US291451A - Geometric lathe - Google Patents

Description

- (No Modem 3 Sheen -Sheet 2.

' S. K. WHITE.

GEOMBTBIG LATHE.

No. 291,451; Patented Jan. 1, 1884.

1 o o .FJKI

' ni i'nwses:

a'lflhcgnphv. Washington. D. C.

N. PETERS. Phat UNITE STATES PATENT mice.

SAMUEL K. WHITE, OF- CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GEOM ETRIC LATH E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 291,451, dated January 1, 1884.

' Application filed March 29, 1883. (N model.)

to the letters of reference marked thereon,

which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to geometric lathes of that class in which a series of blanks are i supported and successively carried into engagement with the cutters, and in which the desired form is given-to the article turned by pattern-cams, which control the space between the cutter' and blank axes, made relatively movable toward and from each other for this purpose. i

In the machine herein shown as embodying my invention, three cutter-arbors are employed, each one movable independently of the others, and each having its several ends independently movable with reference to the path through which the blanks are carried.

By means of a series of separate cutter-arbors the blank may be first turned in the roughto proximate the size or form, or both, of the article to be produced, and'the succeeding cutter or cutters may give to said article its finalform. When two or more cutters follow the roughing-cutter, one may be used to give a certain form to one portion of the article beingturned, and another may give a different form to another portion of said article. Such is the arrangement and intention in the machine as herein illustrated.

i It is a feature of my improved machine that the blanks are mounted so as to be brought into stationary position opposite the cutters, so that all three cutters, or any number of cutters that may be employed, shall be simultaneously at work upon the corresponding number of blanks; and it is also a feature of the machine that while said blanks are thus locally stationary and being operated upon by i said cutters they are rotated upon their axes. The pattern-cams are applied to the blankspindles, and, as here shown, operate to control the relative bodily movementof the cutters by engagement with circular disks or plates applied to the cutter-arbors or to the bearings of said arbors; and in order that the cutters may produce a blank of the same shape or conformation as the pattern-cams, said circular disks or plates are made of practically the same radius as the cutters on the arborto which said plates are applied. The traveling blank-supports consist, as here shown, of a series of plates, which carry thespindle-bearings, which plates are rigidly connected in nected are linked with others of similar construction, to form, practically, a broad, continuous chain. Said chain is arranged upon sprocket-wheels at opposite ends of the 'mapairs by cross-bars, and the plates soconchine, and is suitably supported and guided in its movement beneath the-cutters and between said wheels, whereby when the cutters are at work the blanks are held perfectly stationary. The cutter-arbors are movably supportedin uprights attached to the frame,.pro-- vided with slots in their upper ends, in which the bearing-boxes of said arborsmay rise and fall independently of each other; and inthe same uprights are mounted stationary spindles constructed toengagewith the spindles in the a traveling blank-holders, and provided-with sprockets or pinions by which they may be driven.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine containing-lily improvements. Fig. 2 is a central -vertical section transverse to the axes of the rotating parts, or through so an of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a vertical section in the vertical planes of the indi rect line 00 a; of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical section through y y of Fig. 3, looking to the right. Fig. 5 is a plan of the blank-carrying plates withblank-spindles attached. Fig. 6 shows a preferred construction of certain parts.

The main frame of the machine consists of two side pieces, A, upon which the several operative parts are supported, said side pieces being connected by cross-braces a. e

B are two shafts, arranged transversely at either end of the machine, and havingbearplaced on the ends IOO chain belts or carriers, 0, consisting of a series of plates, 0, and connectingdinks O The plates 0 are shown as being curved on their under sides to correspond with the curvature of the sprocket-wheels B, and have standards 0 upon their outer surface, in which are journaled short spindles D, for supporting the blanks, said spindles being placed axially in line with each other at the opposite ends of the machine. The plates 0, which are opposite each other in the two chains, are rigidly connected by cross-bars '0, preferably made integral with the said plates, whereby the said spindles are kept in perfect alignment. The spindles D are for the purpose of supporting and rotating the blanks, and are provided upon their inner ends with devices for supporting said blanks between them, as will be hereinafter described.

Upon the inner faces of the side frames, A, between the wheels B, and on a level with. the upper surfaces of said wh eels, are placed guideplates Aone upon either side of the machine which act as supports for the plates 0, and upon which they travelin passing from one wheel to the other in the operation of the machine. An inwardly-projecting flange, A, is attached to the top of the guides A, and arranged longitudinally thereof, which flange extends over lateral projections a on the outside of the plates 0, whereby said plates are held down to the said guide-plates and any tilting or lateral motion in the standards 0 prevented. The guides A preferably consist, as shown, of inwardly-projecting flanges, forming part of the frame-pieces A.

Upon the frame-pieces A, at either side of the machine, are placed three oppositely-arranged standards, A, which afford bearings for short shafts or spindles E, by which the spindlesD are driven, and which are also constructed to afford proper support for three rotating cutter-arbors, F, G, and H, arranged vertically above the spindles E. The shafts E are arranged upon the same level as the spindles D, and are placed at the same distance apart, so that three of the spindles D may be placed in engagement with the shafts E at the same time. Said shafts E and the spindlesD are connected, so as to transmit motion for rotating the blanks, by means of clutches D, Fig. 3, said clutches consisting of disks 6 and d, attached, respectively, to the adjacent ends of the spindles D and E, the disk dbeing provided with a horizontal groove, 01, in its face, and the disk ewith a corresponding projection, 6, so that when the spindles D are moved forward in order to carry the blanks from one cutter-arbor to the next the said clutches will be disengaged and engaged automatically. Motion is given to the spin dles'E on both sides of the machine by means of chain-belts I, which pass over sprocketwheels E, placed on the outer ends of the spindles E, and sprocket-wheels I, placed on the ends of acentrally-arranged-drivingshait, I which is journaled onthe frame-pieces A. The said driving-shaft has upon it a driving-pulley, J, connected to said shaft by a clutch mechanism, as will be hereinafter described,

for giving an intermittent rotation to the said shaft and the spindles E. The cutterarbors F, G, and H are journaled at each end in boxes L, arranged to slide in vertical recesses or grooves a in the upper part of the standards A", and said arbors are each provided with a series of cutting-knives, F G H, of any desired or preferred construction.

Upon each of the spindles D, at both sides of the machine, are two disks, D D and a pattern-cam, D, which are arranged to engage correspondingly-placed collars F G H on the cutter-arbors.

In the machine illustrated the cutter-arbor F is for the purpose of roughing the blank or reducing it to the appropriate size of the finished article. The cutter-arbor G is for the purpose of finishing a molded portion at either end of the blank, and the arbor H is for producing a polygonal or irregular figure on the central portion thereof. The disks D and D which engage the collars F and G are, as shown, circular in form, and serve as gages to the cutters in turning or roughing an article that is circular in cross-section. The cam D*, which operates upon the collar H is shaped to correspond with the form of the article to be turned, and, by acting upon the collar H as the spindles D and the blank are rotated, moves the cutter-arbor, so as to cause the cuttersto work to a figure corresponding in crosssection with the shape of said cam.

It has been found in machines of this class as heretofore constructed that when apatterncam of the character described is caused to act directly upon a frame carrying the cutter-arbor the cutters do not receive the precise motion necessary to reproduce the form of the cam in the article being turned,the reason being that although the movement of a point on the said frame would develop a figure similar to the cam,yet the curvature of the rotary cutters causes a variation in the form of the article cut thereby. In order to eliminate this cause of inaccuracy in the use of the patterncam, the collar H upon the cutter-arbor is made of the same diameter as the path of the cutters, so that the cutting-edges of theknives are moved to precisely the same extent that the collar H is moved by the cam, and will follow the outline of a figure similar to said cam as the blank is rotated.

Instead of placing the collar H upon the cutter-arbor, said collar may be placed upon a movable frame or bed which supports such arbor; or, instead of using a rotating collar at all, the cam may bear against a curved surface upon the frame of the same radius as the cutters, with the same result. The blanks are held to the spindlesD by the ordinary means, one of said spindles being provided with a rod, d,which slides in an aperture in said spindle, and which is forced forward so as to engage the end of the blank by means of an eccentric, (1 In order to save space, the standards 0", which are used to support the spindleto which said sliding rod is applied, are divided, as shown IIO are employed for connecting the spindles D and E at both sides of the machine, it is not essential that the blanks should be driven at both ends, and the clutches. shown at one end of the blank may be dispensed with. In such case, however, in order to give the proper recipro cating movement to both ends of the cutterarbor H and togage the work in the case of the other arbors, F and G, the pattern-cams and collars here shown upon the spindles D may be placed on the spindles E, retained for this purpose, and rotated simultaneously with the cams at theopposite side of the machine by the chain I, also retained. The principal object of driving the blank from one end only would be to enable a movable or sliding tailblock to be used, whereby considerable differences" in the lengthsof the blanks would be provided for. Said movable tail-blocks would obviously take the place of the corresponding fixed standards, and would be contrived to run on the cross-bars'c. This preferable construction, of themachine with respect to the location of the cams and their opposing collars is shown in Fig. 6, in which said cams are placed upon the spindles E, exteriorto the frameuprights A and the collars are placed in such manner as to rotate upon the bearingboxes of the cutter-arbor. By this location of the cams onlyoneset of agiven shape need be constructed for each of the spindles, or three sets in all, while if placed as shown in Fig. '3 a set is required for each spindle D, or as many sets as the number of blanks the ma-, chine is constructed to simultaneously hold.

" Placing the collar H upon the bearing-box of the cutter-arbor, instead of upon the arbor itself, has also an advantage, for when upon the arbor the rapid movement of the latter tends to carrythe collar also at a higher speed than that of the cams, and to thereby produce a sliding movement of the collar on the cams,

and corresponding wear and friction. When placed on the bearing-box, on the other hand,

' said collars willrotate only as carried by con tact with the cams, and the friction above referred to will be avoided. If preferred, a segmental non-rotating plate may be applied to the bearing-box of the cutter-arbor in place of a rotating disk, H

Ina machine having independently-movable bearings for each end of the cutter-arbor H, as shown, and having cams for controlling both ends of said cutter-arbor in relation to theblank,'it is obviously practicable to make anarticle of tapered form by simply varying ends of the boxes L.

produced. Such structure admits ofgreat vathe tapered or other irregular figure formed by the pattern-cams acting on the finishingcutters; or the intermediate cutters for finishing a portion of the article may be adjusted at each end as desired, so as to cut a larger or smaller circle. It is manifest that the disks D D may be replaced by pattern-cams, and that cams or disks of any size or shape may be placed upon either of the blank-spindles, as desired, so that an articlemay be formed of any desired shape in its different portions. Any number of cutter-arbors may be placed upon the machine in the manner shown, and a great variety of different ornamental forms may be made upon the same article by multiplying the pattern-cams which control the movement of the several arbors.

For the purpose of keeping the cutters down to their work and the collars on the several cutter-arbors in contact with the disks and cams on the blank-shafts, in case the weight of the arbors is not sufficient for the purpose, Lhave pivoted weighted levers M to the upper ends of the standards A which are constructed to act upon the bearing-boxes L of said arbors and press them constantly down ward, while at the same time allowing them to yield when the arbors are moved. The levers M are preferably provided with forked, ends an, which are pivoted at m upon either side of said standards and rest upon the projecting Sliding weights M are placed upon the levers M, whereby the downward pressure of the cutter-arbors may be regulated.

Instead of the weighted levers described, 3

springs or other suitable means may be used for'accomplishing the same purpose.

In order to prevent the spindles D from being turned accidentally during the time that the clutches D are out of engagement, soas to prevent the projections e from entering the grooves d in the disks (Z when they come, to-

gether, springs (1* may be placed on the plates 0 and arranged to press upon the periphery of the disks (1, as shown in Fig. 1, said disks having a flattened face upon one side so arranged that the spindles will be held in proper position for the eugagementof the clutches by the action of the spring upon said flattened engage each other, I make the loose drivingpulley J fast to said shaft temporarily by means of aclutch mechanism adapted to place the shaft in engagement with the pulley at any moment desired, and to thereby arrest the movement of the shaft automatically after it has made one complete rotation. Such clutch mechanism may be made in any one of a number of well-known ways; but as a preferable form of such clutch, and as shown in the drawings, it is constructed as follows: The ZLIHISZ and t" are pivoted to a sliding collar, 7?, upon the shaft 1, said collar being prevented from rotating on the shaft by means of a feather thereon, as shown. The ends of the arms 13 and i are adapted to bear against an annular friction-surface formed on the inner surface of I the driving-pulley, and the opposite end of and the shaft is rotated with them.

the arm t is extended beyond the pivotal point, and forms an armfl", which bears against a stationary collar, K, attached to the frame of the machine. In the upper portion of the collar K is formed a notch, 7c, adapted to receive the end of the arm 1'. The parts are so arranged that when the arm 1' rests against the face of the collar K the arms '5 and z" are forced against the friction-surface of the pulley, and the arms are carried around thereby, -When the arm i reaches the notch as it traverses the disk K, it will enter said notch, the arms will be released from contact with the pulley J,

andthe shaft be stopped. The arms 1' and 1;"

are again caused to grip the pulley by forcing the end of the arm 2'" out of the notch 7a. This is accomplished, as shown in the drawings,by means of a sliding bolt, 6, which is acted upon by an arm, Z, attached to a rock-shaft, L,which able connections with the chain 0, so that at the moment the blanks are brought into position opposite the cutters the arm 1' will be thrown out of the notch 7c and the shafts H and D rotated, thus making the operation of the bl ank-rotating devices entirely automatic.

The clutch mechanism described is not original .with me, and forms no part of this invention.

For the purpose of rotating the shafts B so as to accomplish the forward movement of the blank-carrier (l, I have shown a hand-wheel,

B upon the end of said shaft at the feed end of the machine. Such hand-wheel may maniv-festly be replaced by a belt-pulley and the blank-carrier driven by power, if desired, a

suitable device being provided to make the forward movement thereof intermittent. The blanks are placed in the machine and the finished article removed therefrom by hand, and such operation will usually cause no interruption to the continual operation of the machine, as the time consumed in finishing each article will usually be sufficient for the purpose of performing it.

In the arrangement of the cutter-arbors substantially in a plane the use of the chain-carrier for the blanks traveling continuously in one direction is not strictly essential, since obviously a reciprocating horizontal bedplate carrying the blank-spindles may be employed in its stead.

I claim as my-invention- 1. In a geometric lathe, the combination, with a rotating movable cutter-arbor and relatively stationary blank-spindles, of independently-movable bearings for the several ends of the cutter-arbor, and a cam on each blank-spindle for controlling the distance between the several ends of the cutter-arbor and the ends of the blank, substantially as described.

2. In a geometric lathe, the combination, with the rotating movable cutter-arbor and withthe blank-spindle, of a pattern-cam secured'to the blank-spindle andaplate opposed to said cam, mounted on the said arbor, or a part belonging thereto, and having a curved surface for contact with the cam of practically equal radius with the cutters, substantially as described.

3. In a geometric lathe, the combination,

with a movable cutter-arbor. a traveling sup port provided with spindles for the blank, and a stationary spindle constructed to engage the blank-spindle when the latter is in working position with reference to the cutter-arbor, of

a disk or cam upon, said stationary spindle, arranged to control the distance between the cutter-arborand the blank, substantially'as described. I 4

4. In a geometric lathe, the combination, with two or more rotating and independentlymovable cutter-arbors arranged ina practically horizontal plane, of a series of blankspindles, a continuous chain-carrier for supporting said blank-spindles, means for guiding said chain-carrier in a plane parallel with that of the cutter-arbors, means for intermittently moving said chain-carrier so as to present each one of the blanks in succession to the said cutter-arbors, and means for rotating-the said blank-spindles when opposite the cutterarbors, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with two or more out ter-arbors, and with the series of connected plates 0, for supporting the blank-spindles at the same distance apart as the cutter-arbors, of mechanism for moving said plates, stationary guides for said plates, and means for rotating the spindles when opposite the cutters,

substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the cutter-arbors and a chain-carrier for the 'blank-spindles of Wheels B, guides A, placed between said wheels, and means for rotating the blankspindles when opposite the cutters, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. a

7. In a geometric lathe, the combination,

with a rotating cutter-arbor and with spin- A and driving mechanism applied thereto, substantially as described.

' 9. The combination, With the standards A with the cutter'arbor journal-boxes mounted movably therein, and with driving-spindles E, also mounted in said standards, of pattern cams secured to said spindles, and plates mounted on the boxes of the cutter-arbor in position to engage said cams, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing asmy invention I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL K. WHITE. \Vitncsses:

M. E. DAYTON, PETER J. ELLERT.

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