US2913853A - Endless bed type metal surface finishing machines - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 24, 1959 P. A. SOLEM 2,913,353

ENDLESS BED TYPE METAL SURFACE FINISHING MACHINES Filed Aug. 24, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 w 2 a a a o S y @2 \Q u 3 E Peter- 11.5 01am, k

Nov. 24, 19-59 1 A. soLEM 2,913,853

ENDLESS BED TYPE METAL. SURFACE FINISHING MACHINES Filed Au 24', 1955 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 I k a I I: 0 0

v In 5 Peter A. Salem P. A. soLEM 2,913,853

munuzss BED TYPE METAL .SUREACE FINISHING MACHINES Nov. 24, 19-59 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 24, 1955 ENDLESS BED TYPE METAL SURFACE FINISHING MACHINES Peter A. Solem, Rockford, in. Application August 24, 1955-, Serial No. 530,340 '18 (Cl. 51-45 I This invention relates to endless bed type metal surface finishing machines and, more specifically, one in which the endless bed carries magnetic chucks on the links thereof that are arranged to be automatically energized as they ride upon one end of the bed slides and deeriei'gized when they leave said bed slides at the other end of the bed. The surface finishing referred to may be alight milling operation, surface. grinding, or any other similar operation, depending upon how much metal is to be removed in one pass of the work under the one or more rotary heads or drums and the nature of the drums employed or the finishing material provided thereon, the object being to make available in this machine as nearly as possible the same. high production output of an endless bed sander used heretofore only in wood-working in the milling, surface grinding, or other finishing on a wide range of small, medium, and large metal parts in what are commonly referred to as production jobs, where with one setup of the machine many parts of the same width or miscellaneous widths but of a given thickness may be fed through the machine.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figs. 1 and 2 are a side view and endvifew, respectively, of an endless bed type metal surface finishing machine made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the machine;

Fig. 4 is a cross-section showing a typical magnetic chuck, and j y Fig. 5' is an enlarged sectional detail of one of the brushes;

The same reference numerals are applied .to. corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring to the drawings, 1 have illustrated a machine having an endless work feeding bed or carrier indicated generally 'by the reference numeral 6 that is similar in general appearance tothose used in thewell known Solem sanding machines but having. the slats 'or cross-bars 7 that are linked together on a pair of chains 8 in the form of elongated magnetic chuck bars, instead of be ing ordinary slats or cross-bars each designed to carry a row of the usual molded rubber traction blocks, the chuck bar bodies themselves forming the slats or crossbars. The present invention contemplates magnetically holding one or more metallic work-pieces W on the endless bed 6 during their passage through the machine in a light milling operation, surface grinding, or other comparable operation, in contrast to the combined friction and suction cup hold afforded by the rubber traction blocks-on wooden work-pieces to be sanded in the Solem sanders in the past. Any one of the circles numbered 9, 10, 11 and 12 is therefore not to be confused as representing a sander drum, as in a Solem sander, but is here to be understood as representing either a milling cutter, a grinding wheel, or a drum covered like a sanding drum but with heavy duty metal working abrasive cloth, depending upon the work being handled and the specific surface finishing being given on the metal work pieces.

United States Patent 0 "ice Thus, wheel or drum 9 may, for example, be a grinding wheel or wheels set to grind to an initial depth, 10 being set to grind to a further depth, 11 being set to grind to a still further depth, and 12 being set to grind to the final depth desired. On the other hand, 9 may be a milling cutter to perform a light milling operation, 10 a grinding wheel to do a follow-up grindingoperation, and 11 and 12 abrasive drums to do follow-up surface smoothing and finishing operations. On the other hand, units 9 and 10 may, for example, be grinding wheels set to grind to an initial depth and to a further depth, respectively, while units 11 and 12 are abrasive drums, one relatively coarse and one relatively fine for smoothing the freshly ground surfaces of the work-pieces. Or, unit 9 may be a grinding wheel, while units 10-12 are abrasive drums doing follow-up coarse, medium, and fine finishing operations, respectively. Or all four or only the first two or three of units 9-12 may be abrasive drums while the final one (or two) does a polishing, rubbing, or buffing operation. Various other combinations will readily ocour to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates.

The chuck bars 7 run on spaced parallel bed slides 13 extending lengthwise of the machine under the units 9-12 in crosswise relationship to girts 14. The latter are fastened at their ends in the bed frame 15 that is vertically adjustable on ways provided on the opposite sides of the machine main frame 16. The bed 6 is accurately adjusted to and locked in the proper elevation relative to units 9-12 according to the thickness of the workpieces W to be processed. These are fed in'over table 17 at one end and are removed from table 18 at the other end. Sprockets 19 and 20 mesh with chains 8 and are provided on cross-shafts 21 and 22 at opposite ends of the bed frame 15, and an electric motor is providedin housing 23 to furnish the drive to shaft 22 through suitablereduction gearing. Other electric motors 24 are provided, one for each of the units 9-12, to drive the-same at predetermined speeds. Variable speed drive for the units 9-12 is provided for in this machine similarlyas in the Solem sanders, and infinitely adjustable feed speeds for the feed bed 6. The control panel with push buttons on it for control of all of the motors is indicated at 25 on the front end of the machine. A separate control box 26 is provided associated with motor 27 for power adjustment of the bed frame 15 up or down. Fine adjustment can be made with hand-wheel 28. Hoods 29 serve to conduct dust away from between the units 9-12, there being enough of these hoods, asv seen. in Fig. 3 so that suction is at work on both sides of each. drum tov carry off dust and keep the machine operating clean.

In operation, bus bars 30 and 31 are mounted longitudinally of one side of the bed frame 15 in spaced parallel relation on insulation 32 and they are suitably connected with a source of low voltage direct current. The'chuck. bars 7 each have spring-pressed brushes 33 and 34 slid.- able on bars 30' and 31 to connect the windings 45 in the bars with the current source as the bars 7 ride up onto. slides 13 at the infeed end 17, and disconnect the windings automatically as the bars 7 ride off the slides 13 at the outfeed end 18. When the bars reach the outgoing.

end of slides 13, as when they reach the position indicated by line a-a in Fig. 3, the chuck bars 7 are de-energized by a brief reversal of current through their windings-45 in a well known way so that the work W is freed and can'be removed easily. It has not been deemed necessary to illustrate the internal construction of the magnetic chuck bars 7 inasmuch as magnetic chucks are well known and any suitable or preferred design, such as that manufactured by Sundstrand Magnetic Products Co. of Rockford, lllinois, can be used. It is, therefore, considered sufficient to illustrate an energizing coil of winding diagrammatically at 45, connected as shown at 46 and 47 with brushes 33 and 34, respectively. The workpieces W may be plates or castings, gears, or any one of a large variety of small, medium size, or large pieces requiring surface grinding or other similar work. The work-pieces may be clamped directly or with adaptors, because the chucks have such deep penetration to work easily through an adaptor. It will, of course, be understood that the showing herein of four units 9-12 is not to be taken as placing any limitation whatsoever upon the present invention,inasmuch as in some machines only one, or two, or three units might be employed, whereas in others a greater number might conceivably be required, depending, of course, upon the kind of work to be done. Also, while most grinding operations are done dry, the present machine is well adapted for wet grinding, it being only necessary to supply water or other liquid through pipes indicated at 35-38 in Fig. 3, extending parallel to and above the units 9-12, respectively, to spray the liquid on said units all along the length thereof. Separate supply lines and separate valves will be provided of water or other liquid sprayed from each of these pipes, to obtain the desired results and permit delivering the special kind of liquid to each unit that that unit requires. The liquid supplied, for example, through pipe 35 will be a cutting fluid in the event unit 9 is a milling cutter. If unit 10 is another milling cutter, the same will, of course, be true of the liquid then delivered through pipe Wheels 39-42 are provided on the side of the machine, as seen in Fig. 1, for manual adjustment up and down of the units 9-12, respectively, similarly as for the drums in the Solem sanders. In conclusion, attention is called to the elongated V-shaped leaf spring trough strips 43, one of which is attached by its one edge portion to the hoods 29 in a grinding or abrading operation, for example, the slides 13 being thereby shielded against contamination of the lubricant that is delivered onto the surfaces thereof continuously under pressure during the operation of the machine by unit 44 (Fig. 2). Metallic particles and chips will, of course, be retained magnetically on bars 7 anyway until the demagnetization at aa, and when the bars are inverted as they start their return travel in passing under sprockets 20, all loose particles on the bars and in the troughs will be dropped and may be caught in a suitable receptacle placed under the bed 6.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. A machine of the character described comprising a frame, an endless bed operable in said frame to convey magnetizable metallic work-pieces through the machine, rotary cylindrical metal surface finishing units mounted in said frame in parallel relationship to one another in a plane spaced from and parallel to the work supporting surface of said endless bed to operate on the surface of a metal work-piece supported on and conveyed by said bed, magnetic chucks secured in substantially coplanar relation to and moving with said bed, and means for supplying current to said chucks, so that the chucks are energized only for their straightaway travel past the aforesaid units.

2. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the last mentioned means comprises brushes on said chucks connected to the energizing coils in said chucks, and bus bars connected to a source of current supply and mounted in said machine for slidable engagement by said brushes.

3. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the magnetic chucks arein the form of bars extending crosswise I less bed is mounted in the width of the bed, and the last mentioned means comprises brushes on the ends of the bars and connected to the energizing coils in said chuck bars, and bus bars connected to a source of current supply and mounted in said machine for slidable engagement by said brushes.

4. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the endless bed is mounted in a frame slidable vertically on ways in the machine frame, the machine including means for adjusting said bed frame up or down relative to the rotary units.

5. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the enda frame slidable vertically on ways in the machine frame, the machine including means for adjusting said bed frame up or down relative to the rotary units, the rotary units being separately adjustable vertically relative to the bed.

6. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least the first of said units is a milling cutter.

7. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least the first of said units is a milling cutter and at least one of the other units is a grinding wheel.

8. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least the first of said units is a milling cutter and at least one of the other units is an abrading drum.

9. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least the first of said units is a milling cutter and at least one of the other units is a grinding wheel, at least one of the units being an abrading drum.

10. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rotary cylindrical units are grinding wheels for performing surface grinding operations on the work-pieces.

11. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least one of said rotary cylindrical units is a grinding wheel for performing surface grinding operations on the workpieces, at least one of the other units being an abrasive drum for smoothing the freshly ground surface on the work-pieces.

12. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rotary cylindrical units are abrasive drums for operation on the surfaces of the work-pieces.

13. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rotary cylindrical units are abrasive drums for operation on the surfaces of the work-pieces, at least one of said drums carrying coarse abrasive, at least one of said drums carrying medium coarse abrasive, and at least one of said drums carrying fine abrasive.

14. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the magnetic chucks are in the form of bars extending crosswise the width of the bed, the machine including resilent V-shaped troughs extending lengthwise of one side of the bars for compression to a narrower V-form between the bars during straightaway travel of the bars past the rotary units to catch work particles during the operation of the machine.

15. A machine as set forth in claim 1, including .at least one pipe for discharging liquid onto at least one of the rotary units.

16. A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein at least one of said rotary cylindrical units is a milling cutter, the machine including means for discharging cutting fluid onto said cutter.

17. A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein at least one of said rotary cylindrical units is a grinding Wheel, the machine including means for discharging water or other fluid onto said wheel.

18. A machine of the character described comprising a frame, an endless bed operable in said frame to convey magnetizable metallic work-pieces through the machine, rotary cylindrical metal surface finishing units mounted in said frame in parallel relationship to one another in a plane spaced from and parallel to the work-supporting surface of said endless bed to operate on the surface of a metal work-piece supported on and conveyed by said bed, magnetic chucks secured in substantially coplanar relation to and moving with said bed, and means for supplying References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Pelstring Feb. 10, 1880 Fraser July 30, 1895 6 Philips Apr. 24, 1923 Sheehan Sept. 16, 1924 Fitzsimmons Oct. 21, 1924 Solem Dec. 27, 1927 Byrnes July 21, 1931 Pettigrew May 10, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS Italy Mar. 23, 1948

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