STEERING MECHANISM FOR AUTOGENOUS CUTTING TORCH

Abstract: A steering mechanism for an autogenous cutting torch, wherein an autogenous cutting torch (5) is fastened to the end of a steering arm (2) shaped as a long shaft. Steering arm (2) is adapted to be axially movable and rotatable around its axis. In order to control the movements digitally at a desired, readily variable ratio of dependence or alternately in cycles of desired duration, digitally controlled motors are operated, the first motor (9) rotating a gear (11) surrounding said steering arm (2). This gear (11) drives steering arm (2) therealong but steering arm (2) is axially movable relative to gear (11). Said gear (11) is fitted with a second digitally controlled motor (16), a gear (15) driven thereby being meshed with a toothed rack (2, 14), provided by the steering arm itself, for producing said axial movement.

Description: Steering mechanism for autogenous cutting torch. The present invention relates to a steering mechanism for an autogenous cutting torch, comprising a base, a steering arm in the form of a long, shaft, whose one., end is fitted with an autogenous cutting torch, said steering arm being journalled to be axially movable relative to the base and rotatable around its axis, and control and drive means for said steering arm both for moving the steering arm axially and for rotating it around its axis, the drive means for achieving the axial movement of said steering arm being fastened to an element rotating along with the steering arm which is axially movable through said element, said integral¬ ly rotating element being a transmission means between a drive means for producing the steering arm rotating motion and the actual steering arm. This type of mechanism is disclosed in Patent public¬ ation SE-422 169. In this prior known mechanism, the control of a steering arm's axial movement is based on monitoring the surface of a workpice by means of a sensor while the rotation of a steering arm is effect¬ ed at some predetermined, e.g. constant speed. Thus, the axial movement of a steering arm -follows in 'a forced manner the surface configuration of a workpiece in the travelling path of a cutting torch a's said torch is advancing as a result of the steering arm's rotat¬ ion. This prior known mechanism is only capable of working surfaces which have a projection in the plane perpendicular to the axial direction of a steering arm. Working of a cylindrical surface or a pipe from inside is not possible at all. The cutting pattern will be limited to a pattern formed by a cutting line between a cylindrical surface concentric with the' steering arm and a workpiece. surface being machined. In other words. J the mechanism can. be used for cutting not only circul¬ ar holes.but also elliptical holes, by placing a cylindrical body, to be machined in an inclined posit¬ ion relative to- the axial direction of a steering arm. Despite the complicated design of. such, a mechanism, its plausible applications are quite limited. The Applicant's US Patent publication 4 455 015 dis¬ closes an apparatus for cutting circular or elliptical holes in cylinders and pipes from the inside. In this prior known apparatus, the dependence between the rotary movement and axial movement of a steering arm is obtained by means of a link mechanism and thus a cutting pattern can only be changed by changing the lever-, ages. Also, adaptation of the apparatus to the working of surfaces of various shapes requires accurate and tedi¬ ous setting work. A particular restriction is that the apparatus cannot be used for cutting a pipe. An object of the invention is to develop the above- mentioned apparatus further so . that its adaptability and scope of application will be substantially more extensive than heretofore while, .at the same time, a desired cutting pattern can be readily selected by means of digital control. A further object of the invention is to improve said apparatus- in a manner that its adaptation to the working of surfaces and workpieces of various shapes, combined with a possibility of selecting a desired cutting pattern, can be done by way of programming without re-arranging mechanical components. These objects will be achieved on the. basis of invent¬ ive features, set forth in the annexed claims. One embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference made- to the accompanying drawings, in which fig. 1 is a perspective view of a. steering mechanism of the invention and fig. 2 shows the steering arm of such mechanism in cross-section. Fig. 3 shows an essential detail of the mechanism to a larger scale, the portion above the centre axis showing an axial section. Supported on base runners 1 is a base section 1a, which is movable on wheels 6 and carries a base section 1b. Base section 1b provides a bed for other control equipment and is mounted on base section 1a by means of so-called, vertical adjustment screws 7. A cable, chain or similar drive 8 can be used to rotate screws 7 for adjusting the height of bed 1b. Said bed 1b carries a cylindrical base section 1c fitted with an internal bearing 3 for supporting a steering arm 2. Bed 1b carries also another bearing 4, through which said steering arm 2 extends. The steering arm 2 com¬ prises a long shaft, preferably a hollow tube and is rotatable on bearings 3 and 4 as well as. slideable in axial direction. The free end of steering arm 2 is fitted with an autogenous cutting storch 5. Base section 1c is provided with a controllable motor 9, e.g. a repeater or direct-current motor. Motor 9 drives a gear 10 which is meshed with the tooth rim of a gear 11. Gear 11 is mounted, by means of bearing 3 on the base,, as. shown in fig. 3. The screws, shown at 19 and spaced along the. rim surrounding shaft 2, serve to fasten gear 11 to a bearing section 3b. This bear- ing section is in turn fastened with screws 3d to the other bearing half 3σ. The surfaces of a base-adjoining bearing section 3e are coated with a suitable slide bearing material. Thus, the bearing, sections 3b and 3e provide together a slide bearing allowing the rotat¬ ion of bearing section 3b. This is how gear 11 is rotatably journalled to the base. In order that the possible deflections of steering arm 2 would not pre¬ vent the axial movement of said steering arm 2 through bearing 3, the interior of bearing sections 3b and 3c is fitted with a bearing bush 3a whose outer surface forms a spherical bearing for accommodating the possible de¬ flections of steering arm 2 as it passes through bear¬ ing 3. Thus, said steering arm 2 slides in axial di¬ rection against the inner surface of bearing section 3a. Mounted on gear 11 is a fin 12 whose edge is in slid¬ ing engagement in a groove 13 extending lengthwise of steering arm 2 (fig. 2). As gear 11 rotates, said steering arm 2 rotates therewith. At the same time, however, steering arm 2 is able to move axially. For the axial movement of steering arm 2 there is provided another controllable motor 16 which may also be a repeater or direct-current motor. Motor 16 is fastened to gear 11 so as to follow the rotating mot¬ ion of steering arm 2. In fig. 1 the fastening is effected by means of a separate clamping plate 17 but the fastening can also be effected by means of fin 12 which, in the case shown in fig. 3, is connected to gear 11 by using a separate clamping plate 11a. In order to achieve as long an axial movement as possible with optimum space utilization, said gear 11 and drive means 15, 16 are mounted on steering arm 2 on the side of steering arm support bearings 3, 4 opposite to auto- genous cutting torch 5. Motor 16 drives a gear 15 which is meshed with the teeth 14 of steering arm 2. Thus, the steering arm 2 itself is designed as a toothed rack for axial displace¬ ment thereof. The length of teeth 14 is selected to represent the longest desirable axial movement of auto¬ genous cutting torch 5. As shown in fig. 2, the tooth¬ ed rack is formed inside the steering arm envelope surface for allowing the steering arm together with its toothed rack to slide, through bearings 3, 4 provided with cylindrical slide bearing surfaces. Motors 9 and 16 receive their control from a control unit 20 fitted with a microprocessor, programmable by means of digital keys for pre-programming it in a manner that by tapping a certain combination of numbers said motors 9 and 16 can be brought to perform a desired movement either independently of or dependently on each other. When the motors are driven independently of each other, the rotational and axial movement can be effected alternately in cycles of desired duration. Thus, it will be possible to cut circular or polygonal pipes perpendicularly, stepwise or with a desired angle. For example, an autogenous cutting torch 5 can be used to make a hole of arbitrary shape in a cylind¬ rical surface. The only limitation regarding the shape of workpieces and cutting patterns is the pro¬ gramming and performance of a microprocessor included in control unit 20. It is obvious that with modern microprocessor technology it will be possible to meet all practical control requirements. When proceeding to cut planar surfaces, all that must be done is to stop motor 9 in a certain position fol¬ lowed by coupling on the drive of wheels.6. The lateral movement on runners 1 can in turn be made arbitrarily dependent on the control of motor 16. Thus, it will be possible to make arbitrary cutting patterns in a planar sheet as. well. When the question is about a vertical planar surface, e.g. the vertical side of a square pipe, motor 9 is driven to turn autogenous cutting torch 5 into a horizontal position, the mechanism is carried on runners 1 to a location where autogenous cutting torch 5 lies at a suitable working distance from the surface of a workpiece and vertical adjustment means 7, 8 are used to displace autogenous cutting torch 5 in vertical direction. Motor 16 can be driven to combine a horizontal movement into said vertical movement for an inclined cutting in a vertical surface. Alternating drive can be used to obtain a stepped cutting pattern. It is clear that the invention is not limited to the above embodiment but contructional details can be modified in many ways within the' scope of the annexed claims.

Claims: Claims 1. A steering mechanism for an autogenous cutting torch, comprising a base (1), a steering arm (2) in the form of a long shaft whose one end is fitted with an autogenous cutting torch (5) , said steering arm being journalled (3, 4) to be axially movable relative to base (1) and rotatable around its axis, and control and drive means (9-16, 20) for said steering arm both for moving steering arm (2) axially and for rotating it around its axis, the drive means (15, 16) for achieving the axial movement of said steering arm being fastened to an element (11) rotating along with the steering arm which is axially movable through said element, said integrally rotating element (11) being designed as a transmission means between the drive means (9, 10) for producing the steering arm rotating motion and said steering arm (2), c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z e d in that both drive means (9> 10 and 15, 16) are adapted to be digitally controlled- in a manner that the rotating motion and axial movement can be control¬ led to proceed either in a fashion dependent on each other or alternately in cycles of desired duration. 2. A steering mechanism as set forth in claim 1 , c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said element rotat¬ ing along with the steering arm is a gear (11) surround¬ ing concentrically the steering arm and fastened to a bearing section (3b) rotating between a steering arm surrounding and supporting bearing section (3a) and the base, that the tooth rim of gear (11) is meshed with a gear (10) driven by the first digitally controlled motor (9), that the steering arm surround¬ ing gear (11) is fitted with the second digitally controlled motor (16), a gear (15) driven thereby be¬ ing meshed with a toothed rack (2, 14) provided by the steering arm itself, and that said steering arm sur- rounding gear (11) is fitted with a steering fin (12) which is in sliding, engagement in. a groove (13) extend¬ ing lengthwise of the. steering arm. 3. A steering mechanism as set forth in claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said element (11) rotating along with steering arm (2) and said drive means (15, 16) for providing the steering arm axial movement are mounted on steering arm (2) on the side opposite to steering arm support bearings (3, 4) re¬ lative to autogenous cutting torch (5) . 4. A steering mechanism as set forth in claim 1 , 2 or 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said toothed rack (14) for giving steering arm (2) its axial movement lies inside the cylindrical surface of said, steering arm and steering arm (2) together with its toothed rack (14) is passed through a steering supporting slide bearing (3a) and extends in all operating conditions a substantial distance beyond slide bearing (3a) on either side thereof. ' 5. A steering mechanism as set forth in any of claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the outer surf¬ ace of said steering arm supporting slide bearing (3a) is spherical and said bearing section (3b) , surround¬ ing said slide bearing and rotatable relative to the base, is fastened to said steering arm surrounding gear (11). 6. A steering mechanism as set forth in any of claims 1-5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said steering arm (2), together with its drive means (9-16), is mounted on a base .(1b). whose height is adjustable re¬ lative to the rest of the base element (1a,. 1), and that said base (lb) is carried on. runners (1) extend- ing crosswise relative, to the. steering arm, said base (1b) being movable on. said runners- in. a horizontal plane in a direction .transverse to- steering arm (2) . 7. A steering mechanism as set forth in claim 3 or 4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that, said steering arm (2) is a hollow tube. 8. A method of operating a steering mechanism as set forth in any of claims 1-7, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that, for working on cylindrical and generally tubular workpieces, said steering arm (2) is set parallel and during the working maintained parallel to the longitudinal centre axis of a cylinder or a pipe.

Inventors: LARIKKA LEO, LARIKKA, LEO
Applicants: LARIKKA LEO, LARIKKA, LEO
Application year: 1986
Main classification: B23K7
IPC codes: B23K7