Turning – Lathe – Tool rest
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-29
2003-06-03
Tsai, Henry W. H. (Department: 3722)
Turning
Lathe
Tool rest
C082S161000, C082S158000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06571671
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to tool posts for machine tools such as lathes and the like and more particularly to an improved tool post mechanism for supporting a plurality of tool holders each having metal working tools, with the tool post capable of being locked at a selected position with respect to a moving, typically rotating work-piece and capable of being unlocked and rotatable to a selected rotary position to operatively position any selected metal working tool thereof in desired working orientation with respect to the work-piece. More particularly, the present invention concerns a quick-change tool post having a single actuating handle which achieves unlocking of an indexing mechanism during a first rotational increment of handle movement and achieves rotation of the tool post to a selected position during another increment of rotational movement, followed by achieving locking of the tool post at the selected position upon an opposite increment of rotational movement. Even further, the present invention concerns a quick change tool post having internal channels for coolant flow controlling capability and having laterally off-set dovetail connections enabling connection of standard rectangular tool supports thereto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of tool posts have in the past been evolved which hold a plurality of tool holders in which tools for operation on a workpiece held on a machine tool such as a lathe, may be held. Such previously evolved multiple tool holding tool posts have served to increase the speed and facility with which any given machining operation may be performed in that the setup time for positioning any given tool with respect to a workpiece may be minimized.
The present inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,067 is an example of a quick-change indexing tool post for supporting a plurality of metal working tools and for enabling rapid selective positioning of any selected one of the metal working tools in operative metal working relation to a workpiece that is movably, i.e., rotatably supported on a machine tool such as a lathe.
As shown in
FIG. 1
of applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,067 in order to enable four tool holders to be mounted to the tool post, lateral edges of each of the tool holders must be beveled at the edges thereof at an angle of 45 degrees so that a tool holder can be mounted to each tool support, face of the tool post and adjacent tool holders will not interfere with one another. Thus, special tool holders are required for this particular type of tool post.
It is well known that virtually that all machine shops operating in the United States at the present time have a number of conventional “rectangular” tool holders which, because of their size and rectangular configuration, cannot be mounted to the tool post body shown in applicant's prior patent. It is desirable therefore to provide a tool post construction which enables conventional rectangular tool posts to be mounted to the tool post body, thus enabling machine shops to make wide use of conventional rectangular tool holders and thus minimizing the inventory requirements that might otherwise be necessary to enable wide use of quick-change tool posts of this nature. The conventional rectangular tool holders typically have a width from side to side, substantially equaling the width of a rectangular tool post body or the width of a tool supporting face of a tool post for supporting multiple metal working tools. Thus, for mounting the rectangular tool holders to the bed of a machine tool, the tool holders must be beveled at the sides, must be of narrow width or the tool post structure must be of exceptionally large size. Any of these possibilities would be detrimental to the cost and structural integrity of the tool supporting components of the machine tool or tool post. Thus, it is considered desirable to provide a tool post construction of relatively small dimension, i.e., having tool support faces of no greater width that the width of standard tool holders and yet being capable of supporting a metal working tool at each of the multiple tool support faces of the tool post. It is also desirable to provide a tool post mechanism having a generally rectangular tool post body having four tool support faces each having a dovetail connection and being capable of supporting four rectangular tool support elements each having substantially the same width as the tool post body and having a mating dovetail connection to achieve mounting thereof.
Since virtually all machining operations require the presence of a coolant liquid which is continuously applied to the cutting tool and to the work-piece being movably supported by the machine, to thus prolong the active service life of the metal working tool being utilized and to minimize machining vibration. Though most machining operations are provided with coolant supply conduits, these conduits must be individually oriented typically by a manual operation to enable adequate supply of coolant intimately to the metal working site. Also, when indexing tool posts are employed during machining, the machinist must reposition the coolant supply conduit each time the tool post is rotated to a new position. This disadvantage adds significantly to machine time and thus adversely influences machining costs. At times, machinists manually adjust the position of the coolant supply conduits during operation of a machine and thus get hands, arms and clothing dangerously close to the rotating work-piece, thus presenting a safety hazard. It is desirable therefore, to provide a tool post construction having a coolant supply system which automatically, without any manual selection or positioning activity of the machinist, delivers a supply of coolant only to a selected metal working tool and which is oriented precisely to the metal working operation of any selected metal working tool supported thereby.
Most present day tool post designs, in order the achieve rotation of the tool post to position a selected tool in operative relation with the work piece, require that the tool post initially be unlocked and then require that the tool be manually rotated to a selected position. Typically, the tool post is unlocked by first loosening a locking nut and then rotating a locking handle of an indexing head to an unlocked position. After this has been done, the tool post may then be selectively and manually rotated to a desired position, after which the tool post is again locked by rotating the locking handle in an opposite rotary direction for locking the tool post and securing it in immovable relation with the bed of a machine tool. Thus, for unlocking, rotating and relocking the tool posts, multiple manual movements are required on behalf of the machinists and a considerable amount of machine down time is also required to achieve selective positioning of a metal working tool being supported by the tool post. It is desirable, therefore, to provide an improved tool post design which enables the tool post to be unlocked and rotated to a selected position by a single rotational movement of a locking handle or ratcheted to a desired position by successive ratcheting movements of an actuating handle and then again locked by rotating the locking handle in the opposite rotational direction. This “one-hand” locking, positioning and relocking procedure can be done quite rapidly, thus materially enhancing the productivity of the machining operation that is being done.
Many quick-change tool posts are provided with “external” indexing mechanisms where portions of the indexing splines protrude beyond the lateral tool support faces of the rectangular tool post body. In these cases, the tool holders that are to be releasably mounted to the dovetail mounting connections must have cut-outs that enable the tool holders to clear the protruding edges of the indexing mechanism or its enclosure. The standard rectangular tool holders that are typically present in large numbers in virtually every machine shop canno
Andrews & Kurth LLP
Jackson James L.
Tsai Henry W. H.
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