Patent GB-644566-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in self propelled tool carriages or work piece carriages
IPC: B23K37/02
Filed: 1946-03-15
Abstract: 644,566. Uniting and dividing by fusion. TROMBETTA, L. March 15, 1946, No. 8134. Convention date, March 17, 1945. [Classes 83 (iii) and 83 (iv)] [Also in Groups XX and XXIII] Copying - mechanism.-A work or tool carriage for supporting the work or a burning, welding, sawing, grinding or tracing tool for movement about an angled templet attached to the work comprises a set of wheels each rotatable in a plane perpendicular to the work surface and spring- pressed so as to position them between the surface and the leg of the templet parallel to the surface, and a set of wheels rotatable on a plane parallel to the surface spring-pressed to engage opposite sides of the leg of the template at right angles to the surface and provided with driving means for traversing the carriage along the templet. The carriage may thus travel about a templet held vertically or at any desired angle. The carriage comprises a base 2 and a casing 3 which carries the tool &c. on which is mounted the motor 7 which, through shafts 8, 9A and gear-box 9, drives a knurled, toothed or serrated traction wheel 11 engaging the perpendicular leg of a templet welded to the surface. The carriage is mounted on springs 16 on forked bearings 14 carrying wheels 12, the bearings being joined at the lower ends of rods 15 which pass through guide sleeves 17 attached to the base 2 and through the yoke ends of a crossbar 19 to which they are adjustably secured by nuts 21. The tension of the springs 16 is adjusted by a screw 22 passing through the cross bar. The other end of the carriage is supported by wheel 12A forming the pivot of the carriage. This wheel is mounted in a cross element 25 forming part of an under carriage mounted in and removable from guides 24. In the cross element 25 are mounted rods 27 passing through a cross element 26 carrying a pressure wheel 43 to engage the underside of the templet and also through a cross bar 32 and provided at their inner ends with pressure wheels 29 which are pressed by springs 35 to engage the templet on the opposite side to the traction wheel. The rods 27 are pivotally held in the cross bar 32 by pins 34 so as to have play about their pivots in order that the wheels 29 may act independently of each other to permit the carriage to travel along a templet curved into an oval, archway, circle or rounded corner. The centre rod 30, also provided with a spring, is pinned at 33 to the cross bar 32 and passes through the cross-element 25 and carries a nut 31 for adjusting the springs. The cross element 25 has a pivoted arm 36 engaging a locking pin 37 which is pressed by a spring into an opening 38 in the base to hold the element 25 in position. In operation the base is set over the templet, the undercarriage then slid into position and the nut 31 released to permit the springs 35 to force the pressure wheels against the templet and the screw 22 then operated so that the springs 16 raise the base 2 and cause the wheel 43 to move into intimate contact with the underside of the parallel leg of the templet and the motor is then started. The machine may function upside down, the pressure wheel 43 being supported by the free leg of the angle.