Metal deforming – By use of non-deforming work-gripping clamp and relatively... – Plural or complex apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-29
2003-10-07
Crane, Daniel C. (Department: 3725)
Metal deforming
By use of non-deforming work-gripping clamp and relatively...
Plural or complex apparatus
C072S319000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06629442
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutting blade bending apparatus, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a cutting blade bending apparatus capable of precisely forming an acute angle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various cutting blade bending apparatuses have been disclosed in the art.
First, referring to
FIG. 7
a,
there is shown a transverse cross-sectional view of a cutting blade bending apparatus as described in International Publication No. WO95/0026. In this cutting blade bending apparatus, as a cutting blade
100
is moved forward by rotation of rollers
92
and
93
while passing through a guide opening defined in a fixed die
70
, the cutting blade
100
is bent by virtue of a movable die
71
which is rotatably arranged around the fixed die
70
. That is to say, as the movable die
71
is rotated, distal ends
711
,
711
of the movable die
71
bias sideward the cutting blade
100
which is securely grasped by distal ends
700
,
700
of the fixed die
70
, and thereby, the cutting blade
100
is bent leftward or rightward. However, this conventional cutting blade bending apparatus is encountered with a problem in that an acute angle to which the cutting blade
100
can be bent, is limited to a certain value. Concretely speaking, when assuming that the cutting blade
100
is bent rightward to a great extent so as to finally form an acute angle with respect to a reference line, as the bent portion of the cutting blade
100
is brought into contact with the fixed die
70
, the cutting blade
100
cannot be bent anymore, and it becomes difficult for the movable die
71
to apply strong biasing force to the cutting blade
100
.
To cope with this problem, a cutting blade bending system as shown in
FIG. 7
b
is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,919. This system is different from the conventional cutting blade bending apparatus described above, in that a movable die can be positioned in front of a fixed die to allow bending members
80
to be freely moved and each bending member
80
of the movable die has a pin-shaped configuration. In this system, two bending members
80
are employed to respectively bend a cutting blade leftward and rightward. When a left bending member
80
biases a cutting blade rightward, a right bending member
80
is retracted into a rotating body
81
so as not to stand in the way of a bent portion of the cutting blade. However, the cutting blade bending system suffers from defects in that, when the cutting blade is bent rightward by the left bending member
80
to form an acute angle. If the right bending member
80
is extended to bend the cutting blade leftward in a state wherein the cutting blade is already bent beyond a position of the right bending member
80
, the right bending member
80
cannot but be idly rotated. It is impossible to bend the cutting blade leftward. Such causes interruption of the entire system. Therefore, it is impossible to form an acute angle which is less than a predetermined degree.
Moreover, the bending members
80
are worn out due to repetitive retraction and extension, and a gap cannot but be created between the bending members
80
and edges of the rotating body
81
. The edges define openings for guiding the retraction and extension of the bending members
80
. Accordingly, when actually bending the cutting blade, the bending members
80
are not firmly supported by the rotating body
81
, thus horizontal and vertical bending accuracies for the cutting blade cannot but be deteriorated.
A typical apparatus which employs only one bending member, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,359 filed in the name of the present applicant. In this apparatus, after the bending member bend a metal plate in a clockwise direction, if it is necessary to bend the metal plate in counterclockwise direction, the bending member is retracted into a rotating body. The rotating body is further rotated in the clockwise direction to a position where the bending member can abut the other side of the metal plate and then the bending member is extended out of the rotating body. However, the apparatus still suffers from a drawback in that, since the rotating body must be rotated through a large angle in the clockwise direction to bend the metal plate counterclockwise, it is difficult to secure a wide area that provides a position between a guide section and the bent portion of the metal plate. Because of this, a controlling of the apparatus becomes complicated.
Further, this single-pin type apparatus is superior, in view of its acute angle forming capability to bend rule over a wider angle, over the aforementioned two-pin type cutting blade bending apparatuses, because one single bending number should sequentially bend the metal plate in the one and the other directions. However, it is not superior over the two-pin type cutting blade bending apparatuses in view of operational rapidity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art. One aspect provides for a cutting blade bending apparatus that is capable of precisely forming an acute angle of a cutting blade and is excellent in view of operational rapidity and efficiency.
Another aspect provides a cutting blade bending apparatus which allows a cutting blade to be bent in a state wherein bending members are firmly supported by rotating bodies, thereby increasing horizontal and vertical bending accuracies for the cutting blade.
A further aspect provides a cutting blade bending apparatus comprising: a nozzle section for feeding a cutting blade into a bending area through a guide opening which is defined therein in a lengthwise direction of the cutting blade; a first bending member for bending the cutting blade fed into the bending area, in one direction; a second bending member for bending the cutting blade fed into the bending area, in the other direction; a first rotating body for firmly supporting the first bending member and guiding rotation of the second bending member; a second rotating body for firmly supporting the second bending member and guiding rotation of the first bending member, the second rotating body being rotated independent of the first rotating body; and a driving section for rotatably driving, at a time, one of the first and second rotating bodies.
By this feature of the present invention, the first bending member functions to bend the cutting blade in one direction, and the second bending member functions to bend the cutting blade in the other direction. Due to the fact that the first and second bending members are supported by the first and second rotating bodies, respectively, which are independently rotated of each other, rotating motion of the first bending member by the first rotating body and rotating motion of the second bending member by the second rotating body are independently implemented of each other. In the conventional art, since two bending members are supported by a common rotating body, a rotating angle of one bending member cannot but be restricted by the presence of the other bending member, whereby an acute angle cannot be adequately formed.
Also, in the present invention, because vertical movement of the first and second bending members as is the case with the conventional art, is unnecessary. Instead, the first and second bending members are rotated to bias the cutting blade while being firmly supported by the first and second rotating bodies. As a result, increased horizontal and vertical bending accuracies for the cutting blade can be accomplished, and operational rapidity can be ameliorated.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the nozzle section and the first and second rotating bodies are coaxially arranged one with another in a vertical direction, and the nozzle section passes through center portions of the first and second rotating bodies; the first rotating body comprises at least one pair of upper and lower rotating parts which are opposite to each other i
Crane Daniel C.
Gibbons Del Deo Dolan Griffinger & Vecchione
LandOfFree
Cutting blade bending apparatus capable of precisely forming... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Cutting blade bending apparatus capable of precisely forming..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cutting blade bending apparatus capable of precisely forming... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3142639