GB908233A - Improvements in or relating to flat glass edge grinding machines - Google Patents

Abstract

908,233. Edge grinding flat sheet glass. CORTESI, A. April 26, 1961 [April 26, I960], No. 15051/61. Class 60. A machine for edge-grinding a sheet or plate of flat glass comprises a supporting column 4 Fig. 1, having upwardly directed suction cups 7 for holding the work, and a horizontal arm 5 rotatable about the support 4 carrying a displaceable tool carriage 6 on which is mounted at least one grinding spindle 38 and its driving motor 39. Additional suction cups 107, 207 are carried at the ends of horizontally swingable arms 8, 9, mounted on lateral extensions of the head 2 of the column 4, the contact faces of all the cups lying in the same horizontal plane. The movements of the arm 5 and/or the tool carriage 6 may be controlled manually or mechanically, e.g. by a copying device, and the spindle 38 carrying coarse and fine grinding wheels 44, 45, may be adjusted vertically either by raising or lowering the arm 5 on the column or by moving the grinding unit on inclined tubular ways 43 on the carriage 6, Fig. 2, which is itself guided by rollers 32, 34, on ways 33, 35 formed on the arm 5. Rack-and-sector means are provided for adjusting the position of the carriage 6 on the ways 43 between stops 49 and locking devices operated by knobs 51 are fitted within each of the ways. Flushing water is supplied from overhead to the grinding faces and power to the motor by leads 54, 55, Fig. 1, the complete unit being mounted on a vertical pivot 41, Fig. 2, about which it may be swung by a handle 53. The suction cups, Fig. 5, each comprise a plate 11 having a central hole 16 and a housing 110 for a plate-valve 18 with a finned stem 21 projecting slightly above the contact plane of a sealing ring 12, the valve sealing, under spring pressure, the top face of the cup from an annular duct 13 formed in the underside of the plate 11 which is connected to an air suction pump in the base 3 of the column 4; on the opening of the valves 18 under the weight of the work, the space between the glass and the top face of each suction cup is evacuated. The cup-carrying arms 8 and 9 are each lockable after adjustment by clamping screws 26, 29 respectively, and flexible suction lines 215, 115 are coupled to their outer ends in which ducts are formed leading to the valve housings 10, 110. The inner ends of the suction lines meet, in a common junction 30, a main suction pipe 31 which is connected to the suction pump through a filtering and water-separating unit, Fig. 8 (not shown), and a pedal-operated cock through which the cups are alternatively connected for " suction " to hold the work or to " atmosphere " to release it.