IMPROVEMENTS IN SAWING MACHINES

Abstract: The invention relates to a sawing machine of the type comprising a horizontal workpiece support table (1) presenting a straight longitudinal slot (2) defining a cutting line, a sawing tool (4) mounted on a carriage (6) reciprocably movable along a path parallel to and beneath the cutting line, and a longitudinal pressure bar (3) arranged above the said workpiece support table (1) which pressure bar (3) extends along the whole length of the cutting line and can be raised and lowered with respect to the said workpiece support table (1) so as to be capable of blocking thereon the workpiece (P) to be sawed. In the sawing machine there is provided a first safety device, consisting of a protective apron extending along both sides of the cutting line, said protective apron being formed by a plurality of slats (10) hingedly mounted, with possibility of swinging through a predetermined angle of oscillation, on longitudinal apron rods (7). A second safety device is further provided, consisting of a longitudinal inner contact bar (14) and a longitudinal outer contact bar (13) mounted on each side of the pressure bar (3) hanging therefrom with possibility of vertical movement. The said inner and outer contact bars (13, 14) are adapted to cooperate, following to their lifting, with control devices (19, 20) acting on the control circuit of at least the cutting saw (6).

Description: ImDrovements in sawing machines The present invention relates to improvements in sawing machines of the type comprising a horizontal work piece support table presenting a straight longitudinal slot defining a cutting line, a sawing tool mounted on a carriage reciprocably movable along a path parallel to and beneath the cutting line, and a longitudinal pressure bar arranged above the said workpiece support table, which pressure bar extends along the whole length of the cutting line and can be raised and lowered with respect to the said workpiece table so as to be capable of blocking thereon the workpiece to be sawed. More particularly, the invention relates to some safety devices which can be adopted in the sawing machines of the above mentioned type, According to a first respect of the invention, there is provided a protective barrier apron which covers both sides of the cutting line. The protective apron consists of two apron rods arranged above the cutting line, at the sides of the pressure bar. On the apron rods there are hingedly mounted, with possibility of swinging within a predetermined swinging angle around a longitudinal axis parallel to or coincident with the axis of the apron bar, a plurality of slats arranged side by side. The apron rods may be rotated so as to bring the slats from a raised position, in which there is free access to the cutting line, to a lowered position, in which the slats forming the apron either rest on the workpiece being sawed or they rest on the workpiece table, and in any case they do not permit the access to the cutting line during the working cycle of the cutting tools. The rotation of the apron rods, and consequent raising or lowering of the apron slats, is coordinated with the raising or lowering movement of the pressure bar. According to a second aspect of the invention, mounted on each side of the pressure bar, there are provided contact bars which extend along the whole length of the said pressure bar, and are movable therewith in the raising and lowering motion, The said contact bars are mounted hanging with respect to the pressure bar in such a manner as to be capable of effecting a limited vertical movement. More precisely, on each side of the cutting line, an inner contact bar is arranged in proximity of the cutting line, and whenever the pressure bar is lowered to block the workpiece on the support table, the said inner contact bar comes into contact with the workpiece prior to the pressure bar, is consequently displaced upwardly and acts on a microswitch which controls the operation of the cutting tools. A second, outer, contact bar is also provided which is located exteriorly with respect to the said first inner contact bar, and which normally hangs from the pressure bar so that its lower end is located at the same level as the lower end of the pressure bar which actually presses and block the workpiece. If, during the lowering of the pressure bar, an extraneous body is inter= posed between the pressure bar and the support table or the workpiece to be sawed, the outer contact bar will be relatively lifted by the presence of said body, with respect to the pressure bar being lowered, and will act on a micro= switch which will suitably prevent the operation of the cutting tools. According to a third aspect of the invention, the access for inspection, repair or substitution of the cutting tools is permitted only upon removal of a protective hood which is secured to the machine casing by means of a threaded rod the free end of which cooperates with a micro= switch controlling the operation of the said cutting tools, in such a manner that upon unscrewing of the threaded rod for removal of the hood, the motors of the cutting tools are stopped, while the unscrewing operation takes a time -sufficient to allow the cutting tools to come to a complete stop. The above and other features of the invention, and the advantages deriving therefrom, are described in detail with reference to the attached drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an improved sawing machine according to the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective fragmentary view of a detail of the sawing machine; Figure.3 is a transverse section of a detail of the sawing machine, with the pressure bar raised; Figure 4 is a transverse section of a detail of the sawing machine, similar to Figure 3, with the pressure bar lowered; Figure 5 is a perspective view of a slat forming part of the protective barrier apron provided at both sides of the cutting line of the sawing machine; Figure 6 is the section of a detail illustrating the protective hood which preventS the access to the cutting tools of the sawing machine. With reference to Figures 1 to 4, the sawing machine comprises a horizontal workpiece support table 1 presenting a straight longitudinal slot 2 defining the cutting line. On the workpiece support table 1 there is positioned the workpiece P, consisting usually of a package of stacked wood boards or the like. The sawing machine further comprises a pressure bar 3 arranged above the workpiece support table 1, which bar 3 can be raised and lowered with respect to the said workpiece support table 1. The pressure bar 3 consists of a longitudinal beam 103 supported by its ends in supports 8 and 9 provided at the ends of the cutting line, means being provided (not shown) for the raising and lowering of the said pressure beam 103. The pressure beam 103 is provided with a pair of lower longi= tudinal pressure lips 203 extending in the cutting direction on both sides of the slot 2, and defining a longitudinal groove. Upon starting of the machine, the pressure bar 3 is lowered so as to block with it pressure lips 203 the work= piece P on the table 1. VIhen the pressure bar 3 has been lowered, there is immediately promoted the raising of a main circular saw blade 4 and of a scoring tool 5, in the form of a rotating cutting disc or circular saw blade smaller than the main saw blade 4, mounted on a carriage 6 reciprocably movable along S path parallel to and beneath the cufiting line defined by the slot 2, so that the said main saw 4 and scoring tool 5 are compelled to move along said slot 2 and effect the sawing of the stacked boards P, while the main saw 4 is at least partially received, during the said sawing operation, in the longitudinal groove defined by the downwardly directed pressure lips 203, as it can be appreciated in Figure 4. Yemen the sawing has been completed, the main saw 4 and scoring tool 5 are again lowered, and the carriage 6 is returned to its starting position. The pressure bar 3 is again lifted, and the cut boards can be removed or position= ed for a further cutting operation. An arrangement of this type is known from the British Patent Specifications Nos. 1 232 800 and 1 426 623, ensures an exceptionally clean cut without splitting the cut edges, and renders unnecessary any subsequent treatment of the corners of the single panels obtained, even when handling wooden boards veneered on one or both sides, or coated with a plastic layer. Whenever the package P of boards to be cut presents a width which is lesser than the length of the workpiece support table 1 of the sawing machine, as it is illustrated in Figure 2, the cutting tools 4 and 5 effect an initial portion of their movement in operative position (i.e. projecting above the slot 2) without engaging the package P, with the consequent possibility and danger that the operator may accidentally put his hands across the un= occupied zone of the cutting line (with consequent severe injuries), or that some other extraneous object be acci= dentally positioned along the said unoccupied zone of the cutting line, thus damaging the cutting tools. As a safety measure in order to avoid the above risks, the invention proposes a protective apron operatively associated to the pressure beam 3 and which covers both sides of the cutting line defined by the slot 2. With particular reference to Figures 2, 3 and 4, at both longi= tudinal sides of the pressure bar 3' there are rotatably supported at their ends by the same upright supports 8 and 9 of the pressure bar 3, two parallel apron rods 7. The said apron rods 7 are preferably tubular and circular in section, and present a longitudinal channel 107 having the section of a sector of more than 180 , so that inside the said retaining channels 107 there may be slidably inserted the discs 110 provided at the ends of the apron slats 10 (see particualrly Figure 5). The said apron slats 10, as shown in Figure 5, are preferably made of plastic material and, whenever inserted in series by their end discs 110 into the retaining channels 107 of the actuation rods 7, in close side-to-side contact, they define a cqnti= nuous longitudinal protective apron. which covers both sides of the cutting line. The rods 7 may be rotated around their longitudin l axis under the action of an actuation lever 207 which is hinged to the stem of a piston sliding at the interior of a pneumatic cylinder 11 articulated to the frame of the machine and pneumatically connected to the same pneumatic circuits which control the movement of the pressure bar 3. As it can be clearly appreciated from the Figures, the aperture of the retaining channels 107 of the apron rods 7 is such as to permit a determined amount of swinging of the slats 10 around the swinging axis defined by the said retaining channels 107. Whenever the pressure bar 3 is raised as shown in Figure 3, the apron rods 7 are rotated so that the barrier apron formed by the slats 10 on each side of the said pressure bar 3, is lifted by abutment of the slats 10 on one edge of the aperture of channel 107. In this manner, the cutting zone is freely accessible and visible by the operator. Upon starting of the sawing operation, the pressure bar 3 is lowered, and simultaneously the apron rods 7 are rotated so as to bring the slats downwardly, as illustrated in Figure 4. From the said Figure 4 and from Figure 2, it clearly appears that in this lowered position the free ends of the slats 10 either abut against the package P of boards being sawed, or, in the points not occupied by the package P, they swing further downwardly and abut against the work piece support table 1. In this manner, a continuous protective barrier is established on both sides of the cutting line defined by the slot 2. The invention relates also to a further safety device for avoiding two other types of accidents during the opera= tion of the sawing machine. A first accident may derive from the fact that the cutting tools 4 and 5 could start their sawing action prior to the safe clamping of the pack age P under the action of the pressure lips 203 of the pressure bar 3. Another accident may derive from the fact that the machine could be accidentally started when the operator's hands or other extraneous objects are positioned along the cutting line. The safety device according to the invention comprises two lateral hood-like elements 303 secured at both sides of the pressure bar 3 and extending for the whole length thereof, terminating at a level higher than the lower (contact) edge of the pressure lips 203 of the pressure bar 3. The hood elements 303 are connected to the sides of the pressure lips 203 by means of a plurality of transversal pins 12, equispaced along the length of the pressure bar. Hanging on the said transverse pins 12 there are provided, for each side of the pressure bar, two longitudinal contact bars 13 and 14. The said contact bars 13 and 14, which in the embodiment shown present a rectangular tubular section, may be each made of one single piece extending along the whole length of the pressure bar 3, or may be segmented into a plurality of pieces, whereby one segment or piece hangs on at least two successive transverse pins 12. The contact bars 13 and 14 on each side of the pressure bar are spaced between each other by means of a spacing sleeve 15 vested on the pin 12, and are guided for vertical movement by the guide plates 16 provided at the ends of each spacing sleeve 15, so that the contact bars 13 (outer contact bars) are vertically movable in a plane which is close to the side of the hood element 303, while the contact bars 14 (inner contact bars) are vertically movable in a plane which is close to the vertical pressure lips 203 of the pressure bar 3. The contact bars 13 (or segments) hang on the pins 12 by means of through slots 113 which are dimen= sioned in such a manner that, in the raised position of the pressure bar, shown in Figure 3, their lowermost extremity is located at the same level as the lowermost end of the pressure lips 203, while the contact bars 14 freely hang on the transverse pins 12 by means of through slots 114 which are dimensioned in such a manner that in the raised position of the pressure bar 3, their lowermost ends project down= wardly beyond the ends of the adjoining pressure lips 203. Each contact bar (or segment) 13, 14 is provided with bracket elements 17 respectively 18 intended to cooperate with microswitches 19 respectively 20 upon lifting of the respective contact bars or segments, by abutting against said microswitches. The microswitches 19 and 20 are opera= tively inserted in the control circuit of the sawing machine, in such a manner that the cutting too-ls 4 and 5 can start their working cycle only when the pressure bar 3 has been properly lowered onto a package P and no extraneous body is interposed between the pressure bar 3 and the pack= age P, as illustrated in Figure 4, so that the contact bars 14 have been pushed upwardly with their ends at the same level as the extremities of the pressure lips 203 (which is the top level of the package P), and consequently the microswitches 20 are actuated by the brackets 18, while the outer contact bars 13 are not pushed upwardly, and there= fore the microswitches 19 are not actuated by the brackets 17. In Figure 5 there is shown an abnormal or emergency condition in which an extraneous body L is present between the pressure bar 3 and the workpiece support table 1. In this case it appears evident that the extraneous body L acts on the outer contact bar 13 (either as a consequence of the movement of the said extraneous body X, or as a consequence of the lowering of the pressure bar 3) and practically pushes upwardly the said contact bar 13, thus promoting the actuation (through the bracket 17) of the microswitch 19, which will interrupt the operation of the machine, and in any case avoid that the cutting tools 4 and 5 (which are rotating) be lifted through the slot 2 above the table 1. With particular reference to Figure 6, there is shown another safety device adopted in the sawing machine, for avoiding any accident to the operator whenever it is necessary, either for substitution or repair purposes, to inspect and touch the cutting tools 4 and 5. The access to the said cutting tools is only possible whenever they are at the starting position of a working cycle, i.e. in correspondence of one extremity of the sawing machire. B correspondence of this extremity, there is provided a protective hood 21, which closes the access aperture A to the said cutting tools. The said hood 21 is secured to the casing of the machine by means of threaded rod 22, which engages a female nut 24 provided on the machine casing. The threaded rod 22 can be screwed or unscrewed in position by means of a knob 23. Whenever the threaded rod 22 is screwed into locking position, same actuates, with its free end, a microswitch 25 which consents the operation of the motors of the tools 4 and 5. Whenever it is desired to have access to the said cutting tools 4 and 5, it will be necessary to remove the hood 21, which can be done by unscrewing the rod 22. The unscrewing of the said rod causes the stopping of the motors of the tools, through the microswitch 24. The complete unscrewing of the threaded portion of rod 22 (which is sufficiently long) takes a sufficiently long time to enable the cutting tools 4 and 5 to come to a complete stop. As an additional safety measure, in order to avoid sparks from the possible contact of the rotating saw blades 4 and 5 with metal or hard parts of the slot 2 of the table 1, the said slot 2 is defined by two longitudinal strips 26 of relatively soft material, such as wood or plastics. Reference numeral 27 indicates a control panel board, which is mounted on a swinging arm above the workpiece support table, so that an immediate control of the machine can be performed by operators standing on either side of the said machine. It is believed that the invention will have been clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description of some preferred embodiments. Changes in the details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as above described and claimed hereafter.

Claims: Claims 1) Improvements in the sawing machines of the type comprising a horizontal workpiece support table (1) present= ing a straight longitudinal slot (2) defining a cutting line, a sawing tool (4) mounted on a carriage (6) reciprocably movable along a path parallel to and beneath the cutting line, and a longitudinal pressure bar (3) arranged above the said workpiece support table (1) which pressure bar (3) extends along the whole length of the cutting line and can be raised and lowered with respect to the said workpiece support table (1) so as to be capable of blocking thereon the workpiece (P) to be sawed, characterized in that a first safety device is provided, consisting of a protective barrier apron extending along both sides of the cutting line, said protective barrier apron being formed by a plurality of slats (10) hingedly mounted, with possi= bility of swinging through a predetermined angle of oscillation, on longitudinal apron rods (7) arranged at both sides of the said cutting line, a second safety dew being further provided, consisting of a longitudinal inner contact bar (14) and a longitudinal outer contact bar (13) mounted on each side of the pressure bar (3) hanging there= from with possibility of vertical movement with respect thereto, the said inner and outer contact bars (13, 14) being adapted to cooperate, following to their lifting, with control devices (19, 20) acting on the control circuit of at least the cutting saw (6). 2) A sawing machine according to claim 1, obaracte rized in that the longitudinal apron rods (7) pres- a longitudinal retaining groove (105) at the interior of which there are slidably inserted, side-by-side, the apron slats (10) by means of suitable enlarged portions, such as discs (110) provided in correspondence of one end thereof, the said retaining groove presenting an aperture which permits a limited oscillation of the apron slats (10) through a predetermined angle, around a longitudinal axis parallel to or coincident with the longitudinal axis of the apron rods (7). 3) A sawing machine according to claim 1, characte= rized in that actuation means (11, 207) are provided for promoting a limited angular rotation of the apron rods (7) around their longitudinal axis, whereby it is possible to raise the apron slats to a position at which free access is given to the cutting line, or to lower the said apron slats (10) to a position at which they abut on the workpiece support table (1) and/ & on the workpiece (P) being sawed. 4) A sawing machine according to claim 1, characte= rized in that the pressure bar (3) presents a pair of down= wardly directed pressure lips (203) for blocking the work= piece (P) on the table (1), and the longitudinal inner contact bars (14) of the said second safety device are mounted in close proximity to the said pressure lips (203) on each side of the pressure bar, in such a manner that whenever the pressure bar is raised with respect to the workpiece (P), the said inner contact bars project wttk A their lower end downwardly beyond the ends of the adjoining pressure lips, and the associated control devices (20) are not actuated, while in the lowered blocking position of the pressure bar (3) the said inner contact bars (14) are pushed upwardly by the contact with the workpiece (P) to be sawed, so that their lower ends are brought at the same level as the ends of the pressure lips (203) of the pressure bar (3) and the associated control devices (20) are actuated. 5) A sawing machine according to claim 4, characte= rized in that the longitudinal outer contact bars (13) are mounted at both sides of the pressure bar (3) at a certain distance therefrom in such a manner that whenever the pressure bar (3) is raised, the lower ends of the said outer contact bars (13) are at the same level as the ends of the pressure lips (203) of the pressure bar (3) and the asso= ciated control devices (19) are not actuated, while the presence of an extraneous body (L) between the pressure bar (3) and the workpiece support table (1) or the work piece (P), promotes the lifting of at least one of the said outer contact bars (13) either due to lowering of the pressure bar (3) or to upward movement of the said extra= neous body, thus promoting the actuation of the associated control devices. 6) A sawing machine according to claim 5, characte= rized in that the inner and outer contact bars (13, 14) are mounted, by means of vertical slots (113, 114) passing therethrough, on transversal pins (12) secured at one end to the outer side of the pressure lips (203) of the pressure bar (3) and at the other end to the inner side of a down= wardly directed hood (303) secured to the pressure bar (3) and extending longitudinally for the whole length thereof. 7) A sawing machine according to claim 1, characte= rized in that it further comprises a third safety device consisting of a removable hood (21) for closing an aperture which gives access to the sawing tool (4), said hood (21) being secured to the casing of the machine by means of a threaded rod (22) engaging a female nut (24) provided on the casing, said threaded rod being operated through a manual knob, and acting, in its fully screwed condition, on a microswitch (25) consenting the operation of the motors of the sawing tool (4) while the unscrewing of the said threaded rod (22) disengages the end thereof from the said microswitch, and the complete unscrewing operation requires an amount of time sufficient to allow the sawing tool to come to a complete stop. 8) A sawing machine according to claim 12 characte= rized in that the sides of the longitudinal slot (2) defi= ning the cutting line, are constructed of strips (26) made of relatively soft material, such as for example wood or plastics.

Inventors: BENUZZI, GINO
Applicants: GIBEN IMPIANTI S.P.A.
Application year: 1980
Main classification: B27G19
IPC codes: B23D47, B23Q11, B27G19, B23Q3