Abstract:
Methods of refinishing differently configured brakes are disclosed that include constructing a reversible flange plate by forming a body with a hollow bore extending through the center of the body, installing rings adjacent a hollow bore in the body, and manipulating the body in such a way as to allow the body to be mounted on a brake lathe to refinish differently configured brakes.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a divisional application Ser. No. 11/365,733 entitled REVERSIBLE FLANGE PLATE filed on Mar. 1, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,765,667 (“Parent Application”) for which the U.S. Patent Office has issued a notice of allowability to the same sole inventor named in this application. The specification of the application is incorporated by reference into this document. 
    
    
     FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY 
     The apparatus and method for making the apparatus disclosed and claimed in this document pertain generally to securing a brake to a rotatable machine member to perform work on the brake. More particularly, the new and useful reversible flange plate disclosed and claimed in this document is reversibly mountable on a shaft or arbor of a brake lathe to which a vehicular brake or flywheel has been secured for machining, refinishing, balancing and resurfacing operations (collectively, “refinishing”). The reversible flange plate is particularly, but not exclusively, useful for saving an operator both time and money during refinishing, while ensuring that the brake rotor is machined to exacting specifications. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In connection with a motor vehicle, a brake, of course, is any mechanical device for arresting the motion of a wheel (and accordingly the vehicle) by means of friction. Kinetic energy is converted into heat energy through use of frictional forces applied to the wheels of the vehicle, causing the vehicle to slow or stop. A drum brake is a type of brake using a drum-shaped metal cylinder attached to the inner surface of the wheel of a motor vehicle and rotating within it. When the brake is applied, curved brake shoes with friction linings press against the drum&#39;s inner circumference to slow or stop the vehicle. The rotating part of a disc brake is also called a “rotor.” The nonrotating, basically stationary, component of a disc brake system is a brake caliper that applies force from a hydraulic system to the rotor or disc to decelerate and stop a vehicle. 
     Brake fade is a condition brought about by repeated or protracted braking that results in reduced braking effectiveness (fading). Heat is the primary cause of brake fade, which in turn causes expansion and other undesirable thermal effects on a brake. Although disc brakes are less prone to fade because rotors are more effectively cooled by air moving across the brakes, and can be internally vented to increase resistance to fade, nevertheless persistent stop-and-start braking causes damage to any brake, whether a drum or rotor. Accordingly, a significant industry has developed in connection with the machining, refinishing, balancing and resurfacing of brake rotors. 
     To refinish a brake, a drum or a rotor is mounted on the shaft or arbor of a brake lathe system. During operation, forces due to rotation and gravity tend to preclude uniform rotation of the rotating arbor on which a brake has been mounted. The arbor and devices mounted on the arbor for refinishing do not rotate in a single, unvarying plane of rotation. The forces acting on a rotating arbor and brake may distort in one or more planes and along one or more axes of rotation. The forces exert a variety of angular and planar forces that affect how accurately and quickly the brake lathe operator may work on a brake to refinish it. 
     In addition, forces and force vectors may induce harmonics and vibrations that may be transmitted to the arbor, brake and other components of the lathe. A nonuniform rotation of a brake during a refinishing operation may cause a cutting tool brought into contact with a brake surface to produce an inferior surface. 
     To overcome such undesirable problems, the inventor named in this document has received a number of U.S. patents for apparatus and methods that resolve in an exemplary fashion adverse consequences of such forces, thus improving the refinishing process, including U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,919B1 issued Aug. 28, 2001 for an Apparatus for Securing a Workpiece to a Rotatable Machine Member; U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,291B1 issued Apr. 29, 2003 for an Apparatus for Securing a Workpiece to a Rotatable Machine Member; U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,989B1 issued on Jun. 4, 2002 for an Apparatus for Reducing Harmonics and Vibrations of a Rotatable Base Piece; U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,660B1 issued Oct. 14, 2003, for a Self-Aligning Arbor Nut System. The inventor currently has pending a U.S. patent application for a Multi-angle Cutting Head, application Ser. No. 10/684,021 filed on Oct. 10, 2003. The patents and application are collectively referred to in this document as the “Prior Patents”. 
     The apparatus and method described and claimed in this document add to the art by providing a reversible flange plate that reduces costs associated with refinishing a rotor by providing on one apparatus differently configured surfaces that allow an operator to reverse the orientation of the reversible flange plate to engage a variety of differently configured brakes. The multiple applications of the reversible flange plate during operation allow an operator to purchase the single flange plate that replaces a number of single-sided flange plates. In addition, the reversible flange plate is easy to assemble on a brake lathe, and easy to operate. The reversible flange plate allows the operator of the brake lathe to produce a more accurately and precisely machined, turned and resurfaced brake. In combination with the apparatus and methods shown in the Prior Patents, undesirable forces that affect refinishing of a brake are reduced or eliminated. The reversible flange plate also is simple to reposition. By eliminating flange plates and adapter plates from the array of plates customarily required to refinish a brake, the reversible flange plate reduces the costs of manufacture, the costs associated with operating a brake lathe, and is respectively easy to use and to practice for its intended purposes. 
     SUMMARY 
     The term “brake” as used in this document includes both a brake disc or rotor, and a brake drum. As indicated, however, a side of a flywheel facing a pressure plate also be refinished using the reversible flange plate described and claimed in this document. The reversible flange plate, for refinishing differently configured brakes, includes a body. The body is formed with a hollow bore. The hollow bore extends through the center of the body. The body also includes a leading surface, a trailing surface, and a wall formed between the leading surface and the trailing surface. Opposing rings are formed on the leading surface and the trailing surface. The opposing rings are formed monolithically adjacent the bore, and extend outwardly from the leading surface and the trailing surface of the body coincident with a longitudinal axis through the hollow bore. In addition, opposing lips monolithically extend inwardly toward the bore from the peripheral edge of both the leading surface and the trailing surface. In one embodiment, an annular disc monolithically extends only from the leading surface and is located between the opposing rings and the opposing lips. In one embodiment, a resilient sleeve is attached to the wall between the leading surface and trailing surface to both enhance handling of the reversible flange plate by a user, as well as to dampen vibrations associated with operation of a brake lathe. The reversible flange plate, in operation, is used in combination with a brake lath equipped with an arbor. 
     It will become apparent to one skilled in the art that the claimed subject matter as a whole, including the structure of the apparatus, and the cooperation of the elements of the apparatus, combine to result in a number of unexpected advantages and utilities. The structure and co-operation of structure of the reversible flange plate will become apparent to those skilled in the art when read in conjunction with the following description, drawing figures, and appended claims. 
     The foregoing has outlined broadly the more important features of the invention to better understand the detailed description that follows, and to better understand the contributions to the art. The reversible flange plate is not limited in application to the details of construction, and to the arrangements of the components, provided in the following description or drawing figures, but is capable of other embodiments, and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. The phraseology and terminology employed in this disclosure are for purpose of description, and therefore should not be regarded as limiting. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the conception on which this disclosure is based readily may be used as a basis for designing other structures, methods, and systems. The claims, therefore, include equivalent constructions. Further, the abstract associated with this disclosure is intended neither to define the reversible flange plate, which is measured by the claims, nor intended to limit the scope of the claims. The novel features of the reversible flange plate are best understood from the accompanying drawing, considered in connection with the accompanying description of the drawing, in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts, and in which: 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  of the drawing is a perspective view of the reversible flange plate in an operative environment mounted on a brake lathe; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the reversible flange plate from the perspective of the arbor collar; 
         FIG. 3A  is a top view of the reversible flange plate in combination with a variety of additional components of a brake lathe used during refinishing of a brake; 
         FIG. 3B  is a perspective view of a brake, in this instance a rotor, showing five equally spaced boltholes; 
         FIG. 3C  is a side view of a centering cone formed with an angular groove for recessing one end of a spring; 
         FIG. 4A  is an end perspective view of one surface of the reversible flange plate; 
         FIG. 4B  is another end perspective view of another surface of the reversible flange plate; 
         FIG. 4C  is an end view of one surface of the reversible flange plate; 
         FIG. 4D  is an end view of the opposing surface of the reversible flange plate; and 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view showing  FIG. 4D  in perspective. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     To the extent that subscripts to the numerical designations include the lower case letter “n,” as in “a-n,” the letter “n” is intended to express a large number of repetitions of the element designated by that numerical reference and subscripts. 
     As shown by cross-reference between  FIGS. 1-5 , a reversible flange plate  10  is provided. In its broadest context, reversible flange plate  10  includes a body  12 . The body  12  is formed with a hollow bore  14  as shown perhaps best by cross-reference between  FIGS. 3A ,  4 A- 4 D, and  5 . Hollow bore  14  extends through the center of body  12 . As shown by cross-reference between  FIGS. 3A ,  4 A- 4 D, and  5 , body  12  of reversible flange plate  10  is formed with a leading surface  16 , a trailing surface  18 , and a wall  20  formed between leading surface  16  and trailing surface  18 . 
     As also shown by cross-reference between  FIGS. 3A ,  4 A- 4 D, and  5  reversible flange plate  10  includes opposing rings  22   a,b  formed monolithically on both the leading surface  16  and the trailing surface  18  of body  12 , opposing lips  24   a,b  monolithically extending from the peripheral edge  26  of both the leading surface  16  and the trailing surface  18  of body  12 . In one embodiment, an annular disc  28  extends monolithically from the leading surface  16  between opposing rings  22   a,b  and opposing lips  24   a,b.    
     More specifically, as shown perhaps best in  FIG. 4A , opposing rings  22   a,b  are formed adjacent to hollow bore  14 , and extend outwardly from a longitudinal axis (LA 1 ) through hollow bore  14 , as best shown in  FIG. 4A . As shown, opposing rings  22  are formed to be dimensionally engageable with one end  30   b  of ring  32  perhaps best shown in  FIG. 3A . 
     As also shown by cross-reference between  FIGS. 4A-4D , opposing lips  24   a,b  include a ledge  34   a,b . The ledge  34   a,b  is adapted to engage a portion of a plane  36  of the brake  38 . Thus, in operation, the ledge  34   a,b  is mounted against plane  36  of the brake  38  to control and reduce vibrations induced in the brake  38  during rotation of the arbor  40 , as best shown in  FIG. 3A . Likewise, the annular disc  28  that in one embodiment monolithically extends from only one of the opposing surfaces of the reversible flange plate, as shown perhaps best in  FIGS. 4A-4B , also includes a ledge  34   c . Ledge  34   c  also is mounted against a portion of plane  36  of the brake  38 . 
     As will be evident to one skilled in the art, reversible flange plate  10  is formed with opposing structurally different surfaces, as described above, for refinishing a variety of differently configured brakes  38  that include structurally different and differently configured planes  36  on brake  38 . 
     As also shown in  FIG. 4A , reversible flange plate  10  includes a first chamber  42 . The first chamber  42  is formed, in one embodiment, between one of the opposing lips  24   a  and annular disc  28  on the leading surface  16 . First chamber  42  is adapted to accommodate varying spacing of one or more bolt holes  44   a - n  in a brake  38 , as shown by cross-reference between  FIGS. 3A-3B . The size, spacing, and number of boltholes  44   a - n  is not standard in the industry. Manufacturers vary the number of boltholes  44   a - n . Manufacturers also vary the size and location of the differing number of boltholes  44   a - n . The varyingly configured leading surface  16  and trailing surface  18  of reversible flange plate  10  accommodates the lack of standards in the industry. 
     Because brakes  38  are manufactured with bolt holes  44   a - n  and other features, such as indentations or raised portions (not shown) on opposing planes  46   a,b  of brake  38 , none of which is standard in the industry, an operator of a brake lathe  48  is confronted with having to purchase a number of flange plates and adapter plates that attempt to anticipate the wide variety of structural differences in brakes  38 . The reversible flange plate  10  responds to those problems by providing a reversible flange plate  10  capable of accommodating and adapting to the wide variety of different configurations among brakes. 
     As also shown by cross-reference between  FIGS. 3A-3C , reversible flange plate  10  includes a second chamber  50 . The second chamber  50 , in one embodiment, is formed between the annular disc  28  and one of the opposing rings  22   a  on only the leading surface  16  of the reversible flange plate  10 . Second chamber  50  is formed for recessing the lower end  52  of the centering cone  54  in second chamber  50  during operation of the brake lathe  48  for refinishing the brake  38 . 
     As also shown by cross-reference between  FIGS. 4-5 , reversible flange plate  10  includes a third chamber  56 . The third chamber  56  is formed between opposing lip  24   b  and the opposing ring  22   b  on trailing surface  18  of the reversible flange plate  10 . The third chamber  56  is adapted to accommodate varying spacing of one or more boltholes  44   a - n  in brake  38 . 
     During operation and use of reversible flange plate  10 , as shown in  FIG. 3A , a brake lathe  48  equipped with an arbor  40  having a distal end (not shown) and a proximal end  58  is provided for refinishing a brake  38 . An operator of the brake lathe  48  chooses a brake  38  for refinishing. A brake  38  generally is formed with a hat portion  60 , as shown in  FIG. 3B , extending monolithically from a first plane  36   a  of the brake  38 , as shown perhaps best in  FIG. 3B . The operator slides the reversible flange plate  10  onto the arbor  40 . The centering cone  54  also is slidably mountable on the arbor  40 , as perhaps best shown in the  FIG. 3A . Spring  32  is positioned between the reversible flange plate  10  and the centering cone  54 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3C , the centering cone  54  may be formed without any grooves, or with at least one groove  60  as shown in  FIG. 3C . If a groove  60  is formed in the centering cone  54 , the groove  60  is dimensioned to accommodate and adapt to one end  30   b  of the spring  32 . The groove  60  is formed, as shown, adjacent the lower end  52  of the centering cone  54 . 
     The brake  38  is installed on the arbor  40  as shown in  FIG. 3A . At least one adapter plate  62  is slidably mounted on the arbor  40 . An arbor nut  64 , or preferably a self-aligning arbor nut system  64 ′, manipulable by a key  66 , is attached to the distal end (not shown) of the arbor  40  to secure the brake  38 , the reversible flange plate  10 , the spring  32 , the centering cone  54 , and the adapter plate  62  on the arbor  40  during rotation of the arbor  40  by an operator. The brake lathe  48  is energized to rotate the arbor  40 , and the operator applies a shaping tool (not shown) to the brake  38  to refinish the brake  38 . In addition, a brake lathe dampener  68  may be attached to the brake  38  to reduce vibration during operation. 
     Alternative structural features may be included to enhance operation. For example, as discussed above, a first groove  60   a  may be formed in the lower end  52  of the centering cone  54  that is engageable with one end  32   b  of the spring  32  as shown in  FIG. 3C . In an alternative embodiment, a second groove  60   b  engageable with the other end  30   a  of the spring  32  may be formed in the leading surface  16  of the reversible flange plate  10 , as shown in  FIG. 4B . Although it is possible to provide for first groove  60   a  and second groove  60   b  simultaneously, in a preferred embodiment either first groove  60   a  or second groove  60   b  would be formed in their respective components to ensure that tension provided by spring  32  during operation is not affected. Thus, second groove  60   b  may be formed only in the trailing surface  18  of the reversible flange plate  10 , and second groove  60   b  may be formed only in the leading surface  16  of the reversible flange plate  10 . 
     As shown by cross-reference between  FIGS. 1-5 , the reverse flange plate  10  in one embodiment is substantially cylindrical. The hollow bore  14  is dimensioned for slidable engagement with a brake lathe arbor  40 . The hollow bore  14  also is dimensioned for slidable removal of the reversible flange plate  10  from the arbor  40 . Thus, the reversible flange plate  10  shown in drawing  FIGS. 1-5  shows at least one embodiment that is not intended to be exclusive, but merely illustrative of the disclosed but non-exclusive embodiments. 
     Claim elements and steps in this document have been numbered and/or lettered solely as an aid in readability and understanding. The numbering is not intended to, and should not be considered as intending to, indicate the ordering of elements and steps in the claims.