GB193627A - Improvements in sizing and quenching annular metal articles such as cups and cones for roller bearings - Google Patents

Abstract

193,627. Imray, O. V., (Timken Roller Bearing Co.). Jan. 24, 1922. Bearings; hoops and rings. -Annular metal articles with circular or non- circular bores and preferably of steel, such as the cones and cups of roller bearings, are first formed approximately to shape and size in the ordinary manner and, after heating, are then sized by stretching circumferentially and then quenched immediately afterwards while in stretched condition. so as to prevent distortion and so avoid or minimize the necessity for grinding after quenching. A heated bearing cone A, Fig. 1, having a bore slightly smaller than that required in the finished article is placed on a seating 1 over a tapered wedge block 4, and is expanded by a plug 6 consisting of a series of slotted internally-tapered segments carried by the press plunger 3. The bore is expanded to a diameter slightly larger than required in the finished article in order to allow for contraction when the cone is stripped from the plug. In order to allow for the variable shrinkage due to the variation in the thickness of the wall of the cone, the plug is of such a taper as to enlarge the bore slightly more at the thick end than at the thin end, unless the cone is made of alloys which shrink very little. The cone is quenched after expansion by liquid passing from a supply pipe 13 through passages 10 and jet openings 14 in the wall 9 surrounding the seating 1, which is also furnished with exit passages 15. The supply of liquid is normally cut off by a valve 16 provided with a stem 18 which is engaged by a rod 17 on the plunger to open the valve as soon as the cone is expanded. Withdrawal of the plug from the cone after quenching tends to planish or polish the surface of the cone. In Fig. 4 a bearing cup B is shown as expanded by a solid tapered plug 5<a> having helical grooves 19 which communicate with the passage 12, so that the quenching liquid may be directed against both the inner and outer surfaces of the cup. In the form shown in Fig. 5, the cup is expanded by a plug 5a against a helically grooved perforated annular wall so that it is restrained both externally and internally during quenching. In a modification the grooved and perforated wall may consist of a detachable segmental piece the inner surface of which is tapered to fit a tapered seat on the wall 9. For quenching a cup having tapered inner and outer surfaces, the inner face of the wall 9 shown in Fig. 5 is tapered.