN TWO OPPOSED ATTRITIONING ELEMENTS AND THEIR CONDITION OF WEAR Robert B. Kirkwood, Portland, Oreg., assignor to Morden Machines Company, Portland, Oreg., a corporation of Oregon Filed Sept. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 576,967 Int. Cl. G09f 9/00 U.S. Cl. 116-124 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rod attached to the axially-adjustable element in a pair of axially-aligned attritioning elements and sliding through a stationary member; a slidable bracket on the rod engaging the member when the axially-adjustable element is brought into actual contact with the opposing element at each-setting; a pointer on the bracket moving over a stationary scale to indicate the actual spacing between the elements when separated; a second scale carried by the slidable bracket; and a pointer fixed on the rod indicating on the second scale the amount of wear of the elements at each setting.

This invention relates to grinding or attritioning devices in which the attritioning action is performed by a pair of elements presenting opposed attritioning surfaces, and in which one of the elements is rotated at a different speed with respect to the other, particularly where one element alone is rotated while the other remains stationary, and also in which the spacing or gap between the two attri;ioning elements is adjustable.

The invention relates especially to such attritioning devices as pulp treating machines having a pair of opposed axially aligned attritioning elements, one of which, commonly referred to as a rotor, is rotated, and the other of which, commonly referred to as the stator, is not rotated, and with one of these two elements being adjustable in an axial direction for adjusting the spacing between them while the other remains in fixed axial position.

In such pulp treating machines, as is well known, very careful adjustment and control of the spacing between the opposed attritioning surfaces of the two elements is most essential for eflicient performance. However, since wear of the attritioning surfaces gradually occurs with use, such wear should also be taken into consideration with the adjustment of the spacing or gap. Furthermore, it is desirable to know at any time the amount of wear which has taken place on the attritioning surfaces.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved indicating assembly for such attritioning devices which will show not only the spacing between the opposed attritioning elements or surfaces, but also the extent of wear which has taken place on them.

A related object of the invention is to provide improved means for indicating the gap or spacing between opposed attritioning surfaces in which compensation for wear on the attritioning surfaces will automatically be made each time the means indicating the gap between them is reset, with the result that the gap or spacing indicated will be the actual and true spacing.

A further object is to provide practical and eflicient means for indicating both the correct or actual spacing between two such elements and the amount of wear on their opposed surfaces, which means will be simple and relatively inexpensive and will present no maintenance problem.

3,433,351 Patented Apr. 15, 196

The manner in which the improved double purpose in dicator assembly of the present invention is constructer and the manner in which it functions will be readily ap parent from the following brief description with referencr to the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the indicating assembl by itself; FIG. 2 is a section online 22 of FIG. 1; ant FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation drawn to 2 smaller scale, of a well-known type of pulp-refining ma chine on which the indicating assembly may be used. It FIG. 1 the reference character 10 indicates a stationar member or bracket which is firmly secured, for example by bolts 11 or any. other suitable means, to the casing for the attritioning device or pulp refining machine, 2 portion of which is indicated at 20 in broken line. The stationary member or bracket 10 has an extending por tion 10 on which ahorizontal scale 12 is mounted.

Anindicator rod 13 has one end (thus the right hand end as viewed in the drawing) connected with the axiallymovable element of the attritioning device. For example and for the purpose of this description, it may be assumed that therod 13 is fastened to the axially-adjust able stator" 21 of the pulp-refining machine of FIG. 3

' In this machine theattritioning element 22, which con stitutes the rotor, is not axially adjustable. Thestator 21 is not rotatable but is axially adjustable through the medium of a plurality of hydraulic cylinders indicatec at 23. However, in the event the rotor of the pulp refiner should be the axially adjustable element due to the fact that the rotor shaft is mounted in a bearing housing which in turn is movable so as to enable the rotor shaft and rotor to be moved in an axial direction, then therod 13 would be attached to such bearing housing. Therod 13 is slidable in an aperture provided in the stationary member or bracket 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2).

Aseparate indicator bracket 14 is mounted on therod 13 by means of a sliding friction bushing 15 (FIG. 2). Thisbracket 14 has apointer 16 which moves over thescale 12 on the extending portion 10' of the stationary member 10. Thepointer 16 is so arranged that when theindicator bracket 14 is in engagement with the stationary member 10, as shown in the drawing, thepointer 16 will indicate the zero mark on thescale 12, and thebracket 14 is so set on therod 13 at the time of installation that when the two opposed attritioning elements are in actual contact (for example, when the axially-movable stator" 21 (FIG. 3) has been moved into contact with the rotor" 22) thebracket 14 will be moved by therod 13 into contact with the stationary member 10 and thepointer 16 will be positioned at the zero mark on thescale 12 as shown in the drawing, thus indicating that there is no spacing between the opposed attritioning elements. Then subsequently, as the axially-movable element 21 is moved away from contact with theopposing element 22, thepointer 16 will indicate on thescale 12 the gap or spacing between the two elements.

With the development of wear on the opposed surfaces of the two attritioning elements, therod 13 will be moved slightly further (to the right as viewed in FIG. 1) each time the device is reset by the bringing of the axiallyadjustable element into contact with the opposing element. However, the fact that theindicator bracket 14 is mounted on therod 13 by the frictionallyslidable bushing 15, enables the rod to be pulled further (to the right) while thebracket 14 is held against the stationary member 10 when the wear on the attritioning surfaces makes this possible. Consequently, when the axially-movable element is subsequently moved away from the opposed attritioning element after each re-setting of the device, thepointer 16 will always indicate on thescale 12 the exact (I spacing between the attritioning elements regardless of the wear which may have taken place on the opposed surfaces.

The slidable cooperatingindicator bracket 14 has an extendingportion 14 on which is mounted a wear-indicatingscale 17. A second pointer 18 is rigidly mounted on therod 13 to move over thescale 17 whenever therod 13 is moved relatively with respect to theindicator bracket 14. Thus, as wear on the opposed attritioning surfaces causes therod 13 to be moved further (to the right) with respect to the stationary member 10, and also with respect to theindicator bracket 14, each time the device is reset by the bringing of the two opposed elements into contact with each other, the pointer 18 would indicate on thescale 17 the extent of wear which has occurred. At the same time, when the axially-movable element is again moved away from the opposing element for the operation of the attritioning device or pulp refining machine, the position of the pointer 18 with respect to thescale 17 will not change although thepointer 16 moves with respect to thestationary scale 12 and indicates the actual spacing or gap between the opposed attritioning surfaces.

Consequently, with each resetting of the indicating assembly, by the bringing of the axially-movable attritioning element into contact with the opposing attritioning element in the attritioning device, the adjusting of the two indicators, the one for the wear on the surfaces and the one for the spacing between the surfaces, takes place automatically.

I claim:

1. In an attritioning device having a pair of opposed axially-aligned attritioning elements, one of which is rotated relatively with respect to the other and one of which is movable in an axial direction for adjusting the gap between the elements, an indicator rod connected with and moving in unison in the same axial direction with the axially-movable element, a stationary member, a bearing for said rod in said stationary member, said rod slidable in said bearing, an indicator bracket mounted on said rod beyond said bearing, a friction bushing slidably holding said bracket on said rod, said bracket so positioned on said rod that said bracket will be brought into engagement with said stationary member whenever said axially-movable attritioning element is moved into actual contact with the other opposed attritioning element, cooperating indicating means on said stationary member and on said rod for indicating the gap between said opposed elements, and separate cooperating indicating means on said rod and on said bracket for automatically indicating the extent to which said rod is moved relatively with respect to said bracket, and thereby the extent of wear on said opposed attritioning elements, when the bringing of said elements into face to face contact with each other causes said rod to move in said bracket while said bracket is held by said stationary member.

2. In a pulp refining machine having a pair of axiallyaligned attritioning elements comprising a stator and a rotor and means for moving the stator in an axial direction for adjusting the spacing between stator and rotor, an indicator rod attached to and in axial alignment with the stator, a stationary member, a bearing for said rod in said stationary member, said rod slidable in said bearing, an indicator bracket mounted on said rod beyond said bearing, a friction bushing slidably holding said bracket on said rod, said bracket so positioned on said rod that said bracket will be brought into engagement with said stationary member whenever said stator is moved into actual contact with the rotor, cooperating indicating means on said stationary member and on said rod for indicating the spacing between said stator and said rotor, and separate cooperating indicating means on said rod and on said bracket for automatically indicating the extent to which said rod is moved with respect to said bracket, and thereby the extent of wear on the opposed faces of said stator and rotor, when the moving of said stator into contact with said rotor causes said rod to move in said bracket while said bracket is held by said stationary member.

3. The combination set forth inclaim 2 with said first mentioned cooperating indicating means comprising an indicator scale on said stationary member and a pointer on said bracket moving over said scale, and with said second mentioned cooperating means comprising an indicator scale on said bracket and a pointer element on said rod arranged to move over said latter mentioned indicating scale.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,032,584 3/1936 Lengel et al. 33-182 2,068,071 1/1937 Quehl 241256 XR 2,743,874 5/1956 Asplund 241-256 XR 2,854,894 10/1958 Kline et al 241256 XR 3,212,721 10/1965 Asplund et a1. 241256 XR 2,931,586 4/1960 Messing 241256 3,212,721 10/ 1965 Asplund et a1. 241-256 XR 3,327,952 6/1967 Rosenfeld 241-28 XR LOUIS J. CAPOZI, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R

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