US1575872A - Harry b - Google Patents

Description

March 9 1926.

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H. B. STROHL CLAMPING DEVICE Filed July 3, 1925 Patented Mar. 9, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY LB. STROHL, OF SIDNEY, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE ANDERSON BODY COMPANY, OF SIDNEY, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CLAMPING DEVICE.

Application :filed July 3, 1925.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY B. S'rnonn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sidney, in the county of Shelby, in the State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clamping Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in clamping devices, and has 0 particular reference to clamps for holding the ends of a metal sheet when it is stretched by a forming die.

It is the principal object of my invention to provide a simple, economical and etlicient clamp for gripping the ends of a metal sheet and tightly holding them when the sheet is stretched by such apparatus as a forming die. The ends of the metal sheet may be easily inserted straight into the clamps, and

pulled straight out afterthe sheet is formed,

as against the more laborious and inconvenient method of inserting them from the side.

The advantages of my clamp weigh heavily against other ,known ones, since the labor of inserting an end of the sheet straight into the clamp is reduced to the minimum, and it is not necessary, as in other clamps, to hammer them loose to release the sheet after it has been formed. This releasing operation alone has required the labor of as many as five men, as against that of one or two who may easily pull the ends of the sheet straight out of my clamps.

My invention contemplates the use of two parallel, spaced clamping members that are recessed along their adjacent faces to receive a half-round shaft which, when turned into the slot between the members, will tenaciously engage the end of a metal sheet inserted straight down between them, to hold it the tighter, the harder the pull that is exerted upon it.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a forming apparatus employing my clamps for holding the ends of the metal sheet being stretched. Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of my clamps, partly in section. Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken through the clamp on the line 3-3 of Figure 2 before the half-round gripping shaft is turned into the space between the parallel members. And Figure st is a cross sectional view taken through the clamp on the line 4-4 of Figure Serial No. 41,449.

2, showing the end of a metal sheet being tightly gripped within it.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a detailed description of my invention, the numerals 1 and 2 designate two parallel members such as metal bars that are spaced a short distance apart. In the present instance these members 1 and 2 rest side by side upon supporting beams 3 that are mounted at their middle portions upon the bottom part. of a forming apparatus 4. The members 1 and 2 are held a sutiicient distance apart by spacer plates 5, 5 to permit the end of an article such as a metal sheet 6 to be easily inserted straight into the slot provided between said plates and the adjacent faces of the members 1 and 2. The latter members are held together by bolts 7, 'Z and tic-yoke bands 8, S which pass around them near their ends and around an anchor shaft 9 below. On each side of each band 8 are two bolts 10, 10, the upper ones passing through the upper spacer plates 5, and the lower ones passing through the lower spacer plates 5. The lower spacer plates 5,5 are thicker than the upper ones because they project into a recess 11 which is formed in the inner face of the member 2 from one end thereof to the other for a purpose soon to be described. (See Figure 3.)

Formed in the inner face of the member 1 and extending from one end thereof to the other opposite the recess 11 in the member 2, is a recess 12 that is semi-circular in cross section to receive the half-round part of a shaft 13. Substantially one-half of the. recess 12 is above, and one half below, the horizontal plane in which the recess 11 be gins. (See Figures 3 and 4 Bolted to the ends of the members 1 and 2 are pilot plates 1/1, 14, each one of which being provided with a round hole through which a round end of the shaft 13 projects. At each end the shaft 13 terminates in asquared portion 15 to receive a lever 16 by means of which the shaft may be easily turned to project the lower part of its half round portion 13 into the recess 11 of the member 2 to tightly engage the end of the sheet 6 inserted straight down in the space between the members 1 and 2 as shown in Figure 4. The metal sheet 6 is preferably folded or turned over at its ends, as indicated in Figure 4, to permit the lower edges of the half round part 13 of the shaft 13 the better to grip them when great upward pressure is applied to the sheet 6 by the formingdie 17 of the forming apparatus l illustrated in Figure 1, or by any other forming or stretching means. It is thus seen that it is unnecessary to insert the ends of the metal sheet 6 in the clamps from the side, but that they may be readily passed straight down into the space between the adjacent members 1 and 2, and removed therefrom, by one or two men as against the labor of a much larger number where clamps requiring the insertion and removal of the sheet ends from the side are used.

When an end ofl'he metal sheet 6 is passed far enough down between the members 1 and 2 to be engaged iuunediately above its turnedover portion by the lower edge of the halt? round part 1.3" of the shaft '13, the lever 16 pulled to bring that edge of the shaft into tight engagement with the sheet end, after which the tenaciousness with which the end of the sheet is held. by tl i clamp will be in. proportion to the pressure exerted upon it by the forming die. sheet end from the clamp is easily effected by drawing the lever 16 in the opposite direction to turn the half-round portion lfiiflof the shaft l3out ofthe space between the membore 1 and 2, whereupon the end of the sheet may be pulled straight up from that space with little effort.

Having described my invention, 1 claim:

1. A clamping device comprising two parallel members with a sheet receivin space between them, one of said members having its inner face formed with a semi-circular recess and the other one of said members having its inner face formed with a recess opposite the semi-circular one in the first member, a shaft having a half-round portion rotatable in the semi-circular recess, and means for turning said shaft to bring one edge of its half-round portion into engagement with the end of a sheet inserted into the space between said members, to press it firmly into the second recess, for the purpose specified.

2. A clamping device comprising two par- The removal of the revasva allel members with a sheet receiving space between them, one of said members having its inner face formed with a semi-circular recess and the other one of said members having its inner face formed with a straight recess whose top is in substantially the same horizontal plane as the center of the semicircular recess of the first member, a shaft having a half-round portion rotatable in the semi-circularrecess, and means for turning said shaft to bring one edge of its half-round portion into engagement with the end of a sheet inserted into the space between said members, to press it firmly into the straight recess of the secondmember, for the purpose specified.

3. A clamping device comprising tivoparallel members with a sheet receiving space between them, pilot plates connected to the ends of sad members, one of said members having its inner face formed with a semicircular recess, a shaft having a half-round portion rotatable in said recess, said shaft being circular beyond its half-round portion,

each pilot plate being forn'ied with a hole through which a circular portion of said shafts projects, and means on an outer end of said shaft for turning it to bring one edge of its half-round portion into engagement with the end of a sheet inserted into the space between said members, for thepurp'ose specilied.

t. A clamping device comprising two parallel members, upper and lower spacer plates between said members at their ends to provide a sheet receiving space between them and said members, one of said members having its inner face formed with a sen1i-circular recess between the upper and lower spacer plates, a shaft haviiig a half-round portion rotatable in said recess, and means applied to one end of said shaft for turning it to bring one edge of its half-round portion into engagement with the end of a sheet insorted in the space provided between said members and the spacer plates, for the purpose specificd.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 1st day of July, 1925.

HARRY B. STROHL.

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