Patent GB-714594-A (GB)
Title: Travelling manipulator
IPC: B21J13/10
Filed: 1951-07-20
Abstract: 714,594. Forging. WUPPERMAN, T. July 20, 1951 [March 17, 1949], No. 17309/51. Class 83 (4). [Also in Group XXX] In a travelling manipulator provided with variable-speed drives for turning the tongs and for moving the manipulator, the drives comprise hydraulic cylinders and. pistons actuatedby fluid from a pressure accumulator maintained charged by a motor-driven pump, the accumulator and motor-driven pump being mounted on the manipulator. As shown, a pair of workholding tongs 3a, 4a for removing an ingot 2 to and from a press 1 is mounted by means of bellcrank levers 3, 4 on a shaft 5 mounted for rotation in a tubular holder 12. Levers 3, 4 are actuated to open and close the tongs by a rod 8 coupled to a piston 9 in a cylinder 10 and spring-biased in the tongs-opening direction. Shaft 5 is rotated to turn the tongs by rack-andpinion gear 13, 14, Fig. 2, the rack 14 having pistons 15, 16 mounted on its ends and operating in cylinders 17, 18 secured to holder 12. Holder 12 is suspended by spring links 22 having ball- and-socket joints at both ends from pairs of levers 24 on two shafts 25 journalled in an undercarriage frame consisting of doublewalled side jaws 45, 46 joined by transverse tubes 47. Holder 12 is raised and lowered or tilted in a vertical plane by actuation of front or rear or both pairs of cylinders 31 in the side jaws whose pistons 30 are linked to levers 33 on the shafts 25, the movement being cushioned by cylinders 35 each having a piston 36, the part above the piston containing compressed air while the lower part is connected to the corresponding cylinder 31. Lateral movement or swinging of holder 12 is accomplished by actuation of one of the front, rear or both front and rear pairs of cylinders 40 formed integral with the shafts 25 and.whose pistons 42 are secured to casings 41 mounted on the side jaws 45, 46. The undercarriage is driven over the ground by pairs of cylinders 50, 51 whose pistons 52 act on the rear wheels 58 through rack-andpinion mechanism. The extent of rotation of shaft 5 and wheel 58 is normally limited by the stroke of the various pistons but may be increased by incorporating a reversing gear in each drive. Thus cylinders 17, 18 may be replaced by a pair of superposed cylinders, Fig. 5 (not shown), whose pistons drive through rack-andpinion mechanism a reversing gear consisting of three bevel gears arranged in U-form, the gear forming the base of the U being driven while the other two bevels are freely mounted on shaft 5 and arranged to be alternately coupled to the latter by clutches. Fluid is supplied to the various cylinders by a control panel 69 fed from a pump 62 driven by a motor 60. Pressure is maintained constant by a reservoir 64 arranged in one of the tubes 47 and connected to a cylinder 56 containing compressed air which is arranged in another of the tubes 47, motor 60 being automatically switched on or off as the pressure drops below a predetermined minimum, or builds up above a maximum, respectively. Exhaust fluid from the cylinders is passed through pipe 70 into a sump 71 from which it returns to the pump. Auxiliary work support.-For handling long ingots a carriage 90 is provided at the rear of the forging press 1 and is equipped with a pair of elevatable columns 97 carrying a hanging chain 91 between their upper ends to support the work. The columns 97 are shown coupled by levers and linkage including an adjustable link 95 to the forward shaft 25 on the manipulator for movement therewith. Alternatively the columns 97 may be actuated by independent fluid cylinders controlled from the panel 69 on the manipulator.