Gear cutting – milling – or planing – Milling – Including means to infeed work to cutter
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-16
2001-05-08
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3722)
Gear cutting, milling, or planing
Milling
Including means to infeed work to cutter
C414S749200, C414S222020, C074S490070
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227776
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a machine tool in which a feed member, such as a table or a head, is guided by a guide means and is fed by a drive means in a feeding direction relative to a fixed base member.
In a conventional machine tool, a table or a head is guided by a rail having a dovetail shape, for example. In such a guide means, a sliding contact between two facing members is inevitable.
Recently, higher and higher speeds have been required of the table or the head in the machine tool. For such a high speed feeding, several novel mechanisms have been suggested, with focus on link mechanisms because they have no sliding members such as rails or their counterparts. Some link mechanisms have been practically applied to high speed feeding in a machine tool. In such a high speed feeding, link mechanisms are intended to guide the feed member as well as to drive it.
In conventional link mechanisms, a plurality of axial members for feeding are driven via corresponding servo motors, so that the feed member moves in a predetermined linear path or curved path. Therefore, a complicated control program for driving the plurality of servomotors in synchronism is necessary. However, such a control program is troublesome to prepare and costly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a machine tool wherein a feed member is guided by a simple linkage mechanism, which is applicable to high speed feeding without costly and troublesome control programs.
According to the present invention, a feed member is guided by a linear linkage mechanism. The linkage mechanism comprises a first arm linked to a fixed member at its one end so as to swivel about a first axis, and a second arm having the same length as the first arm, the second arm being linked to the first arm at its one end so as to swivel about a second axis and also linked to the feed member at its other end so as to swivel about a third axis. A first gear or pulley is secured on the fixed member at the one end of the first arm and coaxial with the first axis, a second gear or pulley is secured on the second arm at the other end thereof and is coaxial with the second axis, and a chain or belt is wound between the first and the second gears or pulleys. The first gear or pulley has a diameter twice that of the second gear or pulley.
The feed member is a table for accepting a workpiece to be machined or a spindle head, provided with a spindle for receiving a tool, for example.
The feed member can be guided by two or four linear linkage mechanisms.
The feed member can be guided by a conventional roller type or a slide type guide mechanism in addition to the linear linkage mechanism.
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Kitamura Akihiro
Kitamura Kousaku
Yamada Shigeru
Gerrity Stephen F.
Kitamura Machinery Co. Ltd.
Lorusso & Loud
Wilson Adrian
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