Turning – Lathe – With work feeder or remover
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-09
2003-10-28
Tsai, Henry W. H. (Department: 2183)
Turning
Lathe
With work feeder or remover
C082S162000, C082S170000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06637306
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lathe assemblies and, more particularly, to a lathe assembly which performs a machining operation on a piece of bar stock. The invention is also directed to a method of using a lathe assembly.
2. Background Art
It is known to feed bar stock to a tool assembly and to machine the bar stock in successive machining operations to produce multiple, finished workpieces from a single piece of the bar stock. In
FIGS. 1-5
herein, a conventional lathe assembly is shown at
10
for operating in this manner upon individual pieces
12
of bar stock.
The lathe assembly
10
consists of a guide
14
defining a passageway
16
within which the individual pieces
12
of bar stock can be guidingly moved selectively towards and away from a spindle
18
. Through the spindle
18
, the pieces
12
of bar stock can be held in a working position, as shown in
FIG. 2
, and rotated. A tool assembly
20
performs machining operations on the pieces
12
of bar stock in the working position to produce individual workpieces
22
.
The pieces
12
of bar stock are delivered to the passageway
16
from a supply location at
24
through a feed assembly
26
. The feed assembly
26
consists of an endless chain conveyor
28
which is trained around spaced pulleys
30
,
32
. Through a drive
34
, the pulley
32
is rotated selectively in a forward direction, as indicated by the arrows
36
in
FIG. 2
, and a reverse direction, as indicated by the arrows
38
in FIG.
4
.
A push rod
40
is attached to the upper surface of the chain conveyor
28
and is movable from left to right, with the drive
34
operated to rotate the pulley
32
in the forward direction, and from right to left, with the drive
34
operated to rotate the pulley
32
in the reverse direction. The push rod
40
has a receiver
42
at an end thereof to grip the trailing ends
44
of the pieces
12
of bar stock.
In operation, the pieces
12
of bar stock are delivered one-by-one from the supply location
24
to the top surface of the chain conveyor
28
with the push rod
40
retracted to the
FIG. 1
position. The drive
32
is then activated to rotate the pulley
32
in the forward direction which causes the receiver
42
to advance from left to right and engage the trailing end
44
of the active piece
12
of bar stock. Continued operation of the drive
34
causes the leading end
46
of the active piece
12
of bar stock to be directed into and through the passageway
16
and spindle
18
to be exposed outside of the spindle
18
, as shown in
FIG. 2
, for operation thereon by the tool assembly
20
to thereby produce a workpiece
22
.
The drive
34
is incrementally operated to advance the active piece
12
of bar stock a distance equal to a predetermined length dimension for the workpiece
22
. Eventually, the length of the active piece
12
of bar stock is diminished to less than the predetermined length of the workpiece
22
that is to be produced. Attempting to machine the remaining piece
12
of bar stock that is shorter than the predetermined length of the workpiece
22
could cause jamming and, in any event, is a wasted step given that the machined workpiece
22
would have to be sorted and discarded.
To avoid the above situation, it is known to use a proximity sensor
48
which detects an element
50
at the trailing end
44
of the active piece
12
of bar stock. The element
50
is strategically situated so that the proximity sensor
48
detects the element
50
once the active piece
12
of bar stock has been reduced to a length less than that necessary to form the workpiece
22
. After the last possible workpiece
22
is formed, the sensor detects the element
50
and causes a signal to be generated that causes the drive
32
to thereby retract the remaining piece
12
of bar stock from the passageway
16
and release it to a disposal unit
54
, as shown in FIG.
5
.
The horizontal arrangement of the guide
14
is typical of conventional lathe assemblies. One problem with this horizontal arrangement is that, with very long workpieces, a significant amount of floor space may be required to operate the lathe assembly.
While it is known to vertically orient elongate workpieces held in a vertically opening chuck on lathe assemblies, the problem of chip buildup on the workpiece and chuck must be contended with.
In
FIGS. 12 and 13
, two additional prior art lathe assemblies are shown at
58
and
60
, respectively. The lathe assembly
58
is characterized as a fixed spindle lathe assembly with there being a spindle
62
thereon, fixedly attached to a frame
63
and having a horizontal central axis
64
. An elongate piece
12
of bar stock is advanced from an input end
68
of the spindle
62
through the spindle
62
to and through an output end
70
at which the piece
12
of bar stock is exposed to be machined by a tool assembly
72
. The tool assembly
72
is selectively movable along X and Z axes to allow a tool element
74
on the tool assembly
72
to operate on the piece
12
of bar stock held and rotated by the spindle
62
.
The lathe assembly
60
is characterized as a sliding spindle lathe assembly and includes a spindle
76
with a horizontal central axis
78
. The spindle
76
has an adaptor
80
which cooperates with, and is guided along, a rail
82
on a frame
84
so as to allow the spindle
76
to move in the line of the double-headed arrow
86
parallel to the central axis
78
of the spindle
76
.
In the lathe assembly
60
, a bushing assembly
88
is provided with a body
90
and a bushing
92
having an opening
94
therethrough. The spindle axis
78
is coincident with the central axis for the bushing opening
94
. The bushing assembly
88
serves as a support to rigidify the end of the piece
12
of bar stock that is being machined by a tool assembly
96
.
Typically, both of the lathe assemblies
58
,
60
are designed for relatively small diameter pieces
12
of bar stock. It is conventional to make dedicated machines that function either as a fixed spindle lathe assembly, such as the lathe assembly
58
, or as a sliding spindle lathe assembly, such as the lathe assembly
60
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a lathe assembly having a guide with a passageway for movement of a piece of bar stock, with a leading end and a trailing end, in a substantially straight path between a feeding position and a working position. A sensor assembly is capable of detecting the position of the trailing end of a piece of bar stock within the guide passageway to thereby allow a user to determine if a piece of bar stock in the guide passageway has a length sufficient to perform a desired operation thereon.
The lathe assembly may further include a spindle for releasably holding a piece of bar stock in the working position.
The sensor assembly may have a generator for a signal indicative that a piece of bar stock in the guide passageway has less than a predetermined length.
The lathe assembly may further include a tool assembly to perform an operation on a piece of bar stock in the working position.
The sensor assembly may include a generator for a stop signal indicative that a piece of bar stock in the guide passageway has less than the predetermined length. The lathe assembly may further include a control to receive the stop signal and, in response thereto, prevent performance of an operation by the tool assembly on a piece bar stock in the passageway.
The sensor assembly may include an elongate element that can be directed into the guide passageway to against the trailing end of a piece of bar stock in the passageway to thereby determine whether a piece of bar stock in the guide passageway is less than or greater than the predetermined length.
The sensor assembly may include a generator for a beam to be directed against the trailing end of a piece of bar stock in the guide passageway and reflected therefrom and a receiver for the reflected beam.
The generator may be a laser beam generator.
The lathe assembly may further includ
Tsai Henry W. H.
Wood Phillips Katz Clark & Mortimer
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