Patent GB-401804-A (GB)
Title: Machine for operating on needles
IPC: B21G1/04
Filed: 1932-07-08
Abstract: 401,804. Making needles. SINGER MANUFACTURING CO., Ltd., Singer, Clydebank, BAXTER, J., 1557, Great Western Road, Glasgow and TIVENDALE, W., 367, Kilbowie Road, Clydebank. July 8, 1932, No. 19337. [Classes 83 (ii) and 83 (iii).] In a machine for grooving and removing fins 13 from sewing machine or other needle blanks, Fig. 19, which have already been partially grooved and formed with eyes by previous operations, the blanks 9 are fed to an intermittently-rotated turret 1 which coacts with a series of toolheads comprising locating, groove-milling and fin-removing means for operating successively on the blanks. The blanks are fed to the turret at station 2, and then pass to a fin-locating head 3, a groovedetecting and locating head 4, a groove-milling head 5, a groove-locating head 6, and fin-milling head 7. The turret is provided with radial pockets 8 each of which receives the shank end of a blank which is retained in the pocket by a spring detent 10. The turret is mounted on a vertical shaft 21, Fig. 2, mounted in a bearing in a table 23. Journaled on the shaft 21 is a worm wheel 24 which is continuously driven from a worm on a shaft 26 and coacts with a friction member 27 which is connected to a gear 29 which in turn is connected to a collar on the shaft 21. The wheel 29 is provided with two sets of teeth 30, 31 one set being pitched intermediate the other set. A detent 32 is engageable alternately with the teeth 30, 31 and is controlled bv a three armed lever pivoted at 36, the arms 34, 35 carrying rollers engaging a face cam 40 driven from a main shaft 43. As the tooth 32 passes from one of the sets of teeth 30, 31 to the other set it permits the friction member 27 to impart a small angular movement to the toothed wheel 29, thus indexing the turret. While during operation of the tools, the wheel 29 is held stationary by the tooth 32, the friction member 27 is also stationary and slips on the under surface of the worm wheel 24. Fine adjustment of the wheel 29 relatively to the turret is effected by means of set pins 48. The blanks are fed to a hopper 50 with their shanks towards the turret and they pass into longitudinal grooves in a roller 51 overhanging the turret. The roller is driven step-by-step by ratchet gearing 56 operated by a pawl and cam-actuated tappet rod 59. As each pocket of the turret comes opposite the feeding station a blank drops from the roller 51 and rests on the fixed support 53. From this position the blank is pushed into the pocket by a pusher 54 actuated through lever mechanism from a cam on the shaft 43. Instead of feeding them from a hopper, the blanks may be placed in a guideway 60 and displaced therealong to the feed roller 51 by a pusher. At the fin locating station 3 the finned portion of the blank is embraced by opposed spring fingers 11 of a chuck 12 carried by a spindle 14, these fingers rotating the blank until the fins are in the same vertical plane. The spindle 14 is moved angularly by pinion gearing 62, actuated from a cam on the shaft 43, and is moved axially after operation by cam and lever mechanism. In order to ensure that the blank side presenting the partly formed groove shall be presented to the milling tool which completes the groove the blank now passes to a groove locating head 4, Fig. 7, comprising fingers 15, 16 pivoted at 66, 67 respectively to a chuck 68 the fingers being operated by a sliding collar 69 actuated by a cam on a shaft 71 mounted in a radially movable bearing member 72 operated by a cam 85 engaging a fixed roller 86. The shaft 71 is driven by a gear 76 connected through an idler with a pinion on the driving shaft 43. The shaft 73 carrying the chuck is driven through a pinion 76 controlled by a vertical rack 81 co-operating with a lever 82 and cam 84. In operation, the member 72 is moved radially to bring the fingers 15, 16 up to the blank. If the finger 16 enters the recess 17 of the blank electrical contacts 93 are closed to excite an electromagnet 95 which releases the rack 81 when then falls to a limited extent and rotates the shaft 73 to bring the blank to the correct position for the grooving operation. The rack is restored by the lever mechanism during the withdrawal of the member 72. If the blank is already in the correct position the electromagnet is not energised and the spindle 73 is not rotated. The blank next passes to a groove milling head 5 which is similar in construction to the fin-milling head described below. The next station has a groove-locating head 6 which rotates each blank through 90‹ to bring the fins 13 into the same horizontal plane for the milling operation. This head comprises spring fingers 100, 101, Fig. 13, pivoted on a chuck 102 and actuated by a push rod 105 through lever 108, link 210 and a cam 209 on the shaft 43. The finger 101 enters the groove 19 of the blank. For rotating the shaft 103 and the chuck through 90‹ a plunger 110 operated by cam and lever mechanism carries a striker 111 coacting with an arm 112 on a collar secured to the shaft. The next station is provided with a fin-milling head 7 consisting of a cam-actuated radial slide 114, Fig. 15, carrying a needle clamp comprising a fixed member 118 and an upper clamp 119 carried by a pivoted lever 120, 121 actuated by a cam 124. In operation the slide 114 is moved up to the turret and the fingers 118, 119 remove a blank from a pocket and return towards a pair of vertical milling spindles 132, 133 which, as the blank approaches, are moved towards each other to remove the blank fins. The cutters are then moved apart and the slide 114 again advanced while the upper clamp releases the blank. The cutter spindles are mounted in brackets 134, 135 each of which is moved laterally by a lever 137, 138 actuated by a cam 142 carried by the slide 114. The cam 116 is arranged to give a slow feed of the blanks past the cutters. Before the blank is unclamped it is engaged by a spring finger 151 at the end of an arm 145 on a rock shaft 146 which, after completion of the fin-milling is actuated by a cam-actuated link to swing the ejector arm to the position 154 and remove the blank which is allowed to drop into a receptacle. The ejector mechanism is not provided at the groove-milling station, but the blank is returned to the turret after the grooving operation. The main camshaft 43 carries bevel gears 202,214 engaging similar gears on shafts 204, 216 carrying the feed cams of the grooving and fin-milling heads respectively.