Work holders – With fluid means – Cylinder-piston means in series with additional positioning...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-20
2001-03-13
Scherbel, David A. (Department: 3723)
Work holders
With fluid means
Cylinder-piston means in series with additional positioning...
C029S416000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199847
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cylinder apparatus capable of clamping a workpiece by using an arm which is rotatable by a predetermined angle in accordance with a displacement action of a piston.
2. Description of the Related Art
The cylinder apparatus has been hitherto used, for example, in order to clamp a constitutive part when the constitutive part of an automobile or the like is welded. Such an cylinder apparatus is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,973.
The cylinder apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,973 is constructed as follows. That is, its main body is constructed by integrally combining a pair of casings which are formed substantially in a mutually symmetric manner. A cylinder unit is coupled to the main body. An arm is rotated by a predetermined angle by the aid of a toggle link mechanism provided at the inside of the main body in accordance with the driving action of the cylinder unit.
The toggle link mechanism includes a lever arm which is rotatable by a predetermined angle about a center of a rotation pin. The lever arm is provided with a stopper for making abutment against the inner wall surface of the casing to stop the rotary action of the arm when the arm is used to clamp a workpiece.
However, in the cylinder apparatus concerning the conventional technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,973, the stopper for stopping the rotary action of the arm is provided at the inside of the casing. For this reason, it is necessary to disassemble the casing when the maintenance operation is performed for the stopper. Therefore, an inconvenience arises in that the maintenance operation for the stopper is complicated, and it cannot be performed efficiently.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A general object of the present invention is to provide a cylinder apparatus which makes it possible to perform the maintenance operation for the stopper conveniently and efficiently without disassembling a casing.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a clamping apparatus which makes it possible to arbitrarily set an angle of an arm to give a clamping state by conveniently changing the range of rotary action of the arm.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4637597 (1987-01-01), McPherson et al.
patent: 4905973 (1990-03-01), Blatt
patent: 5215295 (1993-06-01), Hoover
patent: 5704600 (1998-01-01), Robinson
patent: 5816567 (1998-10-01), Horn
patent: 5829112 (1998-11-01), Blatt
patent: 5996984 (1999-12-01), Takahashi
Guss Paul A.
Scherbel David A.
Shakeri Hadi
SMC Kabushiki Kaisha
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