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Machine for cropping and press-forming material fed in wire form
EP1036609A1
European Patent Office
- Other languages
German French - Inventor
Albino Castiglioni - Current Assignee
- Castiglioni Albino
Worldwide applications
1999
EP
Application EP99103978A events
1999-03-10
1999-03-10
2000-03-06
2000-09-20
Status
Withdrawn
Description
translated from
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[0001] The present invention relates to a machine for cropping and press-forming material fed in wire form. -
[0002] Machines are known which can cut and press-form material which is fed to the machine in the form of a wire, for example to produce small mechanical parts such as rivets, nails or the like. -
[0003] These machines are generally constituted by a supporting structure which supports, so that it can slide in a substantially horizontal direction, an assembly provided with a support for one or more cropping and pressing punches which face a die in which suitable forming cavities are provided. The support of the cropping and pressing punches is actuated with a reciprocating translatory motion so as to sequentially crop the material fed in wire form into segments having a preset length and then press-form these wire segments inside the forming cavities of the die. -
[0004] The die is usually actuated with an intermittent rotary motion about a substantially horizontal axis, so as to cyclically arrange one or more forming cavities in front of the punch or punches supported by the support, which moves with a reciprocating motion. -
[0005] The assembly that supports the cropping and press-forming punch support is actuated intermittently at high speed and its motion is reversed at a high rate, so as to achieved high productivity for the machine. -
[0006] As a consequence of this fact, in view of the mass of the assembly that supports the cropping and press-forming punch support, intense vibrations are generated and discharged onto the supporting structure of the machine. -
[0007] In order to solve the problem of vibration, European patent EP-138.758 discloses a machine provided with a second assembly which has the same characteristics and mass as the assembly that supports the cropping and press-forming punch support and is arranged on the same line. In practice, the first assembly and the second assembly can slide with respect to the supporting structure of the machine along a same path and are actuated along said sliding path synchronously but in mutually opposite directions. In this manner the translatory motion of the second assembly perfectly counterbalances the vibration generated by the translatory motion of the first assembly. -
[0008] In the above-mentioned machine this reduction in vibration is offset by considerable longitudinal dimensions, i.e., parallel to the sliding direction of the first and second assemblies, and by a more complicated kinematic system used to actuate the two assemblies and the other elements required for the operation of the machine, such as for example the wire feeding rollers and the actuation of the die with an intermittent rotary motion. -
[0009] The aim of the present invention is to solve the above problems, by providing a machine for cropping and press-forming material fed in wire form which ensures high productivity while containing vibration to acceptable levels although having limited longitudinal dimensions. -
[0010] Within the scope of this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a machine for cropping and press-forming material fed in wire form in which the kinematic system used for synchronizing the movements of the various elements that compose the machine is relatively simple. -
[0011] Another object of the invention is to provide a machine which is structurally simple, can be manufactured with competitive costs and ensures high reliability in operation. -
[0012] This aim, these objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are achieved by a machine for cropping and press-forming material fed in wire form, which comprises a supporting structure which slidingly supports a first assembly which comprises a support for at least one cropping and pressing punch, said supporting structure further slidingly supporting a second assembly whose mass is suitable to counterbalance the mass of said first assembly, means being provided for the synchronized actuation of said first assembly and of said second assembly with respect to said supporting structure with a reciprocating motion along a sliding path in mutually opposite directions, characterized in that said first assembly and said second assembly are arranged one above the other and in that the sliding path of said second assembly is parallel and vertically spaced with respect to the sliding path of said first assembly. -
[0013] Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the machine according to the invention, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein: - Figure 1 is a schematic partially sectional lateral elevation view of the machine according to the invention;
- Figure 2 is a schematic sectional view of Figure 1, taken along the plane II-II;
- Figure 3 is a diagram of the kinematic system for the synchronized actuation of the various elements that compose the machine according to the invention.
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[0014] With reference to the above figures, the machine according to the invention, generally designated by thereference numeral 1, comprises a supporting structure 2 which supports, so that it can slide along a preferably horizontal path indicated by thearrow 6, a first assembly 3 which comprises a support 4 for at least one cropping and press-forming punch of a known type which is not shown for the sake of simplicity. -
[0015] The supporting structure 2 further supports, so that it can slide along a preferably horizontal path indicated by thearrow 16, parallel to the sliding path of the first assembly 3, asecond assembly 5 whose mass is suitable to counterbalance the mass of the first assembly 3. -
[0016] The machine is provided with means for the synchronized actuation of the first assembly 3 and of thesecond assembly 5 along the correspondingsliding paths -
[0017] According to the invention, the first assembly 3 and thesecond assembly 5 are arranged one above the other and thesliding path 16 of thesecond assembly 5 is parallel and vertically spaced with respect to thesliding path 6 of the first assembly 3. -
[0018] Thesecond assembly 5 is preferably arranged below the first assembly 3. -
[0019] More particularly, the first assembly 3 is mounted on aslider 7 which slidingly engages adovetail guide 8 which is rigidly coupled to the supporting structure 2 and runs parallel to thesliding path 6. -
[0020] The actuation means for the first assembly 3 comprise a gearmotor 9 which is supported by the footing of the machine and is connected, for example by means of abelt transmission 10, to apulley 11 which is keyed on an end of afirst shaft 12. -
[0021] Theshaft 12 is supported by the supporting structure 2, so that it can rotate about its own axis 12a, for example by interposingbearings 13a and 13b. The axis 12a of thefirst shaft 12 is arranged horizontally and is perpendicular to thesliding path 6. -
[0022] Thefirst shaft 12 has, proximate to the end that lies opposite to the end on which thepulley 11 is keyed, aneccentric portion 14 which is connected to the first assembly 3 for example by means of alink rod 15. -
[0023] Thesecond assembly 5 is slidingly mounted on guidingbars 17a and 17b which are rigidly coupled to the supporting structure 2 of the machine and run parallel to the slidingpath 16. -
[0024] The sliding of thesecond assembly 5 along the guidingbars 17a and 17b is achieved by means of asecond shaft 18 which is arranged below thefirst shaft 12 and is orientated so that itsaxis 18a is parallel to the axis 12a of thefirst shaft 12. -
[0025] Thesecond shaft 18 is supported, so that it can rotate about thecorresponding axis 18a, by the supporting structure 2 for example by means of a pair ofbearings second shaft 18 too has, proximate to one of its axial ends, aneccentric portion 20 which is connected to thesecond assembly 5 for example by means of alink rod 21. -
[0026] Thefirst shaft 12 and thesecond shaft 18 are kinematically mutually connected so that the actuation of thefirst shaft 12 also causes the synchronized actuation of thesecond shaft 18 in the opposite direction. -
[0027] The kinematic connection of thefirst shaft 12 to thesecond shaft 18 is provided by afirst gear 22 which is keyed on an intermediate portion of thefirst shaft 12 and meshes with asecond gear 23 which is keyed on thesecond shaft 18. -
[0028] The machine further comprises a pair ofwire feeding rollers shafts -
[0029] -
[0030] Said die 26 is rigidly coupled to astar conveyor 27 which can rotate, with respect to the supporting structure of the machine, about an axis which is parallel to thesliding paths -
[0031] Thestar conveyor 27 and therefore the die 26 are actuated with an intermittent rotary motion about their own axis, for example by means of an hourglass-shaped cam 28, so as to cyclically place a forming cavity or a set of forming cavities in front of the punch or set of punches supported by the support 4. -
[0032] For the sake of completeness in description, it should be noted that the machine is further provided with a conventional punch extractor 40 which is not described further for the sake of brevity. -
[0033] With reference to Figure 3, which illustrates the kinematic layout that mutually and synchronously connects the various elements of the machine, it can be noted that the various elements of the machine are connected to thefirst shaft 12 and therefore to the gearmotor 9 by means of a gear train. -
[0034] More particularly, in addition to thefirst gear 22 and to thesecond gear 23, which mesh together and provide the connection of thefirst shaft 12 to thesecond shaft 18, there is provided athird gear 44 which meshes with thesecond gear 23 and is rigidly coupled to afourth gear 45 which meshes with afifth gear 46. Thefifth gear 46 is rigidly coupled to asixth gear 47 which is rigidly coupled to thewire feed roller 25. Thesixth gear 47 meshes with aseventh gear 48 which is rigidly coupled to the otherwire feed roller 24. -
[0035] Thefifth gear 46 further meshes with aneighth gear 49 which actuates the extractor 40. -
[0036] Thethird gear 44 meshes with aninth idler gear 50, which in turn meshes with atenth gear 51 which actuates the hourglass-shaped cam 28. -
[0037] The operation of the machine according to the invention is as follows. -
[0038] The rotary actuation of thefirst shaft 12, performed by the gearmotor 9, causes the reciprocating translatory motion of the first assembly 3 along thesliding path 6. -
[0039] Simultaneously, owing to the connection between thefirst shaft 12 and thesecond shaft 18, thesecond assembly 5 is actuated with a reciprocating motion along the slidingpath 16 in the opposite direction with respect to the translatory motion of the first assembly 3. -
[0040] In this manner, the vibration generated by the reciprocating motion of the first assembly 3 along thesliding path 6 is counterbalanced and therefore damped by the vibration generated by the translatory motion of thesecond assembly 5 along thesliding path 16. -
[0041] Owing to the fact that thesecond assembly 5 is arranged below the first assembly 3, the machine according to the invention, although ensuring excellent vibration damping during operation, has limited longitudinal dimensions. -
[0042] -
[0043] The formed parts are then extracted from the forming cavities provided in the die 26 and the die 26 is cyclically rotated about its own axis in order to place new forming cavities in front of the punch or punches supported by the support 4. -
[0044] In practice it has been observed that the machine according to the invention fully achieves the intended aim and objects, since the particular mutually superimposed arrangement of the first assembly and of the second assembly allows to achieve optimum vibration damping while maintaining compact longitudinal dimensions for the machine. -
[0045] This containment of the longitudinal dimensions of the machine allows to considerably simplify the kinematic chain that mutually connects the various elements of the machine. -
[0046] The machine thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept; all the details may also be replaced with other technically equivalent elements. -
[0047] In practice, the materials used, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art. -
[0048] Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.
Claims (8)
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Claims (8)
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translated from
- A machine for cropping and press-forming material fed in wire form, comprising a supporting structure which slidingly supports a first assembly which comprises a support for at least one cropping and pressing punch, said supporting structure further slidingly supporting a second assembly whose mass is suitable to counterbalance the mass of said first assembly, means being provided for the synchronized actuation of said first assembly and of said second assembly with respect to said supporting structure with a reciprocating motion along a sliding path in mutually opposite directions, characterized in that said first assembly and said second assembly are arranged one above the other and in that the sliding path of said second assembly is parallel and vertically spaced with respect to the sliding path of said first assembly.
- The machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said sliding paths are horizontal.
- The machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said first assembly and said second assembly are kinematically connected to each other.
- The machine according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a first shaft and a second shaft which are supported by said supporting structure so that they can rotate about their respective axes; said shafts being arranged so that their axes are substantially perpendicular to the sliding path of said first assembly and of said second assembly; said two shafts being provided with an eccentric portion which is respectively connected to said first assembly and to said second assembly; said two shafts being mutually vertically spaced and being mutually connected in their rotation about their respective axes by means of a pair of gears.
- The machine according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said actuation means comprise a single gearmotor which is connected to said first shaft or to said second shaft.
- The machine according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises at least one pair of rollers for the intermittent feeding of the wire which are supported by said supporting structure so that they can rotate about their respective axes and are kinematically connected to said first shaft or to said second shaft.
- The machine according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a forming die which can rotate intermittently about an axis which is parallel to said actuation paths in order to cyclically make at least one forming cavity face said at least one punch; said forming die being kinematically connected to said first shaft or to said second shaft.
- The machine according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises punch extraction means which are kinematically connected to said first shaft or to said second shaft.