CA1048248A - Method of forming agricultural components - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract A method for forming agricultural shares or sweeps wherein sheet metal is blanked to shape and the edges are sheared instead of forged. Subsequently the blanks are heated and then pressed into the three dimensional shape of the share or sweep followed by immersion in a quenching tank to harden the implements. After treatments such as tempering, washing and painting operations are then carried out.

Description

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This inventlon relates to a method of producing agricultural components such as shares, sweeps and similar earth engaging toals.
A conventional method for manufacturing these compon~
ents consists in initially forming a blank from flat strip plates fed into the guillotine. The blanks are then heated in a forging furnace and the edges are coined, and subsequently the blanks are shaped to form the component and the bolt holes are punched and counter-p~mched. The temperature o~ the com-ponents has fallen during these forming operations and usuallythey are stacked and allowed to coll. Hardening is carried out subsequently whereby the components are heated and then oil quenched to produce the required hardness. From the quenching bath the components are conveyed through a washing station and ;~
thence to a tempering furnace. After termpering, the final `~
finishing operations take place.
When components of small size are to be manufactured this conventional method is varied by omission of the counter-punching operation following coining and shaping and, instead of cooling and reheating the components, they proceed directly to the oil quenching bath for hardening. Counter sinking is then conducted subsequent to tempering.
In the above processes, it should be noted that thè ~-initial forging temperature is higher than the temperatu~e~;
required in the hardening operation which, in turn5 is greater than that of the tempering step. These processes in~olve a relatively high man-hour content especially in the heating and forming operations.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved process which is more economical than the convention-ally practised methods.
To this end the present invention provides in a method . .

of formi.ng agrlclltur~ earth engaging components the improve-rnent comprisin~, subseq~le[lt to bl~nking to shape, shearing the edges of said blanks, heatlng. form:ing the shape, oil quenching ~he shaped ~omponents to the desired hardness and subsequently tempering and finishing the components.
In more detail the method of thls invention comprlses a method of forming agricultural earth engaging implements tompri~ing the steps of feedi.ng coi~s of sheet me~al into a blanking press to sh~pe an implement blan~, shearing the edges of said implement blank, heating said sheared blank; passing said heated blanks to a shaping press wherein the blank is shaped into its three dimensional form, passîng said shaped implement to a quenching tank for the hardening operation and subse~ently tempering the implements.
Preferably subsequent to blanking the implements are punc~ed and counterpunched to form bolt holes and are then :
passed to the shearing.press. Also it is preferred that sub-sequent to hardening the~implements are~washed and then passed :
to a tempering furnace and after tempering are washed again . .
`20 followed by painting.
- In a ther aspect this invention provides a plant for forming agricultural earth engaging implements comprising in combination a blanking press means to convey the blanked .
to shape implements to a shearing press, said shearing press . being adapted to shear the edges of said implement to form the desired chamfered edge, means to convey said implement to a furnace adapted to heat said implements to shaping temperature, a shaping press, disposed adjacent said furnace and connected thereto by a chute, for forming the implement into the desired three dimensional shape 9 means to eject said shaped implement from said press into a quenching tank said quenching tank adapted for hardening the implements, means for conveying said implements to a second fu.rnace said furnac~ being adapted

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for tempering said implements~
Further it is preferred to provide a second blanking press for punching and counterpunching bol-t holes in said implements is disposed between said first blanking press and said shearing press. Also in a more refined embodiment the plant of the present invention provides a first means for washing said implements disposed between said quenching tank and said tempering furnace and a second washing means is ;~ ~
disposed adjacent said tempering furnace said plant further -including means to convey said implements from said tempering furnace to said washing means and thence to a paint dip tank and finally to a paint drying line.
Man-hour economy results from a relocation of the punching and counterpunching steps in the sequence of operat- ;
ions and especially from the substitution of the coining or forging of the edges with a cold shearing operation prior to heating and shaping. More importantly, this process allows the omission of a heating step even where large components are being manufactured as the heat loss during the forming step is -not sufficient to prevent the desired hardness being achieved during quenching. This is a distinct advantage over prior art processes which required a reheating step when producing larger components. This omission of heating results in a saving of heating oil and elimination of a furnace. Further advantages are the reduction in the required capacity of the forming press and the saving in factory floor space due parti-cularly to the elimination of the furnace. ~ ~
The following is a description of one preferred -method of carrying out the present invention in forming deep ;~
tillage cultivating sweeps. Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings illustrate the progressive stages of production in relation to the sweeps; Figure 5 illustra~es the sequence of operati~ns;

- 3 -~ Z ~8 Figure 6 a ~chematic representation of the shearing press.
Initially coils of material are fed into A blanking press 3 to form triangular blanks as shown in Figure 1 of the schematic drawings. The blank is pushed out of the back of the press by the incoming strip and is then conveyed to a stack from which the blank is conveyed to another blanking press 4 in which the triangular blank is cut to the shape of final component and square bolt holes are punched and then counterp~mched, as shown in Figure 2. The scrap offcu-ts are removed and the incoming blanks are automatically loaded into the press. Incoming blanks push finished blanks out through the back of the press where they are conveyed to a stack 5.
These stacks are then moved by forklift to a shear-ing press 6 where both working edges of the blank are sheared as shown in Figure 6 to produce the shape of Figure 3.
Referring to Figure 6 the blank 15 is placed on an inclined baseplate 16 with the edge to be sheared abutting a lip at the edge of the inclined baseplate 16. The vertical shear 17 then moves vertically shearing the desired chamfer onto the edge of the blank 15.
From the shearing station 6 the blanks are then transferred to a luminous wall gas-fired furnace 7 operating at 1000C. After leaving this furnace, the blanks pass to a shaping press 8 where they are branded and formed into the final three-dimensional shape of the tillage sweeps as shown in Figure 4. The furnace is raised above floor level such that blanks leaving the furnace drop through a chute to the shaping press 8.
From the shap:ing press 8 the sweep is automatically ejected into an oil quenching tank 9 where it is hardened to the desired hardness according to conventional procedures.
This sequence of steps is far more economical in man-hours and - . . : . . ~ . : , ~ 8 heat conservation than the conventional methods w~ere several stamping, coining and shaping operations were carried out following heating, such that, with large components, reheating was required.
The sweeps are elevated from the quench tank through a gas heated water wash 10 to remove oil and scale. After washing, the sweeps drop onto a ~elt hearth of a gas-Eired air circulating tempering furnace 11 operating at 500C to temper the sweeps in the conventional manner to the desired hardnes~.
Subsequent to tempering the sweeps pass rom the tempering furnace into a second hot water washing plant 12 for full removal of scale. Passing from the ~a-ter the sweeps are conveyed to the paint dip 13 where they are placed on hooks and conveyed through the paint dip tank. The pairtdrying line 14 is of sufficient length to allow air drying prior to unload-ing. Gas infra-red heaters can be used to assist drying.
The painted sweeps are then unloaded and packaged.
It is important to note that the cold working of the sweeps in the punching, counterpunching operations and the edge shearing in no way affects the utility or strength of the sweeps. The shearing leaves a characteristic shear line on the edge ~ut this is the only appearance of the sweeps which indicates that the technique of manufacture is different.

Claims (5)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:-

1. A method of forming an agricultural earth engaging implement comprising blanking sheet metal to form a substantially flat implement blank, shearing at least one edge of said implement blank to form at least one chamfered cutting edge, heating said sheared implement blank, shaping said heated implement blank into the final three dimensional form of the implement, hardening said shaped implement blank by quenching and subsequently tempering said shaped implement blank to form said earth engaging implement.

2. A method according to claim 1, in which, prior to being sheared, the implement blank is punched and counterpunched to form bolt holes.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, in which said shaped implement is washed after being hardened and before being tempered.

4. A method according to Claim 1 or 2 , in which said shaped implement, after being tempered, is washed and subsequently painted.

5. A method of forming agricultural sweeps or shares comprising forming substantially flat, triangular metallic blanks in a blanking press, punching and counterpunching bolt holes in these blanks, passing the thus shaped blanks to a shearing press to form a desired chamfered cutting edge, subsequently heating the blanks in a furnace, shaping the heated blanks in a shaping press to form the shares or sweeps into their final shape, passing said shares or sweeps to a quenching tank for hardening, subsequently conveying said shares or sweeps to a tempering furnace and finally painting and finishing said shares or sweeps.