Cropper for elements developed mainly longitudinally

Abstract: A cropper (1) for elements (E) developed mainly longitudinally including a casing (2) defining a longitudinal axis (X) substantially horizontal, said casing (2) being joined to an operating head (3) with its circular saw and means for the positioning of said elements during the parting and for the unloading of the crop ends resulting from the parting of the elements (4). The above-said positioning and unloading means (4) include a backing surface (5) and a stopping surface (6) both developing parallely as to the longitudinal axis (X) of said casing and defining a dihedral angle (7) in which, during the parting, are received one after another said elements to be cut (E). The stopping surface (6) is mechanically connected with shifting means (10) suitable to lower it as regards to the surface (Y) defined by said backing surface (5), in order to allow a free unloading due to gravity of the crop ends (S) resulting from the parting of said elements (E).

Description: The invention concerns a cropper for elements developed mainly longitudinally as for example pipes, structurals, bars and the like, provided with improvements of the means for the positioning of the elements to cut and for the unloading of the crop ends resulting from the elements parting. Such a cropper is described for example in US-A-3 316 789. It is known that in order to cut by measure elements developed mainly longitudinally as for example pipes, structurals, bars and the like, special cutting-off machines are used. These ones include substantially a casing provided with a backing surface where the elements to be cut are placed one after another, with adjustment means to place the element to be cut at the wanted cut measure and with an operating head provided with a circular saw. After the parting suitable motion means move the backing surface by opening a passage developing longitudinally as to the casing and allowing the unloading by gravity of the measure cut element inside an underlying container. A specially provided deviating tile placed below the backing surface, allows to convey the measure cut pieces alternatively in a container placed in the front or in the back of the cropper. The croppers of the described known type have however some drawbacks. A first drawback is that when the backing surface is shifted to allow the unloading of the measure cut crop ends, these ones fall freely by gravity and hit quite strongly the crop ends previously unloaded and picked up in the underlying container. This causes an increase of the noisiness in the environment and the possibility that the shock produces dents or marks on the elements compromising their use, especially if these elements are used to build furnishings as chairs, pieces of furniture, shelves and the like. Another drawback is that that unloading of the measure cut crop ends through a gravity fall, cannot be suggested when the crop ends are considerably heavy and large-sized. Another drawback is that that during the fall the cut crop ends pass through the cropper space below the saw where there are chips and coolant. They are therefore dirtied and require following cleaning operations. Another drawback arises also when elements with a polygonal external outline are cut and during the fall they do not keep the position in which the bars they come from had been loaded, so they place themselves accidentally in the underlying container where they are picked up. In order to package to package them it is therefore necessary to put them previously in order. This implies an evident waste of time and consequent costs. The present invention intends to overcome the said drawbacks. It is a first object of the invention to realize a cropper provided with improvements in the unloading devices of the measure cut crop ends, in which it is drastically reduced the noisiness that the crop ends cause during the unloading. It is another object that during the unloading the measure cut crop ends keep the same order and arrangement of the bars they come from. It is another object that during the unloading the measure cut crop ends do not come into contact with chips and with coolant and therefore that they are kept clean. It is another object to increase the unloading height of the cropper so as to use higher and therefore more capacious containers. The said objects are reached through the realization of a cropper for elements developed mainly longitudinally including a casing defining a longitudinal axis substantially horizontal, said casing being joined to: an operating head with its circular saw; means for the positioning of said elements during the parting and for the unloading of the crop ends resulting from the parting of the elements, and being characterized in that said positioning and unloading means include a backing surface and a stopping surface both developing parallely as to the longitudinal axis of said casing and defining a dihedral angle in which, during the parting, are received one after another said elements to be cut, said stopping surface being mechanically connected with shifting means suitable to lower it as regards to the surface defined by said backing surface in order to allow a free unloading due to gravity of the crop ends resulting from the parting of said elements. According to the preferred embodiment that will be described later on, the cropper includes an unloading surface placed in the casing front, aligned in front of the backing surface and coplanar to it, said unloading surface sloping downward to guide the crop ends in an underlying first container. The shifting means are integral with the casing and include first leverages cooperating with the stopping surface to lower and to raise it. In order to allow the unloading by fall of the crop ends without guiding them through the unloading surface, translation means are arranged to move the backing surface coplanarly to the unloading surface aligned to it. Advantageously the cropper of the invention allows to improve the working conditions by reducing the noisiness of the environment where the cropper is installed. Still advantageously the cropper of the invention produces an unfinished product of superior quality as regards to the one that is produced by the croppers of the known type. The said objects and advantages will be better underlined during the description of a preferred embodiment of the invention that is given referring to the enclosed drawings where: fig.1 shows the cropper of the invention in an axonometric scrap view; fig. 2 shows a detail of the cropper of fig. 1 with the stopping surface in the raised position; fig. 3 shows the detail of fig. 2 with the stopping surface in the lowered position; fig. 4 shows a detail of fig. 3; fig. 5 shows a detail of the cropper shown in fig. 1 with the backing surface placed in the position in which it supports the element to be cut; fig. 6 shows the detail of fig. 5 with the backing surface placed in the position in which it allows the unloading of the cut crop end; fig. 7 shows the detail of the starting means for shifting the backing surface; fig. 8 shows a detail of the motion means of the stopping surface; fig. 9 shows a cross section of the cropper of the invention with the backing surface and the stopping surface placed in the operating position in which they support the element to be cut; fig. 10 shows the top view of a detail of the backing surface of fig. 9 with the respective motion means; fig. 11 shows the front view of a detail of the stopping surface of fig. 9 with the respective motion means; fig. 12 shows a side view of fig. 11; fig. 13 shows a cross section of the cropper of the invention in the unloading position; fig. 14 shows the front view of a detail of the stopping surface of fig. 13 with the respective motion means; fig. 15 shows the side view of fig. 14; fig. 16 shows the cross section of the cropper of the invention in another unloading position; fig. 17 shows the front view of a detail of the backing surface of fig. 16 with the respective motion means, fig. 18 shows the cropper of fig. 16 placed in a different position for the conveyance of the cut crop ends. The cropper of the invention can be seen in axonometric scrap view in fig. 1, where it is marked with 1 as a whole. It can be observed that it includes a casing 2 defining a longitudinal axis X substantially horizontal, said casing 2 being joined to an operating head 3 with its circular saw 3a and means for the positioning of said elements during the parting and for the unloading of the crop ends resulting from the parting of the elements. The above-said positioning and unloading means can be seen more in detail in the figg. 2 to 4 where they are marked with 4 as a whole. According to the invention they include a backing surface 5 and a stopping surface 6 cooperating to define a dihedral angle 7 and developing along a direction X' substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis X of the above-said casing 2 . The above-said backing 5 , the stopping surface 6 and the dihedral angle 7 defined between them, can be seen in detail in fig. 9 together with the longitudinal element E to be cut placed in the parting position. The cropper includes also an unloading surface 8 shown in all the figures 1 to 7 and particularly also in fig. 9, said unloading surface 8 being placed in the front of the casing 2 and aligned in front of the backing surface 5 and coplanar to it. The unloading surface 8 and the backing surface 5 define therefore a plane surface marked with Y sloping downward of an angle α as to the horizontal line in order to convey the crop ends resulting from the cropper of the element E, inside an underlying first container 9 . The stopping surface 6 , as it can be observed, is included between the unloading surface 8 and the backing surface 5 and is connected to shifting means, marked with 10 as a whole, suitable to lower and raise it as to the surface Y defined by the backing surface 5 and by the unloading surface 8 . More particularly the shifting means 10 that can be observed more in detail in figg. 11 and 12, include a plurality of shaped plates 11 aligned along the direction X', integral with the casing 2 and connected with the stopping surface 6 each one through a connecting rod 12. More in detail each shaped plate 11 has a first pin 13 connecting it in a revolving way to the casing 2 , a second pin 14 connecting it in a revolving way with a tie rod 15 placed parallely to the stopping surface 6 and connected with all the other shaped plates 11 and a second pinbconnecting it in a revolving way to a first end 12a of the above-said connecting rod 12. A fourth pin 17 connects the second end 12b of the connecting rod 12 with a bracket 18 of the stopping surface 6. Each shaped plate 11 has also a fifth pin 19 connecting it in a revolving way to the end of first starting means consisting of a fluid jack 20 integral with the casing 2 . It must be precised that just one of said plates 11 is connected with the jack 20 . In fact, since all the plates are connected through the tie rod 1 5, just one of them is needed to be rotated around the first pin 13 so that all the others follow it stiffly in the rotation. The vertical movement of the stopping surface 6 is guided by a sliding block 21 belonging to the bracket 18, said sliding block 21 being coupled in a sliding way in a guide 22 fixed to the casing 2. Preferably the sliding block 21 and the guide 22 are of the ball blow-by type. As to the backing surface 5 , it can be observed in fig. 9 and also in the detail of fig. 10, that it is connected with translation means, marked with 30 as a whole, which include a plurality of connecting rods 31 each one having a central pin 32 connected in a revolving way with the casing 2. Each connecting rod 31 has also a first end 31a with a first pin 33 connecting it in a revolving way to the backing surface 5 and a second end 31b with a second pin 34 connecting it in a revolving way with a tie rod 25. The said tie rod 25, as it can be observed particularly in fig 1, connects all the connecting rods 31 to each other and, as it can be observed in fig. 7, it has at the end second starting means consisting in a fluid jack 36. The jack 36 is of the differentiated stroke type allowing the shifting according to different amounts of the backing surface 5 along the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis X'. Practically after the cropper of the element E in which the cropper is placed, in the pattern shown in fig. 9, by operating the shifting means 10, the stopping surface 6 is lowered below the backing surface 5 and the unloading surface 8 and places itself in the pattern shown in the figures 13 to 15. The measure cut crop ends S roll along the unloading surface 8 according to the direction marked by the arrow 40, as long as they are placed inside the first container 9 . It can be observed that the crop end S is guided in the container 9 avoiding any shock against the underlying crop ends previously unloaded. The noisiness and the possibility that the crop ends damage reciprocally is reduced. It can be observed that the container 9 can be placed practically at the same height of the unloading surface 8 and this allows, as to the croppers of the known technics, to use higher containers, having therefore a larger accumulation capacity. Moreover it can be observed that during the fall the crop end S does not pass through the lower part of the casing 2 in which the chips and the cutting oil are unloaded and therefore it is kept clean and does not require any cleaning before the packaging and the consignment. Finally when the cut crop end S slides along the unloading surface 8 , it keeps the same orientation of the longitudinal element it comes from and therefore all the crop ends that are accumulated in the container 9 are kept in order and it is not necessary to rearrange them before packaging them. This is particularly interesting when longitudinal elements with an irregular polygonal cross section are cut. It is advisable to precise that when the stopping surface 6 is lowered, before it takes its place below the unloading surface 8 and the backing surface 5 , it undergoes a slight shift marked by the arrow 41 shown in fig. 10 due to the intervention of the jack 36 . In fact the lowering of the stopping surface 6 below the backing surface 5 and the unloading surface 8 , happens when the saw 3a is still lowered. It is therefore necessary to shift the backing surface 5 with the respective crop end S in the direction marked by the arrow 41 previously seen, in order to avoid the crawling against the saw 3a during the loading. Any possible oversized bar or crop ends that it could be wanted to throw away, are unloaded by gravity in an underlying second container 43 , which can be seen in fig. 16. This is obtained through the intervention of the translation means 30 that pull back the backing surface 5 from the position shown in fig. 9 to the position shown in fig. 16 and 17. In such a way the crop ends S' fall by gravity thorough an opening 44, which is opened in the casing 2, and are conveyed in the second container 43 by a deviating tile 45 connected in a revolving way with a pin 46 integral with the casing 2 . If it is wanted to unload the measure cut crop ends S" in a third container 57 placed below the backing surface 5 as it happens in the known technics, it will be needed just to intervene again on the translation means 30 by placing again the backing surface 5 according to the pattern of figg. 16 and 17 and at the same time by placing the deviating tile 45 in the position shown in fig. 18. According to what has been said it can be understood that the cropper of the invention attains all the prearranged object. In the executive phase it will be possible to change the shape of the backing surface 5 and of the stopping surface 6 as well as the shape of the respective shifting and translation means.

Claims: Cropper (1) for elements (E) developed mainly longitudinally including a casing (2) defining a longitudinal axis (X) substantially horizontal, said casing (2) being joined to: an operating head (3) with its circular saw; means for the positioning of said elements during the parting and for the unloading of the crop ends resulting from the parting of the elements (4), characterized in that said positioning and unloading means (4) include a backing surface (5) and a stopping surface (6) both developing parallely as to the longitudinal axis (X) of said casing and defining a dihedral angle (7) in which, during the parting, are received one after another said elements to be cut (E), said stopping surface (6) being mechanically connected with shifting means (10) suitable to lower it as regards to the surface (Y) defined by said backing surface (5), in order to allow a free unloading due to gravity of the crop ends (S) resulting from the parting of said elements (E). Cropper (1) according to claim 1) characterized in that it includes an unloading surface (8) placed in the front of said casing (2), aligned in front of said backing surface (5) and coplanar to it, said unloading surface (8) sloping downward to guide said crop ends (S) in an underlying first container (9). Cropper (1) according to claim 2) characterized in that said unloading surface (8) is fixed to said casing (2). Cropper (1) according to claim 2) characterized in that said stopping surface (6) is included between said backing surface (5) and said unloading surface (8). Cropper (1) according to claim 2) characterized in that said stopping surface (6) is placed substantially orthogonally to said backing surface (5) and to said unloading surface (8). Cropper (1) according to claim 1) characterized in that said shifting means (10) include one or more shaped plates (11) each one having a first pin (13) connecting it in a revolving way with said casing (2), a second pin (14) connecting it in a revolving way with a tie rod (15) placed parallely to said stopping surface (6) and a third pin (16) linking it in a revolving way with a first end (12a) of a connecting rod (12), having a second end (12b) provided with a fourth pin (17) connecting it with a bracket (18) belonging to said stopping surface (6). Cropper (1) according to claim 6) characterized in that said shaped plate (11) includes also a fifth pin (19) connecting it in a revolving way with the end of first starting means (20). Cropper (1) according to claim 1) characterized in that it is provided with translation means (30) of said backing surface (5) including a plurality of connecting rods (31) each one having a central pin (32) connecting it in a revolving way with said casing (2), a first pin (33) connecting its first end (31a) in a revolving way with said backing surface (5) and a second pin (34) connecting its second end (31b) in a revolving way with a tie rod (25) which is supported in a sliding way with said casing (2) and has one of its ends fixed to second starting means. (36). Cropper (1) according to claim 7) characterized in that said first starting means consist of a fluid jack (20). Cropper (1) according to claim 8) characterized in that said second starting means consist of a fluid jack (36) of the differentiated stroke type. Cropper (1) according to claim 6) characterized in that said bracket (18) is provided with a sliding block (21) coupled in a sliding way to a guide fixed to said casing (2). Cropper (1) according to claim 6) characterized in that said first pin (13), said second pin (14) and said third pin (16), are placed at the vertexes of a triangle.

Inventors: ACCORDINI GIANCARLO, ACCORDINI, GIANCARLO
Applicants: PEDRAZZOLI IBP SPA
Application year: 2001
Main classification: B23B5
IPC codes: B23D45, B23D47