WO2011061665A1

WO2011061665A1 - A tool for working stone materials and the like

Info

Publication number: WO2011061665A1
Application number: PCT/IB2010/055160
Authority: WO
Inventors: Stefano Fioratti
Original assignee: Aros S.R.L.
Priority date: 2009-11-23
Filing date: 2010-11-15
Publication date: 2011-05-26
Also published as: IT1397038B1; ITVR20090200A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a tool for stone material finishing working comprising a support component or base (2) for anchoring to a machine tool, at least one abrasive work component (3), at least one housing seat (SA) delimited between the support component (2) and the at least one work component (3), at least one elastic vibration absorption component (6, 6a, 6b) arranged, in use, in a respective housing seat (SA), the support component (2) and the at least one abrasive work component (3) comprising mutual engagement means (4, 4b, 4c, 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5f), the mutual engagement means comprise snap-mutual engagement means (4, 4b, 4c, 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5f).

Description

Title of Invention: A TOOL FOR WORKING STONE

MATERIALS AND THE LIKE.

[1] The present invention regards a tool for stone material finishing working, and in particular a block for smoothing and polishing workable surfaces, particularly of stone materials, porcelain stoneware, and resin-quartz, resin-granite, resin-marble, resin- cement, cement-quartz, cement-granite, cement-marble agglomerates and the like.

[2] The block tools for obtaining finishing working, such as abrasion, polishing,

smoothing and lapping of ceramics, glass, marble, stone materials in general, such as granite, marble and the like, usually comprise an abrasive work portion, intended to come into contact with the surface to be worked, and a support portion (base) for the work portion, which is intended to be anchored to a rotatable block-carrier head of a machine tool. The surfaces to be worked often have irregularities, e.g. reliefs, troughs, curved sections or undercut sections, etc., which give rise to considerable stress for the tools during the finishing operations.

[3] When, in fact, it is necessary to work relatively hard work surfaces with a tool that is also rigid and unsuitable for following the irregularities of the work surfaces, the tool is subject to damage due to the shear stresses caused by the small or large impacts with the surface irregularities of the surfaces being worked, which results in an irregular finish of the work surface, a non-uniform wear of the (block) work tool, and damaging stresses of the machine tool components.

[4] It has already been proposed to provide for, between the work portion and the base of the abrasive blocks, a layer comprising elastically deformable material, designed to dampen the stresses transmitted to the base, and thus to the machine tool in order to obtain a more uniform working and a greater longevity both of the abrasive block and of the components of the machine tool. It is therefore also necessary to provide for complex and costly retaining means between the base and abrasive work portion. It has been proposed to make tools with work component obtained from a mixture of abrasive material and from an elastically deformable material, such as an elastomer, typically, as is taught for example in the European patent EP-1 721 702, thus avoiding the presence of complex retaining means between the base and the abrasive block. Such abrasive tools, nevertheless, have the abrasive portion embedded in a matrix that is binding due to the presence of the elastomer therein, so that they have a limited gripping capacity.

[5] Abrasive block tools have also been proposed with work surfaces constituted by a plurality of blocks separated from each other by depressions and attachment base bearing, anchored thereon, a layer of elastically pliable material to which the rigid blocks containing abrasive material are glued. One such solution is subjected to the separation of the blocks during working.

[6] Another tool proposed at the state of the art comprises a support base, an abrasive block and an elastically deformable damping component arranged between the support and the abrasive work component. The abrasive block is configured so as to have a base platform from which a plurality of small abrasive blocks rise. The anchoring between the (block) abrasive work component and the base is ensured by a receiving mask of the work component, snap-engageable with the base. The mask also delimits a series of openings for the passage and reception of the small blocks of the abrasive work component, so as to fasten them on opposite sides of the base, and also to enclose the elastic damping component between the abrasive material and the base.

[7] One such tool, even if it does not have some of the drawbacks of the other known tools mentioned above, has a very complex structure with four components, which involves high production and assembly costs.

[8] DE-20 19 825 relates to a cutting disk having a plurality of abrasive portions each fixed by bolts to a respective support portion protruding from the disk body. A plurality of elastic members in the shape of a wedge are also provided and are each located between an abrasive portion and a respective support portion.

[9] US-1 393 625 discloses a grinding tool including a plurality of anchoring portions for respective abrasive portions. Each anchoring portion has a base part and a pair of walls, which, in use, are substantially parallel to one another and extend in a vertical trim. A longitudinal groove is formed in each wall and extends from one end to the other of the wall. The abrasive portion, instead, has a main body having a width slightly lower than the distance between two walls of an anchoring portion and is designed to be located between such walls, and a pair of side wings or protrusions, each being designed to be located in a respective longitudinal groove. Springs are also provided for, each being fixed, on the one side, to an anchoring portion, and, on the other, to a respective abrasive portion.

[10] DE-11 27 745 relates to a cutting disk, having a plurality of abrasive portions which are fixed to the disk body through snap-mutual engagement means.

[11] The main object of the present invention is to provide a surface finishing tool which is versatile and capable of working surfaces both flat and curved, as well as those with surface irregularities.

[12] Another object of the present invention is to provide a tool that is simple and inexpensive to make.

[13] These and still other objects, which will become clearer below, are achieved by a tool for stone material finishing working comprising a support component or base for anchoring to a machine tool, at least one abrasive work component, at least one housing seat delimited between the support component and the at least one work component, at least one elastic vibration absorption component, in use, arranged in a respective housing seat, the support component and the at least one abrasive work component comprising mutual engagement means.

[14] Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will be clearer from the

following detailed description of specific embodiments of a work tool, description made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[15] - Figures 1 to 3 are, respectively, front, plan and side views of a tool according to the present invention;

[16] - Figure 4 is a longitudinal section view taken along the line IV-IV of Fig. 2;

[17] - Figure 5 is a cross-section view taken along the line V-V of Fig. 2;

[18] - Figures 6 and 7 are, respectively, plan and front views of the support or base of the tool of Figs. 1 to 3;

[19] - Figure 8 is a cross-section view taken along the line VIII- VIII of Fig. 6;

[20] - Figure 9 is a longitudinal section view taken along the line IX-IX of Fig. 6;

[21] - Figures 10 and 11 are, respectively, plan and side views of the work component of the tool of Figs. 1 to 3;

[22] - Figure 12 is a longitudinal section view taken along the line XII-XII of Fig. 10;

[23] - Figure 13 is a slightly from above perspective view of the elastic absorption

component of the tool of Figs. 1 to 3;

[24] - Figure 14 is a view similar to Fig. 13 of another elastic component for a tool

according to the present invention; and

[25] - Figures 15 to 19 are views similar to Fig. 5 of the same number of tool embodiments according to the present invention.

[26] In the drawings, equivalent or similar parts or components were marked with the same reference numerals.

[27] With reference first to Figs. 1 to 13, a tool la is illustrated for working stone material comprising a support component or base 2 for anchoring to a rotatable head of a machine tool, typically a lapper or a polisher, and an abrasive work component 3, the support component 2 and the abrasive work component 3 delimiting, in use, a housing seat SA. The tool also comprises an elastic vibration absorption component 6 which in use is arranged in the housing seat SA.

[28] The abrasive work component 3 and the support component 2 also comprise mutual engagement means, preferably snap-engagement means.

[29] According to the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 to 13, the support component 2 includes, in use, an external face 2a for attaching to a machine tool, distal from the abrasive work component 2, and an internal face 2b close to the abrasive work component 3, the external 2a and internal 2b faces being connected by means of a front wall 2c, a rear wall 2d and two side walls 2e.

[30] The engagement means of the support component 2 include one or more ribs 4

extending from the sides of the internal face 2b and substantially parallel thereto.

Preferably, the base also comprises respective bracket elements or brackets 4a, e.g. reshaped, and extending from a middle zone of the side walls 2e of the tool, each intended to define - with a respective rib 4 and a respective side wall portion 2e - a receiving and snap anchoring zone ZR for engagement means of the abrasive work component 3.

[31] Advantageously, confinement means extend from the front and from the rear of the internal face 2b, such as two confinement walls 2f, e.g. substantially parallel and aligned with the front wall 2c and the rear wall 2d, respectively.

[32] The abrasive work component 3 instead comprises a finishing wall or surface, e.g. substantially curved 3a, and a connection wall or surface 3b, the finishing wall and the connection wall being bridge-connected by means of a front wall or surface 3c, rear wall or surface 3d and two flanks 3e. The engagement means of the work component can include one or more substantially L-shaped walls 5 extending from the sides or from a portion of the sides of the connection face 3b, a first section 5 a of each wall being substantially parallel to a respective flank 3e, whereas the other section 5b is tilted about 90 degrees with respect to the first section 5a towards the interior of the work component, i.e. towards the other wall 5.

[33] The walls 5 are intended to be anchored, preferably snap-anchored, with the ribs 4 of the base 2, so as to be housed in the receiving and anchoring zone ZR.

[34] The elastic damping component can instead comprise a sheet 6 made of any suitable elastic material selected from the group comprised of natural rubbers, such as caoutchouc, synthetic rubbers, such as silicon or polyurethane rubbers, thermoplastic rubbers, such as styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS/SEBS), polyurethane (TPU), thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPE-E), polypropylene PP + EPDM vulcanized rubber (TPV), vulcanized rubbers.

[35] The damping component is housed in the housing seat SA delimited by the support component and the abrasive work component, in particular between the internal face 2b of the support component and the connection face 3b of the work component.

Preferably, both at the internal face 2b and the connection face 3b, respective lowered zones are formed, intended to ensure a correct maintenance in position of the elastic damping component.

[36] Advantageously, starting from the work face of the work component and over about half the thickness of the work component itself, a slit F is formed intended to allow the flow of cooling water through the work component. [37] Preferably, the tool comprises a plurality of abrasive work components, which are mounted aligned on a same support component. In addition, if a respective slit F is provided for in the work components, then the slits of adjacent work components will preferably be arranged staggered from each other in use. This is done in order to obtain a water flow path, including the (staggered) slits and channels C connecting the same delimited between adjacent work components, which affects the abrasive work part of the tool for a wide section of its width and length.

[38] The mounting of one such tool is very simple, since it will suffice to prearrange the various components, then arrange the elastic damping component between the support component and the work component(s), and finally to pack the work component(s) and the support component together so as to cause the mutual engagement, preferably snap-engagement, of the latter, and more particularly the snap-anchoring of the walls 5 with the ribs 4, the walls 5 coming to be situated in a respective reception zone ZR.

[39] The confinement walls 2f prevent the support component 2 and work component(s) 3 from becoming disengaged owing to slipping or sliding of the work component(s) at the front or rear of the tool.

[40] According to a variant (see Fig. 14), a series of through holes FP can be formed in the elastic damping component 6a which constitute expansion zones for the damping component, when, in use, it is subjected to compression.

[41] With reference to Figure 15, a tool lb is illustrated that is similar to that described above, in which the support component does not have ribs 4, but C-shaped bracket elements or brackets 4b including a main body configured like the brackets 4a and a free end 4c curved about 90 degrees with respect to the main body.

[42] Each bracket 4b and its respective side wall 2e delimit a receiving zone ZR.

[43] The abrasive work component 3 instead includes walls 5, each of which is equipped with a first section 5a with free end or second section 5c tilted outward or away from the other wall 5.

[44] For the mounting of one such tool lb, one proceeds by packing of the various

components together, thus causing the engagement, preferably snap-engagement, of the walls 5 or rather of the second section 5c with the brackets 4b.

[45] With reference now to Fig. 16, another tool embodiment lc is illustrated according to the present invention, similar to the tool lb, but in which the elastic damping component comprises an elastic loading element, such as one spring member or a pair of spring members 6b, each anchored on one side to the support component, e.g. to the internal face of the support component itself, and on the other side to a respective work component, e.g. to the connection wall or surface of the work component.

[46] With reference to Fig. 17, a tool Id is illustrated that is very similar to the tool lc, but in which the support component 2 comprises a base element EB in which one or more openings A are formed, preferably through openings in communication with the reception seat SA, and in which one or more blocks B are mounted. A respective end of a spring member 6b is anchored on one end of the block(s), while the other end is anchored to the abrasive work component.

[47] The block can be arranged in the opening and then fixed in position via suitable means. In such case, by commanding the movement (e.g. screwing/unscrewing) of each block B in its respective opening A in the base element EB, the spring member is compressed or released, thereby obtaining a predetermined elastic loading of the spring member itself.

[48] More particularly, each block B is externally threaded, whereas its respective

opening A is internally threaded, so that the block/blocks is/are mounted via screwing into the opening/openings A.

[49] It is also possible to prearrange blocks B of different height in the openings, each height corresponding with a predetermined elastic loading of a respective spring member.

[50] According to one variant, the block can be sized so as to be perfectly inserted in its respective opening.

[51] Another tool le according to the present invention, see Fig. 18 in particular, includes notches 5d, e.g. transverse notches, as engagement means of the work component, which are formed (for example) starting from a respective wall 5e extending from the sides of the connection face 3b of the work component. In each notch 5d, curved free ends of bracket elements 4c can be snap-inserted, such elements being similar to the bracket elements 4b but having, for example, slightly different size and shape.

[52] With reference to Fig. 19, a tool If is illustrated similar to the tool le which, apart from the fact that it provides springs 6b in place of a sheet 6a , has a work component with substantially L-shaped grooves formed in its walls 5e. More particularly, each groove comprises a first section corresponding to a transverse notch 5d and a second longitudinal section 5f, extending from the external end of a respective transverse notch 5d up to the free end of the walls 5e.

[53] With such a structure, by packing work component(s) and support component

together, the curved free end of the brackets 4c is snap-inserted into a respective transverse notch 5d, while part of the main body of the brackets 4c is housed in a respective second longitudinal section 5f. A very stable anchoring is thus obtained between the support component and the work component with respect to the tool le.

[54] As it will easily appear to a person skilled in the art, should the solutions taught by DE-20 19 825 or US-1 393 625 be provided with the snap-mutual engagement means of DE-11 27 745, the tool thus-obtained would not and could not have any elastic vibration absorption component. [55] As a matter of fact, according to DE-11 27 745, the snap-mutual engagement means are formed at the internal, in use, surface of the abrasive portions and at the external or anchoring surface of the support portions.

[56] According to DE-20 19 825 and US-1 393 625, each elastic element is precisely located between such surfaces, i. e. between the internal, in use, surface of an abrasive portion and the external or anchoring surface of its respective support portion, thereby keeping, in use, such surface slightly detached.

[57] Thus, no space for the snap-mutual engagement means plus the elastic element remains.

[58] In view of the above, should the teachings (snap-mutual engagement) of DE-11 27 745 be combined with the teachings or solutions of DE-20 19 825 or US-1 393 625, a tool would be obtained provided with elastic vibration absorption components but without snap-mutual engagement means or viceversa, but, of course, it would not be and could be provided with both such features.

[59] With a tool according to the present invention, according to each of the illustrated variations and falling within the scope as defined by the claims, a tool is obtained that allows surfaces both flat and curved or having surface irregularities to be worked. This is due, among other things, to the presence of the elastic damping component, which in use ensures a (limited) relative movement between the support component and the abrasive work component(s).

[60] A tool according to the present invention is also simple to assemble and very inexpensive to obtain, since it can be assembled via engagement, preferably snap- engagement, directly between parts of the support component and the work component.

[61] The above-described tool is susceptible to numerous modifications and variations within the protection scope defined by the tenor of the claims.

[62] Thus, for example, the mutual engagement means could be provided along the entire perimeter of the support component and the abrasive work component and not at specific portions thereof.

Claims

A tool for stone material finishing working comprising a support component or base (2) for anchoring to a machine tool, at least one abrasive work component (3), at least one housing seat (SA) delimited between said support component (2) and said at least one work component (3), at least one elastic vibration absorption component (6, 6a, 6b) arranged, in use, in a respective housing seat (SA), said support component (2) and said at least one abrasive work component (3) comprising mutual engagement means (4, 4b, 4c, 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5f), characterized in that said mutual engagement means comprise snap-mutual engagement means (4, 4b, 4c, 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5f).

A tool according to claim 1, characterized in that said engagement means of said support component (2) include at least one rib or one bracket element (4, 4a, 4b, 4c) delimiting a respective receiving zone (ZR), whereas the engagement means of said work component (3) comprise at least one wall (5) intended to be snap-engaged with said reception zone (ZR) of said support component.

A tool according to claim 1, characterized in that said engagement means of said support component (2) comprise at least one bracket element (4b, 4c), whereas the engagement means of said work component (3) comprise at least one notch (5d, 5e) in which said at least one bracket element (4b, 4c) is intended to be snap-engaged.

A tool according to any claim 1 to 3, characterized in that said support component comprises confinement means (2f) for said abrasive work component.

A tool according to claim 4, characterized in that said confinement means comprise at least one confinement wall (2f). A tool according to any preceding claim, characterized in that said elastic damping component comprises a sheet (6) of an elastic material selected from the group comprised of natural rubbers, such as caoutchouc, synthetic rubbers, such as silicon or polyurethane rubbers, thermoplastic rubbers, such as styrene- butadiene-styrene (SBS/SEBS), polyurethane (TPU), thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPE-E), polypropylene PP + EPDM vulcanized rubber (TPV), vulcanized rubbers.

A tool according to any claim 1 to 5, characterized in that said elastic damping component comprises at least one spring member

(6b).

A tool according to claim 7, characterized in that said support component (2) comprises a base element (EB) in which at least one opening (A) is made in which at least one block (B) is mounted, said spring member (6b) being anchored at one end thereof to said block (B) and at another end thereof to said at least one abrasive work component (3), said block being intended to elastically load a respective spring member (6b).

A tool for stone material finishing working, comprising a support component or base (2) for anchoring to a machine tool at least one abrasive work component (3), at least one housing seat (SA) delimited between said support component (2) and said at least one work component (3), at least one elastic vibration absorption component (6, 6a, 6b) arranged, in use, in a respective housing seat (SA), said support component (2) and said at least one abrasive work component (3) comprising mutual engagement means (4, 4b, 4c, 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5f), said elastic vibration absorption component comprising at least one spring member (6b),

characterized in that said support component (2) comprises a base element (EB) in which at least one opening (A) is made in which at least one block (B) is mounted, said spring member (6b) being anchored at one end thereof to said block (B) and at another end thereof to said at least one abrasive work component (3), said block being intended to elastically load a respective spring member (6b).

A tool according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that said at least one block (B) is externally threaded, whereas said at least one opening (A) is internally threaded, so that said at least one block is mounted via screwing into said at least one opening (A).

A tool according to any preceding claim, characterized in that at at least one face of said at least one work component (3), at least one slit (F) is formed.

A tool according to claim 11, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of abrasive work components (3) arranged in a manner such that said at least one slit (F) in the various adjacent work components are staggered from each other.