Patent GB-658250-A (GB)
Title: Multiple purpose machine tools
IPC: B23Q39/02
Filed: 1947-08-22
Abstract: 658,250. Grinding; sawing; combination woodworking machines. HOBBS, G. B. Aug. 22, 1947, No. 23332. [Classes 60, 145(i) and 145(ii)] [Also in Groups VI and XXII] A multi-purpose machine tool comprises a carrier rotatable about a horizontal axis, a series of different machine tools detachbly secured to the carrier, at least two of the tools being complete with its own worktable or rest, and locking means for securing the carrier with any tool in working position. The tools may comprise grindstones, buffing or sanding machines, circular or jig saws, planing machines. lathes, boring or drilling machines, or bacon and bread slicers. The tool support, Fig. 16, has two welded steel tube frames 1 connected by cross-tubes 3 and by a base plate 4 on which the electric driving motor 5 is mounted. The motor is connected by cone pulleys and a belt to a lay shaft 9 mounted on a cross-bar 7 which is adjustable on two sloping strengthening tubes 2 for adjustment of the belt tension. The carrier comprises end discs 17, which are spaced by tubes 18 and have holes 21, 22 for mounting the machine tools, and is rotatable on a spindle 14 supported by stay plates 13. Further holes 23 in one disc cooperate with a spring-pressed locking pin 24, Fig. 2, having a head 26 with a hole into which a projection 27 enters when the pin is in the locking position; by withdrawing and turning the pin, it may be held in the withdrawn position by the projection 27 while the carrier is adjusted to a new position. A belt 38 connects a pulley 11 on the lay shaft 9 to the pulley on the shaft of the machine tool in the operative position and is placed over the pulley just before the tool comes to the top, the final ,movement of the carrier tautoning the belt. The frame may be mounted on wheels and the carrier may be a cylindrical or polygonal drum or a starwheel. The drive may also comprise a pulley mounted on the frame and clutched to the driving shaft of each tool as it is brought to the working position or a bevel gear meshing with a corresponding gear on each tool shaft as it is brought to the working position. In a modification, Fig. 20, the carrier may comprise a single disc 98 rotatable on a spindle 97 fixed to a base plate 91 which is adapted to be clamped to a bench. The base plate carries a motor 96 and a lay shaft 93. A tool spindle 42 for general use may be mounted in a housing 41, Fig. 6, having spaced ball-bearings, or on a plummer block, mounted on one or both discs 17, or on a central bearing 57, Fig. 16, similar to the housing 41 and fitted between the two discs. Figs. 4 and 16 show the mounting of a circular saw 34, complete with bench 28 and guard 37 and Fig. 16 also shows a planing machine 70. A pair of grinding or like tools are shown at 59 and 62 in Fig. 16 and also a sanding machine having a bed 69, Fig. 14, and an endless belt 72. The tools shown in Fig. 20 comprises a circular saw bench 99, a disc sanding tool 105 and a general purpose spindle 102. Collecting dust.-Means for collecting dust from each tool may be provided and the carrier then rotates on a short fixed spindle 75, Fig. 19, on one frame and on a large diameter ring 77 on the other frame. A removable cylindrical receiver 78 having the top cut away, Fig. 17, may then be fitted through the ring 77, the cuttings being directed into the receiver by casings 80 or partitions 81 between the tools; alternatively, an inclined floor 79, ending in a spout, may be fitted in the receiver. A duct 36 for collecting dust from a saw is shown in Fig. 4.