Metal working – Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for... – Separate tool stations for selective or successive operation...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-10
2003-02-18
Wellington, A. L. (Department: 3722)
Metal working
Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for...
Separate tool stations for selective or successive operation...
C029S03300H, C029S03300H, C409S144000, C409S158000, C409S230000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06519831
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an index-feed processing system for performing punching, spinning, cutting, laminating and other processing operations on a piece of work by carrying out the processing operation of each process in a set of apparatuses, indexing the workpiece sequentially to the succeeding process to add a new processing operation onto the workpiece, and completing the entire processing operations in the final process.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Manufacturing a sheet metal product of a predetermined shape by performing punching, spinning, compressing and other processing operations on a sheet metal material comprising a structural material, such as a steel sheet has heretofore normally involved several processes. When a large quantity of such sheet metal products are involved, a commonly used manufacturing practice is such that a processing operation of each manufacturing process or stage is performed individually on a workpiece in a single piece of processing die, the workpiece is indexed sequentially to the next step to add a new processing operation, and the processing operation is completed in the final stage. This type of processing die, which is called the progressive die, has the advantage of extremely high efficiency since a piece of sheet metal product can be obtained in each stamping operation of a press, for example.
The conventional type of index-feed processing die as described earlier has the advantages of high production rate, short delivery time from the input of a workpiece to the completion of the entire processing operations, less work-in-process required in the intermediate steps of a press working process, and mass production with a small number of operators. It has the following problems, on the other hand. That is, since its construction involves multiple pairs of punch and die in a single mold, the mold construction is extremely complex, requiring high-precision mold manufacturing technology, long manufacturing period, and an enormous amount of manufacturing cost.
Furthermore, repairing and/or adjustment of a partially damaged mold requires disassembly of the entire mold. These complex operations require a large amount of time and labor. In addition, when a system of manufacturing special molds has to be adopted to meet slightly different requirements in terms of the shape and dimensions of specific workpieces in a large-item small-scale production system, mold cost is unwantedly increased, making it impossible to adopt the so-called flexible manufacturing system (FMS) which is increasing in popularity in recent years.
To solve these problems, the present applicant filed patent applications for index-feed metal processing systems of a simple construction that can accommodate partial adjustment (Japanese Patent Application No. Hei-2(1990)-121760 now Japanese Pat. No. 4-17930, Japanese Patent Application No. Hei-2(1990)-121761 now Japanese Patent 4-17998, etc., for example).
FIG. 11
is a perspective view of an example of an index-feed metal processing system on which the present invention is based. In
FIG. 11
, numerals
100
~
500
denote processing units disposed on a base
1
at intervals of 2 P (P denotes the feeding pitch of a workpiece (not shown)), for example, in the feeding direction of the workpiece. Each of the processing units
10
~
500
has a pair of punch and die corresponding to a plurality of processing processes, which will be described in the following, taking the processing unit
100
as an example.
Numeral
101
refers to a processing unit body formed into a virtually U shape, having a dovetail
102
integrally formed at the lower end thereof that engages with a dovetail groove
103
provided on the base
1
so that adjustment can be made to permit the body
101
to move in the feeding direction of the workpiece while restricting the movement of the body
101
in the direction normal to the feeding direction of the workpiece. Numeral
104
refers to a movement adjusting device, and
105
to a clamp. Numeral
106
refers to a hydraulic cylinder provided on the upper end of the body
101
, and
107
to a position measuring device provided on the side surface of the hydraulic cylinder
106
.
Numeral
108
refers to a cassette formed into a virtually U shape, provided detachably on the body
101
and having a punch or die (neither of them shown) provided vertically movably on the upper part thereof, and a die or punch that is the counterpart of the aforementioned punch or die provided on the lower part thereof. The cassette
108
is positioned by causing it to engage with positioning members
309
and
310
, as shown in the processing unit
300
in the figure. Numeral
111
refers to a clamp screw.
That is, the cassette
108
can be positioned by mounting it on the body
101
via the positioning members (not shown. Refer to numerals
309
and
310
in the processing unit
300
), and locked in position by tightening the clamping screw
111
. After the cassette
108
has been locked, an actuating rod (not shown) of the hydraulic cylinder
106
is connected to the aforementioned vertically movable punch or die.
FIG. 12
is a diagram of assistance in explaining the state of processing the workpiece, (a) being a plan view and (b) a cross-sectional view thereof. Like parts are shown by like numerals used in FIG.
11
. In
FIG. 12
, numeral
2
refers to a workpiece that is indexed intermittently at a pitch P in the direction shown by an arrow. That is, the workpiece
2
is indexed between a pair of punch and die provided on the cassette
108
(the same applies to the other cassettes), as shown in FIG.
11
. In
FIGS. 11 and 12
, the processing units
100
~
500
are formed in such a manner as to correspond to a processing process for providing pilot holes
3
, a processing process for providing arc-shaped slits
4
, and first through third drawing processes.
The processing unit
100
has a punch and die for providing pilot holes
3
, and guides (not shown) for engaging with the pilot holes
3
provided at position P on the downstream side in the feeding direction of the workpiece
2
. As a result, as the processing unit
100
is operated and the pilot holes
3
are provided one after another, the guides are engaged with the pilot holes
3
, based on which subsequent positioning and processing are performed to prevent the workpiece
2
from unwantedly shifting in position, thereby maintaining precision.
Next, arc-shaped slits
4
are machined in the processing unit
200
, and a first drawing operation is performed in the processing unit
300
to form cup-shaped projections
5
on the workpiece
2
, while the arc-shaped slits
4
expands in width, turning into arc-shaped grooves
6
. In the processing unit
400
, moreover, a second drawing operation is performed and flange holes
7
are machined, with the result that the height of the projections is increased. In the processing unit
500
, a third drawing operation is carried out to form the height of the projections
5
into a predetermined size.
Subsequently, trimming and other operations are performed, though not shown in the figure, to obtain a sheet metal product of a predetermined shape. Needless to say, positioning is carried out in the processing units
200
~
500
, too, to maintain predetermined precision by providing guides for engaging with the pilot holes
3
.
The index-feed processing system of the aforementioned construction has the advantages of a simpler construction than that of the conventional progressive dies, ease of manufacture, and high-efficient processing accomplished even in a large-item small-scale production system. But it has the following disadvantages.
That is, since the conventional index-feed processing system normally involves workpiece of a strip shape, most system of this type are chiefly designed to carry out bending, drawing, blanking, piercing and other sheet-metal processing operations. It is usually difficult for such index-feed metal processing systems to perform machining operations, such as threading, for exampl
Futamura Shoji
Kaneko Hiromitsu
Machida Takeo
Murata Chikara
Cadugan Erica E
Institute of Technology Precision Electrical Discharge Work&apos
McGlew and Tuttle , P.C.
Wellington A. L.
LandOfFree
Progressive processing device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Progressive processing device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Progressive processing device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3133008