US2307407A - Abrading machine - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 5, 1943.

1.. IMELMANN ABRADING MACHINE Filed May 7, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet l ZN kww Jan. 5, 1943. I H. L. IMELMANN 2,307,407

' ABRADING MACHINE I Filed May '7, 1941 s sheets-shed 2 IN VENTOR.

I Wed/glam I Jan. 5, 1943. NN 1 2,307,407

' ABRADING MACHINE Filed Ma 7, '1941 s sheeis-speet a INVENTOR- Patented Jan. 5, 1943 2,307,407 ABRADING MACHINE Henry Louis Imelmann Chicago,

Permo Products Corporation,

corporation of- Illinois 7 Application May 7, 1941, Serial No. 392,194

7 Claims. (c1. 51-497) This invention relates in general to abrading l machines and more particularly to an automatic machine for accurately abrading the ends of a plurality of small bodies, such as phonograph needles, writing pen points and the like.

My new machine represents improvements in my pending United States patent application Serial No. 385,396, whereby the principles outlined in the said patent application are applied to a machine for automaticall and uniformly shaping a plurality of pointed bodies at one time with great rapidity and without human aid.

Prior to this invention the ends of microscopic bodies were either shaped by laborious han d operations or quantities of the bodies were tumbled in contact with abrasives. These methods were inaccurate and entirely dependent upon the human element, whereas, in contradistinction, in the present invention the ends of small bodies are automatically shaped with great accuracy,

uniformity and rapidity.

-A principal object of the invention resides in the provision of apparatus for automatically processing the ends of a plurality of bodies in a predetermined shape by controlling their movement while under the attack of rotating abrading vanes, whereby microscopic spherical surfaces may be applied to the bodies having radii accurately formed as small as -five ten-thousandths of an inch.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means whereby various shapes are formed upon the ends of a, plurality of bodies through controlling the relative movement between the bodies and the abrading means.

A further object of the invention is the provision of apparatus for shaping the ends of successive groups of bodies into various forms desired with accurate uniformity by presenting the successive groups to new unused surfaces of the abrading means.

A further object of the invention is the provision of automatically controlled means where by successive groups "of bodies may be abraded substantially uniformly by governing the time each. said group of bodies is presented to the attack of the abrading vanes.

With these and other objects in view theinvention consists of the novel combination and arrangement of elements, one embodiment of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an'enlarged end elevation of the machine. a

v Fig. 2' is a plan view of the machine.

111., assignor tov Chicago, 111., a

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine.

Fig. 4-is a sectional view taken through section line a-a, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a bottom View of the driving mechanism taken through section line b-b, Fig. 3.

Fig.6 is a fragmentary view of a pointed body showing the original shape of the point in dotted lines and the shape following abrading in full lines.

- Referring to the plan view, Fig. 2, the various components of the machine are secured to a base I. An-abrading-shaft 2 -is rotatably-mounted upon supports 3 and 4. carrying suitable bearings and adapted to be driven by the pulley 5 integral .with the shaft. A. plurality of flexible abrading vanes. 6 are secured to andabout shaft 2 in groups, in spaced relation with each other along the length of the shaft. A preferred, arrangement of one group of abrading vanes is shown in Fig. 4. The surface 6s of each vane is coated withabrading-materialsuch as emery, carborundumior-the like. I

A spindle carriage], Fig. 2, has integrally affixed to one end thereof a shaft .8 which is rotatably retained-insupport 9 aflixed to base I. The outer end of the shaft 8 carries a threaded portion 10- which will be hereinafter. described. The carriagef! is. .alsosupported at its opposite endby a shaft ll integral with the carriage and rotatably carried 'by support 12. A free pulley 13, carried onv shaft H, is retained in its proper operatingposition by collar M. A miter gear l5, also free upon shaft I l,,is secured to the pulley l3 byscrew l6. .A .crank arm. I! is secured to the extreme outer end of shaft H and adapted to oscillate the shaft about its axis in a manner to be. hereinafter described. A plurality of spindles I8 are rotatably retained in suitable bearings in the. spindle carriage 1 through the center line and at right angles to the shafts 8 and I. Conventional chucks or collets I9 are secured to theends of the spindles l8 for holding the articles to be abraded.

Since the abrading action of certain articles insome cases requiresv complete rotation of the spindles and other articles require oscillation of the spindles, two .methods for supplying their movement will be described. 1

Referring to Fig. 4, the method for mounting and .driving one of the spindles I8 is shown in the cross-sectional view taken through line a-a, Fig. 2-. Thespindle H3, carrying its collet H! at one end, is rotatably mounted in spindle carriage 1 through bearings'in' the carriage cross members'flland 2i. Each-spindle is retained by collar 22 and the hub of the gear 23, the latter being secured to the end of the spindle l8 opposite the collet. The gears 23 are secured to those spindles in which it is desired to apply complete rotation, whereas a lever 24, shown in Fig. 3, is secured to those spindles requiring oscillating movement. The gears 23, Fig. 2, are the same size, mated with each other, and adapted to be driven by a master gear 25, which in turn is driven by the miter gear 26 mating with gear 15.

Fig. 3 shows the relation of the gear 25 and the gears 23, which latter gears are used to rotate certain spindles I8. Fig. 3 also shows the crank levers 24 which are secured to the. spindleslB requiring oscillation. A link 21. is.- pivotally secured to the outer end of each lever 24 for moving all of the levers in unison. A connecting rod 28 is pivotally secured to one of the levers; 24' by adjustable stud 29 and is slotted to provide a dwell period for the levers at the extreme ends of their oscillating movements. The opposite. end of the connectingrod is pivotally" securedto gear 25 at crank stud 30. Thus, it apparent that when gear 25 is rotated the three gears 23 will rotate in unison and at the same time theconnecting rod 28 will oscillate the stud 29 and cause the levers 24 to oscillate by'virtue of the link 21.

The spindle carriage 1 is adjustable along the axis of shafts 8 and II by means of a yoke 3| secured to the base 1 through which the threaded end 19 of the shaft 8' is freeto move. An adjusting nut 32, threaded uponthe shaft 8, is positioned between the supports foradjusting the longitudinal position of the spindle carriage 1. Thus, since the shafts 8 and It are free to move along their principal axis, adjustment of nut 32 against one. of the upright members of the yoke 3| will move the carriage 1 carrying the spindles l8 longitudinally along the axis of shafts B and H.

The driving motor 33, shown in Figs. 3 and 5, has two drive pulleys 34 and 35 integrally mounted together and freely mounted on the motor shaft 36. The pulleys are retained in their proper positions by shoulder screw 62, which engages a slot (not. shown) in the motor shaft. The pulleys 34 and 35 are arranged to rotate drive pulleys l3 and through the medium of belts 31 and 38 respectively, better shown in Fig. 1. belt 33, Fig. 1, is shown in its position for driving the pulley 5 and thence the abrading shaft 2. The belt 31 is also shown in position for driving pulley 13,. which in turn drives the miter gear [5, shown in Fig. 2', for rotating and oscillating the spindles 18. A reduction. gear 39 and clutch jaw 41 are integral with pulley 34 and also freely mounted on shaft 48. A mating clutch member 49 is slidably keyed to shaft. 48 and is provided with a channel for the control lever yoke 50.

A cam shaft 41, Fig. 5, is rotatably retained in suitable supports 42 and 43, which in turn are secured to the under side, of base I, also shown in Fig. 3. A cam shaft-drive gear 40 is secured to shaft 41 and is mated with gear 39 and adapted to be driven thereby; Spindle control cam 44 is secured to the. outer end of shaft 4! for the purpose of controlling the. action of the spindles, to be hereinafter described.

Clutch lever 46 is pivotally mounted at 54, shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and terminates in yoke 50 which is operatively retainedin the channel of the clutch member 49'. A spring 53, retained about the pivot screw 54 normallyurges the clutch member 49 out of engagement with its mating member 41. A projection 5| on lever 46 is The adapted to rest against the inside plane surface of stop cam 45 and normally holds the clutch member 49 into engagement with its mating member 41. The extension 56 of the lever 46 is intended as a handle for the convenience of manual operation.

It is apparent that when the cam 45 is rotated to a point where the projection 5| on lever 46 coincides with the recess 52 in the cam, the lever 46, under the influence of spring 53, will move the clutch member 49 out of engagement with its mating member 41 and the pulleys 34, 35 and the gear 39 from engagement with the power supplied by shaft 48, thus stopping the rotation of shaft 41' and the components carried thereby.

Fig. 1 shows the means employed for moving the groups of spindles into and out of contact with the abrading vanes 6 through the medium oi a rocker 51 pivotally mounted on support 58 secured to the base I. A roller 59 is rotatably mounted to the lower end of rocker 51 and adapted to engage the outer surface of the spindle control cam- 44. The upper slotted end of rocker 51' is loosely fitted to crank pin 6| carried by crank arm I 1. A spring 60, one end of which is attached to rocker 51 and its opposite end secured to the base I, normally urges the roller 59 into close contact with the cam 44.

It is apparent that when the cam 44 is rotated the rocker 51 will be displaced in accordance with the contour of the cam, which contour is adapted to provide proper predeteminedmovement of the spindles 18 in their relationto the abrading vanes 6. The cam is also provided with an elongated projection for moving the spindles I8 to the extreme outward position for loading. shown in dotted lines, Fig. l. The extreme opposite inward position of the spindles l8 and as.- sociatedelements is shown in full lines.

In operation and assuming that the motor is functioning, the clutch members 41 and 49' are disengaged and the spindles l8 are in the positions shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, whereby the bodies to be abraded may be inserted and secured in the collets 19, Fig. 2. The first three collets, viewed from the left, are used to retain bodies requiring oscillating motion for shaping and the three right-hand collets are used to retain. bodies requiring rotating motion.

Upon engaging the clutch members 41 and 49 by means of manual lateral movement of the end 56 of lever 46, the drive shaft 4! will rotate, which in turn will drive the cam 44 and cause the spindle carriage 1 to move the spindles into the paths of the abrading vanes. This movement will continue as proportioned by the movement of the cam until the bodies reach the lower end of their position in relation to the abrading vanes, where they will dwell for a period again determined by the shape of the cam until they begin their return movement receding from the path of the abrading vanes.

It is'obvious that the engagement of the clutch members 41 and 49 will also rotate the pulleys 5 and 13, which will drive the abrading vanes 6 in the direction shown by arrow, Fig. 1, and operate th spindles 18 as heretofore described.

Since the three left-hand spindles shown in Fig. 2 will oscillate and the three right-hand spindles will rotate, it is apparent that the abrading action of the vanes striking the ends of the pointed bodies will abrade their respective surfaces in accordance with a predetermined shape.

It is to be noted that the relative movement of the spindles and the abrading vanes will cause 2,307,407 each of the abrading vanes to flex while in con-' tact with the bodies, thus instantaneous points of successive abrading attacks of individual vanes will describe a predetermined arcuate path. When the spindles reach their extreme upper position the machine will come to rest by virtue of the projection on lever 46 falling into the recess 52 of the .stop cam 45, which will automatically disengage the clutch member 49 from its mating member 41 and thus arrest the motion of the entire machine.

A complet cycle of the machine, as previously described, is usually sufiicient to properly abrade a complete group of bodies retained in the collets l9, and upon insertion of a subsequent group of bodies uniformity of abrading is accomplished by rotating the nut 32, shown in Fig. 2, thereby moving the entire group of spindles to a new lateral position with respect to the abrading vanes, thus providing a new unused surface on the abrading vanes for contact with the bodies. Consequently it is possible to hold precise uniformity in successive abrading operations upon successive groups of bodies.

Fig. 6 is a typical illustration of a fragmentary view of one of the bodies 63 wherein the dotted line 64 indicates the shape of the body prior to abrading.

For succeeding operations it is merely necessary to load the machine with a new group of bodies and move the lever 46 to re-engage the clutch members 41 and 49, whereby the machine will automatically re-cycle in accordance with the operation previously described.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixed axis, a plurality of abrading means secured in spaced relation to the said member along its axis, said abrading means comprising a plurality of flexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral direction from the direction of movement of said vanes and in radial spaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spaced relation, the distance between said vanes being-such that they will not contact each other during the abrading action, a rotatably mounted spindle carriage positioned adjacent to said member with its axis of rotation parallel and at a fixed distance from the axis of the abrading member, a plurality of rotatable spindles secured on said carriage parallel to each other and corresponding in number to the said abrading means, each said spindle having its axis of rotation at substantially right angles to the axis of said carriage, each said spindle terminating at one end in a holder for said bodies, each said holder fac ing a corresponding abrading means and adapted to describe an'arc substantially at right angles to the axis of said abrading member when the said carriage is rotated, driven means for simultaneously oscillating said carriage about its axis in a plane substantially perpendicular to the fiat surfaces of said vanes and rotating said spindles,

including means for simultaneously driving said abrading member and said driven means whereby each said body held in said holders will be simultaneously rotated and oscillated in the path of the said vanes when the said machine is driven by the said driving means to abrade the ends of said bodies to a predetermined shape.

2. In an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixed axis, a

pluralityof abrading means secured in spaced relation to the said member along its axis, said abrading means comprising a plurality of flexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral direction from the direction of movement of said vanesv and in'radial spaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in'spaced relation, the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contact each other during the abrading action, a rotatably mounted spindle carriage positioned adjacent to said member with its axis of rotation parallel and at a fixed distance from the axis of the abrading member, a plurality of rotatable spindles secured on said carriage parallel to each other and corresponding in number to the said abrading means, each said spindle'having its axis of rotation at substantially right angles to the axis of said carriage, each said spindle terminating at one end in a holder for said bodies, each said holder facing a'corresponding abrading means and adapted to describe an are substantially at right angles to the axis of said abrading member when the said carriage is rotated, driven means for simultaneously oscillating said carriage about its axis in a plane substantially perpendicular to the fiat surfaces of said vanes and oscillating said spindles, including means for simultaneously driving said abrading member and said driven means whereby each said'body held in said holders will be simultaneously rotated and oscillated in a path of the'said vanes when the said machine is driven by the said driving means to abrade the ends of said bodies to a predetermined shape.

3. In an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixed axis, a plurality'of abrading means secured in spaced relation to the said member along its axis, said abrading means comprising a plurality of flexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral direction from the direction of movement of said vanes and in radial spaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spaced relation, the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contact each other during the abrading action, a rotatably mounted spindle carriage positioned adjacent to said member with its axis of rotation parallel and at a fixed distance from the axis of the abrading member, a manual adjustment means aflixed to said carriage for moving said carriage predetermined distances along its axis, a plurality of rotatable spindles secured on said carriage parallel to each other and corresponding in number to the said abrading means, each said spindle having its axis of rotation at substantially right angles to the axis of said carriage, each said spindle terminating at one end in a holder for said bodies, each said holder facing a corresponding abrading means and adapted to describean arc substantially at right angles to the axis of said abrading member when the said carriage is rotated, driven means for simultaneously oscillating said carriage about its axis in a plane substantially perpendicular to the flat surfaces of said vanes and rotating said spindles, including means for simultaneously driving said abrading member and said driven means whereby each said body held in said holders will be simultaneously rotated and oscillated in the path of the said vanes when the said machine is driven and the said bodies manually moved longitudinally with respect to the axis of rotation of said abrading member, to. abrade the ends of said bodies to a predetermined shape.

4. The combination in an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotatedv about a fixed axis, said member having secured thereto a plurality of flexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral direction from the direction of movement of said vanes and in radially spaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spaced relation, the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contact each other during the abrading action, an axially rotatable holder ior holding said bodies, a rocking support for said holder from which the said holder projects at right angles with respect to the axis of the rotatable abrading member and into the path of movement of said vanes, including driving means for rotating said holder about its axis oscillating said rocking support in a plane substantially perpendicular to the flat surfaces of said vanes and rotating said abrading means, whereby the end surfaces of the said body held in said holder will be successively attacked by the said vanes to abrade spherical surfaces thereon having radii between five ten-thousandths of an inch and twenty thousandths of an inch dependent upon the length of the attack period when the machine is driven.

5. The combination in an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixed axis, said member having secured thereto a plurality of flexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral direction from the direction of movement of said vanes and in radially spaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spaced relation, the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contact each other during the abrading action, an axially rotatable holder for holding said bodies, a rocking support for said holder from which the said holder projects at right angles with the path of movement of said vanes, driven means for oscillating said holder about its axis, in a plane substantially perpendicular to the flat surfaces of said vanes and a second driven means for oscillating the said rocking support, including driving means for driving said abrading member and said first mentioned driving means and the said second driven means whereby the end surfaces of said body held in said holder will be successively attacked by said vanes to abrade ellipsoidal surfaces thereon the dimensions of said ellipsoidal surfaces dependent upon the length of the attack period when the said machine is driven.

6. In an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a fixed axis, a plurality of abrading means secured in spaced relation to the said member along its axis, said abrading means comprising a plurality of flexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral direction from the direction of movement of said vanes andin radial spaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spaced relation; the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contact each other during the abrading, action, a rotatably mounted spindle carriage positioned adjacent to said member with its axis of rotation parallel and at a fixed distance from the axis of the abrading member, cam means for oscillating said carriage a predetermined number of cycles about its axis, a plurality of rotatable spindles secured on said carriage parallel to each other and corresponding in number to the said abrading means, each said spindle having its axis of rotation at substantially right angles to the axis of said carriage, each said spindle terminating at one end in a holder for said bodies, each said holder facing corresponding abrading means and adapted to describe an are substantially at right angles to the flat surfaces of said vanes of said abrading member when the said carriage is oscillated by the said cam means, driven means for simultaneously driving, said cam means and rotating said spindles, including means for simultaneously driving said abrading member and said driven means whereby each said body held in said holders will be rotated and oscillated a predetermined number of times in the path of the said vanes when the said machine is driven a predetermined period by the said driving means to abrade the ends of said bodies to a predetermined size and shape.

7. The combination in an abrading machine for abrading the ends of small bodies, a rotatable abrading member adapted to be rotated about a flxed axis, said member having secured thereto a plurality of flexible abrading vanes extending from said member in a general lateral direction from the direction of movement of said vanes and in radially spaced relation, said vanes being mounted on said member in spaced relation, the distance between said vanes being such that they will not contact each other during the abrading action, a plurality of axially rotatable holders for holding said bodies, a rocking support for said holders from which the said holders project at right angles with respect to the axis of the rocking support and into the paths of movement of said vanes, driven lever means for oscillating a predetermined number of holders about their axes in a plane substantially perpendicular to the flat surfaces of said vanes, driven gear means for rotating the remaining number of holders about their axes, including driving means for driving said lever means and said gear means and said abrading means whereby the end surfaces of the said bodies held in the oscillating holders and the remaining number of bodies held in the rotating holders will be successively attacked by said vanes to abrade the ends of the bodies held in the oscillated holders to one form of spherical surface and the ends of the bodies held in the rotating holders into a spherical surface of another form with the dimensions of both forms of said surfaces dependent upon the length of time the machine is driven.

HENRY LOUIS IMELMANN.

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