GB979709A - Resistance butt welding machine and arrangement for removing the welding flash - Google Patents

Abstract

979,709. Welding by pressure; shearing. H. A. SHLATTER A.G. May 17, 1961, No. 17912/61. Headings B3R and B3W. A resistance butt welding machine comprises clamping means 3, 5, 7, 12, 14, 16 for supporting two workpieces 2, 11 to be welded together, current supply means 9, 18 for engaging and heating the ends of the workpieces, a movable carriage 20 for supporting the clamping means 12, 14, 16 and current supply means 18 for one, 11, of the workpieces, a trimming tool 25 mounted in a housing 24 movably mounted on the carriage, and driving means 32 for actuating the housing to move the trimming tool across the welded joint 37 while the said one workpiece is supported by the clamping means whereby the welding flash can be removed before it has hardened. The clamping means for the workpiece 11 consist of horizontal and vertical clamping jaws 12, 14, 16 which are operated by hydraulic piston-and-cylinder devices and mounted on the carriage 20 which is movable by hydraulic piston-and-cylinder devices 23 on a frame 1 carrying the clamping jaws 3, 5, 7 for the other workpiece 2. Current is supplied to the ends of the workpieces by jaws 9, 18 urged into contact with the workpieces by piston-andcylinder devices 10, 19. The housing 24 for the trimming tool 25 is mounted on rollers 30 on the carriage 20, the workpiece 11 passing through both ends of the housing which is movable longitudinally of the workpiece by hydraulic piston-and-cylinder devices 32. In operation, the workpieces, which may be I-beams for railroad tracks, are positioned in the machine and clamped by the jaws 3, 5, 7 and 12, 14, 16, the jaws 12 and 14 passing through holes 33, 34 in the side plates of the housing 24 and the jaws 16 passing through openings in the top and bottom plates 27, 28 of the housing. The current supply jaws 9, 18 are brought into engagement with the workpiece and the current supplied to the workpiece controlled together with the force applied by the devices 23 acting on the carriage 20 to preheat, fuse and abut the workpieces. While the joint is still red hot, the current supply jaws 9, 18 are retracted and the horizontally opposed jaws 12, 14 are withdrawn from the holes 33, 34 to enable the housing 24 to be advanced by the devices 32 so that the trimming tool 25 removes the flash from the joint while the workpiece 11 is held by the jaws 16 and supported on rollers 35. When the joint has cooled sufficiently, the clamping jaws 3, 5, 7 and 16 are retracted and the workpieces removed. In an alternative embodiment, the sides of the housing 24 are slotted so that the housing can be advanced and the flash removed by the trimming tool without retracting the jaws 12, 14.