Patent GB-686629-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to method and means for burnishing sliding clasp fastener elements
IPC: B21D53/50
Filed: 1950-12-06
Abstract: 686,629. Burnishing. FLEX FASTENERS, Ltd. Dec. 3, 1951 [Dec. 6, 1950], No. 29835/50. Class 60. A machine for burnishing sliding clasp fastener elements comprises a rotatable disc, ring, or similar carrier, carrying a number of hand members mounted on the carrier so as to protrude from a surface thereof and to be rotatable, means for rotating the carrier, and means for pressing sliding clasp fastener elements attached to a tape against the hand members of the carrier. In one embodiment four carriers 17, 18, 19 and 20, Fig. 2, each provided with a number of hard metal spring-loaded balls 22, Fig. 6, are driven by a belt 21 from an electric motor 12 so that the carriers 17 and 20 rotate in the opposite directions to the carriers 18 and 19. Two parallel tapes are preferably used to carry the elements which are arranged in spaced groups with the elements on one tape interlocked with those on the other. The tapes are wound onto a storage spool 14, Fig. 2, and are fed through the machine by way of a guide roller 29, four pairs of guide rollers 30 and a guide roller 35 to a take-up spool 16. The latter and the roller 35 are driven by an electric motor (not shown). The tapes are also guided by channels cut in the frame of the machine, in pressure bars 23, 24 which are spring-loaded to press the elements into contact with the carriers, and by a vertical pair of rollers 39 which serve to rotate the tapes through 180 degrees between the two pairs of carriers so that both sides of the elements are treated. One roller of each pair is fixed while the other is spring biassed towards it. In threading a pair of tapes through the machine it is necessary to separate the rollers of each pair and to lift the pressure bars 23, 24 clear of the carriers. All of these motions are effected simultaneously by operation of a lever 44 which through a toggle mechanism (not shown) raises a push-bar 52 bearing against slide members 33 carrying the displaceable rollers and rods 57 secured to the pressure bars. The displaceable roller of the vertical pair is mounted on a horizontal slide member actuated by a cam bar 531 fixed to the push bar 52. A second lever 69 serves to engage and disengage a guide member 70 with the roller 35. A transparent cover is provided for the top of the machine and an exhaust or compression device is connected with the carriers to remove particles of metal and dirt produced by the burnishing process. An instrument 76 indicates the pressure created by the device. The tapes are arranged to bear against a member actuating a micro-switch so that when they have left the machine the electric circuit for a pilot lamp 77 is interrupted. Alternatively, the switch may operate relays for stopping the electric motors of the machine. In a second, simplified embodiment (Figs. 14 and 15, not shown) the tapes are fed between two co-axial, oppositely-rotating, carriers driven by separate electric motors arranged vertically on a column. A rack and pinion device operated by a pedal enables the upper motors to be lifted when a fresh pair of tapes is to be threaded into the machine. In either embodiment, the balls may be mounted on the circumferential, instead of the plane faces, of the carriers and they may be replaced by short cylinders or cones. Only one tape at a time may be fed through the machine.