US1650518A

US1650518A - Sheet metal

Info

Publication number: US1650518A
Application number: US171027A
Authority: US
Inventors: Humphris Frank
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1925-10-28
Filing date: 1927-02-25
Publication date: 1927-11-22
Anticipated expiration: 1944-11-22

Description

Nov. 2z, 1927. 1,650,518

. VF. HUMPHRIS Y,

- VvSHEET METAL Filed Feb. 25. 1927v I 5.1 mgfz. Vl

,rentree Nev. 22, 1927.

rmx HUMBHBIS, or ranxsronn, nonsn'r, ENGLAND.

snaar .application med `irebmary 25,1927, serial No.

-This invention relates to improvements in. and connected with the feeding of'sheetmetal throughpressesor like machines and is carried into elfect by slitting a blank or untrimmed-'sheet of-metal adjacent two of the marginal edges thereof remote one from the other to form tongues, by means of which slits and tongues such sheet may be moved forwardly and guided accuratelyrand in a'Y strai ht path for a definite pitch-distance step- 4y-step as it is'impelled by the feeding parts or pawls of'any suitably formed'feeding-mechanism of the known kind embodied in any press or like f machine and by thesef feeding artsl or pawls en aging .-in the slits it'is possible to. feed the szgtid sheet with absolute recision any number of times into, throng and out of a presser other machine or under the action ofany num-beror sets of punch and die-tools which may be' necessary for operatingon the said sheet. for the purpose of producing accurately formed articles therefrom ;"but it will 'be obvious that where multiple operations-are essential the feeding of such 4sheet must be-regulated to travel a delinite pitch Adistance and the movement thereof madelin a straight -path at each. feed-stroke and that these conditions must pily at "all times whilst the sheet is being through a press or like machine; these conditions .are of the highest importance as failure to obtain exact location for and during the operations in the production of articles-from the said adapted or 'prepared sheet. ensures the resulting product or article being inaccurately formed and in most `cases useless.A

.Where several accurately formed articles are 'producedeithe'r end to end or side by side o r in a row at vone and the same time, and the production thereof is arranged to occur stepy-step or in successive rows, and in whlch artic esv are cutout from a blankl sheet of metal so as to leave a perforated sheet of metal or residuej'of mesh-like form consisting of strands of metal resulting from the blanking out'of 'articles from such sheetlnetal in rowsj but suchstrands 'of mesh-like form. remain integral withthe two previmusly perforated, notchedor slitl marginal edges of such sheet any inaccuracy in the location of the slits and tongues in the said sheetl either spoils the articles produced lfro `:he sheets or breaks the die-tools. p

'According to .this invention tongue-'formng slits are made in sheets of met adjacent Marat.

171,027, and in creat Britain october 28,1925.

two marginal edges thereof, one remote from `the'other, b means of accurately sized and spaced punc es arranged in one or more rows to coact with thelr complementary diesand the said punches of any one row are arranged to be in true alignment one with the other and parallel with the punches of any other row and are mounted in a press or other vmachine of the known kind so that one or more rows of accurately spacedslits and itiongues are produced at one and the same me. This invention will now be described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawmg; it is to be understood however. that the drawings do not illustrate adapted and prepared sheets of metal of full size, they only illustrateparts of such sheets of metal andthe illustrations are' given mere- -ly by way of example.

Figure 1 is a face view of two `piecesof anl adapted and prepared sheet of metal, one piece being cut from one and one piece from the othermargin or side edge' of one and the same sheetof metal, showing one row of slits and the'resulting tongues or spike-like proljections formed whilst slitting each piece as they 4are located near each side edgeor margm of the sheet.

of tlie lines 5 5 or a-a of Figure 1, showlslitted'at regular intervals, as at e, .adjacenty ,one 'or both of its side edges to form one or morerows of tongues e2, which tongues preferably have their ends pointed and are bent out ofthe plane of one face of the sheetto -form meansl for guidingthe sheet throu h" a machine Vwhich is toact upon it. The en s of the slots form contacting or abutting faces e', for engagement by that part of the machine, for example a toothedv wheel, which Figure 2 is asectional view, on either one ingthe tongues or spike like projections, and 1 serves to impelthe sheet through themaf chine.- Where more than one row of contacting faces e. and tongues zare formed inthe sheet the contacting faces e" adjacent o ne edge of the sheet are preferably in alignment with those adjacent `the opposite e ge .of the sheet-on lines transverse to the rows of contacting faces and tongues; and where more than one row of contacting faces e and tongues e2 are formed in the sheet it is essential that all of the rows shall be parallel, one to the other, as shown by the dotted lines 5--5 and 5 5a in Figure 1. These dotted lines illustrate how a straight line vmustv pass in each case along a true centre line extending lengthwise of the tongues e2, and it is essential that said lines be parallel to a dotted centre line X-X which represents the longitudinal centre-line on the sheet of metal a.

It is also essential that the contacting faces e', be of suflicient width for engagement b a feeding part, finger, pawl, detent, toothe wheel or other suitably formed member of the feedin mechanism of a press or like machine. T e contacting faces e and the tongues e2 serve in the' place of several of the members ordinarily'employed in the known forms of sheet feeding mechanisms, Since the contacting or abutting surfaces e. form, in effect, the equivalent of a toothed rack, and the tongues e2 serve as guiding means and, therefore,'make it possible to feed a sheet of metal so prepared through a ess or like machine any number of times, eit

er in an intermittent or in a continuous manner and without ythe aid of rollers, guides, or the comparatively complicated spacing and feeding-mecha'nism ordinarily em loyed.

he contacting or abutting surfaces e' and tongues e2 when provided in sheets of metal, serve in addition to the feeding thereof as spacing, guiding and locating means and as such they are employed in conjunction with any known form of impelling and/or retaining-fingers, detents, pawls, or other suitably formed members used or embodied in any suitably formed feeding mechanism of a press or like machine.

' Either two or more rows of contacting faces e' and tongues e2 may be employed and arranged preferably, but not necessarily, in staggered relation to theA other row local thereto in any side edge or margin of a sheet of metal a.

According to this invention, a plain or blank sheet of metal a is provided by punches and dies mounted in one press or the like with the means hereinbefore described, so as to enable it after it has been adapted or repared to coact any desired number of times with impellin mechanism of another ress or other mac ine, and so that inishe or partly finished articles may be accurately formed or cut out from any part other than the slit margins of such sheet metal a by one or more repetition punchand-die operations performed thereon with an accurac of feed hitherto not obtained.

In ca g'this invention into e'ect it is not essential that the original sinuous or rough edges a', which occur on untrirnmed plain or blank sheets of metal a, be cut or sheared olf so as to provide edges which arc unnecessary to provide the sheet with straight edges or to provide uides to contact with the sheet at any perio during theimpelling or feeding of the said-sheet through a press or other machine.

When using sheets of metal-which have been prepared in two of the margins thereofremote one from the other as )ust described according to this invention, for example in the manufacture of steel-pens in which it is known that the last and by far the most important operation performed by mechanical means is that of slitting, for the reason that the edges of the cutters used for this purpose are equal in delicacy to the cuttingedges of a razor, therefore any error in the feeding or in the exact location of the adapted or prepared sheet of metal would inevitably not only spoil one row of steel- .in each row thereof, such points and the said line must be parallel to the center line X-X and each said line on each row must be parallel to all the other lines extending through like points or faces on an other row of tongues in the margins of the said sheet of metal.

It will lbe obvious that a large variety of articles can be made from sheets of metal which have been adapted or prepared accordin to this invention and most of these require 4the same accuracy in the location and guiding of the said sheets on to the die-tools by which the said articles have to be produced as is required for the sheets of metal from which ,the steel pens hereinabove referred to are made.

I claim:

1. A sheet of metal having 'untrimmed edges and slitted adjacent said ed es to form guiding tongues bent out of the p ane of one ace of the' sheet,

formed being equally spacedap lel rows and serving as impelling the ends of the slots sov art in paralaces, the

said faces being in alignment on lines transverse to the rows.

2. A sheet of me edges and also having a plurality of aper` tures equally spaced apart and formed bent out of the plane of one. face .of

tongues 0 the sheet an d extending in the tal having untrimrned direction o the length `02E the sheet, said apertures having sheet impelling faces darranged in paralle lines adjacent to the edges of the sheet'.

' 3. A sheet of metal according to claim 2 wherein the ends of the tongues are pointed 15 and the points of the tongues of each row extend in the same direction and are aligned longitudinally of the sheet.

FRANK HUMPHRIS.