DE9006641U1 - Equipment for the treatment of fittings, pipes, sheets, handles, plates, wet room equipment or similar objects that come into contact with water and/or serve as a gripping surface, made of stainless steel - Google Patents

Description

. Ernst Stratm to &ngr;

PATENT ATTORNEY D-4000 DÜSSELDORF 1 · SCHADOWPLATZ 9

Dusseldorf, 18.07.1990

Hans Grimberg Stainless Steel GmbH
D-4300 Essen 18

Equipment for treating fittings, pipes, sheets, handles, plates, wet room equipment or similar objects that come into contact with water and/or serve as a gripping surface, made of stainless steel

The invention relates to a device for surface treatment, in particular with a particle beam process, of fittings, pipes, sheets, handles, plates, glass devices or similar objects that come into contact with water and/or serve as a gripping surface and which consist at least superficially of stainless steel alloy, in particular of stainless steel.

The invention also relates to fittings such as door handles, window handles, push handles and the like, which consist at least on the surface of rust-free steel alloy, in particular stainless steel, which are treated by means of particle beam processes, as well as to support and aid devices intended for elderly and physically disabled people, which are composed of tubes and whose surface also consists of this material and which is treated by means of particle irradiation.

Surface treatment using particle radiation has long been known as "sandblasting technology". Such

Postal check. Berlin west (bank code lOOlOOIfH &iacgr; 32 7:3 6 - IG s>, ■ German IANK (bank code 3&Ogr;&Ogr;7&Ogr;&Ogr;1&Ogr;) 6&Igr;6&Ogr;253

Sandblasting processes are used in industrial and craft businesses to remove rust, scale or burr from metal surfaces, whereby this sandblasting process is superior to other processes (such as brushing and hand sanding). The sand particles are usually set in motion using compressed air or by centrifugal devices.

With the help of such sandblasting devices, surfaces can be "refined", e.g. by roughening them, which then makes these surfaces easier to coat with plastics, rubber coatings, or paint. In this way, frying pans, baking tins, and pots are coated with Teflon, for example.

The burrs that arise when grinding and drilling metal objects, as well as the burrs on die-cast parts, can also be removed using sandblasting equipment.

It is also known to use sandblasters to mattify steel, metal and glass surfaces, for example to apply decorative images, or to achieve a uniform surface, a silky matt shine on aluminum or brass parts (so-called satinizing), as well as to conceal grooves or pressure marks.

In particular, ground or finished surfaces are also smoothed by this type of sandblasting.

The impact of particles on a surface can also lead to surface hardening phenomena, which is advantageous, for example, for springs, crankshaft running surfaces, gears or the like.

The present invention has now recognized that this known method with a corresponding device can also be used very advantageously for another purpose that was previously unknown: With fittings made of stainless steel, it has always been difficult to achieve a clean appearance on the one hand, but also to make the surface resistant to water and sweat stains on the other. Smoothing is usually done by fine grinding and, if necessary, subsequent polishing, which either creates a surface with visible grinding marks or a polished surface that is optically smooth and reflective. The disadvantage of both the ground surface and the optically reflective surface is that every fingerprint that is created by touching or grasping this object is visible. Splashing water, as occurs in wet areas (e.g. in the bathroom), also creates water stains and limescale stains on this shiny surface, which are also visually disturbing.

The object of the invention is to create a device with which the surface of an object made of stainless steel, which is to be gripped or can come into contact with water, can be treated in such a way that fingerprints or similar caused by sweat residue or water stains or limescale stains caused by splashing water are not visible on this surface or are no longer visible to the same extent as before.

At the same time, another problem, namely the slipping of the hand on objects that are intended to be grasped and held by a human hand and are made of stainless steel, is to be eliminated.

by modifying their surface in such a way that their slip resistance is increased.

These two objects are achieved according to the invention in that the device of the type mentioned at the beginning is designed in such a way that the exposed surfaces of the objects, in particular the areas that are visible and/or serve as a gripping surface, are treated by means of a particle beam process known per se until a matt surface is obtained.

Preferably, balls made of glass or stainless steel, in particular stainless steel balls with a solidified surface, are used as particles, the diameter of the glass or steel balls being less than 1 mm, preferably less than 0.1 mm.

Compressed air with a pressure of 5 to 15 bar, preferably 6 to 10 bar, is preferably used to accelerate the balls.

The device is preferably designed in such a way that the object to be treated is attached to a surface or depression that does not require treatment and then the direction of the jet of the glass or steel balls is aligned so that it either corresponds to the later main viewing direction or directions of the object and/or the directions from which the object is to absorb pressure or friction when handled. The latter features save the treatment of surfaces that are not visually visible or whose surface is not important for grip security. This reduces processing time and thus costs.

The device according to the invention also has the advantage

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that, in contrast to grinding, areas that are relatively inaccessible, such as inner corners, can also be treated well.

In order to increase the grip strength and the slip resistance of flat surfaces and handle tubes, the measure used up to now was to press a certain pattern into the surface, for example a pearl pattern, letter pattern or ribbed pattern. Although these patterns increase grip strength in the desired way and also make water and lime stains largely invisible, they have the disadvantage that they require the use of special sheet metal or special pipe with the prefabricated pattern, which increases production costs, and on the other hand, the areas that arise during the production process of the handle, for example, are not covered, for example in the area of weld seams or where subsequent processing is necessary, such as grinding. In these places, the corresponding surface pattern is then missing and it cannot be subsequently produced.

The invention is explained in more detail below using embodiments shown in the drawings.

It shows:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a door handle with a square handle shape and a welding point;

Fig. 2 also shows a perspective view of a handle with a round grip shape;

Fig. 3 also shows in perspective a so-called toilet lifter with tubular handle elements, to be used in a wet room intended for disabled people, as an example of the use of handle elements treated according to the invention;

Fig. 4 shows a diagram of a rotary table with a plug-in connector for door handles for particle irradiation from a specific direction, e.g. corresponding to the later viewing direction ; and

Fig. 5 a deflection ring for blasting particles for the simultaneous treatment of several surfaces of an object.

Let us first look at Fig. 4, which shows a particle jet system 10, consisting of a foundation 12 on which a rotary table 14 is rotatably mounted. The rotary table has a number of holding pins 16, 116, e.g. in the form of a square, near its edge, onto which for example door handles 18 shown here with their square hole (into which the square actuating shaft is later inserted) can be placed in such a way that they point radially outwards with respect to the rotary table, for example, as shown.

Only three door handles 18 can be seen in the illustration, but it goes without saying that in principle each of the numerous square retaining pins 16 carries such a door handle 18. Furthermore, a jet nozzle 20 can be seen, which is supplied with metal or glass balls of a selected diameter via a line 22 and with compressed air of a suitable pressure (for example 8 bar) via a line 24. In the nozzle 20, balls fed via the hose are strongly accelerated under the effect of the compressed air and emerge from the nozzle as a particle jet that has a certain cone angle and certain jet direction, which can be changed by adjusting the jet nozzle with regard to the cone angle and the cone direction. For this purpose, the jet nozzle 20 can be attached in an articulated manner to a rod 28 and the nozzle 20 itself can have a device for adjusting the jet width.

Further details of the system do not need to be described, as these are known processes and devices. The irradiated material (the glass balls or steel balls) is collected again in a suitable manner and fed again via the hose 22, so that a closed ball circuit can be achieved. Damaged balls and dust material knocked off the irradiated material are removed in a known manner using suitable filter devices.

What is important here is that the direction of the beam 26 is such that this direction corresponds to the later viewing direction of the usual user, so that, for example, only the surfaces of the door handle 18 are treated which are also visually important later. According to Fig. 1, this is the upward-facing handle surface 32, the front surface 34 and the upward-facing round surface 30 of the attachment lying parallel to the actuating square 36. In the embodiment according to Fig. 2, it is essentially the upper half of the circular surface 38 of the door handle, which here consists of round material, that is treated in its entirety.

The rosette 40 separated from it could be treated at the same time on the rotary table 14, whereby it could be placed on a second row of holding pins 116, irradiated by a nozzle 120 which would be aligned differently, namely in this case vertically from above, so that the balls hit the surface 42 of the rosettes 40. This surface 42 is again the one that is essentially visible to the average user. In order to be able to treat the cylindrical surface 44 as well, without having to guide a nozzle around this surface in a complicated manner or having to rotate the rosette by at least 360° during treatment, a device could be used as shown in

Fig. 5 shows that above the rosette blank moving in the direction of arrow 46 with the rotary table, there is a hollow cylinder piece 48 which is arranged so firmly with respect to the nozzle 120 that the jet passes through the cylinder 48 in such a way that some of the balls or particles hit the surface 42 directly, see the indicated direction of flight with the reference number 50, while other parts, located more towards the edge of the jet bundle, hit the inner surface of the cylinder 48, see reference number 52, and then hit the surface 44 of the rosette 40 in a different direction and there effect the desired surface treatment. This simple arrangement therefore enables the simultaneous treatment of both the surface 42 and the surface 44 lying perpendicular to it.

It is not necessary to explain in more detail that the arrangement according to Fig. 4 enables a continuous treatment operation, by replacing fully irradiated door handles 18 with ones that have not yet been irradiated at a certain point on the turntable, for example by an operator. The same applies to the rosettes 40. The treatment time can be influenced as desired by the rotation speed of the turntable 14.

The surface 52 according to Fig. 2 or 54 according to Fig. 1 can remain untreated in many applications because this surface is located in the direction of the door leaf and is therefore normally not visible and is not touched. In the case of glass doors, however, the treatment could be useful, in which case a further nozzle 220 according to Fig. 4 could be provided to cover this surface.

In the embodiment according to Fig. 2, the handle 38 is essentially one-piece. In the embodiment according to Fig. 1, the door handle consists of two parts, namely a

Shaft part into which a pusher part is fitted, for example by welding. This creates corner and weld seam areas 56, 58 which cannot always be optimally treated using conventional methods such as grinding and brushing, or at least this method of treatment is very time-consuming. The method according to the invention simplifies the surface treatment at these critical points considerably.

In particular, these seam areas 56 could again be simultaneously detected with a similar arrangement as described in Fig. 5. It is therefore not necessary to turn the handle back and forth several times in order to expose all corner areas to the particle beam.

The treatment according to the invention is not only advantageous for fittings, such as the door handles described, but also for pipes, sheets, handles, plates and similar objects made of stainless steel that come into contact with water and/or serve as a gripping surface, in particular advantages are offered in wet rooms that are to be used by physically disabled people and where it is particularly important that they can hold themselves securely.

Thus, Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of a toilet seat lifting device known per se, which can be set up next to a conventional toilet and which comprises a fold-down auxiliary seat 113 which is placed above the regular toilet seat and makes it easier for the disabled person to sit down on the toilet, as the seat surface 113 slowly moves downwards under the weight of the person sitting down against spring force and under the effect of damping devices until a suitable position for use is reached. The disabled person can hold on to a handle-like frame 115 which is made of tubular material and consists of straight pieces 117 and

angle pieces 119. The frame is difficult to manufacture in one piece, so it is usually assembled from several parts, with the parts usually being welded together. Previously, these tubes were made from tube material with a profiled surface, so that at least the straight pieces 117 were sufficiently profiled to give the operator a firm grip. The angle pieces 119 - if the bends were not made by complex bending processes - were separate parts welded to the straight pieces 117, so that weld seams 121 were formed, which then had to be processed to remove discoloration, excess weld material and to remove sharp-edged joints, for example by grinding or brushing. However, these processing operations also made the profiled surface of the pipe material smooth again, which on the one hand resulted in an unsightly appearance and on the other hand the desired profiling, which increased grip strength, was no longer present in these areas.

The method according to the invention makes it possible to create a surface in these joint and weld seam areas that meets the requirements of a non-slip surface, as well as a surface that does not allow limescale and water stains to become visible. Such stains can arise if, for example, a shower device is installed next to the toilet, the splashing water from which not only affects the handle frame 115, but also parts attached to this frame, such as a toilet paper holder 123, or the casing 125 for the spring and damping device of the toilet seat lifting device. Here there are larger flat surfaces that were previously either welded together from profiled sheet metal, which in turn causes the same problems with the weld seams as with the frame 115.

described, or which have been sanded and brushed to a shine, which leads to the disadvantage that water and limescale surfaces become visible again and more plastering is necessary to achieve a pleasant appearance.

By treating such components according to the invention, such as the housing 125, a surface can be produced overall which does not have these disadvantageous properties.

Claims (5)

. Ernst Stratmann PATENT ATTORNEY D-4000 DÜSSELDORF I · SCHADOWPLATZ 9 Dusseldorf, 18.07.1990 Gm Hans Grimberg Stainless Steel GmbH
D-4300 Essen 18 Protection claims: Device for carrying out a particle beam process for the surface treatment of fittings, pipes, sheets, handles, plates, wet room equipment or similar objects that come into contact with water and/or serve as a gripping surface, made of stainless steel alloy, in particular of stainless steel, whereby the exposed surfaces of the objects, in particular the areas that are visible and/or serve as a gripping surface, are subjected to a stainless steel or glass ball jet, which preferably have a diameter of less than 1 mm, in particular less than 0.1 mm, characterized in that the device consists of a rotary table (14) on which holding devices (16, 116) for the objects (18, 40) to be treated are arranged in such a way that the objects (18, 40) reach the area of one (20) or more (20, 120) nozzles for glass or steel balls emerging at high speed, whereby the FOSTSCHECK. »ERLIN west (BLZ lÖOlpOHi) \&Aacgr;&Iacgr;2.7 &Aacgr;&uacgr; ■ >O9; deutsche sank (B LZ 300 70010) 6I6O253 Nozzles are arranged in such a way that the jet direction a) corresponds to the subsequent essential encumbrance on the object, and/or (b) the direction from which the object is to absorb pressure or frictional force during handling. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the device has a receptacle so that the object (e.g. 18 according to Fig. 4) can be held on a surface that does not require treatment (e.g. receiving area for the square 36 according to Fig. 1) or depression C and the beam direction or the beam directions (e.g. 26 in Fig. 4) are adjustable so that they correspond to the subsequent essential viewing direction (or the several directions) of the object, and/or the directions from which the object is to absorb pressure and friction forces during handling. 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the device has an auxiliary surface (48) which is arranged in relation to the nozzle and the object in such a way that the object (e.g. 14 in Fig. 5) is guided by both s directly from the nozzle (&zgr;. B. 120 in Fig. 4) emerging Balls hit on a first surface (42) as well as balls reflected (52) on the auxiliary surface (48) on a second surface (44). 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the auxiliary surface is formed by a ring (48) which reflects balls emerging from the nozzle (120) with a larger radiation angle towards the nozzle axis. 5. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that a reflection device (48) is provided for glass or steel balls emerging from the nozzle (20), which reflects a portion of these steel or glass balls onto Reflected surfaces that are not hit or only glancingly hit by bullets exiting directly from the nozzle (20).