AU2007100615A4 - Improved workbench - Google Patents

Description

06/07 2007 18:18 FAX COLLISON CO IP AUST CANBERRA l029/085 58271 IP JOM:JO P/00/009 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

INNOVATION PATENT SPECIFICATION FOR AN INVENTION

ENTITLED

Invention Title: Name of Applicant: Address for Service: IMPROVED WORKBENCH PAUL MACMICHAEL COLLISON CO. 117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 500 COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18:18 FAX COLLISON CO IP AUST CANBERRA 2030/085 0 o 2 Z3 This invention relates to a workbench of the kind one would associate with n both tradespeople and hobbyists alike. More particularly, this invention o relates to an improved workbench that offers unique adjustability between the tooling and the piece to be worked on by said tooling when mounted on such a bench.

o There are presently available a wide range of workbenches which provide various features in which one is able to mount tooling and related machinery Sin order to work, shape or form various products such as wood, steel and the like.

For example, these kinds of arrangements may include a horizontal table for the purpose of either moving the wood through the tool or the tool through the wood and may be able to incorporate various add-ons such as saws and routers.

These machines generally have, if any, only one moveable table or tool holder aid generally do not have any adjustment on the vertical plane of the table. Still further, these kinds of machines generally do not incorporate an efficient means to adopt various tools to the machine and often do not allow these tools to be set up in more than one plane.

With many applications, it is most desirable to be able to clamp to the workbench both a tool and also a work piece and enable this to be done in a satisfactory and simplistic manner, whereby when they engage, interaction can be done from a variety of levels and angles.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a workbench that is able to be readily adjusted to allow relative vertical, lateral and/or angled arrangerrent between a tool, such as a saw, and a work piece, such as a slab of wood.

COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18:18 FAX COLLISON CO IP AUST CANBERRA 2j031/085 0 0 3 C Accordingly, in one form of the invention there is provided a work bench, Z said bench including two vertical mounts arranged substantially in parallel, \O each vertical mount adapted to be vertically raised and lowered relative to the other, each vertical mount including a slideable support adapted to be laterally slid along the length of said mount,

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slideable support further characterised in that in being pivotably O supported to be rotatably angled, CN slideable support still further characterised in being extendable and retractable towards/away from opposing slideable support, such that when a tool is fastened to the slideable support and a work piece is mounted to the adjacent slideable support upon the opposing vertical mount, both the tool and work piece may interact respectively in an adjustable, vertical, lateral, together and/or angled arrangement.

An advantageous of such an arrangement is that the workbench provides the opportunity for a 4-way movement. The tool and the work piece are able to move both longitudinally, vertically and also angled with respect to each other.

Advantageously, by having the ability of two separate vertical mounts, the tool can 3e positioned above the work piece, thereby allowing a user to positively be able to view any actioning or working of the work piece.

A further advantage of such an arrangement of having vertical, lateral and angled relative movement is that it is possible to place the work piece on one slideable support and at the same time place the tooling on the adjacent slideable support, such that a double action effect can be installed into the working.

COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18:18 FAX COLLISON CO IP AUST CANBERRA a032/085 0 0 4 For example, if the work piece is a slab of wood and the tool is a power saw, iwith the power saw laterally sliding in one direction along the slideable IO support and the piece of wood being out there by said saw in the opposite direction along the slideable mount, the actual distance that needs to be taken for the cutting process is halved.

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o As the person skilled in the art will appreciate, if a slab of wood is introduced to be cLt along its length by a power saw, in that the power saw is fixed or o the slat of wood is fixed, and one is moved relative to the other, twice the Cl amount of cutting space or floor space would be required if these kinds of provisional workbenches were employed.

Advantageously, not only can the slideable support move laterally across the vertical mount, at the same time it can also be angled, thereby allowing unique cutting and working of the work piece with respect to the tool.

Again, as introduced above, by having both the tool and the work piece moveable along the respective planes during the one machining operation, this will allow for a machining length, which will be the sum of the two movements.

Advantageously, this arrangement allows for an efficient exchange of both tooling and a work piece with no readjustment of their mounting locations.

When a tool or the work piece needs to be replaced, it can simply become unfastened from the slideable supports, which it is fixed to.

In preference, the workbench is adapted to support a piece of wood and a tool such as a power saw, router, sander and/or planner.

In preference, the slideable support member is not only further characterised by being pivotally supported to allow rotatable angling of the mounted tool or work piece upon said slideable support, it is also mounted so that it allows COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18:19 FAX COLLISON 8 CO 6 IP AUST CANBERRA 033/085 0 retractable inward and outward sliding towards the opposing slideable n- supporl on an adjacent vertical mount.

Va An advantage of such an arrangement is that not only does the slideable tt support laterally slide along the length of the slideable mount, and also provide angling for the engagement of the work piece of tool with respect to 2 the other item, but it also can be slightly shifted back or forth, creating a preferred distance between the tool and the work piece.

C Advantageously, if a deep cut or a slight sanding of the work piece is required, the tooling can be appropriately pushed inwards or pushed out, whatever the requirement may be. Advantageously, it is possible for both slideable support members to have this feature and therefore both the work piece and the tool can be comfortably adjusted back and forth from the opposing tool or work piece.

In preference, the slideable support is made up of two parallel tracks which run across the length of the vertical mount, wherein the slideable support is a substantially plate like, which is slideably fastened so as to be able to be readily slid back and forth along the tracks upon the vertical mounts.

In preference, the workbench includes electronic control for the automatic adjustment of the required vertical movement of the vertical mounts, lateral movement of the slideable supports, as well as the appropriate angling and relative spacings between the slideable support to the opposing slideable support of the adjacent vertical mounts.

An advaitage of such an arrangement is that the user of these kinds of workbenches can quickly program into the arrangement the preferred structure as to how they would like the tooling and the work piece to be interacted during the engagement between these parts.

COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18:19 FAX COLLISON CO 0 IP AUST CANBERRA I034/085 0 0 6 (N Preferably the table is rectangular and accurately squared relative to the Z slideable movement of the supports along the vertical mounts to enable Saccurate location of the work piece to be machined by measurements at the edges of the table.

Preferably the table has three sides, which are away from the tooling, and

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o are lipped so that the work piece to be machined can be readily clamped to it. In preference, the table can be adjusted laterally towards the tool module to enab e a suitable gap between the tool and the table when the tool is 0 angled 1or adjustment purposes. A mitre may be fitted to the table and preferably the mitre has an adjustment within itself for calibration and may be fitted to the table at various angles with dowel pins for accurate location.

Preferably the mitre has two clamp mechanisms for readily clamping the work piece to the bench.

In order to understand the invention now more fully, a preferred embodiment of the work bench will be presented with the aid of the following illustrations.

Nonetheless, it should be kept in mind that the preferred embodiment is provided herewith just to be illustrative of the invention and not restrictive of all the required features. As introduced above, what is essential to this invention is the relative movement provided for by the vertical mount, slideable support and the rotatability of the slideable support, such that the tool and the work piece may interact respectively in an adjustable vertical, lateral and/or angled arrangement.

The fact that a power saw and a plank of wood have been used to demonstrate one embodiment of the application of this workbench, certainly does not mean that the bench could not also be applied for machines and tooling other than power saws and pieces to be worked other than wood.

COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18 19 FAX COLLISON CO IP AUST CANBERRA t035/085 0 0 7 Figure 'I is a perspective view of the invention showing the preferred work n bench where in this embodiment a power saw and a plank of wood are the IO two interacting tool and work piece.

Figure 2 shows a part-view of figure 1, removing the tool and the work piece so as to better illustratively characterise the available relative movements 2 between the parts of the work bench.

o Figure 2 shows an application of the work bench wherein one vertical mount 0 has its slideable support fixed wherein the opposing vertical mount has its slideable support moving along the length of the fixed work piece.

Figure 4 shows an embodiment wherein both slideable support members are moving relative to the other in order to provide an operation allowing a machine length the sum of two movements.

Figure 5 shows the further embodiment where the tooling is positioned vertically above the work piece.

Figure 6 shows an embodiment whereby the vertical support is angled to allow angled cuts to be made on the work piece.

Referring to the drawings now in greater detail and firstly Figure 1, where therein provided is a workbench that includes two vertical supports 12 which are adapted to be vertically adjusted.

Each vertical support 12 includes a slideable support 14, which is able to be slideably moved across the length of the respective vertical support 12 for the use cf slideable rails 16.

As shown best in Figure 2, the slideable support 14 is also able to be rotatable off the horizontal plane.

COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18:19 FAX COLLISON CO IP AUST CANBERRA Z036/085 0 8 SIn the embodiment shown in figure 1, a power saw 20 is in engagement with l a piece or plank of wood 18.

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As can be seen from Figure 1, the power saw 20 and the plank of wood can Itn be adjusted such that the relationship between both tool and work piece can \0 5 be conveniently altered.

0 Still further, as will be explained in greater detail in connection with Figures 3 and 4, the lateral location of the slideable support 14 with the work piece 18 thereon can also be fixed or allowed to slideably move relatively to a fixed or also slideably moveable slideable support 20 of the opposing vertical upright 12.

Therefore, looking at Figure 2, the vertical supports allow vertical movement as shown by arrows 22. The vertical supports, also by virtue of the arrangement of the track 16 allows slideable movement of the slideable support 14 in a lateral direction as shown by arrows 24.

The slideable supports not only are able to move in a lateral direction as shown by arrows 24 but can also be angled up to 180 degrees and beyond if necessary.

Arrows 27 also show that the slideable supports can be moved towards or away from the opposing slideable support 14, thereby altering the distance or gap between the two and the work piece.

As the person skilled in the art will appreciate, that by being able to adjust this gap between the tool and the work piece, that level of interaction can be conveniently adjusted.

COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18:20 FAX COLLISON CO IP AUST CANBERRA la037/085 0 9 Hence, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, this workbench provides very unique ln adjustability between the tool and the work piece in vertical, lateral, angled Sand depth inter-relationship.

itn Figures 3 and 4 show, as introduced above, the relationship between the Vo 5 slideable supports 14.

In Figure 3, the work piece has had the slideable support 14 fixed in place 0such that the opposing slideable support 14 supporting the power saw Cl moves along the fixed length of the plank of wood as shown by the arrows 28.

In Figure 4, both slideable supports 14 are moving relative to the other, such that the work piece 18 and the power saw 20 allow almost for a double cut and as :he person skilled in the art will appreciate, that by having both the tool and the wood moveable on their respective planes during the one machining operation, this allows for a machining length the sum of the two movements.

The arrows 28 in figure 4 show the ability for the power saw to move in either directions across the lateral length of the vertical support 14 and so to arrows 31 in Figure 4, showing that same ability to actually move across that vertical support 12 allowing for the double cut effect between the power saw 20 and the wood being worked 18.

Figure 5 simply illustrates a further embodiment of this invention, highlighting the benefits of the ability to be able to vertically adjust one vertical support 12 with respect to the other. Advantageously, by being able to position vertical support 34 at an elevation higher than the lowered vertical support 36, the machine tool 32 then sits above the wood 30 during the cutting action. Advantageously, the user of the workbench is then able to COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18'.20 FAX COLLISON CO IP AUST CANBERRA I038/085 0 0 continuoisly view that work piece as it is undergoing machining by the tool 32 during such operation.

Va Figure 6 again shows a further application of the invention, whereby the tIf ability of the slideable support 14 to rotate as well as the slideable support 14 supporting the work piece 42.

0 In this embodiment, the example shown is exaggerated simply to give the Sreader the opportunity to see that both the work piece and the tooling can be NC angled over simple rotation of the slideable supports. Arrows 44 are meant to be illustrative to show the angling in of the slideable support 14, which in this illustration shows both the tooling 40 and the work piece 42 being inclined. This angling means that cuts can be made at whatever required angle on the work piece 42 through the tool As the person skilled in the art could appreciate, there is not always the requirement for angling both the work piece and the tool. In many embodiments it may only be the tool 40 to which is being rotated to present the ability to angle cut the work piece, or alternatively the tool may be aligned with the horizontal with the work piece angled such as to prevent again ar angled cut.

COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06

Claims (5)

1. A work bench, said bench including two vertical mounts arranged in substartially in parallel, each vertical mount adapted to be vertically raised Vs0 5 and lowered relative to the other, o each vertical mount including a slideable support adapted to be laterally slid along the length of said mount, 0 c slideable support further characterised in that in being pivotably supported to be rotatably angled, slideable support still further characterised in being extendable and retractg.ble towards/away from opposing slideable support, such that when a tool is fastened to the slideable support and a work piece is mounted to the adjacent slideable support upon the opposing vertical mount, both the tool and work piece may interact respectively in an adjustable, vertical, lateral, together and/or angled arrangement.

2. The work bench of claim 1 wherein the slideable support is made up of two parallel tracks which run across the length of the vertical mount, wherein the slideable support is a substantially plate like, which is slideably fastened so as to be able to be readily slid back and forth along the tracks upon the vertica mounts.

3. The work bench of claim 1 or 2 wherein the workbench includes electronic control for the automatic adjustment of the required vertical movement of the vertical mounts, lateral movement of the slideable supports, as well as the appropriate angling and relative spacings between the slideable support to the opposing slideable support of the adjacent vertical mounts. COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06 06/07 2007 18:21 FAX COLLISON CO IP AUST CANBERRA 040/085 0 c- 12

4. The work bench of any of the preceding claims wherein the bench is n rectangLlar and accurately squared relative to the slideable movement of the O supportE along the vertical mounts to enable accurate location of the work piece to be machined by measurements at the edges of the table. V 5

5. The work bench of any one of the preceding claims wherein the bench O has three sides, which are away from the tooling, and are lipped so that the work piece to be machined can be readily clamped to it. In preference, the O table can be adjusted laterally towards the tool module to enable a suitable N gap between the tool and the table when the tool is angled for adjustment purposes and/or further a mitre may be fitted to the table and preferably the mitre has an adjustment within itself for calibration and may be fitted to the table at various angles with dowel pins for accurate location. COMS ID No: ARCS-151853 Received by IP Australia: Time 18:02 Date 2007-07-06