Stationary support member for web producing machine

Claim 1

A stationary supporting member for an endless drainage wire belt of a machine for the production of fibrous stock webs; wherein said wire belt travels in a travel direction; the stationary supporting member including: (a) a head board extending transversely across the machine width; the head board being formed from non-flexible hard material; the head board having a doctor-like leading edge for extending to the wire belt; a substantially flat drainage area following the leading edge in the travel direction of the wire belt, the drainage area extending in a direction to define a small, variable angle of inclination with the direction of travel of the wire belt; (b) a supporting structure for the head board comprising two beams with C-shaped cross-section as viewed along said direction of wire travel and which extend transversely across the machine width, one of the C-beams being secured rigidly in the machine and the other c-beam being movable with respect to the rigid beam; each C-beam having two arms, including a top arm near the head board and a bottom arm further from the head board, the arms of the C-beams engaging in each other, wherein the top arm of the rigid C-beam is located between the arms of the movable C-beam while the bottom arm of the movable C-beam is located between the arms of the rigid C-beam, each arm having a topside and an underside; the head board being secured only to the movable C-beam; (c) a hinge element which extends substantially entirely across the supporting member for coupling the movable C-beam to the rigid C-beam; said hinge element being secured to the rigid C-beam in the area underneath the leading edge of the head board and extending in the travel direction, and being secured to the underside of one arm of the movable C-beam; (d) the C-beams having pairs of stop surfaces between them, at which the beams bear against each other, the pairs of stop surfaces being distributed over the cross machine length of the supporting member; each pair of stop surfaces comprising an adjustable stop surface; (e) a clamping element between one arm of the rigid C-beam and an adjacent arm of the movable C-beam and extending across substantially the entire length of the supporting member and being operable for pressing the stop surfaces onto one another; (f) an adjusting board defining the adjustable stop surfaces of the pairs of stop surfaces, the adjusting board extending longitudinally across the entire supporting member and being supported on and guided by the rigid C-beam to be slidable over the longitudinal extension of the adjusting board; the adjusting board having a plurality of adjusting board surfaces distributed over its length, the adjusting board surfaces being inclined against the longitudinal direction and forming the adjustable stops surfaces; the others of the pairs of stop surfaces being on the movable C-beam and the adjustable stop surfaces interacting with the corresponding paired stop surfaces on the movable C-beam for adjusting the angle of inclination of the C-beams with respect to each other.