EP1350598B1

EP1350598B1 - Grinding water treating apparatus

Info

Publication number: EP1350598B1
Application number: EP20030090060
Authority: EP
Inventors: Yasuhito Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON Eto; Yoshimasa Kabushiki Kaisha TOPCON Ogawa; Yasuo Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon Suzuki
Original assignee: Topcon Corp
Current assignee: Topcon Corp
Priority date: 2002-03-12
Filing date: 2003-03-12
Publication date: 2006-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 2023-03-12
Also published as: EP1495836B1; EP1350598A2; EP1495836A1; DE60311081T2; EP1350598A3; DE60311081D1; DE60303256D1; DE60303256T2

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating grinding water for use in a lens grinding apparatus.

PRIOR ART

In a conventional apparatus for treatment of grinding water in a lens grinding apparatus, when the grinding water flowing into the grinding water storage vessel mixes into the grinding water already stored in the grinding water storage vessel, there sometimes occurs a case where foams are formed.
To extinguish foams developed on the surface of the grinding water stored in the grinding water storage vessel, there, are known a lens grinding apparatus having a defoaming device which injects grinding water containing a defoaming agent toward the foams in the form of spray (shower) to remove the foams, a lens grinding apparatus having a defoaming device which injects pressurized grinding water upward from below the level of already-stored grinding water with use of an injection nozzle connected to the grinding water storage vessel, a lens grinding apparatus having a foam suction means which sucks the foams developed on the surface of grinding water, and a lens grinding apparatus wherein a foam overflow path for overflowing the foams developed on the grinding water surface is provided in the grinding water storage vessel.
JP 11 320 408 A already discloses a grinding water treating apparatus comprising a grinding water storage vessel and a grinding water treating means which filters the grinding water to produce purified water and is connected to the grinding water storage vessel by means of a purified water recycle hose for returning the purified water to the grinding water storage vessel. The end of the purified water recycle hose carries a spray nozzle for spraying the purified grinding water on the surface of the grinding water in the storage vessel. When foams of grinding water are generated on the surface of the grinding water, the foams are defoamed by the purified grinding water, sprayed through the spray nozzle, and a defoaming agent contained in the purified grinding water.
However, there sometimes has occurred a case where grinding wastes contained in grinding water which has been used in grinding a glasses lens adhere to the foams developed and harden in the form of cluster.
Consequently, it is difficult to crush or suck the foams once clustered or cause them to flow out, with consequent occurrence of the problem that the foams cannot be extinguished to a satisfactory extent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above mentioned problems in the conventional apparatuses and it is an object of the invention to provide a grinding water treating apparatus for use in a lens grinding apparatus which grinding water treating apparatus is capable of suppressing the formation of foams when grinding water flowing into a grinding water storage vessel mixes into grinding water already stored in the vessel.
According to the present invention, for achieving the above first object, there is provided a grinding water treating apparatus for use in a lens grinding apparatus, comprising: a grinding water storage vessel for storing grinding water from the lens grinding apparatus; a grinding water treating means which is connected to the grinding water storage vessel and filters the grinding water to produce purified water; a deodorizing means for removing an offensive smell developed in said grinding water treating means and also in the grinding water storage vessel; a grinding water discharge hose for discharging the grinding water used in the lens grinding apparatus into the grinding water storage vessel, and wherein the grinding water treating means is provided with a purified water recycle hose for returning the purified water to the grinding water storage vessel, which grinding water treating apparatus is characterized in that said grinding water treating means and said deodorizing means are disposed within one and same housing, a tip of the purified water recycle hose is provided with an injection means for injecting the purified water to blend the purified water into the grinding water before the grinding water flowed from a discharge port of the grinding water discharge hose flows into the grinding water already stored in the grinding water storage vessel, and the injection means is disposed adjacent to the discharge port of the grinding water discharge hoes, thereby extinguishing foams produced on the surface of the grinding water stored in the grinding water storage vessel.
The grinding water treating means may be constructed so as to have a one-pass treating means which causes the grinding water to pass once therethrough to filter off grinding wastes.
The one-pass treating means may be constructed so as to have a pressurizing means which applies a predetermined pressure to the grinding water treating means to squeeze out and filter grinding water from grinding wastes present within the grinding water treating means, thereby permitting the grinding wastes to be treated at a time.
Moreover the grinding water treating means may be constructed such that said injection means injects the purified water radially, allowing the purified water to cover the surface of the grinding water already stored in the grinding water storage vessel and thereby extinguishing foams formed on the surface of the grinding water stored in the grinding water storage vessel.
Further, there may be adopted a construction wherein the portion where the grinding water flowing into the grinding water storage vessel strikes against the grinding water already stored in the grinding water storage vessel is covered with the purified water injected from the purified water recycle hose.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: is an explanatory piping diagram showing schematically a lens grinding apparatus and a grinding water treating apparatus according to an embodiment not covered by the present invention, but useful for understanding the present invention;
FIG. 2: is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a lens grinding apparatus and a grinding water treating apparatus according to a modification of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3: is an explanatory piping diagram of the grinding water treating apparatus shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4: is an explanatory piping diagram of components of the lens grinding apparatus shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 5: is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of grinding water;
FIGS 6(a) to 6(c): are explanatory diagrams of an operating panel shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 7: is a diagram explanatory of a grinding water non-recycle treatment in the grinding water treating apparatus shown in FIG. 4;
FIG. 8: is an explanatory piping diagram showing schematically a lens grinding apparatus and a grinding water treating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9: is an explanatory piping diagram of the grinding water treating apparatus shown in FIG. 8;
FIG. 10: is an explanatory piping diagram of components of the lens grinding apparatus shown in FIG. 8;
FIG. 11: is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of grinding water;
FIG. 12: is an enlarged explanatory diagram of portion D shown in FIG. 10; and
FIG. 13: is a graph showing results of valuation of the grinding water treating apparatus according to the third embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of a grinding water treating apparatus will be described below, which is not an embodiment of the present invention but useful for understanding the invention.

In FIG. 1 the numeral 1 denotes a lens grinding apparatus, numeral 2 denotes an apparatus support base for supporting the lens grinding apparatus 1, and numeral 3 denotes a grinding water tank (grinding water storage vessel) disposed under the apparatus support base 2. With a partition filter 23, the interior of the grinding water tank 3 is partitioned into a purified grinding water chamber (purified water chamber) 3a and a discharged grinding water chamber (waste water chamber) 3b.
In the purified grinding water chamber 3a is disposed a purified water recycle pump 24, while in the discharged grinding water chamber 3b is disposed a discharged grinding water pump 25. A discharge side of the purified water recycle pump 24 and a grinding water supply nozzle (not shown) disposed within the lens grinding apparatus 1 are connected together through a purified grinding water supply hose 26.
In the lens grinding apparatus 1, a grinding wheel (not shown) is rotated at high speed to grind a lens to be ground (unground circular glasses lens) into a glasses lens shape (globe shape).
In this grinding work, purified water present within the purified grinding water chamber 3a is pumped up by the purified water recycle pump 24 and is fed through the purified grinding water supply hose 26 to the nozzle (not shown) disposed within the lens grinding apparatus 1, then is fed from this nozzle to a lens grinding section using the grinding wheel to cool the grinding section and wash away grinding wastes. As a construction for such a grinding work there is used a known one, so a detailed description thereof will here be omitted.
Grinding water ("discharged grinding water" hereinafter) after thus washing away of grinding wastes 1S allowed to flow down together with the grinding wastes into the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 from a bottom of the lens grinding apparatus 1 through a grinding water discharge hose (grinding water supply hose) 19.
Sideways of the apparatus support base 2 is disposed a grinding water treating apparatus 27 which is installed on a support base (housing) 28 with caster. As will be described later, the grinding water treating apparatus 27 is provided with a grinding water treating means which filters discharged grinding water to separate grinding wastes and produce purified grinding water ("purified water" hereinafter) and a deodorizing means for removing an offensive smell developed within the grinding water treating means, etc.
A grinding water treating section (grinding water treating means) 27a has a bottomed cylindrical separating vessel body (pressure-resistant vessel) 9 and a bottomed cylindrical grinding wastes separating filter (one-pass means) 10 disposed within the separating vessel body 9. The grinding water treating section 27a is also provided with a lid 11 which closes an upper-end opening of the separating vessel body 9, a packing 12 interposed between the lid 11 and the upper end of the separating vessel body 9, fixing screws 13 which fix the lid 11 to the separating vessel body 9, and a lever 14 for performing the fixing operation of the fixing screws 13 and cancelling the same operation.
The grinding water treating section 27a is further provided with a feed port 15 connected to the upper end portion of the separating vessel body 9 and a drain port 16 provided in a lower portion of the separating vessel body 9.
An opening/closing valve (not shown) is provided in each of the feed port 15 and drain port 16. Numerals 15a and 16a denote open/close operating lever for the opening/closing valve (not shown) in the feed port 15 and drain port 16.
One end of a grinding water discharge hose 30 is connected to a discharge port (not shown) of the grinding water discharge pump 25, while an opposite end of the grinding water discharge hose 30 is connected to the feed port 15 removably with use of a connector or a screw.
On the other hand, one end of a purified water recycle hose 31 is connected to the drain port 16 removably with use of a connector or a screw and an opposite end thereof is held in an upper portion of the purified grinding water chamber 3a in the grinding water tank 3 removably with use of a connector or a screw. As fixing means for the connector or screw there may be used a known connector or nut used for the connection of hose.
Further, the deodorizing means has a deodorizing device (not shown) disposed under the separating vessel body 9.

Next, a description will be given below of the operation of the lens grinding apparatus 1 and the grinding water treating apparatus 27 both constructed as above.

Washing Away Grinding Wastes in Grinding Work

In the above construction, the opening/closing valves (not shown) disposed in the feed port 15 and the drain port 16 are opened by operating the open/ close operating levers 15a and 16a and in this state a grinding wheel (not shown) in the lens grinding apparatus 1 is rotated at high speed to grind a to-be-ground lens into a glasses lens shape (globe shape).
At this time, purified water present within the purified grinding water chamber 3a in the purified water tank 3 is pumped up by the purified water recycle pump 24 and is fed through the purified grinding water supply hose 26 to the nozzle (not shown) disposed within the lens grinding apparatus 1, then is fed from the nozzle to the lens grinding section using the grinding wheel to cool the grinding section and wash away grinding wastes.
The purified water after thus washing away of grinding wastes becomes discharged grinding water and is allowed to flow down together with the grinding wastes from the bottom of the lens grinding apparatus 1 into the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 through the grinding water discharge hose 19.

Separating Grinding Wastes (Grinding Water Treatment)

In such a grinding work, the grinding water discharge pump 25 sucks the discharged grinding water from the interior of the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 together with grinding wastes and supplies the discharged grinding water containing the grinding wastes into the grinding wastes separating filter 10 through the grinding water discharge hose 30 and the feed port 15. A single pump may be used in common to both purified water recycle pump 24 and grinding water discharge pump 25.
The discharged grinding water is separated from the grinding wastes by the grinding wastes separating filter 10 and becomes purified water, which is returned into the purified grinding water chamber 3a in the grinding water tank 3 through the drain port 16 and the purified water recycle hose 31. At this time, the grinding wastes separating filter 10 collects the grinding wastes contained in the discharged grinding water.

Discarding Grinding Wastes

When the grinding wastes are collected to a certain extent by the grinding wastes separating filter 10 and the amount of the discharged grinding water filtered by the grinding wastes separating filter 10 decreases, the purified water recycle pump 24 and the grinding water discharge pump 25 are turned OFF and thereafter the lever 14 is operated to cancel the fixed state of the lid 11 to the separating vessel body 9 by the fixing screws 13.
Subsequently, the lid 11 is removed from the separating vessel body 9, the grinding wastes separating filter 10 is taken out from the interior of the separating vessel body 9, and the grinding wastes collected in the filter 10 are discarded. Then, the filter 10 is returned to the separating vessel body 9 and the vessel body 9 is closed with the lid 11 by reversing the above operation, thereafter, the foregoing "grinding work" and "grinding water treatment" are allowed to proceed. Subsequently, such a grinding water-grinding wastes separating work is performed repeatedly.
In such a grinding water treatment, if the discharged grinding water filtering capacity of the grinding wastes separating filter 10 is deteriorated, the grinding wastes collected by the grinding wastes separating filter 10 may be discarded as described above after squeezing out purified water from the grinding wastes by the air compressor (pressurizing means) (not shown) and subsequent drainage thereof from the drain port 16.

Discarding Grinding Water

If the purified water is somewhat turbid even after the application of such a grinding water treatment, there may be adopted a method involving removing the purified water recycle hose 31 from the grinding water tank 3, connecting the hose 31 to a sewer (not shown), and carrying out the foregoing grinding water treatment, whereby purified water free of grinding wastes can be discarded to the sewer. Alternatively, there may be adopted a method wherein the purified water recycle hose 31 is disconnected from the drain port 16, while a drain hose (not shown) connected to the sewer is attached to the drain port 16, and the foregoing grinding water treatment is carried out, thereby allowing turbid purified water free of grinding wastes to be discharged to the sewer.

Others

By allowing such a recycle type grinding water treatment to be carried out by the grinding water treating section 27a, there is formed a space under the support base 28 and therefore a deodorizing device (deodorizing means) is disposed in the said space.
With the deodorizing device, it is possible to remove an offensive smell (e.g., an offensive smell developed when grinding a plastic lens) developed within the lens grinding apparatus 1 and the grinding water tank 3.
As described above, the grinding water treating apparatus (27) according to this embodiment is provided with the grinding water treating means (grinding water treating section 27a) which filters grinding water after used in grinding a glasses lens to separate grinding wastes and produce purified water and the deodorizing means for removing an offensive smell developed in both grinding water treating means (27a) and grinding water storage vessel (storage tank 3), the grinding water treating means (27a) and the deodorizing means being disposed within the same housing (support base 28).
According to this construction, the grinding water treating apparatus (27) provided with both grinding water treating means (27a) and deodorizing means (not shown) can be accommodated within a limited receptacle space, thus permitting reduction of the receptacle space.
In the grinding water treating apparatus (27) according to this embodiment, the grinding water treating means (27a) has the one-pass treating means (grinding wastes separating filter 10) which causes grinding water to pass once therethrough to filter off grinding wastes.
According to this construction, grinding water (purified water) after the filtration does not return to the grinding water storage vessel (3), but filtered water high in clarity can be discharged as it is to the sewer.

[Modification]

A modification of the above embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 8, in which the same portions as in the embodiment of FIG. 1 are identified by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1.
In FIG. 2, numeral 1 denotes a lens grinding apparatus, numeral 2 denotes a rack-like apparatus support base which supports the lens grinding apparatus 1, and numeral 3 denotes a grinding water tank (grinding water storage vessel) disposed under the apparatus support base 2.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the interior of the grinding water tank 3 is partitioned to a purified grinding water chamber (purified water chamber) 3a and a discharged grinding water chamber (waste water chamber) 3b by means of a partition filter 23.
As the partition filter 23 is used a 100µ filter lest grinding dust should enter a deodorizing device (to prevent the passage of grinding wastes). Through this filter the purified grinding water chamber 3a and the discharged grinding water chamber 3b are in communication with each other while preventing the passage of grinding wastes, and the quantities of water stored in the two are almost equal to each other.
A purified water recycle pump 24 is disposed in the purified grinding water chamber 3a, while a grinding water discharge pump 25 is disposed in the discharged grinding water chamber 3b. A discharge side of the purified water recycle pump 24 and a grinding water supply nozzle 1a disposed in the lens grinding apparatus 1 are connected with each other through a purified grinding water supply hose 26.
One end of a grinding water discharge hose 30 is connected to a discharge port (discharge side) of the grinding water discharge pump 25, and a connecting pipe 30a is attached to an opposite end of the grinding water discharge hose 30.
One end of a purified water recycle hose 31 is put in communication with the purified grinding water chamber 3a, and a connecting pipe 31a is attached to an opposite end of the purified water recycle hose 31.
In the lens grinding apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 4, a grinding wheel 1b is rotated at high speed to grind a lens to be ground (unground circular glasses lens) L into a glasses lens shape (globe shape).
In the grinding work, purified water present in the purified grinding water chamber 3a is pumped up by the purified water recycle pump 24 and is fed through the purified grinding water supply hose 26 to a nozzle 1a disposed within the lens grinding apparatus 1, then is fed from the nozzle 1a to a grinding section A which is for grinding the lens L with the grinding wheel 1b, to cool the grinding section A and wash away grinding wastes (see FIG. 4). For such a grinding work there is used a known construction, so a detailed explanation thereof will here be omitted.
Purified water after thus washing away of grinding wastes becomes discharged grinding water, which is allowed to flow down together with grinding wastes from a bottom of the lens grinding apparatus 1 into the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 through the grinding water discharge hose 19.
Further, sideways of the apparatus support base 2 is disposed a body case 40 with caster as a housing corresponding to the support base 28 shown in FIG. 1, and a grinding water treating apparatus 27 is disposed within the body case 40 (see FIG. 2). The grinding water treating apparatus 27 is provided with a grinding water treating means and a deodorizing means.
At a front upper portion of the body case 40 is formed a front upper projection 41 which projects to the front side, while in a front lower portion of the body case 40 is formed a front opening 42 as shown in FIG. 2, which is closed with a front lid 43 as in FIG. 2.
A grinding water treating section (grinding water treating means) 27a has a bottomed, cylindrical, separating vessel body (pressure-resistant vessel) 9 embedded in an upper portion of the body case 40 and a bottomed, cylindrical, grinding wastes separating filter 10 (one-pass means) disposed within the separating vessel body 9.
As shown in FIG. 2, an upper-end opening of the separating vessel body 9 is closed with a lid 11, and a packing 12 is interposed between the lid 11 and the upper end of the separating vessel body 9 to ensure the interior of the vessel body in a hermetically sealed state. The lid 11 is fixed to the separating vessel body 9 with fixing screws 13. Numeral 14 denotes a lever for performing the fixing operation of the fixing screws 13 and for cancelling the same operation.
Further, a feed port 15 is connected to the upper end portion of the separating vessel body 9, while a drain port (lower drain port) 16 and a drain port (upper drain port) 16' are formed at different heights in a lower portion of the separating vessel body 9.
As shown in FIG. 3, a connecting pipe 44 for the supply of water and a connecting pipe 45 for the supply of air are attached to a vertically intermediate portion of a rear wall 40a of the body case 40, and a hose connecting pipe 46 is attached to a lower end portion of the rear wan 40a. Moreover, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a connecting pipe 16b for drainage is attached to a lower surface of the front upper projection 41 of the body case 40.
To the feed port 15, as shown in FIG. 4, are connected not only the connecting pipe 44 through an opening/closing valve 47 but also the connecting pipe 45 through an air regulator 48 and an opening/closing valve 49.
Further, the drain port 16 and the connecting pipe 16b for drainage are connected with each other through a drain pipe 16e and an opening/closing valve 50. The opening/closing valve 47 has an operating shaft 47a projecting upward from an upper wall 40b of the body case 40 and an open/close operating lever 47b which is integral with the operating shaft 47a. The opening/closing valve 49 has an operating shaft 49a projecting upward from the upper wall 40b of the body case 40 and an open/close operating lever 49b which is integral with the operating shaft 49a.
The opening/closing valve 50 has an operating shaft 50a projecting from the front side of the front upper projection 41 of the body case 40 and an open/close operating lever 50b which is integral with the operating shaft 50a.
One end of a drain pipe 16d is connected to the drain port 16', one end of a drain pipe 16e is connected halfway of a drain pipe 16c, and an opening/closing valve 90 is connected between opposite ends of the drain pipes 16c and 16e. The opening/closing valve 90 has an operating shaft 90a projecting upward from the upper wall 40b of the body case 40 and an open/close operating lever 90b which is integral with the operating shaft 90a.
Besides, the connecting pipe 30a of the grinding water discharge hose 30 is connected to the connecting pipe 44 removably and the connecting pipe 31a of the purified water recycle hose 31 is connected to the connecting pipe 16b removably. Further, the air pump 20 is disposed sideways of the grinding water treating apparatus 27 and one end of an air hose 21 is connected to an air discharge side of the air pump 20, while a connecting pipe 21a is connected to an opposite end of the air hose 21. The connecting pipe 21a is also connected to the connecting pipe 45 removably.
The connecting pipes 30a and 44, the connecting pipes 31a and 16b, and the connecting pipes 21a and 45, constitute pipe joints (connecting means), respectively. As such pipe joints there are used pipe connecting couplers capable of being mounted and removed in a one-touch manner. A hose hook (retaining hook) HF is attached to the connecting pipe 31a. The hose hook HF is provided so that it can be engaged in a hose hook hole (hook retaining hole, retaining means) 40c formed in a side face (see FIG. 3) of the body case 40.
As shown in FIG. 2, a deodorizing device (deodorizing means) 51 is disposed in a lower portion within the body case 40. The deodorizing device 51 has a deodorizing device body 52 and a small-sized blower (a motor-operated blower) 53 which exerts a negative suction pressure on the deodorizing device body 52.
The deodorizing device body 52 has a deodorizing case and a holding plate 55 attached to the bottom wall of the body case.
A window 70 for visually checking a transparent air hose 69 is formed in the upper wall 40b of the body case 40 and is covered with a transparent cover (window glass) 71. In FIGS. 4 and 7, the numeral 8 denotes a grinding water storage vessel such as a bucket for example which can be installed as necessary.
An air hose 46a is interposed between the hose connecting port 46 and an upper space of the purified grinding water chamber 3a in the grinding water tank 3. More specifically, one end of the air hose 46a is connected into the upper space of the purified grinding water chamber 3a, while an opposite end of the air hose 46a is attached to the hose connecting port 46 (see FIG. 4).
Further, an operating panel 72 is provided at a front upper portion of the support base 2, and as shown in FIG. 6, a push-button switch 73 for dehydration, a push-button switch 74 for deodorization, and a push-button switch 75 for filtration, are installed on the operating panel 72. The pushbutton switches 73-75 are connected to a controller 76.
In FIG. 6, the numerals, 200, 201, and 202 denote "Dehydration," "Deodorizing," and "Filtration," respectively.
The controller 76 is adapted to control the operation of the air compressor 20 when the pushbutton switch 73 for dehydration is pushed ON, control the operation of the blower 53 when the push-button switch 74 for deodorizing is pushed ON, and further control the operations of the purified water recycle pump 24 and the grinding water supply pump 25 when the push-button switch 75 for filtration is pushed ON.
When the lens grinding apparatus 1 is performing the lens grinding work, the controller 76 controls the operation of the purified water recycle pump 24 so that purified water is fed to the nozzle 1a in accordance with a work signal provided from the lens grinding apparatus 1.
A timer T (see FIG. 2) is mounted to the upper wall 40b of the body case 40 and control is made so that the time set by the timer T is a filtration time.

Next, reference will be made below to the operation of the lens grinding apparatus 1 and the grinding water treating apparatus 27 both constructed as above.

Circulating Grinding Water in Grinding Work

When the grinding work is to be carried out by the lens grinding apparatus 1, first the open/close operating lever 47b is operated to open the opening/closing valve 47, allowing the grinding water discharge hose 30 to communicate with the feed port 15. At the same time, the open/close operating lever 45b is operated to open the opening/closing valve 50 and the open/close operating lever 90b is operated to open the opening/closing valve 90, allowing the purified water recycle hose 31 to communicate with the drain ports 16 and 16'. On the other hand, the open/close operating lever 49b is operated to close the opening/closing valve 49, causing the communication between the air discharge side of the air compressor 20 and the feed port 15 to be cut off.
Next, a control panel (not shown) of the lens grinding apparatus 1 is operated to let the grinding wheel 1b rotate at high speed, thereby grinding the to-be-ground lens into the glasses lens shape (globe shape). At this time, upon receipt of a grinding start signal from the lens grinding apparatus 1, the controller 76 causes the purified water recycle pump 24 and the grinding water supply pump 25 to operate.
As a result, the purified water present within the purified grinding water chamber 3a in the purified water tank 3 is pumped up by the purified water recycle pump 24 as indicated with arrow A1 in FIG. 4 (see FIG. 5) and is fed through the purified grinding water supply hose 26 to the nozzle 1a disposed within the lens grinding apparatus 1.
As shown in FIG. 4, the purified water is sprayed from the nozzle 1a toward the grinding section A including the grinding wheel 1b of the lens L to cool the grinding section A and wash away grinding wastes. The purified water after thus washing away of grinding wastes becomes discharged grinding water and is allowed to flow down together with the grinding wastes into the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 from the bottom of the lens grinding apparatus 1 through the grinding water discharge hose 19, as indicated with arrow A2 (see FIG. 5).
On the other hand, the grinding water discharge pump 25 sucks the grinding water present within the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 together with grinding wastes and supplies the discharged grinding water containing the grinding wastes into the grinding wastes separating filter 10 through the grinding water discharge hose 30, opening/closing valve 47 and feed port 15, as indicated with arrow A3 (see FIG. 5).
The discharged grinding water is filtered and separated from grinding wastes by means of the grinding wastes separating filter 10, then flows down to the bottom side of the separating vessel body 9. Within the separating vessel body 9, the discharged grinding water after separation from grinding wastes becomes purified water and is conducted to the connecting pipe 16b through the drain port 16, drain pipe 16c and opening/closing valve 50 and also through the drain port 16', drain pipe 16d, opening/closing valve 90, drain pipes 16e, 16c and opening/closing valve 50. As shown in FIG. 4, since the drain ports 16 and 16' are vertically offset from each other, the drainage efficiency is improved.
The purified water conducted to the connecting pipe 16b is returned into the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 through the purified water recycle hose 31 as indicated with arrow A4 (see FIG. 5) and is sucked in and recycled by the purified water recycle pump 24.
When the grinding wastes separating filter 10 is clogged in the grinding work, with consequent decrease in the amount of purified water which is returned into the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 through the drain port 16 and the purified water recycle hose 31, the function of washing away grinding wastes and the function of cooling the grinding section are not affected because the discharged grinding water present within the discharged grinding water chamber 3b passes through the partition filter 23, flows into the purified grinding water chamber 3a, then is discharged from the purified water recycle pump 24 and is recycled.

Deodorizing

When a slide lid 1c of the lens grinding apparatus 1 is slid upward to open a grinding chamber 1d of the apparatus 1 and the lens L is removed from between a pair of lens rotating shafts 1e mounted within the grinding chamber 1d, there is a fear that an offensive smell developed in the grinding chamber 1d and that in the grinding water tank 3 may leak from the same chamber and offend the worker. Therefore, when opening the grinding chamber 1d of the lens grinding apparatus 1, care should be taken to prevent leakage of the offensive smell from the grinding chamber 1d to the exterior.
More specifically, first the push-button switch (button) 74 for deodorizing is pushed ON and this ON signal is inputted to the controller 76. Upon receipt of the ON signal by the push button switch 74 the controller 76 causes the blower 53 to operate and a negative suction pressure induced by the blower 53 is exerted on the interior of the upper space in the purified grinding water chamber 3a through the deodorizing device body 52, the air hoses 69 and 46a and is also exerted on the grinding chamber 1d through the grinding water discharge hose 19.
As a result, the offensive smell developed in the grinding chamber 1d is sucked into the upper space in the purified grinding water chamber 3a through the grinding water discharge hose 19.
On the other hand, the air which contains the offensive smell developed in the grinding chamber 1 and the offensive smell in the upper space of the purified grinding water chamber 3a is sucked into the deodorizing device body 52 through the air hoses 46a and 69, then passes through a filter and activated charcoal and is thereafter discharged from the blower 53. At this time, foams and grinding wastes developed on the surface of purified water contained in the air are collected by the filter and the offensive smell contained in the air which has passed through the filter is adsorbed on the activated charcoal. Thus, only the air freed from the offensive smell is discharged to the atmosphere from the blower 53.
Therefore, the offensive smell developed in the grinding chamber 1d of the lens grinding apparatus 1 does not leak to the exterior and thus there is no fear of the worker being offended by the offensive smell.
The state of the interior of the transparent air hose 69 can be visually checked through the transparent cover 71 applied to the window 70 which is formed in an upper wall 40d of the body case 40. Therefore, even if the foams formed on the surface of the purified water in the purified grinding water chamber 3a are sucked into the air hose 69 together with air, it is possible to check the state of the foams present within the air hose 69. Consequently, it is possible to easily determine the timing for the work of taking out the deodorizing device body 52 and replacing the filter 64 and the timing for the work of taking out the air hose 69 and washing the interior thereof, whereby it is possible to prevent a bad influence on the deodorization effect which occurs when the amount of sucked foams is large.

Non-Recycle Filtration of Grinding Water

When the purified water in the grinding water tank 3 becomes somewhat turbid in the above grinding work and is to be replaced, the opening/closing valve 47 is opened by operating the open/close operating lever 47b, allowing the grinding water discharge hose 30 to communicate with the feed port 15. At the same time, the opening/ closing valves 50 and 90 are opened by operating the open/close operating levers 45b and 90b, respectively, allowing the purified water recycle hose 31 to communicate with the drain ports 16 and 16'. On the other hand, the opening/closing valve 49 is closed by operating the open/close operating lever 49b to cut off the communication between the air discharge side of the air compressor 20 and the feed port 15.
Then, the connecting pipe 31a of the purified water recycle hose 31 is removed from the connecting pipe 16b, the hose hook HF of the connecting pipe 16 is engaged in the hose hook hole 40c formed in the body case 40, and the grinding water storage vessel 8 is disposed under the connecting pipe 16b, as shown in FIG. 7.
When the push-button switch 75 for grinding water filtration is pushed ON from the state shown in FIG. 11(a), an LED (not shown) disposed within the push button of the push-button switch 75 goes ON as indicated with a white square in FIG. 11(b) and an ON signal is applied to the controller 76. Upon receipt of the ON signal from the push-button switch 75 the controller 76 activates the grinding water discharge pump 25.
The grinding water discharge pump 25 sucks in the discharged grinding water from the interior of the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 together with grinding wastes and supplies the discharged grinding water containing the grinding wastes into the grinding wastes separating filter 10 through the grinding water discharge hose 30, opening/closing valve 47 and feed port 15 (see arrow A3 in FIG. 4).
The discharged grinding water is filtered and separated from the grinding wastes by the grinding wastes separating filter 10 and flows down to the bottom side of the separating vessel body 9. The discharged grinding water separated in the separating vessel 9 becomes purified water and is conducted to the connecting pipe 16b through the drain port 16, drain pipe 16c and opening/closing valve 50 and also through the drain port 16', drain pipe 16d, opening/closing valve 90, drain pipes 16e, 16c and opening/closing valve 50. This purified water is then allowed to flow down from the connecting pipe 16b into the grinding water storage vessel 8 as indicated with arrow A5 in FIG. 7. In this way the purified water stored in the grinding water storage vessel 8 is drained to the sewer or the like.
Such filtration is performed only during the time set by the timer T and upon lapse of the set time the controller 76 makes control to turn OFF the grinding water discharge pump 25 and also turn OFF the LED (not shown) installed within the push button of the push-button switch 75 as in FIG. 11(c).
In the case where the grinding water storage vessel 8 is not used, a drain hose (not shown) may be connected to the connecting pipe 16b to drain purified water directly to the sewer through the said drain hose.

Discarding Grinding Wastes

When grinding wastes are collected to a certain extent in the grinding wastes separating filter 10 and the amount of discharged grinding water filtered by the filter 10 decreases, the grinding water discharge pump 25 is turned OFF.
Next, the opening/closing valve 47 is closed by operating the open/close operating lever 47b to cut off communication between the grinding water discharge hose 30 and the feed port 15. At the same time, the opening/ closing valves 50 and 90 are brought into an open condition to let the purified water recycle hose 31 communicate with the drain ports 16 and 16'. On the other hand, the opening/closing valve 49 is opened by operating the open/close operating lever 49b to provide communication between the air discharge side of the air compressor 20 and the feed port 15.
At this time, the connecting pipe 31a of the purified water recycle hose 31 may be removed from the connecting pipe 16b and the grinding water storage vessel 8 may be disposed under the connecting pipe 16b, or a drain hose (not shown) connected to the sewer may be connected to the connecting pipe 16b.
If the air compressor 20 is operated in this state, compressed air discharged from the air compressor flows into the grinding wastes separating filter 10 through air hose 21, air regulator 48, opening/closing valve 49 and feed port 15. The compressed air which has thus entered the grinding wastes separating filter 10 exerts a pressure on the discharged grinding water contained in the grinding wastes collected in the filter 10, allowing the discharged grinding water to ooze out downward to produce purified water, which is flowed down to the bottom side of the separating vessel body 9.
The purified water after separation in the separating vessel body 9 is conducted to the connecting pipe 16b through the drain port 16, drain pipe 16c and opening/closing valve 50 and also through the drain port 1C, drain pipe 16d, opening/closing valve 90, drain pipes 16e, 16c and opening/closing valve 50, then is drained from the connecting pipe 16b in the manner described above.
This purified water is returned into the purified grinding water chamber 3a through the purified water recycle hose 31. However, in the case where the connecting pipe 31a of the purified water recycle hose 31 is removed from the connecting pipe 16b and the grinding water storage vessel 8 is disposed under the connecting pipe 16b, the purified water flows down from the connecting pipe 16b into the vessel 8. The purified water stored in the grinding water storage vessel 8 is discarded to the sewer or the like. Further, where a drain hose (not shown) connected to the sewer is connected to the connecting pipe 16b, the purified water discharged from the connecting pipe 16b is drained directly to the sewer through the said drain hose.
After the discharged grinding water contained in the grinding wastes present in the grinding wastes separating filter 10 has been squeezed out, the lever 14 is operated to cancel the fixed state of the lid 11 to the separating vessel body 9 with fixing screws 13.
Next, the lid 11 is taken off from the separating vessel body 9, then the grinding wastes separating filter 10 is removed from the interior of the vessel body 9, and the grinding wastes present in the filter 10 is discarded. Thereafter, the grinding wastes separating filter 10 is returned to the separating vessel body 9 and the upper portion of the vessel body 9 is closed with the lid 11 by reversing the above operation, followed by execution of the foregoing "grinding work" and "grinding water treatment." Such a grinding water treatment is repeated.
The opening/ closing valves 47, 48 and 50 described above may be constituted by solenoid valves so as to be switched over between their open and closed conditions automatically by the controller 76 at the time of performing the foregoing grinding work, filtration of the discharged grinding water, deodorization, and dehydration of grinding wastes by the air pump 20. In FIG. 3, the numeral 80 denotes a remote controller provided with the same push-button switches as the push-button switches (buttons) 73, 74 and 75 provided on the operating panel 72.
Although in this modification there are provided opening/ closing valves 47 and 49, this construction does not always constitute a limitation. For example, there may be adopted a construction wherein the opening/ closing valves 47 and 49 are omitted and a three-way change-over valve is disposed in a connection 15b (a branch portion from pipe 15a) between a pipe 15a connected to the feed port 15 and pipes 44a, 45a connected to the connecting pipes 44, 45, to cut off communication between the pipes 15a and 45a when the pipes 15a and 44a communicate with each other and cut off communication between the pipes 15a and 44a when the pipes 15a and 45a communicate with each other.
If this three-way change-over valve is constituted by an electromagnetic three-way change-over valve, its switching operation can be done automatically, whereby the operability thereof is improved. This is also the case with the other opening/closing valves described above.
Although the connecting pipe 16b and the purified water recycle hose 31 are coupled and uncoupled to return the grinding water after the grinding water treatment into the purified grinding water chamber 3a, allow it to flow down into the grinding water storage vessel 8, or drain it to the sewer, there is not always made limitation to this construction. For example, a three-way change-over valve may be provided in the connecting pipe 16b to switch over between communication of the pipe 16b with the purified water recycle hose 31 and a pipe to the sewer and blocking of the communication.
Likewise, a three-way change-over valve may be provided in the connecting pipe 16b to switch over between communication of the pipe 16b with the purified water recycle hose 31 and a pipe to the grinding water storage vessel 8 side and blocking of the communication.
Also as to these three-way change-over valves, each may be constituted by an electromagnetic three-way valve, whereby their switching operations can be done automatically. Further, for attaining a higher efficiency there may be provided a multi-way change-over valve or an electromagnetic change-over valve which makes communication between the connecting pipe 16b and one of the purified water recycle hose 31, a pipe to the sewer and a pipe to the grinding water storage vessel 8 side.
As described above, the grinding water treating apparatus (27) according to this modification is provided with the grinding water treating means (grinding water treating section 27a) which filters grinding water (discharged grinding water) after used in the glasses lens grinding work to separate grinding wastes and produce purified water and the deodorizing means (deodorizing device 51) for removing an offensive smell developed in the grinding water treating means (27a) and an offensive smell in the grinding water storage vessel (grinding water tank 3), the grinding water treating means (27a) and the deodorizing means (51) being disposed within the same housing (body case 40).
According to this construction, the grinding water treating apparatus (27) having the grinding water treating means (27a) and the deodorizing means (52) can be accommodated in a limited receptacle space and thus it is possible to attain the reduction of the receptacle space.
In the grinding water treating apparatus (27) according to this modification, the grinding water treating means (27a) has a one-pass treating means (the grinding wastes separating filter 10) which causes grinding water to pass once therethrough to filter off grinding wastes.
According to this construction, grinding water (purified water) after filtration does not return to the grinding water storage vessel (grinding water chamber 3a), but filtered water high in clarity can be drained directly to the sewer.
Further, in the grinding water treating apparatus (27) according to this modification, the one-pass treating means (10) has the pressurizing means (air compressor 20) which applies a predetermined pressure to the grinding water treating means (27a) to squeeze out and filter grinding water from grinding wastes in the grinding water treating means, thereby permitting the grinding wastes to be treated at a time.
According to this construction, even if the one-pass treating means (10) is clogged, the grinding water present within the one-pass treating means (10) can be separated from grinding wastes quickly, easily and positively and thus it is possible to facilitate the discard of only the grinding wastes.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. As to the same constructions and functions as in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, explanations thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 8 to 12, a tip of a purified water recycle hose 31, whose opposite end is connected to a drain port 16 through a connecting pipe, is held above a discharged grinding water chamber 3b in a grinding water tank 3 removably with use of a connector or a screw.
As shown in FIG. 12, an injection nozzle N as injection means which radially injects purified water flowing out from the drain port 16, using a known means, is attached to the tip of the purified water recycle hose 31.
The tip of the purified water recycle hose 31 is positioned near a discharge port 19a of a grinding water discharge hose 19. In this case, the closer to the discharge port 19a of the grinding water discharge hose 19 the tip of the purified water recycle hose 31 is, the better.

In the grinding water treating apparatus 27 of such a construction, purified water resulting from separation of grinding wastes by a grinding wastes separating filter 10 is returned into the discharged grinding water chamber 3b in the grinding water tank 3 through the purified water recycle hose 31.
At this time, this purified water is injected into the discharged grinding water chamber 3b through the injection nozzle N which is positioned above the chamber 3b.
Since the tip of the purified water recycle hose 31 with the injection nozzle N attached thereto is positioned near the discharge port 19a of the grinding water discharge hose 19, the purified water injected from the nozzle N blends with discharged grinding water flowing down from the grinding water discharge hose 19 after use in the grinding work and at the same time can cover the portion where the discharged grinding water which is flowing down and the discharged grinding water which has already been stored in the chamber 3b strike against each other.
Thus, before grinding wastes contained in the discharged grinding water adhere fixedly to foams which are produced when the discharged grinding water flows out from the grinding water discharge hose 19 down into the grinding water tank 3, it is possible to inject (spray) purified water toward the inflow position of the discharged grinding water so that the discharged grinding water as inflow water and purified water after filtration blend each other, thus permitting extinction of the foams.
Moreover, since the injection nozzle N attached to the opposite end of the purified water recycle hose 31 can inject purified water radially, it is possible to inject (spray) the purified water so as to cover substantially the whole surface of the discharged grinding water stored in the grinding water tank 3.
Further, before the grinding wastes contained in the discharged grinding water adhere fixedly to the peripheries of foams which are produced when the discharged grinding water flows out from the grinding water discharge hose 19 down into the grinding water tank 3, it is possible to inject purified water radially and thereby extinguish the foams.
A divergence angle θ (see FIG. 12) of purified water injected by the injection nozzle N is in the range of 120° to 180°. The divergence angle θ can be adjusted to an arbitrary angle.
As to the position of the tip of the purified water recycle hose 31 with the injection nozzle N attached thereto, the closer to the discharge port of the grinding water discharge hose 9, the better, because the injected purified water becomes easier to blend with the discharged grinding water flowing down from the grinding water discharge hose 19 and hence it becomes easier to extinguish foams.
The discharged grinding water chamber 3b to which purified water is returned and the purified grinding water chamber 3a adjacent thereto are in communication with each other through a partition filter 23. Therefore, the grinding water (purified water) after separation from grinding wastes by the partition filter 23 flows into the purified grinding water chamber 3a and is sucked in and circulated by means of a purified water recycle pump 24.

The results of having evaluated the grinding water treating apparatus of the third embodiment will be shown below.
Evaluation items are the height of foam layer, i.e., the height of foams (cm), from the surface of grinding water relative to the time elapsed after filtration.
The evaluation was made in the following manner. Thirty plastic lenses (CR-39) apt to produce a lot of foams were subjected to grinding continuously under constant filtration. The height of foams was measured at every ten lenses, and after grinding the thirty lenses, only filtration was conducted for 10 minutes continuously and the height of foams was measured in the same way.
The results of this evaluation are as shown in the following Table 1.

100 101

102 103 104

105 0 0 0

106 0.5 2 10

107 2 3.5 15

108 3.5 8 15

109 3.5 8 15

110 1.5 8 15

111 1 8 15
In Table 1, the numeral 100 stands for "Item," numeral 101 stands for "foam height (cm)," numeral 102 stands for "with injection nozzle," numeral 103 stands for "without injection nozzle," numeral 104 stands for "without filter," numeral 105 stands for "0 lens," numeral 106 stands for "10 lenses," numeral 107 stands for "20 lenses," numeral 108 stands for "30 lenses," numeral 109 stands for "0 minute after filtration," numeral 110 stands for "1 minute after filtration," and numeral 111 stands for "3 minutes after filtration."
The results are graphed as in FIG. 13.
In FIG. 13, numeral 112 stands for "change in foam height for each number of lens," numeral 113 stands for "foam height (cm)," numeral 114 stands for "number of lens under filtration," numeral 115 stands for "time of only filtration continued," numeral 116 stands for "with nozzle," numeral 117 stands for "without nozzle," numeral 118 stands for "FS not used," numeral 119 stands for "0 lens," numeral 120 stands for "10 lenses," numeral 121 stands for "20 lenses," numeral 122 stands for "30 lenses," numeral 123 stands for "0 minute," numeral 124 stands for "1 minute," numeral 125 stands for "3 minutes," numeral 126 stands for "5 minutes," numeral 127 stands for "7 minutes," and numeral 128 stands for "10 minutes."
From the above results it turned out that the formation of foams could be decreased 56% by attaching the injection nozzle N to the tip of the purified water recycle hose 31 to let purified water blend with discharged grinding water. It also turned out that most of produced foams could be extinguished by continuing filtration about 10 minutes after the grinding work.
In the grinding water treating apparatus 27 of this embodiment, as described above, in addition to the components of the grinding water treating apparatus 27 of the embodiment of FIG. 1, the grinding water treating means 27a is provided with the purified water recycle hose 31 for returning purified water to the grinding water storage vessel 3, and the injection means (injection nozzle N) for injecting purified water to blend it with grinding water flowing into the grinding water storage vessel (grinding water tank 3) is attached to the tip of the purified water recycle hose 31, thereby extinguishing foams produced on the surface of the grinding water stored in the vessel 3.
According to this construction, before grinding wastes contained in grinding water adhere fixedly to foams which are produced when the grinding water flows into the grinding water storage vessel 3, purified water is injected toward the grinding water influent position so that the influent grinding water and the purified water after filtration blend with each other, whereby the foams can be extinguished.
Moreover, in the grinding water treating apparatus 27 of this embodiment, the grinding water treating means 27a is provided with the purified water recycle hose 31 for returning purified water to the grinding water storage vessel 3, and the injection means (injection nozzle) is attached to the tip of the purified water recycle hose 31 which injection means injects purified water radially to cover the surface of the grinding water already stored within the grinding water storage vessel 3, thereby extinguishing the foams formed on the surface of the grinding water stored in the vessel 3.
According to this construction, before grinding wastes contained in grinding water adhere fixedly to foams which are produced when grinding water flows into the grinding water storage vessel 3, purified water is injected radially so as to cover the influent grinding water by the purified water after filtration, whereby the foams can be extinguished.
Further, in the grinding water treating apparatus 27 of this embodiment, the portion where the grinding water flowing into the grinding water storage vessel 3 strikes against the grinding water already stored in the grinding water storage vessel 3 is covered with purified water injected from the purified water recycle hose 31.
According to this construction, foams produced on the surface of the grinding water already stored in the grinding water storage vessel 3 can be extinguished effectively.

Claims

A grinding water treating apparatus for use in a lens grinding apparatus (1), comprising: a grinding water storage vessel (3) for storing grinding water from the lens grinding apparatus (1);
a grinding water treating means (27a) which is connected to the grinding water storage vessel (3) and filters the grinding water to produce purified water;
a deodorizing means (32) for removing an offensive smell developed in said grinding water treating means (27a) and also in the grinding water storage vessel (3);
a grinding water discharge hose (19) for discharging the grinding water used in the lens grinding apparatus into the grinding water storage vessel (3), and wherein
the grinding water treating means (27a) is provided with a purified water recycle hose (31) for returning the purified water to the grinding water storage vessel (3),
characterized in that said grinding water treating means (27a) and said deodorizing means (32) are disposed within one and same housing (40),
a tip of the purified water recycle hose (31) is provided with an injection means (N) for injecting the purified water to blend the purified water into the grinding water before the grinding water flowed from a discharge port (19a) of the grinding water discharge hose (19) flows into the grinding water already stored in the grinding water storage vessel (3), and
the injection means (N) is disposed adjacent to the discharge port (19a) of the grinding water discharge hoes (19), thereby extinguishing foams produced on the surface of the grinding water stored in the grinding water storage vessel (3).
A grinding water treating apparatus for use in a lens grinding apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said grinding water treating means (27a) has a one-pass treating means (10) which causes said grinding water to pass once therethrough to filter off grinding wastes.
A grinding water treating apparatus for use in a lens grinding apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 2, characterized in said one-pass treating means (10) has a pressurizing means (20) which applies a predetermined pressure to said grinding water treating means (27a) to squeeze out and filter grinding water from grinding wastes present within said grinding water treating means (27a), thereby permitting the grinding wastes to be treated at a time.
A grinding water treating apparatus for use in a lens grinding apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said injection means (N) injects said purified water radially to cover the surface of grinding water already stored in said grinding water storage vessel (3), thereby extinguishing foams produced on the surface of said grinding water stored in said grinding water storage vessel (3).
A grinding water treating apparatus for use in a lens grinding apparatus (1) as claimed in claim 1 or 4, characterized in that the portion where the grinding water flowing into said grinding water storage vessel (3) strikes against the grinding water already stored in said grinding water storage vessel (3) is covered with said purified water injected from said purified water recycle hose (31).