Rolls, such as filled calender rolls, having deflection compensation

Claim 1

Calender apparatus comprising a plurality of hard rolls including at least two parallely extending hard surfaced rolls substantially vertically disposed one above the other, the surfaces of which are in line contact with each other defining a first nip; at least one filled roll extending parallel to said hard rolls, said filled roll comprising an inner shaft, an outer shell coaxially surrounding said shaft, the inner surface of said shell being spaced from said shaft to define an annular gap therewith, and means for supporting said shell for rotary movement with respect to said shaft around the common axis of said shaft and shell, the outer surface of said outer shell of said filled roll being in line contact with the surface of one of said hard rolls defining a second nip, the angle defined by the lines extending between said first nip, the axis of rotation of said hard roll in contact with said filled roll and said second nip being between 90° and 180°; means for selectively adjusting the pressure exerted by said at least one filled roll on said hard roll at said second nip; first deflection-compensating means operatively associated with said filled roll inner shaft for applying on the interior of said shell a first vertically upwardly directed force to compensate for the weight of said filled roll, said first deflection-compensating means including a slide shoe situated against and slidably engaging substantially the entire length of the inner surface of said shell, said shaft being formed with an exterior elongated groove, and an elongated pressure member situated in said groove for slidable fluid-tight movement therein radially toward and away from the axis of said shaft, said pressure member being operatively connected with substantially the entire length of said slide shoe for transmitting pressure thereto, and said shaft being formed with a passage means for communicating with a source of fluid under pressure, said passage means communicating with a surface of said pressure member which is directed inwardly toward the axis of said shaft for applying the fluid under pressure to said pressure member for acting therethrough on said slide shoe to provide for deflection-compensation and second independently controllable deflection-compensating means for applying on the interior of said shell a second force directed substantially outwardly in the direction defined between the axis of rotation of said filled roll and said second nip to compensate for the tendency of said filled roll to be deflected as a result of pressure at said second nip, said second deflection-compensating means including a pair of elongated sealing means extending across said gap between said shaft and inner surface of said shell for fluid-tightly sealing an angular portion of said gap which extends about said axis between said pair of sealing means, said shaft being formed with a passage means for providing communication between said angular portion of said gap and a source of fluid under pressure, whereby through said fluid under pressure it is possible to provide at said angular portion of said gap a pressure acting on said shell to achieve a desired deflection-compensation, the magnitude of said second force being independently adjustable relative to the magnitude of the pressure exerted by said filled roll on said hard roll at said second nip as determined by said selective pressure adjusting means.