US1794469A

US1794469A - Safety guard for machines

Info

Publication number: US1794469A
Authority: US
Inventors: Michael J Mcintyre
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1928-08-04
Filing date: 1928-08-04
Publication date: 1931-03-03
Anticipated expiration: 1948-03-03

Description

' March 3, 193.1.

M. J. M INTYRE SAFETY GUARD 7 FOR MACHINES Filed Aug. 4. 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l INvENToR;

WH'NESSES,

March 3, 1931. M. J. M INTYRE SAFETY GUARD FOR MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 4. 1928 H Y m :L s Sv E h f N T W March 3, 1931. M J, MclNTYRE 1,794,469

, SAFETY GUARD FOR MACHINES Filed Aii 192a s Sheets-Sheet 3 will of the operator.

- 25 tween the dies as the guard then sweeps is when said part of said means is unlocked to Patented Mar. 3, 1931 R Q D TES ENT OFFICE 1 MICHAEL J; MCINTYRE, or EDEN CENTER, NEW YORK I vApplication filed August 4, 1928. Serial No. 297,420.

This invention relates to improvements in is adjustable to accommodate diilerent sizes safety guards for machines, and particuand makes of machines and different worlc larly to machines which are fed by hand and ing conditions. I caused to be operated intermittently at the Third, to provide a guard for machines of the class described having a movable portion 55 Safety guards as made at present are to sweep an operators hand from the danger principally of two-types, those of astationary zone and stationary portions to prevent said and permanent character which surround the operators hand reaching said danger zone stationary and movable die so that an operaoutside of the sweep of said movable portion.

tors hand or fingers cannot be inserted be- Fourth, to provide a guard for machines 60 tween'them but allow ofthe insertion of a of the class described having a movable porsheet "of metal through or beneath said guard, 'tion to sweep an operato'rs handfrom the and those'of a'movable character which sweep danger Zone and geared to the movable die theoperatofls: hand away from the danger head to give an increased movement and zone when the movable die starts. to approach speed over said die head movement and '65 the stationary die; I 1 speed. i

The stationary type of guard gives com- Fifth, to provide a guard for machinesof plete protection to the operator so he has no the class described having a movable portion chance to get injured by inadvertently into sweep an operators hand ifrom thedanger sertingany portion of his hand'between the zone and means to prevent said operators 70 dies when they are coming together. The hand reaching said danger zone outside of common movable type of guard gives prothe sweep ofsaid movable portion, one part tection when the operator places his hand in of aid mean bei l k d til th v bl front of it to insert a piece of material bedi starts to approach the stationary die hand away as soon as theinovable die starts ll w val of op rators hand from the to approach the stationary die. But it. does d n 7 not give complete protection as the operator With these objects in view, the invention 0311 lllSQlt his hand back Of the ghlald 0i' onsists ertain features of novglty in the around it outside of its sweep-1 construction, combination and arrangement 80 v. Operators are instructed in the proper way of t b hi h th id bj t d to operate a machine so the guard will protain oth r obj ctswhi h ill h i aft rtect t m and P astlck to P w y appear are attained, the invention being more from the d163, but whenythey are particularly pointed out in the claims. I mgljlece workthey t endless and try to, My guard devicethen combines stationary 85 {Wold the e Whlch thls type they can and movable guard means consisting of a i lie iq e e stationary fixed portion, a swinging movable 4 and forining presses or other machines which ppsltlon reclprocatmg combinethe advantages of the stationary and movabletypes by enclosing the danger zone I ed gs acceelpaeymg and form andproviding suitable opening for; the mg P p 9 thls p r operator, said openingprotected by amovablc lg 1 1S a f m elevwonrof F p portion to sweep his hand away when the of a Punch p q lpp wi my lmprqved' 95 movable die starts to approach the stationg thePunch Pregs b shown ly ary die. n v i I V I, in conventional form with the movable d e Second, to providea guard for machines of head in its upper position and the guard 1n the class described which is adapted to be itsopen position. e c mounted thereon as'an attachment-andwhich 2 is a side elevation of a portion of 10a ventlon.

' of said guide in 2.

a punch press showing one side elevation of my improved guard.

Fig. 3 is a top view or plan of my improved guardattached to the punch press, a portion of said press being in section on line 33 of Fig. 1 and a portion of the stationary guard in section on line 3 of Fig. 1. The front of said guard is in its closed position.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of my improved guard mounted and showing a portion of a punch press with its movable die head and die in its lower position and the front of said guard in its correspondingclosed position.

Fig. is a partial section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2 to show a modification of locking means for the swing guard. Figs. 1 and 2 show the press and guard in the so-called open position ready to receive a piece of material and Figs. 3 and 4 show the press and guard in its so-called closed position when the dies are together after having acted upon a piece of material.

v Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a punch pressgenerally in conventional form and having a bed 2 on which a stationary or lower die 3 is mounted in the usual manner. 4 is an upper die which acts in conjunction with lower die 3 to punch or form a piece of material. Upper die 4 is mounted in the reciprocating die head 5 which latter acts to move the former toward and away from stationary die 3. 6 is a connecting rod to actuate the die head 5 from the crankshaft 7.

The punch press has the usual trip (not shown) to be pressed by the operators foot when a piece of material is in place on the lower die. The upper die then starting from its upper position shown in Fig. 1 descends ta its dotted position a distance represented by 51, which is thesame lower position shown in Fig. 4, and'returns to the upper position when it again comes to rest. This operation is repeated for each piece of material inserted between the dies but as the punch press is a conventional type further description'of its operating mechanism is deemed unnecessary as it forms no part of my in- 9 isa guide having slots 10 for fastening to the front edge of bed 2 and having a groove 11 shaped like an inverted T (Fig.2) to form a way in which the foot'12 of'the movable guard 8 is reciprocated. .13 is a stripfastened to the' top of guide 9'-to'form one portion of the way and as a convenient means of easily finishing said way 11'. A portion of the guide 9 projects over and rests on the top of bed'2 shown in'the end view at one endof, and as a portion of guide 9 is a vertical lug 14 which forms a supportv for the shaft 1'5'. A

' lever 16 isformed integral-with the shaft on one of its ends and integral with a pin 17 on its other end.

The reciprocating guard 8 has a boss 18 with three holes 19 to operatively connect it with the lever 16 by means of the link 20. The link 20 has a boss 21 on one of its ends with a suitable hole in which the pin 17 partly rotates and a pin 22 011 its other end which partly rotates in one of the holes 19. The said holes 19 are for the purpose of adjusting the travel of the guard 8 and for different sized machines. At the rear of lug 14 is a pinion 23 fastened on the end of shaft 15 by means of a screw 24 which also acts as a key to drive said shaft 15.

Fastened to the front of the die head 5 is a horizontal arm 25 on one end of which is fastened a rack 26 by means of a bolt 27 passing through a slot 28 in rack 26. Slot 28 is for adjusting the position of said rack 26 on said

arm

25 and 23 is wider than 26 for adjustment and wear.

. F astened to the left side of the machine 1 (Fig. '1) is a vertical bracket 29 slotted for vertical adjustment, and having a foot 30 with a vertical pivot pin 31 on which is mounted a guard 32 adapted to swing on said pin 31. An adjustable stop screw 33 in the swing guard 32 abutting against vertical bracket 29 determines the closed position of said swing guard 32 and a spring 34 yieldingly holds said swing guard in its closed position. Y

35 is a rod adjustably fastened on the end of arm 25 and passing through a rectangular opening 36 in the swing guard 32. Slightly above said opening 36 is a block 37 on the outside of swing guard 32 for limiting the upward adjustment of a pin 38 in the rod 35. 38 isa pin vertically adjustable through said rod 35 and adapted to project above the upper edge of said opening 36 a distance 47 to lock said swing guard in its closed position. 011 the inside of swing guard 32 is a block 39 having an inclined lower surface as shown for the purpose of raising said swing guard 32 to allow pin 38 to pass through opening 36 in case the die head 5 and with it the arm 25 returns to its upper position before said guard 32 has swung closed.

On the right side of machine 1 (Fig. 1) and opposite to the swing guard 32 is a stationary guard 40 having a vertical portion fastened to the lug 14 by screws 41 and a horizontal portion fastened to the frame of the machine 1 by screws 42. In Fig. 3 the upper portion of guard 40 is cut away on the section line 3 of Fig. 4 but its shape is shown in dotted lines. The stationary guard 40 is to prevent an operator from reaching around to the right and back of the reciprocating guard 8 or over the top of it into the danger zone. The swing guard 32 is to prevent an operator from reaching around to the left outside of the travel of the reciprocating front guard. and into the danger zone. On machines where there is not sufficient space between the guard 8 and the front of the machine 1 for an operators hand, the horizontal part of guard 40 can be omitted. 1

The front vertical edge of guard 8 has an enlarged circular section 43 to accommodate a split piece of rubber hose 44 to act as a bumper to contact with the operators hand in sweeping it aside.

Fig. 1 shows the positions of the dies and guards when ready to receive a piece of material to be operated upon, The operator then places a piece of material on the lower die 3 andwithdraws his hand and trips the machine. As the die head 5 descends bringing the dies 4 and. 8 together it carries downward the arm 25 and its rack 26, rotating the pinion 23 and shaft 15 to reciprocate the guard 8 to the position 8 (Fig. l) by means of the lever 16 and link 20. In Fig. 1 when the guard 8 is at the forward end of its travel as indicated by 8 the lever 16 is in position 16" and link 20 in position 20, the pin 17 having described an are 46. In Fig. 4 this forwardposition of guard 8 is shown with the die 4 in its lower position. l'Vhen die head 5 returns from position Fig. 4 to position F ig.. 1 the direction of rotation of pinion 23 is reversed as rack 26 travels upward andthe guard 8 is returned to'position of Fig.1. As

soon as die head 5 has descended a distance 47 (which is the distance the top of pin '38 is adjusted above the 'top'edge ofrect-angular opening 36) the swing guard 32 is free to be s wung open. In case the operators hand is inithe danger zoneit is swept aside to the left by the closing of the reciprocating guard 8, and if his hand is swept far enough to the left to contactwith the swing guard 32, said swing guard 32 opens to a position represented by 32 (Fig; 3) and closed again under the action of spring 34. Referring to Fig. 1, 51 is the distance traveled by the die 4 and at the same time the bumper 44 moves to 44 a distance of 52, so that an operators hand is moved out of the danger zone at a greater speed than the movement of die 4. A longer movement 52 in proportion to. movement 51 and so a greater pro portionate speed can be accomplished by gearing up the connecting parts between the die 4 and the guard 8. 7

When operating the press 1 steadily and as rapidly as consistent with inserting pieces be tween the dies 3 and '4 the safety feature of this guard is to compel the operator to use only the opening into the danger zone which is protected by the reciprocating guard 8 and so prevent the operator from reaching around said guard 8 as a quick means of displacing a piece of scrap or for any other reason. 'The operator gets in the habit of inserting pieces ofmaterial and tripping the machine regularly and in trying to keep up this regularity he is liable to get injured if he can reach around a safety guard which sweeps across the front.

The operator can raise swing guard 32 to clear pin 38 and swing it out, if necessary, but in so doing he has stopped operations and is not so liable to be injured by inadvertently tripping the machine.

Adiiferent form. of lock is shown in Fig. 5 for said swing guard 32 consisting of a concealed spring catch 48 as a part of the rod 35 in place of the pin 38 when the swing guard 32jcan only be opened by loosening the set screw 49 which projects into the groove 50 on pivot pin 31 and then raising said guard 32 to clear said catch 48.

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

1. The combination with a machine having a stationary and a movable die, an actuated member to carry said movable die, a crankshaft and a connecting rod to operate said actuated member of a guard to sweep in front of the danger zone between said dies, means to operatively connect said actuated member and said front guard and means to guard the openings to the danger zonenotswept by said front guard, said latter guard means i-nclud ing a movable guard and a lock to hold said movable guard locked in its closed position only during therest period of said actuated member.

2. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuated member, a crank lI-i) 3. The combination 'with' a machine, in-

eluding a frame, an actuated member and movable means on said-machine to actuate said member, of aguide' mounted on the front of said machine for horizontal ad justment, a guard mounted in said guide and adapted to be reciprocated in frontfof said actuated meinbenmeans to operatively connect said guard and'said' movable means'on said machine to reciprocate said guard, a

fixed guard at one side of said actuated member, a movable guard at the other side of said actuated member and movable only during the reciprocation of said front guard and a bracket mounted on said machine for vertical adjustment to support said swing guard.

4. The combination with a machine, including a frame, "an actuated member and movable means on said machine to actuate said member, of'a guard to reciprocate in front of said actuated member, means to operatively connect said guard and said movable means on said machine to reciprocate said guard, a swing guard at one side of said actuated member, a spring to move and yieldingly hold said swing guard in a closed position and means to lock said swing guard in its closed position when said. actuated member is in its upper position and adapted to unlock said swing guard when said actuated member has started to descend.

5. The combination with a machine, including a. frame, an actuatedmember and movable means on said machine to actuate said member, of a guide mounted on said machine, a guard mounted and adapted to be positively reciprocated a fixed distance in i said guide, a boss on said guard with holes for adjustment of the travel of said guard and means to operatively connect said actuated member and said guard, said means including respectively a rack and a meshing pinion, a lever fastened to said piniomand a link connected between said lever and said guard, said rack and pinion having different widths of face for adustment and wear.

46'. The combination with a. machine, including a frame, an actuated member and means to actuate said member, of guard means to effectively enclose the danger zone to said actuated member, said guard means including a fixed guard atone side of said danger zone, a fixed guard above said danger zone, a movable guard adapted to pass in front of said danger zone and a side movable guard oppositesaid fixed side guard, means to operatively connect said movable front guard and said actuated member andlocking means connected to. said actuated member to lock said side movable guard during the rest period of said actuated member and release said side movable guard by the movement of said actuated member.

7. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuated member, means on said machine to actuate said member, of a guard adapted to be reciprocated in front of said actuated member, means to operatively connect said reciprocating guard and said actuated member, a swing guard at one side of said actuated member and an arm connected to said actuated member having means to lock said swing guard in its closed position and unlock said swing guard by the movement of said actuated member.

8. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuated member and means to actuate. said member, of guard means. to prevent the insertion of an operators hand to the danger zone to said actuated member except for a single front opening during the rest period of said actuated member, said guard means including a movable guard to sweep in front of and close, said single opening to said danger zone and said guard means including guards between the sides of said movable guard and saidinachine/land between the top of said movable guard and said machine, and locking means for one of said sideguards adapted to release said side guard during the movement of said actuated member.

9. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuated member and means to actuate said member, of a guide mounted on said machine for horizontal adjustment, a guard mounted in said guide, means to operatively connect said guard and said actuated member to reciprocate said guard in said guide, said operative means adapted for adjustment betweensaid guard and said member, means on said guard to connect said operative means for adjustment of the travel of said guard, a fixed guard at one sideof said actuated member, a swing guard at the other side of said actuated memher, a lock to fasten said swing guard in its closed position only during the rest period of said actuated member and a bracket having a vertical adjustment to support said swing guard. r I

10. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuated member, a die carried by said member and means to actuate said member, of guards at both sides and above to enclose said die and leave only a single opening for the operator, a movable guard adapted to sweep in front of said open ing during the movement of said die, geared means to operatively connect said movable guard and said actuated member, and locking means to fasten one of said side guards during the rest period of said actuated member and release it during the movement of said actuated member to allow for the removal of an operators hand.

.In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my MICHAEL J. MGINTYRE.