US1394006A - Sheet-metal-blank feeder - Google Patents

Description

H. A. AND R. H. GRIFFITHS.

SHEET METAL BLANK FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14. 1921.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

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' SHEET METAL BLANK FEEDER. APPLICATION FILED FEB. I4, 1921.

1,394,006. Patented 00th 18,1921.

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HARRY ALBERT GRIFFITHS, OF BIRMINGHAM, AND RICHARD HANSON GRIFFITHS, OF SUTTON COLDFIELD, ENGLAND.

1 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known'that we, HARRY ALBERT GRIF- rirns, residing at 8 Chad road, Edgbaston, in the city of Birmingham, England, and RICHARD Hanson GRIFFITHS, residing at Highfield, Sutton Coldfield, in the county of \Varwick, England, subjects of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, have invented certain new and useful Sheet-Metal- Blank Feeders, of which the following is a specification 7 This invention relates to mechanically actuated presses for operating on circular or other sheet metal blanks, and has for its object to provide improved automatic feeding mechanisms of the type in which the bottom blank of a stack of superimposed blanks is separated from those above it by means of a knife or a plurality of knives and subsequently fed to the press tools by gravity or otherwise. V

The invention comprises the employment in conjunction with an oscillatory knife, of

an oscillatory support for the stack of blanks, the support being adapted to release the bottom blank after the knife has engaged the stack.

The invention also comprises the use of a pair of oscillatory knives adapted to operate insuccession and herein termed primary and secondary knives, and the arrangement in conjunction with the sec ondary knife of an oscillatory support adapted to serve as the sole or principal support for the stack of blanks, this support being caused to release the bottom blank after the secondary knife has passed into position for supporting the superincumbent blanks.

In the accompanying sheets of explanatory drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan and Fig. 2 a front elevation of one form of blank feeding mechanism constructed in accordance with this invention.

The primary knife a is secured at the upper end of an oscillatory spindle Z). This knife is in the form of a relatively small disk having a knife edge and having a portion of its peripheryncut away so that the adjacent portion of the stack of circular sheet metal blanks 0 can rest on a support (Z which is also secured to the spindle. The support is in the form of a circular disk which has .a portion of its periphery out Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

Application filed February 14, 1921. Serial No. 444,835.

away so that it can leave the blanks. The distance between the upper face of the support and the lower face of the knife is equal to the thickness of a blank. Referring to F ig, l, the support is there shown in engagement with the underside of the stack of blanks. On rotatingthe knife and support in the direction of the arrow, the knife first enters the stack immediately above the lower blank and lifts the other blanks. After the knife has entered sufficiently far the support leaves the bottom blank, but the latter is not yet free to fall away because it is still carried by another support to be hereinafter described. Motion is imparted to the primary knife (6 and support (Z by a lever e secured to the lower end of the spindle b and actuated in one direction by a link f which receives motion from another link 5/ connected to any convenient moving part of the press mechanism. Motion in the return direction may be effected by a spring h.

Adjacent to the primary knife is arranged the secondary knife z'. This consists of a broad oscillatory blade pivoted at j and actuated by a link is connected to the above mentioned link g,- both knives move together. The return motion may be given to the knife i by a spring Z. The disposition of the knife 2' in relation to the knife a. is such (as shown in Fig. 1), that the knife a first enters the stack of blanks and produces an opening into which the secondary knife 2' can enter. The knife 7, then separates the stack completely from the bottom blank.

Secured to the knife '5 is the support m. This also consists of a broad blade which normally acts as the main support for the stack of blanks. While the knife 2' is entering the stack, the support m is moving away, and'finally when the knife z is fully in position, the support m is clear of the bottom blank. Meanwhile the support 61 has also moved clear of the bottom blank, and the latter is therefore free to fall away on to an inclined or other table whence it can pass by gravity or otherwise to the press tools. In the return of the knives, the support m comes into its active position before the knife z' leaves the blanks. As soon as the knife 71 is clear of the blanks, the stack falls on to the support m which now carries the stack prior to a repetition of the operations above described. It will be understood that the vertical distance between the knife 2' and support m is equal to or rather greater than the thickness of the blank.

Lateral-displacement of the blanks forming the stack is prevented by three upright guides 12 between which the stack of blanks is free to move. Usually it is found advantageous to load the stack by a weight 0 as shown in Fig. 2. The weight serves to hold the stack firmly on the supports when the mechanism is operating at high speed.

The invention is capable of'being carried out in a variety of ways. Thus, the oscilla-- anism illustrated the support (Z may be dispensed with. As a further alternative the knife 11 and support an may be dispensed with in which case two or more knives as a and supports as. d are arranged at suitable positions relatively to the stack of blanks and caused to act on the stack simultaneously.

The invention is not limited to any particular mechanical details as these may be varied to meet different requirements.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 7 1. In. mechanism for individually feeding sheet metal blanks from a stack to the tools of a press, the combination of a pair of oscillatory separating tools, a'support arranged in conjunction with one of the tools, and means for actuating the separating tools and support so that one of the separating tools first enters the stack of the blanks and forms an aperture between the bottom blank and those above it, and then the second separating tool enters and completely separates the bottom blank from the stack, the support meanwhile moving and finally allowing the bottom blank to fall away when the second separating tool has sufficiently entered the stack to support the blanks above it, substantially as described.

2. In mechanisms for individually feeding sheet metal blanks from a stack to the tools of a press, the combination of an oscillatory support for a stack of blanks, a separating tool arranged in conjunction with the support, the underside "of'the tool being in a plane which is separated from that contain ing the upper surface of the support by a distance equal or approigimately equal to the thickness of the blanks, and the mutual arrangement of the separating tool and support being such that the one moves into its operative position before the other is withdrawn from the stack, an additional oscillatory separating tool adapted to produce

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