Means for producing relative reciprocatory movement between two members

Means for producing reciprocatory movement of a vice carrier (18) across a guideway (17) mounted on a body moulding (11, 16), which partly shrouds a rotatably driven grinding wheel (14), comprise a rack moulding (57) having upper and lower racks (61, 62) which are alternately engaged by a pinion (44) driven from the grinding wheel drive, in use. Rack moulding movement is transmitted to the vice carrier and spring means (67, 68) move the rack moulding to change the pinion engagement from the lower rack to the upper rack and vice versa at the ends of the racks, thereby reversing the rack moulding movement. A guide peg (56) of the body moulding alternately engages in upper and lower slots (65a, 65b) of the rack moulding to maintain the pinion in engagement with its appropriate associated rack while it is between the ends thereof. The arrangement is intended for use as part of a releasable adapter for a powered grinding tool incorporating said grinding wheel.

This invention relates to means for producing relative reciprocatory 
movement between two members, and is particularly applicable to the 
movement of the a blade holder from side to side across a grinding wheel 
in order to sharpen a blade carried by the holder, in use. 
In our U.K. Patent Application No. 9300687.2 (2263424A) a grinding tool is 
disclosed to which a selected one of a number of adapters, each intended 
to carry a particular implement to be sharpened in use, can be fitted to 
carry out the sharpening operation. To effect correct sharpening, it is 
necessary with some of the adapters to move a part thereof manually from 
side to side across the grinding wheel of the tool, which is driven by an 
electric motor. Clearly it would be desirable for any such required manual 
movement to be motorised. 
An object of the invention is to provide means for producing relative 
reciprocatory movement between two members in an effective and convenient 
manner. 
According to the invention means for producing relative reciprocatory 
movement between two members comprises rotary drive means associated with 
one of said members, the other of the members being drivable through 
engagement means for receiving drive from said drive means, one part of 
the engagement means being such that when it receives said drive it causes 
the other of said members to move in one direction, another part of the 
engagement means being such that when it receives said drive it causes the 
other of said members to move in the opposite direction, the change in the 
reception of drive from said one part of the engagement means to the other 
occurring automatically, in use, and the direction of rotation of the 
drive means being the same when transmitting drive to either said one or 
said another part of the engagement means. 
Preferably the engagement means comprises two parallel, spaced facing 
racks, the two racks constituting said one part and said another part 
respectively of the engagement means. More preferably the automatic change 
in the reception of drive from one rack to the other is effected by 
resilient means. 
Conveniently the resilient means comprises two springs which effect said 
automatic change when the drive means is at opposite ends of the racks 
respectively. 
Desirably when the drive means is engaged with a rack at a position between 
the ends thereof, the engagement with the rack is maintained by means of 
part of said one member travelling in either an upper or lower part of a 
guide slot associated with the other of the members. 
Advantageously the automatic transfer of drive from one rack to the other 
is effected by the springs effecting relative movement between said part 
of said one member and said guide slot, at the end of the rack, so that 
the part can alternately be received in the upper and lower parts of the 
guide slot, thereby maintaining either the upper rack or the lower rack in 
engagement with the drive means.

Although the present invention relates generally to means for producing 
relative reciprocatory movement between two members, it has a particular 
application, and will thus be described, in relation to an adapter of the 
kind described, illustrated and claimed in our co-pending UK Patent 
Application No. 9300687.2 (2263424A) and described and illustrated in our 
later Patent Application No. 9404243.9. Both of these patent applications 
are concerned with the use of a powered grinding tool to which various 
selected adapters can be releasably fitted, in use, so as to provide 
correct locations for implement blades carried by the adapters to be 
sharpened by a grinding wheel of the grinding tool. Although in the later 
patent application described above, there is described an alternative 
means of releasably fitting an adapter to the grinding tool, the present 
application relates to an adapter which can have either form of releasable 
fixing means and can thus be used with either form of grinding tool, as 
well as having suitable alternative releasable fixing means if required. 
In addition the means of the present invention could be incorporated in an 
arrangement which is fixed to a grinding tool, rather than being 
incorporated in a releasable adaptor. However in an alternative form of 
such a grinder, it may well be possible to alter the form of the member 
which is reciprocally driven across the front of the grinding wheel, in 
that it may be possible for different forms of blade carrier to be used. 
However in its broadest form, as mentioned above, the present invention 
provides a convenient and effective means of producing reciprocatory 
movement between two members and thus clearly has wider application than 
its described uses for moving a tool carrier across the face of a grinding 
wheel or the like. 
FIGS. 1 and 2 show an adaptor 10, as described above for use with a 
grinding tool of either of our above mentioned patent applications. To 
this end a rear body moulding 11 of the adapter is provided with spaced 
rear upper ears for slidable releasable engagement with respective 
complementary parts of the grinding tool. From FIG. 7 is can be seen that 
this rear body moulding 11 has a elongated slot 13 in its rear face and 
lower wall to allow reception of a drive spindle of the grinding tool when 
the adapter is fitted to this tool, in use. The spindle passes through 
this slot and carries a grinding wheel 14, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the 
wheel extending somewhat through an opening 15 in a rear part of a front 
body moulding 16 which is fitted to the rear body moulding 11 in normal 
assembly so as to conceal in the rear body moulding the gear train which 
is shown in FIG. 7 and which will be described hereinafter. 
As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the adapter includes not only the body 
moulding, made up of the front and rear parts described, but also a 
guideway 17, a vice carrier 18, a tiltable vice 19 and a vice jaw assembly 
20, all of which can be plastics material mouldings. 
The front body moulding 16 has a forwardly extending platform 21, and this 
platform is formed with parallel spaced facing transverse lips 22 defining 
guideways 23 therebelow to receive complementarily shaped guides 24 
projecting from opposite shorter sides respectively of the guideway 17. 
Between the lips 22 and associated guideways 23, the platform 21 has, at 
one side of the grinding wheel, a channel 25 in which is received an 
adjustment screw 26 which is engaged with a feed screw nut of the guideway 
17. At its free end the screw 26 is held by a circlip to the front body 
moulding 16, so that if the adjustment screw is turned, this causes the 
guideway 17 to move towards or away from the grinding wheel 14 along the 
guideways 23 by movement along the screw of the feed screw nut. Thus as 
will be described, this adjustment moves the blade to be sharpened into or 
out of engagement with the grinding wheel. 
The guideway 17 has, in its upper surface, a straight elongated channel 27 
adjacent its longer side remote from the adjustment screw 26. The two 
opposite longer sides of the guideway are formed as ribs 28. Behind the 
channel 27 and at one side of screw 26, the guideway is provided with a 
rectangular slot 29, the length of this slot being substantially equal to 
the diameter of the grinding wheel, with which this slot is substantially 
aligned, as shown in FIG. 1. 
Slidably engaged for reciprocatory movement on the guideway 17 is the vice 
carrier 18. This has slots 30, 31 respectively formed at the underside of 
its front and rear longer sides, and this carrier 18 can slide on the 
guideway 17 with the ribs 28 of the guideway engaging in the slots 30, 31, 
this engagement being sufficiently tight to prevent any transverse 
movement of the carrier on the guideway. Depending from its underside, the 
carrier has a driving arm 32 in the form of a rectangular finger having a 
generally square opening 33 therethrough adjacent its lower end. The 
carrier is engaged on the guideway 17 so that this driving arm 32 extends 
through the slot 29, thereby limiting the degree of reciprocatory movement 
possible between the carrier and the body moulding, and thus between the 
carrier and the grinding wheel. The carrier is assembled to the guideway 
on platform 21 by positioning the arm 32 just into the slot 29, tipping 
the carrier forwards to engage rib 28 in slot 30, and then lowering the 
rear of the carrier to snap-fit the other rib 28 into slot 31. The arm 
then passes through the slot 29 and the aligned slot in the platform 21, 
to be described. 
The vice carrier has a pair of sector-shaped, parallel side walls 34, and 
connecting these together is a support wall 35 which is angled rearwardly 
away from the front edge of the blade carrier. The side walls are provided 
with respective, aligned arcuate slots 36, 37 adjacent their outer 
peripheries, these slots being to allow tiltable adjustment of the vice 19 
which is generally received between the side walls 34 at the front of the 
support wall 35. The upper part of the vice 19 is formed, by the use of 
metal inserts, with respective threaded apertures 38 at the upper rear 
thereof, and knurled adjustment knobs 39 have respective shanks which pass 
through the slots 36, 37, and into said apertures 38 to secure the vice 19 
in a selected chosen tilted position relative to the rear wall 35 of the 
carrier 18. 
The lower front part of the vice 19 is in the form of a lipped channel 40 
in which is received a pair of jaws 41 of the vice jaw assembly 20. Each 
jaw has a rearward projecting part of complementary shape to that of the 
lipped channel 40 so that it can slide along said channel. The jaws are 
carried on a shaft 42 which has a knurled adjustment knob 43 at one end. 
The shaft is fixed relative to the vice and passes through an arcuate slot 
(not shown) in right hand side wall 34 to permit tilting adjustment of the 
vice 19. The shaft has a central fixed cirdip washer in a groove (not 
shown), and is provided at opposite sides thereof respectively with a left 
hand and a right hand thread so that rotation of the shaft by way of the 
knob 43 will move the jaws together or apart depending upon the direction 
of rotation. Thus, as will be described, various widths of blade can be 
clamped between the two jaws. Alternatively the opposite hand threads can 
be provided by respective inserts engaged on the shaft and carrying the 
jaws 41. 
Accordingly with this particular embodiment of adaptor, incorporating the 
reciprocatory movement means of the invention, as will be described, there 
are two forms of adjustment for a blade clamped in the vice jaw assembly 
20. Firstly there is an adjustment by means of the screw 26 to move the 
whole assembly of carrier, vice and vice jaw assembly towards or away from 
the grinding wheel, and secondly there is adjustment to tilt the vice 
itself angularly towards or away from the grinding wheel. As will be 
described, the carrier together with its vice and vice jaw assembly are, 
in use, automatically reciprocally driven from side to side across the 
front of the grinding wheel to produce correct and effective sharpening of 
the blade. 
The actual means for producing said reciprocatory movement will now be 
described, as applied to the adaptor shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, with 
reference to FIGS. 3 to 6 in which the blade carrier 18 is shown only 
schematically. 
Firstly however reference is made to FIG. 7 which shows a gear train 
arrangement of the adapter which is used to transmit drive from the 
grinding wheel drive shaft to an output pinion 44 (FIGS. 3 to 6) which, 
although it rotates angularly, is effectively fixed relative to the body 
moulding, so that, as will be described, as the pinion rotates it drives 
the carrier 18 across the front of the body moulding, and thus the 
grinding wheel, by means of the driving arm 32 of the carrier. 
As can be seen from FIG. 7, in one arrangement of gear train an idler 
pulley 45 is mounted on a shaft of the rear body moulding 11 at the left 
side of the slot 13, as viewed in this figure. In use a take-off pulley on 
the grinding wheel drive shaft engages with and tensions a spring drive 
belt 46 to transmit drive by friction to a gear pulley 47 at the opposite 
side of the slot 13, the belt being around the spaced pulleys 45 and 47. 
The gear pulley 47 is carried by a further shaft of the rear body moulding 
11, and is provided at its forward side with a smaller gear 48 which is in 
engagement with a larger train gear 49a mounted on a still further shaft 
of the rear body moulding. This train gear 49a has a smaller gear (not 
shown) provided at its forward side, and this meshes with a train gear 51a 
on a shaft 52. The gear 51a itself has a smaller gear (not shown) at its 
forward side, and this meshes with a larger train gear 49b. The gear 49b 
is of the same form as gear 49a and is on the same shaft. The gear 49b 
thus has on its forward side a smaller gear 50b which finally meshes with 
a further larger output gear 51b fixed on shaft 52, which shaft projects 
forwardly from the open front of the rear body moulding for attachment 
thereon of the output pinion 44 once the front body moulding has been 
fitted, on assembly, to the rear body moulding 11. 
Thus by the use of a suitable gear train, drive from the motor of the 
grinding tool can be transmitted to drive an output pinion which, as will 
be described, is used to effect reciprocatory movement between the blade 
carrier and the body moulding in which the grinding wheel is received, in 
use. However any other suitable form of gear train or reduction gear 
arrangement could be provided. Clearly when the grinding tool and adaptor 
are formed as one part, i.e. when the adaptor is in effect fixed to the 
tool, the drive from the motor will normally of course directly drive both 
the grinding wheel and the pinion. However it might be possible to provide 
separate or different means of driving the pinion if in any arrangement 
this was more desirable than using the drive for the grinding wheel. 
Beneath the platform 21 of the front body moulding 16, this moulding is 
provided with a forwardly projecting lug 53. A larger, rectangular lug 54 
upstands integrally from the lower front surface of the front body 
moulding and spaced generally directly above this, a rectangular 
projection 55 extends forwardly from the rear of the moulding. Slightly 
below this projection 55 and to the right thereof as viewed in FIGS. 3 to 
6, is a rack guide peg 56 also formed on the rear body moulding. 
Reciprocally carried at the rear of and beneath the platform 21 is a rack 
moulding 57 which is formed as an elongated rectangular member, its longer 
sides lying generally parallel with the lower longer side of the front 
body moulding. The rack moulding is effectively divided approximately 
mid-way along its length into a guide part at the left as shown in the 
drawings, and a rack part at the right thereof. 
This guide part is in the form of an elongated rectangular slot 58 parallel 
to the sides of the moulding in which is fitted the lug 53 on the front 
body moulding, this lug 53 serving to guide the rack moulding as it 
reciprocates in use, as will be described, the lug allowing a limited 
amount of tilting of the rack moulding as can be seen from FIGS. 3 to 6. 
As previously described, the driving arm 32 passes through the slot 29 in 
the blade carrier guideway, and this arm also passes through a 
corresponding slot 59 in the platform 21. In this way the opening 33 is 
disposed at the position of the lower part of the slot 58 and a driving 
lug 60 on the rack moulding just below the slot 58 is received in this 
opening 33 so as to connect the rack moulding to the blade carrier. The 
driving lug 60 is a tight fit in the opening 33 so that reciprocal 
movement of rack moulding is directly transmitted to the blade carrier 
which is thus also reciprocally moved, in use, from side to side across 
the front of the grinding wheel as the driving arm 32 moves backwards and 
forwards along the slots 29 and 59. 
The rack part of the rack moulding is in the form of parallel, spaced upper 
and lower racks 61, 62, respectively, each rack having gear teeth of a 
complementary form to the gear teeth on the pinion 44. The disposition of 
the rack moulding as governed by the lug 53, is such that the pinion 
normally engages with either the upper rack or the lower rack depending 
upon the degree of tilt, previously mentioned, permitted by the engagement 
of the lug 53 with the slot 58. 
Approximately at the junction of the guide and rack parts of the rack 
moulding, the rack moulding is provided on its upper face with a lug 63. 
Also extending from this junction along the whole of rack part to the end 
of the rack moulding from the upper surface of the rack moulding is a 
further guide part 64 which is in the form of a rectangular slot 65 
divided into upper and lower slots 65a, 65b, respectively, by a central 
rib 66, the opposite ends of the rib being terminated clear of the ends of 
the slot 65 so as to leave clearance for the rack guide peg 56 which is 
received in the slot 65 and can travel in both the upper and lower slots 
as a relatively close fit, as a result of its width substantially matching 
the width of each of the upper and lower slots. 
The rectangular projection 55 carries a blade spring 67 which generally 
projects downwardly therefrom and is compressed upwardly by the rack lug 
63 when the rack moulding is of the extreme right hand end of its travel 
as shown in FIG. 3. Thus upon reaching this state, the rack moulding will 
normally be tilted about the lug 53 into a lower position where the rack 
guide peg 56 moves from the level of the lower slot 65b to the level of 
the upper slot 65a and the drive pinion 44 moves substantially 
instantaneously out of engagement with the lower rack 62 into engagement 
with the upper rack 61. 
As can be seen from FIGS. 3 to 6, a further blade spring 68 is connected to 
the rack moulding at the bottom thereof at a posit ion adjacent the right 
hand end thereof, as viewed in the Figures. Whereas the purpose of the 
blade spring 67 is to tilt the rack moulding downwardly at its extreme 
right hand end of travel, the further blade spring 68 operates to tilt the 
rack moulding upwardly when it reaches its extreme left hand end of 
travel, as shown in FIG. 5, by engaging on the lug 54 and initially being 
compressed before lifting the rack moulding once the rack guide peg 56 has 
reached the right hand end of the upper slot 65a. As described, at these 
opposite extreme positions the springs operate to tilt the rack moulding 
upwardly or downwardly, and as a result, since the rack guide peg 56 is at 
respective opposite ends of the slot 65 in these extreme positions of 
movement of the rack moulding, the rack guide peg 56 is re-positioned at 
the level of the upper or lower slots 65a, 65b, opposite to that which it 
has just travelled along. In this way the rack moulding is then held in 
its upwardly or downwardly tilted position as the pinion then rotates and 
moves the rack moulding, as the rack guide peg 56 is then held in either 
the upper or lower slot at one side or the other of the rib 66. 
Thus looking in detail at FIGS. 3 to 6, it will be appreciated that in FIG. 
3 the rack moulding has been moved to the right by virtue of the 
engagement of the teeth of the pinion 44 with the teeth of the lower rack 
62, the pinion rotating in anti-clockwise direction as shown by the arrow 
adjacent it. During this movement of the rack moulding to the right, the 
rack guide peg 56 has travelled to the left, relative to the rack 
moulding, along the lower slot 65b with the rack moulding tilted upwardly. 
Just before the rack moulding reaches its extreme right hand position, the 
rack lug 63 engages the blade spring 67 and begins to compress it. However 
once the rack guide peg 56 has reached the extreme left hand end of the 
lower slot 65b, and is thus now in the area of clearance, the spring acts 
on the rack lug 63 to force the rack moulding to tilt downwardly so that 
with the rack guide peg 56 being stationary, the upper slot 65a is 
effectively moved downwardly so that the rack guide peg 56 is then now at 
the level of the upper slot 65a. As a consequent the teeth of the pinion 
now engaged with the upper rack 62 so that as the pinion continues to be 
rotated in the same direction as before, the rack moulding is now moved to 
the left with the rack moulding being retained in this downwardly tilted 
position by the engagement of the rack guide peg 56 in the upper slot 
which is moving to the left. FIG. 4 shows a position reached approximately 
half way along the movement of the rack moulding to the left. As will be 
apparent from the previous description, the movement of the rack moulding, 
and thus the driving lug 60 transmits the drive to the carrier driving arm 
and thus the carrier itself which also moves to the left across the 
carrier guideway. 
Just before the rack moulding reaches its extreme left hand position shown 
in FIG. 5, the further blade spring 68 engages the lug 54 and is initially 
compressed. However as soon as the full left hand movement of the rack 
moulding occurs the rack guide peg is positioned at the end of the upper 
slot 65a, and thus again in the area of clearance. Accordingly the upward 
force on the rack moulding effected by the spring 68 causes the rack 
moulding to tilt upwardly repositioning the rack guide peg 56 at the level 
of the lower slot 65b and bringing the pinion to engagement into 
engagement with the lower rack 62. Thus the continued rotation in the same 
direction of the pinion now drives the rack moulding to the right, with 
the rack moulding being held in its upwardly tilted position by the 
engagement of the rack guide peg in the lower slot 65b. FIG. 6 shows this 
movement to the right approximately half way there along. The action is 
then repeated when the rack moulding again reaches its right limit of 
movement so that the position of FIG. 3 is then repeated and so on. It 
will thus be seen that automatic reciprocation of the carrier is effected 
as long as the pinion is driven and a blade carried by the vice jaw 
assembly can be sharpened by this movement to and fro across the grinding 
wheel, with any adjustments being made, as grinding proceeds, by way of 
the adjustment screw 26 or the adjustment knob 39. 
It will be appreciated that the reciprocatory drive arrangement shown in 
FIGS. 3 to 6 is only one embodiment of the present invention, in that 
various other arrangements are possible, including arrangements where 
there is in effect a continuous rack, i.e. the racks are not discontinued 
at the extreme ends of rack moulding movement. A convenient way of 
effecting such an arrangement is to provide some form of continuous 
internally toothed belt or similar. 
In one alternative arrangement a continuous internally toothed belt is 
provided, the drive pinion engaging the belt at one end of the belt run, 
where it is curved and an idler wheel engaging the belt at the other 
curved end, the two wheels being spaced to keep the belt taut in the form 
of a conventional pulley. The belt is provided with a peg on its outer 
surface, this peg thus travelling around the whole of the outside of the 
belt as the belt is rotated. If this belt is provided within an elongated 
slot in a drive arm, it is possible to arrange for the drive arm to have 
adjacent and complementary notches of opposite hand respectively for 
engagement by the peg so that as the peg moves across the upper run of the 
belt it will engage in the notch to push the arm in one direction, the peg 
then leaving the notch at one end of drive arm movement and continuing 
around a curved path of the belt at the drive or idler wheel. The peg then 
engages in the other notch of the drive arm, this being of an opposite 
hand so as to force the drive arm in the opposite direction as the peg 
travels along the lower run of the belt. When the opposite extreme end 
position of travel of the drive arm is reached, the peg disengages from 
the lower notch of the drive arm, the drive arm then remaining stationary 
until the peg again engages in the notch in the upper part of the drive 
arm once again to move it in the opposite direction. Instead of two 
separate notches, some form of continuous lateral slot across the drive 
arm could also be used, as could suitable abutments instead of slots. 
In a further alternative arrangement the drive arm itself could be provided 
with a continuous internally toothed slot, equivalent to the above 
mentioned belt, the drive gear engaging these teeth and there being a peg 
in the centre of the drive gear to ensure that the drive gear meshes with 
the continuous teeth as the arm is driven upon rotation of the drive gear. 
The gear peg can be received in a curved ended elongated groove disposed 
substantially centrally of the toothed slot so that with this arrangement 
there is continuous engagement of the pinion teeth with the teeth of the 
slot, the drive gear being slightly moved where necessary to ensure that 
even though slightly undersized it always engages with the same amount of 
teeth at the curved ends of the slot in moving from engagement with the 
upper part of the continuous toothed slot to the lower part thereof to 
drive the arm in opposite directions. Although both alternative 
arrangements are believed viable, the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 to 6 is 
preferred in that with the first alternative embodiment described there is 
a slight problem with the delay while the peg moves around the curved end 
of the toothed belt, and with the second alternative embodiment described 
there could be a slight problem with the extra torque at the curved ends 
of the continuously internally toothed slot. The embodiment of FIGS. 3 to 
6 is particularly effective in its use of the two blade springs which 
effect the necessary upward or downward tilting of the rack moulding 
almost instantaneously to switch engagement of the pinion from one rack to 
the other and thus to reverse the drive.