US3105302A

US3105302A - Lens cutting attachment for a lens edging machine

Info

Publication number: US3105302A
Application number: US87333A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ezra H Novak
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1961-02-06
Filing date: 1961-02-06
Publication date: 1963-10-01
Anticipated expiration: 1980-10-01

Description

E. H. NOVAK 3,105,302

LENS CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR A LENS EDGING MACHINE Oct. 1, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 6. 1961 1 v a Z Z 8 8 re 5 V mw w w 1 m 1 fl llll ll a n 4 "JJIIIS ,'r M F 5 5 1 7 .huH| v 1. 4 a g 9 2 M M 4: 3 7? w n 5 WH w 1H n ill.

INVENTOE ATTO RN EYS Oct. 1, 1963 E. H. NOVAK 3,105,302

LENS CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR A LENS EDGING MACHINE Filed Feb. 6, 1961 2 sheets-sheet 2 EZRA? H NovnK INVENTOR BY MM AT TO RN E-YS 3,105,392 LENS CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR A LENS EDGRNG MACHINE Ezra H. Novak, 5850 W. Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, Calif. Filed Feb. 6, H61, tier. No. 87,333 7 Claims. (Cl. 33-28) My present invention has to do with the art of cutting and shaping lenses, and particularly spectacle lenses, and has more particularly to do with a device adapted for attachment to lens-edging apparatus such, for instance, as the lens edger shown in my co-pending application for United States Letters Patent, Serial No. 816,328, filed May 27, 1959, now Patent No. 3,014,314, to enable a lens to be cut preparatory to the edging and finishing operation.

It is an object of my invention to provide a device of this character which may be quickly attached to and detached from a lens-edging apparatus in such manner as to utilize the lens holding and operating mechanism of the edger to which it is attached.

Another object is to provide an attachment of this sort which renders it unnecessary for a user to maintain two complete and separate machines, one for cutting the lens, generally to size and shape, and another for edging and finishing the lens.

A still further object is to provide an attachment of this character which is highly efficient, economical of manufacture, extremely simple to use, which, when not in use, may remain attached to the edging apparatus without interfering with the normal operation of the latter.

Other objects and advantages will appear hereinafter.

I will point out in the appended claims the features which I believe to be new, but, for the purpose of explaining and enabling those skilled in the art to understand and practice my invention, 1 shall now describe in detail a presently preferred embodiment thereof, for which purpose it shall refer to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view, with parts shown in section;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view, additonally showing, by broken lines, the inoperative position of the attachment;

FIG. 4 is a view taken on line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view, partly in section and partly in elevation;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 5, and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 77 of FIG. 1.

In the accompanying drawing, the numeral 5 generally denotes my attachment device mounted on the housing or body of a lens-edging machine, generally denoted 6. The lens-edging machine has chucks 16 for holding therebetween a lens L to be cut as to diameter and peripheral shape. Chuck 16 is secured on a driven shaft 18 of the edging apparatus while chuck 15 is carried on an axially, adjustable and rotatably mounted shaft 20, so that it may be moved toward and away from the chuck 16 to engage and disengage the lens L between the chucks. Conventional means, not shown, are provided for axially moving the shaft 20. The shaft 18 is rotated by a conventional driving connection, not shown, between a motor, not shown, and the shaft, to rotate the chucks and the lens mounted therebetween. A conventional template 25 is carried by the edging apparatus 6 to rotate with the shaft :18, the periphery of the template defining the shape to which the lens L is to be cut.

My attachment device comprises an upwardly tapering post 36 which is held in inclining position by an attaching plate 32 secured to the housing of the edging appara- 3,.l'5fih-Z Patented Get. 1, 1963 tus, as by screws '34. The post 30 has an axial bore 36 in which a plunger 38 is reciprocably mounted. A compression spring 40 is mounted in the bore, bearing at its top end against an annular flange 42 on the plunger and hearing at its bottom end against a set-screw 43 threadedly mounted in the bottom end of the post, so that the compression of the spring may be adjusted. The plunger is thus yieldably urged upwardly so that the top end frictionally engages a reduced diameter portion 45 of a tubular shaft '46 rotatably mounted in the bore 47 of a cross member 48 carried by the post. The cross member is preferably, though not necessarily, made integral with the post. At a portion spaced approximately 180 from the position of FIG 3, the reduced diameter portion 45 of said shaft has a flattened portion 49, as best shown in FIG. 7, so that, when the flattened portion 49 is engaged by the plunger 38, the spring loaded plunger resists rotation of the shaft and holds the parts in the inoperative or roken line position of 'FIG. 3. A torsion spring 50 is mounted in the cross member 48 around the shaft 46 to so bias the shaft as to urge the template engaging member, to be hereinafter described, against the periphery of the template.

An arm 55 is secured at its top end to the projecting left end of shaft 46 and carries at its bottom or free end a template engaging member assembly, generally denoted 6% As best shown in FIG. 3, the member 60 includes a screw 65 threaded through the internally threaded boss portion 66 of the arm 55. The outer end of the screw has a triangular template engaging member 68 secured thereto by means of a screw 69, and the member 68 has a lateral extension 7% carrying an indicator rod 72 presenting calibrations 73. The end of rod 72 at the head of screw 65 is recessed at 72a, the periphery of said head extending into the recess, and the end of said rod has a transverse notch with which calibrations on said head may be coordinated to indicate the extent of adjustment.

A second arm 75 has a boss portion 76 presenting a bore 77 through which the right end of the shaft 46 extends, the right end of the shaft being longitudinally split at '7? and internally threaded at St). A screw 82 having a tapered portion 82a is threaded into the bore so that the split end of the shaft 46 may be spread when the screw is threaded into the shaft, thus locking the arm '75 in any desired position relative to the shaft 46. That is, the screw 32 may be loosened and the arm 75 rotated on the shaft 26 to the desired position of adjustment, after which the screw 82 is tightened to spread the split end of the shaft 46 into locking engagement with the bore 77.

A shaft is journaled in the axial bore 91 of arm 75. A collar 94 is secured on the protruding top end of the shaft by a nut 92, the collar carrying a handle 96 to facilitate manually rotating the shaft relative to the arm 75.

A cutter-carrying arm 98 has a bored boss portion 99 secured on the bottom end of shaft 96, the arm curving outwardly and downwardly from the boss portion, so that rotation of shaft swings about the proper radius, and pivotally carries a cutter member generally denoted 10% at its bottom end.

The cutter-carrying arm 98 has a cross bore 102 adjacent its bottom end in which a bearing member 104 is retained by a screw 105. The cutter element has a shank 196 which may be swaged or friction fitted into a sleeve 1% which is rotatably fitted into the bearing 104. The bearing 1M and sleeve 108 have opposed bearing races to receive roller bearing members 110. The cutter housing has bifurcations 117 between which the cutter wheel 12f) rotatably fits, the cutter wheel having an axial bore 121 in which there are engaged the right angular end portions 124 of a U-shaped spring member 126, the cross portion of the spring member passing through a corresponding hole 127 in the cutter housing, while the right angular portions of the spring passes through corresponding holes 129 in the cutter housing. At the rear or left of the cutter housing there is an extension portion 13%) which extends through abearing ring 132, the bearing ring and the extension portion 13%) providing opposed ball races for the balls 134. The cutting edge of the cutter wheel 12% must have a radius larger than the radius of the curved portion of member 68 for accurate shaping and pantographing.

Thus it will be seen that the cutter assembly 1% is freely rotatable about an axis normal to the arm 93 so that the cutter may truly follow the proper course in cutting the lens L which is rotated relative to the cutter wheel.

A torsion spring 140 anchored at one end to the arm 75 and anchored at its other end to the shaft 9% biases the latter shaft in a counterclockwise direction.

Operation When my attachment is in inoperative position, the arms 55 and '75 are swung to the broken line position of FIG. 3, the shaft 46 being held in that position by the spring-loaded plunger 38 engaging the flattened portion 49 of said shaft. When it is desired to operate the attachment, the lens L is engaged between the chucks, the template is mounted and the arms 55 and '75 are then swung to the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the full line position of FIG. 3, in which the template-engaging member 68 engages the template and the cutter wheel engages the lens, the cutter wheel being normally lightly urged against the lens by the spring 149. During the cutting operation, the operator, by manually manipulating the handle 96, rotates the shaft 96 and swings the arm 93 to the extent necessary to apply the desired cutting pressure of the cutter against the lens, this pressure being manually maintained during the lens-cutting operation. Before the cutting commences, the arm 75 is rotatably adjusted and locked in the desired position on the shaft 46 to generally determine the diameter of the cut in the lens and meticulous adjustments of the diameter of the cut may be further made by rotating the screw 65, which has calibrations 145 which may be coordinated with a marker 146 on the outer end of the rod 73.

I claim:

1. A lens shape-cutting attachment for a lens edging machine which edging machine has a body rotatably carrying a power driven template and power driven lens holding chucks, said attachment comprising a post adapted to be secured to the top of said body behind said chucks, a tubular cross member carried by the top end portion of said post, a main shaft journaled in said cross member for rotation about an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of said chucks, a template engageable arm secured on one end of said shaft, and extending radially therefrom, a cutter positioning arm rotatably adjustably secured on the other end of said main shaft, a second shaft extending axially in and rotatable relative to said cutter positioning arm, said latter shaft having a laterally offset outer end extension, a lens cutter mounting member carried by and projecting radially from the outer end portion of said extension and being rotatable relative thereto about an axis normal to the longitudinal axis of said extension, a lens cutter carried by said member, manually operable means carried by the inner end portion of said second shaft for manually rotating said second shaft whereby to urge said cutter in cutting engagement with a lens carried by said chucks; said arms being swingable with rotation of said main shaft between template engaging and lens cutting positions and an inoperative position not obstructing normal access to and operation of said lens edging machine.

2. The attachment of claim 1 which additionally includes spring loaded means operatively associated with said main shaft for releasably retaining said main shaft in said last mentioned position.

3. The attachment of claim 1 which additionally includes spring means operatively associated with said main shaft to bias said template engaging arm into engagement with said template when said cutter is in cutting engagement with said lens.

4. The attachment ofclaim 1 which additionally includes spring means biasing said second shaft to cause said cutter to be yieldably urged against said lens.

5. The attachment of claim 1 wherein said lens cutter is round and is mounted on said cutter mounting member'for rotation relative thereto about an axis transverse thereof.

6'. A lens shape-cutting attachment for a lens edging machine which edging machine has a body rotatably carrying a power driven template and power driven lens holding chucks, said attachment comprising a post adapted to be secured to the top of said body behind said chucks, a tubular cross member carried by the top end portion of said post, a main shaft journaled in said cross member for rotation about an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of said chucks, a template engageable arm secured on one end of said shaft, and extending radially therefrom, a cutter positioning arm rotatably adjustably secured on the other end of said main shaft, a second shaft extending axially in and rotatable relative to said cutter positioning arm, said second shaft having a laterally offset outer end extension, a bifurcated bracket rotatably carried by, projecting radially from and rotatable about an axis normal to the longitudinal axis of the outer end portion of said extension, a lens cutting wheel rotatably carried by said bracket in position to have cutting engagement with a surface of a lens carried by said chucks, a handle member carried by the inner end portion of said second shaft for manually rotating said second shaft whereby to urge said cutter into cutting engagement with a lens carried by said chucks; said arms being swingable with rotation of said main shaft between template engaging and lens cutting positions and an inoperative position not obstructing normal access to and operation of said lens edging machine.

7. The attachment of claim 6 wherein said bracket is journaled in roller bearings carried by said extension.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,395,376 Long Feb. 19, 1946 2,410,443 Hoffer Nov. 5, 1946' 3,014,314 Novak Dec. 26, 1961

Claims

1. A LENS SHAPE-CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR A LENS EDGING MACHINE WHICH EDGING MACHINE HAS A BODY ROTATABLY CARRYING A POWER DRIVEN TEMPLATE AND POWER DRIVEN LENS HOLDING CHUCKS, SAID ATTACHMENT COMPRISING A POST ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO THE TOP OF SAID BODY BEHIND SAID CHUCKS, A TUBULAR CROSS MEMBER CARRIED BY THE TOP END PORTION OF SAID POST, A MAIN SHAFT JOURNALED IN SAID CROSS MEMBER FOR ROTATION ABOUT AN AXIS PARALLEL TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID CHUCKS, A TEMPLATE ENGAGEABLE ARM SECURED ON ONE END OF SAID SHAFT, AND EXTENDING RADIALLY THEREFROM, A CUTTER POSITIONING ARM ROTATABLY ADJUSTABLY SECURED ON THE OTHER END OF SAID MAIN SHAFT, A SECOND SHAFT EXTENDING AXIALLY IN AND ROTATABLE RELATIVE TO SAID CUTTER POSITIONING ARM, SAID LATTER SHAFT HAVING A LATERALLY OFFSET OUTER END EXTENSION, A LENS CUTTER MOUNTING MEMBER CARRIED BY AND PROJECTING A RADIALLY FROM THE OUTER END PORTION OF SAID EXTENSION AND BEING ROTATABLE RELATIVE THERETO ABOUT AN AXIS NORMAL TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID EXTENSION, A LENS CUTTER CARRIED BY SAID MEMBER, MANUALLY OPERABLE MEANS CARRIED BY THE INNER END PORTION OF SAID SECOND SHAFT FOR MANUALLY ROTATING SAID SECOND SHAFT WHEREBY TO URGE SAID CUTTER IN CUTTING ENGAGEMENT WITH A LENS CARRIED BY SAID CHUCKS; SAID ARMS BEING SWINGABLE WITH ROTATION OF SAID MAIN SHAFT BETWEEN TEMPLATE ENGAGING AND LENS CUTTING POSTIONS AND AN INOPERATIVE POSITION NOT OBSTRUCTING NORMAL ACCESS TO AND OPERATION OF SAID LENS EDGING MACHINE.