Cutting – With means to monitor and control operation
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-26
2003-11-18
Shoap, Allan N. (Department: 3724)
Cutting
With means to monitor and control operation
C083S935000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06647843
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to endless belts and, more particularly, to an apparatus for cutting individual belts from a belt sleeve having alternating ribs and grooves on a surface thereof to produce belts of uniform, predetermined width and cross-sectional configuration. The invention is also directed to a method of cutting the individual belts from the belt sleeve.
2. Background Art
Multi-ribbed V-belts are used in a wide range of devices, such as electric home appliances, information devices, etc. A typical multi-ribbed V-belt construction is shown in
FIG. 6
herein at
10
. The belt
10
has a body
12
which is endless in a lengthwise direction, indicated by the double-headed arrow
14
. The body
12
has a constant width W between laterally facing side surfaces
16
,
18
. The body
12
is commonly made from a cast liquid urethane elastomer or a rubber elastomer. The rubber elastomer is generally at least of natural rubber, butyl rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber, chloroprene rubber, hydrogenated nitrile rubber, and alkylated chlorosulfonated polyethylene. The body
12
has embedded therein longitudinally extending load carrying cords
20
which may be made of polyester or nylon fibers to exhibit high strength and low elongation. The load carrying cords
20
are arranged at a suitable pitch between the side surfaces
16
,
18
.
The belt body
12
has an inside surface
22
, through which V-shaped grooves
24
are formed. V-shaped ribs
26
are formed between adjacent grooves
24
in the widthwise direction of the belt
10
.
Typically, the multi-ribbed V-belts
10
are constructed with a predetermined groove shape, size, and pitch. As an example, the assignee herein offers multi-ribbed V-belts made of urethane that are sold commercially under the trademarks RIBSTAR U™ and POLYMAX™, which have grooves with a shape and pitch as designated in Table 1, below.
TABLE 1
Trade-
mark
Ribstar U™
Polymax™
Grove
J, JT
JB, JBT,
HB
3 M
5 M
7 M
11 M
Shape
JBF
Grove
2.34
2.4 mm
1.6
3.0
5.3 mm
8.5 mm
13.2 mm
Pitch
mm
mm
mm
(mm)
The shape and pitch of grooves on multi-ribbed V-belts are designated according to International Standards (ISO-9982), as set out in Table 2, below.
TABLE 2
Groove
H
J
K
L
M
Shape
Groove
1.6 mm
2.34 mm
3.56 mm
4.7 mm
9.4 mm
Pitch
A typical process for manufacturing multi-ribbed V-belts is as follows. Load carrying cords, which may be made from aramid fiber, polyester fiber, or the like, are spirally wound over a cylindrical internal mold which has axially extending ridges formed in the outer circumferential surface thereof at a suitable pitch in the circumferential direction. The internal mold is in turn fit within a cylindrical external mold, with a predetermined clearance maintained therebetween. The external mold has an internal surface with V-shaped grooves extending in a circumferential direction, with the grooves spaced at a predetermined pitch in the axial direction. The space between the external surface of the internal mold and the internal surface of the external mold is filled with a liquid elastomer and is degasified to cause the elastomer to set. The internal and external molds are then separated from each other to produce a belt sleeve having an exposed external surface with alternating ribs and grooves thereon.
Alternatively, the external mold can be made with an internal surface having no grooves formed therein i.e. with a flat surface. The belt sleeve resulting after separation of the internal and external molds can then be ground to produce the alternating ribs and grooves, which are formed by the external mold in the previously described method.
Predetermined widths of the belt sleeve are then serially removed to form individual multi-ribbed V-belts. The apparatus used to effect the cutting of the belt sleeve typically has a cutter which is pushed against the belt sleeve at the exposed surface where the ribs and grooves are formed.
The apparatus is designed to cut the belt sleeve precisely through the base of the V-shaped groove between adjacent ribs. The resulting cut produces side surfaces which each include a flat portion which is orthogonal to the back side surface of the belt and an angled surface portion which is contiguous with the flat surface portion and which projects laterally inwardly with respect to the belt body. If the cut between the adjacent ribs is laterally offset, one of two conditions occurs. First, the cut may be laterally shifted towards the center of the belt, as a result of which the area of the angled surface portion is reduced. This reduces the contact area between that surface portion and a cooperating pulley, potentially detrimentally reducing the overall transmission capability between the belt and cooperating pulley.
With the second condition, a part of the rib laterally outwardly from the outermost rib overhangs the angled surface portion. With this condition, the belt may not properly seat in a cooperating pulley. The overhanging rib portion may ride on top of the pulley so as to potentially cause the belt to disengage from the pulley and/or twist during operation.
In a typical belt construction, lateral shifting simultaneously produces one of these conditions at each lateral side of the belt. Thus, to ensure proper belt operation, it is important to accurately produce multi-ribbed V-belts of the same width and configuration.
In a typical belt cutting apparatus, the cutter is shifted laterally by a distance corresponding to the desired belt width after completion of each cutting operation. This distance is predetermined by the particular belt specification. Typically, manual inspection and adjustment of the cutter is carried out to produce the desired belt width. The groove within which the cut is to be formed, is commonly inspected by an operator using a magnifying glass. An instantaneous decision is made as to the deviation between the cutter location and the base/center line for the groove. The operator makes a quick lateral adjustment to eliminate the deviation between the center line of the groove and the cutting edge of the cutter, whereupon the cutting edge on the cutter is pressed into the belt sleeve material to effect removal of the belt.
In operations where the operator is required to continually inspect and make manual fine adjustments of the cutting edge, the operator may be required to become dedicated to a single task during the cutting operation. This may add significantly to the overall production costs and may adversely effect efficiency.
With this type of apparatus, if there is a deviation between the lateral location of the cutting edge on the cutter and the base of the groove at which a cut is to be made this deviation may recur each time that the cutter is moved after the completion of a cutting operation. In high speed, high production operations, this deviation must be compensated for instantaneously based on a quick visual observation by the operator and with a fine manual adjustment. To successfully make the adjustment both efficiently and accurately, the operator must generally be highly experienced and skilled. However, since the adjustment is based on a visual observation, even the skilled worker may not be able to consistently and effectively finely adjust the cutting edge on the cutter, as required. Inaccurate lateral location of the cutting edge results in the aforementioned problem, wherein one of the side surfaces of the belt has a reduced contact area, while the other side has a partial overhang of a rib portion.
These defects may become even more significant with belts having a groove pitch of 2 mm or less. Further, the defects with belts having a groove pitch of 2 mm or less may be more difficult to prevent. Still further, with these belts having a relatively small groove pitch, deviations from intended locations, even if relatively slight, may significantly affect production yield.
In certain cutting apparatus, the cutter is sequentially slid by the distance equal to the pre-programmed width of the belt being cut. Any deviatio
Kamei Kenichiroh
Takasaki Akihito
Choi Stephen
Mitsuboshi Belting Ltd.
Shoap Allan N.
Wood Phillips Katz Clark & Mortimer
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