US2291034A - Hardening means for gears and the like - Google Patents

Description

July 28, 1942. G. o. GRIDLEY HARDENING MEANS FOR GEARS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 10, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEYS y p 1942- G. o. GRIDLEY HARDENING MEANS FOR GEARS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 10, 1940 2 Sheets-Shae). 2

INVENTOR GEO/Q65 0. GlQ/DLEY ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 28, 1942 HARDENING MEANS FOR areas AND THE LIKE George 0. Gridley, Berlin, Conn, assignor to The New Britain Machine Company, New Britain, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application January 10, 1940, Serial No. 313,22?

8 Claims.

My invention relates to hardening means for gears and the like.

In treating gears and the like to render the peripheral portions wear resistant, it is desirable to quickly heat only the peripheral portions and then quench the same so as to harden the article at the peripheral portion. By heating only the periphery the liability of distortion of the entire gear during heating or quenching is reduced to a minimum.

It is the general object of the invention to provide an improved, simple, rapid and effective means for hardening gears and the like.

Other objects will be hereinafter pointed out or will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

Briefly stated, in a preferred form of the invention a gear or the like, the teeth or peripheral portion of which is to be hardened, and a heating means for the periphery of the gear are rotated relatively to each other so as to uniformly heat the parts of the gear which are to be hardened. The heated gear is then promptly quenched. The gear itself is preferably rotated and before quenching (in one form of the invention) the heating means and gear are separated from each other and the gear moved to such position that when it is stripped from its carrier it is dropped into a quenching tank flatwise so as to quench the heated portions of the gear quickly a:

by immersion of the entire gear.

In the drawings which show, for illustrative purposes only, a preferred form of the invention- Fig. 1 is a fragmentary top plan View of a machine illustrative of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation in partial section of the machine shown in Fig 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 2, illustrating certain parts in different relative positions;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in right hand elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 2.

In the preferred form of the invention illustrated, I provide a base 5 carrying an upright standard 6. Upon the standard is mounted a swinging or oscillating head designated generally l. The head 7 is rotatably mounted upon a shaft 8 extending preferably substantially in a horizontal direction so that the oscillating head L I may oscillate in a generally vertical plane. The head I carries a rotatable shaft 9 which is oscillatable with the head.

In the form illustrated, the head 1 has a cylindrical sleeve part Ill on the inside of which is reciprocably but non-rotatably mounted a quill or sleeve ll. Within the sleeve I I the shaft 9 is rotatably mounted but is prevented from substantial longitudinal motion therein as by means of a collar l2 on the shaft at one end of the sleeve and a shoulder flange or collar 13 at the opposite end abutting against the sleeve or a part generally carried thereby. At the rear the sleeve 10 may be provided with a suitable bearing !3' to journal the rear end of the shaft 9. The shaft is keyed as at is to a pulley l5, which in turn is driven as by means of a belt l5 from the pulley H. The pulley ll may be driven preferably from a motor !8 carried by the base. The motor may be connected as by a belt 15 or otherwise so as to drive a shaft 2t through the pulley 2 l. The shaft 29 is journaled in the standard boss 22 on an axis substantially coincident with the axis of the shaft 8 carrying the entire oscillating head I. The shaft 28 is connected as by means of bevel gears 23 to a shaft 24 carrying the pulley W. The shaft 2d is mounted in the oscillating head i on an axis parallel to the axis of the rotating shaft 9. Therefore, it will be seen that the motor it may drive the rotating shaft 9 regardless of the rotative position of the head I; that is to say, since the shafts B and 2! are preferably on coincident axes, the head i may be oscillated to any position, say, from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig, 3, without interrupting the rotative drive of the shaft 5.

The sleeve H reciprocably carried by the head I is provided with means to cause its reciprocation. In the form shown the sleeve carries a rack 25 and the head I has a gear housing 25 for the rack gear 21 rotatably mounted therein on a shaft 28 meshing with the rack 25. The rack gear Zi is rotatable by suitable means such as the handle 29 on the gear shaft 23. Thus with the parts as shown in Fig. 2 when the handle 2 is rotated in .a counterclockwise direction the rack gear 2'? will, through the rack 25, move the sleeve l and with the rotating shaft 9 toward the right. This movement of the shaft 9 does not interrupt the rotative drive to the latter since the shaft is keyed to the pulley it as heretofore noted.

The forward end, of the shaft 9 is arranged for detachably carrying a gear 39 or the like to be hardened. In the form shown, the shaft 9 is provided with a stump 3% which may be interchanged wi-th other similar stumps to fit gears having different bores. The gear 39 may be held on the shaft 9 in detachable fashion by various mechanical means, but I prefer to hold the gear thereon by magnetic means either of the permanent or electromagnetic type. In the form illustrated, I provide adjacent the gear an electromagnetic coil 32 concentric with and carried by the sleeve and acting when energized to urge the gear 30 toward the right and hold it in place on the stump 3|.

The gear 30 when held on the rotatable shaft 9 is heated by a suitable means. In the form shown, the base 5 carries a standard 33 having a ring holder 34, which ring holder may carry'a plurality of flame hardening heads 35 disposed in position and provided with the necessary flame jet openings for heating the desired peripheral portion of the gear 30. For simplicity, the necessary gas and oxygen conveyor pipes have been omitted. The heating means and gear are arranged for movement relatively to each other to separate the heating means and gear before quenching. In the illustrated form the gear is arranged to be withdrawn from the heating head.

The magnetic coil 32 is preferably energized and deenergized in an automatic manner. In the form illustrated showing an electromagnetic means, the two conductors 3'|-3|a are connected to a suitable source of current. The conductor 31 is connected to a terminal 39 which is electrically connected to a conducting arcuate strip 38 fixedly mounted on the standard 6 and concentric with the shaft 8 about which the head I is designed to oscillate. The conductor 36 comprising one lead to the coil 32 (the conductor 31a is the other coil lead) is connected to a terminal carried by the oscillatory head 1 and has a contact brush 4| in position to ride on the conducting strip 38 when the entire head is oscillated. The conducting strip 38 terminates at the point 42, so that, when the head I is oscillated to the position shown in Fig. 3, the contact brush 4| will have left the conducting strip 38 by riding onto the non-conductive piece Ma, and the electrical connection to the coil 32 will be broken. However, when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 2, the brush 4| will be riding on the conducting strip 38 and the circuit to the coil 32 will be made.

The operation of the device is as follows:

The handle 29 is first rotated in a counterclockwise direction to about the dot-dash line position shown in Fig. 2. This rotation of the crank will of course cause the sleeve H and with it the shaft 9 to be withdrawn toward the right to the dot-dash position shown in Fig. 2. When in that position the right hand end of the shaft 9 will project and in order to prevent injury to an operator I may provide a shaft guard 43 for the free end of the shaft. With the shaft 9 withdrawn to the right as indicated in Fig. 2, a gear blank may be fitted on the stump 3| and since the coil 32 will be energized, the blank will be magnetically held in place on the stump. After the gear is in place, the handle 29 is rotated in a clockwise direction to the full line position shown in Fig. 2, which rotation of the crank will project the gear 30 into the full line position of Fig. 2. With the flame heads 35 in operation and the motor |8 driving the shaft 9, the gear will be rotated and the peripheral portion thereof very rapidly heated to the desired temperature for gear hardening. When the gear is at the requisite temperature, the handle 29 is again rotated counterclockwise to the dot-dash line position and the gear will be retracted to its dotdash line position and the coil 32 will abut the head 1 and prevent further retraction of the shaft. Now, upon further counterclockwise rotation of the handle 29, the entire head I, and of course with it the gear 30, will be rotated about the axis of the shaft 8 until a substantially upright position is reached, as shown in Fig. 3. When that position is reached, the stop pin 44 carried by the head I will contact the stop or abutment 45 and prevent further rotation of the head. It will also be understood that rotation of the head in the opposite direction is limited by the stop pin 44 coming in contact with the abutment 46 also carried by the standard 6. When the head 1 reaches substantially the upright position as shown in Fig. 3, the contact brush 4| will leave the conducting strip 38 and the circuit to the holding coil will be broken and the gear 30 will drop from the stump 3| as illustrated in Fig. 3. The gear is then quickly quenched, preferably by positioning a quenching tank 41 directly beneath the position of the gear in Fig. 3. It is of course possible to slide or otherwise conduct the gear to the quenching tank, but I prefer to drop the gear directly into the tank while the gear is in a substantially horizontal plane so that the entire gear in dropping fiatwise into the quenching liquid will be quickly submerged and the heated portions hardened. When the gear has been dropped ofi into the quenching tank, the handle 29 may be released and the entire head 1 will return by gravity or by other means to the position shown in Fig. 2, but with the shaft 9 still retracted. A new gear to be hardened may then be put in place, the handle 29 again rotated clockwise to its full line position of Fig. 2 and the heating and quenching operations repeated.

By means of a machine embodying my invention, gears and the like may be very rapidly and expeditiously hardened. By providing a sufficient number of flame heads, the heating of the gear periphery is effected very rapidly. The withdrawal of the gear and movement of the same into position to be dropped into the quenching tank is also a rapid, simple operation. The entire machine is exceedingly simple and cheap to manufacture and there are no parts likely to get out of order.

While the invention has been described in considerable detail and preferred forms shown or described, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device of the character indicated, a shaft for holdin a gear to be hardened, means for heating the periphery of the gear while the latter is positioned on said shaft, means for rotating said gear, and means for moving said heating mean and gear relatively to each other in a direction substantially longitudinally of said shaft to remove the gear from the zone of said heating means, and swinging said shaft and gear about an axis at an angle to said shaft to position said shaft in a generally vertical position, and means for releasing said gear from said shaft, whereby said gear may slide off of said shaft when the latter reache a generally vertical position.

2. In a device of the character indicated, a base member, a head member mounted for rotation thereon about a substantially horizontal axis, a shaft rotatably carried by said head memher on an axis at substantially right angles to the axis of saidhead member, means for sliding said shaft longitudinally of itself on said head member, means for rotating said shaft in said head member, and heating means for a gear while the gear is carried by said shaft when the latter is in one position.

3. In a device of the character indicated, a base, a head rotatably mounted thereon about a generally horizontal axis, a sleeve slidably and non-rotatably mounted on said head on an axis at substantially right angles to the axis of said rotatable head, a shaft rotatably carried within said slidable sleeve, means for rotating said shaft in said sleeve, said sleeve having rack teeth carried thereby, a rack gear rotatably mounted on said head and meshing with said rack teeth, a handle for rotating said rack gear whereby upon rotation of the latter said sleeve and shaft will be projected or retracted, magnetic means for holding a gear to be hardened on one end of said shaft, heating means for heating the periphery of said gear when the latter is on said shaft and when said shaft is in substantially horizontal position and projected, whereby upon rotation of said handle in the direction to retract said shaft, said gear will be withdrawn from the zone of said heating means, and said head together with said shaft and gear may be swung about said generally horizontal axis, for the purpose described.

4. In a device of the character indicated, a shaft for carrying a gear to be hardened, means for rotating said shaft, means for heating the periphery of said gear while the gear is being rotated by said shaft, means for mounting said shaft for longitudinal reciprocation and swinging in a generally vertical plane, and a single rotatable means for moving said shaft longitudinally and swinging the same in said generally vertical plane, for the purpose described.

5. In a machine of the character indicated, a shaft, means for rotating the same, electromagnetic circuit means for releasably holding a gear to be hardened at one end of said shaft,

means for mounting said shaft for longitudinal reciprocation and swinging about an axis at an angle to the axis of said shaft, heating means for heating the periphery of a gear while the gear is carried by said shaft when the latter is in one position, and a common means for retracting said shaft and said gear from the zone of said heating means, and swinging said shaft about said axis, and means for automatically'breaking the circuit of said electromagnetic means at substantially the end of said swinging movement, for the purpose described.

6. In a device of the character indicated, a shaft for carrying a gear to be hardened, means for releasably holding said gear on said shaft, means for rotating said shaft, means for mounting said shaft for longitudinal movement and swinging about a generally horizontal axis, means for heating the periphery of said gear while the latter is being rotated by said shaft and when said shaft is in one longitudinal position, means for moving said shaft longitudinally for separating the gear from said heating means after said gear has been heated and swingin said shaft about said generally horizontal axis, for the purpose described.

'7. In a machine of the character indicated, a shaft, means for rotating the same, magnetic means for releasably holding a gear to be hardened at one end of said shaft, means for mounting said shaft for longitudinal reciprocation and for swinging about a generally horizontal axis, heating means for heatin the periphery of a gear while the latter is carried by said shaft when the latter is in one position, means for retracting said shaft and said gear from the zone of said heating means and for swinging said shaft about said generally horizontal axis, and means for automatically rendering said magnetic means inoperative to hold said gear when said shaft has been swung to substantially vertical position, for the purpose described.

8. In a machine of the character indicated, a shaft, means for rotating the same, magnetic means for releasably holding a gear to be hardened at one end of said shaft, means for mounting said shaft for longitudinal reciprocation and for swinging about a generally horizontal axis, heating means for heating the periphery of a gear while the latter is carried by said shaft when the latter is in one position, and means for retracting said shaft and said gear from the zone of said heating means and for swinging said shaft about said generally horizontal axis, for the purpose described.

GEORGE O. GRIDLEY.

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