Patent GB-237019-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in moulding machines for the manufacture of sound records
IPC: B29C43/02
Filed: 1924-04-22
Abstract: 237,019. Marks, E. C. R., (Columbia Phonograph Co., Inc.). April 22, 1924. Rotary - mould. - table machines; moulding phonograph records; heating and cooling dies.-A moulding-machine for the manufacture of sound records, comprises an hydraulic press and a series of moulds, both parts of which are adapted to face upwards, adapted to be moved successively into position in the press, the press being arranged to act automatically upon the mould as soon as it is brought into operative relation with the press. The intermittent movements of the moulds, the supply of fluid to the press, the circulation of heating and cooling fluids through the press, the opening of the moulds, the raising of finished product from the floor of the mould, and other necessary movements are all controlled automatically from a single driven shaft. The press comprises a fixed upper platen 14, Fig. 3, and an hydraulic ram 15, supported on three posts. On one 10 of these is mounted a gear 26, to the hub of which is secured a member 27 carrying pins 28, 29 adapted to engage holes in an extension a<1> on the lower dies of the moulds. The gear 26 is rotated by a gear 30, Fig. 4, controlled by a Geneva stop, comprising a slotted plate 32, and pin 33 carried by a shaft 35, rotated from the main shaft 43 by a worm 42 and gears 39, 38. The shaft 43 carries a sleeve 45 on which is mounted a continuously rotated pulley 46. The sleeve can be coupled to the shaft by a clutch 48, 49, one member of which is controlled by a bell-crank lever 50, which is operated from the shaft 35 by a cam and a lever o to disconnect the shaft after each pressing operation. The clutch is closed to restart the mechanism by a cable 53 connected to bell-crank lever 50 and moved by the operative at the front of the machine by a handle 52. The shaft 35 also rotates, through a shaft 57, a shaft 62 extending across the front of the machine under the position where the mould is opened, emptied, and refilled. The moulds comprise upper and lower dies a, b, Fig. 4, preferably hinged together. The engraved matrices 66, 68 are secured in frames 69 on an annular shelf by a ring 70. When the pressing operation is completed, the mould is swung round into position at the front of the machine over heating-members 23 and is opened by hand, by means of a handle 75, or automatically. The automatic means for opening the mould comprises a rock shaft 77, carrying an arm 77<1> adapted to engage a lug 79 on the upper die, and operated by a cam 80 on the shaft 62. The moulded record is immediately raised from the floor of die by a. plunger 73, operated by a cam 75 on the shaft 62, engaging a movable centre disc 71 in the matrix. The plunger may be operated by hand by a lever 75<1>. Motion of the shaft 62 ceases as soon as the record is raised from the matrix, owing to the automatic opening of the clutch 48, 49. The moulds during their movement into and out of the press travel over tables 83, 82, and when in position in the press the mould frame rests on the edges of these tables. The ram lifts the mould against the upper platen, and in falling redeposits it on the tables ready to be moved out. After the open mould has had a fresh disc placed in it as it rests on its heating member 23, it is raised by push rods 84, 85, 86 ready to be swung into the press. These rods are operated by cams 84<1>, 85<1>, 86<1> on the shaft 62. The arrangement of the Geneva-stop mechanism is such as to allow rotation of the shafts 35 and 62 to give the necessary movement to the push rods before the plate 42 is moved to swing the mould into position in the press, and to allow the opening of the other mould after it is swung out of the press, and the raising of the finished record, before the clutch 48, 49 is opened. The supply of fluid to the ram 15 is controlled by a valve 90, Fig. 6, actuated by a cam on the control shaft 35. The fluid flows either through the supply pipe S and valve 93 to the ram, or from the ram through the valve 92 and waste pipe W. The valves 92, 93 are opened alternately by rods 92<1>, 93<1> operated by a lever 95 with an extension 96, controlled respectively by a cam 97, and a pin 98 on the cam. The steps 99, 100 on the press platens have heating cooling fluids alternately circulated through them from pipes H, C, the flow of the fluids being controlled by valves 107, 110 operated by cams 106, 109 also on the shaft 35, Specifications 147,504, 172,595, and 223,943 are referred to.