US3264710A - Finishing road - Google Patents

Description

9, 1966 J. (sumo 324,710

FINISHING ROAD Filed Oct. 16, 1963 f T TH &

5 Sheets-Sheet 1 J. GUEDO FINISHING ROAD Aug. 9, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 16, 1963 J. GUIDO FINISHING ROAD Aug 9, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 16, 1963 United States Patent 6 Claims. (or. 29-33 The invention relates to a finishing road with a workpiece slide displaceable intermittently along a straight guide and with at least one machine tool bed located at every machining station perpendicularly to the road and adapted to receive one machining or processing unit.

The series production of industrial products has recently been changed in that manner that the separate machining of the workpieces in distinct shops, such as the milling, turning, planing, drilling shops and the like has been abandoned, and the production is carried out in optimum succession on a so-called finishing or transfer road. The machines, and mainly the machine tools are arranged along this road on either side thereof next to one another and equidistantly spaced. The resulting reduction in the transportation of the workpiece and the saving in the chucking times for the workpieces which need to be mounted only once led to a considerable acceleration and rationalisation of the entire manufacture.

However, these known finishing roads have the serious drawback that they are adapted only to receive one certain workpiece. Once the machines have been distributed, set and adjusted in their beds, a later change of the production to another or modified workpiece requires considerable expenditure for the new setting up and readjustment. Machine beds which had been set up in their foundations must be detached and the new machine beds must be aligned and embedded. In view of the many detachable connections between the workpiece clamped on the workpiece slide of the finishing road and the tool fixed in the machining part of the machine tool, this alignment is very extensive and can be carried out only by highly qualified labour.

Furthermore, the hydraulic system and the automatic electric circuits must also be adapted to this new programme of the unit. Also very often the mounting of the workpiece and its fixing no longer agrees with the requirements of the new workpiece to be machined so that structural changes must be made also in this respect, and the new arrangement must be tested.

In consequence of these drawbacks, finishing roads are nowadays only suitable for large series of uniform parts and desirable modifications have often to be abandoned, owing to the extensive and expensive rearrangement of the finishing road which would be necessary.

The present invention aims at eliminating these drawbacks and at providing a universal finishing road suitable also for smaller series, making possible a change in the. production programme and in the machining units with their beds quickly and with a minimum of expediture.

According to the invention, this object is realized in that the guide for the workpiece slide consists of longitudinal sections, each associated with one of the adjacent machines and comprising the necessary centering and clamping points for the slide, whilst all machine tool beds are located and easily detachably mounted on a profiled bar or the like, forming part of the finishing road.

The substantial advantage of this construction is that the individual centering and clamping points remain connected with the associated machine bed always in the same way so that a change in the production programme does not necessitate a new adjustment between the machine bed and the associated fixing point for the workpiece. In addition, the centering and fixing at all ma- Patented August 9, 1966 "ice chining stations is effected only on the workpiece slide so that the centering and clamping can be effected without regard to the configuration of the workpiece itself. It is only necessary to align and mount the workpiece once before the start of the machining, as already known in the art.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each section of the guide is rigidly connected with a pair of machine beds with the such beds located on opposite sides of the guide, each such pair of machine beds being guided and located by means of two parallel profiled bars of the finishing road. This arrangement has also the further advantage that the individual machine beds no longer require special foundations on either side of the flowline.

According to the invention it is suflicient to bolt each bed or pair of beds to a support provided for this purpose which also carries the profiled bars or bars. Thus, these supports arranged side by side along the fininshing road remain in their positions, and only the pairs of tools bolted thereto are exchanged for machines with the appropriate bed length according to the programme, so arranged that manufacturing programme can be carried out. Here it is important that this exchange requires no adjustment apart from the simple alignment of the beds in the axial direction of the road, because the centering and clamping point associated therewith remains on the pair of machine beds itself.

According to a further feature of the invention, the' successive supports of the finishing road are detachably connected also in their lower zones. This results in an extraordinarily rigid bed for the entire installation which no longer requires special foundations. An existing finishing road may be easily shortened or extended if a new programme requires less or more operations than the previous one.

Further features of the invention relate to other struc tural measures of the new finishing road which simplify and cheapen the manufacture and adjustment of the entire installation.

The invention will be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the finishing road according to the invention in diagrammatic side elevation;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section of the road of FIG. 1 along the line IIII (showing only the parts visible along this cross-section, the road being slightly modified compared number of pairs of machine tool beds 3' which may be fitted on these profiled bars 2 by means of grooves 3 and connected by bolts with the supports 1. The first (starting) support and the last (finishing) support 1 have also special, similarly fixed machine beds 4 and 5; the machine bed 4 carries also a hydraulic installation, not shown in detail, for the workpiece advance, as explained in detail fiurther below and an associated electrical control apparatus 6, whilst the machine tool bed 5 carries a shock-absorber 7, adapted to receive the workpiece (not shown) arriving at the end of the finishing road.

As may be seen more clearly from FIGS. 2 and 3,

a a each pair or machine beds :3 has two opposite machine beds 3n and 3b, between which there is located along the lateral centre plane of the pair otmachine beds and thus along the vertical longitudinal centre plane of the road, a

rigid guide for the workpiece slide 9, consisting of two guides 8." A vertically displaceable indexing pin is mounted along the vertical centre lines of the guide and of the entire pair of machine beds, and two clamping jaws 11 are provided in the, longitudinal direction of the pair of machine. beds 3 in appropriate recesses of the two guides 8, so that they may be moved downwards from their.

normal position flush with the guides 8,.in order to clamp the workpiece slide 9. In addition, each pair of machine beds 3, the length of which may differ in accordance with the requirements of the machining units (not shown) has,

lateral recesses 12 within the zone of the guides 8 which servefor the removal of the chips.

Each-pair 3 of machine: beds may be bolted together with the associated support 1 on both sides of the pro filed bar 2 by means of screws or bolts 13. In addition, the successive supports 1 are detaohably connected one tothe other in their lower zones at the points 14 (FIG; 1) by means not shown in detail. pairs 3 of machine bed-s are bolted together by connections 15, as shown in FIG. 4; these connections maybe disconnected simply when a pair of beds has to be ex-;

changed.

A horizontal conveyor chain 16 is located in lower recesses of the support 1, extending between the first and last support 1 and serving to return the workpiece slide 9,

afterthe same has arrived at the end of the road and the workpiece has'been detached therefrom. To enable the workpiece slide to carry out its circuit automatically,

a space corresponding substantially to one processing sta tion is left tree between the, first and second, and between the penultimate and last supports 1, bridged merely by thev profiled bars 2 andat the'bottom by the connections 175 Furthermore, the first support 1 is equipped with a car? riage 19 vertically displaceable in a guide 18, and a similar vertical guide 20 with a further carriageZl isl-ocated on the last support; these two carriages are vertically displaceable between there upper position (FIG. 1) and a.

lower position, in which guides So on these carriages and similar to theguides 8, are slightly below the upper run:

of the chain 16.

The hydraulic installation in the machine bed 4 serves also for supplying a forwarding cylinder 22 in which a forwarding piston (not shown) is displaceable by an amount corresponding to the length of one processing step in the direction of the movement of the workpiece slidei This hydraulic installation is also used for operating the indexing pins 10* and the clamping jaws 11 in accordance with the programming of the control device 6, through.

conduits provided in the machine beds 3 and through conduits 23 connecting the pairs of machine beds 3 (see FIG. 1

1) and through the connections 15 (see FIG. 4).

F or operating the finishing roads, machining units (not shown) are mounted on the individual machine beds 3a.

and 3b by means of T-slots provided for this'purpose,;in such a manner that the required machining may be ef-. :tected with the workpiece in its position. With this assembly, the correct relative position between workpiece and tool results from the integral connection between the.

Finally,. the individual to a workpiece carriage or slide 9 and then placed with this slide on the carriage 19, located in its upper position.-

In addition, the successive positions in the direction of advance of the workpiece slide 9' are each occupied by an 4, empty workpiece slide ,untilonly the lett carriage, 21, in FIG. 1 remains unoccupied.

Then the ,whole installation is started-up by switching I on the control. mechanisrn6,- causing the piston in the cylinder- 2210 be advanced. in 'the .feed direction of the 7 road by the length of one workpiece slide-that is to say, by

the amount of one finishing step. The workpiece slide 9 carrying thefirst workpiece has now reached the first processing station whilst the empty workpiece slide, pre-.

viously opposite the last station has now been moved into the carriage 21 and is held there by the shock absorber-7.

This shock absorber forms simultaneously a stop by means I of which the succeeding, abnttingcarriages. 9"are held at their respective processing .stations'with vsutlicient .accuracy. The exact alignment of the workpiece carriages 9' at the individual processing stations is ettected by means of the indexing/pins 10' which aremoved 'by-the' control mechanism 6 and the hydra ulicqinstallation slightlytowards the top and engage: into conical bores (not shown) of t-heL WOIkpiececarriages 9, located above .them.: During the. next control stage, the clamping jaws associated: with each pair 3 otmachinebeds are moved downwardly and the centered carriage '9 isjnow firmly clamped against theguides 8 of the pair 3 of machine beds- After this clamping, the control mechanismfi issues a further impulse whereby the operation of the machining units located on the tool carriagesila and 3b is initiated.

During this processing a new workpiece slide :9 is fitted on the carriage 19 in front of the advancing piston which has now returned to its starting position and the emptyslide 9 on the carriage. 21 is lowered therewith on to the conveyor chain; 16. When the work ot allprocessing units along there-ad has been completed, i this fact is communioated to the control device bya further impulse, causing first the clamping. jaws of all working positions to be. retracted and the indexing pins lfl to be lowered into. their 1 liberating position: Then the nextstep maybe initiated.

During the following second advancemovement 'ot the,,

advancing piston, the workpiece, carrier 9 reaches the second processing stage, and .the still empty workpiece carrier '9, now facing the last positionis now placed on the 1 carriage .21 which has meanwhile been-returnedto its top.

position and is again aligned .by the shock absorber '7.

The workpiece may now be processed by the second set of tools, after clamping and fixing the workpiece carriage The workpiece; may again be again as described before. machined or processed fromboth sides and this action continues. until itireaches, in its turn, with its carriage 9 5 the carriage 21; Here it is'detached from the workpiece slide 9'during, the machining of. the next part and the empty workpiece carrier travels with the carriage 21 in a downward direction and is deposited 'on the conveyor chain; .the conveyor chain transports this slide 9 again tov the starting point where it is received by the carriagev 19 z This carriage 19 lifts the empty workpiece carrier 9 to the top and the which is now in its bottommost position.

nextworkpiece, is mounted, allowing the cycle to continue.

If the correct clamping of the workpiece should require more time than is available between the individual processing steps, the .carriage19 may naturally also be supplied. from a separate clamping position :for the WOIk pieces (not shown) which receives the empty workpiece slides from the conveyor chain 16.

If aprocessing programme is to, be changed, the required 1 readjustments may be effected extraordinarily quickly.

This change is eiiected merely by detaching the .entire unit or the pair of units with the associated pair 3 of machine beds, forming together one or two independent.

machine tools, from the past station by slackening the bolts 13 .and the connection 15, and moving it to the new position. Neither need a foundation be dismantled nor a supportl be moved.

If it is'desired, for example, to extend the finishing road, this may also be eilectedwithout extensive alterations. First, the; individual pairs- 30f machine beds are .dis-

mantled from the support 1 and the machine bed 5 with support 1 at the end of the finishing road. is moved forward by an amount allowing a number of new supports 1-- corresponding to the number of new processing stages to be fitted between the penultimate support 1 and the connection carrier 17 to the last remaining support. If the length of the hitherto used profiled bars 2 is insufiicient, new and longer profile bars must be inserted. In addition, the conveyor chain 16 must be extended, but also this may be efiected easily, say, by inserting additional links.

Then the new pairs of machine beds, corresponding to the altered programme, are bolted to their appropriate supports 1 and connected by the connections with the hydraulic installation; when this is completed, the new, extended finishing road may be put into use with a larger number of wprkpiece carriers-9.

Although with presently used machining units a change of the working position requires also a further expenditure, connected with the displacement of the hydraulic installation and with the electrical connections to the power source or the like, it must be pointed out that also here new proposals facilitate and accelerate this change considerably. In this manner it is possible to carry out even extensive alterations of a finishing road without specialized labour and especially qualified electricians, for example, merely by means of electric sockets 26 provided on the supports 1 for connecting the same to the mains through a fuse box 27 and a main switch 28, even though, for example, the hydraulically controlled movements and the requirements ofhydraulic fluid at the working position should change considerably.

Obviously, the invention is not restricted. to the described finishing road in all its details. Thus, for example, every centering and clamping position could be associated with only one machine tool bed without there- :by departing from the principle of the invention.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for facilitating the accurate progressive machining of a plurality of work pieces and for facilitating the substitution or addition of different machining operations, said apparatus comprising a plurality of up right supports disposed in spaced side-by-side relationship and detachably secured together, each support having a pair of spaced upwardly opening grooves, the grooves in all of said supports being in alignment, a pair of accurately machined bars disposed in said grooves with a portion of each bar projecting above the upper surfaces of said supports, at least one machine tool bed secured to the upper surface of each support and disposed transversely of said bars, each bed having a pair of spaced downwardly opening grooves tightly receiving the projecting portions of said bars to accurately position each bed with respect to the adjacent bed, each bed serving to receive and support the machine tool to provide successive machining stations, a guide on each bed between said bars, said guides being in alignment, a plurality of work piece carriers slidably received on said guides, and means on each bed for centering and clamping a carrier for machining of a work piece carried thereby.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which a pair of machine tool beds are secured to the upper surface of each support and disposed transversely of said bars, each pair of beds being accurately positioned by said bars, each pair of beds serving to receive and support a pair of machine tools disposed on opposite sides of said guide, each carrier serving to hold a work piece for machining by each pair of machine tools.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said centering and clamping means is hydraulically operated, each bed having passages for supplying pressure fluid to said centering and clamping means, and means for securing adjacent beds together, said last named means also providing communication between the passages in adjacent beds.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 and including hydraulic means for intermittently advancing said carriers along said guides.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 and including a shock absorber disposed adjacent the guide on the last bed for yieldably stopping movement of a carrier on said guides after completion of the last machining operation.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 and including conveyor means for receiving a carrier after completion of the last machining operation and returning such carrier to the guide for the first machining operation.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD H. EANES, IR., Primary Examiner.

Images