Abstract:
A locking system for securing tools on an arbor. The locking system has a collar attached to the arbor, with the collar spaced from the tooling. A nut is placed over the collar and positioned next to the tools. The nut is then rotated to secure the nut between the collar and the tools.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/754,100 filed May 25, 2007. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Tooling on roll forming and slitter arbors has traditionally been held onto the arbor by using a threaded nut on the end of the arbor that receives the tooling. The threaded nut must have mating threads that are machined into the end of each arbor. These threads on the arbor are subject to damage as tooling is loaded onto the arbor, the nut is threaded upon the arbor or removed from the arbor, or just by being exposed in the work place. Damaged threads can require costly maintenance to restore to a working condition. Therefore, there is a need for a more robust system to hold tooling on arbors that does not require threads. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is an arbor tool locking system. The system uses a flanged nut that rotatably engages a keyed collar on the arbor. The collar forms a part of the arbor and is spaced from that part of the arbor that carries the tooling. The nut is slid over the collar and partially rotated to cause the nut flanges to be positioned between the collar and the tooling upon the arbor with the nut compressed against the tooling. 
     An object of the invention is to provide a locking mechanism to hold tooling on arbors without the use of screw threads. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide a locking mechanism for tooling of a roll former and slitter which can be economically maintained and of rapid operation. 
     Still other objects of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A preferred embodiment of this invention has been chosen wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a slitter with tooling stacked and locked on the arbors; 
         FIG. 2  is a fragmentary side view of an arbor end in partial sectional form; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective exploded view of the slitter tool lock; 
         FIG. 3A  is a perspective view of the nut of the tool lock shown in assembled form; 
         FIG. 4  is a view of the end of an arbor with the nut installed in its released position; and 
         FIG. 5  is a view of the end of an arbor with the nut installed in its locked position rotated 45 degrees from the position shown in  FIG. 4 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
     The tool locking system of this invention includes a nut  10  and a collar  11  forming a component of arbor  12 . Arbor  12  is shown as forming a part of a slitter  5 . The nut  10  has equally radially spaced flanges or bosses  14  that protrude toward the inside of the nut as shown in  FIG. 3A . Flanges  14  are inwardly spaced from outer edge face  15  of the nut. Nut  10  has an annular groove  18  formed in its inner edge face  17  as shown in  FIG. 3A . The annular groove  18  in the nut receives a pressure ring  22 . A bore  23  extends in nut  10  into groove  18  behind ring  22 . A grease zerk fitting  40  is located in bore  23  at face  15 . Pressure ring  22  forms what is also known in the trade as a Jetnut. A ball check valve  44  is also located at face  15  in a bore  25  into groove  18 . Collar  11  is attached to or forms an intregal part of arbor  12  and includes a plurality of equal radially spaced coplanar flanges  16  spaced just slightly more than the thickness of nut flanges  14  from shoulder  19  of the arbor  12 . 
     The outer diameter of collar  11  at the ends  21  of the flanges  16  is less than the major diameter  26  of the arbor to allow tooling  30 , in the form of cutters and spacers, to pass over the flanges  16  at the end of the arbor  12 . This outer diameter of collar  11  is also less than the inner diameter of nut inner surface  13 . 
     Tooling  30  is stacked on the arbors  12 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , until the arbors are full from the inner shoulder  34  to the outer shoulder  19  of the arbor.  FIG. 2  shows a sectional view of a full arbor  12  near the open end  36  of the arbor. Once the arbor  12  is full of tooling  30 , the nut  10  is inserted upon the open end  36  of the arbor with the flanges  14  on the nut  10  lining up with the spaces  38  between the flanges  16  on the arbor  12 . The nut  10  is pushed onto the arbor end until pressure ring  22  preferably abuts arbor shoulder  19 . This position is shown in  FIG. 4  and is the nut&#39;s unlocked position. The depth of flanges  14  are such that the flanges clear the root face  29  of collar  11  between flanges  16 . The nut  10  is then turned 45 degrees to its locked position, as show in  FIG. 5 , so that the flanges  14  of the nut are then between the flanges  16  of the collar and shoulder  19  of the arbor  12 . A hole  42  is provided in the side of the nut  10  in which a rod or spanner wrench may be inserted to assist in turning the nut  10 . In the 45 degree rotated position shown in  FIG. 5 , a grease gun is then used to force grease into groove  18  of the nut through fitting  40 . The pressurized grease causes the pressure ring  22  to forcefully press against the tooling  30 , thereby securing the tooling  30  in place on the arbor and locking the nut  10  against collar  11 . To unlock the nut  10 , check valve  44  is open to release the pressure upon the grease in chamber  23  which causes pressure ring  22  to no longer forcefully push against the tooling  30 . This allows nut  10  to be turned into its released position, as shown in  FIG. 4 , where it can be removed to free the tooling  40  for replacement. 
     The above described invention is not to be limited to the details given but may be modified within the scope of the following claims.