Method and Device for Guiding the Leader of the Web in the Drying Section of a Paper Machine

The present invention relates to a method and device for guiding the leader of the web in the drying section of a paper machine.

The invention relates to a method of guiding the leader of the web in the drying section of a paper machine. In this method, a narrow leader is cut out of a full-width web by water jets or the equivalent, against a roller of the press section, for example. The leader is guided by air jets into the gap between the threading ropes and is carried between the threading ropes over the drying cylinders.

The invention also relates to a device for undertaking the method of the invention, which device is provided after the press section of the paper machine at the initial end of the drying section. The device comprises blowing means by which the leader of the web is guided and a pair or group of threading ropes, running in guide grooves formed in an extension of the mantles of the drying cylinders.

As is known in the prior art, when a paper machine is started or after a break of the web, the end of the web is threaded through the drying section by cutting a narrow leader strip out of the web against a rock roller, for example, by a water jet. The leader has a width of about 200 mm and is threaded manually to the threading devices by air jets. As is known in the prior art, the threading devices in the drying section of a paper machine comprise pairs of ropes, each drying group being provided with ropes running over pulleys placed in connection with the ends of the drying cylinders. Usually, the leader is guided between two ropes, an outer and an inner rope, but in some paper machines three jointly operative ropes are used.

The constant increase in the running speeds of paper machines has resulted in increasing difficulties in the threading of the end of the web. The maximum difficulties occur right after the press section and in the initial drying section, as well as in the zones between drying groups.

When prior art threading arrangements are used, the leader must be guided manually at several points in the drying section by air jets placed at the ends of hoses. This work is very dangerous, because it must be performed in immediate proximity to revolving massive components. Furthermore, the operator must be well accustomed to the work and have good professional skill in order to adequately do the work.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a method and device for guiding the leader of the web in the drying section of a paper machine, which method and device avoid the drawback of the prior art devices and provide more reliable and faster threading.

An object of the invention is to provide a method and device for guiding the leader of the web in the drying section of a paper machine, which device may be extensively automated, thereby substantially reducing or completely eliminating the risky manual steps and making the practice of said method safe.

The threading of the leader has been made more difficult by the long open gap in the zones between the drying groups of the paper machine. Thus, another object of the invention is to provide a method and device for guiding the leader of the web in the drying section of a paper machine, which method and device provide considerably easier threading than heretofore by utilizing a closed draw in the zones between groups, which draw contributes to an increase in the speed of the paper machine, and by making the covering angles of the drying wires larger, thereby increasing the evaporating capacity.

In order to attain the foregoing objects and those later noted, the method of the invention has the following steps.

The leader is detached from the roller of the press section by air jets and is guided by other jets into connection with the drying wire in the drying section of the paper machine.

Air jets are directed through the drying wire at the leader supported on said wire. These air jets detach the leader from the drying wire.

Substantially immediately after the detachment of the leader from the drying wire, transverse air jets are directed at said leader and cause it to shift into the gap between the threading ropes and to pass between the threading ropes over the drying cylinders.

The device of the invention comprises a blow box, or the equivalent, placed inside the loop of the drying wire in the drying section in proximity with the straight run and one edge of said drying wire. The blow box has nozzle openings opening towards the drying wire. Blow means are provided facing the blow box, slightly forward in the running direction of the drying wire. The blow means provide transverse air jets substantially parallel to the plane of the drying wire and directed at the leader detached from the drying wire at the blow box.

The device of the invention permits the cut leader to be guided more reliably into the rope threading in the drying section by using the closed draw and guide and support blowers in a manner hereinafter described in greater detail. The various components of the device of the invention may be connected advantageously to automatic controls, which results in facilitation of the work of paper machine personnel to a significant extent and reduction in the number of dangerous working steps.

When the method and device of the invention are applied in the zones between groups, it is possible to increase the speed of the paper machine by the closed draw. Furthermore, it is possible to make the covering angles of the wires larger and thereby to increase the evaporating output, by the method and device of the invention.

For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of part of an embodiment of the device of the invention, illustrating the first step of the method of the invention, wherein the leader is detached from the smooth-surfaced center roller of the press section and passed into connection with the drying wire;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of part of the device of FIG. 1, showing the second step of the method of the invention, wherein the leader is detached from the drying wire and shifted into the gap between the threading ropes;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a first embodiment of the device of the invention and illustrates how the leader is guided in connection with the drying wire;

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a second embodiment of the device of the invention, wherein the rope gap between the threading ropes is located on the run of the drying wire and the web after the baby cylinder;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the detachment of the leader, which has been made to adhere to the drying wire, from said drying wire;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the step of the method of the invention after the step shown in FIG. 5, wherein the leader is guided laterally into the gap between the threading ropes;

FIG. 7 is an axial section of the end of a drying cylinder, provided with a groove for the threading ropes; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 3 duplicated in an application of the device of the invention in the zones between groups of drying cylinders.

In FIG. 1, the press section of the paper machine includes a center roller 10 such as, for example, a rock roller, having a smooth surface 10'. Two nips, of which one nip N is shown in FIG. 1, are usually formed in connection with the center roller 10. The nip N is formed between a press roller 11 and the center roller 10 and is provided with a press felt 12.

A narrow leader strip L, of a width of about 200 mm, is cut from the full-width web on the center roller 10 by water jet devices. The leader L.sub.1 as well as the whole web are detached from the smooth surface 10' of the center roller 10 by a blade 14 of a doctor 13. The leader L.sub.1 is guided forward by the air jets F.sub.1, whereas the rest of the web falls to the reject carriage or treatment equipment (not shown in the FIGS.), placed underneath, usually in the basement.

In accordance with FIGS. 1 and 2, a drying wire 15, which is a so-called single-draw fabric, for example, guided by a guide roller 16, is passed to proximity with the center roller 10. Blow boxes 18a and 18b are provided on the straight run of the drying wire 15, inside said drying wire loop, between the guide roller 16 and a baby cylinder 17. The blow boxes 18a , and 18b are constructed and function as described in applicant's assignee's U.S. application Ser. No. 595,969 filed April 2, 1984. The blow boxes 18a and 18b are fitted over the entire width of the web and have one or more nozzle slots from which several air jets are blown onto the drying wire 15 at a speed substantially higher than the speed of movement of said drying wire. These air jets cause air to be ejected out of the space between said drying wire and said blow boxes. This blown air produces an effect of negative pressure, illustrated by arrows F.sub.o. Furthermore, the leader strip L may be guided into connection with the drying wire or fabric 15 by support jets F.sub.2 from below, which guide said leader strip after the doctor jet F.sub.1.

After the running of the leader L, connected with the edge portion of the drying wire 15, has been stabilized, the next step in the method of the invention illustrated by FIGS. 2 and 5, is undertaken. As shown in FIG. 2, a blow box 19 is provided at the leader, inside the loop of the drying wire 15. Correspondingly, a blow box 26, provided with nozzle holes 26' is placed against the inner surface of the drying wire 15 loop, as shown in FIG. 5. An air supply pipe 25 passes into the blow box 26. Strong local air jets F.sub.3 produced by the blow boxes 19 and 26 are directed through the drying wire 15 at the leader L.sub.o placed on the outer surface of said drying wire 15. In this manner, the leader L.sub.o is detached from the surface of the drying wire 15, whereat the leader L.sub.1 is ready to be shifted, in the following step of the method of the invention, by the effect of lateral air jets F.sub.4 transversely to the outside of one side edge 15" of said drying wire (FIG. 6). The lateral jets F.sub.4 are produced by blowing devices 27, as shown in FIG. 6. The leader L.sub.1 is thus shifted into the gap K between threading ropes R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 and is supported between said ropes into connection with the baby cylinder 17.

As shown in FIG. 7, the baby cylinder 17 and the other drying cylinders 20 and 21 are provided with mantles 28, to which an end 30 is attached by means of screws 33. The radius of the end 30 is equal to the radius of the mantle 28. The end 30 has a groove 31 formed therein in which the ropes R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 run.

In FIG. 3, the leader L has been guided in the aforedescribed steps into the gap K between the threading ropes R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 by blowing devices 26a and 27a. The leader L then moves between the ropes R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 over the baby cylinder 17 and onto the drying cylinders 20 and 21, etc.

In the second embodiment of the invention, shown in FIG. 4, the leader L is passed into a gap K.sub.o between the baby cylinder 17 and the drying wire 15, being guided by a guide roller 16b by air jet devices, for example (not shown in the Figs.). The drying wire 15 is passed into connection with the baby cylinder 17, as guided by a guide roller 16c. As shown in FIG. 4, the shifting of the leader L to a position between the ropes R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 does not occur until after the baby cylinder 17, and is accomplished by blowing devices 25b, 26b and 27b. The construction and operation of the blowing devices 25b, 26b and 27b are substantially similar to those of the blowing devices 19, 25, 26, 27, 26a and 27a, hereinbefore described.

The gap K between the ropes R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 is formed before the first drying cylinder 20 proper (FIG. 4), whose end 30 is provided with the rope groove 31, shown in FIG. 7. The leader L is guided into the gap K by the blowing devices 25b, 26b and 27b in the manner shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and described with reference thereto.

Guide pulleys 22, 23 and 24 are provided for the threading ropes (FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 6).

In FIG. 8, a preceding group has drying cylinders 34, 35 and 36, and a succeeding group has drying cylinders 37 and 38. The former group includes an upper wire 40 guided by guide rollers 43 and 44 and a lower wire 41 guided by guide rollers 45 and 47. The latter group includes an upper wire guided by guide rollers 46 and 48. The wire guide rollers 44 and 45, in pairs, and, correspondingly, the wire guide rollers 46 and 47, in pairs, are placed in overlapping relation with each other, in accordance with the lick-up principle. An almost closed draw and, in any case, very short zones L.sub.5 between groups are obtained for the web W. A blow box 50 is provided inside the loop of the wire 41, before the drying cylinder 36, at the zones between groups, as shown in FIG. 8. Correspondingly, a blow box 51 is provided inside the wire 42 loop, before the drying cylinder 37. The blow boxes 50 and 51 produce a suction effect based on ejection in the direction of arrows F.sub.5 on the leader L.sub.5. Threading free from disturbances is thereby promoted in the zones between groups. The support air jets F.sub.5 and the blow boxes 50 and 51 may also be extended in order to cover the entire width of the machine, whereby the running of the full-width web W is stabilized in the zones between groups, corresponding to the threading of the leader L.sub.5. The blow boxes 50 and 51, as well as the support jets F.sub.5 generated by said blow boxes, function in accordance with the same principle as the aforedescribed blow boxes 18a and 18b, so that reference is also made, in this connection, to applicant' s assigness's said application Ser. No. 595,969.

Some examples of automatic control of the method of the invention are hereinafter described. FIG. 2 shows a pipe 60, through which pressurized air is introduced by means of a blower 61, such as, for example, a pocket blower device of a multi-cylinder dryer, through pipes 60a and 60b to the blow boxes 18a and 18b. In principle, the blower 61 is in operation continuously when the paper machine is in operation. When a web break occurs, a grating 62 is closed automatically under the control of the break. In practicing the method of the invention, the threading is started by running a full-width web by the doctor 13 to the reject conveyor underneath the device. In the next stage, the jets F.sub.3, produced by the blow box 19, 26 connected with the blow boxes 18a and 18b, are directed through the drying wire 15. Either slightly later, or simultaneously, a compressed air jet F.sub.4, at the service or operating side, starts blowing in the transverse direction. In the next stage, the air jets F.sub.2 detach the leader strip of the web from the surface 10' of the rock roller 10. The end of the leader L is blown into the gap K at the desired point, due to the correct direction of the air jets F.sub.2. In this way, the leader L can be introduced into the gap K between the threading ropes R.sub.1 and R.sub.2, whereupon the operation of the devices is immediately controlled so that jets F.sub.1, F.sub.2 and F.sub.4 are stopped. In the next stage, the grating 62 is opened under control and the leader strip is made a little wider, almost simultaneously. In the last stage, trimmings of the draws or other operations, known in themselves, are performed.

The invention is by no means restricted to the aforementioned details which are described only as examples; they may vary within the framework of the invention, as defined in the following claims.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above constructions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.