46 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, 1904. 



^ 



THE ASTFALCK QUICK PRESS SYSTEM. 



FROM Germany The India Rubber World has received 

 a description of a " System for hydraulic presses for vul- 

 canizing rubber goods," known as the Astfalck system, that is 

 interesting. Allowing for the lack of illustrations, and for the 

 difficulty that the translator had in comprehending technical 

 terms, and eliminating descriptions of qualities that all of the 

 best makes of presses have in common, there still remains 

 much of value in the article, which follows : 



■' In order to avoid any disadvantageous sagging, these 

 presses are provided with a number of plungers, are so construct- 

 ed that no harmful warping can arise from the heating and 

 cooling of the machine. To provide for the greatest possible 

 uniformity of expansion in the upper and lower parts of the 

 press, without detrimental action of the friction upon the dead 

 weight, a compensating device has been added which consists 

 essentially of two cast iron tubes or pipes connecting the 

 nether press heads, these tubes being warmed and cooled in 

 the same manner as the follower. 



" Moreover the entablatures rest upon rollers so that the ex- 

 pansion and contraction of the press from heating and conse- 

 quent cooling may proceed unhindered. After placing the 

 material to be vulcanized upon the lower plate — to bring up 

 the table to its effective working point against the upper frame 

 head, economically and without loss o( time— there are con- 

 nected with the entablature so-called advance pressure cylin- 

 ders, which elevate the entablature as quickly as is compatible 

 with a good oversight of the work in hand. Besides, in this 

 non working movement, which forms the greatest portion of 

 the whole upward motion, there is only sufficient water used 

 to raise the table and at the same time to overcome the resist- 

 ance of easy friction and added speed ; for, in consequence of a 

 peculiar arrangement of valves, during this process the press 

 cylinder proper is filled with the running water contained in a 

 low standing tank, without the aid of any other mechanism. 

 As soon as the material to be vulcanized is brought up to and 

 in contact with the upper head of the press, any desired pres- 

 sure may be obtained by the movement of a hand lever which 

 operates the necessary valves and said pressure may be main- 

 tained in the press for any desired length of time. The vul- 

 canizing having been accomplished, a short lever movement 

 opens other valves, the pressure is released and the sinking of 

 the entablature takes place rapidly without the use of water 

 pressure. In the release by means of the valve motion an ex- 

 tremely rapid fall of the lower table is effected and at the same 

 time an easy dislodgement of the vulcanized material is made 

 possible. 



" For all the movements of the press— viz. : The quickest up- 

 ward non working motion, the real pressure work, and the most 

 rapid return after work has been accomplished— only one short 

 easily moved lever is necessary; and what is more, this motion 

 of the lever is always in the direction of the press motion de- 

 sired : up, for an upward movement, and down, for the down- 

 ward movement, so that all chances of mistakes are eliminated. 



•' The qualities of the water saving device, ' System Astfalck ' 

 which are applied to these presses, permit not only of the quick 

 motions above described but require withal so little water for 

 pressure purposes that only a very small high pressure accumu- 

 lator and a very small pump are sufficient to serve several such 

 presses, which means small requirements of power from a 

 power plant, not to mention light transmissions. Hence the 

 operation of two hydraulic vulcanizing presses each having a 

 pressure capacity of 675 tons, together with one press having a 

 capacity of 350 tons gross pressure, working under normal con- 



ditions — two complete operations for each press per hour- 

 would call for only one small water accumulator of 20 to 30 

 liters contents and a small pressure pump of ^ to J^ HP. 



" For filling the pressure cylinder in its upward non working 

 motion there is generally provided a small water tank which is 

 connected with the valves of the press by means of a pipe 

 sufficient to afford rapid delivery and discharge. Since, how- 

 ever, the press pump obtains its supply from this tank, and the 

 press cylinder discharges its spent water into it, the same water 

 is used over and over again, whereby on the one hand, a longer 

 life is guaranteed to all the working parts of the machine, and 

 on the other hand the possibility of adding a lubricant to the 

 water is at hand. 



"The pressure pump is connected up with the accumulator 

 in such a manner that the accumulator in its highest position 

 automatically cuts off the water from the pump and when 

 water is needed opens the supply, so that the pump does not 

 have to wait at either end. Moreover, the pump is provided 

 with a loose pulley so that it may be thrown out altogether 

 when it is desired to hold the press for any length of time un- 

 der pressure. 



" By virtue of the above described devices the service or at- 

 tention to the whole plant becomes a very simple matter, for the 

 man in charge has nothing more to do than, with a lever, to 

 initiate the desired motion of the warming table and all the 

 rest follows automatically." 



A NEW TYPE OF RING CUTTER. 

 A MACHINE that cuts 80,000 jar rings in a ten hour run is 

 shown in the accompanying illustration. It is arranged to cut 

 up tubing of varying diameters, the cutting knife making 15,- 

 000 revolutions a minute. To cut a tube of particular diameter 

 there is a guide which is inserted in the machine in the follow- 

 ing manner : The nuts E, F, F^ are first loosened and then the 

 front iron guide and the back brass guide are then both re- 

 moved from the machine, the latter by loosening the four 

 screws C, G", G^, G\ and the two studs //and H^ to the left 



and to the right, are screwed in until the index points for the two 

 scales plates /and /' indicate the proper number. When this 

 is done the guides may be inserted and the nuts E, F, and 

 F'^ are screwed on, and then four tubes are inserted through 

 the front guides and the scale which is found on the rear part 

 is then adjusted for the thickness of the rings to be cut and 

 the machine is then ready for operation. The adjustment of 

 the rear scale is made in the following manner: The index 

 hand is screwed to the zero point by means of the studs, then 

 the machine is revolved by hand until the support has exactly 

 reached its lowest position. The two screws are then loosened 



