US2393294A - Indexing mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 22, 1946. Y J. CRANE 2,393,294

INDEXI'NG MECHANISM I Filed May a, 1945 I '4 Shets-Shetl INVENTOR.

BY v 7 Jan. 22', 1946. J CRANE INDEXING MECHANISM- Filed May 8, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. Jo/zw 670728 Jan. 22,1946.

J. CRANE INDEXING MECHANISM Filed- May 8, 194:

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

header I2 is slidably mounted upon a shaft I4, at the end of which there is fixed, in any suitable manner, a type of locking member or cylinder registering block I5. Projecting from one side of the rotatable member or disk III are spaced apart index elements or fingers I6 which preferably carry rollers l1.

At a convenient distance from. the plate- 10 is mounted 'aneccentri'cdefice generally indicated j at l8 mounted upon a shaft l9. One part of the eccentric l8 consists of a disk having projecting therefrom a bearing pin 2| and this constitutes a reciprocating crank. The pin 2| carries connected thereto one end ofanadjustable cylinder reciprocating bar 22, theo'th'en end of which" is connected to the sliding header 12in any suit able manner as by a wrist pin 23 passing therefixed registering block [5, completing the reciproeating cycle and at this point the other eccentric crank will have carried. the indexing slide, by

through and through a lug 24 atthe bottom of:

the header. The other part of the eccentric consists of another disk 25 carrying a pin '26 and this constitutes an indexing crank. Connected at one end to the pin v26 in an adjustable indexing connecting bar 21, .the other end of which iscon-- nected to one leg of an indexing bell crank lever 28 by means of a pin 29.. The bell crank lever is pivoted on a shaft '30. The other leg 3|.is connected to an indexing slide 32 by an indexslide connecting bar 33.-by means of pins. 34 and 35.

The index slide 32 is mounted on an index slide bar 36 and has a bifurcated indexingyoke or.

The ,combinedheccentric I8 is driven;

fork 31. by any suitable source of power (not shown), through a gear 38 mounted upon the shaft [9.

It should be noted that the combination of ,the

two eccentric cranks are set at 90 apart so that when one is most active the other is inactive.

In performing the cycle of motions heretofore referred to as including a forward motion, a backward motion and a motion of indexlng or g partial rotation to present consecutively new surfaces or sections of an entire surface witheach consecutive cycle, the operation is as follows:

Beginning with the initial position at, zero de-' grees, as set forth in the arrangement inFig, 1, s

the shaft l9 rotates clockwise carryin with: it

the eccentric device l8, the reciprocating crank and indexing crank being spaced apart 9 0},as above indicated. In thisinitial position it-will be noted that the reciprocating bar 22 has already moved the rotating member ID andits associated have been carried to its full back reciprocating stroke. The indexing slide member continuously receives the rollers [1 within the fork or yoke 31 until the indexing slide has reached ahalfway up position as indicated in Fig, 3, being actuated by the indexing connecting bar 21 operating the bell crank lever 28 and index slide connecting bar 33. During the time the shaft [9 is completing one-half a revolution, or passing through an angle of 180, the eccentric cranks are again actuated to bring the rotatable indexed member I U halfway forward along the reciprocating stroke 7 in the opposite direction (to. the right) and the index fork 3'I will have reached the topof its upward stroke. It will be noted that through this half cycle the roller I! has penetrated the depth of :the fork 31, been carried around the fixed;

locking or registering cylinder block 15 and been parts halfway back along one stroke (to the means of the indexing connecting bar 21 and bell 'crankwith' associated parts, downwardly to a halfway down position behind the block 15 as indicated in Fig. 51 As the shaft l9 continues to rotate through the remaining to complete a single revolution, it will have restored all of the parts" to the position indicated in Fig. l.

' 'In running through this cycle of motions it will be noted that the spaced apart index-elements or rollers; I! on the. rotatable indexmember ill, and other. associated parts, have been reciprocated into and out of operative positionby means oi the reciprocating bar and that the indexing means 7 comprising the indexing fork 31, have been actuated by the eccentric 25 and'its associated parts, consecutively to receive each of the indexin elezments-and rotatably advance the indexed memberin a step-by-step manner consecutively and. continuously during ,eachcycle' of reciprocation.

The foregoing indexing mechanism when associated with a cylinder such as that indicated at l3 and carrying suitable dies rotating in a bath.

of paper pulp solution, willsuck up a controlled portion .of the :pulp and hold the, same thus until the cylinder l3 moves to the forward end, of the reciprocating stroke (or to the extreme right 3 looking at the drawings and as indicated in Fig. 5).

whereupon the resulting formedcarton, is ,trans-.

ferred to other mechanism for ultimate finishing purposes.

vIt will belunderstood thatthe n achinehas ;many other advantages in additionto those appearing herein. For example, the true motion of the indexing or partial rotationof the cylinder in being accelerated from zero atthe start of the cycle to its maximum rate of rotation at the midthe of the indexing motion (see Figs. .1 and 3) and the deceleration from the middle to the end of the indexing operation (see Figs. 3 and 4) is not impaired by the action of thereciprocation and this acceleration and deceleration is about the easiest motion known. i

In addition to this advantageit will readily be appreciated that by changing the timing position of the cranks the indexing can be made to operate in an'oppo'site direction. f v

Another advantage is' that by changing the position of the bell'crank lever indexing'lca'n' be performed at the opposite end of the reciprocation.

In addition to the foregoing advantages, other advantages will be seen in that the mechanism can be operated horizontally, as herein illustrated, or vertically or at an angle provided that the direction of reciprocation and the direction of the indexing slide are at right angles to each other. That is, the relative position ofthe means to accomplishthe results contemplated by .thepresent invention should be such that .the slidably actuated indexing slide traverses the path of,

reciprocation of the rotatable ind xed member, substaiitially as herein illustrated. I

gangsta:

'itn-ireizeixaisaimimdcx will alsoibecomezapparent thati'allniofi nmctisnahmeanstdesignedato ,obtainitnisircxcle: ofjzrriozations.e'an lbe is ecureek'wttiiorrtithe necessity of :resorting lthBJSPBCi-fifi Zstmrcture zshawm. Eoraexample, .itsis of particulamsignificanceiand; m zthat: :two cmainishafts "she-mad:

gcedietherrwithwarratiogforiexample 10118;-

tnv sine, theefirstsshaft :positioned as :illusr': trated rrllf ithecsecond shaz'ftids approximately: directly below or above the vertical'indexingcslide;

' Thusiithelbellhcrank could be eliminated.

It will thus be seen thatthe objects and advantages hereinbefore set forth can readily and efliciently be attained and since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the followin claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

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

1. An indexing mechanism, which comprises in combination a rotatable indexed member, means for reciprocating said member into and out of operative position, and means for rotatably indexing said indexed member in a step-by-step manner continuously and uninterruptedly during and intermediate the limits of each cycle of reciprocation.

2. An indexing mechanism, which comprises in combination a rotatable indexed member having spaced apart index elements, means for reciprocating said .member into and out of operative position, and indexing means. for consecutively receiving said index elements and rotatably indexing said indexed member in a step-by-step manner continuously during and intermediate the limits of each cycle of reciprocation.

3. An indexing mechanism, which comprises in combination a rotatable indexed member having spaced apart index elements, means for reciproeating said member into and out of operative position, and indexing means comprising an indexing fork for consecutively receiving said indexing elements and rotatably indexing said indexed member continuously during and intermediate the limits of each cycle of reciprocation.

4. An indexing mechanism, which comprises in combination a rotatable indexed member having spaced apart index fingers, means for reciprocating said member into and out of operative position, and indexing means comprising an indexing yoke slidably mounted and actuated to traverse the path of reciprocation of said rotatable indexed member, said yoke intermittently receiving said index fingers consecutively and rotatably advancing said indexed member continuously during each cycle of reciprocation.

5. An indexing mechanism, which comprises in combination a rotatable indexed member having spaced apart index elements, means for reciprocating said member into and out of operative position, and an indexing slidin member comprising an indexing fork actuated by means of an eccentrically operated bell crank lever connected to said sliding member, said fork traversing the path of reciprocation of said rotatable indexed ber in a step-T-hyesilepr ingzeach nmleimeciprmation; -r6.-;Amindenmgtmechanism, whichicemnrisesein, combinatinma untatabliaamdexedzmembernmeans for; imemlrerriicitoi and nutncf operative posit'romcand-rmaansiorcotaltablyradvancing saidiindexed: members: in nistep byestep manmrzcontinuonslyiand rsduring.

each cycle pii'sracinr,nhotlrrocf'zsaidcmeans being actuated by eccentrics spaced to operate substantially ninety degrees apart.

7. An indexing mechanism which comprises in combination a rotatable indexed member having combination a rotatable indexed structure carry- 1 ingspaced apart index projection elements, slidably actuated indexing means for consecutively receiving said index elements to rotate said indexed structure, and means for reciprocating said index projection elements into and out of engagement with said indexing means, and means for actuating said indexing means in synch'ronism with said reciprocating means to rotatably index said structure during the cycle of reciprocation of said elements and intermediate the limits of said cycle.

parted by the reciprocating action blends with a the maximum strain of the indexing action equal- 1y to distribute the combined strains of said actions to all associated driving parts.

10. An indexing mechanism, which comprises in combination. a rotatable indexed member, means for reciprocating said member into and out of operative position and indexing means for rotatably advancing said indexed member in a step-by-step manner continuously during each cycle of reciprocation, said indexing means including a rotatory eccentric member connected to a slidable indexing member to transfer the latter to an operating point where minimum strain of the indexing action blends with the maximum strain of the reciprocating action equally to distribute combined strains of said actions to all associated driving parts.

11. An indexing mechanism, comprising a reciprocable indexing member, a support reciprocable in a'path at an angle to the reciprocatory path of the indexing member, an indexed member rotatably carried by said support for reciprocation therewith, means for simultaneously reciprocating said support and said indexing member in'said respective path's, andcoacting drive elements carried by said indexing'member and said rotatable indexed member, said respective oable in a pathat an angle to the .reciprocatory' path of the indexing member, an'indexedmem berrotatably carried by said supportfor'recipros cation; therewith, means for simultaneously reciprocating said support and said indexing membersin said respective paths, enacting drive elements carried by said indexing member and said rotatable indexed member, said respective elements traversing intersecting paths and drivingly engaging one another during at least a portion I of the reciprocatory cycles of said members to rotatively index said indexed member, andmeans coacting with the drive element on said rotatable indexed member to restrain rotation of the latter. during another portion of the reciprooatory cycle.

thereoL.

' JOHN CRANE. i

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