US1505964A - Process of and apparatus for forming balls - Google Patents

Description

Aug. Z6 1924.

F. E. MARCY PROCESS 0F AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING BALLS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 28, 1922 Aug. 26. 1924. 1,505,964

F. E. MARCY I PROCESS 0F AND APPARATUS FORk FORMING BALLS Filed March 2B 1922 3 Sheets-Shed?. '3

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Patented ug. 26, 1924.

UNITED STATES FRANK EARL MARCY, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING BALLS.

Application filed March 28, 1922.

To @ZZ 'zc/wm t may concern.' Y

.Be it known that I, FRANK EARL Manor?, a citizen of the United States,.residing at Los Angeles, in the county Of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of and Apparatus for Forming Balls, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a process of and apparatus for forming balls or other objects of rotation from rods or bars or whatever material it is desired to make such bodies.

Vhile the invention is not limited to the formation of a particular class of balls, it is primarily intended for the formation of steel or iron balls adapted for use in Crusher mills. It is desirable that such balls shall not be only made of very hard steel but that the mass of the metal constituting the finished ball shall have a high and uniform density.

It is the principal object of the invention to provide a process of and apparatus for rapidly and cheaply making balls having a high and uniform density.

For a full understanding of the invention reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus for carrying out the object of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view thereof; l

Figs. 3-9 are more or less diagrammatic plan views of die members having different forms of grooves suitable for the purpose Of the invention.

Fig. 10 shows a plurality of fragmentary sectional views on lines ara, -b, c-c, cZ--d and e-e, in Fig. 8;

Fig. 11 shows two sectional views on lines f--f and g-g Fig. 9;

Fig. 12 is a side elevation of one of the dies shown in Fig. 9;

Fig. 13 is a plan view of another form of die;

Figs. 11i and 15 are more or less diagrammatic plan views of different modifications; and

Figs. 16 and 17 are elevation and end view respectively of an arrangement in which the dies have a different relative position.

Having reference to Fig. 1, 10 is a stationary die element mounted on supports 11, and 12 is another die element mounted for sliding movement in a frame r13. "The die element 12 may be reciprocated by any Serial No. 547,501.

suitable means for instance a hydraulic piston, as shown.

As is clearly indicated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 12, the surfaces of the ends of the dies 10 and 12 directed 4toward each other are tapered and the remaining surfaces of the two die elements lie in the same plane.

In the upper surface of the stationary die 10 and in the lower surface of the movable die 12 are formed grooves which cooperate with each other to cut bars into sections and shape the balls or other bodies of rotation.

The principal feature of novelty is the form and disposition of these grooves and their relation to each other.

For the sake Of simplicity only one groove is indicated on each of the die members 15 and 16 in Fig. 3. rlhe grooves 17 and 18 are directed at the same angle relatively to the direction of movement of the die 15 and are symmetrically disposed in relation to the longitudinal center line of the dies. The line bisecting the angle defined by the grooves extends at right angle to the direction of movement.

At the beginning of the forward mcvement of the die 15 the abutting ends of grooves 17 and 18 come into register with each other while the opposite ends are in register when at the end of the` forward stroke the die 15 passes out of Contact with the die 16. ln all relative positions of the dies 15 and 16 in overlapping relation the two grooves intersect each other, a middle position being indicated in F ig, 1.

As indicated more particularly in connect-ion with Figs. 8 and 9, the cross-sectional form of the grooves varies from end to end. lVhile there is some latitude in the forn'iation of the grooves, all of them have substantially the same characteristics. The cross-sectional forms shown in Figs. 10 and 11 may therefore 'be considered as typical of all grooves,

A bar 20 shown in Fig. 1 is placed on the front end of the stationary die 16. As the movable die 15 moves forwardly, the bar is rolled forwardly between. the surfaces of the dies and is progressively pressed into the grooves due to the cam action of the tapers of the dies. The space between the tapering surfaces gradually decreases until the level surfaces come into contact with each other and remain in contact to the end of the stroke.

The grooves are defined by sharp cutting edges 21 which gradually cut the rod into sections as the rolling proceeds. Vhen the level surfaces of the dies come in contact with each other the cutting operation is completed and the severed sections are completely contained in the cio-acting grooves.

Considering a single groove on each die, as shown in Fig. 1, and assuming that a block of metal of the Width of the groove is placed in position over the groove, it is obvious that this block will be confined between the co-acting grooves and roll forwardly under the Wedge pressure both along groove 18 and groove 17. lts position Wit-h respect to the grooves is deiined by the intersection of the grooves. It is evidentthat its movement is the result of tivo rolling or rotary motions, one duc to the movement oit the die 15 and one due to the shitting of the point of intersection of the tivo grooves in a direction at an'angle to the direction ot movement ot the c ie 15.

This composite rolling movement of the block about different axes oi' rotation has the same effect as a swaging operation. The metal is forred at each instant to substantially lill the space deiined by the int-ersection of the grooves and the forces acting upon it operate to effectively condense it. By the time the body oit metal thus treated drops out of the grooves it has passed through all the different stages oftormation prescribed by the varying' form of the grooves and assumes its iinal shape according to the shape of the ends of the groove Where they pass out of co-action.

While for the salie of facilitating the understanding of the Jrorming process reference has been made to a single block or body ot metal` the same principle of operation applies necessarily to a plurality of adjacent grooves in their eitect upon a rod ei;- tending)` across the grooves.

Having again reference to Figs. 10 and 12, it should 'be noted that the grooves are iirst relatively flat as indicated by the section (cmo. Section b-) is deeper and section c-c still deeper. In tact the depth oi' the grooves at section c-c is deeper than the radiusof the ball in its tinished form. rThis is ot special importance inasmuch as it allows an excess of metal to be pressed into the bottom which it is easier to press back to form a semisphere than it is to form a semisphere by forcing the metal into a groove oi circular cross-section in the lirst instance.. At the same time this feature serves the purpose to bring about the desired condensation of the metal as previously referred to, After the cross-section c-c the form of the grooves gradually assumes the circula-r cross-section or other desired form.

As indicated in Fig 10, the angular groove indicated by the section c-c change to a groove curvilinear in cross section and ot' a depth greater than the radius et the linished ball but ,of smaller Width.. While the Width `between the edges 21 of the grooves in cross-section o o, tmb. and

y c-c represents 1, the Width of the groove at the cross-section e-c is 3/4. The body of revolution produced thereby is a flat oval about 1% in diameter. ln Fig. 11, on the other side, the cross-sectional form after the cross-section c-c gradually approaches a semi-circle which is reached at the crosssection g-g.

ln the foregoing has been given a statement ot' the broad principle of forming balls or ther bodies of revolution by a composite rolling movement about two axes. The disposition and relation of the grooves 17 and 18 are advantageously modified to better suit actual conditions.

Fig. 5 shows tivo grooves 19 and 19 respectively diverging from each other from one end to the other. This form is otherwise similar to the form suggested in Fig. 1.

In the form shown in Fig. 6 the rst part 24 of the grooves is straight While the remaining part 25 is curved- This allows the bar to be out through to a greater extent before the composite movement starts.

The form shown in Fig. 7 has a straight portion 26 at one end and a straight portion 27 at the other end between which there are curved portions 28.

The terms shown in Figs. 8 and 9 have a relatively long straight portion 29 and 30 respectively and shorter deected end portions 31 and 32 respectively. s

The different forms of grooves referred to merely represent several of a large number of forms adapted for carrying out 'the oh* ject of the invention.

The relative movement ot the tivo dies need not be linear. is indicated in Fig. 13, the path ot movement may be circular. The dies 33 and 34 are mounted for relative motion about an axis 35 as center. Either one may be held stationary and the other moved. ln analogy to the forms previously described, the grooves do not lie in circles having the axis as center. ln the particular embodiment shown a portion 36 of the grooves is circular With the axis 35 as center While the portion 37 is eccentric. The grooves on iboth dies are of coursesu'bstantially symmetrical as previously described. In this particular instance part of the movement ot' the metal through the circular portion of the grooves is uniformly circular While through the eccentric portion there is a composite movement7 one component being circular While the other is radial. The mode or operation and the specific co-action between the grooves of the tivo dies is essentially the same. The disposition of the grooves could obviously be varied within the same scope as the grooves in the first construction are varied.

The rods are preferably heated to a forging temperature before they are operated upon and the dies may be exposed to a source of heat to prevent rapid cooling of the heated rods. The llames in Fig. 1 are of courrse conventional representations of all forms of heating apparatus available for this purpose.

l/Vhile the method above described constitutes what may lbe called the preferred mode of carrying out the invention, the objects of the invention may be carried out in different ways.

In Fig. 14, 40 .represents the movable dio and 41 the stationary die, the relation being substantiallyv the same as indicated in F 1 and 2. The grooves 42 in the lower surface of die 40 are parallel to the direction of motion. The grooves 43 in the upper surface of the stationary die 41 consist of a portion 48a in alignment with the grooves 42 and a portion 43b parallel to the direction of motion but offset .slightly to one side relatively to the portion 43a. This asymmetric arrangement oauses the body of' metal to turn about two axes and has substantially the same effect as the arrangements previ ously described. The bodies of metal are out off from bars and partly formed in the portion 43a and are then finished in the portion 43". The offset may of course vary within certain limits and may be greater in grooves of larger cross-section than in grooves of smaller cross-section. In practice 51g to fg constitutes the average operating range for balls of the size contemplated.

Rotation about two axes may also be brought about by an angular relation of the dies. As shown in Fig. 15, the position of' the stationary die 44 may be angularly adjusted by means of set screws 45.. Assuming that the grooves in the two dies are identical in every respect and parallel to the longitudinal aXis of the dies, 'the position of the grooves 48 in the stationary die 44 may be angularly shifted by adjustment of the set screws so that at the inner or abut ting end the grooves 48 are in register with the grooves 49 of the movable die but are offset at the finishing end gli to lg In the apparatus shown in Figs. 16 and 17, the position of the movable die may be adjusted relatively to the stationary die. The frame 50 carries the stationary upper die 51 while the movable lower die 52 is guided in adjustable guides 53. The adjustment of the guides 5,3 may be effected by means of set screws 54 extending through the side walls of the frame 50 in engagement with the guides 53. By this arrangement the same effect may be obtained as with the arrangement shown in Fig. 15.

In the claims the term ball7 is intended to include all bodies of rotation of the order of balls whether they are spherical or oval in cross-section or of other similar forms.

I claim 1. Apparatus for forming balls, comprising two dies mounted for sliding movement over one another and having co-operating ball-forming grooves, the grooves having progressively Varying cross-sectional configurations and varying depths, the greatest depth being provided intermediate the ends of the grooves and being in excess of the radius of the ball to be formed.

2. Apparatus for forming balls, comprising two dies mounted for sliding movement over one another and having cooperating ball-forming grooves, the grooves having portions substantially V-shaped in cross-section co-operating intermediate the ends of the stroke and portions progressively Changing from V-shape to semi-circular shape, said last mentioned portions cooperating durino the final part of the rolling stroke.

3. pparatus according to claim 2 in which the depth of the V-shaped portions is greater than that of the semi-circular portions.

In testimony whereof, I aHiX my signature.

FRANK EARL MARCY.

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