US3866361A

US3866361A - Replaceable pad assembly

Info

Publication number: US3866361A
Application number: US390642A
Authority: US
Inventors: Harold R Mauck
Original assignee: Standard Abrasives Inc
Current assignee: Standard Abrasives Inc
Priority date: 1973-08-22
Filing date: 1973-08-22
Publication date: 1975-02-18
Anticipated expiration: 1992-02-18

Abstract

A replaceable resilient pad assembly for abrasive finishing articles. A body of resilient material has a drive disc secured to one side of the body. The other side of the body contains a surface to which an abrasive finishing article can be secured. The drive disc contains drive bosses which enable the assembly to rotate with a drive member. An inwardly-directed lip formed on the periphery of the drive disc enables the disc to be positioned on the drive member without the use of tools or an adhesive. Typically, the drive disc is a flexible plastic member having integrally formed drive bosses and lip.

Description

[ 1 Feb. 18, 1975 I 1 REPLACEABLE PAD ASSEMBLY [75] Inventor: Harold R. Mauck, Woodland Hills,

Calif.

[73] Assignee: Standard Abrasives Incorporated,

Northridge, Calif.

[22] Filed: Aug. 22, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 390,642

[52] US. Cl 51/358, 51/378, 51/389 [51) Int. Cl. B2411 17/00 [58] Field of Search 51/358, 376-379, 51/389, 390

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,014,319 12/1961 Olton 51/358 3,082,582 3/1963 Jeske 51/358 3,241,268 3/1966 Olson 51/358 3,510,992 5/1970 Hutchins 51/358 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 710,945 6/1931 France 51/379 Primary E.\'uminer-Othell M. Simpson Attorney, Agent, or FirmNilsson, Robbins, Bissell, Dalgarn & Berliner [5 7] ABSTRACT A replaceable resilient pad assembly for abrasive fin ishing articles. A body of resilient material has a drive disc secured to one side of the body. The other side of the body contains a surface to which an abrasive finishing article can be secured. The drive disc contains drive bosses which enable the assembly to rotate with a drive member. An inwardly-directed lip formed on the periphery of the drive disc enables the disc to be positioned on the drive member without the use of tools or an adhesive. Typically, the drive disc is a flexible plastic member having integrally formed drive bosses and lip,

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 1 REPLACEABLE PAD ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of art The field of art to which the invention pertains includes the field of abrasive finishing articles, particularly with respect to a replaceable, resilient pad assem bly for supporting such articles.

2. Description of the prior art Resilient pad assemblies which are used to support abrasive finishing articles are typically made so that the finishing article can be quickly connected to a drive member and then disconnected when it is desired to use a fresh or different finishing article. Typically, the used finishing disc can either be replaced on its support surface at a later time or preferably, the disc and its support surface discarded.

Conventional pad assemblies are formed of a single unit containing a drive stud and suitable support plates. The support plates are typically formed of phenolic fiber or metal discs, or both, which are riveted together and contain a sponge element permanently bonded to the front face of the disc. If the sponge element wears out or is torn, the entire unit must be replaced. Normally, the cost of a main drive member is much greater than the finishing article and the support member. Thus, it has been found desirable to merely discard the finishing article and support member and provide fresh assemblies which can be secured to a main drive memher.

The present invention provides a replaceable resilient pad assembly which can be easily mounted on a drive member. An abrasive article can be secured to one side of a resilient member of the pad assembly with the other side of the resilient member having a drive disc secured thereto. The pad assembly is easily positioned on the drive member without the use of tools or adhesives.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A resilient pad assembly includes a body of resilient material with one face adapted to have an abrasive finishing article secured thereto, and a drive disc secured to the other face. The drive disc is integrally formed with both a plurality of bosses and an inwardly turned lip on its periphery. The bosses fit into apertures formed in the drive member and the lip is secured around the periphery of the drive member'and secures the drive disc to the drive member. The bosses enable the drive disc to turn with the drive member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a resilient pad assembly as well as a drive member utilized to drive the pad assembly;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, of the resilient pad assembly of FIG. I mounted on the drive member; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view in section, illustrating the technique of removing the replaceable pad assembly from the drive member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. I, there is shown a resilient pad assembly 12 constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention together with a drive member 14 upon which the pad assembly may be mounted. The resilient pad assembly 12 is illustrated in FIG. 1 in an exploded perspective view prior to assembly in a sandwich configuration.

The pad assembly 12 comprises a resilient pad 22 shaped as a disc-like member having a central opening 24 formed therein. The resilient pad 22 is a relatively thick, flat circular pad made of foam rubber, polyurethane, or an equivalent foam material which has an internal cell structure. A drive disc 26 and a face member 28 are secured on opposite faces of the pad 22. The face member 28 is normally made of duck cloth or similar type material and has a diameter approximately equal to that of the pad 22. The face member 28 contains an opening 30 (not shown in FIG. 1) which is aligned with the opening 24 of the pad 22.

The drive disc 26 diameter is slightly less than the diameter of the pad 22. The disc 26 contains an annular inwardly-directed retaining lip 32 formed on its periphery. The lip 32 is formed on the surface of the disc 26 opposite that secured to the pad 22. The annular lip 32 is chamfered on both sides to facilitate insertion and removal of a drive member as will be explained hereinafter. A drive disc central opening 34 is equal in size and aligned with the openings in the pad 22 and face member 28. A plurality of equally spaced bosses 36 are formed on the surface of the drive disc opposite to that of the surface adjacent the pad 22. Typically, the drive disc 26 is made of a low density polyethylene, although polypropylene, polyvinylchloride or similar type mate rials could be used as well. Normally, the drive disc 26 is molded so that the inwardly-directed lip 32 and the bosses 36 are integrally formed with the drive disc. The bosses 36 are illustrated as being cylindrical in shape, with the axes thereof perpendicular to the plane of the drive disc, although other shapes could be utilized.

The drive disc 26 and face member 28 are, previously pointed out, positioned on opposite sides of the pad 22. Typically, an adhesive, such as an acetone base-type material, could be used to secure the drive disc 26 and face member 28 to the pad 22, although other adhesives could work as well. The exterior surface of the face member has an abrasive finishing article 38 secured thereto, also by an adhesive, with the outer surface of the finishing article 38 having finishing material 42 (shown in FIG. 2) thereon. Normally, the replaceable pad assembly 12 formed of the pad 22, the drive disc 26, and the face member 28, is sold as a single integral package for replacement on the drive member 14. Of course, the finishing article 38 could be included in such a package.

The drive member 14 is formed of a main plate 52 whose diameter is slightly less than that of the drive disc 26. Referring to FIG. 2, the diameter of the main plate 52 is such that the inwardly turned lip 32 can be slipped over the outer edge 53 of the main plate. The lip then securely holds the main plate to the drive disc. The main plate 52 further contains a plurality of spaced boss openings 54 which are aligned with the bosses 36 in the drive disc 26. When the drive disc is positioned over the main plate 52, the bosses 36 are aligned with the boss openings 54 and are inserted therein. While the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 depicts four bosses which are insertable in the boss openings in the main plate, it should be understood that only a minimum of two bosses are necessary for stability, but there is no upper limit on the number of bosses which could be utilized to interconnect the drive disc 26 and the main plate 52. The limit on number of bosses will depend upon the drive torque needed to rotate the pad assembly. Typically, the size of the bosses has been found to be not critical.

The main plate 52 further contains a central opening 56 which is aligned with the central openings in the pad assembly 12, but is of a smaller diameter. A pair of

backing plates

62 and 64 having central openings 66 and 68, respectively, are positioned so that the plate 62 is sandwiched between the

plates

52 and 64. The plates are secured together by means of a bolt 72 whose threaded shaft 74 extends through the central openings in the

plates

52, 62 and 64. The plates are secured in the sandwich fashion by means of a locking nut 76 which is secured to a threaded shaft 74 of the bolt 72. The bolt 72 further contains an enlarged head portion 78 whose diameter is such that it can fit into the openings in the drive disc 26 and pad 22 when the drive disc is secured to the main plate 52 thus assuring correct alignment of the pad assembly 12 and drive member 14 during assembly. However, the opening 24 in the pad 22, and the opening 34 in the drive disc 26 are not necessary to the operation of the assembly. In place of the bolt 72, it should be understood that other securing arrangements such as rivet could be used to secure the

plate

52, 62 and 64 together, the bolt arrangement illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 being merely illustrative of one type of securing arrangement. In addition, the main plate 52 and the

backing plates

62 and 64 could be formed of either rigid plastic or metal as is needed for the type of use.

The threaded shaft 74 of the bolt forms a spindle for rotating the drive member 14. Rotation of the drive member will impart movement of the pad assembly 12. The bosses 36 cause the drive disc 26 to rotate with the main plate 52. Should it be necessary to replace the pad assembly 12, as when the finishing material 42 on the finishing disc 38 wears out, or a different type of finishing material be desired, it is merely necessary to remove the pad assembly 12 by bending the lip 32 slightly back as shown in FIG. 3, thus enabling the pad assembly to be removed and a new pad assembly to be inserted thereon without the use of tools or adhesives.

I claim:

1. A replaceable pad assembly comprising:

a body of resilient material having a first side face and a second side face;

means for securing an abrasive finishing article to one of said side faces; and

a generally planar drive disc having one surface secured to the other of said side faces and a second surface having drive bosses integrally formed thereon for enabling said assembly to rotate with a drive member having openings into which said drive bosses are inserted;

means formed on said drive disc for securing said drive disc to said drive member consisting of an annular inwardly-directed retaining lip formed on the periphery of said drive disc chamfered for facilitating insertion and removal of said drive member, said drive disc periphery being sufficiently flexible to enable said drive disc to be rapidly separated from said drive member.

2. A replaceable pad assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said drive disc contains a central opening for insertion of a drive shaft secured to a drive member.

3. A replaceable pad assembly in accordance with claim 1 wherein said drive disc is formed of a molded plastic member with said drive bosses and said inwardly turned lip being integrally formed therewith.

Claims

1. A replaceable pad assembly comprising: a body of resilient material having a first side face and a second side face; means for securing an abrasive finishing article to one of said side faces; and a generally planar drive disc having one surface secured to the other of said side faces and a second surface having drive bosses integrally formed thereon for enabling said assembly to rotate with a drive member having openings into which said drive bosses are inserted; means formed on said drive disc for securing said drive disc to said drive member consisting of an annular inwardly-directed retaining lip formed on the periphery of said drive disc chamfered for facilitating insertion and removal of said drive member, said drive disc periphery being sufficiently flexible to enable said drive disc to be rapidly separated from said drive member.