US3163072A - Knife adjustment control means for a shear machine - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 29, 1964 E. w. PEARSON ETAL 3,163,072

KNIFE ADJUSTMENT CONTROL MEANS FOR A SHEAR MACHINE Filed June 6. 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 INVENTOR. n E U6E/VE W- PEARSON ggLLA/VD H.RICHAROJOIV ms Arron/vars Dec. 29, 1964 E. w. PEARSON ETAL 3,163,072

KNIFE ADJUSTMENT CONTROL. MEANS FOR A SHEAR MACHINE Filed June 6, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 HIS ATTORNEYS Dec. 29, 1964 E. w. PEARSON ETAL 3,163,072

KNIFE ADJUSTMENT CONTROL MEANS FOR A SHEAR MACHINE Filed June 6, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I07T I IN V EN TOR.

HIS ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,163,072 KNIFE ABJUSTMENT CDNTRGL MEANS FOR A SHEAR MACHINE Eugene W. Pearson, Grinds, and Rolland A. Richardson,

Alameda, Caiif., assignors to Pacific Indushial Manufacturing Co., a corporation of California Filed June 6, 1960, Ser. No. 34,005 3 Claims. (Cl. 83-639) Our invention relates to a shear or like machine and more particularly to knife adjustment control means for the fixed knife of such a machine.

The present invention is an improvement on the subject matter of the patent for Ledger Blade Adjustment Means for Shear Machine, No. 2,939,358, scheduled to issue on June 7, 1960.

Among the objects of our invention are:

(1) To provide a novel and improved control means for adjustment of the fixed knife of a shear machine;

(2) To provide a novel and improved control means for adjustment of the fixed knife of a shear machine, whereby the knife adjustment is controlled with power normally available in such machine;

(3) To provide a novel and improved control means for adjustment of the fixed knife of a shear machine, whereby the knife adjustment is controlled hydraulically; and

(4) To provide novel and improved control means for adjustment of the fixed knife of a shear machine, whereby the control means utilizes an otherwise prevailing hydraulic circuit in such machine for its source of power.

Additional objects of our invention will be brought out in the following description of a preferred embodiment of the same, taken in conjunction vn'th the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view in elevation of a shear machine with the knife adjustment control means of the present invention incorporated therein;

FIG. 2 is an end view in elevation of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in section through a two-way piston drive connection involved in the knife adjustment control means of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a view depicting an otherwise prevailing hydraulic circuit in a shear machine and depicting the manner in which such circuit may be utilized in the knife adjustment control means of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings for details of our invention in its preferred form, the same is shown incorporated in a hydraulically powered shear machine comprising a frame 1 involving a pair of spaced side walls 3 and 5, each formed with a relatively deep throat 7 in the front edge thereof.

Adjoining the side walls along the front edges below the throats, is a front wall 9 constituting a component of a work table assembly in which the table 11 extends outwardly from the front wall along its upper edge. The front wall and table at the junction therof, is recessed to receive a fixed or stationary knife 15 of substantial length, approaching the spacing between the side walls of the frame.

The front edge portions of the side walls above the throat are set back somewhat to permit of supporting a ram 17 which carries the upper or movable knife 19 of the machine in proper relationship to the fixed or stationary knife 15.

The operating movements of the ram are controlled hydraulically in the machine under consideration by including a left cylinder assembly 33 and a right cylinder assembly 35, each fixed to the upper front edge of one of the side walls of the machine housing and coupled $353,972 Patented Dec. 29, 1964 ice to the ram. Thus each end of the ram will be powered by one of the cylinder assemblies.

The work to be sheared is held to the work table by hold-down means involving a plurality of hydraulically operated pistons 37 housed in cylinders 38 mounted on a crossbeam 39 in front of the ram.

The front wall 9 of the table assembly is mounted on an angle of the order of 30 degrees with the vertical, preferably by extending the side walls of the machine to the front thereof and terminating them at the proper angle to present sloping front edges 40 for supporting the front wall at the corresponding angle. With the table it. at a complementary angle of the order of 60 degrees to the front wall, the table is rigidly maintained in its horizontal position by gussets 43 and connecting wall 44 welded into position between the front wall and the table.

The front wall is adapted for sliding adjustment along the supporting front edges 4t) of theside walls to provide for a resulting lateral component of adjustment of the fixed knife 15, whereby to realize proper spacing between the fixed knife and the movable knife during a slicing or shearing operation, the particular adjustment desired depending upon the type and thickness of material to be sheared. Such sliding adjustment of the front wall along the sloping supponting edges of the side walls, is made possible by providing on each sloping edge 40, an abutment lug 45, and adjacent each end of the front wall providing a slot 46 of a size to loosely receive the abutment log of its associated supporting wall, the slot, being of sufficiently greater length than the abutment lug to permit of sliding adjustment of the table assembly on the sloping edges of the supporting walls and terminating at its upper end in a circular enlargement to provide an arcuate edge 47 at this end of the slot.

Actual adjustments of the table assembly are accomplished by positioning between the upper end of each slot and its associated abutment lug, wedge means 49 for altering the spacing between the two. Such wedge means may include a bearing pad 51 having a circular edge providing a complementary fit with the upper arcuate end of the slot, a bearing block 53 resting against the abutment end of the lug 45, and an intermediate wedge 55 slidably disposed between the two. On the bearing pad 51 may be afiixed, a scale plate 57 while affixed to the wedge 55 is a cooperating pointer or indicator 59 adapted to travel along the scale with movements of the wedge, to indicate the horizontal spacing adjustment of the proximate end of the fixed knife relative to the movable knife.

The present invention is concerned primarily with the knife adjusting control means for actuating the wedge 55 at each end of the front wall to effect adjustments at each end of the fixed knife 15.

Affixed to each edge of the front wall 9 adjacent the wedge means, is a flanged cylinder 65 housing a piston 67 having a piston rod 6? :slidably extending through the mounting end of the cylinder through suitable sealing means 71, and coupled to the wedge 55.

Such coupling may be effected by providing in the wedge, a lateral T-groove for receiving a substantially correspondingly shaped head 73 on the end of the piston rod 69, the said head having preferably a spherically contoured front edge to provide space for the reception of a complementary spherical surfaced shim 75 tominimize end play in the coupling connection between the piston rod 69 and the wedge 55 while accommodating the coupling to probable slight misalignment between the coupled elements in use.

The cylinder is provided with a hose or pipe fitting to either side of the maximum permissible range of movement of the piston 67, for the coupling of a hose or pipe to to provide flow connections 76 and 77 to the cylinder so as to enable control of movement of the piston in either direction.

Threaded through the opposite end of the cylinder is an adjusting screw 79 having a handle or handwheel 31 on its exposed end, the function of such screw being to adjustably limit movement of the piston in the direction of withdrawal of the Wedge.

Toward this purpose, the piston is provided with a tail extension 83 in the direction of the adjusting screw, such extension passing through a double Q-ring seal in a partition 87 across the cylinder to preclude leakage at this end. Any adjustment of the adjusting screw may be secured against shift by a locking handle 91 threaded on the exposed portion of the adjusting screw and adapted to be run down the thread into pressure engagement with the end of the cylinder to effect such locking.

To permit of operation of the two-way piston drive at each end of the front Wall, whereby each end of the fixed knife may be selectively adjusted, We provide means for utilizing an otherwise existing hydraulic circuit in the machine whereby such circuit may be interrupted during a non-functioning period of the machine, and selectively connectedto either of the twoway piston drive connections and for either direction of movement of the piston therein.

For illustrative purpose, We have selected a por ion of the hydraulic system illustrated and described in a co-pending application for Shear Machine With Adjustable Ram, Serial No. 704,923, filed December 24, 1957, now abandoned, the pertinent portion of which relates to a circuit for controlling movement of the hold-down pistons 37.

Such cir uit involves a motor driven pump 9 having a suction line 99 leading from a tank lt l constituting a source of liquid, and a discharge line 103 leading to the hold-down cylinders with a branch line 1% to a solenoid operated dump valve adapted when energized, to connect the hold-down means to the tank and permit retraction of the hold-down pistons 37.

Associating this circuit with the how connections 7% and '77 to each of the two-way piston drive cylinders, are a pair of manually controllable reversing valves ill, each having a three positional adjustment. An intermediate or neutral positional adjustment insofar as it relates to the associated two-Way piston drive connection, provides a through flow or by-pass passage 113 for inclusion the hydraulic circuit to the hold-down cylinders, such through flow passage including a check valve llfi permitting flow in the direction from the pump to the hole-down cylinders. These through flow passages of the reversing valves are connected in series and included in the circuit from the pump to the hydraulic hold-down cylinders.

Each of the two remaining positional adjustments of each reversing valve provides for disconnection of the prevailing circuit to the hold-d own cylinders and the coupling to the pump '37 and to the tank 191, of the hydraulic connections 76 and 7? to the associated cylinder of the two-way piston drive. Depending on the directional adjustment of the reversing valve, the piston controlled thereby may be driven in one direction or the other.

An overload valve 117 in a circuit connecting the pum discharge back to the tank, constitutes an emergency circuit ltO avoid overloading of the system.

From the foregoing description of our invention in its preferred form, it will be apparent that the same fulfills the objects of our invention, and while We have illustrated and described the same in considerable detail, the invention is subject to alteration and modification without departing from the underlying principles involved, and we accordingly do not desire to be limited in our protection to the specific details illustrated and described, except as may be necessitated by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a shear machine or the like involving a vertically cooperating a substantially horizonstantial length, a horizontal work movable knife tal fixed knife table provided suh an upper Work surface substantially with the .pper surface of said fixed knife, a hydraulic circuit including a power source, for operating components of said machine, and means for adjustably supporting said work table and fixed k including a machine frame having side Walls extending to the front of said machine and terminating in lower front edges inclined at angle to the vertical, a front wall spanning said inclined edges slidably supported thereon, said front wall carrying said table and fixed knife, and wedge means at each end of said front wall including a movable Wedge for slidahly adjusting the proximate end of said front wall along the associate inclined edge; a two-way piston drive connection to each of said wedges, each of said drive connections including a cylinder affixed to one of said wall at a point adjacent a wedge to be actuated, a piston in said cylinder having a connecting rod extending from one end of said cylinder and connected to said wedge, a flow connection to said cylinder to either side of said piston, and means for interrupting said hydraulic circuit and selectively connecting said power source to either of said two-way piston drive connections and for either direction of movement of the piston therein.

2. In a shear machine or the like involving a vertically movable knife cooperating with a substantial horizontal fixed knife of substantial length, a horizontal work table provided with an upper Work surface substantially flush with the upper surface of said fixed knife, a hydraulic circuit including a power source, for operating components of said machine, and means for adjustably supporting said work table and fixed knife, including a machine frame having side walls extending to the front of said machine and terminating in lower front edges inclined at an angle to the vertical, a front Wall spanning said inclined edges and slidably supported thereon, said front wall carrying said table and fixed knife, and wedge means at each end of said front wall including a movable wedge for slidably adjusting the proximate end of said front Wall along the associate inclined edge; a two-way piston drive connection to each of said wedges, each of said drive connections including a cylinder affixed to one of said walls at a point adjacent a wedge to be actuated, a piston in said cylinder having a connecting rod extending from one end of said cylinder and connected to said wedge, a flow connection to said cylinder to either side of said piston, and means for interrupting said hydraulic circuit and selectively connecting said power source to either of said two-way piston drive connections and for either direction of movement of the piston therein, said means including a pair of manually controlled reversing valves, one for each of said pistons and each reversing valve having a neutral position as to its associated piston, provided with a through iiow passage in said hydraulic circuit in series with the through fiow passage of the other reversing valve, said hydraulic circuit being interruptible by operation of either of said valves from its neutral position.

3. In a shear machine or the like involving a vertically movable knife cooperating with a substantially horizontal fixed knife of substantial length, a horizontal work table provided with an upper work surface substantially flush with the upper surface of said fixed knife, a hydraulic circuit including a power source, for operating components of said machine, and means for adjustably supporting said work table and fixed knife, including a machine frame having side walls extending to the front of said machine and terminating in lower front edges inclined at an angle to the vertical, a front Wall spanning said inclined edges and slidably supported thereon, said front wall carrying said table and fixed knife, and wedge means at each end of said front wall including a movable wedge for slidably adjusting the proximate end of said front Wall along the associate inclined edge; a two-way piston drive connection to each of said wedges, each of said drive connections including a cylinder affixed to one of said walls at a point adjacent a wedge to be actuated, a piston in said cylinder having a connecting rod extending from one end of said cylinder and connected to said Wedge, a flow connection to said cylinder to either side of said piston, means for adjustably limiting the extent of movement of said piston in the direction or" withdrawing said wedge, said means including an adjusting screw through the opposite end of said cylinder in line with said piston rod and a locking handle threadedly mounted on said screw externally of said cylinder and adapted to abut the proximate end of said cylinder and lock said adjusting screw, and means for interrupting said hydraulic circuit and selectively connecting said power source to either of said two-Way piston drive connections and for either direction of movement of the piston therein, said means including a pair of manually controlled reversing valves, one for each of said pistons and each reversing valve References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 594,019 Iefieries Nov. 23, 1897 625,289 Christie May 16, 1899 2,247,141 Twyman June 24-, 1941 2,314,041 Gurries Mar. 16, 1943 2,610,022 Meddock Sept. 9, 1952 2,939,358 Pearson June 7, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 532,781 Italy Sept. 1, 1955

Claims (1)

1. IN A SHEAR MACHINE OR THE LIKE INVOLVING A VERTICALLY MOVABLE KNIFE COOPERATING WITH A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL FIXED KNIFE OF SUBSTANTIAL LENGTH, A HORIZONTAL WORK TABLE PROVIDED WITH AN UPPER WORK SURFACE SUBSTANTIALLY FLUSH WITH THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID FIXED KNIFE, A HYDRAULIC CIRCUIT INCLUDING A POWER SOURCE, FOR OPERATING COMPONENTS OF SAID MACHINE, AND MEANS FOR ADJUSTABLY SUPPORTING SAID WORK TABLE AND FIXED KNIFE, INCLUDING A MACHINE FRAME HAVING SIDE WALLS EXTENDING TO THE FRONT OF SAID MACHINE AND TERMINATING IN LOWER FRONT EDGES INCLINED AT AN ANGLE TO THE VERTICAL, A FRONT WALL SPANNING SAID INCLINED EDGES AND SLIDABLY SUPPORTED THEREON, SAID FRONT WALL CARRYING SAID TABLE AND FIXED KNIFE, AND WEDGE MEANS AT EACH END OF SAID FRONT WALL INCLUDING A MOVABLE

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