US2870652A

US2870652A - Adjustable cam tracks

Info

Publication number: US2870652A
Application number: US689426A
Authority: US
Inventors: Anderson Frohman
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1955-02-08
Filing date: 1957-10-10
Publication date: 1959-01-27
Anticipated expiration: 1976-01-27

Description

Jan. 27, 1959 F. ANDERSON 2,870,652

ADJUSTABLE CAM TRACKS Original Filed Feb. 8, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ll 1 1 j amlllrlhfllll H W HU ll l Ill I n i I ll nvvE/v 7-02 v Peon/MN Awoaesozv A rfwiwiv Jan. 27, 1959 F. ANDERSON ADJUSTABLE CAM TRACKS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ori inal Filed Feb. 8, 1955 United States Patent ADJUSTABLE CAM TRACKS Frohman Anderson, Las Vegas, Nev.

Original application February 8, 1955, Serial No. 486,773, now Patent No. 2,851,080, dated September 9, 1958. Divided and this application October 10, 1957, Serial No. 689,426

2 Claims. (Cl. 74-568) This invention relates to cam structures in which the cam is an elongated flexible member, such as a rod or strip, and cooperates with a cam follower, one of the two cooperating members being translatable relative to the other to effect a control of any suitable dynamic mechanism.

An example of the use of such a cam structure is shown in the pending application Serial No. 486,773, filed February 8, 1955, now Patent No. 2,851,080, of which this application is a division. In that application the cam structure is embodied in a machine for shaping metal sheets by pulling them through forming dies and the cams are used to control the operation of certain dynamic mechanism while the sheets are being pulled through the dies, cam followers being in operative relation to valves in control of servo mechanisms. The cams are therefore tracks for the cam followers and may be termed cam tracks.

In order to vary the pattern of operation of the dynamic mechanism, the contour of the cam has to be alterable to be able to present the desired cam profile, and the present invention relates specifically to the means for effecting local adjustments of the cam to modify its contour.

The invention therefore resides in the mounting means for such a cam and has for a primary object the provision of such means which will permit of very precise adjustments without affecting the connection with the cam and at the same time will hold the cam securely in any adjusted position.

The invention comprehends a mounting for the cam which has a coarse and fine adjustment each of which may be operated with the cam connected to the mounting.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings will now be described.

Fig. 1 is a partial sectional view of a draw bench including a slidable carriage and of a gear box with carriage actuating train forming a portion of the sheet forming mechanism of said pending application, and of a cam structure embodying this invention mounted on the carriage.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section on an enlarged scale of the cam structure, draw bench and carriage of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail on line 3-3 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4--4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 55 of Fig. 3.

In the illustrated embodiment, the draw bench is an elongated channel member mounted upon a gear box 11 and slidably supporting therein is a carriage 12. The bottom of the draw bench has an opening therein as shown in Fig. 1, through which a bull gear 13 engages with a rack 14 on the bottom of the carriage. The bull gear is driven from a motor (not shown) connected to shaft 15 which is operatively connected to the bull gear by a train of gears as shown in Fig. 1. The bull gear 13 thus translates the carriage l2.

Patented Jan. 27, 1959 Secured upon the carriage 12 are a plurality of spaced angular cam bearing frames 16 which carry a plurality of cam bars 17, each of which carries a series of spaced cam supporting rods 18 on the top end of each of which is a cam supporting clamp 19 for the cam 20. The cams are shown as flexible round rods or wires, there being a plurality of these in the illustrated construction for purposes which appear in said pending application.

For each rod 18 the bar 17 has a vertical bore disposed at one side of the central longitudinal plane of the bar and the rod 18 passes freely through this vertical bore. The rod is provided with fairly closely spaced circumferential grooves. The bar 17 also has a lateral bore adjacent the vertical bore. This lateral bore has enlarged ends one of which intersects the vertical bore. A springpressed latching plunger is disposed in this lateral bore and has an enlarged head 21 at one end and a conical enlargement 22 at the'other end, the plunger being disposed so that the conical enlargement is in the large end of the lateral bore which intersects the vertical bore. A spring 23 bears against the head 21 and urges the plunger in the direction to bring the conical enlargement 22 into the registering circumferential groove on the rod 18. This latching condition is illustrated in Fig. 5. .When the plunger is pushed in it releases the conical enlargement 22 from the groove in rod 18 and leaves the rod free to be moved up and down. The movement of rod 18 to bring successive grooves into registry with the conical enlargement 22 constitutes the coarse adjustment of cam 20.

The fine adjustment is effected through the clamp 19 which has an internally threaded vertical socket into which the threaded end of rod 18 engages, and a knurled ring 24 on the rod 18 facilitates turning the rod and screwing it up or down in the socket of the clamp.

The cam 20 is releasably clamped by a side plate 25 on the clamp, the plate being located by a dowel pin and a clamping screw 26. The cam rests in a rounded recess in the top of the clamp formed partially in the plate and partially in the body of the clamp.

It is thus apparent that both a coarse and a fine adjust ment of the cam is effected without altering the relation of the cam to its-clamp. The spacing of the rods 18 is such as to obtain thedesired exactitude of shaping of the cam.

It is obvious that simple ratcheting means may be substituted for the grooves and the latch construction and that only the clamp engaging end of the rod need be rotatable and that, for example, this end may be swiveled on to the rod which may otherwise be non-rotatable. The details of construction of the cam mounting as illustrated in the drawings and above particularly described may be otherwise altered in ways obvious to those skilled in the art without departing from the principle or scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable cam structure comprising an elongated flexible member constituting a cam track and a plurality of adjustable supports therefor each comprising a relatively grooves along its length and having a connection at one;

end with the cam track, a plunger in the transverse. bore having a conical head adapted to engage and fit into a circumferential groove in the rod in the intersection of the twobores and slidable axially to movethe headinto and out of saidiengageable position, and a spring biasing the plunger into the engageable position.

2. An adjustable cam structure as defined in claim 1 in which the connection between the rod and cam track includes a clarnp for the cam track and a threaded conmotion between the clamp and rod;

References (lited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS