Patent GB-354596-A (GB)
Title: Improved method of and means for producing articles of given weight
IPC: B23Q17/20
Filed: 1930-09-23
Abstract: 354,596. Weighing-apparatus fitted to metal-working machines. FORD MOTOR CO., Ltd., 88, Regent Street, London. Sept. 23, 1930, No. 28425. Convention date, Oct. 19, 1929. [Class 143.] In a method of producing articles of a desired weight, the articles are formed overweight, are weighed and portions of the articles then removed, the removed portions being collected and serving, when the required amount has been removed, to arrest the removal operation. As applied to the production of pistons of uniform weight, each piston is rigidly secured in a boring machine and a portion of the interior of the skirt is removed by a boring head, the cuttings being collected and causing the boring head to be stopped when the required amount has been removed. The piston 47 is held in a bushing 43, Fig. 4, on a bracket 41 attached to the machine frame 10 by a lever 46 pivoted at 45 and rocked to grip the piston by a cam 50 on a shaft 49. The boring tool 52 is secured by known means in a bar 20 rotatably mounted by means of ball bearings 32 in a quill 29. A pinion 31 engages the rack 30 on the quill and is secured to a shaft 27, Fig. 3, rotatably mounted within a sleeve 26 which is driven from an electric motor 15 through a belt 17, and double worm gearing 22, 25. Clutch parts 72, 82, Fig. 5, are secured respectively to the sleeve 26 and shaft 27. The worm shaft 16, Fig. 3, also drives the boring bar 20 through bevel gearing 19. The cuttings from the tools 52, Fig. 4, are directed by a deflector 54 through a funnel 53 and into a trough 55 which is mounted on an arm 56, Fig. 3, pivoted to the machine at 57, and connected by a link 69 to an arm 70 of a balance 12. Operation.-The pistons are first machined all over on the outside and are produced slightly overweight, each being weighed and the amount overweight being marked on each. An adjustable weight 14, Fig.. 3, is moved along the balance arm 13 a distance equivalent to the amount to be removed from the piston and the piston is placed in the machine and clamped by rocking a handle 51 to actuate the cam 50. A pair of contacts 90 on the balance arm 13 dip into mercury cups 89 in an electric circuit to a solenoid 77 so that when a handle 81 is rocked to engage the clutch 72, 82 to feed the boring tool, an armature 76 will be raised to maintain the clutch in engagement. The handle 81 simultaneously operates a switch 95 in the solenoid circuit so that the contacts 89, 90 will not start the feed until the handle has been actuated. When the required amount of cuttings has been collected in the trough 55, the weight 14 is overbalanced and the circuit to the solenoid is broken at 89, 90, releasing the solenoid and allowing a spring 85 to open the clutch and stop the feed of the cutter. A weight 88, attached by a cord 87 to the clutch part 82, returns the tool spindle to its retracted position. The handle 51 is then actuated to release the piston, a weight 48 returning the lever 46 to inoperative position, and a second cam 68 on the shaft 49 rocks a shaft 65 through a rod 67 and causes an arm 64 thereon to raise a plunger 63 projecting through the bottom of the trough 55, thereby raising a valve 59 within the trough and allowing the collected cuttings to drop into a shoot 62.