US1063572A - Feed for drill-spindles. - Google Patents

Description

R. MILNE. FEED FOR DRILL SPINDLES.

APPLIUATION FILED MAY 16, 1911.

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L T B E H H T E E H s 2 f INVENTOR ITNESSES R. MILNE.

FEED YFOR DRILL SPINDLBS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16, 1911.

1,063,572, Patented June 3, 1913.

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WITNESSES INVENTOH m w w /64@ d f giys UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT MILNE, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ROCKFORD DRILLING MACHINE COMPANY, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

FEED FOR DRILL-SPINDLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 3,1913.

Application filed May 16, 1911. Serial No. 627,526.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT MILNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rockford, in the county of Winnebago and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feeds for Drill- Spindles, of which the following is a specification.

In constructing a drill press, means must be provided for advancing or feeding the drill spindle at proper speed according to the work to be performed. It is customary for this purpose to provide means for feeding the drill spindle either automatically from some rotating part of the drill, or by hand, as desired.

This invention relates to an improved feed for drill spindles, and particularly to improvements in the hand feed for the same.

In order that the hand feed for a drill spindle shall be entirely satisfactory, a number of important conditions should be met. One of these is that it shall be possible to secure quick manipulation in changing over from automatic to hand feed. Such for example is the case when it becomes necessary,

or light pressure as desired. Furthermore,

the elements should be so arranged that the change from one reduction to another can be made in the least possible time and with perfect assurance of bringing the parts into proper mesh. Another requirement is that to change over from automatic to hand feed, it should be only necessary to drop the worm or feed shaft out of mesh from the train of gears which leads to the rack on the drill spindle. The parts should also be so arranged that when using automatic feed, the star handle may be thrown into aneutral position, so that it will not rotate but will stand idle.

The main objects of this invention are to provide a new and improved feed for drill spindles by means of which two ratios of reduction from the hand wheel or star handle to the rack on the drill spindle may be secured; to group the lever which raises 1 and lowers the worm into and out of mesh with the gear in such relation to the star handle that both of these elements can be manipulated from the same side of the drill, thus enabling the operator to drop the automatic feed and commence using the hand feed with the least delay; to use such a train of gears in transmitting from the star handle to the rack that a maximum strength shall be secured; to simplify the gearing as much as possible;to so relate the star handle and its pinion to the gear train and the clutch that it may be thrown into an intermediate position where it will stand idle when automatic feed is to be used; and in other ways and manners to generally improve the construction of this class of mechanism.

Other objects and uses will appear from a detailed description of the invention whichv consists in the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring now to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a side view of a portion of a drill press looking at the right side thereof, and showing the worm thrown up into mesh with the worm gear as would be the'case when using automatic feed; Fig. 2 shows a front view of the mechanism of Fig. 1, the worm being still in mesh with the worm gear, and the star handle being thrown into intermediate position; Fig. 3 shows in skeleton the train of gearing which I use for transmitting from the star handle to the rack, the star handle being thrown into clutch for securing a rapid feed; Fig. 4 shows a section taken on the line &4t of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4 looking toward the interior of the internal gear.

In the embodiment of my invention, I place the worm shaft preferably on the left hand side of the drill, at which point the worm meshes with the worm gear. The latter drives the shaft carrying the pinion which meshes directly with the rack. Adjacent the worm gear, and preferably integral therewith, I place an internal gear and then extend an auxiliary shaft through the frame to the right hand side thereof, the pinion of said shaft meshing directly with the internal gear. The right hand end of this auxiliary shaft carries a star handle and 6. In its forward portion 7 it is provided with the customary sleeve 8 and a rack 9 for raising and lowering the drill spindle. The worm 10 is keyed to a worm shaft 11 carried by an arm 12 which in turn is pivoted at a point 13. The arm terminates in a finger 14 which may be raised and lowered by means of a crank pin 15 carried on a shaft 16 which extends through the frame to the right hand side thereof. A handle 17 is provided on the shaft 16 for turning the 1 same into the position shown in Fig. 1 in which case an arm 18 also connected to the shaft 16 will engage a finger 19 to hold the finger 14 in raised position, and thus maintain the worm in mesh with a worm gear 20. By releasing the finger 19, the arm 12 is allowed to drop and carry the worm out of mesh from the worm gear as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The worm gear is mounted on a shaft 21 and is keyed to the same, said shaft in turn carrying a pinion 22 which meshes directly with the rack to raise and lower the same for the feeding operation.

The aforedescribed mechanism relates tothe customary automatic feed with the exception that the worm shaft is placed on the left hand side of the drill spindle instead of the right hand side thereof, as is customary.

Turning first to Fig. 3, I will proceed to describe my improved hand feed. On the shaft 21 and adjacent the worm gear thereof, 1 mount an internal gear 23. In the construction illustrated, this internal gear is formed integral with the worm gear so as to secure a maximum of strength in a minimum of space. The auxiliary shaft 24 extends through the frame of the press, and carries a gear 25 which is keyed to the shaft. The pinion 26 keyed to the outer end of the shaft meshes directly with the internal gear. A clutch block 27 is rigidly attached to the other end of the shaft as by means of a pin 28, so that when the star handle 29 carrying a clutch face 30 is slid outwardly into the position shown in Fig. 3, it will be clutched rigidly to the shaft 24. This being the ease, power will be transmitted directly from the star handle through the shaft 24 to the internal gear, and thence directly to the rack. Therefore, when the star handle is thrown into the clutch position, a rapid movement of the rack and consequently a rapid feed of the spindle will ensue.

distinctly understood, however, that the pinion 31 and gear 32 are free to rotate on, the bearing portion 33. A pinion is rigidly secured to the star handle, so that when the latter is thrown over into the position shown in Fig. 4, this pinion will mesh with the gear 32 and thus transmission will be effected through the gear 32 and pinion 31 back to the gear 25 and the shaft 24-, and a. greatly reduced rate of drill spindle feed will be secured with a correspondingly increased pressure.

From an examination of the above construction, it will be noted that the shaft 24 will rotate at all times, when the drill spindle is being raised or lowered, whether such raising or lowering be accomplished automatically or by hand. The star handle must rotate, in case the pinion 35 be meshed with the gear 32, or in case the star handle itself be thrown into clutch position; therefore, it is preferable that the star handle should be thrown over into the position shown in Fig. 4, because in such position, it will rotate much slower than when in clutch position. However, in my present construction, I have provided sufficient space between the clutch block 27 and the gear 25, so that the star handle may be thrown into an intermediate or non-operative position, as shown in Fig. 2.

For the purpose of maintaining the star handle in either one of the three positions, I have provided a sleeve 36 between the pinion 35 and the star handle proper, said sleeve being provided with three grooves 37, 38, and 39. A finger 40 pivoted at 4] to the frame has its lower end 42 suitably formed to engage any one of the grooves according to the position of the star handle, a spring 43 holding the finger in such engagement. It will be noted, however, that each of the grooves is triangular in cross section, the finger being correspondingly formed, so that the handle may be forced out of any one of the three positions without the necessity of raising the finger by hand.

I wish to call particular attention to the fact that in my present arrangement of feed gearing I have placed the handle 17 on the same side of the drill as the star handle, thus greatly facilitating the changes from automatic to hand feed. In fact both the handle 17 and the star handle can be im- -1nediately reached by the operator who manipulates the levers with his right hand. In order to effect a change, it is only necessary to depress the finger 19 so as to allow the worm to drop out of engagement from the worm gear and then the operator may immediately commence the hand feed by rotating the star handle. Furthermore, an instantaneous change may be made from rapid to slow hand feed or vice-versa, merely by throwingthe star handle in or out on the shaft 24 as the case may be. It will be noted that no matter whether the star handle be thrown into clutch position, as shown in Fig. 3, or into back gearing position, as shown in Fig. 4:, the shaft 24 will always rotate in the same direction, so that the operator turns the star handle in the same direction whether he desires to feed rapidly or slowly.

A study of the above described construction will reveal the fact that I have provided a hand feed for drills by means of which two speeds of feed can be secured, and that I have attained this result by the use of a minimum number of gears and shafts. Furthermore, it is to be particularly noted that the change from one hand feed to the other, that is the change of gear ratio of hand feed, is effected merely by shoving the star handle one way or the other as needed. I desire also particularly to point out the fact that the lever which controls the meshing of the worm with the worm gear is placed very close to the star wheel, so that both mechanisms can be manipulated from the same side of the drill with the least delay. I also wish to point out the fact that the train of gears which I employ for transmitting from the star handle to the pinion 22 is one well adapted for securing a maximum of strength. The internal gear may be made particularly strong when it is combined with the worm gear, as herein illustrated, and this is a very important feature when it is desired to throw a heavy pressure on the drill spindle.

It will be noted that a star handle, such as is herein illustrated and described, is so balanced that there is no tendency for it to fall in either direction when not supported. Therefore, there is no tendency for one of the arms of the same to fall over and strike the operator, as is the case when the lever handle is used, as is now customary.

I claim:

The combination with the rack of a feed for drill spindles, of a pinion shaft, a pinion secured thereon and meshing with the rack to raise and lower the same, an internal gear secured to one end of the-said shaft, an auxiliary shaft extending in a direction substantially parallel to the said pinion shaft, a pinion on the said auxiliary shaft meshing with the internal gear, a gear and pinion mounted free to rotate on the said pinion shaft, a gear secured to the said auxiliary shaft and meshing with the pinion of the gear and pinion, a clutch block secured to the auxiliary shaft, and a clutch hand wheel and pinion slidably mounted on the auxiliary shaft between the said clutch block and the gear of the auxiliary shaft, whereby when the said hand wheel clutch block and pinion are thrown out the clutch will engage the clutch block of the auxiliary shaft to directly drive the same, and whereby when the said hand wheel, clutch block and pinion are thrown in the said pinion will engage the gear of the gear and pinion to drive the auxiliary shaft through the medium of the gear and pinion, substan tially as described.

ROBERT MILNE.

Witnesses S. H. Rnox, H. LEEOH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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