Apparatus and method for sharpening a disc blade

Abrading – Abrading process – Drill – thread – thread cutter – reamer – or rotary cutter abrading

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C451S293000, C451S045000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06224468

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for sharpening disc blades, and, more particularly, disc blades of saws that transversely sever multi-ply material such as logs of bathroom tissue and kitchen towels and bolts of folded facial tissue and toweling.
Some of the first saws were the so-called “Gilbertville” saws, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,766,566 and 2,879,633. Those patents taught the use of air cylinder actuated grinder assemblies, with non-driven (idling) and driven grinding wheels, respectively. Although the air cylinder can be considered a spring, because of the force used to move and then load the grinding wheel against the blade and the need for a support on the opposite side of the blade, the grinding wheel was actually held rigidly against the blade.
As saw speeds increased to keep up with production increases, saw improvements were made as taught in co-owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,041,813, 4,173,846, 4,347,771, 4,584,917, 4,821,613, and 5,152,203. The '813, '846, 917, and '203 patents teach the use of air cylinder actuated grinder assemblies and loading the assembly against a fixed stop, thereby loading the grinding wheel onto the blade. The '813 patent also teaches driven grinding wheels, in place of idling wheels. The '771 patent teaches the use of light spring pressure, no stop, plus idling grinding wheels for blade sharpening and reduced blade scalloping. This was an improvement to the system as taught in the '813 patent. The '613 patent adds the teaching of blade speed oscillation to the teachings of '771 to reduce blade scalloping. It is noted that a blade is considered scalloped when the outside diameter is no longer a circle, but begins to look like a series of flats around the blade.
With the increased use of recycled substrates for the web and core board, plus wider webs and higher production speeds, saw demands have increased further. Present saws must deal with more impurities in the web, cut faster, and cut through more lanes of product with each pass. This increases the demand on the grinding wheels to keep the blade sharp, without causing or increasing unwanted blade scalloping. As this demand has increased, so has the need for the saw adjuster to set the relationship of the grinding wheels to the blade more consistently. The need for a more consistent grinding process, plus higher quality blades and grinding wheels has also grown.
A problem with idling grinding wheel assemblies is that the grinding process is not as controlled because each grinding wheel grinds at its own rate based on its rotational speed. The grinding wheel rotational speed is a function of the grinding wheel to blade overlap and pressure setting, the friction in the assembly, component manufacturing tolerances, component wear, and contamination as a result of the product cutting and blade sharpening processes.
When the grinding wheel assembly is loaded against a fixed stop, the blade conforms to the grinding wheel. As the blade flatness run out increases, the grinding force between the blade and grinding wheel changes as the blade rotates. Grinding wheel flatness runout can also add to this grinding force variation. These factors, along with the requirement of more aggressive grinding, can lead to blade scalloping, which can increase the grinding force variation even further. Blade scalloping can be compared to washboard on a dirt road, with the vehicle tires representing the grinding wheels. When the scalloping becomes pronounced enough, the blade must be replaced, as sharpening is no longer feasible.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides a grinder assembly with driven floating grinding wheels for sharpening blades on saws with single or multiple blades. The grinder assembly makes use of the typical actuation mechanism to bring the grinding wheels into contact with the blade. The grinding wheels are driven for control of the rate of grinding and float in the axial direction to minimize the grinding force variation. Axial movement of the grinding wheel allows the grinding wheel to conform to variations in the blade surface and reduces the precision at which the saw adjuster must set the grinding wheel to the blade. The rate of grinding is controlled by controlling the relative speed between the grinding wheel and the blade at the start of and during sharpening.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2077689 (1937-04-01), Grobstein
patent: 2766566 (1956-10-01), Gage
patent: 2879533 (1959-03-01), Gage
patent: 3896591 (1975-07-01), Ruble
patent: 4041813 (1977-08-01), Spencer
patent: 4173846 (1979-11-01), Steiner et al.
patent: 4182615 (1980-01-01), Weissman
patent: 4347771 (1982-09-01), Bradley
patent: 4584917 (1986-04-01), Blom
patent: 4716689 (1988-01-01), Friel
patent: 4821613 (1989-04-01), Hertel
patent: 4845900 (1989-07-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 4991503 (1991-02-01), Morner
patent: 5152203 (1992-10-01), Wierschke
patent: 5209150 (1993-05-01), Arconada Arconada
patent: 5557997 (1996-09-01), Wunderlich et al.
patent: 5620359 (1997-04-01), Harrison et al.
patent: 5832829 (1998-11-01), Kolbe et al.
patent: 3825600 C2 (1990-08-01), None
patent: 4041497 A1 (1992-06-01), None
patent: 19534651 A1 (1997-03-01), None

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Apparatus and method for sharpening a disc blade does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Apparatus and method for sharpening a disc blade, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus and method for sharpening a disc blade will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2529777

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.