Apparatus for supporting and aligning equipment

Apparatus for supporting equipment in alignment and for re-aligning it when it is accidentally placed out of alignment, including a stator and rotor. The stator is supported, typically, from an overhead rack, and an item to be aligned is supported from the rotor. Should the item to be aligned accidentally be placed out of alignment, apparatus is provided on the rotor and stator to re-align the rotor--and hence the item that was placed out of alignment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
When working on or testing aligned equipment in a manufacturing or 
semi-manufacturing environment, a problem arises of accidentally striking 
or moving the aligned apparatus. If there is a machining, computer or 
operator error, the item may be damaged by the error itself, or it may be 
damaged, for example, by shorted electrical wiring or misplaced machining 
tools. 
In a typical example, a manipulator arm, slide mechanism or other tool or 
work piece positioning device may carry a crash protection switch so that 
if positional or travel control is lost, or if there is a computer or 
operator error and a crash occurs, the machine power is disconnected. 
Such apparatus, for example, is used in semi-production and production of 
optical equipment. The inventor has used it in the production of ring 
lasers. 
Further, a frangible link may be inserted between tool holders and 
manipulator arms, for accidental separation of the tool and arm may damage 
a work piece. 
Any of the above arrangements require replacement of parts, such as broken 
links, and appreciable readjustment, realignment and set up before the 
manufacturing may continue. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The apparatus of this invention comprises a stator member which is 
supported upon one end, typically from the top. A rotor member is 
connected, for example as by hanging therefrom, to the stator. The work 
piece is attached to the rotor. 
The rotor of the invention is easily angularly displaced so that should the 
work piece be accidentally struck or pushed by a manipulator arm or 
otherwise, the rotor turns. Turning of the arm actuates switches, 
typically electrical microswitches, to stop all power driven manufacturing 
processes, thereby obviating further damage to the work piece. 
The rotor is adapted, according to the invention to rapid realignment. 
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a stator and rotor 
which are adapted to support and protect a work piece. 
It is another object of the invention to provide a stator and rotor which 
are rapidly re-aligned after misalignment. 
It is still another object of the invention to provide a rotor for carrying 
a work piece, such rotor being suspended from a stator and aligned 
therewith, including switching means for removing power from manufacturing 
machines and processes whenever such rotor and work piece are out of 
alignment; and means for rapidly re-aligning the rotor and work piece with 
the stator.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
In the preferred embodiment, the stator 10 is suspended from, typically, a 
stationary member 12. A rotor 14 is supported by the stator 10 with three 
degrees of angular freedom. The rotor 14 is attached to a work piece (not 
shown) which it is designed to protect. There is a preferred alignment of 
the rotor and, therefore, the work piece. Details of the stator 10 and 
rotor 14 may be observed from FIG. 3. 
A downwardly extending support member or strut 16 is attached to a 
supporting frame or the building 12, and it acts as a housing for an 
actuator 18. The actuator 18 may be electrical, but it could also be 
pneumatic, vacuum, or hydraulic. Other types of actuators for the 
centering pintle 20 are not to be excluded. The pintle 20 extends downward 
in a sliding fit through the stator and extends out of the bottom to 
engage the guiding or camming surface 32 of the rotor 14 as described 
hereinafter. The shank 22 is shown circularly cylindrical about the z 
axis, and the z axis is shown vertical along the axis of the pintle 20. At 
the base of the shank 22 is shown a spherical zonal surface 24. The zone 
20 extends completely around the z axis and through, typically, about ten 
to twenty degrees about the x and y axes. 
The central portion of the stator 10 has a cylindrical surface 24 with a 
flange 26 in the x-y plane. An indexing pintle housing 51 is positioned on 
the rotor 14. It encloses an indexing pintle 36 and an inwardly biasing 
spring 52 as shown in FIG. 3. The housing 51, pintle 38 and spring 52 are 
positioned so that when the rotor is properly aligned, the axis of the 
indexing pintle 38 is along the x axis. For receiving the indexing pintle 
36, the flange 26 has an extended indexing-pintle-receiving groove or 
detent 28 therein centered on the x axis, such detent being substantially 
parallel to the z axis. It also has a pair of small detents 30 therein, 
such as the detent shown on the x axis in FIG. 6, for receiving the 
actuating pins 38 of the switches 40 and 42. The bottom outer surface 45 
of the stator 10 is shown conical, but its shape is not critical, for it 
merely must clear the rotor 14. 
The rotor 14 surrounds the stator 10, and it forms a cavity 44 to allow it 
to do so. The rotor 14 is shown formed of two portions 46 and 48 to allow 
it to be assembled around the stator 10. The upper portion 46 has an inner 
surface 48 which is shown conical, but it may be spherical, to slide on 
the surface 24 to support the rotor 14 and to allow three degrees of 
rotation of the rotor 14 relative to the stator 10. The bottom of the 
cavity 44 is guided or cammed by the conical camming surface 32, which may 
be curved, to a low point 50. The point 50 is on the z axis when the rotor 
14 is aligned in its preferred alignment. 
To keep the rotor 17 light, it may be made of light-weight metal, but the 
light-weight metal might be too soft to hold the alignment. A portion of 
the light weight softened metal, at and adjacent the z axis, may be 
removed, and a hardened plug 49 inserted in its place. The centering 
pintle 36 engages the groove 28, shown in FIG. 5, and the axis of the 
pintle 36 is aligned with the x axis when the rotor 14 is aligned in its 
preferred alignment. The pintle 36 is biased inwardly into groove 28 by 
the bias of spring 52. Switches 40 and 42, shown here as electrical 
microswitches, are positioned to open when the rotor is misaligned from 
the x and y axes. Only one pintle 38 is shown in FIG. 3 for a typical 
microswitch. 
In operation, a work piece (not shown) is attached to the rotor, and the 
actuator 18 is actuated to force the centering pintle 20 against the 
guiding or camming surface 32 which drives the pintle to the low point 50. 
When the apparatus is assembled, the pintle 36 is assembled into the 
groove 28 to constrain the rotor from turning around the z axis. With the 
rotor 14 and stator 10 aligned, the pintles 38 fit into their respective 
detents 30, and the switches 40 and 42 are closed. 
Should the work piece (not shown), and hence the rotor 14, be knocked or 
otherwise thrown out of alignment, pintles 38 are displaced out of their 
detents 30, and the electrical system to which they are attached is 
de-energized. To re-align the rotor about the x and y axes, the actuator 
18 is energized, and the pintle 20 is driven against the guiding or 
camming surface 32, forcing the pintle toward the lowest point 50. When it 
reaches the lowest point 50, the rotor is re-aligned about the x and y 
axes. If, however, the rotor is placed out of alignment about the z axis, 
it would need to be turned by hand until the pintle 36 again engages the 
groove 28. When all is again in alignment, the pintles 38 engage the 
detents 30, closing the microswitches 40 and 42.