US2185298A - Safety guard for die presses - Google Patents

Description

E. H. HALL.

k 3/ as 3 .HAHW

SAFETY GUARD FOR DIE PRESSES Filed Nov. 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l r; fiigul H 45 Jan, 2, 1mm

E. H. HALL 2,185,298

SAFETY GUARD FOR DIE PRESSES Filed Nov. 12, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i IIIIHHT I "Wuh- Patented Jan. 2, 1940 UNITED STATES earner orrlce SAFETY GUARD FOR DIE PaEssEs Edward H. Hall. Chicago, Ill.

Application November 12, 1938, Serial No. 240,140

9 Claims.

. The safety guard of the present invention is designed to prevent the operator of a die press or like appliance from inserting his hand or fingers beneath the working parts of the die press after they have begun to move and which .might result in serious injury to the operator. It sometimes happens that an operator, in an effort to readjust a piece of material beneath the die press, will insert his hand or fingers and run the risk of having the same caught and crushed, and it is to prevent such accidents that the safety guard device of the present invention is provided.

The structure and arrangement of the device is one which elevates and folds up the guard blades. when the die head is raised, so that the space required for the introduction of the work will not be obstructed in any way, with the provision, however, that as the die head descends the guard member will be thrust downwardly and its blades spread out fanwise in such a way as to afford an effective obstruction to the hands of the operator.

Further objects and details will appear from the description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure l is a side elevation of the guard device of the present invention arranged in duplicate; Fig. 2 is a detail of one of the guard devices with the blades spread;

. Fig. 3 is an edge elevation of the same;

Fig. l is an enlarged sectional detail taken on line l-d of Fig. 2; i

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail showing with any device or appliance embodying similarly arranged reciprocating parts where it is desired to make provision for preventing the introduction of the operators hand as the parts approach one another.

As shown, each of the guard devices embodies a channel shaped supporting arm it having inner and outer side Walls M which carry a pintle l5 upon which are pivotally mounted. a series of blades iii,- ll, it, it, although a more or less number of blades may be employed.

Each of the blades in its forward face and surrounding the pintle I5 is provided with .an annular groove Within which are located the convolutions of a coil spring 2i. The coil spring associated with the outermost blade iii has one end secured to a pin 22 fixedly entered into the outer wall of the supporting arm, while the op posite end of the coil spring is secured to a pin 23 which enters the head of the blade. The remaining springs have one end secured in each instance to a pin 2% fixedly entered into the next adjacent outer blade, and the opposite end of the spring secured to a pin 25 fixedly carried by the blade with which the spring is immediately associated. The result of this arrangement is that the normal tendency of the springs in unison is to spread the blades fanwise as shown in Fig. 2, provision being made, however, for the folding of the blades as indicatedin Fig. 1. i

The head of each blade is provided with an elongated slot 255, and the length of the respective slots is progressively increased as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5. A cross pin El is entered through all of the slots and is supported within the side walls of the arm it as best shown in Figs. 5 and 6. This arrangement permits the spreading of the respective blades in varying degree, but permits them all to be folded into a compact compass against the tension of the coil springs.

Each of the supporting arms it, where a duplicate arrangement is employed, terminatesat its inner end in a tubular head 23 fixedly mounted upon a rod 29, whichin turn is carried by and downwardly projects from a tubular support 39 slidably guided at its upper end through a swiveling collar 3i which is carried by a pivot 32 entered through an offset bracket 33 upstanding from a bridge bar 34 which spans the space between the upright standards it and affords a fixed mounting for the guard of the present invention.

The arrangement is one which permits the guard as a whole to rise and fall with the movable head of the diepress and to sweep across the gap between the fixed and movable portions of the die press by an oscillating movement in a manner to be more fully described hereafter.

In order to effectuate the oscillatory movements required, the tubular support 3i is provided near its center with a collar 35 frictionally held in place by a set screw 36 bearing against a spring. 31, which in turn acts upon a friction block 38, the arrangement being such as to permit of a slight degree of lost motion which may be required in coordinating the movements of the device presently to be described.

The collar pivots the outer end of a crank 39 actuated by a rack ll; pivotally connected to a post ll carried by the die head, so that, as the latter rises and falls, movements will be imparted to the rack ll) which meshes with a pinion d2 fixedly connected to the crank 39. v

The bracket 33 at its upper end carries a stop 83 which is positioned to be engaged by the upper end of the tubular support 30 when it has been oscillated to its outermost position as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and in order to fold up the blades when the guard device has been swung to its innermost position, a stop member 44 is provided which is fixed upon and movable with the head of the die press.

Operation Although the guard device of the present invention has been shown in duplicate, it will be understood of course that a single device may be employed where conditions do not require the extended protection afforded by duplicate devices, and that the operations now to be described relate to a single member of the duplicate arrangement.

With the head of the die press elevated as in Fig, l, the support for the guard will stand in oblique relation with the blades folded and bearing against the stop M and elevated relation with respect to'the under face of the die or punch head, or other mechanism with which the device is associated. This elevated position of the guard is due to the fact that in this adjustment of the parts the crank 38 projects inwardly and up-- wardly as indicated in 1, being held in this position by the meshing of the rack 8 with the pinion 12.

As the head of the die press descendsjthe rack will likewise descend and oscillate the crank arm, which imparts an oscillatory movement to the guard support, causing it to swing downwardly and outwardly. This outward movement carries the previously folded blades away from the stop 44, so that will open' out fanwise under the tension of the coil springs, and these movements will continue until the guard has swept across the face of the punch press from the innermost position shown in Fig. 1 to the outermost position shown in 2. This sweeping movement of the parts, together with the spreading out or opening of the blades, serves to effectually prevent the insertion of the operators hand or fingers, and in the event such insertion be attempted, the combined swinging and spreading movements of the guard will carry back thehand or fingers of the operator from a dangerous positicn and effectually guard against accidents.

On the return movement of the parts, the upper end of the guard support will come into contact with the upper stop 33, and in order to avoid the necessity for a close coordination of movements, the frictional connection between the crank and the tubular support afforded by the spring pressed friction block 38 is provided, which permits slippage if occasion requires.

Although the device hasbeen described. with particularity as to detail, it will be understood that variations may be introduced to meetspecial or particular requirements conditioning the use of the device, and that it is not the intention, unless otherwise indicated in the claims, to limit the invention to the features in the form shown and described.

I claim:

1. In a guard device for machines embodying a movable member in the nature of a die head, a plurality of blades and a mounting for the blades adapting the same to be folded or distended, means controlled by the movements of the movable member for oscillating the blades as a group, and means for distending the blades concurrently with the advance of the movable member.

2. In a guard device, for machines embodying a movable member in the nature of a die head, a plurality of pivotally mounted blades and spring means for normally distending the blades fanwise, a pivotally mounted supporting member for the blades, means actuated upon the movements of the movable member for oscillating the pivotally mounted supporting member to cause the blades as a group to oscillate, and a stop member for holding the blades in folded relation at one end of the range of oscillatory movement, the arrangement permitting the blades to distend under spring tension. as the group of blades is carried away from said stop member.

3. In a guard device for machines embodying a movable member in the nature of a die head, a plurality of blades and a common pivotal mounting for said blades, a spring connecting one of said blades with said mounting and springs interconnecting the remaining adjacent blades in succession with the first mentioned blade and with one another to normally cause a spreading of the blades fanwise, a stop member for holding the blades in folded relation and under spring tension, and means actuated upon the movements of the movable member for oscillating the blades as a group away from said stop member and permitting unfolding of the blades.

4. In a guard device for machines embodying a movable member in the nature of a die head, a

plurality of blades and a common pivotal mounting for said blades, a spring connecting one of said blades with said mounting and springs interconnecting the remaining adjacent blades in succession with the first mentioned blade and with one another to normally cause a spreading of the blades fanwise, a stop member for holding the blades in folded relation and under spring ten-. sion, and means actuated upon the movements of the movable member for oscillating the blades as a group away from said stop member and permitting unfolding of the blades, said means including a crank having its free end pivotally connected to the support for the blades, and connections for actuating said crank.

5. In a guard device for machines embodying a movable member in the nature of a die head, a plurality of blades and a common pivotal mounting forv said blades, a spring connecting one of said blades with said mounting and springs interconnecting the remaining adjacent blades in succession with the first mentioned blade and with one another to normally cause a spreading of the blades fanwise, a stop member for holding the blades in folded relation and under spring tension, and means actuated upon the movements of the movable member for oscillating the blades as a group away from said stop member and permitting unfolding of the blades, said means including a crank having its free end pivotally connected to the support for the blades, a pinion connected with the crank, and a rackconnected and movable with the movable member and meshing with the pinion.

6. In a guarddevice for machines embodying a movable member in the nature of a die head, a.

plurality of blades and a supporting arm to which the upper ends of the blades are pivoted, spring and stop means for distending the blades in varying degree, a stop member positioned to be contacted by the blades to hold the same in folded relation, a pivotally mounted swinging support for the supporting arm, and means actuated upon the movements of the movable member for oscillating the swinging support to retract the blades from the stop and permit unfolding of the blades.

'7. In a guard device for machines embodying a movable member in the nature of a die head, a plurality of blades and a supporting arm carrying a pintle upon which the upper ends of the blades are pivotally mounted, the blades being respectively provided with slots of varying length, a pin carried by the supporting arm and entered through said slots for permitting varying degrees of movement to the respective blades, spring means for normally distending the respective blades to their limits of movement, a stop positioned to be contacted by the blades for holding the same in folded relation, and means for moving the blades as a group away from said stop to permit fanwise unfolding of the same.

8. In a guard device for machines embodying a movable member in the nature of a die head, a plurality of blades and a supporting arm carrying a pintle upon which the upper ends of the blades are pivotally mounted, the blades being respectively provided with slots of varying length, a pin carried by the supporting arm and entered through said slots for permitting varying degrees of movement to the respective blades, spring means for normally distending the respective blades, to their limits of movement, a stop positioned to be contacted by the blades for holding the same in folded relation, and means for oscillating the blades as a group across the face of the movable member and away from the stop to permit unfolding of the blades individually concurrently with their oscillatory movements as a group.

9. In a guard device for machines embodying a movable member in the nature of a die head, a plurality of blades and a supporting arm carrying a pintle upon which the upper ends of the blades are pivotally mounted, the blades being respectively provided with slots of varying length, a pin carried by the supporting arm and entered through said slots for permitting varying degrees of movement to the respective blades, spring means for normally distending the respective blades to their limits of movement, a stop positioned to be contacted by the blades for holding the same in folded relation, and means for oscillating the blades as a group across the face of the movable member and away from the stop to permit unfolding of the blades individually concurrently with their oscillatory movements as a group, said means including rack and pinion elements actuated upon the movements of the movable member, and means connected therewith for afiording oscillatory movements to the supporting arm.

E WA D H. HALL.

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