US1687759A - Insulator-knurling device - Google Patents

Description

1,687,759 M. F. H. GouvERNEuR INSULATOR KNURTJING DEVICE' Oct. 16, l1928. y

Filed Aug, 1e, 192? Patented Oct. 16, 1928.V

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MINOR F. GOUVERNEUR, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO LOCKE INSU- LATOP. CORPORATION, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A CORPORATION` LAND.

0F MARY- IN SULATOR-KNURLING c DEVICE.

Application led Augustrl, 1927. Serial No. 213,857.

The invention relates to means for knurling the Wall of the socket or recess in an insulator unit so as to vprovide means whereby the cement employed for'securing the unit to an adjacent one or to a pin, post or the like may have an etlicient grip which will resist torsional strains. Y

It is Well kno-Wn in the art that it is a common practice to provide or form the Wall of the socket or recess in an insulator with a series of horizontally' r extending alternating ridges and grooves, the term horizontal meaning that these ridges and grooves extend circumferentially or at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the unit. The .purpose of these ridges and grooves is to provide means With Which the cement may lock so that one unit will be held firmly to the next adjacent one or to an element such as a post or the like in such manner as to resist sepa ration by relative longitudinal movement. However, it is highly desirable that the construction be such that there will be adequate resistance to torsional strains.A It has been proposed to provide grooves extending longitudinally of the unit andv one method of accomplishing this has been to employ a knurl mounted on a suitable handle and operated manually by a workman, the knurl being pressed against the Wall ofthe recess or socket while the insulator unit is rotated, the knurl acting to provide grooves in one or more of the circumferential ridges. A disadvantage of such a method is that reliance 'is placed solely upon the skill of the Workman and the trueness or accuracy of his eye and judgment and it therefore follows that the units are not uniform as regards the location of the knurled band and the depth of the grooves.

lt is With the above facts in View that I have designed the present invention Which hasfor its object the provision of a machine ormech anical means by which the knurling may be eliected not only more quickly and easily than can be done by hand but also far more accuy rately so that variations in individual units will not occur.

An important object of the invention is to provide a knurling or grooving device adapt-- ed to be directly associatedwith the mecha- 'nism for forming the recess Wall with the alternating circumferential ridges and grooves so that the circumferential grooving or ridgvvide a machine of this character so constructed that the movement of the knurling 'element with respect to the Wall of the recess is limited, thereby limiting the depth of the grooves formed.

' Another object of the invention is to provide a device of this nature which is adjustable in so far as the position of the knurl `With respect to the top or bottom of the recess is concerned, so as to make it certain that the knurl will engage upon one of the circumferential ridges, this featurealso making it possible to position the knurl in such manner that it may be caused tofcontact with two of the ridges' as might bef'found advisable in the case of very large units compelled to wit-hstand severe torsional strains.

Another object is to provide a device of this character which may be built right onto the circumferential Vgroove and ridge cutter though operating independently thereof, theY combining of the twordevices in a unitary structure reducing the cost of the equipment necessary to finish the insulator rin this respect. f

An additional object is to provide a device of this character which will be simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use, posi- `tive in action, efficient and durable in service,

looking at it kfrom the right hand side of ig ure l.

rReferring more particularly-to the draw-f' ing, the numeral l designates an insulator unit or shell which, in ordinary practice, may

or may not be mounted rWithin a holder but lwhich is carried by a rotatable platform, the

holder and platform not being shown as they are old and ywell known and form no part of the present invention. The exact type of shell or unit is immaterial though it is of course of the variety having a recess 2 therein adapted to receive the projection or stem portion onx an adjacent unit or to ,receive a supporting post or the like. The platform above referred to and not illustrated forms part of a circumferential ridge and groove lxmtting machine, certain portions of which are illustrated .for the purpose of explaining the mounting and use of the device rforming the subject matter of this application. `Such Y a machine includes a frame 3, only a small portion of which isl illustrated, which frame has. superposed hearings i thereon through which is` slidable a shaftr preferably provided at-its upper end with a spring device G tending to draw it upwardly. However, the mounting yof this spring device is not illustrated as it is nonwessential. At its lower end the shaft- 5 has swivelled thereon a disk-like pad? adapted to seat upon the bottom of the recess 2 of the insulator unit and of .course to rotateas the insulator is rotated. By swivelling the pad upon-the shaft the former mayrotate with the insulator while the latter remains stationary with respect thereto.

While it is conceivable that my knurling device may be built. .and mounted upon the shaft 5 by itself, it ispreferable that it be combined with a ridge and groove cutter, this arrangement being of manifest convenience. I have therefore disclosed the two devices as having a common mounting here represented as including `a block-like member v8 mounted between side plates 9 suitably ses curedthereto, as forv instance by means of the screws 10, the block member having a bore 11 therethrough for the passage of the shaft 5. The block member' with the side plates thereon may be mounted inany desired adjusted position along the shaft 5 and may be so held as by the set screw 12 for a reason to be described. The circmnferential ridge andl groove cutting-y device `is represented as includ-ino' a shank 13 havinor a reduced stem portion 14 journaled through the block member 8 and equipped; thereabove with a handle 15 whereby thel shank may be rocked back and forthl to a desired extent.

At itsl lower end the shank 13 carries a blocklike support 16' to which is secured vin any suitable manner, as by screws 1 7, the cutter 18 which in actualY practice may be simply a thin strip of metal bent into a serratedfform so that` it` will becapable of cutting alternat-A ing ridges and grooves 19 and 20 in the wall of y the recess The rotatability of the shankA 13' permits the cutter 18 .to be. swung intoA or out: of engagement with the wall .of the recess. as; will be readily aerei-ent.

The essential feature of the present invention lies in the provision of means for knurling one or more of the ridges 19 formed by the cutter 18, and in carrying this out I have shown a block-like member 21 pivoted at 22 between the side plates 9 so as to be capable of vertical swinging movement. This bloclc like Vmember is preferably formed with a threaded socket 23 within which is screwed the threaded end 2i of ya stub shaft 25 having a reduced end portion 26 on which is journaled a knul-l wheel 27 held in place in any suitable manner as for instance by means of a retaining washer-28 andl screw 29. A lock nut 30 is preferably provided on the threaded end 24; to am against the lower face of the block-likey member 21'for the purpose of posi; tively securing the stub shaft 25 against rotation after it has been adjusted to extend tothe desired degree beyond the'block inember. Adjustment of the stub shaft 25 to bring the knurl wheel 27 into proper relation tothe ridge or ridges 19 to be cut consists in screwing the stubshaft into or out of the socket 23 /to bring the knurl in the proper position, and the lock nut is of colarse tightened when such position is ascertained.

' A suitable handle 31 projects laterally from the block member 8, and a suitable handle 32, here shown as of angular shape, is secured to the block member 21 in such position that it extends adjacent but in slightly spaced relation to thehandle 31. vResilient means such as the leaf spring 3.3 is preferably interposed between the handles 31 and 32 for the purpose of normally urging the block member 21 and shaft l25 toward the shaft 5 so that Y theknurl will bel out 4of engagement ywith the insulator. It is generally customary to provide a spring .of the same or av different nature in `association with the circumferential groove and ridge cutting device for the purpose of normally holding the cutter thereof out `of engagement with the insulator unit but this lastnamedV feature is not illustrated as itis of noV importance in the present instance.

In the operation, the insulator either .alone or within a forn i,not shown, is placed upon the rotatable platform, likewise not shown, and the shaft 5 is moved downwardly, as for instance my pressing upon the handle 31, to bring the-pad 7 into engagement with the botn tom wall `of the recess general type the insulator holdin-g form is of course properly centered upon the plat-forni so that the axis of the unit 1 will coincide with that of, the .shaft 5.. After the shaft 5 has been thus moved downwardly into proper ln machines of this position, the operator gras-psy the handle 15 sumed that the necessary adjustments have previously been made in regard to the'knurl 27 so that it will be in the proper position with respect to the grooves formed by the cutter 18. After the circumferential alternating ridges and grooves have been cut the handle 15 is turned or permitted to turn into such positionthat the cutter' 18 will be withdrawn from engagementv with the unit. The operator then simply grasps the handles 31 and 32 and squeezes them together against the resist ance of the spring 33. When this is done the block member 21 carrying the stub shaft 25 will be swung downwardly and outwardly away from the shaft 5, the knurl 27 then coming into engagement with yone or more of the ridges 19 so that as the insulator is rotated .a knurled band, or band consisting of a series of longitudinal grooves, will be formed. In view of the fact that the handle member 32 has a very limited movement with respect to the handle 31, it is apparent that the depth of the knurled grooves will be limited and will be or at least should be uniform in all the units worked on by this machine. After the knurling has been effected the operator simply releases his grip upon the handles 31 and 32 so that thev spring 33 may swingl theknurl into inoperative position. The shaft 5 is then permitted to move upwardly to bring the entire mechanism Y above the top of the insulator, and thelatter is removed from the supporting platform. It is of course immaterial Whether or not the insulator is mounted directly upon the platform or is maintained within a holder. Generally, at least in the case of insulators of comparatively small size, a holder may be unnecessary butin case of very large sizes wherethere might be more or less danger of the outstanding skirt sagging or warping, a holder would be advisable. However, this is immaterial one way or the other.

From the foregoing description and a study of the .drawing itwill be apparent that I have thus provided a simply constructed and very easily operated machine which will effeet a great saving of time and labor in the manufacture of insulators. Furthermore the work will be more accurate as there is no dependence placed upon the eye or judgment ofan operator, the dill'erent movements heilig positively limited so that all units made by the mechanism should be uniform. It is believed that the construction, operation and advantages will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art without further explanation.

l/Vhile I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be understood that lthe disclosure is merely an exemplification of the principles involved as the right is reserved to make all such changes in the details of construction as will widen the field of utility and increase theI adaptability of the device provided such 'changes constitute no departure from the spirit of the invention or thescope ofthe claims'hereunto appended.

. Having thusl described claim:

1. In a machine for working upon' an insulator unit having a recess therein, the combination of means disposable Within'fthe recess and operable to cut alternatingridges and grooves in the wall thereof when they insulator is rotated, and means adjacent said. means for knurling certain of the ridges.

2. In a machine wfor working upon an in-v sulator `unit having a recess therein, the combination of means disposable within the recess and operable to cut alternating ridges and grooves in the wall thereof when the insulator is rotated, means adjacent said'means for knurling certain of the ridges, and a common support for both kof said means, the first 'and second named means being operated succes sively. Y

3. In a machine for working upon an insulator unit having a recess therein, the combination of a support, avrockable elementcarried thereby and carrying a cutter adapted to be' brought into engagement with the wall of the recess to form alternating ridges and grooves circumferentially thereof, a supporting-element pivoted to saidv support and-carrying a knurl, and means for moving said pivoted supporting element to bring the knurl into engagement with one or more of the ridges.

4. In a machine of the character described for working upon an insulator unit having a the VVinvention,

recess therein, the unit being rotated, cornprising a supporting member adapted to be engaged Within the recess, a horizontally swingable cutter carried by the support engageable with the wall of the recess for forming alternating circumferential ridges and grooves, and a vertically swingable member carried by the support and equipped with a Vknurl engageable with certain of the ridges for Vforming grooves therein transversely thereof. y

5. In a machine of the character described for working upon an insulator unit having a recess therein, the unit being rotated, comprising a supporting member adapted to be engaged within the recess, a horizontally swingable cutter carried by the support engageable withy the wall of the recess for forming alternating circumferential ridges and grooves, a vertically swingable Amember carried by the support and equipped with a knurl engageable with certain of the ridges for forming grooves therein transversely thereof, and spring means normally holding Y the knurl in inoperative position.

6. In a device of the character described, a support adapted to be inserted within a recess in an insulator unit, the unit being adapt,- ed to rotate, means carried by the support for cutting y circumferential alternating ridges and grooves inthe Wall of the recess, and successively operable means carried by the support for forming a series of grooves trans-vversely of one or more oi the ridges.

7 In a machine for Working upon an insulator having a recess therein, the insulator being adapted to be supported and rotated, a supportadapted to be engaged Within the recess and .to remain stationary While the linsulator is rotated, means carried by the support for forming alternating ridges and l grooves circumijerentially of the Wall ot the recess, a vertically sivingable member carried by the support, a stub shatt carried by said pivoted member, almurl journaled on said stub shaft, and .handle members carried by the first named support and the pivoted support for swinging the latter to bring the knurl into engagement with one or more of the ridges.

8. In a machine for Working upon an insulator having a recess therein, the insulator being adapted to be supported and rotated, a support adapted tol be engaged Within the recess and to remain stationary While the insulator is rotated, means carried by the. support for forming alternating ridges and grooves circumferentially of the wall of the recess, a vertically swingable member carried by they support, a stub lshaft carried by said pivoted member, a lznurl journaled on said stub shaft, and handle members carried bythe first named'support and the pivoted support for swinging the latter to bringthe knurl into engagementl with one or more of the ridges, and means for adjusting thedegree of exten: sion of the stub shaft with respect to the pivoted support.

9. In a machine for Working upon an insulator unithaving a recess therein, supporting means disposable Within the'recess, all@ means carriedby said means andoperableto form a lrnurled area in the recess Wall. v

l0. In a machine for Working uponY an insulator unit having a recess therein with the Wall of the recess formed with a ridge, the

combination ot means disposable Within the recess, and means' carried by said meansv and `iovable into engagement with the ridge for knurling the salme. t

1l. In a machine y sulator unit having a recess therein, the combi.- nation of supportingr means disposable Within the recess, a member movablymounted upon said supporting means, a knurl carried by for Working upon an in.-v

said member, said movable member being shi'ftable to bring the knurl into engagement with the recess Wall. p

In testimony whereof I aliX mysignature.

MINOR f r. eouvnuunue.

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