Patent GB-881678-A (GB)
Title: Automatic mattress machinery
Inventor: FISHER RICHARD A
IPC: B68G7/12
Filed: 1960-03-09
Abstract: 881,678. Punching-machines. UNITED STATES BEDDING CO. March 9, 1960, No. 8324/60. Class 31 (2). [Also in Group XXII] A machine for inserting grommets and the like into mattress boxing strip comprises a bedplate 31 for supporting the boxing strip 32, a plurality of spaced punching dies 34, 35 mounted below said bed-plate, cam means 38, for reciprocating said dies, the top surfaces of said dies being at the first position of said cam means flush with the top surface of said bed-plate, at the second cam position below said top surface, and at the third cam position above said bed-plate, a plurality of dies 54, 55 mounted above said bed-plate and positioned for co-operating with said first mentioned dies, each of said other dies comprising a punching die 102 and an annular shoulder 103 shaped to define a crimping die for crimping the shank of a grommet 36, first power means for operating said cam means in a predetermined timed cycle, second power means operative when said lower dies are flush with said bed-plate to move said upper dies into engagement with said lower dies for punching a boxing strip resting on said bed-plate and means operative when said lower dies are below the bedplate to place a grommet, head down, on each of said lower dies which in rising to their elevated position push the grommets through said punched boxing strip and into engagement with said upper crimping dies. As a safety measure, two starting buttons 33 are provided and they must be pressed simultaneously to start the automatic operation of the machine, the moving parts of which are driven by compressed air cylinders, the solenoid-actuated control valves for which are sequentially operated by cam-driven microswitches. The lower cams 38 are reciprocated along guideways 39 by a pneumatic cylinder 42. The upper dies are reciprocated by driving arms 56, 57 keyed to a transverse shaft 58 which is rocked by a pair of arms 59, Fig. 6, pivoted to pneumatic cylinders 60. Mounted on the upper frame extension 44 is a back-bar magazine 62 from which back bars 98 are fed one at a time by a pusher 63 actuated by a link 64 attached to a pneumatic cylinder 66. As a back-bar is pushed out of the magazine it is picked up and held by a gripping magnet 69 mounted on the upper dies, Fig. 20. Supported on a rearward frame extension 75 are a pair of rotatable magazines 82 and 81 for the grommets and vents respectively. The magazines are mounted on a shaft 76 which is rotated by an electric motor 80. The vents are gravity fed down tracks 83 on to the bed-plate adjacent each of the dies 34. Similarly tracks 84 guide the grommets from the magazine 82 to the dies 35. The grommets and vents are accommodated head downward in grooves 85 and 86 in the bed-plate with their shanks below the level of the bed-plate surface. Adjacent the dies the grooves widen to accommodate pusher elements 87, Fig. 16, mounted on a rod 88 which is reciprocated by a pneumatic cylinder 91 to push the foremost grommet or vent into the adjoining die. The outer pair of upper dies 54 are surrounded by annular strippers 95, which hold the boxing strip against slippage during the punching operation and strip it off the dies after the crimping operation. The strippers are actuated by pneumatic cylinders 96. The boxing strip, Fig. 10, consists of an outer layer of tough, closely woven cloth to the rear side of which a layer of padding 32a and a retaining gauze layer 32b have been stitched. In operation, the operator places the boxing strip across the bed-plate 31 and starts the machine which first punches four spaced holes in the strip. Prior to the punching operation, an already perforated back bar 98 is fed over the portion of the strip in which the inner pair of holes are to be punched. Grommets are inserted through the punched inner holes and the back bar and vents are inserted in the punched outer holes. The vents and grommets are then crimped as shown in Fig. 10. A cord handle is finally inserted through the grommets.