Installment high-tensile steel belt system
A method and apparatus for installing endless steel belt or steel bands of improved characteristics on machines of the type having a large roll and an endless steel belt extending around the roll and held under tension against the roll surface as the roll is turned. This type of equipment is used for producing a continuous sheet of a product by feeding a layer of the feed products in between flaker belt and the roll to thereby compress the products while subjecting them to a heat treatment. The belts must be replaced from time to time and must be repaired upon occasion, and the present invention permits such replacement and repair with belts having very high tensile strength.
This invention relates to the installation and repair of superior types of belts pelleting machine requiring high tensile strength characteristics of the belt.
   Certain products are produced in continuous sheet form upon machines having an internally heated roll around which an endless steel belt extends, with the belt being held tightly against the roll surface. The roll is turned by the steel belt and the feed products are fed into the nip where the belt passes toward the roll surface. The tension on the belt is such that the feed products are compressed under the desired pressure as the roll and belt move together, and heat from the roll produces the proper curing of the feed products.
   Machines of the type under consideration are large and heavy and it is always desirable and often necessary to install the belt by threading the belt band along its path in the machine and then producing an end-to-end butt weld joint. For that reason, the belts must be of steels which can be welded while in place on such machines. In the past the steel belts which could be welded in that manner have not been fully satisfactory, for example, because of low strength in the vicinity of the weld joint.
As pointed out above, the strength of the steel in the belt limits the production rates of the machines discussed. It is also important that the belt have endurance strength, i.e. a long lifetime. It is an object of the present invention to provide belts in machines of the type discussed above which are superior to those which have been available in the past. It is a further object to provide such belts which will give greater freedom of design for such machines. Another object is to provide improved apparatus and methods for producing and installing endless steel belt manufacturer of the type discussed above. These and other objects will be in part, obvious and in part, pointed out below.