Woodworking – Special-work machine – Log punching
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-08
2001-08-21
Bray, W. Donald (Department: 3725)
Woodworking
Special-work machine
Log punching
C144S002100, C144S237000, C144S362000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276412
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention generally relates to the field of incising wooden timbers to enhance the timber curing and treating process. More particularly, it provides an improved incising blade and blade configuration for perforating the surfaces of rectangularly cross-sectioned timber in a desired pattern.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Wooden timbers such as those to be used for railroad ties are cured and treated to enhance their structural integrity and serviceability. Standards for treating and curing railroad ties have been adopted, an example of such standards being those set forth in the Manual for Railway Engineering provided by AREMA, the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-way Association. AREMA requires that outer surface of railroad ties be perforated or incised during the curing process in order to reduce checking or splitting of the ties. Such incising is to be performed in a specified pattern of perforations.
Incisors having driven drums with protruding teeth are often utilized to perform the incising tasks. Some incising drums utilize cutting teeth that are clamped or bolted onto the drum assembly. Teeth in such drum assemblies are often bent, broken or lost during the incising process. Drum having bent, broken or lost incising teeth will produce irregular or unwanted incising patterns. Replacement of these teeth is time consuming and expensive and increases the cost of the incising process.
Other incising drum combinations such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,956 to Toberg are comprised of a plurality of individual annular tooth rings separated by one of more spacer rings. The tooth rings described in Toberg have outwardly extending angularly equi-spaced teeth. The tooth rings and spacer rings are fixed on a central core to form the incising drum by means of a keyway located on each tooth ring and a key that fits into the central core. The keyway is positioned on the ring at one-quarter of the angle between adjacent teeth on the tooth ring. The tooth rings are arranged on the central core so that the teeth of every other tooth ring are offset from the teeth of its adjacent tooth ring by one-half of a tooth spacing by rotating every other tooth ring. Multiple spacer rings are utilized to adjust the spacing between adjacent tooth rings.
To assemble the tooth ring drum of Toberg for incising timber in a desired pattern, many individual tooth rings and spacer rings must be utilized. This presents a disadvantage when tooth rings must be replaced during maintenance of the incisor drum. The individual tooth rings must be placed in a particular order in order to achieve the desired spacing. The disassembly and re-assembly of the many tooth and spacer rings in the desired configuration increases the time and therefore the cost of the drum maintenance.
Another disadvantage of Toberg is that the fixed angular position of the keyway on the tooth rings limits the amount of adjustment and variation that can be made to the array of teeth on the drum form from such rings. This in turn limits the adjustments that can be made to points of incising on the timber as it is drawn through an incising machine.
Consequently, a need exist for improvements in drum incisor configuration that will allow for the incising of timber in a desired pattern, reduce the incidence of bent, broken or lost incisor teeth, and reduce the time associated with drum maintenance.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention provides an incisor drum assembly designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs. It is contemplated for use on drum incisors used for incising timbers such as railroad ties. The incisor drum assembly is comprised of multiple arrays of circular incisor plates. Each incisor plate of each plate array has a plurality of radially protruding teeth. The incisor teeth are integrally formed with the incisor plate and positioned around the radial edge of the plate. Each of the teeth is positioned at a desired angle of offset from the centerline of each plate. In the preferred embodiment, the teeth of adjacent incisor plates in each array of plates are offset from the teeth of its succeeding plate a desired increased angular amount. The incisor plates are then stacked in a desired sequence and welded together in a single unit to form the plate array. In this manner a desired pattern of incising teeth can be achieved for each plate array.
In the preferred embodiment each array of plates consists of four incisor plates welded together. Each plate in each array of plates has a uniformly configured slot positioned on the centerline of the plate. Each slot has a keyway extending outward from the slot. The slots and keyways of each plate in the array are aligned when the plate array is formed and welded. The slot extends to the center of the plate for mounting each plate array around a rotatable central shaft.
The shaft of the drum assembly is mounted on a base plate. Both the shaft and the base plate have recesses that form a keyway in combination with the plate keyways of each plate array when the plate arrays are arranged along the shaft with the shaft and base plate recesses and the plate keyways in alignment. A key is inserted into the keyways to lock and hold each array of plates from rotation independent of the shaft. An incisor drum is formed by stacking and locking a desired number of plate arrays in position along the shaft are then clamping them together between the shaft base plate and a cap plate by means of a threaded lock nut assembly. Fixing the plate arrays of the shaft allows rotation of the shaft and plates together as the shaft and consequently the drum assembly is turned by the incisor machine.
An inventory of plate arrays having incisor teeth positioned in a desired pattern can be maintained. When an incising job requires a desired pattern, such as a pattern that might be specified by AREMA, an incisor drum assembly can be made up of plate arrays having a desired configuration to perform the specified incising pattern. Because the incisor teeth of the plate arrays integrally formed with the incisor plate they are less likely to bend or break during use.
Consequently, it is an object of this invention to provide an incisor drum comprised of a plurality of plate arrays, each array being formed from a plurality of incisor plates fixed together to form a single unit.
It is another object of the invention to provide incisor plates for each plate array of the incisor drum having plurality of teeth that extend from and that are positioned at a desired location around the radial edge of each plate.
It is another object of this invention to position the plates of each plate array in the incising drum adjacent to each other so as to provide a desired configuration of teeth for incising timber in a desired pattern.
It is another object of this invention to vary the spacing of teeth in succeeding plates in a plate array a desired amount to achieve a desired incising pattern.
It is another object of this invention provide multiple units of plate arrays to form an incising drum.
It is still another object of this invention to provide an incisor drum that can be easily disassembled and reassembled for maintenance and replacement of plate arrays.
It is still another object of this invention to provide plate arrays for an incising drum that are comprised of plates having incising teeth integrally formed with the plate to maintain the teeth in a fixed and stable position on the drum and reduce the incidence of broken, bent or lost teeth that may result in irregular incising patterns.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1346126 (1920-07-01), Howe
patent: 2684089 (1954-07-01), Graham et al.
patent: 2940489 (1960-06-01), Feiner
patent: 3082802 (1963-03-01), Dickson et al.
patent: 3478790 (1969-11-01), Augustin
patent: 4137956 (1979-02-01), Toberg
patent: 4219060 (1980-08-01), Hasegawa
patent: 4318433 (1982-03-01), Amundsen
patent: 4790360 (1988-12-01), Clarke
Johnston James E.
Johnston Rita Vidrine
Bray W. Donald
Johnston Rita Vidrine
Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, L.L.P.
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