Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B24—GRINDING; POLISHING
  • B24B—MACHINES, DEVICES, OR PROCESSES FOR GRINDING OR POLISHING; DRESSING OR CONDITIONING OF ABRADING SURFACES; FEEDING OF GRINDING, POLISHING, OR LAPPING AGENTS
  • B24B11/00—Machines or devices designed for grinding spherical surfaces or parts of spherical surfaces on work; Accessories therefor
  • B24B11/02—Machines or devices designed for grinding spherical surfaces or parts of spherical surfaces on work; Accessories therefor for grinding balls
  • B24B11/04—Machines or devices designed for grinding spherical surfaces or parts of spherical surfaces on work; Accessories therefor for grinding balls involving grinding wheels
  • B24B11/06—Machines or devices designed for grinding spherical surfaces or parts of spherical surfaces on work; Accessories therefor for grinding balls involving grinding wheels acting by the front faces, e.g. of plane, grooved or bevelled shape
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B08—CLEANING
  • B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
  • B08B1/00—Cleaning by methods involving the use of tools
  • B08B1/20—Cleaning of moving articles, e.g. of moving webs or of objects on a conveyor
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B08—CLEANING
  • B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
  • B08B1/00—Cleaning by methods involving the use of tools
  • B08B1/30—Cleaning by methods involving the use of tools by movement of cleaning members over a surface
  • B08B1/32—Cleaning by methods involving the use of tools by movement of cleaning members over a surface using rotary cleaning members
  • B08B1/34—Cleaning by methods involving the use of tools by movement of cleaning members over a surface using rotary cleaning members rotating about an axis parallel to the surface

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method and a device for treat ⁇ ment of substantially spherical balls, in particular metal balls, such as steel balls for rolling bearings, by gentle mechanical treatment in the presence of a treatment fluid, par ⁇ ticularly a cleaning liquid.
• the known device is pro ⁇ vided with recesses in the foamed plastic cushion of the upper plate.
• the diameter of these recesses is greater than that of the balls, the idea being that the balls on their way out to ⁇ wards the periphery shall randomly reach and temporarily stay in at least some of these recesses, whereby they will hopeful ⁇ ly change their orientation before re-entering and rolling on between the foamed plastic layers of the plates.
• the object of the invention is therefore to achieve a re- liable method and device ensuring every ball to become uni ⁇ formly fluid-treated over its entire surface and to be kept separated from the other balls during the process. This is achieved by a method and a device according to the appended claims 1 and 2, respectively. Suitable additional features are set forth in the sub-claims 3-12.
• An important basic feature is thus to let the balls move between two mutually rotating discs while being forcedly gui ded along a spiral path with such a skidding that each ball brought to rotate around an axis that constantly changes its direction, whereby the entire surface of the ball will be tr ted. Furthermore, a well-controlled transport of the balls o by one is made possible along the respective spiral guide. Hereby, the balls can be separated from each other and they will not hit each other or any of the walls in the apparatus. All the time, the balls contact the two discs as well as the spiral guide, partly by rolling engagement and partly while skidding.
• Fig. 1 is a central vertical section through an apparatus made in accordance with the invention
• Fig. 2 illustrates in a vertical section and in a larger scale a portion of a ball treatment unit, included in the ap ratus according to fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 is a horisontal section of the portion shown in fig. 2;
• Fig. 4 is a horisontal view of a guiding plate with guide slots included in the ball treatment unit
• Fig. 5 and 6 illustrate a modified embodiment with a verti cally arranged ball treatment unit.
• the apparatus shown in fig. 1 comprises a box-shaped casin with an upper, square frame 1, a lower, likewise square frame 2, a bottom wall 3 and four sidewalls 4-7, of which only the sidewalls 4 and 6 are visible in the section according to fig. 1.
• OMPI with nitrile rubber is arranged.
• Rolling bearing balls k are fed to the funnel via a schematically shown feeding chute 9, and a cleaning liquid of the above-mentioned kind is simulta ⁇ neously supplied via a pipe 10.
• the central, cylindrical out- put portion 8 ' of the funnel 8 is introduced into the centre of a ball treatment unit 11 disposed horisontally in the ca ⁇ sing.
• This unit comprises a stationary upper part serving as a counter-support and guiding member, as well as a rotating lower part in the form- of a disc 12 serving as a roller bed for the balls, the disc 12 being driven by a motor 13 via a gear 14 and a sliding clutch 15.
• a stationary guiding plate 16 inclu ⁇ ded in the upper part of the ball treatment unit 11 (see also fig. 4) and enter the somewhat expanded feed end 17, 18 of either one of two spiral slots 19, 20 extending in parallel to each other, although circumferentially displaced about half a spiral turn, to the respective discharge end 21, 22 outside the edge of the supporting rotating disc 12.
• the gui- ding plate 16 is preferably made of a material with low fric ⁇ tion, such as bakelite or some suitable plastic material, e.g. tetrafluorethylene.
• the ball k has a certain transver ⁇ sal play between the opposed sidewalls 19', 19" of the slot 19.
• the ball constantly engages the rotation disc 12' secured to the disc by an adhesive and consisting of a cloth or tissue of a suitable material such as rubber, plastic or textile.
• the rolling engagement of the ball is accomplished by means of a resilient, cushioned counter-support 23 of foamed plastic or some other soft and elastic material, possibly provided with a plastic foil in order to achieve a desired, fairly low fric ⁇ tion with respect to the balls.
• the resilient counter-support 23 is kept in place and is partly pressed into the slot 19 by an upper pressure-plate 24 secured to the guiding plate 16 by several screws 25 and nuts 26, the screws extruding through the guiding plate, the foamed plastic cushion and the pressure- plate .
• the foamed plastic cushion 23 contacts a cap-shaped part of the surface of the ball. Howev the ball rolls with a certain skidding partly on the disc 12 partly on one sidewall 19" of the slot 19, whereby the rota ⁇ tional axis of the ball constantly changes its direction, an eventually the foamed plastic cushion 23 has gently cleaned the entire surface of the ball.
• Fig. 3 illustrates the different rotary moments acting on the ball k in the slot 19 during the rotation of the disc 12
• a rotary moment R is excerted around an axis A, oriente radially from the centre of the disc 12.
• the ball k i brought into constant engagement with the radially inner sid wall 19' of the spiral slot 19, the friction (although low) between the ball k and the sidewall 19' resulting in a certa rolling engagement, which causes a rotary moment R 2 around a vertical axis A- (parallel to the rotary axis of the disc 12 and shown schematically in fig.
• the rotating ball k will co tact the foamed plastic cushion 23 with constantly different substantially zone-shaped surface portions, so that the enti re surface becomes treated several times during the process and thus becomes uniformly cleaned through the combined ef ⁇ fect of the cleaning liquid (which by influence from the rota ⁇ ting disc 12 also flows along the spiral slots 19 and 20) and the gentle mechanical treatment by the foamed plastic cushion.
• the balls are fed close to each other into the slots 19 and 20, the constantly increasing radius results in that each ball will accelerate in relation to the next one, so that the balls are effectively separated and prevented from hitting each other throughout the entire process.
• the chute 27 has a sufficient inclination so as to cause the balls to roll and the cleaning liquid to flow down to the end (not shown) of the collecting chute, said end being preferably connected to one or more finishing stations (arranged in seri ⁇ es) , e.g. for the separation o-f the cleaning liquid and the treatment of the balls with a de-watering liquid and thereaf ⁇ ter with an anticorrosive oil, whereafter the balls may be stored or mounted into ball bearings.
• Figs 5 and 6 illustrate a possible modification of the em ⁇ bodiment of figs 1-4.
• the main difference consists in that the entire ball treat ⁇ ment unit 11' is vertically oriented. Further, the slots (in this case four) of the guiding plate are not angularly displa ⁇ ced, but extend quite uniformly and in parallel, one inside the other from each inlet 28-31, respectively, to each outlet 32-35, respectively. As appears from fig. 6, the feeding into each slot can be easily achieved with an inclined chute 36, and a feed wheel 37 feeds the balls one by one to each respec ⁇ tive slot inlet 28-31. The discharge does not create any prob ⁇ lems either but can be achieved by collecting chutes (or one common collecting chute) connected to the outlets 32-35 of

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Cleaning In General (AREA)
• Grinding And Polishing Of Tertiary Curved Surfaces And Surfaces With Complex Shapes (AREA)
• Rolling Contact Bearings (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20336913

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Cited By (3)

Families Citing this family (3)

Citations (4)

• 1979
  • 1979-02-09 JP JP50038179A patent/JPS55501173A/ja active Pending
  • 1979-02-09 DE DE792953543A patent/DE2953543A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1979-02-09 WO PCT/SE1979/000028 patent/WO1980001664A1/en unknown
  • 1979-02-09 GB GB8030402A patent/GB2053046B/en not_active Expired

Patent Citations (4)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events