Metal deforming – With means to handle work or product – Including means to permit maneuvering of work or product at...
Patent
1992-02-10
1993-09-21
Larson, Lowell A.
Metal deforming
With means to handle work or product
Including means to permit maneuvering of work or product at...
72240, B21B 3714
Patent
active
052458539
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a method of, and apparatus for, deforming an elongate workpiece over at least part of its length. A particular, but not sole, application of the invention is to the rolling of a workpiece to form a thickness profile which is tapered along its length Such a workpiece may form part of a leaf spring.
When rolling the workpiece, the taper may be linear, parabolic, exponential or a combination of these according to the requirements of the spring design. It is most important, however, that the taper is consistently produced on the workpiece and that the thickness profile of the workpiece is accurately reproduced along the length of the workpiece.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, in a method of deforming at least part of the length of an elongate workpiece in which a movable stop member on a carriage is displaced in the direction of movement of the carriage to a predetermined position on the carriage; an end portion of the workpiece is secured to the movable carriage with the end of the workpiece in abutting relation with the stop member, and the carriage is driven away from a deforming means to draw the workpiece through the deforming means; characterised in that a signal representing the position of the stop member with respect to the deforming means is continuously obtained and is employed to control the deforming means.
By ensuring that the end portion of the workpiece is secured to the movable carriage in abutting relation with the movable stop member, and by continuously detecting the position of the stop member with respect to the deforming means, the exact position of the workpiece with respect to the deforming means is known. This enables the workpiece to be deformed with a correct relationship between the deformation of the workpiece and the length of the workpiece.
The deforming means is conveniently a rolling mill and the gap between the rolls is varied in response to the detected signal to roll a taper on at least part of the length of the workpiece.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, apparatus for deforming at least part of the length of an elongate workpiece comprises deforming means; a carriage displaceable towards and away from the deforming means, said carriage having a stop member thereon which is displaceable relative to the carriage in the direction of movement of the carriage; and clamping means for securing an end portion of a workpiece to the carriage with the end of the workpiece in abutting relation with the stop member; means for displacing the carriage towards and away from the deforming means; characterised in the provision of a position detector which produces a signal which represents the position of the stop member with respect to the deforming means, said signal being employed to control the deforming means.
The deforming means is usually a rolling mill having an adjustable gap between the rolls. It could, however, be a forging press or a bending machine.
In order that the invention may be more readily understood, it will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows diagrammatically apparatus in accordance with the present invention.
A rolling mill is indicated by reference numeral 1. A pair of work rolls 2, 3 are rotatably mounted in a mill housing and the position of at least one of the rolls is adjustable in order to vary the roll gap between them.
A wheeled carriage 4 is guided for displacement along a track indicated by reference numeral 5. The direction of displacement of the carriage along the track is towards and away from the rolling mill. The carriage is displaced along the track by any convenient means, such as a fluid operable piston and cylinder device 6, positioned below the track and having its piston releasably coupled to the carriage by a coupling 7.
On the carriage 4 there is a stop member 8 which can be moved along the length of the carriage (as indicated by broken lines) and held in the chosen position on the carriage. A clamping mechanism
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Davy McKee (Sheffield) Limited
Gurley Donald M.
Larson Lowell A.
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