Patent GB-1032340-A (GB)
Title: A machine tool with tool storage and changing apparatus
IPC: B23Q3/157
Filed: 1965-05-03
Abstract: 1,032,340. Tool-changing. KEARNEY & TRECKER CORPORATION. May 3, 1965 [May 4, 1964], No. 18592/65. Headings B3B, B3C and B3K. A machine tool, which may be tape-controlled, comprises a tool operating means 62 movable from a working zone to a storage means 70 to return a tool and transfer means 75 operable to extract a tool from the storage means and insert it into the operating means 62. The spindle 62 is rotated by an hydraulic motor 63 in a head 60 reciprocated by a ball-type screw- and-nut gear driven by an hydraulic motor on a saddle 49. The saddle is reciprocated by similar means on a column 41 which can be traversed along ways, protected by covers 43, by a further ball-type screw-and-nut rotated by an hydraulic motor 45. Hydraulic means 53 balance the saddle. Workpieces are delivered to ways 68 on an indexable table 66. Tools 65 are held in sockets in the storage plate 80 by wedging plungers 108, Fig. 3 (not shown), released against springs 140 by plungers 136 operated by a rod 146. The rod 146 is actuated by a solenoid-operated plunger 167 and a lever 161. The storage plate is rotated by a motordriven pinion 172 engaging a gear 173. The plate is located in a tool-changing position by a forked plunger 181 on an arm 184 which moves with the plate on the last part of its movement. The plunger is actuated by a spring 194 to embrace a rib 182 and is withdrawn by a solenoid-operated lever 214. When the arm 184 is carried by the plate past the correct toolchanging position, a transducer is actuated by a projection on the arm to cause reverse rotation of the plate-rotating motor which is stopped when the transducer gives a null signal. Each tool is identified on the plate by five binarycoded plungers 271-18 to 275-18 which are set by the operator when he loads the tools on to the plate. The plungers are read by a switchhead 285. In operation, after a tool has completed its working operation, the spindle 62 is retracted, the saddle is raised to align the tool with a transfer clasp 306 of the tool change mechanism 75 and the clasp advances, grasps the tool and withdraws it. The spindle is then raised and advanced to pick a new tool from the plate. While the new tool is being used, the old tool is returned to its correct socket by vertical and axial movement of the clasp 306, the plate being indexed as required. The clasp is then moved axially while the plate is indexed to bring the next tool into position to be picked up by the clasp. The old tool is subsequently returned to the plate by the spindle and the new tool picked up from the clasp. The clasp is positioned by motors 309, 360 rotating screws 316, 356 and carries a tool-holding wedging plunger similar to the plungers 108 but acting, of course, in the reverse direction. The tool is held in the spindle by a collet actuated by an hydraulically-controlled draw-bar. To avoid complicating the circuit for identifying an empty socket in the plate 85, each socket is provided with a pivoted feeler 381. When a tool is absent from a socket, its lever 381 tilts to bring one end into the path of a switch 389. The switch operates to stop the plate-rotating motor when an empty socket is at the tool-change station. The hydraulic motors are controlled through servo-valves to determine their speeds of rotation.