US1491601A - Tumbling apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Mmmm 111mm@ Mlm April 22 1924.

F. A. FULLER TUMBLING APPARATUS Apri] 22 Filed April 29 1920 Patented Apr. 22, 1924.

UNITED STATES FRANZ A. FULLER, E NEWARK., NEW JERSEY.

TUMBLING APPARATUS.

Application led April 29, 1920. Serial N'o. 377,437.

To all whom it may concer/n.:

Be it known that I, FRANZ A. FULLER, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tumbling Apparatus, of which the following' is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, including reference numerals marked thereon, and forming a part of this specification.

The invention relates to mechanisms adapted, by agitation and minute abrasion, to cleanse and polish metallic articles, with special reference to hinged folding frames used in the construction of bags, purses and like receptacles, and has for its object the achievement of such purposes in a novel and highly effective manner. A method of tumbling hinged articles disclosed in this case. is claimed in my co-pending application, SerialNo. 682,908, filed December 27, 1923.

The invention consist-s in the peculiar construction of a tumbling apparatus specially designed for the mentioned purpose, and further, in the interior structural formation whereby the fully formed and completely assembled bag frames, or other articles be operated on, are held in a spread or open position during the polishing operation, thereby preventing the hinge connected elements from closing or accumulating into an interlocked mass, with the consequent liability of becoming distorted and broken together with failure of individually receiving proper and effective polish upon all exterior surfaces.

With these ends in view, the invention consists in certain novelties of construction and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the claims;

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 represents a longitudinal vertical section of the tank, other elements being shown in side elevation. i

Figure 2 represents a transverse section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Figure 3 represents a transverse section of a rotary casing, showing a bag frame therein.

Figure 4 represents a plan view of a ba frame comprising a pair of channelled frame members hingedly united at their extremities.

Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken online 5 5 of Fig. 4.

Figure 6 represents a fragmentary perspective view of a rotary casing adapted to contain bag frames or otherv articles to be tumbled.

y Figure 7 represents a plan view of a modified form of rotary casing shown with' the cover in an open position.

Figure 8 represents a perspective view of a compartmented container adapted to re# ceive the articles to be tumbled andused in connection with the modified form of a cas# ing shown in Fig. 7.

In order to disclose a full knowledge of the process, to those versed in the art to which it pertains, the same will be described co-incidentally with the apparatus which constitutes the main portion of the invention.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a conventional type of bag or .purse frame, generally designated by the numeral 10, is shown in Figure 4, the same being formed of sheet metal, bent. lengthwise into a channel shaped cross section, asshownr in Figure 5 at A, and simultaneously' formed to present outer bar elements B and C having right angled arms D and E arranged in parallel and joined by hinges F which permitv the side bar elements B and C to be spread or distended as shown or folded closely to gether in register in an obvious manner, it being understood that' these frames are provided with nieans for ,attaching the bag or purse material and also means for clamping or confining the sides when in a closed con'- dition, the object `of the invention being, as before stated, to produce a highly `polished or finished surface upon the exposedlexterior surface of the frame, prior to assemblage with the bag material.

Referring to the Figures 1 and 2, the numeral 15 designates the base or floor-of a tank from whichl rise side andi end walls respectively 16 and 17, the latterbeingheld between end extensions 18`ofl the side walls.

A cover 20 is secured by hinges 21 to the rear side wall and can be clamped when yin a closed position by the pivotedclamp bolts 22 and wing nuts at thefront.

A pillow block or bearing 2i rests upon a platform 25 extending between the side walls adjacent one end of the tank and revoluble therein is a shaft 26 passing through stuffing boxes 27 and 28 rigidly set in the end walls 17 of the tank through which the shaft extends, the shaft being driven by a pulley 29 fixed upon its end adjacent the bearing 24.

The shaft 26 passes freely through a spur gear 30, having a hub 31 fixed to the inner end of the stufiing box 27, the gear being thus nonfrotatably mounted concentric to the shaft.

A pair of discs or spiders 32 having hubs 33 are fixed on the shaft 26 by set screws 34, and extending oppositely outward from the discs, near their peripheries, are a plurality of equally spaced bosses 35, six being shown as preferred although more or less may be employed, the bosses and discs being bored to receive pintles 36 and 37 rotatably and slidablj,7 therein, the pintles 36 having fixed upon their outer extending ends gears 38 normally meshing with the gear 30.

The inner ends of the pintles are fixed in brackets 39 secured to the tumbler casing end elements 40 by screws fil or analogous fastening means.

These casings may be of any preferred cross section, either cylindrical or polygonal, hexagonal being shown as preferred, and in addition to the fixed end elements it), have fixed longitudinal side plates 42, four being indicated in Fig. 3 and three in the modified form shown in Fig. 6.

The remaining side plates 44, either two or three are secured to the elements 45, forming the complement of the end plates 40, and are provided with hinges 46 along one of their edges, connecting with the adjacent side plate 42, while upon their opposite edges are hooks 47 engageable in eyes 48 set near the edges of the fixed side. plates with which they make contact when the cover is closed.

Each of the several sides of the casings is provided with rows of perforations 50 which are provided with fine metallic screens 51 preventing the passage of the abrading elements used, preferably smooth hardened steel balls, but permitting the ready passage of fluids, by which the polishing process is accomplished.

Secured within each casing are a plurality of transverse partitions 52, which as indicated in Fig. 3 extend completely across the interior, or as in Fig. 6 are fixed to extend across the lower half, complementary partitions 53 being secured in the upper or cover portion, these several partitions forming compartments to receive the frames or other parts to be polished, each compartment being so proportioned as to positively prevent folding of the frames on their hinges, the width of the compartment being less than the length of the arms D of the frames for that purpose, but sufficiently distanced to permit the reception of a plurality of the frames.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 7 the partitions are relatively widely spaced and adapted to receive removable work containers, shown in Fig. 8, the same being centrally divided and comprised of upper and lower elements 55 and 56 connected by hinges 57 and containing partitions 58 and 59, each compartment 6() being provided with screened perforations 6l, this arrangement being specially convenient to operate in loading and unloading the work parts and in entering or removing from the tumbler casings as entities.

Charging or discharging the contents of the casings is facilitated by the provision for shifting the same endwise, due to being able to slide the pintles 36 and 37 in their bearings to such an extent as to disassociate the gear teeth, space being provided between the gears 38 and adjacent end wall 17- for that purpose, thus allowing each casing to be manually rotated in order to bring its cover portion uppermost.

lith the apparatus illustrated in Figures 6, 7 and 8, frames are entered such as are indicated in Figure Lf, and of dimensions, when folded, relatively greater than the width of the compartments, the frames freely pass each in an extended position but are prevented from folding or assuming a closed position, thereby avoiding accumulation into an interlocking mass, in which individual frame or parts thereof would become distorted, broken and fail to receive the treatment desired.

In Figure 3 the section of the casing is shown to be but slightly in excess of the dimensions of the frames when open, so that when a quantity of the frames are in operative position in the compartments they cannot entirely pass each other, as in the former device, but can slide, one against another, which, in connection with the steel balls employed, and a suitable cleansing fluid, produces polished surfaces in an ef fective manner, the fluid being in constant circulation, due to the movement of the casings and the balls equally constantly moved by a variety of impulses imparted to them bythe continual change of position of the casings.

In operation, the tank is partially filled with the liquid to be used, the several compartments in each tumbler casing charged with such number of frames as may be easily entered and move freely, in connection with a plurality of balls, acting as abrasive elements, the same being retained in the compartments by the screened apertures through which the fluid flows freely when the shaft and tumbler casings are rotated.

1t is to be understood that the proportions of the compartments are made in accordance with the sizes of the work parts to be polished, while the proportions of the gears, speed of shafts, size of abrading elements, and nature of liquid used are matters of intelligent option founded on experimental practice.

Experience has demonstrated the apparatus to be highly eflicient in ope-ration, producing excellent results in an economical and rapid manner, and, while the mechanism described is the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is not desired to restrict the exact details of construction, combination and arrangements thereto, it being obvious tliat minor variations, not involving the exercise of invention, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A tumbling apparatus comprising a covered tank, a shaft rotatably mounted therein, a plurality of tumbler casings arranged in a circle circumjacent said shaft, supports for said casings carried by said shaft, a spur gear xed in said tank concentric with the shaft, and gears at the ends of each of said casings normally engaging said spur gears, said supports permitting the independent rotation of individual casings, by longitudinal movement of the casings whereby the gears are disconnected.

2. A tumbling apparatus comprising a tank, a shaft mounted therein, spaced discs fixed on said shaft within said tank, a plurality of closed tumbler casings carried by said discs and slidably mounted therebetween, and means for normally rotating said shaft and casings, said means permitting limited independent longitudinal movement of said casings whereby they may be individually manually rotated.

3. A tumbling apparatus comprising a closed tank, a plurality of transversely compartmented closed tumbler casings arranged to gyrate about a horizontal axis in said tank, means for rotating one or more of said casings upon their own axes, coincidentally with their gyrating movement within said tank, and means permitting longitudinal movement of said casings to engage or disengage said rotating means.

This specification signed and witnessed this 28th day of April, 1920.

FRANZ A. FULLER.

Witnesses:

W. H. CONKLIN, FREDK C. FISCHER.

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