Improvements in Tool Operating and Adjusting Mechanism for Milling and other Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Aug., 1897-Accepted, 5th Mar., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tool Operating and Adjusting Mechanism for
Milling and other Machines.
I, CHARLES EDWARD VAN NORMAN, of Waltham Avenue, in the City of Spring-
field, County of Hampden, and State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:.
This invention relates to improvements in milling and other machines having
a bed to support the work and a head which carries the rotary spindle for the tool
which operates on the work supported by the bed.
The object of the invention is to devise improved mechanisms which will enable
the spindle-carrying head to be set and confined in a plane at right angles to the
work-holding bed in any of a great number of positions, and to enable the spindle-
driving devices to operate as efficiently while the head is in one position as in
another.
And the invention consists in constructions and combinations of parts all
substantially as will hereinafter fully appear and be set forth in the claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which :-
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a milling machine comprising the present
improvements, the head being shown as in a position to vertically present the tool-
carrying spindle.
Figure 2 is an end view of the upper part of the frame of the machine and of
the head.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the upper part of the machine showing the head
as changed to present the spindle axially horizontal.
.Figures 4, 5, and 6, are respectively a side elevation, a front elevation, and
detail view, of a modified construction of the machine shown in the preceding
figures.
In the drawings, A, A² represent the supporting standard and base of the
machine having at its front the bed B, which is mounted for the longitudinal and
transverse movements on the support C, which may be elevated and lowered all as
usual.
с
The standard A, has at its top the frame D, which may, if desired, be mounted
as a slide to be moved longitudinally so that its front extremity may have a greater
or less extent of overhang above the bed B.
This frame, though movable, may be considered as a fixed part of the standard
to all intents and purposes, so far as the present novel features are concerned, as
it once having been moved so as to project sufficiently over the work-bed to best
adapt the tool, in the adjustably rotatable head pivotally secured on said projection,
to the work it has to perform, said frame D, remains stationary until new work is
laid out on the work-holding bed, requiring a different location of said adjustably
rotatable head relative thereto,

page_text: G represents the head by which is rotatably supported the spindle a, for carrying
the mill, or other tool, said spindle being provided with a grooved pulley. This
head is pivotally connected to a vertical wall lying in a plane coinciding with the
line of movement of the frame D, and constituting an integral part thereof, and it
is usually applied to the wall forming one of the sides of said frame.
The said head G, consists of a casting comprising the flat, vertical part 10, to
lie facewise against, or in proximity to, the flat side of the frame, and the two
arms 12, 12, extended outwardly at right angles from said part 10, which form
the journals for the spindle a, the driving pulley d, therefor being accommodated
between the hub-like extremities of said arms 12, 12; and said casting furthermore
comprises the arm c, which projects at about right angles to, and as a member of,
one of said arms; this arm c, also having its direction of extension from the arm 12,
about parallel with the side of the frame D.
This arm c, carries a stud, or shaft f, on which are two guiding sheaves g. 9,
which rotate in planes at right angles to the plane of rotation of the spindle-
driving pulley d, and the location or arrangement of these sheaves, relative to said
spindle-pulley, is such that no matter how much the position of the head may be
shifted, peripheral portions of these sheaves will be substantially at the plane of
rotation of said spindle-pulley.
It is not essential that the said arm c, having the sheaves g, g, thereon should be
supported on the said head, or move as one therewith. The stud or shaft f, may
be, if desired, supported in the frame D, in any convenient manner and be moved
separately from the rotatable head, when it is desired to change the position of the
latter. The preferred construction, however, is that shown in Figure 1.
The frame D, has, through the side wall, the arc-slot h, which is concentric with
the point of pivotal connection at i, of the head upon the frame.
The
The head G, has the stud or shaft j, which projects through the said arc-slot
and receives, at its screw-threaded projecting extension, the clamping nut e.
pivotal support for the head consists of the stud or bolt at i, extended through the
widened part k, of the framing and also receiving the confining nut 7. It is obvious
that if under certain conditions it should seem desirable to locate the slot h, in the
head G, instead of the frame, and to fix the bolt or stud i, in the frame, such a
change can be effected.
When the clamping nut e, and the confining nut 7, are loosened, the head G
may be swung around to carry the spindle, always in a vertical plane, but to any
angle of inclination to the bed, or to a horizontal position parallel with the bed,-
and then to hold the head in its proper placement, the nuts are set up.
On the base A³, is the driving-pulley m, and on the side of the frame D, there-
above is a fixture which comprises the horizontal and longitudinally bored hub n,
in which is movably fitted the bar o, which supports at its end the take-up or
belt-tightening sheaves q, q.
The endless driving-band t, is passed around the driving-pulley m, and the
spindle-pulley d, the two courses thereof having guiding engagements with
the idler sheaves 9, 9, and also such engagements as to render them taut with the
sheaves q, q.
The swinging of the head to different positions will, of course, necessitate the
endwise adjusting movements of the bar o, which supports the take-up sheaves 9, 9,
to keep the driving-band at its proper tension, as will be manifest on an inspection
and comparison of Figures 1 and 3. And it will be seen that no matter how much
the guiding pulleys may deflect the courses of the driving-bands from the straight
lines between the take-up sheaves and the opposite peripheral portions of the
spindle-pulley d, the courses of the band will always be maintained tangential to the
peripheries of said spindle-pulley and in the plane of its rotation.
A modification of the above described construction is shown in Figures 4, 5,
and 6, and obviously comes legitimately within the scope of this invention, and
represents a somewhat less expensive construction but equally well adapted to the
work of the machine shown in Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, on pieces of work of small

page_text: dimension, which do not require of the machine the same radius of action, so to
speak.
The said construction consists in a standard A, having thereon a curved arm 14,
whose extremity over-hangs the work-holding table. Said arm is made preferably
integral with said base and its extremity is provided with a plain vertical wall 15,
on which the plate 16, has a sliding vertical movement.
A circular part 17, of said plate, is located at right angles to said vertical wall 15,
and at right angles to the work-holding table B.
A spindle-carrying head G, is pivotally supported for rotation in a vertical plane
on said circular part 17, of said plate 16, and means for securing said head at any
desired degree of inclination relative to the work-holding table are provided similar
to the means shown in Figures 1 to 3, and heretofore described, viz.:-a bolt in
said rotatable head engaging with a slot concentric with the stud on which said
head turns, which slot is in the plate or wall supporting said rotatable head.
The tool-spindle a, in said head is driven in the same manner as the spindle
shown in Figures 1 to 3.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A milling machine, the standard, the sliding frame placed on the top thereof,
and provided with a slotted side wall, and the bed for the work, combined with a
flat plate pivoted upon the side wall and provided with means for securing it in
any desired position, the head extending outwardly from the plate, and carrying
the spindle provided with a pulley, two guiding pulleys journaled upon the arms
which project from the heads, the driving-belt, adjustable tightening pulley, and
a driving-pulley for the belt, substantially as described.
2. The combination with the bed and the frame having a part which projects over
the bed, provided with an arc-formed slot, of the head, in which the pulley-provided
tool-carrying spindle is journaled,-pivotally supported by the said framing at a
point concentrically of the said arc-slot, and having a member comprising the
threaded stud j, which projects through said arc-slot and receives the confining
nut e, to bear against the face of the framing adjacent said slot, and having the
arm carrying the pair of guiding sheaves 9, 9, the peripheries of which are
coincident with the plane of rotation of the pulley which is provided on the spindle,
the driving-pulley m, the bar o, adjustably supported on the frame and carrying
the paired take-up sheaves and the belt running around the driving-pulley and
spindle-pulley, having a take-up engagement with the said idlers, and having a
guiding engagement with the said sheaves g, g, substantially as described.
3. In a milling machine, the work-holding bed combined with a frame having
a vertical wall on a plane at right angles to the longitudinal movement of said
bed, a flat plate pivoted upon said wall, a spindle supported in suitable bearings on
said plate, a pulley on said spindle, a driving-belt therefor, an arm with guide-
pulleys journaled thereon, adapted to be moved in a plane parallel with said plate,
means for moving said belt, and means for securing said flat plate to said vertical
wall in any desired position, substantially as described.
1007
CHARLES E. VAN NORMAN.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.