GB2100630A - Feed up means employing planetary gear arrangement - Google Patents

Abstract

A feed apparatus for radially moving a work engaging member such as a honing stone 88 on a honing mandrel 37 comprising a housing 24 having a drive member 32 rotatably mounted therein, the drive member having a first operative connection to a main drive motor and a second operative connection 60 to the honing mandrel, a peripheral gear 51 on the drive member in the housing, a planetary gear assembly mounted in the housing including a pair of axially spaced annular gears 30,32 one of 30 which has gear teeth formed on its outer surface, a worm gear 28 mounted on the housing for engagement with the gear teeth on the outer surface of the annular gear, an auxiliary drive for rotating the worm gear, a first set 50 of planetary gears engageable on one side with the peripheral gear and on the opposite side with one 52 of the annular gears, a second set 38 of planetary gears spaced axially from the first set and engageable on one side with the second annular gear 30, a member 42 for supporting the first and second sets of planetary gears, an adjustment member 58 mounted for rotation in the drive member, said adjustment member having a portion with a gear surface 55 thereon, and other gear members 56 operatively connected between the other annular gear and the gear portion of the adjustment member, energization of the auxiliary drive producing relative rotational movement between the annular gears and through the other gear members to the adjustment member thereby producing relative rotational movement between the adjustment member and the rotatable member. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Feed up means employing planetary gear arrangement This invention relates to feed up means employing a planetary gear arrangement.

There are many devices such as honing machines and other machine tools which include rotatable work engaging portions that have members mounted thereon for radial adjustment during operation in order to maintain engagement between the tool and the work. Various means have been devised and employed in the past to radially move or expand the work engaging members outwardly in order to maintain them engaged under pressure with a work surface and to contract them for inserting or removing the tool from a workpiece. Several common ways of doing this are known including the use of cam means as disclosed in Sunnen Patent Nos.

2,350,969; 2,376,850; 2,376,851; 2,421,470; 2,580,328; 2,815,615; 3,378,962 and 3,800,482.

Another well known way to accomplish a similar result is through use of rack and pinion gears wherein rotation of a pinion gear radially advances or retracts one or more work engaging members mounted on assemblies that include rack gears.

Typical of such devices are the devices shown in Sunnen Patent Nos. RE 18,763; 1,929,613; 1,982,836; 2,022,649 and 2,020,589.

There are also other devices for accomplishing somewhat similar results including devices that use centrifugal force, double acting cam devices, and others. All of the known devices have advantages as well as disadvantages and limitations.

One of the principal disadvantages of most known devices is that they are incapable of accurately and uniformly controlling and metering the radial movement of the work engaging member and of maintaining predetermined pressure of the work engaging members against the work surface regardless of wear of the work members or honing stones or increased size of the surface being worked. The known devices also depend for their operation on means in the machine. The present means overcome these and other shortcomings and limitations of the known devices by teaching the construction and operation of an accurately controllable and adjustable means for radially moving one or more work engaging members mounted on a rotating structure.

Furthermore, with the present device it is not only possible to accurately control but also to predeterminately adjust and meter the force applied by the work engaging member against the work surface irrespective of tool or work wear in order to maintain the desired working pressure.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide novel means to produce relative rotational movement in a desired direction between a tubular member and a shaft which extends therein while the tubular member and the shaft are rotating including a source of energy located externally of the tubular member and operable independantly of the means for rotating the tubular member and the shaft.

It is another important object of the invention to provide improved and more accurate means for radially advancing work engaging members mounted on rotatable structures.

According to one aspect of the present invention we provide drive means for driving a rotatable work engaging member having a radially adjustable work engaging member mounted thereon and adjustment means operatively engageable with the work engaging member to adjust the radial position thereof comprising a housing structure having an annular gear fixedly positioned therein, another annular gear positioned in the housing adjacent to the fixed annular gear, means engageable with said other annular gear movable to produce relative rotational movement between the fixed and the other annular gears, a drive assembly rotatably mounted in the housing structure, said assembly having a gear portion positioned thereon radially inwardly of the fixed annular gear, first and second sets of circumferentially spaced gears and a carrier member for rotatably supporting said gear sets mounted in the housing, the gears of the first set being positioned between and engageable with the fixed annular gear and the gear on the drive assembly, the gears of the second set engaging the other annular gear, and an adjustment member mounted for rotational movement relative to the drive assembly, said adjustment member having a gear portion operatively engageable with the gears of the second set whereby relative rotational movement between the fixed and the other annular gears produces relative rotational movement between the drive assembly and the adjustment member.

The invention is particularly applicable to driving in rotation honing mandrels.

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view taken through the centre of a feed up control structure constructed according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side view of an annular member constructed to carry two sets of planetary gears; Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a top view of the power output yoke member shown in Figure 1; Figure 6 is an end view of the output yoke member shown in Figure 5; Figure 7 is a top view of the housing for the structure shown in Figure 2; Figure 8 is a right side view of the housing shown in Figure 2; Figure 9 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view similar to Figure 2 but showing use of a manual crank feed up control;; Figure 10 is view similar to Figure 9 but with drive means for applying force to the feed up advancing means that include yieldable means; Figure 11 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing some of the operating portions including the gear members in another manner; and Figure 12 is a cross-sectional view similar to Figure 1 but shown in a modified embodiment of the subject device.

Referring to the drawings more particularly by reference numbers, number 10 refers to a feed up structure embodying the teachings of the present invention. The structure 10 includes a non-rotatable housing 12 shown constructed of two connected housing members 14 and 16, each of which has a respective outwardly extending peripheral flange 18 and 20. The flanges 18 and 20 have aligned openings for receiving threaded fastener members 22 used to hold the housing members 14 and 16 together. Any number of such fasteners can be provided, as desired. The housing 12 has a portion 24 formed at one side which accommodates a motor 26 or other suitable drive means as will be explained, which are connected to rotate a worm gear 28 also located in the housing.The teeth of the worm gear 28 mesh with teeth on the outer surface of an annular gear 30 which extends around and is mounted for rotational movement in the housing 12.

A rotatable hub assembly 32 Is journalled for rotation in the housing 12 by means of spaced bearing assemblies 34 and 36. During operation of the device. rotational force is applied by suitable drive means such as a drive motor inot shown) to rotate the hub assembly 32. The speed of rotation of the assembly 32 is usually relatively high depending on the speed required to rotate some rotatable assembly such as a honing mandrel 37 or other work engaging machine tool assembly. The honing mandrel 37 typically includes one or more stone assemblies mounted on a rotatable structure, which stone assemblies are move radially outwardly on the assembly during honing to maintain engagement under pressure with the work surface being honed.

The present device provides unique means for radially advancing the stone during rotation of the mandrel 37, which means can be made to be independent of anything on the honing machine itself.

The annular gear 30 also has gear teeth formed on its inner surface, and these mesh with teeth on a plurality of circumferentially spaced planetary gears, one of which is shown in Figure 1 as planetary gear 38. The gears 38 are rotatably mounted on respective stub shafts 40 positioned extending toward one s de of a rnember 42, and the gears 38 are centrally located in clrcumferentiaily spaced indentations 44 formed in one side of the member 42. positions for three such gears 38 being shown in Figure 2. The member 42 has a similar set of spaced indentations 46 located extending In from its opposite side in the spaces located between the indentations 44.Other stub shafts 48 are centered in the indentations 46 and rotatable support respective gears of another set of planetary gears. one of which is shown as gear 50 n Figure 1. The planetary gears 50 have teeth which cooperatively mesh with teeth on a fixed annular gear 52 which is mounted In the housing 12 adjacent to the annular gear 30. The teeth of the planetary gears 50 also mesh with gear teeth formed on the peripheral portion 51 of the rotatable hub assembly 32. This means that when the hub assembly 32 rotates in the housing 12. the plantary gears 38 and 50 roll at substantially the same speed around the inner toothed surfaces of the respective gears 30 and 52.If, at the same time that the hub assembly 32 is rotating, the work gear 28 is also being rotated by suitable means such as by the motor 26, there will be some relative movement between the annular gears 30 and 52 and this will produce some relative change in rotational speed between the planetary gears 38 and 50. The effect of this latter relative motion is important to the present invention as will be explained.

The teeth of the planetary gears 38 mesh on their inner sides with outer teeth on another annular gear 54 which annular gear also has teeth on its inner surface. The teeth on the inner surface of the annular gear 54 mesh with teeth on a plurality of other circumferentially spaced planetary gears 56 which are journalled for rotation on the hub assembly 32 by means of stub shafts 57. Positions for two diametrically spaced planetary gears 56 are shown in Figure 2.

The teeth on the inner side of the planetary gears 56 mesh with teeth formed on a round portion 55 of an adjustment member 58, which member is journalled for rotation in a bore 59 in the hub assembly 32. If the motor 26 or other means used for rotating the worm gear 28 are de-energized or inactive so that there is no relative movement between the annular gear 30 and the stationary gear 52 there will be no relative movement between the planetary gears 38 and the planetary gears 50. Under these conditions there will also be no relative movement between the adjustment member 58 and the hub assembly 32, and consequently no adjustment such as expansion or contraction of the honing diameter will take place.

On the other hand, if the motor 26 is energized or if other means are operated to rotate the worm gear 28, then some relative movement will take place between the annular gears 30 and 52 and this in turn will also produce some movement through the gears 54 and 56 to the adjustment member 58 causing the member 58 to rotate relative to the hub assembly 32.

Keep in mind that this relative movement takes place while the hub assembly 32, including the adjustment member 58, are being rotated by some external power source such as a drive motor in a honing machine (not shown) suitably coupled to the hub assembly 32. Thus. when the hub assembly 32 is rotating relative to the housing 12 at some desired operating speed, the adjustment member 58 can be made to rotate at a slightly slower or slightly faster speed than the operating speed of the hub assembly 32 under control of the motor 26 or other operator means. This means that the hub assembly 32 and its power source provides the main driving power for operating or rotating the working assembly such as a honing mandrel, while the adjustment member 58 under control of its own independent power source operating through the worm gear 28 provides the means for predeterminately advancing the work engaging members or honing stone assemblies carried by mandrel 37 radially outwardly into contact with and under desired pressure against the work surface. The same means can also be used to retract the stone assemblies.

In the construction as shown, the hub assembly 32 is fixedly connected to an output yoke member 60 which includes a pair of diametrically spaced arm portions 62 and 64 used to couple to the work engaging assembly or honing mandrel or other tool to transmit the working force thereto. The yoke 60 is connected to the hub assembly 32 by bolts 61 (Figures 5 and 6). The connection between the yoke 60 and the honing mandrel is made through universal connection means to one end of a tubular member 66. The coupling of the arm portions 62 and 64 to the tube 66 is made by means of a ring member 68 which has pins 70 and 72 which extend into bores in the respective yoke arm portions 62 and 64 and enable the ring 68 to pivot about one axis relative thereto.The ring 68 has other pin connection members 74 and 76 located at right angles thereon to the pins 70 and 72, and these are pivotally connected to arms 78 and 80 respectively which are attached to the end of the tube 66 (Figure 6). Similar universal connection means between a honing machine and a honing mandrel have been used before, see for example Sunnen Patent No.

3,393,472. The opposite end of the tube 66 may be connected by similar universal connection means to the mandrel 37.

The hub assembly 32 is shown constructed to provide suitable means to support the gear members 54 and 56 and the adjustment member 58. The adjustment member 58 also includes means 82 adjacent one end for coupling to one end of adjustment rod 84 which extends through the tube 66 and has its opposite end connected by similar means to an adjustment member 86 located in the honing mandrel 37. The adjustment member 86 can be a pinion gear which when rotated in the mandrel 37 moves one or more rack gears 87 which are parts of stone assemblies 88 (Figure 1) radially on the mandrel to change the effective mandrel honing diameter. During honing or machining, the rack gears 87, which support honing stone assemblies 88, are advanced radially outwardly, usually under pressure, to maintain the stone assemblies 88 engaged with a surface being honed.

If the stone advancing means are operated by a motor, such as the motor 26, it may be necessary to provide some form of torque sensing or slip clutch means to control and limitthe amount of force that can be applied by the stones against the work. In some cases, however, the rate of stone feed can be accurately enough controlled without torque limiting to match the desired honing or stock removal and stone wear rates. This may be possible, for example, where it is only necessary to remove a relatively small amount of material, or where the stone wear rate closely matches the rate of stock removable.

In Figure 9 the motor 26 is shown replaced by a manual crank 90 which the operator can manually turn to rotate the worm gear 28 in order to produce the desired stone feed up rate and the desired honing pressure. Manual control may be desirable in some cases.

In Figure 10 the motor 26 is shown coupled through a slip clutch 99 such as a magnetic particle clutch to the worm gear 28. This has the advantage that the coupling provided by the slip clutch 99 can be adjusted to control the amount of pressure applied by the honing stones 88 against the work. A spring drive (not shown) could also be used for the same purpose.

Regardless of the form of the particular means selected to drive the worm gear 28, the substantial gear reduction available with the present device means that relatively little driving force is required to radially advance, or retract, the work engaging members and to apply the desired honing pressure against the work surface. This is desirable because not only does it minimize the power requirement but it also enables the feed up rate and the applied power to be accurately applied and controlled over a broad range thereby enabling the honing to take place as fast or as slow as desired, or as necessary. It also enables relatively accurate matching of the feed up rate and honing pressure to the job thereby reducing the amount of operator attention required to accurately hone a surface once the initial set up conditions are established.This is an especially important factor considering that when using the present device the amount of stone wear or work wear that has taken place, within limits, does not enter into the determination as to the feed up adjustment including the feed up rate and the applied pressure.

The details of the mandrel 37 are not part of the present invention and many different mandrel constructions can be used with the present device including constructions such as those shown in the above-referenced Sunnen U.S. Patents.

Figure 11 shoes a construction which is similar to the construction shown in Figure 1 and corresponding parts therein are similarly numbered. However, in the Figure 11 construction some of the gears including the planetary gears 38, 50 and 56 and the gear portion 55 of the adjustment member 58 are shown in a somewhat more realistic form for ease of understanding. It is to be understood that in the construction of Figure 11 there will be three or more planetary gears similar to the planetary gears 38 and 50 and at least a pair of planetary gears similar to the planetary gear 56. The spacing of these gears about the structure will be similar to that shown in Figures 2 - 3. Also in the Figure 11 construction the annular gear 54 is shown having a slightly modified shape that includes a sidewardly extending annular flange portion 54A for alignment purposes.Except for the differences noted the construction shown in Figure 11 is similar to and operates similar to the construction shown in Figures 1 - 4.

Figure 12 shows a modified embodiment 100 of the subject device which operates in substantially the same way as the embodiment 10. The embodiment 100 includes a two part housing 102 with a power input shaft 104 journalled by bearing means 106. The shaft 104 has a gear portion 108 located in the housing 102 which meshes with a plurality of planetary gears 110. The gears 110 mesh on their outer sides with an annular gear 112 fixedly mounted in the housing 102. Each of the planetary gears 110 is fixedly connected to a respective similar planetary gear 114 by a shaft 116 that extends therebetween.

In the housing space between the pairs of planet ary gears 110 and 114 are other planetary gears 118 which are free running on respective ones of the shafts 116. The gears 118 mesh with teeth on an annular gear 120 which extends around the periphery of the housing 102. The annular gear 120 also has teeth formed on its outer surface which mesh with a worm gear 122 shown located at the bottom of the housing 102. The planetary gears 118 mesh on their inner side with teeth on a round gear portion 124 of adjustment member 126, which portion is connected to a rod portion 128 that extends through a bore 130 in output drive member 132. The drive member 132 includes spaced arm portions 134 and 136 which are used to couple the device to a honing mandrel or other machine tool device by a universal connector as explained above in connection with the construction shown in Figures 1 - 11.The member 132 is journalled for rotation in the housing 102 by bearing assembly 138, and the member 132 has a gear portion 140 which is positioned in the housing 102 in position to mesh with the inner gear surfaces of the planetary gears 114.

The construction 100 operate similarly to the construction 10 but with the main driving force being transmitted from the planetary gears 110 to the similar size planetary gears 114 through the shafts 116 which in turn rotatably support the gears 118 which are of the same diameter and tooth construction as the gears 110 and 114. The construction 100 may be somewhat more limited as to the force that it can transmit as compared to the construction 10 but in situations where less rotational drive force is required the construction 100 provides a satisfactory solution. The widths of the gears 110 and 114 can also be varied depending on the force to be transmitted.

It is important to note that with all embodiments of the present construction, the housing, including the drive means, the worm gear and the associated components are stationary members, and therefore are relatively easy to install, repair and maintain. The same components are also relatively accessable and facilitate attaching the subject device to an existing structure such as to the frame of an existing machine tool such as a honing machine, and the present adjusting means are preferably operated independently of the honing machine itself except possibly as to the rotational driving force for the main power output.

Thus there has been shown and described a novel means for providing power a rotating member such as to a honing mandrel or the like, which means include novel means for radially moving, at desired speed and under desired pressure, the work engaging members such as the stone assemblies on a honing mandrel to produce the desired operating condition. It is apparent, however that many changes, modifications, variations, and other uses and applications for the subject device are possible, and all such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention which is limited only by the claims which follow.

Claims (21)

1. Drive means for driving a rotatable work engaging member having a radially adjustable work engaging member mounted thereon and adjustment means operatively engageable with the work engaging member to adjust the radial position thereof comprising a housing structure having an annular gear fixedly positioned therein, another annular gear positioned in the housing adjacent to the fixed annular gear, means engageable with said other annular gear movable to produce relative rotational movement between the fixed and the other annular gears, a drive assembly rotatably mounted in the housing structure, said assembly having a gear portion positioned thereon radially inwardly of the fixed annular gear, first and second sets of circumferentially spaced gears and a carrier member for rotatably supporting said gear sets mounted in the housing, the gears of the first set being positioned between and engageable with the fixed annular gear and the gear on the drive assembly, the gears of the second set engaging the other annular gear, and an adjustment member mounted for rotational movement relative to the drive assembly, said adjustment member having a gear portion operatively engageable with the gears of the second set whereby relative rotational movement between the fixed and the other annular gears produces relative rotational movement between the drive assembly and the adjustment member.

2. Drive means according to Claim 1 including means coupling the rotatable drive assembly to a rotatable work engaging assembly and other means operatively connecting the adjustment member to the radially movable work engaging member.

3. Drive means according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the rotatable work engaging assembly is a honing mandrel having radially movable stone assemblies mounted thereon.

4. Means for rotating a work engaging member comprising a housing having a chamber therein, a rotatable member and means journalling the rotatable member for rotation in the housing, a peripheral gear on the rotatable member, first and second relatively movable annular gears positioned in the housing chamber outwardly of the rotatable member, means for producing relative rotational movement between the first and second annular gears, a planetary gear assembly including a frame and means on the frame for rotatably supporting first and second sets of axially spaced planetary gear, the planetary gears of the first set being positioned between and engaging on one side the first annular gear and on the opposite side the peripheral gear on the rotatable member, the planetary gears of the second set engaging the second annular gear on one side thereof, a ring gear having inner and outer gear surfaces formed thereon, the planetary gears of the second set engaging the outer gear surface on the ring gear, a third set of spaced planetary gears journal led to the rotatable member inwardly of the ring gear and engageable with the inner gear surface thereon, and an adjustment member mounted for rotation in the rotatable member, said adjustment member having a portion with a gear surface thereon engageable with the gears of said third set, relative movement between the first and second annular gears producing relative movement between the adjustment member and the rotatable member.

5. Means according to Claim 4 including motor means operatively connected to rotate the rotatable member, a working assembly having a work engaging member thereon, and a means operatively connecting the work engaging member to the adjustment member.

6. Means according to Claim 4 or 5 wherein the means for producing relative rotational movement between the first and second annular gears includes a worm gear operatively connected to one of said first and second annular gears, and means for rotating the worm gear.

7. Means according to Claim 6 including means to limit the force applied by the means for rotating the worm gear.

8. Means according to any of Claims 4 to 7 wherein the frame for rotatably supporting the first and second sets of planetary gears includes an annular member having a plurality of circumferentially spaced indentations extending therein from both opposite sides, means in the indentations on one side for rotatably supporting the gears of the first set of planetary gears, and means in the indentations on the opposite side of the frame for rotatably supporting the gears of the second set.

9. Means for rotating a honing mandrel having a body portion and at least one honing stone assembly mounted thereon for radial movement into engagement with a work surface being honed comprising a housing having a chamber therein, a member journalled for rotation in the housing, means for rotating said member during a honing operation, means coupling said rotatable member to the honing mandrel for rotation therewith, a peripheral gear formed on said rotatable member in the housing, first and second relatively movable annular gears positioned in the housing outwardly of the rotatable member, means for producing relative rotational movement between the first and second annular gears, a planetary gear assembly including a frame for rotatably supporting axially spaced first and second sets of planetary gears, the planetary gears of the first set being positioned between and engageable on one side thereof with the first annular gear and on the opposite side the peripheral gear on the rotatable member, the planetary gears of the second set being engageable on one side with the second annular gear, a ring gear member having inner and outer gear surfaces formed thereon, the planetary gears of the second set engaging the outer gear surface on the ring gear, a third set of spaced planetary gears journalled to the rotatable member inwardly of the ring gear and engageable with the inner gear surface thereon, and an adjustment member mounted for rotation in the rotatable member, said adjustment member having a portion adjacent one end with a gear surface formed thereon engageable with the gears of the third set, means on the opposite end of the adjustment member operatively engageable with the stone assembly on the honing mandrel, relative movement between the first and second annular gears producing relative movement between the adjustment member and the rotatable member and radial movement of the stone assembly on the honing mandrel.

10. Means according to Claim 9 wherein the means for producing relative rotational movement between the first and second annular gears includes gear teeth formed on the outer surface of one of said annular gears, and a worm gear engageable therewith.

11. Means according to Claim 10 including motor means operatively connected to rotate the worm gear.

12. Means according to Claim 10 wherein a hand crank is connected to rotate the worm gear.

13. Means according to Claim 10 wherein the means to rotate the worm gear include motor means and a slip clutch, the motor means being connected to one side of the slip clutch, the opposite side of the slip clutch being connected to the worm gear.

14. Means for rotating a work engaging member comprising a housing having a chamber therein, aligned input and output members rotatably mounted in the housing, means coupling the input and output members for rotation in concert with each other, said last named means including a first gear formed on the input member, a second gear formed on the output member, and a plurality of planetary gear assemblies each having a first gear portion engageable with the first gear on the input member and a second gear portion engageable with the second gear on the output member, and a shaft on each planetary gear assembly connected between the first and second gear portions, an axial passage through the output member, an adjustment member having a portion extending through the passage, and a gear portion positioned in the housing between the first and second gears, an annular gear rotatably mounted on each of the shafts of the planetary gear assemblies, a peripheral gear positioned in the housing outwardly of the annular gears, each of said annular gears engaging the gear portion of the adjustment member on one side and the peripheral gear on their opposite side, and means for predeterminately rotating the peripheral gear in the housing.

15. Means according to Claim 14wherein said means for rotating the peripheral gear in the housing includes gear teeth formed in the outer surface of the peripheral gear, a worm gear engageable with said outer gear teeth, and means for rotating said worm gear.

16. Means according to Claim 15 wherein the means for rotating the worm gear include motor means.

17. Means according to Claim 15 wherein the means for rotating the worm gear includes a hand crank.

18. Means according to Claim 16 wherein the means for rotating the worm gear include a slip clutch having output means connected to the worm gear and input means connected to the motor means.

19. Means according to any of Claims 14to 18 including a rotatable work engaging assembly having at least one member mounted thereon for radial movement, means connecting the output member to the rotatable work engaging assembly, and means operatively connecting the adjustment member to the radially movable member.

20. Means according to Claim 19 wherein the work engaging assembly is a honing mandrel having at least one radially movable stone assembly mounted thereon.

21. Drive means substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.