US1468355A - Method of piston-ring manufacture - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 18, 1923. 11,468,355

c. E. CARSON METHOD OF PISTON RING MANUFACTURE v 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 13, 1922 Inuenfor CharlesECarson Sept. 1-8, 1923. M68355 C. E. CARSON F PISTON R MANUFACTURE Filed April 13. 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 18 1923. 11,468,355

c. E. CARSON METHOD OF PISTON RING MANUFACTURE Filed April 13. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 lnuenfor 8 483i CharlesELarson enema Sept. as, rare.

UNHTED STATE @FFHGEZ.

CHARLES E. CARSON, OF ALLEG-AN, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR 01E ONE-FIFTH T FRED- ERICK 1E. ROYCE, 03E GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

METHOD OF PISTON-RING MANUFAGTUR'E.

Application filed April 13, 1922. Serial No. 552,205.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. GAnsoN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Allegan, in the county of Allegan and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Piston-Ring Manufacture; and it do hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description of the invention, Ml) such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to makesand use the same.

This invention relates to a method or process of making piston rings such as are used 1& in large numbers in internal combustion engines. The primary object and urpose of the present invention is to roll an form and then size and simultaneously compress and temper the ring, all taking place very rapidfio ly so that a large quantity production of rings may be had, and the manufacture of the same from flat bar stock very easily and readily accomplished. Various other objects and purposes subsidiary to the main object will be apparent as understanding of the invention is had from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, showing a more or less diagrammatic lay-out of the mechanism used in carrying out the process, in which drawig. 1 is a side elevation showing the assembly and lay-out of mechanism used in performing the process.

' 5 Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the straight sections cut from the bar stock in the first step of the process which is later rolled into ring form.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view ofthe ring rolled therefrom.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan, with a part in section, showing the manner of cutting the bar stock into lengths for rings.

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section through the ring rolling mechanism, the be ginning of the formation of a ring from the section lengths being shown.

Fig. 6 is a like view at the termination of the ring rolling.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary front elevation of the ring rolling mechanism, the rings being shown partly in section.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section through the ring sizing and tempering mechanism, showing the same in one position.

Fig. 9 is a like view of said mechanism in another position.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical section through the ring and the sizing and tempering punch and die, and

Fig. 11 is a plan View looking at the ring sizing and tempering die below the plane of line 11-11, of Fig. 8.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the diiferent figures of the drawin s.

n the performance of the method or process, the bar stock is fed into a punch press, indicated at 1, the'pieces or sections cut being carried by a conveyor 2 upward to an inclined feed table 3 down which they pass to the ring rolling mechanism, at 4. The rolled rings are carried therefrom by a second conveyor 5 to a hopper, or a plurality of hoppers 6, from which they are individually taken and acted upon by the ring sizing and tempering machine, also similar in most respects to a punch press. This makes a continuous process, as more or less diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1.

In the first step of the method, the bar stock having a cross section somewhat larger than the cross section of the ring to be formed therefrom is fed in any desired manner over the die 8 of the punch press, indicated at 1, the punch 9 carried by the ram of the press periodically coming down and cutting the stock into the required lengths. A length gage bar 10 having a stop lateral extension 10 is adjustably connected with a bar 11 projecting from the die 8, a) set screw 12 passing through an elongated slot 13 in bar 10 for the ready adjustment of the gage bar with respect to the die. The punch 9 is of a form, as best shown in Fig. 4, that the bar stock is cut into lengths or sections 14: havinglap joint projections 15 at the ends of one half the width, substantially, of the said sections. It is to be understood, however, that the well known diagonal joint may be made quite as well, if desired, merely requiring a change in the punch and die.

The conveyor 2 is an endless belt passing around pulleys 16, one on the punch press MID 1 and the other On suitable supporting frame work in front of the ring rolling machine. The rings rolled in such machine are formed from the sections 14 which, after delivery from the conveyor to the table 3 are guided lengthwise down the table to the ring rolling rollers 17, 18 and 19. The roller 17 is located above and between the other rollers 18 and 19, and said roller 17 is grooved with a plurality of spacedapart annular grooves 17, into each of which a ring section 'is guided. A number of the rings are formed at one time, the ring rolling mechanism being operated slower than the first punch press cutting mechanism.

At the beginning of the rolling operation the ends of the sections 14 are bent downwardly by punches 20, projecting from a bar 20. This shapes the sections so that the same readily pass between the rollers 18 and 19. At the end of the rolling operation, the opposite ends of the sections are bent downwardly by like punches 21 extending from the bar 21. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate these operations, whereby the rolling is properly accomplished without leaving ends projecting tangentially.

The rings are carried by the conveyor 5 which is of the endless type and Which-passes around wheels 22, as shown, to the hopper 6. One or more of the hoppers may be used, depending upon the rate of production and the speed with which'the sizing and tempering mechanism may be operated. The rings may be removed from the roller 18 by withdrawing said roller lengthwise, or in any other suitable manner. After delivery -to the hopper, the rings pass downwardly through a tubular guide 23 by gravity.

The lowermost ring in the guide is adapted to rest against a feed slide 24 which is slidably mounted on a die plate 25 on the bed of the punch press 7. The free end of the slide 24 is shaped with a concaved recess-26 adapted to fit against a side of a ring. The slide is periodically reciprocated through connection of a lin 27-at one end to the slide and at the opposite end to one arm of a bell-crank lever 28 pivotally mounted at one-side of the frame of the press, a link 29 having connection at one end to the other arm of the lever and at its opposite end being mounted off-center on the shaft 30 of the press, whereby with each revolution of the shaft, the slide isreciprocated. In its movement, the slide passes from under the column of rings as shown in Fig. 9, permitting the rings to drop so that the lowermost ring is restin against the plate 25. On

the return of the s ide, its recessed end bears against the lowermost rin and moves it in front of the slide to the die and punch construction which is used for pressing thering to size and for tempering it by such compression.

7 The ram 31 of the press, operated by the shaft 30, at its lower end carries a circular punch 32 having a diameter of the exact size of the finished ring on its inner side when the ends of the ring are forced together. Below the ram and punch, a die is formed in the plate 25 having a downwardly and inwardly inclined annular entrance to the lower cylindrical recess of the die, the inclined guide entrance 33 serving to carry the ring into the-recess 34 on the downward movement of the ram. The diameter of the recess 34 is equal to the outer diameter of the finished ring when the ends are forced together. In the lower end of the recess, a circular ejector plate 35 is located at the upper end of a rod 36.

The ring is carried by slide 24 to the die while the ram is in upper position, the slide moving back as the ram descends. The ring is forced downwardly into the cylindrical recess 34 as the ram and punch move downwardly and against the plate 35. The metal of the ring, somewhat larger in cross section than the cross section of the completed ring is thus compressed to the smaller size on all sides, making the ring absolutely accurate in size and at the same time changing the temper of the metal so that it has a resiliency or spring that it did not have before, whereby the rin springs outwardly so as to closely enga e t e walls of a cylinder in which it is instal ed around a piston. 0n the upward movement of'the ram, the ring is ejected from the die by the ejector plate 35 in the usual manner.

This process makes it possible with relatively small equipment to produce accurate piston rings all of a size in large quantities. By changing the position of the stop bar 10 in the first punch press, rings of greater length circumferentially may he made,it of course being obvious that the rolling .rollers and the hoppers and sizing and tempering mechanism must be made to correspond.

The metal used is an alloy, the constituency of which has no particularly essential hearing in the present invention so far as the.

process of manufacture is concerned. Rings made in accordance with this process have had extensive test and have tionally satisfactory.

I claim: 1

1. The herein described method of making piston rings which consists in compressing a ring having a cross section larger than the completed ring to a smaller size in cross section substantially as described.

proved excep- 2. The herein described method of making 4 piston rings which consists in providing a ring havingl size larger t an the completed ring, and compressing the rin on all sides to reduce the cross section to t at for the completed ring, substantially as described.

a cross section of metal or a.

3. The herein described method of making piston rings which consists in contracting a parted metal ringof out-of-round shape to circular form and compressing the metal uniformly to reduce the cross-sectional area thereof throughout its entire length, substantially as described.

4. The herein described method of making piston rings which consists in contracting a parted metal ring of uniform cross section and out-of-round shape to circular form and compressing the ring uniformly on all sides to thereby compress the metal and reduce its cross-sectional area, substantially as described.

5. The herein described method of making piston rings which consists in rolling a bar of metal into a parted ring shape with an out-of-round form,' contracting the same to circular form and compressing the metal so that its cross section is of less size than the cross section of the bar from which it is made, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES E. CARSON.

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