Supports – Machinery support – Movable machine
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-26
2001-10-02
Ramirez, Ramon O. (Department: 3632)
Supports
Machinery support
Movable machine
C248S678000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296222
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to drill guide fixtures for machinery mount anchor bases wherein fastener receiving holes may be accurately drilled obliquely related to the vertical.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heavy machinery such as presses, machine tools, turbines, generators, rolling machines, and the like, are subject to vibration. Further, with heavy machines of this type, it is important that the weight of the machine be evenly distributed over its base in order to maintain the integrity and accuracy of ways and other alignments. As the floor or foundation for such heavy equipment may contain vertical inaccuracies, and hence, unevenly support the equipment, it is common to use machinery mounting anchor bases located at critical locations along the machine base. Such mounting bases usually include adjustable vertical support elements whereby the anchor base can be vertically adjusted so that the machine will be equally supported at its support locations. Machinery mount anchor bases of the type used are sold by the assignee under the trademark FIXATOR and are shown in the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,349.
Machinery mount anchor bases of the FIXATOR type will be mounted below the machine base, and access to the anchor is limited by the configuration of the machine base. As it is normally advisable to permanently affix the anchor base to the supporting surface, fasteners are normally used to affix the anchor base to the supporting floor or foundation. However, because of the presence of the machine base limiting access to the machinery mount anchor base, it is difficult to accurately locate such anchor fasteners, and further, because it is usually necessary to obliquely relate the fasteners to the vertical due to the limited access to the anchor bases, the difficulty in drilling accurate non-vertical holes in the supporting surface is compounded. Prior to the existence of the instant invention, apparatus has not been available for accurately drilling the oblique fastener holes for heavy machines utilizing machinery mounting anchor bases and hold-down adapters as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,349 have had to be used.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a drill guide fixture for use with machinery mounting anchor bases wherein anchor fastener receiving holes may be accurately drilled within a supporting surface even though obliquely related to the vertical.
Another object of the invention is to provide a drill guide fixture for drilling fastener receiving holes for machinery mounting anchor bases wherein the fixture is supported upon the base during use, may be accurately located and adjusted while on the anchor base, and may be easily removed from the anchor base once the fastener receiving holes are drilled.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a drill guide fixture for drilling fastener receiving holes for machinery mounting anchor bases wherein the fixture is economical to manufacture, easy to use, firmly positioned while in use, and readily removed from the anchor base with a minimum of mechanical skills.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Heavy duty machinery mounting anchor bases such as the FIXATOR and as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,349 include a vertically adjustable pedestal mounted upon a base having fastener receiving openings located upon opposite sides of the pedestal. The fastener receiving openings are preferably recessed for accommodating the anchor base fasteners, and such recesses receive self-adjusting fastener engaging balls or guides to uniformly distribute the fastener forces upon the anchor base.
The drill guide fitting in accord with the invention includes a frame having projections of a semi-spherical configuration for being received within the anchor base fastener receiving opening recesses. Accordingly, the fixture frame is capable of pivoting relative to the associated anchor base about the projections prior to the fixture being locked in its operative position.
The drill guide fixture also includes a pair of substantially vertically oriented retainers of a threaded shaft configuration capable of being adjusted to engage the underside of the machine being supported and thereby produce a downward force on the fixture to maintain the fixture projections within the anchor base recesses. Further, the fixture frame includes angular adjustment means in the form of a threaded shaft which engages the machine being supported at a position remote from the retainers and on the opposite side of a vertical plane centrally extending through the projections with respect to the retainers. Preferably, the adjustment of the angular producing shaft is substantially perpendicular to the aforedescribed vertical plane. Accordingly, upon adjustment of the length of the retainers and the angular shaft, the angular rotation of the fixture frame in the anchor base recesses is possible to produce a predetermined angular orientation of the fixture frame to the vertical.
The fixture frame includes a pair of drill guide tubes having open upper and lower ends. The guide tubes are in alignment with the frame projections so that the bores of the tube extend through the projections and the lower ends align with the fastener receiving openings formed in the anchor base. Accordingly, once the fixture frame is adjusted as desired, and the retainers and angle adjustment tightened so that the fixture is firmly locked in position on the anchor base, the obliquely oriented drill guide tubes may be used to guide drills inserted into the open end of the guide tubes and permit the supporting surface for the anchor base to be drilled for receipt of the anchor base fasteners, which usually consists of high strength screws or threaded lags.
Due to the limited access clearance to the anchor bases as described above, the length of the drill guide tubes will normally be obliquely related to the vertical. However, the length of the drill guide tubes is sufficient to accurately guide the drills during operation and even though the drills will be entering the supporting surface at an oblique angle to the vertical, the drilling operation will be accurately achieved in order to receive the anchor base fasteners.
Once drilling of the fastener receiving holes in the supporting surface is achieved, the retainers and fixture angle lock are backed off, or retracted, and it is possible to fully remove the fixture from the anchor base providing access to the anchor base fastener receiving openings and the fasteners inserted into the openings and threaded into the newly drilled holes in the supporting surface.
The practice of the invention permits anchor base fasteners to be accurately received within properly dimensioned holes in the supporting surface insuring proper anchor base retention and superior shaped holes are achieved as compared with the oversized and misaligned holes which result when a drill fixture is not employed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4029275 (1977-06-01), Erismann
patent: 4061298 (1977-12-01), Kober
patent: 4250681 (1981-02-01), Helderman
patent: 5000416 (1991-03-01), Fantasia
patent: 5833693 (1998-11-01), Abrahami
patent: 5842678 (1998-12-01), Svejkovsky
patent: 5971349 (1999-10-01), Whittaker
Le Tan
Ramirez Ramon O.
Unisorb Inc.
Young & Basile P.C.
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