Patent GB-909528-A (GB)
Title: Automatic machine for shaping, boring and milling buttons
IPC: B29D23/14
Filed: 1961-06-08
Abstract: 909,528. Boring, turning and milling. BOSIO, B. June 8, 1961 [June 10, 1960], No. 20728/61. Class 83 (3). An automatic machine for shaping, boring and milling buttons from disc shaped blanks, comprises an indexable gripper head 5, and circumferential set of grippers 6 in the head for holding the blanks and slide 3 reciprocable towards and away from the head, a plurality of tool collets in the slide, means for rotating the collets, means for reciprocating the slide, means for indexing the gripper head in respect of the collets and means in the slido for adjusting the eccentricity of the collets to bore the holes in the blank. A headstock 2 mounts a gripper head 5 on a shaft 4. The gripper head is indexed by disengaging one end of a bellcrank lever 18 from one of a series of teeth 17 on the head by means of a cam 21 on a shaft 22 engaging a connection with the lever The shaft 4 is driven through a friction clutch comprising a disc 8 and spring-urged disc 9 on the shaft driven by a belt from the shaft 12 rotated by a motor 13 through a belt and pulleys. The shaft 12 has a dog clutch engagement with the shaft 22 to allow initial manual adjustment. To reciprocate the slide 3, supporting the boring and shaping tools within collets 46, 47, a projection on the slide engages in a groove 57 on a drum on the shaft 22. A motor 54 drives a belt to rotate the collets. The gripper head mounts a number of blanks in a series of bushings 28, each having a chuck member 31 with an enlarged slotted end and a sleeve 34 spring-urged to engage the end to grip a blank placed on a disc 43 on a tubular member 42 within the chuck member. To release the button a roller 40 on a pin 37, secured to the sleeve and passing through holes in the bushing and head, strikes a stop to displace the sleeve from gripping engagement with the end of the chuck member. The slide mounts a collet 46 with a shaping tool and four collets 47 for boring tools and a pusher 48 for inserting a button in a gripper. The collets are adjustably eccentrically mounted on shafts 49 being supported by bearings 50 with eccentric bushings 51 which are angularly adjusted by screw-threaded collars. In a modification, a hopper 70 has a disc 71, with seats 72 for the blanks, rotatable to feed the blanks to a shoot 74. Intermittent rotation of the disc is controlled by a cam 75 on the shaft 12 rocking an arm linked with a toothed gear on the shaft of the disc. A plunger in the shoot coaxial with a gripper retains the blanks, a cam face 96 mounted to rotate on the shaft 12 contacts a roller connected to the plunger to withdraw the plunger to allow a blank to descend to a position where the return movement of the plunger seats the blank in a gripper. A fork 98 on the slide acts on the sleeves of the discharge and insertion grippers to release the grippers. Discharge of the buttons is by suction pipe from a reservoir 102, the buttons passing down a tube 103. An arcuate manifold having outlets adjacent the gripper sucks chips into the pipe. The grippers have bellows to prevent any chips contacting the sliding sleeves 34. The slide may support a milling tool to bore a groove between the holes. An electric motor mounted on a bracket secured to a gripper drives the tool.