US3197920A - Throwing wheel and parts therefor - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 3, 1965 R. w. MOORE ETAL THROWING WHEEL AND PARTS THEREFOR 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May 18. 1962 m w O S- f OO BY M M ATTORNEYS Aug. 3, 1965 R. w. MOORE ETAL THROWING WHEEL AND PARTS THEREFOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 18. 1962 INVENTORS Aug. 3, 1965 R. w. MOORE ETAL THROWING WHEEL AND PARTS THEREFOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 18. 1962 NVENTORS more Jepklfowl' j:

United States Patent O ice Tl-IRWING WHEEL AND PARTS THEREFOR Ralph W. Moore, Hagerstown, Md., and Joseph E. Bowling, lr., Waynesboro, Pa., assignors, by mesne assignments, to The Panghorn Corporation, Hagerstown, Md.,

a corporation of Delaware Filed May 18, 1962, Ser. No. 195,693 14 Claims. (Cl. 51-9) The present invention relates to throwing wheels used to project streams of particles against work piecesto` subject the work pieces to cleaning, abrading or peening action or the like. A typical wheel of this kind is shown in U.S. Patent 2,732,666 granted January 31, 1956.

Among the objects of the present invention is the provision of improved throwing wheels as well as component parts for such wheels.

The above objects and further objects of this invention will be more completely understood from the following description of several of its exemplilications, and the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section of a throwing wheel assembly exemplifying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the wheel itself showing some of its throwing vanes in place, and one removed;

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are detail sectional views taken of the above wheel along lines 3--3 and 4 4 respectively;

FIG. 5 is a view of one of the vanes in the above wheel, taken from its outer end;

FIG. 6 is a view of the vane of FIGS, l-5 taken from its inner end;

FIG. 7 is a front view of the vane of FIGS. 1 6;

FIG. 8 i-s a view of the vane of FIGS. 1-7, looking from below;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged side View of a locking member in the apparatus of FIG. l; and

FIG. l0 is a front view of the locking member of FIG. 9.

Vanes used for throwing wheels of the above type wear out under the abrading effects of the particles that are thrown. These particles move along the vanes and are fairly abrasive, particularly when they are contaminated with sand, alumina, or similar materials. Also the thrown particles ricochet from the workpieces they are thrown against, as well as from vane walls and the like, and as a result bounce around in all directions, gradually wearing out other portions of the throwing wheel and surrounding structures. i

The replacement of the vanes has been an awkward operation because the thrown particles or pieces of debris work their way into the vane mounting structure and tend to seize together any closely fitting portions that may have to be moved in order to withdraw a vane. Moreover prior art mounting structures do not readily allow for the application of forces great enough to move the seized components. j

According to the present invention a throwing wheel has radially extending vanes for projecting outwardly a stream of particles fed -to the inner ends of the vanes as the wheel rotates, the wheel including a rotor with a set of grooves in which the individual vanes are received, the groves being of the dovetail type andthe vanes having mounting flanges shaped to fit within the grooves so that each vane can be mounted on the wheel by sliding the vane inwardly from the outer end of a groove, the floor of each groove having a recess which at its radially outward end deiines a retainer stop, a removable retainer gib in each groove and having a head abutted against said stop and held hereby against radially outward movement, the gib having a longitudinally tapered wedging face facing the vane in the same slot, and each vane flange hav- Patented Aug. 3, 1965 ing a correspondingly tapered wedging bevel engaging said wedging face and locking the vane against radially outward movement in the groove.

The vanes can also have a channel-shaped body along with the mounting structure that holds the vane on the throwing wheel, the channel-shaped body including a channel floor and channel side walls, and the corners between the side walls and oor having a radius of not more than l; inch.

According to another aspect of the present invention the vane bodies have a wall thickness no greater than inch except for one end of the channel, the iloor of the channel at that end having a rounded enlargement extending about inch longitudinally of the vane and making the floor thickness about 9/16 inch.

In the drawings, FIG. l shows a throwing wheel assembly which includes a housing 20 in which is rotatably journaled a spindle 22 that carries a radially extending wheel mounting flange 24. To this iiange is secured as by bolts 26 (FIG. 2), a runner head 2S which in turn carries a set of vanes 36. A particle supply means which can be similar to that shownin the above-identified patent, delivers blastant particles to the center of the wheel between the vanes in a space left open. The feed is controlled so that the particles are supplied tothe vanes at one limited portion of the vane-rotation path, Vand the housing is open, as indicated at 36, to permit the particles to discharge from the vanes toward the work in the direction controlled by the particular location of the vane supply. The particular details of the spindle mounting, housing arrangement, feed assembly, etc., can have different constructions. A more complete description of these details as illustrated in FIG. 1, are included in copending application Serial No. 190,725 filed April 27, 1962, now abandoned.

As more clearly shown in FIG. 2, the runner head 28 has a plurality of radially directed dovetail slots or grooves 3S in each of which an individual vane is mounted. The bolts 26 securing the runner head to the spindle liange 24, are shown as mounted in the floors 32 of the grooves 38. p

Near the outer end of each groove the ioor has a rst recess 34 (also FIG. 4) which is fairly shallow, and a second recess 4) which i-s deeper. A dam 42 just beyond the second recess is at floor level, and is cut by a slot 44 into two portions. The side walls 46 of the groove are shown as of dovetail shape except that near the outer end these walls are relieved as illustrated at 48 (FIGS. 3 and 4).

The vanes are held in the grooves by gibs 49 (see FIGS. 1, 9 and l0) that have a springy tail 51) secured as by brazing to a wedge block 51 of generally triangular cross-section. The outer end of a dovetail flange 43 (FIG. 8) on the vane has a wedging bevel 52 (FIG. 7) that engages a corresponding wedge face of the gib and jams the outer end of the gib against the dam 42 (FIGS. 3 and 4), under the iniiuence of the centrifugal force developed by the rotation of the wheel. Mounting of the vanes is effected by sliding a vane into its groove, and then slipping the gib under it. The vane is arranged to move into its groove about 1A; inch further than the illustrated wedged position, so that the block on the outer end of the gib can be inserted after the vane. After the gib is in place the vane is pulled out into wedged position, and the springy tail of the gib squeezed between the floor of the groove and the bottom of the vanes mounting flange helps keep thevane wedged. Removal of a `vane is accomplished in the reverse manner. The vane is pushed inwardly to provide the above clearance for the gib. A straight tool like a screw driver blade can then be slipped through the slot 44- (FIGS. 2

vane is wedged in place.

and 3) to force the wedge block up over the darn d2. Both the vane and the gib are then withdrawn.

The body of the vane is more clearly shown in FlGS. 5,46 and 7, and has a channel-shaped face 56. A bulbous enlargement 58 (also FIG. 8) is provided on the back of the body at the outer end of the channel. Also this end of the body is made to extend beyond the runner head 28 as well as beyond the outer end of the dovetail base 43. The inner end of the channel can be beveled on its back surface, as shown at 60.

FIG. 8 shows the bottom of the dovetail base 43 and shows a group of three positioning lands or webs '71, 72 and 73. Between` them the base bottom is relieved and in the illustrated embodiment has two recesses 81 and 82. The lands are preferably spaced a small amount, about 1/16 4to l@ inch, from the ioor of groove when the This spacing is generally too "large to permit seizing by particles that may work their way in. The removal of all lands except at the ends of the dovetail flange also reduces the possibility of seizure.

A feature of the present invention is that the vanes can be readily removed and replaced without the need for hammering or otherwise applying large stresses. The spacings are such that no seizure takes place and the vanes are easily pushed in and pulled out by hand without tools, once the wedge block is lifted out of its stop position. Where the gib tail is suiciently non-yielding it will .also hold its block in front of land 71 so that this land pushes the gib out before it when the vane is withdrawn. VLand 72 or 73 can help by also pushing the gib out before it. For this purpose the outer end of the gib tail is bent so as to be in the path of these lands which, as pointed out above, are advisedly spaced a little from the groove floor. The tail also urges the vane flange upwardly against the sides 46 of the groove to help hold the vane in position when the wheel is not rotating. When it is rotating centrifugal forces lock the vanes in place and hold them accurately in position.

The above vanes are readily made by casting, as by using an ordinary sand casting' mold with baked sand inserts if desired. The vanes can either be cast one at a time, or a plurality can be cast together.

A very effective form of gib is illustrated in greater detail in FIGS. 9 and 10. It is made of a sheet of spring metal corrugated so as to zig-zag to and fro between two parallel planes 91, 92, preferably about 1% inch apart. The head of the gib has a block 51 secured to one end of the metal sheet and arranged so that it provides a tapered wedging face 94 that only extends out to the plane 91.

On the opposite face of the gib it provides a tapered face 95 that extends beyond plane 92 and helps outer edge 96 of the head butt against the face of dam 42, which acts as a positioning stop.

The gib preferably extends over substantially the en- -tire width of the groove floor, so that the access passageway 44 removes only a small portion of the positioning stop. The Wall relieving 48 near the stop enables the wide gib head to be readily slipped over the darn into position when mounting the vane, and to be readily pried out over the darn when the vane is to be demounted. Also the tapered character of face 9S enables it to be more readily engaged by a prying tool, lifted up and pulled over the dam.

The vane weight is also reduced by making its body with a wall thickness of about 1% inch except for the discharge end of the channel. At that end the bulbous enlargement 58 provides a rounded wear surface and a thicker end 98 that better withstands erosion by the particles that are thrown out and ricochet back from the work surfaces being treated. The enlargement need not extend'more than `3/s inch longitudinally of the vane,

,masse nor make the channel oor more than about 5%@ inch v mounting flange 43 of the vanes is substantially uniform in conguration throughout its length. The use of abrupt apertures or the like, of the type used in the prior art to hold locking pins, as in the above-mentioned Patent 2,732,666, seriously weakens the mounting flange and generally `restricts the magnitude of the centrifugal forces it can safely withstand. The throwing wheels of the present invention do not have stress concentrations at abrupt apertures, and can be safely operated at speeds `as high as about 3600 revolutions per minute, where the prior ait maximum speeds are about 2800 revolutions per ininute or lower. Higher speeds enable more particle projection from smaller wheels and also simplify wheel rotashifting arrangements. Because of the greater massiveness of the runner head 28, it will effectively withstand such higher stresses notwithstanding the presence of the recesses 34, d@ and 44. The corners of these recesses can be more or less rounded and they can have radii as small as 1/16 inch orV as large as l@ inch without detracting from the above higher operating speed safety.

The above constructions are very effectively used with vanes having channel widths as much as 6 inches and as little as two inches or less. The wall thicknesses of the vane bodies can be varied somewhat, e.g. between 5/16 and 7/16 yinch and still take advantage of the low vane weight. The bevel 85 that locks the mounting llange can be at an angle of from about 20 to 70 degrees with respect to the channel wall, although a 45 degree bevel is particularly desirable. Also the gib can have an overall tail thickness of somewhat more and somewhat less than the 3A; inch value given above, with or without corresponding adjustment of the Vspace between the ange bottom and the floor of the groove. This space is preferably such that the gib tail is compressed at least 1&2 inch. The projection of face 95 beyond plane 92 need only be about 1/16 inch.

The gib head can also be provided by bolting or riveting a block to thet sheet metal tail, or even by casting the block about one end of the tail. By using the tail as the wedging surface 94, advantage is taken of the wear-resistant character of the springy metal, such as high carbon steel or other spring steel, from which the tail is made. However, the tail can be used to make face 95 instead, if desired. Although two corrugations are shown in the illustrated gib, more or fewer corrugations can be used.

The features of the present invention can also be used with vanes that are mounted between two parallel rotors or runner heads. In such mountings there is no need for the ruggedness built into the cantilever mounting illustrated in the gures, and the vanes can then be made with Walls even thinner than indicated above. However, the less rounded corners, the bulbous enlargements and the freedom from pin connections, contribute advantages in particle impingement pattern, vane life and increased operating speed, respectively, regardless of the type of mounting.

Obviously many modiiications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within Athe scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed:

1. A vane for a particle throwing wheel that rotates and projects particles fed to the vane, said vane having a channel-shaped body with mounting structure to hold the vane on the throwing wheel, the mounting structure including a flange along one side edge of the body, the flange being thicker than the body and having a foot portion that is beveled longitudinally of the flange to provide a wedging surface accessible from one end of the Harige.

2. A particle throwing wheel assembly having radially extending vanes for projecting outwardly a stream of Particles fed to the inner ends of the vanes as the wheel rotates, the wheel including a rotor with a set of grooves in which the individual vanes are received, the grooves being of the dovetail type and the vanes having mounting anges shaped to t within the grooves so that each vane can be mounted on the wheel by sliding the vane inwardly from the outer end of a groove, the oor of each groove having a recess `which at its radially outward end denes a retainer stop, a removable retainer gib in each groove and having a wedge block secured to that end of the gib lying adjacent the outer periphery of the wheel which abuts said stop and is held thereby against radially outward movement, the gib having a longitudinally tapered wedging face facing the vane in the same slot, and each vane flange having a correspondingly tapered wedging bevel engaging said wedging face and locking the vane against radially outward movement in the groove.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which the gib is a springy body.

4. The combination of claim 2 in which the recess eX- tends across substantially the entire width of each groove, the gib Wedge block is substantially as wide as the recess and the recess extends radially inwardly about as far as the gib block does.

5. The combination of claim 2 in which that portion of the gib secured to the wedge block is longitudinally tapered on the face opposite the Wedging face, the taper in the two faces extending in opposite directions.

6. The combination of claim 2 in which a narrow passageway runs through the retainer stop and provides direct access to the gib wedge block.

7. A particle throwing Wheel rotor having radially eX- tending grooves of the dovetail type to receivethrowing vanes, each groove having a Hoor, a recess near its outer end to provide at the radially outward end of the recess a retainer stop for the vanes, and an access passageway through a narrow portion of each stop.

8. The combination of claim 7 in which the recess ex-i tends substantially completely across each groove and is deeper immediately adjacent the stop than it is at its opposite end, the side walls of the groove are tapered except at the groove end adjacent the stop, and at that end the side walls are relieved to permit passage of a locking device over the stop and into the recess.

9. A retainer gib for use in particle throwing wheels having an elongated, relatively wide springy body and a Wedge block secured to one end of the body, that portion of the gib secured to the wedge block presenting on both faces a longitudinally tapered surface.

10. The combination of `claim 9 in which the body is a generally corrugated metal sheet.

11. A vane for a throwing wheel that rotates and projects particles fed to the vane, said vane having a channelshaped body with mounting structure to hold the vane on the throwing wheel, the body having a wall thickness no greater than 5%; inch except for one end of the channel, the floor of the channel at that end having a rounded enlargement extending about 3A; inch longitudinally of the vane and making the floor thickness about W16 inch.

12. The combination of claim 11 in which the vane is a one-piece ferrous metal casting. j

13. The combination of claim 12in which the mounting structure is only along one side edge of the vane body.

14. The combination of claim 12 in which the channelshaped body has a channel oor and channel side walls, and the corners between the oor and side walls have a radius of not more than 1A; inch.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,204,633 6/40 Turnbull 51-9 2,376,639 5/45 Unger 51-9 2,869,289 l/59 Gossard 5l-9 Y LESTER M. SWINGLE, Primary Examiner.

JOHN C. CHRISTIE, I. SPENCER OVERHOLSER,

Examiners.

Disclaimer 3,197,920.-?alpk W. Moore, Hagerstown, Md., and Josep/L E. Bowling, Jr. Waynesboro, Pa. THROVVING VHEEL AND PARTS THERE- FOR. Patent dated Aug. 3, 1965. Disclaimer led Mar. 17, 1972, by the assignee, The Oarbomndum Company. Hercby enters this disclaimer to claims 11, 12 und 14 0f said patent,

[Ofm'al Gazette June I3, 1972.]

Claims (1)

1. 2. A PARTICLE THROWING WHEEL ASSEMBLY HAVING RADIALLY EXTENDING VANES FOR PROJECTING OUTWARDLY A STREAM OF PARTICLES FED TO THE INNER ENDS OF THE VANES AS THE WHEEL ROTATES, THE WHEEL INCLUDING A ROTOR WITH A SET OF GROOVES IN WHICH THE INDIVIDUAL VANES ARE RECEIVED, THE GROOVES BEING OF THE DOVETAIL TYPE AND THE VANES HAVING MOUNTING FLANGES SHAPED TO FIT WITHIN THE GROOVES SO THAT EACH GROOVE CAN BE MOUNTED ON THE WHEEL BY SLIDING THE VANE INWARDLY FROM THE OUTER END OF A GROOVE, THE FLOOR OF EACH GROOVE HAVING A RECESS WHICH AT ITS RADIALLY OUTWARD END DEFINES A RETAINER STO, A REMOVABLE RETAINER GIB IN EACH GROOVE AND HAVING A WEDGE BLOCK SECURED TO THAT END OF THE GIB LYING ADJACENT THE OUTER PERIPHERY OF THE WHEEL WHICH ABUTS SAID STOP AND IS HELD THEREBY AGAINST RADIALLY OUTWARD MOVEMENT, THE GIB HAVING A LONGITUDINALLY TAPERED WEDGING FACE FACING THE VANE IN THE SAME SLOT, AND EACH VANE FLANGE HAVING A CORRESPONDING TAPERED WEDING BEVEL ENGAGING SAID WEDGING FACE AND LOCKING THE VANE AGAINST RADIALLY OUTWARD MOVEMENT IN THE GROVE.

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