US3808663A

US3808663A - Aligning mechanism for battery grid casting machine

Info

Publication number: US3808663A
Application number: US00287774A
Authority: US
Inventors: J Mclane
Original assignee: Wirtz Manufacturing Co Inc
Current assignee: Wirtz Manufacturing Co Inc
Priority date: 1972-09-11
Filing date: 1972-09-11
Publication date: 1974-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 1991-05-07
Also published as: CA975924A; JPS5330894B2; DE2339695A1; GB1440117A; JPS4964830A; DE2339695B2; DE2339695C3

Abstract

A battery grid casting machine which includes a grid trimming die and means for properly aligning the grid with the die. The latter means includes a belt conveyor adapted to direct the cast grid onto a horizontally disposed pallet which in turn pivots downwardly so that the grid gravitates to a position wherein lugs at the leading edge thereof engage a stop which properly aligns the grid before the stop is retracted to feed the grid into the trimming die.

Description

United States Patent [191 McLane ALIGNING MECHANISM FOR BATTERY GRID CASTING MACHINE [75] Inventor: Jack E. McLane, Port Huron, Mich.

[73] Assignee: Wirtz Manufacturing Company,

Inc., Port Huron, Mich.

[22] Filed: Sept. 11, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 287,774

[52] US. Cl. 29/204 [51] Int.-Cl. H01m 35/18 [58] Field of Search. 29/204, 204 R, 204 D, 208 R,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTSv 3,508,318 4 1970 Clingenpeel m1. ..29/204 111 3,808,663 [451 May 7, 1974' Primary Examiner-Thomas H. Eager Choate [5 7] ABSTRACT A battery grid casting machine which includes a grid trimming die and means for properly aligning the grid with the die. The latter means includes a belt conveyor adapted to direct the cast grid onto a horizontally disposed pallet which in turn pivots downwardly so that the grid gravitates to a position whereinlugs at the leading edge thereof engage a stop which properly aligns the grid before the stop is retracted to feed the grid into the trimming die.

11 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures and drawings,in which:

ALIGNING MECHANISM FOR BATTERY GRID CASTING MACHINE This invention relates to a machine for the manufacture of battery grids and, more specifically, to a mechanism for properly aligning the cast grid with a grid trimming die.

Battery grids are normally cast with projecting portions at the upper and lower edges thereof which extend outwardly beyond the finished dimensions of the grid. These excess metal portions are formed on the gridas cast in portions of the mold cavity which are required, such as for gates,vents, shrink lugs, etc. After casting and while the grid is still quite hot and relatively fragile, it is customary to convey the grid to a trimming die where the abovementioned projecting portions are sheared off to trim the grid to its finished dimensions.

In order to obtain properly sized and properly shaped grids it is essential that the grid be correctly aligned with the die. In the process of aligning the grid for entry into the die it is important that its movement be arrested gently since it is still sufficiently hot as to be relatively fragile.

The present invention has for its primary object a mechanism for engaging a cast grid as it is released from the mold, gently arresting its speed of travel while directing it onto a support pallet and then tilting the pallet to properly align the grid and to permit it to gravitate toward the trimming die. 1 v

A furtherobject of the invention is to utilize relatively heavy lugs on the leading edge of the cast grid for engaging an alignment stop' associated with the pallet so as to at least-momentarily arrest movement of the grid for the purpose of alignment, the lugs being located on the cast grid so as to be sheared off in the trimming die.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view ofa grid casting machine incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, showing the manner in which the grid aligning mechanism -is actuated;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 4--4 in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken-along line 5-5 in FIG. 1 and showing in broken lines the portions of the grid as cast which are sheared off in the trimming die.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a portion of a battery grid casting machine which includes a slide 12 extending downwardly directly from beneath the mold of the machine and onto which cast grids, while still relatively hot, are adapted to fall after the mold is opened and the grid is ejected. Since the mold may be of the conventional type which includes separable sections, it need not be illustrated or further described. The grid aligning and trimming'mechanism is supported on the frame of the machine which includes a pair of side walls 14. Slide 12 is of arcuate shape and curves downwardly so that its lower end overlies the upper run of an endless conveyor belt I6. Belt 16 is trained around two rollers 18 and 20. Roller 18 is continuously driven from a power source on the machine, as by a belt or chain 22. Guide plates 24 are mounted along each side of conveyor belt 16 and project upwardly slightly above the upper run of belt 16 so as to cooperate with the conveyor belt to form a guideway for the grids. A weighted steel roller 26 extends across and is supportedon the upper run of belt 16. The opposite ends of roller 26 are guided for vertical movement in brackets 28. The upper run of belt 16 is supported on the underside thereof by suitable means (not shown) to prevent the weight of roller 26 from causing the belt to sag. Roller 18 is driven so that the upper run of the belt travels in the direction indicated by arrow 30 in FIG. 1.

Adjacent the discharge end of conveyor belt 16 there is mounted on side walls 14 of the machine a pair of side plates 32 on which the alignment mechanism about to be described is mounted. This alignment mechanism includes a flat pallet 34 journalled on a shaft 36 by means of a pair of bushings 38 welded to the underside of pallet 34. Shaft 36 is journalled on side plates 32 by bearings 40 and pallet 34 is prevented from shifting axially on shaft 36' by a pair of collars 42 fixed to the shaft in a suitable manner and abutting the axially outer faces of bushings 38. A support bracket 44 (see FIGS. 1 and 4) underlies pallet 34 and has a pair of bushings 46 welded or otherwise fixedly attached to the upper face thereof. Shaft 36 extends through bushings 46 andthe bushings are fixed to the shaft by set screws or the like so that shaft 36 and bracket 44 rotate as a unit while pallet 34 is permitted to pivot freely .on

shaft 36.

The lower end of link 50 is pivotally connected as at 54 to the free end of a crank arm 56 which is supported for swinging movement about a fixed pivot 58. The intermediate portion of arm 56 carries a cam follower 60 which rides on the outer periphery ofa cam 62 fixed to a shaft 64. Shaft 64 is positively driven in the direction shown by the arrow 66 from a suitable drive mechanism on the machine (not shown).

The periphery of cam 62 comprises a cam track having an outermost portion 68 concentric with the axis of rotation of shaft 64 and an innermost portion 70 which is also concentric to the axis of rotation of shaft 64. A cam rise portion 72 connects one pair of the adjacent ends of

cam track portions

68 and 70. The cam track also includes a third portion 74 which is concentric to the axis of rotation of shaft 64 and which is disposed radially between

portions

68 and 70. It will be observed that the circumferential extent of portion 74 is substantially shorter than the circumferential extents of

portions

68,70. When cam follower 60 is riding on the high side 68 of cam 62 bracket 44 is in the position shown in FIG. 1. When cam follower 60 is riding on the low side 70 of cam 62 bracket 44 is disposed in the downwardly inclined position shown in FIG. 3.

A rubber bumper 76 is fixedly mounted on the top side of bracket 44 so that the upper end thereof is normally engaged by the underside of a pallet 34. If desired, a spring 78 may have one end thereof attached to pallet 34 as at 80 and the other end thereof fixedly anchored as at 82 in order to prevent any bouncing action between pallet 34 and bracket 44. Bumper 76 serves as a spacer between pallet 34 and bracket 44 to 84 fixedly mounted thereon. In the position of the various elements shown in FIG. 1 stop 84 projects upwardly above the plane of pallet 34.

Each side wall 14 has an abutment or bumper 86 mounted thereon as by a bracket 88. Abutments 86 are located so as to engage the underside of pallet 34 adjacent the outer corners thereof at the leading free edge of the pallet as cam follower 60 rides off the high side 68 of the cam onto the low side 70 of cam 62. As shown in FIG. 3, when cam follower 60 is riding on the low side 70 of cam 62 bracket 44 has been pivoted to a downwardly inclined position wherein pivotal movement of pallet 34 is arrested by stops 86 while bumper 76 on bracket 44 is spaced downwardly below pallet 34. It will be further observed that in this position bracket 44 has been pivoted downwardly sufficiently to cause upright stop 84 to be retracted to a position below the plane of pallet 34.

It should be pointed out at this time that the cam track portion 74 is designedsuch that, when cam follower 60 rides off the cam track portion 68 onto the cam track portion 74, bracket 44 is pivoted downwardly to a position above that shown in FIG. 3 wherein bumper 76 is still in engagement with the underside of pallet 34. As a result, pallet 34 is pivoted downwardlyto permit the grid thereon to slide downwardly to a position wherein the grid is still in contact with stop 84. The circumferential or arcuate extent of cam track portion 74 is sufficient toenable the grid to stabilize itself against stop 84 before the stop is retracted to the position illustrated in FIG. 3.

'For a better understanding of the action which occurs .on pallet 34 so as to properly align the grid reference to FIG. is helpful. In FIG. 5 the grid is designated 90. In the as cast condition the grid includes the portions shown in broken lines in FIG. 5. This includes a gate portion 92 at the upperor trailing end of the grid and heavy lugs 94 at the leading or lower end of the grid. Adjacent the lugs 94 the grid may also include relatively thin short sections of flash 96 and a sprue section 9.8. It is the lugs 94 that are adapted to abut against stop 84 so that the grid will be properly aligned with respect to the hereinafter shearing die which is adapted to trim off the

sections

92,94,96,98 along the two

shear lines

100 and 102.

Just beyond the lower end of pallet 34 and in line therewith when the pallet is in the downwardly inclined position shown in FIG. 3 there is located a pair of feed rolls 104,106. Roll 106 is keyed to a shaft 108 which has a sprocket 110 fixedly mounted at one end thereof, as shown in FIG. 2. A chain 112 connects sprocket 110 with a sprocket 114 fixed to shaft 64. The upper roll 104 simply rests on roll 106 in tangential contact therewith. Rolls 104,l06 have serrated surfaces as indicated at 116 so as to frictionally engage the grid as its leading end slides off pallet 34 when stop 84 is retracted to the position'shown in FIG. 3. Roll 106 is power driven at a speed such as to gently direct the grid into the inclined trimming die which is generally designated 118 in FIG. I.

Die 118 has a stationary lower section 120 and a vertieully reciprocating upper section 122. Lower section 120 has a grid support surface 123 generally parallel to the plane of pallet 34 when the latter is in the position in FIG. 3. These two die sections are provided with two pair of cooperating shear members 124,126 which are spaced apart a distance corresponding to the spacing between shear lines l00 and 102 in FIG. 5. Upper die section 122 is reciprocated by a suitable mechanism (not shown) in synchronism with the operation of pa]- let 34. As the grid is directed .into the die by feed rolls 104,106, lugs 94 at the leading end thereof engage a stop plate 128 to properly locate the grid in the die relative to shear members 124,126. Stop 128 is carried on an arm 130 which is pivoted as at 132. Arm 130 is actuated to swing upwardly out of the way of the grid after the die closes so that when the die opens the trimmed grid will slide onto a support plate 134. As shown in FIG. 5, the grid is also formed with a pair of laterally extending lugs 136 which, when the 'grid slides onto plate 134, engages rails 138. Thereafter plate 134, which is pivotally supported as at 140, pivots clockwise as viewed in FIG. 1 to slide the grid along rails 13,8 and stack the same in a vertically suspended position as indicated at 142. v

The operation of the device is apparent from the preceding description. When the grid casting mold sections are separated the hot grid is ejected therefrom and falls onto slide 12 with the lugs 94 foremost. When the grid reaches the lower end of slide 12 it is engaged by the upper run of belt 16 and advanced in the direction of arrow 30 in FIG. 1. Roller 26 bears down on the grid as' it is conveyed thereunder to flatten it in the event that it is slightly bowed. As the leading end of the grid travels past roller'20 the grid is deposited on pallet 34. However at this point the central longitudinal axis of the grid will probably not be accurately aligned with the path of travel. Normally the grid will be slightly cocked as it is deposited on pallet 34. However, immediately after the grid is deposited on pallet 34 from the discharge end of conveyor belt 16 cam follower'60 (which is riding on the high side 68 of the cam) gradually drops to the intermediate portion 74 of the cam track to tilt pallet 34 downwardly so that the grid slides downwardly on the pallet to a position wherein both lugs 94 engage stop plate 84. The grid remains in this position engaging stop 84 momentarily before cam follower 60 encounters the low side 70 of the cam which results in a retraction of stop 84 to the position shown in FIG. 3. This permits the grid to beengaged by the feed rolls 104,106 which direct the grid into the die at the proper speed as previously described.

I claim: 1. In a battery grid casting machine of the type adapted to produce a pair of laterally spaced, relatively heavy lugs projecting forwardly from the leading end of .onto which the grids are adapted to be discharged by the conveyor, said pallet being supported for pivotal movement about a horizon-tally extending axis from a position in a generally horizontal plane to a position inclined downwardly and forwardly in the direction of travel of the grid from the conveyor, means for pivoting said pallet between said two positions comprising a pivoted support bracket underlying said pallet, spacer means projecting upwardly on said bracket and engageable with said pallet to support the same in a position spaced above the bracket, means for pivoting said support bracket downwardly from a position wherein said pallet is supported by said spacer means on the bracket in said horizontal plane so that the pallet pivots downwardly in response to downward pivotal movement of said bracket, an abutment fixedly supported on said machine for limiting downward pivotal movement of the pallet to said downwardly inclined position, a stop member on said bracket which, when the pallet is supported by the spacer means on the bracket, projects upwardly beyond the plane of the pallet adjacent the leading end thereof, said stop member being adapted to be abutted by the lugs on the grid when the pallet pivots downwardly so as to align the grid relative to the shear members of the hereinafter mentioned trim die, said means for pivoting said bracket being adapted to pivot the bracket downwardly beyond the position assumed by the pallet when the latter is in engagement with said abutment to retract said stop member downwardly below the plane of the pallet whereby to permit the grid supported thereon to gravitate downwardly on the pa]- let, and a trimming die disposed beyond the leading end of the pallet and into which the grid is adapted to be discharged, said die having a grid supporting surface inclined generally parallel to the plane of the inclined pallet and having shear members extending transversely of the path of travel of the grid for trimming off the leading and trailing edges of the grid.

2. The combination called for in claim 1 wherein the means for pivoting said bracket are adapted to at least momentarily retain said stop in a position projecting above the plane of the pallet when the pallet engages said abutment.

3. The combination called for in claim 1 wherein said means for pivoting said bracket includes a cam having a cam track, a cam follower interconnecting said bracket and cam track, said cam track having a portion for retaining said stop member in a position projecting upwardly of the plane of the pallet for a predetermined time period after the pallet engages said abutment whereby to permit the grid to assume a fixed position on said pallet before the abutment is retracted.

4. The combination called for in claim 1 wherein the pivotal axis of said bracket coincides with the pivotal axis of said pallet.

5. The combination called for in claim 1 wherein said conveyor comprises an endless belt, the top run of which comprises said grid support surface, a weighted roller gravitationally supported on the top run of the belt so that the grids conveyed by the conveyor are caused to travel between said roller and the top run of the belt.

6. The combination called for in claim 1 including a pair of peripherally engaged feed rolls disposed between said pallet and die and positioned to engage each grid as it is released from the inclined pallet and feed the grids at a controlled rate of speed into the trimming die.

7. The combination called for in claim 1 wherein said means for pivoting said bracket comprises a shaft journalled for rotation about a fixed axis adjacent the discharge end of the conveyor, said bracket being fixed to said shaft to rotate therewith, a crank fixed to said shaft and means for swinging the crank in opposite directions to pivot the bracket upwardly and downwardly about the axis of the shaft.

8. The combination called for in claim 7 wherein the means for swinging the crank comprises a rotary cam having a cam track, a cam follower engaging the cam track and a link interconnecting the cam follower with the crank.

.9. The combination called for in claim 8 wherein said cam track has a first portion concentric with the axis of rotation of the cam for maintaining the pallet in said horizontal position, a second portion concentric with the axis of rotation of the cam for maintaining the bracket in said position wherein said stop is retracted to a position below the plane of the pallet and a third portion for retaining the stop in a position projecting intermediate the first and second portions.

mg UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 CERTIFIQATE OF CURRECTIQN .IIatent No. 3, 808, 63 Dated May 7, 1974 Inventor(s) Jack E. McLane It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 5, Line 43 Cancel "abutmentWand insert in place i thereof stop member i I f Column 6, Line 33 After "stop" insert member Line 35 After "stop" insert member 1 Signed and sealed this 12th day of November 1974.

i (SEAL) Attest:

McCOY M. GIBSON JR. C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents

Claims

1. In a battery grid casting machine of the type adapted to produce a pair of laterally spaced, relatively heavy lugs projecting forwardly from the leading end of the grid as cast, the combination of a power driven conveyor having a generally horizontally disposed grid support onto which the cast grids are directed after being ejected from the casting mold, said conveyor being adapted to advance the grids, leading edge foremost, at a predetermined speed, a grid supporting pallet disposed adjacent the discharge end of said conveyor and onto which the grids are adapted to be discharged by the conveyor, said pallet being supported for pivotal movement about a horizontally extending axis from a position in a generally horizontal plane to a position inclined downwardly and forwardly in the direction of travel of the grid from the conveyor, means for pivoting said pallet between said two positions comprising a pivoted support bracket underlying said pallet, spacer means projecting upwardly on said bracket and engageable with said pallet to support the same in a position spaced above the bracket, means for pivoting said support bracket downwardly from a position wherein said pallet is supported by said spacer means on the bracket in said horizontal plane so that the pallet pivots downwardly in response to downward pivotal movement of said bracket, an abutment fixedly supported on said machine for limiting downward pivotal movement of the pallet to said downwardly inclined position, a stop member on said bracket which, when the pallet is supported by the spacer means on the bracket, projects upwardly beyond the plane of the pallet adjacent the leading end thereof, said stop member being adapted to be abutted by the lugs on the grid when the pallet pivots downwardly so as to align the grid relative to the shear members of the hereinafter mentioned trim die, said means for pivoting said bracket being adapted to pivot the bracket downwardly beyond the position assumed by the pallet when the latter is in engagement with said abutment to retract said stop member downwardly below the plane of the pallet whereby to permit the grid supported thereon to gravitate downwardly on the pallet, and a trimming die disposed bEyond the leading end of the pallet and into which the grid is adapted to be discharged, said die having a grid supporting surface inclined generally parallel to the plane of the inclined pallet and having shear members extending transversely of the path of travel of the grid for trimming off the leading and trailing edges of the grid.

9. The combination called for in claim 8 wherein said cam track has a first portion concentric with the axis of rotation of the cam for maintaining the pallet in said horizontal position, a second portion concentric with the axis of rotation of the cam for maintaining the bracket in said position wherein said stop is retracted to a position below the plane of the pallet and a third portion for retaining the stop in a position projecting above the plane of the pallet for a predetermined time period after the pallet engages said abutment.

10. The combination called for in claim 9 wherein said third portion is concentric with the axis of rotation of the cam.

11. The combination called for in claim 10 wherein said third portion of the cam track is located radially intermediate the first and second portions.