US715898A

US715898A - Sealing-in machine.

Info

Publication number: US715898A
Application number: US5270801A
Authority: US
Inventors: Alfred Swan
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1901-03-25
Filing date: 1901-03-25
Publication date: 1902-12-16
Anticipated expiration: 1919-12-16

Description

Nu. 5,898. Patented Dec. I6, !902.

A. SWAN. SEALING-IN MACHINE.

( uestion filed m 25, 1901.)

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(K0 Model.)

Inventor. qlfred Swan,

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I A. V SW,AN. SEALING-IN MACHINE.

(Application filed In. 25-, 1901.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE.

ALFRED SWAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SEALING-IN MACHINE.

STECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,898, dated December 16 1902.

Application filed March 25, 1901. erial No. 52,708. (No model.)

T at whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED SWAN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sealing-In Machines, (Case No., 2,094,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for effecting an all-glass seal between the stem which carries the filament of an incandescent electric lamp and the inclosing bulb.

The object of the invention is to increase the rapidity of the sealing-in operation, so as to reduce the cost of this step in the process of manufacture of an incandescent electric lamp.

A further object is to give the neck of the bulb at which the seal is effected a definite and uniform shape, by reason of which it may more accurately fit the conducting-base of the lamp than is the case with joints as heretofore made.

In carrying out the invention I provide mechanism by which the lamp-bulb and the stem may be supported and given a relative rotary movement with respect to a heater by which the glass at and around the joint is softened, so that an autogenic weld may be efiected, and provide means for inclosing the stem near the joint in a cup, mold, or even in the base of the lamp itself and for delivering gaseous pressure Within the bulb while the glass is still soft, thereby causing it to swell and fill the inclosure,by which it is given a definite shape to form a good fit with its base. I provide also means by which the source of heat is applied and cut off at the proper time to permit the bulb and stem, separately or together after the seal is effected, to be manipulated by the operator.

The invention involves various features of construction the novelty of which will be hereinafter more fully set forth, and Will be definitely indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,which illustrate the invention as carried out on an organized machine, Figure 1 represents a vertical sectional elevation of a machine embody- .rod 5.

ing my improvements, and Fig. 2 a side elevation on a plane at right angles to that shown in Fig. 1.

1 represents a pulley 'by which connection may be made with any suitable source of power and which drives a shaft carrying a worm driving a worm-gear 2, carrying also a clutch-gear 3, communicating motion when in clutch to spur-gearing 3 5 and bevel-gearing 4 4, by which a rotatory movement may be imparted to the lamp parts. These parts are provided with supports upon which they maybe placed before the seal is effected.

One of these comprises a pin 5, secured by a set-screw 6 to a sleeve 7, journaled in a hearing mountedon a table 8. The sleeve incloses a rod 9, pressed upwardly by a coilspring 10, carrying at its top a shell or mold 11, the inner surface of which is of the shape it is desired to give the finished neck of the lamp. The mold is screwed to the rod 9, as indicated clearly in Fig. 1, so that it may be removed and replaced, and has an overhanging shoulder, which in the depressed position is stopped by the top of the sleeve 7. Aplurality of vertical arms 12 12 (three in the type shown in the drawings) form a support for the lamp-bulb. These are secured to a sleeve 13, adapted to slide over the sleeve 7.

Both the supporting

parts

5 and 18 are capable ofbeing adjusted vertically. A handwheel 15 carries a gear and is mounted in fixed bearings in the frame of the machine. In gear with the wheel is a rack 16, attached to the sleeve 7, to which the pin 5, which forms the support for the stem, is secured. Another hand-wheel 17 is mounted in the bearings carried by the sleeve 13, which carries the posts 12 12 to support the bulb, and this hand-wheel carries a gear 18, engaging the rack. The small hand-wheel 17 regulates the lip of the bulb relatively to the edge of the flare of the glass stem carried by the The large hand-wheel 15 is for adjusting both these parts relatively to the fires. The movement controlled by the large handwheel may be omitted when provisions are made for adjustment of the fires.

Mounted on the sliding frame 19 are a series of vertical pipes 20, placed at equal radial distances from the rotatory central support for the lamp parts, each of which maybe provided with gas-cocks, as indicated, and communicate by flexible pipes 21 21 22 22, delivering air and gas, respectively, from a suitable source of supply controlled by automatically-regulated cocks 23 23, as will be presently described. The gas-jets thus produced impinge upon the neck of the lamp at or near the joint with the stem, as Will be evident from Fig. 1, and by the revolution of the latter the glass is soon softened and a weld efiected at the joint. An adjustingwheel 24, carrying an eccentric 25, which latter engages the frame 19, permits the plane of the frame to be raised or lowered to accommodate the machine to different sizes of lamps. It will be seen that gear 4 is splined on sleeve 7 and held suspended by a small set-screw projecting into a peripheral groove on its collar. This is not essential where the movement of the bulb and stem by handwheel 15 is provided for.

In order to permit the lamp and stem to be mounted in the supports, I provide for an interruption of the rotatory movement by means of a sliding clutch-gear 3, to which is secured a grooved sleeve 26, feathered on the drive-shaft, and which may be shifted along the shaft by means of a lever 27, motion being effected by a cam-groove 28, mounted on the face of the worm-gear, a pin 29, attached to a right-angled extension of the lever 27, entering said cam-groove. The lever 27 is connected at its elbow loosely with a pivoted lever 30, which acts as a shifter for the gascocks 23 23, which regulate the heatingflaine. The lever is rocked by the cam 28, which gives the pin 29 a to-and-fro motion and acts to operate the clutch through lever 27 and simultaneously act on lever 30, one end of which is connected with 27 by a pin and slot. Said lever 30 rocks both cocks 23 23 to adjust the flames. Fixed on the counter-shaft which carries the worm-gear is a cam 31, adapted to raise and lower the :rod 9, lowering it by engaging a lug 32 against the tension of the spring 10, and thereby holding the mold 11 away from the neck of the lamp during the major part of the sealing operation and then permitting the spring to thrust the mold over the lamp-neck when the edge of the cam 31 passes the lug 32. Simultaneously with this operation a cup 33, having a flexible edge, is shifted over the top of the lamp and air-pressure applied through the tubulature 34, by which the glass is blown out to fill the'mold. These movements are controlled by a cam 35, fixed to the wormgear, the periphery of which engages a roller 36, acting on the short end of a lever 37, connected by a link with a lever 38, supported from the table, the outer end of which en gages a roller on the end of a spring-pressed pipe 39, sliding air-tight in the box 40, communicating with a source of air-pressure through the pipe 41. In the wall of the pipe 39 is cut a helical slot 42, (see Fig. 2,) engaging a fixed pin, by means of which when the pipe is shifted upwardly under the thrust of the lever 38 a partial rotation is communicated to the pipe 39. This pipe carries the flexible cup 33, which passes over the tubulature of the lamp. It will be seen that the cam 35 is provided with but a single de-- pression occupying a narrow angle, as indicated in Fig. 1. In the position shown in the drawings the roller 36 is riding over the inclined wall of this cam and has brought the cup 33 over the tubulature of the bulb and is in the act of establishing an air connection between the

pipes

41 and 39 by means of the port 43. When the motion of the roller 36 to the bottom of the cam-notch is completed, air-.

pressure is communicated to the pipe 39 and the lamp-neck is blown out to fill the mold. This occupies but an instant of time, after which the roller 36, rising on the steep wall of the cam-notch, (motion beingin the direction of the arrow indicated in Fig. 1,) raises the pipe 39 through the instrumentality of

levers

37 and 38 until the cup 33 clears the tubulature 34, by which time the pin 44 enters the bent part of the groove 42 and gives the cup a quick lateral turn, thereby shifting it away from the lamp parts and permitting the sealed bulb to be removed from the machine. Simultaneonslywith the application of pressure to the bulb the mold is shifted over the neck and the rotation is interrupted, nnclutching the gearing,after which the rotation is arrested for a period, giving the operator time to remove the lamp from the machine and apply another stem and bulb.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. Means for sealing in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising a rotatory frame to support the stem and bulb, means for intermittently revolving the same, means to heat the joint, and means for automatically cutting off the heat when the seal is completed.

2. Means for sealing in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising a rotatory frame to support the stem and bulb, means for rotating the same, means to supply a gas-flame impinging at the joint, and automatic means for intermittently turning on and off the flame.

3. Means for sealing in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising a rotatory frame to support the stem and bulb,acontinnously-operating power-driven device, automatic means for clutching the rotatory frame intermittently with said device, a gasburner, and means for directing a sealingflame at the joint and cutting it off when the clutch is engaged and disengaged respectively.

4. Means for sealing in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising a central rotatory frame to support the stem and lating devices, automatic means for intermittently clutching the frame with said power, a gas-burner to direct a flame on the joint, and a cut-off for said flame operated when the clutch is disengaged.

6. Means for scaling in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising a rotatory frame to support the stem and bulb, power-transmitting devices, a clutch to connect it with the rotatory frame, worm-gear-, ing operated by the power, a shifter operated by the worm-gear to control the clutch, and gas-burners around the frame'directing their jets radially toward the frame.

7. Means for scaling in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising a central rotatory frame, supports thereon for the stem and bulb, a plurality of gas-burners directing flames toward the frame, and independent adjusting devices for shifting and setting each support relatively to the flame.

8. Means for sealing in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising a rotatory support for the stem and bulb having a fixed relative position, a heater to fuse the stem and bulb together playing inwardly toward said support, a mold surrounding the stem-support and adapted to be brought over the joints, and means for applying internal pressure to cause the softened glass to fill the mold.

9. Means for scaling in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising central means for supporting the stem and bulb, a I

heater directing heat inwardly toward the same for fusing them together at the joint, a mold adapted to surround the joints when the glass is softened, and means for applying gas-pressure to the inside of the bulb.

10. Means for sealing in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising a rotatory support for the stem and bulb having a fixed position, a gas-burner to heat the joints, a cup or mold, means for shifting the same to inclose the joints, a pipe connected with a source of gas-pressure, and means for connecting and disconnecting the same with the bulbs when the glass is softened.

11. Means for sealing in the stem of an incandescent electric lamp, comprising a rotatory support for the stem and bulb, a heater for softening the glass at the joint, a cup or mold to embrace the joint, a cup having a flexible rim, means operated by the machine for shifting said cup over and inlcontact with the bulb, a source of air-pressure, and an automatic valve delivering pressure to the bulb when the glass at the joint is soft.

12. Means for scaling in the stems of incandescent electric lamps, comprising a central rotatory spindle containing supports for the bulb and stem, a heater to soften the glass, a mold for the neck of the bulb, a cam for raising the mold around the neck, a flexible cap for the top of the bulb adapted to inclose the tubulature, a bent pipe carrying the cup, and a cam to shift the cup into axial alinement with the bulb and then drop it over the same.

13. Means for scaling in the stems of incandescent electriclamps,comprisinga driven shaft for revolving the lamp parts, a clutch, a wor m-wheel 2, a cam periodically operating the clutch, a mold 11, a cam for raising and lowering it, cup 33, pipe 39, and means operated by the machine for connecting and disconnecting it with the bulb.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of March, 1901.

ALFRED SWAN.

Witnesses:

S. N. WHITEHEAD, JOHN E. MITCHELL, Jr.