The applicant has successfully mounted an annular thermal insulation end panel assembly to the end bell of a paper machine dryer cylinder through the use of individual stud clamps which project from the inside face of the insulation panel and which terminate in a slotted arcuate body. A screw spans the slot to reduce the diameter of a central opening within the body and within which the dryer bolt head is clamped, to thereby fix the panel to the end face of the dryer. By utilizing a series of such stud clamps, circumferentially spaced about the end panel and being coupled individually to the protruding heads of the dryer head bolts they function to mount disc like insulation panels to end bells of the dryer cylinder. Applicant's prior construction is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,518 issuing Dec. 30, 1980, and entitled "Thermal Insulation Panel Assembly for a Paper Machine Dryer Cylinder and Stud Clamp Therefor".
While mounting arrangements for mounting the end panel to the axial end face of a heatable dryer cylinder functions to substantially reduce thermal energy loss axially of the cylinder, and while this arrangement provides a positive frictional locking arrangement for insuring retention of the panel on the cylinder regardless of the speed of rotation of the cylinder during use, such an arrangement requires close matching of the clamp size to the size of the existing bolt heads, thereby eliminating the possibility of using the clamps on somewhat oversized or undersized bolt heads.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved thermal insulation material end panel assembly which may be more easily mounted and removed from the dryer assembly, and wherein the end panel assemblies may be applied to dryer cylinders having bolt heads of varying size, and wherein location of the studs may be accurately effected to insure proper alignment between each thermal insulation material end panel disc and its mounting structure.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an improved thermal insulation material end panel assembly in which an insulation panel is quickly and securely bracket mounted to the end bells of a heatable dryer cylinder with high rigidity to prevent distortion of the panel during rotation of the dryer cylinder.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide economy of clamp manufacture by using existing manufacturing techniques applied to the insulation material end panel mounting assembly, providing for unlimited alternate stud locations whose position can be accurately and repeatedly determined by combining two cylinder head bolts and relating the said location to these bolts.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds