Elpatronic Ag

Niklaus Portmann

Alfonso D'Aniello

Werner Urech

Peter Taiana

Hans-Wilhelm Hoffmann

The driver (12) comprises a carrier (14) for attachment to a conveyor, for example an endless chain. A pusher (16) made of hard-wearing material is attached to the carrier (14) in such a way that when the support moves forwards the pusher engages a rear edge of a sheet (10) to be fed. The pusher (16) is supported through at least one elastic spacer (18) on the carrier (14), in a rearwardly resilient manner. In a preferred embodiment of the driver (12), the pusher (16) comprises a flexible metal sleeve (30) which near each of its two ends rests, by way of a respective spacer (18) in the form of an electrically insulating washer, on a shaft (20) attached to the carrier (16). This makes high rates of acceleration possible when feeding thin metal sheets on a can welding machine, without the sheets being damaged by the driver (12).

Driver for feeding thin metal sheets on a can welding machine

A roller head (10) for a resistance seam welding machine has an internally located sliding contact current transmission device (24) between stator 12) and rotor (14) and is composed of a pair of circular ring-shaped discs (26, 26') which extend radially between rotor and stator, are fastened to the rotor on their outer circumferences, carry axial sliding contact rings (32,32') on their inner circumferences, and are flexible designed in their intermediate parts (28,28') between inner and outer circumferences. These sliding contact discs (26,26') are composed of a copper mesh, to which the axial sliding contact rings (32,32') are fastened. Thin-walled metallic diaphragms can also be used instead of the copper mesh. The roller head (10) can transmit high welding currents. As a result of the flexible design of the sliding contact discs (26,26') the contact presssure, which is created by a stack of plate springs (40), remains constant even with external mechanical influences.

Sliding contact roller head

A pendulum roller head for a resistance seam-welding machine is described, having a sliding contact current transmission device between a stator and a rotor, which device is composed of an annular disc which extends radially between rotor and stator, is fastened by its outer circumference to the stator, carries an axial sliding contact ring on its inner circumference, and is flexibly designed in its bridging part between the inner and outer circumferences. The sliding contact disc is composed of a copper braid to which the axial sliding contact ring is fastened. The sliding contact current transmission device in the form of the disc with a flexible bridging part replaces the current transmission device in the form of fluid metal which has formerly been in use in pendulum roller heads.

Electrode roller with flexible current transmitting disc

A Z rail for welding the longitudinal edges of can bodies has two supporting bodies, each with a longitudinal groove comprising two lateral surfaces which are at least roughly parallel to each other, and a base surface which is at least roughly perpendicular to the lateral surfaces. Each groove has an undercut profile with an enlargement, which separates one of the lateral surfaces from the base surface. An insert of hard material is interchangeably fastened in the enlargement. The insert extends at least to the plane of the opposite lateral surface and has an outer surface directed away from the base surface. These outer surfaces support the respective edges of edge margins of the sheet metal that is to form the can body. The lateral surfaces of the groove in each supporting body are designed for the direct guidance of lateral faces of the sheet-metal edge margin.

Rail for guiding sheet-metal edges which are to be welded together

The apparatus described is so constructed that narrow can bodies having an internal diameter of 52 mm for example can be produced from rounded blanks by welding the edges of the blanks. The supply of welding current to the electrode roller is effected through copper caps, a clamping member, contact members disposed at each side thereof, contact jaws silver contact segments and peripheral surfaces of wide hubs which are provided on the electrode roller. The contact jaws engage the hubs of the electrode roller at both sides of the roller from above and below, as a result of which there is a large area for the transmission of current and a low specific contact pressure. The hub surfaces, which form the actual contact surfaces of the electrode roller, are continuously lubricated through felt lubricating segments. The contact pressure of the contact jaws can be adjusted in a simple manner by means of a screw. The whole apparatus and particularly the electrode roller are extensively cooled internally by a special cooling device.

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Bellikon, Switzerland

Niklaus Portmann