Patent Application
20070039368
This invention relates to roll forming machines and, more particularly, to a roll forming machine for producing a rain gutter and which includes an internal gutter guide assembly which is protective of the finish on the face of the gutter.
Roll forming machines for producing rain gutters are generally well known. In such a machine, the gutters are formed from a supply coil of sheet metal which is finished on a first side so that the exterior of the finished gutter has an aesthetically pleasing appearance. As the sheet metal is driven through the machine along a predetermined path of travel, its lateral-profile is gradually transformed from a flat sheet into a downwardly concave trough having a desired lateral profile and with the finished side of the sheet metal forming the exterior surface of the trough. During this transformation, the outside of the partially formed gutter is contacted by guide structure to ensure that it moves properly through sets of series of roll forming stations. Up to now, the present face guide design includes a fixed face guide rod, which allowed one to raise the leading edge of the sheet metal as the material is fed through the machine from one set of roll forming stations to the next set of roll forming stations. When both sets of roll forming stations fully engage the sheet metal, the gutter profile being formed will lift up off the face guide rod by approximately up to ⅛″ so that the guide rod does not scratch the surface of the gutter. This works fine for a short span between the sets of roll forming stations because there is enough structural integrity in the gutter profile to maintain a gap between the profile and the guide rod. However, in a machine which has a large span between sets of roll forming stations, the gutter, profile cannot maintain a gap between the gutter profile and the fixed face guide rod. The gutter would simply flex enough over the large span that it would be impossible to maintain a gap between the gutter profile and the face guide rod without putting a permanent detrimental set into the gutter profile itself. Thus, the face of the gutter would scrape along the face guide rod, leading to scratching of the face of the gutter and creating an unsightly appearance. It would therefore be desirable to provide guide structure which allows the gutter face to remain in line with the pass line of the roll forming tool sets without scratching the gutter's finished face.
The present invention finds utility in a roll forming machine of the type which forms an indeterminate length panel having a desired lateral profile from a uniform width supply strip of sheet metal having a pair of parallel straight edges. The roll forming machine drives the supply strip along a predetermined path of travel through a series of spaced roll forming stations. The supply strip has a first side which is finished to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance. The invention includes an assembly for contacting the finished first side of the supply strip to guide a partially formed portion of the panel along a portion of the predetermined path of travel without marring the finished first side. The inventive guide assembly comprises an elongated rod mounted to a frame of the machine and extending substantially parallel to the portion of the predetermined path of travel, at least one holder mounted to the rod, and at least one roller each mounted to a respective one of the at least one holder for rotation about a respective axis orthogonal to the rod.
In accordance with an aspect of this invention, the at least one holder is rotatably mounted to the rod.
In accordance with another aspect of this invention, the at least one holder is slidably mounted to the rod.
In accordance with another aspect of this invention, the at least one roller has a cylindrical shape.
The foregoing will be more readily apparent upon reading the following description in conjunction with the drawings in which like elements in different figures are identified by the same reference numeral and wherein:
Referring to the drawings,
As the supply coil is pulled through the machine 20, each successive roll forming station operates to gradually transform the lateral profile of the sheet metal from a flat sheet to the profile shown in
Referring to
With the inventive guide assembly in place, the rollers 37 contact the finished surface of the partially formed gutter 10. It is understood that the holders 36 had previously been positionally adjusted so that the cylindrical surface of each roller 37 tangentially contacts the finished outside surface of the partially formed gutter 10. Since the guide rollers 37 rotate, the finished gutter surface does not slide across the guide rollers, so there is no scratching of the finished surface.
Accordingly, there has been disclosed a guide assembly which is protective of the finish on the face of a rain gutter being formed in a roll forming machine. While an illustrative embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed herein, it will be appreciated that various adaptations and modifications to the disclosed embodiment are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, for example, while cylindrical rollers have been disclosed, other shapes of rollers, such as spherical or conical, are possible. It is therefore intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
