Dual clamping arrangement for connecting rod fracturing machine

Abstract: An improved fracturing machine for fracturing a connecting rod preform includes clamping mechanisms at both upper and lower portions of the preform. Wedges lock the clamps onto the preform during fracturing. The top and bottom clamps provide a cleaner fracture at the fracture plane. The bottom clamp preferably includes rear and forward members which may move along an arc-shaped interface to allow adjustment of the clamping contact position. The top clamp preferably includes rear and forward clamp portions which are spaced slightly such that the forward clamp can twist slightly to accommodate the shape of the individual preform.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Vehicle crankshaft connecting rods are utilized to connect a crankshaft to a piston. Typically, a rod has an attachment portion at one end which is attached to the piston. The other end of the rod leads to two separable bolted portions which are positioned on the crankshaft and then bolted together. It is desirable that the connection surfaces between the two bolted portions match as closely as possible. To achieve this goal, known systems use a connecting rod preform. The two bolted portions are initially formed integrally with a fracture plane formed between the bolted portions as a preform. This preform is placed on a connecting rod fracturing machine. In known connecting rod fracturing machines, the preform is placed on a split mandrell, with the mandrell received in a central opening of the connecting rod. A ram is driven to force opposed mandrell portions away from each other, and crack the preform along the fracture plane. When the preform cracks along the fracture plane, the two bolted portions have opposed surfaces which should interfit very closely. There is a good deal of effort made in the field of connecting rod fracturing machines to ensure that the fracture of the preform occurs as cleanly through the fracture plane as possible. In one known system disclosed in United States patent 5,503,317, a hold down structure is forced by a wedge lock onto bolt shoulders on the top of the preform. The bottom of the preform sits on a fixed base. This structure locks the preform during fracturing. While this system is a great improvement upon the prior art, it would still be desirable to improve upon this known system. EP-A-0 568 119 discloses a fracturing machine according to the preamble of claim 1 and a fracturing method according to the preamble of claim 12. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a disclosed embodiment of this invention, a machine for fracturing connecting rods has clamps which lock both bottom and top portions of the connecting rod preform. In a preferred embodiment, once the preform is mounted onto the mandrell, wedges are driven through angled grooves to force and lock the clamps onto the top and bottom portions of the preform. In a preferred embodiment, both the top and bottom clamps provide opposed hold down portions on each side of the preform that move as a single unit. In the preferred embodiment, both top and bottom clamps are formed of two portions to allow adjustment. In a preferred embodiment the top clamp includes a rear portion which has the groove for being actuated by the wedge. A front portion of the top clamp includes the hold down elements. A small spacer is placed between the rear and forward portions, and the two portions are bolted to each other through the spacer. Thus, there is a small gap between the two portions. As the forward portion of the top clamp is brought into contact with the bolt shoulders of the preform, the small space allows the forward portion to rock slightly relative to the rear portion to adjust for any manufacturing tolerances between the two bolt shoulders. Thus, the top clamp is adjustable to accommodate the shape of the particular preform. In a preferred embodiment, the bottom clamp includes forward and rear portions which are connected along an arc, such that the forward and rear portion can rock relative to each other along the arc. An arc-shaped interconnection finger is formed on both the rear and forward bottom clamp. The rear bottom clamp portion is formed with the angled groove, and the wedge moves through the groove to force the rear portion toward the preform shoulders. The rear portion drives the forward portion against the preform shoulders. The interfitting fingers of the rear and forward portions allow relative movement of the two portions along the arc-shaped interconnection to accommodate the shape of the individual preform. However, once the forward member is in contact with the preform, the wedge lock ensures that it is locked securely, and will not move during preform fracture. In further features of this invention, two adjustable contact members provide the actual contact between the bottom clamp and the preform. The contact members have a cylindrical portion received in a hole in the forward portion. The portion of the contact member which contacts the preform is preferably polygonal, and can adjust to a straight surface on the preform. The contact member adjusts to accommodate the particular shape of the preform, and will turn within the cylindrical hole. The contact member and the arc-shaped interconnection ensure that the lower clamp does adjust to conform to the shape of the particular preform being fractured. These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, of which the following is a brief description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1A is a front view of an inventive connecting rod fracturing machine. Figure 1B is an enlarged portion of Figure 1A around the circle identified by 1B. Figure 1C shows movement of the clamping members to hold the connecting rod preform. Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view along line 2-2 of Figure 1A. Figure 3A shows a partially cutaway side view of the components in a clamped position. Figure 3B shows a view similar to Figure 3A, but with the preform fractured. Figure 4 shows a front view of the preform in a clamped orientation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Figure 1A shows a fixture 20 for fracturing a connecting rod preform 21 having lower and upper bolt portions 22 and 24. Lower bolt portion 22 merges into a body 26 leading to a piston connection portion 27. A fracture plane 28 is formed in the preform between the upper and lower bolt portions 24 and 22. A pair of mandrell halves 30 are forced away from each other by a ram 31. The mandrell halves 30 force the upper and lower bolt portions 24 and 22 away from each other such that the preform fractures at plane 28. The present invention improves the quality of the bolted portions by clamping the preform during fracturing. To that end, a first top clamp 32 is positioned above portion 24. Clamp 32 includes a wedge 34 movable to the left and right in Figure 1A by an actuator 36. Actuator 36 may be a piston and cylinder combination, or any other drive structure. A ramp 38 extends between ends of the wedge 34, and through a ramped channel 39 in rear upper clamp portion 40. When wedge 34 is driven to the right from the position shown in this figure, ramp 38 forces rear portion 40 downwardly. Forward top clamp portion 42 is fixed to rear portion 40. Forward portion 42 has two hold down portions 43 for engaging bolt shoulders 44 of the upper half 24. As shown in Figure 1B, a thin shim 45 is positioned between rear portion 40 and forward portion 42. Rear portion 40 and forward portion 42 are attached with bolts 46 to each other and through shim 45. A space 47 between the rear 40 and forward 42 portions allows forward portion 42 to twist slightly away from a parallel position relative to rear portion 40. The width of shim 45 is exaggerated to better show this adjustment ability. This allows hold down portions 43 to move to conform to the position and shape of a preform 21. A second bottom clamp will now be described with reference to Figure 1A. Clamping contact members 48 contact angled side faces 50 of preform 21. Alternatively, the clamp can contact other surfaces on bolt portion 22 of preform 21. The bottom clamp includes a rear clamp portion 51 receiving wedge 52. Actuator 54 drives wedge 52 from the left to right as shown in Figure 1B. Ramp 55 of wedge 52 extends through a ramped groove 56 in rear portion 51. Arc-shaped finger 58 of rear portion 51 mates with an arc-shaped finger 60 of a forward bottom clamp portion 62. Forward bottom clamp portion 62 carries contact members 48. As shown in Figure 1C, the preform 21 is positioned on mandrells 30, with ram 31 withdrawn. The hold down portions 43 are then brought downwardly against the shoulders 44 of bolt portion 24. At the same time, contact members 48 are brought upwardly against the sides 50 of the bolt portion 22 of the preform. As can be seen in Figure 2, fingers 58 and 60 interfit relative to each other, and extend from base planar portions 61 and 63, respectively, and alongside each other. The interfitting fingers extending from the base plane ensure a secure mount and proper guidance for the forward bottom portion 62 for guided adjustment on the rear bottom portion 51. As can be appreciated from Figure 2, the wedge 52 and 34 are driven and the ramped passages force the locking members to engage portions on the preform, as explained above. As shown in Figure 3A, the interfitting fingers 60 and 58 provide guidance. As the members 48 approach the sides 50, the forward portion 62 may rock on the arc-shaped connection relative to the rear portion member 51 to allow contact members 48 to adjust to accommodate the particular shape of the preform 21. As can be seen, contact members 48 include a rear cylindrical portion 70 received within a cylindrical hole 74 in the forward portion 60. Thus, contact member 48 can rotate for adjustment such that it does match with the surface 50. A polygonal forward end 75 of the locking member 48 thus moves to match surface 50. Figure 3B shows the same structure after fracture along plane 28 (see Fig. 4). After fracture the clamps move away from each other. Figure 4 shows adjustment of the bottom clamp. As shown in solid line, forward portion 62 has rocked slightly clockwise from its original position (shown in phantom) to accommodate the particular shape of the preform. In addition, the upper hold down portions 43 are also tilted slightly from their original position, to adjusted positions 76, 78, again to accommodate the particular shape of the preform. With the present invention, the preform is initially placed on the mandrell and the upper and lower clamps are actuated to move the wedges and lock upper and lower portions of the preform. The mandrells are then driven outwardly by ram 31, and the preform cracks along the fracture plane 28. At that time, the clamp portions do move slightly away from each other, as is the case with the fracturing system disclosed in United States Patent 5,503,317. A preferred embodiment of this invention has been disclosed, however, a worker of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. For that reason, the following claims define the true scope and content of this invention.

Claims: A fracturing machine for fracturing a connecting rod preform (21) comprising: a mandrel assembly (30) to be received within the big-end bore of a connecting rod preform (21), said mandrel assembly (30) being expandable to crack the connecting rod preform (21) to produce a big-end cap portion (24) and a rod portion (22) ; a first clamping assembly (32) capable of being actuated to clamp the big-end cap portion (24) of said preform (21) during fracturing; and a second clamping assembly capable of being moved towards the first clamping assembly (32) to effect clamping of the rod portion (22) of the preform (21) during fracturing; characterised in that said second clamping assembly includes a forward portion (62) slidably interconnected along an arc-shaped interface to a rear portion (51), said forward portion (62) having hold down elements (48) rotatably mounted thereon, such that said forward portion (62) can rotate relative to said rear portion (51) and said hold down elements (48) can rotate relative to said forward portion (62) to allow adjustment of the second clamping assembly to accommodate the shape of the rod portion (22) of the individual preform (21) when the second clamping assembly is moved to effect clamping. A machine as recited in claim 1, wherein said first (32) and second clamping assemblies are locked in a contact position during fracturing. A machine as recited in claim 1 or 2, wherein a ramped wedge (34,52) is forced to drive said clamping assemblies to contact the preform (21). A machine as recited in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said first (32) clamping assembly has hold down elements (43), the hold down elements (43,48) of the first and second clamping assemblies being positioned on each of two opposed sides of the preform (21) at each of the big-end cap (24) and rod portions (22). A machine as recited in claim 4, wherein both said hold down elements (43,48) on said first and second clamping assemblies are carried in a single part. A machine as. recited in any preceding claim, wherein said first clamping assembly (32) is adjustable such that it can accommodate the individual shape of the big-end cap portion (24) of the preform (21) being fractured. A machine as.recited in any preceding claim, wherein said rear portion (51) of the second clamping assembly receives an actuation member (52) to drive said rear portion (51) and said forward portion (62) toward the preform (21). A machine as recited in any preceding claim, wherein said forward and rear portions (62,51) have interfitting fingers (58,60) to define said arc-shaped interface. A machine as recited in claim 8, wherein said finger (58) of said rear portion (51) extends along a base plane (61) beyond and perpendicular to the finger (60) of said forward portion (62), and then extends perpendicular from said base plane (61), parallel to the finger (60) of said forward portion (62), and said finger (60) of said forward portion (62) extends along a base plane (63) beyond and perpendicular to the finger (58) of said rear portion (51) and then extends perpendicular from said base plane (63) parallel to the finger (58) of said rear portion (51). A machine as recited in any preceding claim, wherein said second clamping assembly includes two hold down elements (48) each having a polygonal contact surface (75) and a cylindrical portion (70) for mounting within respective holes (74) in said forward portion (62) such that said contact members (48) can rotate within said holes (74) to allow adjustment. A machine as recited in any preceding claim, wherein said first clamping assembly (32) includes a rear portion (40) and a forward portion (42), said rear and forward portions (40,42) being formed of separate members which are connected together with a small space between said rear and forward portions (40,42), said forward portion (42) contacting the big-end cap portion (24) of the preform (21), and being able to adjust slightly relative to said rear portion (40) to accommodate the shape of the particular preform (21). A method of fracturing a connecting rod preform (21) comprising the steps of: (1) providing a connecting rod preform (21) having a preformed fracture plane between upper and lower bolt portions (24,22): (2) providing a fracturing machine having first (32) and second clamp assemblies for being moved into contact with said upper and lower bolt portions (24,22) of the preform (21) and locking said upper and lower portions (24,22) of the preform (21) during fracturing; (3) clamping said preform (21) with said first (32) and second clamp assemblies; and (4) forcing a member (31) through the big-end bore of said preform (21) to fracture said preform (21): characterised in that at least said second clamp assembly provides adjustability by having an arc-shaped interface between rear and forward portions (51,62), said forward portion (62) having hold down elements (48) rotatably mounted thereon such that when at least said second clamp assembly is moved to effect clamping of the preform (21) said forward portion (62) rotates relative to said rear portion (51) and said hold down elements (48) rotate relative to said forward portion (62) to allow adjustment to accommodate the shape of the lower bolt portion (22) of the preform (21). A method as recited in claim 12, wherein said first clamp assembly (32) is adjustable such that contact portions (43) of the first clamp assembly (32) can adjust to accommodate the upper bolt portion (24) of the preform (21).

Inventors: JONES JOEL W, JONES, JOEL W.
Applicants: TRI WAY MACHINE TOOL LTD, TRI-WAY MACHINE TOOL LTD.
Application year: 1998
Main classification: B23D31
IPC codes: B23D31