GB1126373A - Orthogonal co-ordinate automatic electrical spot-welding machine - Google Patents

Abstract

1,126,373. Welding by pressure. L. CAPRIOGLIO. 6 April, 1966 [8 July, 1965], No. 15246/66. Heading B3R. A spot-welding machine has electrodes 13 carried by a welding head 11 which is displaceable according to two horizontal coordinate axes over a work -table 1, the electrodes 13 preferably also being displaceable vertically either for adjustment of the height at which welding takes place or merely for application to the workpiece under pressure; the machine is also provided with a programming unit which controls the positioning of the welding head and electrodes and the effectuating of the spot welding operations according to a prearranged programme. The machine has two side uprights 3, (4) connected by a longitudinal slideway 5 on which a carriage 6 is slidably and displaceably mounted, said carriage supporting cross slideways 8 on which the welding head 11 is slidably mounted. Alternatively (Fig. 5, not shown), the slideways (8) may be integral with the welding head; they may be cantilevered from the carriage (6) (Fig. 6, not shown) or may have a support 9 arranged to slide on a rail 10 on the work-table. The work-table may be adjustable in height and may be displaceable longitudinally or transversely to accommodate large workpieces or more than one workpiece. The welding head (Fig. 7, not shown), is preferably mounted so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis in order to orientate the electrodes correctly and includes one or more hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders for displacing the electrodes. The electrodes 13, Fig. 8, may be of the pincers type suitable for the spot-welding of vertical flanges 27 and may be adjusted vertically by a supporting rod 23 and closed for the welding operation by hydraulic or pneumatic means. Alternatively for welding horizontal flanges (28), (Fig. 9, not shown) the two electrodes may be mounted on a rod (23) for joint adjustment in height while one electrode is provided with an hydraulic cylinder for closing the electrodes under pressure. In a further arrangement (Fig. 10, not shown) the welding head is in two halves each operated independently under the control of the programming unit one half being equipped with e.g. pincers type electrodes and the other half with a juxtaposed pair of electrodes.