Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Material guide or guard – With material confining portion
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-30
2001-09-18
Walsh, Donald P (Department: 3653)
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Material guide or guard
With material confining portion
C226S196100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06290170
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guide device for guiding a strip along a feed path.
2. Description of the Related Art
For blanking workpieces of given shape out of a metal strip, it has been customary to supply the metal strip continuously along a feed path to a blanking apparatus. Generally, a metal strip having a given length is wound as a coil, and unwound from the coil and fed along the feed path to the blanking apparatus.
The blanking apparatus blanks desired workpieces out of the supplied strip at successive positions thereon. Along the feed path, the strip is transversely centered with respect to the feed path such that the central axis of the strip is aligned with the central axis of the feed path for thereby allowing the strip to be positioned easily at the machining position in the blanking apparatus.
The strip may be centered by a pair of limiting members such as guide plates or abutment pins disposed one on each side of the feed path for engaging respective longitudinal edges of the strip to positionally limit the strip. The distance between the limiting members are equalized to the width of the strip.
There are available various strip coils of different dimensions, so that some strips to be supplied to the blanking apparatus have different widths. If the width of a strip unwound from a coil is smaller than the distance between the limiting members, then the strip tends to be positionally displaced transversely, and centered inaccurately. Conversely, if the width of a strip unwound from a coil is smaller than the distance between the limiting members, then the strip cannot pass between the limiting members, and cannot be fed to the blanking apparatus.
As shown in FIGS.
4
(
a
) and
4
(
b
) of the accompanying drawings, there are known strips each having thinner longitudinal marginal edges X, Y and a workpiece forming region Z extending between the thinner longitudinal marginal edges X, Y. For feeding such strips, the transverse center of the workpiece forming region Z across its width “d” is used as a reference for centering the strips.
One problem with the stripes shown in FIGS.
4
(
a
) and
4
(
b
) is that the width “b” of one of the thinner longitudinal marginal edges X and the width “c” of the other thinner longitudinal marginal edge Y may possibly differ from each other. If the widths “b”, “c” are not the same as each other, then the transverse center of the strip across its full width “a” is not aligned with the transverse center of the workpiece forming region Z across its width “d”. As a result, these strips cannot be centered highly accurately in alignment with the feed path by the limiting members.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a strip guiding device which is capable of centering a strip quickly and highly accurately along a feed path.
To achieve the above object, there is provided in accordance with the present invention a guiding device for guiding a strip longitudinally along a feed path, comprising limiting means disposed in the feed path, for limiting the strip transversely at opposite side edges thereof to cause the strip to pass through a predetermined position in the feed path.
The limiting means has a pair of abutment members having respective abutment surfaces for abutting against the side edges of the strip along the feed path, the abutment members being movable in first directions toward and away from the side edges of the strip, and urging means for normally urging the abutment members away from the strip. The limiting means also has a pair of pressing members having respective slanted surfaces held in sliding contact with respective sliding surfaces of the abutment members remote from the abutment surfaces. The pressing members are movable in second directions transverse to the first directions. The pressing members press the abutment members toward the strip against the urging means by sliding contact of the slanted surfaces with the sliding surfaces in response to movement of the pressing members in one of the second directions. The limiting means further includes displacing means for displacing the pressing members in the second directions to move the abutment members in the first directions.
When the pressing members are displaced in the second directions by the displacing means, the slanted surfaces of the pressing members slidingly contact the sliding surfaces of the abutment members. The abutment members are moved toward the strip against the bias of the urging means until the abutment members abut against the respective side edges of the strip. The guiding device can thus transversely limit the strip at its side edges to cause the strip to pass through the predetermined position in the feed path irrespective of the transverse dimension of the strip.
The limiting means preferably comprises adjusting means for moving at least one of the pressing members in the second directions with respect to the displacing means to adjust a distance by which the abutment members are moved, for thereby causing a predetermined position on the strip to pass through the predetermined position in the feed path.
The adjusting means can displace one of the pressing members in the second directions to move the abutment members by different distances. The guiding device can thus limit the strip so that any desired transverse position on the strip can pass through the predetermined position in the feed path.
The pressing members are shaped to move the abutment members by the same distance by sliding contact of the slanted surfaces of the pressing members with the sliding surfaces of the abutment members in response to movement of the pressing members in one of the second directions by the same distance. The displacing means displaces the pressing members in unison with each other in one of the second directions to move the abutment members by the same distance for thereby causing a transverse center of the strip to pass through a transverse center of the feed path.
The slanted surfaces of the pressing members which have been moved in unison with each other in one of the second directions slidingly contact the sliding surfaces of the abutment members to move the abutment members simultaneously by the same distance. When the abutment members abut against the respective side edges of the strip, the transverse center of the strip is aligned with the transverse center of the feed path. Consequently, the strip can be centered with high accuracy regardless of the transverse dimension of the strip.
The strip may have a predetermined transverse region as a workpiece forming region for forming workpieces therefrom, and the limiting means may comprise adjusting means for moving at least one of the pressing members in the second directions with respect to the displacing means to adjust a distance by which the abutment members are moved, for thereby causing a center of the workpiece forming region of the strip to pass through a transverse center of the feed path.
Some strips which have workpiece forming regions may have their transverse center out of positional alignment with the center of the workpiece forming region. When such a strip is fed along the feed path, at least one of the pressing members is displaced in the second directions by the adjusting means depending on the transverse dimensions of the side edges of the strip, and thereafter the abutment members are moved the same distance by the displacing means. In this manner, the transverse center of the workpiece forming region can easily be brought into alignment with the transverse center of the feed path.
The guiding device may further comprise a base plate, the abutment members being supported on the base plate for movement toward and away from the strip, and a joint block positioned for movement toward and away from the base plate, the pressing members being coupled to the joint block for movement in the second directions. The displacing means may comprise a threaded member, and joint block may
Shigematsu Hideki
Suzuki Tetsuo
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Jones David A
Walsh Donald P
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