GB2206152A

GB2206152A - Supports for spray guns

Info

Publication number: GB2206152A
Application number: GB08715119A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alfred Maurice Pritchard
Original assignee: SPRAYMATIC CO
Current assignee: SPRAYMATIC CO
Priority date: 1987-06-27
Filing date: 1987-06-27
Publication date: 1988-12-29
Anticipated expiration: 2007-06-27
Also published as: GB8715119D0; GB2206152B

Abstract

The spray gun support 9 comprises a circular first member 10 having a radially extending arm 11 secured to the periphery 12 of the first member 10; a circular second member 13 rotatable relative to the first member and having a hollow axial extension 14 for mounting a spray gun 23; and a locking member 15 mounted on a shaft 16 and axially displaceable for moving a locking element 25 into and out of locking engagement with aligned holes in the members 10, 13. The members 10, 13 have different numbers of holes to provide a vernier adjustment A similar adjustable pivot support may connect the arm 11 to a further support arm 11a. <IMAGE>

Description

SUPPORTS FOR SPRAY GUNS This invention concerns supports for spray guns.

It is well-known that the results achieved in a spraying process, parti-cularly an automatic spraying process, depends to a large extent upon the postioning of the spray guns relative to the article being sprayed, and to give accurate postioning of the spray gun it is known to mount the spray gun upon a bracket which provides angular adjustment and an arm which provides linear adjustment, so that the spray gun can be mounted and clamped in a desired post ion determined by a process of manual adjustment of the mounting angles, by means of the bracket, and mounting distance, by means of adjustment of the effective length of the arm, relative to test samples of the article to be sprayed.

However, problems arise when the spraying equipment to be used to spray batches of different articles, because a great deal of time and efford has to be expended in resetting the spray gun or spray guns each time one batch of one kind of article is finished and a batch of different type of article has to be sprayed.

An object to the invention is to enable this problem to be reduced or avoided, and to provide usefully adaptable means for mounting a spray gun.

According to the present invention there is provided a support for a spray gun comprising first and second relatively rotatable members, mounted for relative rotation about a predetermined axis, and a mounting for securing a spray gun in a predetermined position relative to one of said members, and characterised in that the first member has a first predetermined number of sockets provided therein to form a circular array concentric with said axis; in that the second member has a second predetermined number of open ended sockets provided therein to form an array equidistant from said axis with the first array, and in that a third member is pivotably connected to said first and second members for rotation about said axis, which further member carries a locking element and is movable longitudinally of said axis between a locking position which it extends through one of the sockets in the second member into one of the sockets in the first member to prevent relative rotation of said members, and a withdrawn position where it is clear of said sockets to premit relative rotation between all three members so that selected ones of said sockets can be aligned to receive the locking member.

The locking member is preferably biased towards said locking position.

The other of the members, not providing the mounting for the spray gun, preferably has an arm secured thereto, which arm can be mounted in a clamp to support the mounting and the spray gun at a predetermined or selected distance from the clamp.

The clamp may incorporate or be mounted on a further angularly adjustable support which is constructed to incorporate first, second and further members similar aforementioned members whereby to provide adjustment about a further axis transverse to the aforementioned predetermined axis.

The first and second members are preferably provided with markings each of which pertains to a respective one of the sockets, and conviently the markings on the first member may be letters and those on the second member may be numerals.

By using a different number of sockets in each array, and providing a sufficient number of sockets in the arrays, a vernier adjustment can be achieved which gives incremental angular adjustments each of a few degrees, and it has been found that arrays having different numbers of sockets within the range of from 10 to 20 sockets, e.g. arrays of 12 and 13 sockets respectively, can provide sufficently small angular increments.

The invention also includes spraying apparatus which comprises a spray gun and a support of the invention. The spray gun is preferably machined to provide a socket having a key-way which can accept a key provided by the mounting so that the spray gun can only be connected to the mounting in the particular predetermined angular relationship; and said key-way is preferably machined in a jig which uses the spraying axis of the spray gun as a DATUM, so that one spray gun may be exchanged for a similarly machined spray gun without altering the spray direction predetermined by the support.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, where: FIGURES 1 and 2 show a support of the invention respectively in side elevation and in plan; FIGURE 3 shows the support in transverse cross section; and FIGURE 4 shows a part of the support in side elevation with a locking member removed.

The support 9 comprises a circular first member 10 having a radially extending arm 11 secured to the peripherery 12 of the first member 10, a circular second member 13 having a hollow axial extension 14; and a locking member 15 mounted on a shaft 16 in an co-axial with the extension 14.

The first member 10 is provided with a circular array to twelve sockets 17 and is rotatably mounted on the extension 14 to abut one side of the member 13.

The second member 13 is provided with a circular array of thirteen sockets 18. The sockets 17 and 18 are equidistant from the axis of the extension 14.

The extension 14 provides a mounting 20 which is longitudinally slotted to locate a key 21, and has a terminal threaded part to receive a fastener 22 to retain a spray gun 23 on the mounting, as indicated in broken lines in FIG. 3, so that a washer 24 is interposed between the gun and the member 10.

The locking member 15 carries a locking element 25, and the shaft 16 is slidably and rotatably supported by a bearing insert 26 screwed into an internally threaded socket provided in the second member 13 and extension 14, so that the locking member 15 can be moved in the direction of arrow A from a locking position in which, as shown in Fig. 3., the element 25 extends through one of the sockets 18 into one of the sockets 19 to prevent relative rotation of any one member 10, 13 or 15 relative to any other of these members, to a withdrawn position in which the element 25 is clear of said sockets 17 and 18 to permit such relative rotation. The shaft carries a bias spring 27 to urge the locking member 15 towards the locking position.

The spray gun 23 has a non-standard socket which is machined to provide a key-way to receive the key 21 so that this socket and keyway are orientated precisely in a predetermined position relative to a spraying axis 28 of the spray gun 23.

The members 10 and 13 are marked with visual characters to denote and identify each of the sockets 17 and 18 individually, whereby to provide a setting code representative of each relative angular position in which these members can be locked by the element 25. A datum mark may be provided on the member 14 or the element 25 may serve as a datum indicator to indicate the selected setting code.

To provide similarly coded incremental angular adjustment and setting about a further axis 30 transverse to the axis of the extension 14, whilst permitting longitudinal adjustment of the position of the arm 11, there may be provided a secondary support 31 which incorporates a clamp 32 for the arm 11, as indicated in Figure 2.

The secondary support 31 is functionally equivalent, in respect of the provision for angular adjustment, to the support 9, and for the sale of berevity parts of the support 31 having equivalents in the support 9 are denoted by the same reference numbers with the suffix A, and are not described in further detail.

The support 31 includes a first member 10A, arm 11A, second member 13A and extension 14A, locking member 15A, locking element 25A and bias spring 27A.

The support 31 differs from the support 9 primarily in that the interior of the extension 14A is shaped to receive the arm 11; the extension 14A carries the clamp 32 and an internally threaded retainer 33 to retain the member 10A on the extension 14A; the second member 13A has a further opportunity directed extension 34 which rotatably carries the member, the spring, and a retainer 35 for the spring 27A; and a larger hollow knob 36 is secured by fasteners 37 to the member 15A to surround the spring.

The clamp 32 hasa screw 38 which can be released to enable the arm 11 (or an arm 11A of a further secondary support) to be slid through the support 31.

The support 31 provides linear measuring means, e.g. comprising a scale part 40 on the extension 14A which part provides a scale 41 alongside the arm 11, for use with distance markings 42 and face markings 43 on the arm 11 to enable the relationship or setting of the support 31 relative to the support 9 to be determined and recorded.

The invention is not confined to details of the foregoing examples and many variations are possible within the scope of the invention. For example, a stub arm may be secured to the spray gun in a precise orientation so that the stub arm can be mounted directly in the clamp 32 so that the latter serves as the mounting for the spray gun.

The invention thus includes and provides a support, for spray gun, such as the support 31.

Claims

1. A support comprising first and second relatively rotatable members, mounted for relative rotation about a predetermined axis, and a mounting for securing a spray gun in a predetermined position relative to one of said members, and characterised in that the first member has a first predetermined number of sockets provided therein to form a circular array concentric with said axis; in that the second member has a second predetermined number of open ended sockets provided therein to form an array equidistant from said axis with the first array, and in that a third member is pivotably connected to said first and second members for rotation about said axis, which further member carries a locking element and is movable longitudinally of said axis between a locking position which it extends through one of the sockets in the second member into one of the sockets in the first member to prevent relative rotation of said members, and a withdrawn position where it is clear of said sockets to permit relative rotation between all three members so that selected ones of said sockets can be aligned to receive the locking member.

2. A support as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the locking member is biased towards said locking position.

3. A support as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 wherein the other of the members, not providing the mounting for the spray gun has an arm secured thereto.

4. A support as claimed in Claim 3 wherein said arm is mountable or mounted in a clamp to support the mounting and the spray gun at a predetermined or selected distance from the clamp.

5. A support as claimed in Claim 4 wherein said clamp incorporates or is mounted or mountable on a further angularly adjustable support which is constructed to incorporate first, second and further members similar aforementioned members whereby to provide adjustment about a further axis transverse to the aforementioned predetermined axis.

6. A support as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the first and second members are provided with markings each of which pertains to a respective one of the sockets.

7. A support as claimed in Claim 6 wherein the markings on the first member are letters and those on the second member are numerals.

8. A support as claimed in any preceding claim wherein one of said arrays has about 12 sockets and the other of the arrays has a different number of-sockets to provide a vernier adjustment.

9. A support substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. Spraying apparatus comprising a support as claimed in any preceding claim and a spray gun mounted on the support.

11. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 10 wherein the spray gun is machined to provide a socket having a key-way which can accept a key provided by the mounting so that the spray gun can only be connected to the mounting in the particular predetermined angular relationship.

12. Spraying apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.