Patent GB-439669-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to machines for fabricating radiator cores for use withinternal combustion engines
IPC: B21D53/08
Filed: 1935-04-05
Abstract: 439,669. Making radiators. BOERGER, M. G., 17th Street, Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.A. April 5, 1935, No. 10640. [Classes 83 (ii) and 83 (iv)] In a machine for making radiator cores for internal-combustion engines, perforated fins are delivered singly from a hopper to an endless conveyer by which they are forced upon one or more banks of tubes held in spaced relation by an abutment which is moved rearwardly in steps so as to space the fins correctly upon the tubes. The conveyer comprises brackets 30, Figs. 3, 4 and 6, stretching across the machine and pivoted at 52 to side chains 12 passing over sprockets on shafts 13, 14, the shaft 13 being driven by an electric motor 26, Fig. 1, and a clutch 27. Side flanges 49, Fig. 6, on the brackets 30 are guided between rails 51 at the sides of the machine frame and vertical webs 60, 61 thereon are slotted at 59, 62 respectively to receive the tubes 19. The fins 20 are contained in a vertical hopper 11 and are retained by a fixed lip 32, Fig. 4, and two movable fingers 35, 36 which are withdrawn alternately by electromagnets 33 and springs so as to allow the fins to drop singly on a curved plate 39 which supplies them to the conveyer. The electromagnets 33 are controlled by a lever 31, Fig. 1, engaging the brackets 30 in turn. In operation, a bank of tubes 19, held in spaced relation by temporary frames 25, Fig. 13, is placed in the machine, the rear ends of the tubes engaging projections 28, Fig. 4, on the abutment 16. The fins are pushed on the forward ends of the tubes and moved therealong by the brackets 30, the temporary frames 25 moving in front of the fins to the rear ends of the tubes, until each bracket in turn comes opposite a gap 49 in the lower rails 51, whereupon spring fingers at the sides of the machine engage the webs 60 of the brackets to rotate them about their pivots into the position shown at 30<a> in Fig. 4, so as to clear the fins 20 on the tubes. A trip 541, Fig. 4, rotates the brackets on the lower side of the chain into position to pass between guide rails 53, 54 for the return path to the hopper 11. The abutment 16 is retracted step by step to space the fins correctly on the tubes by means of a rotatable screw 24, Figs. 1 and 3, driven by gearing 80 from a ratchet enclosed within a box 74. The box carries a pawl and is oscillated by a link 71, bell-crank lever 69 and push rod 22 operated by a cam 21 mounted on the sprocket shaft 14 of the conveyer. The pivotal connection 82 of the link 71 on the lever 69 is adjustable along a slot 81 to vary the extent of the movements of the abutment 16 and hence the spacing of the fins on the tubes. For the return movement of the abutment 16, the screw 24 is driven continuously by a motor 84, belt drive 85 and gearing 87, or alternatively the screw may be driven by the motor 26. A friction clutch is mounted in the drive from the ratchet to the gearing 80 to allow the return movement. The fins are held on the faces of the webs 60 of the brackets 30 by means of pins 42 projecting from the webs, blows being delivered to the fins to cause the pins to perforate them by means of hammers 43, Figs. 3 and 4, which are lifted by the brackets 30 as they pass until a projection 46 thereon engages a detent 45 on a lever 44 to hold them in a raised position. When the lever 44 is lifted by the preceding bracket 30, the detent releases the hammers to allow them to drop. For making radiators with two banks of staggered tubes, the brackets 30 are replaced by brackets 30<b>, Fig. 11, having offset slots 92, 93 to receive the two banks of tubes. A star-shaped member 94 is rotatably mounted on a bracket 101 adjustably secured by hooks to rods 110, Figs. 1 and 3, projecting from the abutment 16, and is provided with four radial ribs 97 .. 99 slotted at 95 to co-operate with the slots 92. The member 94 is yieldingly held by a pawl 102 so that it may rotate to allow a positioned fin to pass, and is vertically adjustable by means of eccentrically mounted flanges 105 on the ends.