Abrading – Abrading process – Roll – roller – shaft – ball – or piston abrading
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-11
2001-03-27
Scherbel, David A. (Department: 3724)
Abrading
Abrading process
Roll, roller, shaft, ball, or piston abrading
C083S766000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206762
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
The invention pertains to metal cutting and grinding machines. More particularly, the invention relates to machines that employ abrasive cut-off wheels to divide metal billets into precision measured sections for further processing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
High-grade nickel-steel alloys and related materials are typically used for the manufacture of aircraft parts and other high-stress, high-temperature applications. These materials are necessarily difficult to cut or machine and tend to be expensive so waste should be avoided. Cutting of these high-strength alloys usually requires the use of abrasive cut-off wheels that are consumed in the cutting process, posing a potential air pollution hazard for the machine operator and those nearby. It is often desirable to divide a rough billet of such material into nearly identical size multiples or “mults” for further forging or machining. If the mults can be identically sized and a minimum of material lost in the cutting, the process will be more economical.
Various types of machines have been developed for precision cutting of billets. Examples include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,740 issued to Kohn et al. is directed to a billet cut-off control in which the shearing system is controlled by information detected as the logs emerge from the furnace. The detection system comprises an electric eye unit and an eddy-current detector that are mounted on the side of the path of the logs emerging from the furnace.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,493 issued to Dorr, is directed to an ultrasonic control system for shearing-type cut-off machines. The mechanism is controlled by ultrasonically measuring the bar stock and adjusting the length of sheared bar stock to assure a uniform volume in the sheared product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,466, issued to Wahl is directed to a process and a device for lubricating and cooling cutting edges and/or workpieces in machining processes with chip removal. Fluids are fed to the cutting edges or workpieces in the machining operation, thus providing the cooling while chip removal collects the waste material and allows for recovering the material in order to decrease the cost of the operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,972 issued to Waugh is directed to a device for collecting dust from a portable circular saw. Such dust collecting is desirable and virtually essential to the safe and economical operation of billet cutting operations.
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 33,904 issued to Rudy et al. is directed to a method and apparatus for automatically cutting food products to predetermined weight or shape. As the food products move along a conveyor, a camera provides a programmed computer with dimensional data and thus the computer is able to control the operation of the cutters in order to cut the material into portions of equal weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,770 issued to Mosey et al. describes an apparatus for radially cutting cylindrical material having an idling roller, a clamping roller, and a driven roller geared to a circular saw arbor constraining and rotating the cylindrical stock against the saw blade.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,611 issued to the present inventor, discloses a machine which employs an abrasive cut-off wheel that engages a rotating billet by being driven downwardly toward the billet along an angled ramp.
While other inventions exist having features desirable for efficient cutting of mults from billets the above-described designs for cut-off machinery and related features are typical of those encountered in the prior art.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide for cutting of mults of precisely described dimensions from billets of high-strength alloys. It is a further objective to provide such precision cutting with a minimum of waste. It is yet a further objective to permit the safe and economical cutting of mults from both cylindrical billets and those of irregular cross-section. It is yet another objective of the invention to provide a means for efficiently recycling the waste material produced by the cutting process while minimizing any pollution produced by the process. It is still another objective to provide a means to maintain a constant surface speed of the cutting means with respect to the billet despite wear of the cutting means. It is a still further objective of the invention to control the temperature of the cutting process to maximize cutting speed while minimizing heat distortion and wear of the cutting means. Finally, it is an objective of the invention to provide the above-described capabilities in an inexpensive and durable machine, which is capable of extended duty cycles, and that may be easily repaired and maintained.
While some of the objectives of the present invention are satisfied by features disclosed in the prior art, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses all of the deficiencies of prior art billet cutting methods and machinery and satisfies all of the objectives described above.
An apparatus for cutting mults from a billet, in the form of an elongated casting of a high strength alloy, may be constructed from the following components. A horizontal mounting surface and a machine bed having a planar surface disposed parallel to the mounting surface. The planar surface has a long axis and a short axis. A rotating headstock is fixedly attached to the machine bed and has a first axis of rotation parallel to the long axis of the planar surface. The headstock has a front face and a rear face located parallel to each other and orthogonal to the long axis of the planar surface.
The headstock is capable of providing rotation at least one speed and capable of providing rotation in at least one direction. The headstock has an orifice extending from the front face to the rear face of sufficient size to accommodate a billet. The front face of the headstock is adapted to removably attach a clamping means parallel to the front face. The rear face of the headstock is adapted to removably attach a clamping means parallel to the rear face.
A pivotally mounted saw arbor is movably mounted parallel to the first axis of rotation. The saw arbor rotates about a second axis parallel to and spaced from said first axis. A means for rotating the saw arbor at a plurality of pre-selected speeds is provided along with a means for changing the pre-selected speeds at which the saw arbor may be rotated. An abrasive cut-off wheel is removably mounted to the saw arbor. A means is provided for controlling the distance from the abrasive cut-off wheel to the front face of the headstock and thereby allowing the operator to determine the length of the mult to be cut from the billet.
A means is provided for causing the abrasive cut-off wheel to pivot toward the billet, thereby causing the rotating cut-off wheel to engage the rotating billet to cut the billet into pre-determined mults while producing particulate matter. A means is also provided for cooling the abrasive cut-off wheel and the billet and for removing and collecting particulate material produced by the cutting process from the vicinity of the abrasive cut-off wheel.
In one variation of the invention the clamping means removably attached to the front face of the headstock comprises an independently adjustable four-jaw chuck. In another variation the clamping means removably attached to the front face of the headstock comprises a self-centering three-jaw chuck. In still another variation the clamping means removably attached to the rear face of the headstock comprises an independently adjustable four-jaw chuck. In yet another variation of the invention the clamping means removably attached to the rear face of the headstock comprises a self-centering three-jaw chuck.
In another variation of the invention the means for rotating the saw arbor is an electric motor capable of at least one speed. In still a further variation the means for controlling the rotational speed of the saw arbor further comprises a Hertz converter connected to the electric motor and a contro
Beehler & Pavitt
Belasco David A.
Pavitt, Jr. William H.
Scherbel David A.
Thomas David B
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