Patent GB-653076-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to gauging apparatus for lengths of tubing or rod
IPC: B07C5/07
Filed: 1948-04-22
Abstract: 653,076. Sorting-gauges. BRITISH THOMSON-HOUSTON CO., Ltd. April 22, 1948, No. 11109. Convention date, April 22, 1947. [Class 106 (ii)] Rods or tubes 1 to be gauged and sorted on to two conveyers according to whether they are within upper and lower tolerances or not, are delivered by inclined rails 13 to a toothed wheel 3. The tubes 1 are carried round clockwise by the wheel 3 against the guide plate 26 until they drop on to a shoulder 29, from which toothed projections 32 on the carrier plate 5 cause the tubes to roll down the inclined edge 33 of the guide plates into the gauging passage 34. Maximum and minimum gauging faces are provided in each passage 34, tubes within the limits set being retained in the passage until anticlockwise rotation of the carrier plates 5 brings the slot to a discharging position facing downwards over the conveyer table 7. Tubes too large to enter the maximum gauging faces, or too small to be retained by the minimum gauging faces, fall to the outer end of the passage 34 by gravity when the slot enters the lower segment of the circular path, but are retained there by guide plates 74 until they are under the edge of the conveyer 7 when they pass the end of the guides 74 and drop on to the conveyer 8. The carrier 5 and feed wheel 3 are rotated in synchronism by chain drives 9 and 10 from a driving mechanism not shown. Each tube if within the maximum tolerance passes between gauge finger 35 and gauge block 37 and also passes a further extension of the gauge surface 37<SP>1</SP> of gauge block 37 and the gauge surface provided by the end of the movable gauge finger 58 and thence between the undercut or off-set flat gauge surface 57 of the gauge block 37 and a further extension of the gauge surface of the movable gauge finger 58. Finally the tube 1 comes to rest on the base of the slot 34 and is retained there by the offset flat surface 57 of the gauge block 37 and the gauge surface of the movable finger 58. Further rotation of the carrier 5 causes the movable fingers 58 to advance toward the opposed gauge blocks 37 to an extent determined by the pinching of the tube 1 or the engagement of the head of stop screws 59 with the stationary blocks 60, thus setting the minimum diameter of tube which will be retained by the gauging surfaces in the passage 34. Release of tubes retained by the gauging surfaces occurs when the passage 34 is positioned facing downwardly over the conveyer 7 and is effected by the stationary cam surface 69 shown in Fig. 4. The cam surface 69 is retained in position by a supporting bracket 17 and may be adjusted by means of the screwed rod 72. Levers 68 carrying rollers 67 co-operate with the cam surface to effect withdrawal of the fingers 58 assisted by the expansion of spring 70 which is located between a protruding portion of the finger 58 and a block 60. Corresponding gauging mechanisms are provided on a second carrier plate 5 spaced apart from the first and connected therewith by hollow shafts 65. If a tube should become wedged in the gauging mechanism and does not leave the passage 34 at the discharge point, further rotation of the carrier 5 causes the tube to come into contact with the underside of plates 77, which are supported from the stationary guide plates 26, further rotation of the carrier 5 then causes the tube to be forced out of the gauging passage.