GB1049606A - Automatic lathe - Google Patents

Abstract

1,049,606. Machine tool details; automatic lathes. GEORGE KINGSBURY & CO. (GOSPORT) Ltd. Aug. 31, 1965 [Sept. 3, 1964], No. 36092/64. Headings B3B and B3T. An automatic lathe includes hydraulic actuators connected to its top slide, headstock slide and collet mechanism, the actuators being controlled by adjustable pneumatic timing relays, solenoid valves operated by the relay contacts, limit switches actuated by the collet mechanism, relays controlled by the limit switches, and a plug-board to which the relay windings and certain relay contacts are connected for selective connection by plug cords to produce a desired sequence of operations. At least one of the hydraulic actuators has an adjusting means to reduce its rate of movement to a desired rate at any point in its stroke. In the embodiment described a lathe having a headstock 12 (Fig. 1, not shown) has an actuator 26 operating a headstock slide 25, an actuator 18 (Fig. 3, not shown) operating a cross-slide 17 and an actuator 22 operating a top slide 21. The tailstock may also have an actuator 32. The control equipment is contained in a cabinet 35 (Fig. 1, not shown) having a control panel 36 which includes a switch for allowing manual operation and selective operation of individual actuators for setting up. At the rear of the cabinet 35 and integral therewith is an hydraulic fluid tank 37 fitted with a motor-driven pump 38. The components to be machined are fed by a vibrating feed mechanism 43 up a helical path to a shell 44 from where they fall into a shoot 45 which leads to a feed box mechanism carried on the headstock slide and which firstly aligns the components with the collet and then hydraulic pressure causes a secondary actuator to push the component into the collet. A detailed description is given of the top slide actuator (Figs. 4 and 5, not shown) which includes the adjustment for varying the rate of feed of a cutting tool.