US777277A - Tile-press. - Google Patents

Description

PATBNTED DEC. 18, 1904.

W. R. UUNNINGHAM.

TILE PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 7. 1904 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

NO MODEL.

fNVE/VTOR Wit/arm aw/1 ilomey Nb. 777,277 PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904.

- W. R. CUNNINGHAM.

TILE PRESS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT T 1904. 0 241mm,. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PVITNESSES:

fNVENTOR UNITE STATES Patented December 13, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE,

l/VILLIAM R. CUNNINGHAM, OF BUCYRUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN CLAY-WORKING MACHINERY COMPANY, OF BUCYRUS, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

TlLE-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,277, dated December 13, 1904;.

Application filed September '7, 1904. Serial No. 228,615. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM R. CUNNING- HAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bucyrus, in the county of Crawford and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful 1mprovcments in Tile-Presses, of which the following is aspecificat ion.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in presses designed especially for imparting to clay products the shapes which adapt them for use as roofing-tiles, ridge rolls, or other coverings for roofs; and the invention consists of the parts and the constructions, arrangements, and combinations of parts, which 1 will hereinafter describe and claim.

ln the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a press embodying my invention and showing the cross-head partly in section. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the press. Fig. 3 is a top plan view. Fig. 4c is atop'plan view of the reciprocating table. Fig. 5 is a partial sectional view on the line C D of Fig. 4:. Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line A B of Fig. 1.

1n the said drawings .1 illustrate a desirable form of my press, wherein 11 designates the main frame of the machine, which frame may be of such design and dimensions as shall adapt it for the purposes I have in view. As shown in Fig. 1, the main frame is provided with journal-bearings 10 for the reception of the journals of the transverse shaft 5, the said frame 11 being also provided with horizontal projections having journal-bearings 12 12 for the driving-shaft 2, said shaft having its outer end supported in an appropriate bearing in the outboardpcdestal 12, as shown in Fig, 1 and 2. On the driving-shaft 2 is a pulley 1, which may be of an appropriate friction-clutch type, (not herein shown in detail,) to which pulley power is communicated by any of the usual methods to operate the machine. The shaft 2 has also fixed to it the pinions 3 3, one at each side of the machine, said pinions meshing with gear-wheels 4 4: on the outer ends of the shaft 5. Fixed to the gear-wheels 1 4 are crank-pins 6 6, on which are mounted the lower ends of the vertical connecting-rods 7 7.

Securely bolted. to the upper end of the main frame are the vertical rods 13 13, which form an appropriate guide for the reciprocating cross-head 8, said head being provided with bearings 1 1 14: for the rods and having its outer ends provided with bearings for the upper ends of the connecting-rods 7 7, which latter are provided with collars 0 and pass through the bearings 9 9 and have springs encircling their upper ends and confined between the top of the bearings and suitable adjusting and lock nuts in the usual and wellknown manner. lilorizontal arms 15 15 are bolted to either side of the main frame and extend in opposite directions and have their outer ends turned inward toward the longitndinal central line of the machine and lixed to the ends of a longitudinal eentrally-located shaft or red 16, said arms 15 15 being rigid with the guides 19 19, upon which the reciprocating press-tables operate, as 1 will hereinafter describe. The main frame is also formed or provided with a post 17, which is designed to support the central part of the guide-shaft 16, which latter also serves as the means about which the table is tiltable or capable of being turned upside down to facilitate the removal from the molds of the pressed ware.

To effect the reciprocal movements of the press-tables with the expenditure of as little manual power as possible, and to thereby increase the capacity of the machine, 1 provide a ball-bcaring for said tables. As shown in Fig. 3, I employ in the press disclosed two tables 18 18, both slida'bly mounted upon the guide-shaft 16 and each adapted for alternate operation. To further the object stated, 1 provide the upper surface of the main frame with raceways 2O 20, one on each side of the longitudinal central line of the machine and forming part of the essentially oblong ballbearings. (Shown in the plan view Fig. 1.)

During the operation of the machine the press-tables are guided onto the raceways by means of the guides 19 19. which latter also afford means for leveling the tables, and thus prepare them for entry upon the raceways. The press-tables 18 18 are also provided with raceways 32 32, and between these latter and the raceways 2O on or in the main frame I dispose of series of balls 33, which support the tables when moving the latter into and out of line with the press-platen, as I will presently explain.

At each end of the tables is a bent tube 34 34, into which the balls are received from the raceways 20 32 and 20 32, said tubes having their curved end portions merging into straight portions which are disposed parallel with the raceways 2O 32 and 20 32, but are elevated sufficiently above the plane of said raceways to lead the balls out of contact with the latter. To facilitate this operation, I upwardly incline the under side of the table leading from the end of the raceways 32 32, as shown in Fig. 6, to direct the balls from the raceways into the tubes, and to thereby lift said balls out of contact with the lower raceways 2O 20.

' plates being appropriately spaced to allow the lower portions of the balls to project therethrough and operatively engage the raceways 2O 20 while the tables are being reciprocated onto and off the frame 11.

As seen in Fig. 4, I prefer to employ two sets of raceways, tubes, and balls, and the arrangement of parts is such that I begin to elevate the balls at the point marked 40 in Fig. 6, whereby the bottom of the balls will not strike the raceways 20 20 at any time said balls are passing from the said raceways into the curved ends of the tubes 34 34: and the longitudinal extensions thereof. The inner row of traveling balls of each series therefor support the tables during their reciprocal movements onto and off the table.

The post 17, before referred to, not only supports the central portion of the shaft 16, but it serves as a stop for limiting the inward travel of the tables at the point 38, and thereby properly position the molds with which the face of the tables will be supplied to receive the pressure from the platens.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the reciprocal cross-head 8 is formed with a central socket 21,0pen at the bottom and adapted to slidably receive a hub 22, the connection between the parts comprising a keyway aim the hub and a short feather b in the socket, said hub having a threaded nut at 24, through which works a screw 25, having a collar 26, a plain bearing 27, and an operating handwheel 28 fitted thereto. The upper end of the screw is also threaded and receives a nut 30. These partsnamely,the hub with its keyway and feather, the socket, the screw, and the hand-wheels afiord means of adj usting the platen and also prevent the same having a rotary movement in the socket.

The platen by which the pressure is communicated to the charge of clay or material in the molds in the face of the tables is fixed to the end of the hub, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and it is adjustable to regulate the thickness of the material to be pressed.

In the operation of the press the power necessary to drive the machine is communicated to the shaft 2 and through the shaft 5 and gears and connecting-rods 7 7, imparts a reciprocal movement to the cross-head and its platen. The molds are not shown, since they are old and well known and are not claimed herein; but in practice one half of the mold to form the tile or shape will be attached to the tables and the other half is attached to the platen.

The tables are reciprocated by handthere fore the advantage of the ball-bearings to make the work for the operators as light as possible said tables being reciprocable from a position indicated, say, at 18 in Fig. 3 to a position immediately in the range of action of the platen and thence back again.

There being two tables used, it is apparent that two operators will be employed, one at each side of the machine, and when one operator is manipulating one table to receive the pressure of the platen the other operator is removing the finished or pressed product and supplying a charge or clot of clay in the mold of his table. When the clot of clay is supplied to said table, the other table is removed, and the newly-charged table is pushed under the platen to receive the pressure during the succeeding descent of the platen. After pressure has been applied to a table said table is drawn out to the position indicated by table 18' in Fig. 3, and it is then moved axially about the guide-shaft 16 and turned upside down to facilitate the removal of the pressed product. After such removal the table is tilted back into its normal position, when by means of the handles 41 11, with which the tables are supplied, the table after being recharged is pushed into place under the platen and to take the place of the other table which has been from under the platen after receiving the pressure and out onto the, guide-rod l6, occupying the same relative position as shown at 18 on Fig. 3.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a press of the character described, the combination with a reciprocable table, a support therefor, said table tiltably mounted relative to said support, and a pressure device, of a ball-bearing between the support and table and comprising balls loosely carried by one of said parts and traversable over the other part.

2. In a press of the character described. the combination with a support, and a reciprocable tiltably-mounted table, of a raceway formed in the support in the range of the reciprocal action of the table, and a series of loosely-mounted balls in the table and engaging said raceway during the reciprocal movements of said table.

3. In a press of the character described, the combination with a vertically-rcciprocable pressure mechanism, a support and a reciprocable tiltably-mounted table guided thereon, and means whereby the table is alternately moved onto and off the support, of a ballbearing formed between the surfaces of the support and table and con'iprising a raceway in one of said surfaces and a series of balls in the other surface said balls engaging said raceway when the table is on the support and removed out of the raceway thereof when the table is removed from the support.

4. In a press of the character described, the

combination with a support and a longitudinally-extending guide, of two alined tables tiltably mounted on the guide and slidable relative to the support, each of said tables carrying a member of a ball-bearing and the support having a coacting member of said bearing, and said tables alternately movable onto and off the support.

5. lln a press of the character described, the combination with a supperting-frame having a raceway, and a longitudinally-extending guide, of a tiltably-mounted table reciprocable on said guide whereby it may be moved onto and off the frame, said table having a raceway with a series of loosely-contained balls exposed at the under side and adapted to engage the raceway of the frame while the table is moving thereover, and retained in the table when the latter is moved off its support on the frame.

6. In a press of the character described, the combination of a supporting-frame and a reciprocable tiltably-mounted table travel-sable thereover and movable from said frame to a point at one side thereof, of a ball-bearing comprising parallel raceways on the frame in the range of action of the table, andv series of balls in the table to engage the raceways of the frame while traveling thereover.

7. 111 a press of the character described, the combination of a supperting-frame and a reciprocable tiltably-mounted table movable onto and off the frame, said frame having parallel raceways one disposed along each side of the longitudinal center of the frame, series of loose balls carried by the table and adapted to traverse the raceways of the frame, and means for guiding the balls into and out of the raceways as the table enters or leaves the frame.

8. In a press of the character described the combination with aframe having parallel, longitudinally-cxtending raceways and guides projecting horizontally from each end of the frame, of a table reciprocable onto and off the frame said tablehaving parallel raceways coincident with those of the frame, and provided with balls, and tubes in the table each having a bent end connecting with the terminals of the raceways and receiving the balls therefrom said tube returned upon itself and having the returned portion disposed in a plane higher than the raceways, and means sup1 )orting the table when it is moved off the frame.

9. In a press of the character deseribedthe combination with a tabular surface provided with parallel, longitudinally-extending raceways, of a reciprocable, tiltably-mounted table having parallel raceways coinciding with those in the tabular surface, balls in the table-raceways and adapted to engage the other raceways, and tubes at the side of and parallel with the table-raceways and having their ends curved and inclined downwardly and connecting with a terminal of the raceways, and adapted to receive the balls therefrom.

l0. A press of the character described having in combination a frame; a longitudinallyextending guide, a pair of tiltable tables on said guide and alternately operable; means whereby the tables are alternately moved onto and off the frame; a platen; a reciprocable cross-head carrying the platen, said tables movable into and out of the range of action of the platen; means for operating the crosshead; antifriction devices carried by the tables and coacting raceways on the frame in the range of action of the said devices and. engaged thereby during the movement of the tables onto and off the frame.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

\VILLIAM R. CUNNINGHAM.

\Vitnesses:

Fain) ll. HART, J. L. De Lasi-inu'r'r.

Images