Patent GB-591584-A (GB)
Title: Automatic machines for performing a sequence of machining operations
IPC: B21H7/18
Filed: 1944-04-17
Abstract: 591,584. Making cotter pins &c. THURSTON, A. P. (Groov-Pin Corporation). April 17, 1944, No. 7041. [Classes 83 (ii), 83 (iii) and 83 (iv)] Die-rolling; shearing ; lathes.-A machine for performing a series of operations in the manufacture of an article is described with reference to the production of grooved cotter &c. pins and has the blanks coming from one or a series of relatively rapid operations passed in turn to a series of duplicate stations at each of which a relatively slow operation is performed, the duplicated stations together acting at substantially the same speed as the rapid operating equipment. Wire w, Figs. 1 and 2, for the production of pins having a series of grooves 32, Fig. 21, and rounded ends 31, is drawn through a straightener S by feed rollers 40 ratchet operated from a rod 54 connected to a crankpin or an adjustable slide 55 in a disc 56, angularly adjustable on the end of one of the intergeared cam &c. shafts 70 located beneath the table 33 and driven by the motor M. The wire passes through a die 41, Fig. 3, to an adjustable stop 43 and is cut off by a blade 64 carried by a .lever 62 having rollers 71, 72, Fig. 6, engaged by cutting and return cams. A lever 66 pivoted to the blade 64 at 65<1> is linked to a yoke frame 79 carrying rollers 80, 82 engaging gripping and release cams and operates to grip the blank being cut off and hold it during transfer by the blade 64 into line with a guide tube 60<1>, Fig. 3, into which it is transferred by a plunger 85. Whilst passing through the channel the blanks are grooved by a device G in which a series of rolls 90, Fig. 9, carried by slides 91 are controlled by cams 87, adjustably mounted in a ring 86 linked at 95 to a cam-operated, spring-returned yoke, according to the variations of depth and.location of the grooves required. The slides 91 are maintained with their rollers 92 in contact with the cams by springs, not shown. From the tube 60<1> the grooved blanks pass to that gripping-die 143, Fig. 11, in line with the tube at the time. As shown the machine has two end-facing stations and there are two gripping- dies each on its own transfer slide 137 moving in V-guides 133, on the table 33, under the control of cam-operated levers 154. When the slide is moved from the blank receiving position it is located in the end facing position by a pin 159 entering a recess in the slide and at the same time a cam 172 acts on a roller 171 on a lever 138 carrying the other gripping-jaw to augment the grip of the spring 144 that holds the blank during transit but permits it to be located axially by a cam 170, Fig. 1, adjustably mounted at 211, 212. A camoperated lever 163, Fig. 14, then raises a member 181 to enter a pin 161 in a hole 162 in the slide 137 and at the same time through links 180 and-levers 175 to feed the axially opposed facing spindles to the blank. The spindles are mounted in ball bearings in sleeves 116 adjustable at 182 and clamped at 179 in yokes to which the levers 175 are connected. Further adjustment is provided by bolting the headstocks through clearance holes 121 to base blocks 122 having an inclined surface 119. The finished pin is ejected by the next blank and passes by a shoot (not shown) to a container. Each end-facing unit has its own motor 125, Fig. 1, with a direct belt drive 27 at one end and a drive through a pulley 130 driven through a gear pair at the other so that the spindles rotate in opposite directions reducing the tendency to turn the pin in its clamps. The tension of the belt 27 is adjusted by bolts and slots 29 and the pulleys 130 are mounted in pivoted brackets to provide independent adjustment for the belts 28. The shaft of one of the motors may carry a countersunk facing cutter for use in removing burr from a fresh coil of wire prior to feeding it into the machine. Operations that may be performed include grinding, buffing, upsetting, swaging, spinning, drilling, broaching, tapping, and the formation of flats and slots.