Gear cutting – milling – or planing – Milling – With means to protect operative or machine
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-21
2001-01-23
Briggs, William (Department: 3722)
Gear cutting, milling, or planing
Milling
With means to protect operative or machine
C029SDIG005, C408S710000, C451S455000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06176656
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a machine tool and more specifically to a machine tool of the type comprising a splash guard arrangement provided above a workpiece table for dividing it into a machining region and a mounting region, the splash guard arrangement adapted to prevent metal chips and/or coolant from flying into the mounting region and usable for an extended period of time with no or little possibility of failure or damage.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
As is generally known in the art, such a machine tool as machining center includes, among other things, a worktable arranged on a base in order to support workpieces thereon, a spindle stock capable of rotatingly driving a tool to cut the workpieces into a desired shape, a tool magazine for storage of a series of different tools in an arranged state and a tool changer whose function is to have the tools loaded into or unloaded from a rotating spindle of the spindle stock.
The worktable of the conventional machine tool is subdivided into two adjoining regions. Every time the worktable is rotated by 180 degrees, one region serving as a machining side is brought into a position near the spindle stock, while the other region serving as a mounting side is brought into a position near the operator. This enables the operator to mount the next workpiece on the mounting side during the time the workpiece mounted on the machining side is being cut. As used herein, the region serving as a machining side is referred to as a “machining region”, while the region serving as a mounting side is called a “mounting region”.
Need exists for a splash guard arrangement that can inhibit coolant or metal chips from splashing out of the machining region into the mounting region, which would otherwise cause the operator to be soiled with the splashing coolant or injured by the flying metal chips.
A typical example of such splash guard arrangement is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,319 to Winkler et al, wherein a machine tool comprises a spindle stock and a worktable having an upper surface thereon for mounting and machining workpieces. The worktable and the spindle stock are alternatively displaceable relative to each other in a plane parallel to the upper surface from a first position at which a first portion of the upper surface is disposed proximate the spindle stock and serves as a processing area and a second portion of said upper surface is disposed distal to said spindle stock and serves as a mounting area, to a second position at which the upper surface second portion is disposed proximate the spindle stock and serves as a processing area and the upper surface first portion is disposed distal to the spindle stock and serves as a mounting area. A splash guard wall is provided for separating the processing and the mounting areas. The splash guard wall is attached to the table upper surface by means of a hinge defining a first pivot axis. Thus, the splash guard wall may be folded about the first pivot axis relative to the upper surface in order that a first working space above the processing area remains larger than a second working space above the mounting area when either the first or second portions of the upper surface is proximate to the spindle stock.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,210 to R{umlaut over (u)}tschle et al discloses a machine tool comprising a workpiece table that can rotate about a vertical axis. A first spray shielding panel is rigidly attached to the workpiece table substantially along one diameter thereof. It divides the workpiece table into a placement side and a machining side. A second spray shielding panel is arranged above the first spray shielding panel, and runs substantially parallel thereto. An articulated third spray shielding panel connects the first and second spray shielding panel to one another. It is connected at its top in a hinged manner to the second spray shielding panel and is provided with a channel at its bottom that encloses an upper edge of the first spray shielding panel over a finite length.
One drawback associated with the prior art machine tools referred to above lies in the fact that, due to the frequent rotating movement of the worktable, the bottom edge of a stationary splash guard wall usually made of a flexible material is highly susceptible to unwanted damage or premature failure, thus resulting in a shortened period of service life of the splash guard arrangement as a whole. Another shortcoming noted in the conventional machine tools is that there still remains a possibility of metal chips or coolant being splashed to the mounting region through a gap unavoidably existing above the top edge of a rotating splash guard panel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a machine tool with a splash guard arrangement which can substantially eliminate the deficiencies inherent in the afore-mentioned and other prior art machine tools.
Another object of the invention is to provide a machine tool with a splash guard arrangement that can be put in use for a prolonged period of time with little fear of premature failure, while assuredly inhibiting metal chips or coolant from flying around out of a machining region.
With these objects in view, the invention resides in the provision of a machine tool comprising: a spindle stock; a worktable provided in front of the spindle stock to support workpieces thereon and capable of up-down movement and swivelling movement about a vertically extending center axis; and splash guard means for spatially dividing the worktable into a machining region disposed in proximity to the spindle stock and a mounting region positioned distal to the spindle stock, wherein said splash guard means includes a rotary guard rigidly attached to the worktable for movement as a unit with the worktable, a stationary guard provided above the rotary guard and a sealing slider elevationally movably held by the stationary guard, said sealing slider remaining in pivotal engagement with the rotary guard so that the slider can be subjected to up-down movement together with the rotary guard, while allowing the swivelling movement of the worktable and the rotary guard independently of the slider.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4768902 (1988-09-01), Rutschle et al.
patent: 4863319 (1989-09-01), Winkler et al.
patent: 5342156 (1994-08-01), Baba
patent: 5364210 (1994-11-01), R{umlaut over (u)}tschle et al.
patent: 5435675 (1995-07-01), Rutschle
patent: 5658105 (1997-08-01), Takahashi
patent: 5971679 (1999-10-01), Kim
Briggs William
Daewoo Heavy Industries Ltd.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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