Patent GB-329296-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in machines for polishing the eyes of needles
IPC: B24B5/48
Filed: 1929-02-14
Abstract: 329,296. Singer Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Tivendale, W., and Baxter, J. Feb. 14, 1929. Needles, surfacing. - The eyes of needles are polished and rounded by means of threads coated with abrasive and stretched in a frame, the needles being strung on the threads in transverse rows positioned by separator plates, the rows of needles being clamped one at a time in a needle clamp which oscillates the needles along the threads, which are simultaneously oscillated transversely. Abrasive is supplied to the threads from a mechanically-operated roller engaging a second roller rotating in a bath of abrasive material. The machine consists of end frames 1. 1<1> connected by horizontal rails 2, 2<1>, 3, 3', and journaled in the rails 3, 3' is a shaft 4 having pivotally mounted on its end levers 5, 5<1> rocked, through rods 6, from crank discs 7 on a shaft 8 driven by a pinion 10 from a shaft 11 carrying fast and loose pulleys 12, 13 driven by a belt 12<1> from a pulley 12<2>. The belt is movable by a shipper lever 13<5> operable by a hand lever 13'. The shaft 8 drives a shaft 16 having at one end an adjustable crank disc 17 actuating, through a rod 19, a lever 21 which reciprocates a bobbin board carriage 24 transversely of the machine, the carriage being mounted on rollers 26. Similarly, a thread tensioning lever carriage 33 is reciprocated by a lever 31. The carriage 24 carries brackets 39 to which is detachably secured a bobbin board 40 having apertures 41 therein and upturned flanges 42, 43, the flange 42 having therein a row of thread guide apertures 52. Beneath the board 40 is a plate 44 carrying spindles 45 projecting through the apertures 41, and adapted to carry bobbins 59, Fig. 8, the plate 44 being adapted to be lowered by cams 49 and raised by springs on guide pins 50. On lowering the plate, the spindles move pins 46 carried thereby out of contact with one or other of cross grooves 60 in the bobbins, so that these can rotate on the, spindles to allow the threads to he unwound: on raising the plate, the pins 46 engage the grooves and prevent rotation of the bobbins. Thread guide pins 61 are provided on the board 40, and needle separator-plate supporting pegs 62 are carried by the board 40. The abrasive supplying device consists of a transverse roller 83 carried by levers 82, 84 angularly adjustable on a shaft 80 which is oscillated, to lift and lower the roller, by a link 77 operated from a cam cylinder 70 on a shaft 65, which is driven from the shaft 8 and also drives, through worm gearing 68, 69, the shaft 4. The roller 83 is engageable with a roller 89 journal in an abrasive bath 90 and is driven by belting 92, 96 from the shaft 4. The roller 83 is rotated step by step by a belt 99 from a pulley 100, driven during oscillation of the levers 82, 84 by a ratchet wheel 101 and a spring- pressed pawl 102 pivoted to a fixed part of the machine. The levers 5, 5<1> are connected, through links 105, to a lever carrying a weight 109, and carry at their upper end a needle clamp pivoted to the levers at 111, 111<1> and comprising a plate 112 and a plate 117 pivoted thereto forming, with rubber strips 112', 117<1>, a needle clamping jaw. The jaw is opened by cams 114 operated by a handle 120. The clamp may be given a secondary oscillation about the pivots 111, 111<1> to round the ends of the eyes of the needles, by a pinion 124 on the pivot pin 111<1> gearing with a sector 125 which may be operatively connected by a handle 133 to an arm 127 oscillated, through link 129, by a crank pin 130 adjustable on a disc 131 secured to the shaft 4. The carriage 33 carries in brackets 138, shafts 139, 140 carrying plates 141, 142, and pivoted in slots in blocks 143<2> on the carriage are thread tensioning levers 144 normally pulled by adjustable springs 146 so that their lower ends engage the plate 142. The levers carry at their upper ends thread guides 158, Figs. 13, 13a, and the plates 141, 142 are moved by gearing on the shafts 139, 149, the shaft 139 being rotatable by a handle on the shaft 139 and the plates being lowered to allow the levers 144 to rock to tension the threads; the levers 144 may enter slots in the plate. 141. The brackets 138 carry a comb 162 with thread engaging slits 163 in the upper edge, and secured to the carriage 33 are clips 164 adapted to receive detachable combs 165 having thread engaging slots 166 and thread hooks 169; the combs have openings therein for the fingers and cleats 171 for attachment of the ends of the threads are provided. The needles 174 are threaded on the threads 173 and are held in separated rows by plates 175 fitting on the pegs 62. The threads are led across the machine over the comb 162 and to the cleats 171, the levers 144 being released to tension the threads. During setting up of the machine the thread ends are held temporarily by cleats 178 on two spring- pressed levers 179. In operation a row of needles is moved by a hand comb to bring the needles up to the clamp, whereby they are oscillated as described above, the roller 83 applying the abrasive to the threads; the finished needles are moved adjacent to the comb 162 and when necessary, worn thread is replaced by unwinding a fresh supply from the bobbins. The machine is stopped after a predetermined number of strokes of the needle clamp by a trip disc 199 which operates through a lever fulcrummed at 203 to release the belt shipper lever 13<5>, which is moved by a spring 206, the disc 199 being rotated by ratchet gearing operated from the shaft 16.