US3229787A

US3229787A - Oiler for rotary drums

Info

Publication number: US3229787A
Application number: US326639A
Authority: US
Inventors: Rodney F Henley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1963-11-27
Filing date: 1963-11-27
Publication date: 1966-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 1983-01-18

Description

Jan. 18, 1966 R. F. HENLEY OILER FOR ROTARY DRUMS Filed NOV. 2'7, 1963 FIG. 2

INVENTOR RODNEY F. HENLEY BY %/W ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,229,787 OlLER FOR ROTARY DRUMS Rodney F. Henley, Washington, D.C., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy Filed Nov. 27, 1963, Ser. No. 326,639 Claims. (Cl. 184-19) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), see. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

This invention relates to oilers for rotary drums and more particularly to continuous oilers for applying a thin coat of oil to magnetic recording drums.

In the art of magnetic drum recording it has been found desirable to apply a very thin coat of light lubricating oil to the molded synthetic rubber recording bands. This thin oil coating significantly reduces the reproduced noise level caused by the recording head contacting the rotating band, which in those instances where molded bands are employed, is aggravated by the comparatively uneven recording surface. The application of oil further greatly extends the life of recording heads and hands by substantially eliminating the wear of these elements.

Various methods of applying oil to the recording bands have been employed in the past. Several of these methods such as periodically applying oil to the bands with a paint brush, periodically squirting oil on the bands through a pro-positioned tube or positioning the drum so that during rotation its bottom portion runs through an oil reservoir have particular drawbacks. The first two of these apply too much oil to the drum initially and too little between applications. The major drawback of the first two as well as the reservoir system is the application of too much oil which causes oil to be sprayed throughout the equipment clogging portions of the recorder and requiring frequent shutdown for cleaning. Even when oil is applied through a wick excessive contact between the wick and recording bands Will cause an excess of oil to be applied and spraying and clogging will consequently ensue. Further, when more than line contact exists between the applicator wick and drum and the recording drum is run in reverse costly jamming can occur.

The oil applicator of the present invention overcomes the foregoing inadequacies of the prior art by providing a rockable wick retaining structure which loosely yet securely holds a tapered felt wick in line contact with the rotating recording band while applying a light adjustably controllable pressure to the wick. This light line contact provides for equal lubrication of the comparatively irregular surface of molded recording bands.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for applying a light coating of oil to the recording bands of a magnetic sound recorder.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an oiling system for magnetic drum recorders where the recording bands are not of uniform thickness.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a holding mechanism for a tapered felt wick which will maintain the edge of said felt wick in line contact with a rotating drum under adjustably controllable pressure.

These and other objects as well as many of the attendant advantages and features of this invention will be readily appreciated as they become better understood by reference to the following detailed description when the same is considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 3,229,787 Patented Jan. 18, 1966 of FIG. 1, and including a recording drum and band, in section,

FIG. 3, is a bottom view of the device illustrating the tapered arcuate rocker plate of the present invention, and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional View taken along the line 44 of FIG. 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, wherein like reference characters represent like parts throughout the several views, and more particularly to FIG. 1 there is shown the novel oil applicator of the present invention generally designated 10 resting on rocker plate 12 in an oil reservoir at pan 14. Rocker plate 12 (FIG. 3) is provided with a tapering arcuate surface 16 which permits backward, forward and lateral rocking of the oil applicator 10 in conformity with any recording band irregularities or variations in band thickness encountered by the edge 18 on tapered end 19 of wick 20 when said edge is in contact with recording band 22 mounted on rotating drum 24.

As best shown in FIG. 4, wick 20 is mounted loosely but securely between rocker plate 12 and an upper lever plate 26 which includes a fastening flange 28, upright 39 and lever arm 32. A plurality of bolts 34 extend through complementary openings 36 in flange 28, metallic spacers 38 positioned in openings 40 in Wick 20 and are threaded into openings 42 in rocker plate 12. The bolts 34 do not extend through rocker plate 12 so that the leading ends of bolts 34 do not interfere with the rocking motion of the oil applicator on tapering arcuate surface 16. The metallic spacers 38 maintain a set distance between flange 28 and rocker plate 12 thus preventing bolt 34 from being tightened to the extent that it will project beyond the bottom of rocker plate 12 and also prevents felt wick 20 from being squeezed between flange 28 and plate 12 and hence impede the flow of oil through the wick 20. The spacers 38 also allow the wick 20 to move slightly between the flange 28 and rocker plate 12 thus further permitting freedom of the wick to follow the contour of the recording band. Lock washers 35 are employed with bolts 34 to prevent the bolts from unthreading from openings 42 in rocker plate 12.

The lever arm 32 of upper lever plate 26 has an elongated slot 44 which facilitates the mounting and adjustable positioning of a weight 46 on lever arm 32 by means of a bolt 48 which passes through the slot 44 and is threaded into weight 46. Of course in addition to adjusting the distance between rocker plate 12 and weight 46 'by moving bolt 48 in slot 44 to vary the pressure of the wick on the recording bands, different size weights can be easily interchanged to also vary the wick pressure.

A retaining plate 50 which is L-shaped in cross section is secured to the back wall of reservoir 14 by bolts 56 and carries a pair of bolts 52 which are loosely inserted into complementary openings 54 in wick 20. The retaining plate 50 and bolts 52 serve to maintain the rear edge of wick 20 emersed in the oil 58 and prevent wick curling or forward rocking of the wick carrying structure from causing the rearward end of the wick to be raised out of the oil supply. However, it will be apparent that this configuration does permit sufiicient movement of that end of the wick so as not in interfere with or restrict normal rocking movement of the wick. Apertures 60 are provided in lever arm 32 to provide ready access to bolt 52. This facilitates the removal of the entire oil applicator from the reservoir when desired while permitting retaining plate 50 to remain secured to the reservoir 14.

As can be seen from the foregoing the novel oil applicator of the present invention provides a simple and efficient method of applying a thin coat of oil to rotating record-ing drums by rockably positioning a wick in line contact with the rotating drum under a selectively variable amount of pressure.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the foregoing teachings without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore to be understood that this invention is to be limited only by the appended claims, and not otherwise.

What is claimed is:

1. An oil applicator for continuously applying a thin coating of oil to a rotating surface comprising:

Wick means having a tapered end portion,

wick mounting means having a lower rocker portion and an upper lever portion, and

movable weight means secured to said upper lever portion, said rocker portion adapted to support said oil applicator for rockable movement thereabout in response to the force supplied by said weight means whereby light line contact is maintained at all times between the edge of said wick and said rotating surface.

2. An oil applicator arrangement for continuously applying a thin coating of oil to a rotating drum comprismg:

an oil containing reservoir,

a wick having one end thereof disposed in the said oil and the other end providing line contact with said rotating drum,

a rocker plate and an upper lever plate having a lever arm extending therefrom, said wick being loosely secured between said rocker plate and said upper lever plate, and

a movable Weight mounted on said lever arm, said weight causing said applicator to pivot about said rocker plate lightly forcing the edge of said wick against said rotating drum.

3. An oil applicator arrangement for continuously applying a thin coating of oil to a rotating drum comprismg:

an oil containing reservoir,

a wick having one end thereof disposed in the said an L-shaped retaining 'b-ar secured to said reservoir and partially overlying said one end of said wick for maintaining said wick emersed in said oil.

4. An oil applicator for continuously applying a thin coating of oil to a rotating drum comprising:

a rocker plate having a tapered arcuate rocker edge supporting said applicator,

an upper lever plate having an extended lever arm portion,

a Wick secured between said rocker plate and said lever plate, said wick having a tapered end portion providing a drum engaging edge, and

a weight secured to the end of said lever arm remote from the wick securing area of said lever plate, whereby the edge of said wick Will be maintained in contact With said drum through the rocking of said applicator on said rocker plate in response to the force supplied by said weight.

5. An oil applicator arrangement for continuously applying a thin coating of oil to a rotating drum comprisoil and the other end being tapered to provide line ing:

an oil containing reservoir,

a rocker plate having a tapered arcuate rocker edge supported by said reservoir,

an upper lever plate having an extended lever arm portion, a wick loosely secured between said rocker plate and said lever plate, said wick having a tapered end portion providing :a drum engaging edge,

a moveable weight secured to the end of said lever arm remote from the wick securing area of said lever plate, and

means secured to said reservoir for maintaining the end of said wick remote from said edge submerged in said oil whereby the edge of said wick will be maintained in contact with said drum through the rocking of said applicator on said rocker plate in response to the force supplied by said weight.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,059,021 4/191'3 Bellhouse 184-3 1,955,550 4/1934 Kendall 184102 2,205,617 6/1940 Coolidge 184102 FOREIGN PATENTS 78,615 10/1919 Germany.

LAVER'NE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

H. BELL, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. AN OIL APPLICATOR FOR CONTINUOUSLY APPLYING A THIN COATING OF OIL TO A ROTATING SURFACE COMPRISING: WICK MEANS HAVING A TAPERED END PORTION, WICK MOUNTING MEANS HAVING A LOWER ROCKER PORTION AND AN UPPER LEVER PORTION, AND MOVABLE WEIGHT MEANS SECURED TO SAID UPPER LEVER PORTION, SAID ROCKER PORTION ADAPTED TO SUPPORT SAID OIL APPLICATOR FOR ROCKABLE MOVEMENT THEREABOUT IN RESPONSE TO THE FORCE SUPPLIED BY SAID WEIGHT MEANS WHEREBY LIGHT LINE CONTACT IS MAINTAINED AT ALL TIMES BETWEEN THE EDGE OF SAID WICK AND SAID ROTATING SURFACE.