Patent Publication Number: US-11660631-B2

Title: Glue applying mechanism of edge banding machine with glue quantity regulator

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a glue applying mechanism of an edge banding machine and more particularly, to a glue applying mechanism of an edge banding machine with a glue quantity regulator. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     The traditional edge banding machine is adapted to apply glue to a workpiece to be processed, and attach an edge band to the workpiece applied with the glue. The surface of the workpiece can be protected by the edge band and attain an embellished effect. 
     However, for different specifications of workpieces and different types of glue, the glue quantity required to apply sometimes needs to be adjusted in thickness. Therefore, for the edge banding process to be accomplished well, it requires a glue applying mechanism capable of adjusting the glue quantity to adapted for different specifications of workpieces and different types of glue. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is one of the objectives of the present invention to make an improvement for the deficiencies of the conventional edge banding machine, so as to provide a new glue applying mechanism of an edge banding machine, which can effectively regulate glue quantity. 
     Therefore, the present invention provides a glue applying mechanism of an edge banding machine with a glue quantity regulator, which includes a base, a glue applying unit and a glue quantity regulator. The base includes a glue tub, and the glue tub is adapted for accommodating glue. The glue applying unit is rotatably disposed on the glue tub of the base and includes a glue shaft and an obliquely glue applying member. The aforementioned obliquely glue applying member is coaxially connected to the top of the glue shaft. The obliquely glue applying member has a glue applying surface. The glue applying surface is a tapered surface with a wide top and a narrow bottom. At least a part of the top of the aforementioned glue shaft and the glue applying surface of the obliquely glue applying member are exposed outside the glue tub. The glue applying unit is able to be driven to rotate to extract the glue in the glue tub to an outer surface of the glue shaft and the glue applying surface of the obliquely glue applying member. The aforementioned glue quantity regulator is rotatably disposed on the base. The glue quantity regulator includes a rotatable shaft, a regulating plate and a blocking plate. The aforementioned regulating plate is fixed to the rotatable shaft and has a vertical edge and an oblique edge. The regulating plate is rotatable along with the rotatable shaft to cause the vertical edge and the oblique edge separately adjacent to the glue applying surface and the outer surface of the glue shaft at the same time. The blocking plate is fixed to the rotatable shaft separately from the regulating plate. 
     By the configuration of the aforementioned glue applying mechanism, when the applied glue quantity needs to be lowered, the operator can rotate the rotatable shaft to make the regulating plate as adjacent to the glue applying unit of the glue applying mechanism as possible. In contrary, when the applied glue quantity needs to be increased, the operator can rotate the rotatable shaft a little bit to increase the gap between the regulating plate and the glue applying unit, so that the glue quantity applied to the surface of the workpiece can be effectively adjusted in thickness by the operator according to the processing requirement. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein: 
         FIG.  1    is a partial top view of an edge banding machine of an embodiment; 
         FIG.  2    is a perspective view of a glue applying mechanism of the edge banding machine of the embodiment; 
         FIG.  3    is a lateral view of  FIG.  2   : 
         FIG.  4    is an enlarged perspective view of  FIG.  2   : 
         FIG.  5    is similar to  FIG.  4   , only partially showing a glue applying unit and a glue quantity regulator; 
         FIG.  6    is a perspective view of the glue quantity regulator of the embodiment; and 
         FIG.  7    is a perspective view of a workpiece. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The technique and features of the present invention will be detailedly specified in the instanced embodiment given herein below and the accompanying drawings. The directional terms mentioned in this specification, such as ‘above’. ‘downward’, ‘inside’, ‘outside’, ‘top’ and ‘bottom’, are just for illustrative description on the basis of normal usage direction, not intended to limit the claimed scope. 
     For the detailed description of the technical features of the present invention, an illustrative preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings are given herein below. 
     This embodiment provides a glue applying mechanism  10  of an edge banding machine  1 . As shown in  FIG.  1   , the edge banding machine  1  structurally includes a pre-milling mechanism  2 , the aforementioned glue applying mechanism  10 , an edge band conveying mechanism  3 , a set of knives  4 , and a horizontal pressing wheel set  5 . The pre-milling mechanism  2  is adapted for trimming the surface of the workpiece W when the workpiece W is not applied with glue yet. The glue applying mechanism  10  is adapted for applying glue to an oblique surface F 1  and a vertical surface F 2  of the workpiece W after it is trimmed, as shown in  FIG.  7   . The edge band conveying mechanism  3  is adapted for conveying an edge band (not shown). The knife  4  is adapted for cutting off the edge band to a predetermined length, enabling the cut-off edge band to be tightly boned to the surface of the workpiece W when the glue-applied workpiece W passes through the horizontal pressing wheel set  5 . 
     As shown in  FIG.  2    to  FIG.  4   , the glue applying mechanism  10  structurally includes a base  20 , a glue applying unit  30  and a glue quantity regulator  40 . The base  20  structurally includes a glue tub  21  and a fixed seat  22 . The glue tub  21  is adapted for accommodating glue. The fixed seat  22  is located above the glue tub  21  and fixed above the glue tub  21  through a covering plate  23 . 
     The glue applying unit  30  is rotatably disposed on the glue tub  21  of the base  20  and structurally includes a glue shaft  31  and an obliquely glue applying member  32 . The glue shaft  31  is provided on the outer surface thereof with embossed structure P. The bottom end of the glue shaft  31  protrudes out of the glue tub  21 , and the bottom end of the glue shaft  31  is connected with a chain wheel  311 , enabling the edge banding machine  1  that the glue shaft  31  is driven to rotate through a motor and a chain (not shown), the technique of that can be referred to Taiwan Patent No. 1691365. The obliquely glue applying member  32  is coaxially connected to the top of the glue shaft  31 . The obliquely glue applying member  32  has a glue applying surface  321 . The glue applying surface  321  is a tapered surface with a wide top and a narrow bottom. The glue applying surface  321  in this embodiment is an inverted conical surface. The glue applying surface  321  is provided thereon with a concave and convex structure  322 . In this embodiment, the concave and convex structure  322  is a cone-shaped spiral groove H. 
     Referring to  FIG.  3    to  FIG.  6   , the glue quantity regulator  40  is rotatably disposed on the fixed seat  22  of the base  20 . The glue quantity regulator  40  structurally includes a rotatable shaft  41 , a regulating plate  42  and a blocking plate  43 . The top end of the rotatable shaft  41  protrudes out of the fixed seat  22 , and a handle  44  is connected above the rotatable shaft  41  for the operator to conveniently hold the handle  44  to rotate the rotatable shaft  41 . The regulating plate  42  is made of metal sheet and fixed to the rotatable shaft  41 . The regulating plate  42  is a plate uniform in thickness and has a vertical edge E 1  and an oblique edge E 2 . The oblique edge E 2  is directly connected with the vertical edge E 1 . The regulating plate  42  is configured correspondingly to the glue applying unit  30 , enabling that when the operator rotates the rotatable shaft  41 , the regulating plate  42  is rotated along with the rotatable shaft  41  to cause the vertical edge E 1  and the oblique edge E 2  separately adjacent to the outer surface of the glue shaft  31  and the glue applying surface  321  at the same time, which means the vertical edge E 1  and the oblique edge E 2  are not in contact with the outer surface of the glue shaft  31  and the glue applying surface  321 . There is still a gap between the regulating plate  42  and the glue applying unit  30 , and this gap is adapted to decide the thickness of the glue applied to the surface of the workpiece W. The blocking plate  43  is also made of metal sheet and is a plate uniform in thickness, which is fixed to the rotatable shaft  41  separately from the regulating plate  42 . The blocking plate  43  is configured similarly to the regulating plate  42  and thereby also has a vertical edge E 3  and an oblique edge E 4 . The vertical edge E 3  of the blocking plate  43  is directly connected with the oblique edge E 4  of the blocking plate  43 . In this embodiment, the blocking plate  43  and the regulating plate  42  are arranged parallel to each other. The blocking plate  43  and the regulating plate  42  have a predetermined distance D therebetween. The width of the blocking plate  43  is smaller than the width of the regulating plate  42 . In coordination with the viscosity coefficient of the glue and the rotational speed of the driven glue applying unit  30 , the molten glue extracted from the glue tub  21  by the glue applying unit  30  will be blocked by the blocking plate  43 , thereby uneasy to flow downward to the bottom of the glue tub  21  quickly and directly. That enables the glue applying unit  30  to extract the glue to the outer surface of the glue shaft  31  and the glue applying surface  321  of the obliquely glue applying member  32  well. 
     By the above-described configuration of the glue applying mechanism  10 , when the applied glue quantity needs to be lowered, the operator can hold the handle  44  to rotate the rotatable shaft  41  to make the regulating plate  42  more adjacent to the glue applying unit  30  of the glue applying mechanism  10 , so as to reduce the gap between the regulating plate  42  and the glue applying unit  30 , thereby reducing the thickness of the applied glue, i.e. reducing the applied glue quantity. In contrary, when the thickness of the applied glue needs to be increased, the operator can rotate the rotatable shaft  41  to increase the gap between the regulating plate  42  and the glue applying unit  30 , so that the operator can effectively adjust the glue quantity of the glue according to the processing requirement. 
     The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.