US1132698A - Blank-holding mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

R. L. WILGOX. BLANK HOLDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JULYB, 1914.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

VV/T/VESSES 54 H M S. W

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD LESTER WILCOX, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE WATERIBURY FARREL FOUNDRY AND MACHINE COMPANY, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

BLANK-HOLDING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

Application filed July 3, 1914. Serial N 0. 848,851.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD LESTER \VIL- oox, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Vaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Blank-Holding Mechanism, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to new and improved mechanism for retaining blanks in holding devices while an operation is performed thereon, such as cutting a slot in the end thereof, but is not limited thereto.

A form of machine in which my improvement is especially adapted is shown in Letters Patent No. 1,029,653, issued to me June 18, 1912, for improvements in slotting machines.

It is the object of this invention, among other things, to provide a mechanism to accomplish the purposes, above briefly set forth, that will be simple in design, economical to construct, and will perform its function without injury to the blank, being especially effective for blanks having comparatively short shanks.

To these, and other ends, my invention consists in the blank holding mechanism, having certain details of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which like numerals of reference designate like parts in the several figures; Figure 1 is a plan view of my invention; and Fig. 2 is a sectional view thereof, upon line A-B of Fig. 1.

For convenience the invention is illustrated as applied to rotary holding dials, such as is commonly used in slotting machines, that is, a type of machine wherein a slot is cut in the end of a blank to receive a screw driver. So much of said mechanism as is essential to the description of this invention comprises the rotary dials 1 and 2, which are mounted upon shafts 3 and 4, the former dial being known as the carrier dial, and having a plurality of peripheral notches 5, and the latter the gripping dial, having a plurality of projections 6 upon the periphery thereof, corresponding in number with the notches 5. These dials are intermittently rotated in the direction of the arrows shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and during said rotation the notches 5 and projections 6 register with each other.

The blanks are delivered to the carrier dial 1 from a chute 7, which is fixed in such position, that at each rest position of the said dials, one of the notches 5 registers with the slot 8 in said chute. Successive movements of the carrier dial 1 convey the blank from the chute to the point where it is engaged by one of the projections 6 upon the gripping dial 2, this position being the one shown in Fig. 1, wherein one of the projections 6 is within the notch 5 upon the line A-B. While the blank is held in this position the slot is cut in the head thereof.

During its travel from the chute to the above described operating position, the blank is retained within the notch 5 by the fixed plate 9, and thereafter by the plate 10, until the blank passes said latter plate, at which time it drops out of the carrier dial either by gravity or by mechanism specially arranged to perform this function.

The mechanism above described does not constitute any portion of this invention. However, in the type of mechanism just described it is diflicult in operating upon blanks having a comparatively short shank to provide sufficient pressure upon said shank to hold the blank rigid while the slot is being cut therein, the action of the saw being such as to cant or tilt the blank between the dials, and therefore cut the slot at an improper place, or the saw might even lift the blank out of the dials and throw it to one side without cutting the slot therein. It is to insure the positive holding of these blanks in the correct position between the dials, without relative movement therebetween during the sawing operation, that is one of the principal objects of the invention, and this without respect to the length of the shank, the diameter of the head, or the depth or width of the slot to be cut therein. In the main, this desirable result is accomplished by providing a member that projects over the head of the blank in such position as to prevent the movement thereof between the dials during the slotting operation, and so arranged that some of the strain may be taken thereby and upon the head of the blank rather than confining it all to the shank.

In the practice of my invention I provide companion disks 11 having an overhanging lip 12 thereon arranged so as to project over the head of the blank, with an open space therebetween suflicient to permit the saw to pass therethrough.

In Fig. 2 a blank is shown between the dials with the head slotted, in which a limited open space appears between the underside of the overhanging lip and the top of the blank. This space may vary in width as desired, but it is preferable that the head of the blank contact with the underside of said lip, thereby entirely eliminating the open space.

Instead of a disk 11, it is advantageous in some cases to substitute a disk 13 on a filler collar 14. A filler collar of the desired thick ness is substituted to accommodate blank heads of different lengths, without substituting new disks l3. Either form will operate equally as well, and one can be substituted for the other at pleasure.

With mechanism as herein shown and described, the blank is held against relative movement between the dials during the sawing operation irrespective of the diameter or the length of the shank, and by reason thereof much less frictional pressure may be applied by the dials upon the shank, thereby enlarging the field of usefulness of my improved device so as to include threaded blanks, the thread of which will not be upset or flattened by reason of the dial contact therewith.

There are minor changes and alterations that can be made within the invention, aside from those herein suggested, and I would therefore have it understood, that I do not limit myself to the exact construction herein shown and described, but claim all that falls fairly within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a blank holding device for a screw slotting mechanism, the combination with companion rotary dials; holding means for preventing the relative axial movement of the blank between said dials comprising a member connected with each of said dials in the path of movement of said blank while in said dial holding means and projecting over the head of said blank and exposing only that portion thereof that is to be slotted.

2. In mechanism of the character described, the combination with companion rotary dials designed to hold a blank therebetween; of a disk with an overhanging lip connected with each of said dials, said lip extending part way across the head of said blank when between said dials, with an open space between the edge thereof and the disk connected with the other dial.

3. In mechanism of the character described, the combination with companion rotary dials designed to hold a blank therebetween; of a disk with an overhanging lip connected with each of said dials, said lip extending part way across the head of said blank when between said dials, with an open space between the edge thereof and the disk connected with the other dial; and means for varying the relative positions of said lip and the face of the dial with which it is connected.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD LESTER \VILCOX.

Witnesses:

GEO. F. BYAM, FRED L. PLATT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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