US3284961A - Polishing device - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 15, 1966 e. w. GRAVES POLISHING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 25, 1964 Nov. 15, 1966 cs. w. GRAVES POLISHING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 25, 1964 United States Patent 3,284,961 POLISHING DEVICE George W. Graves, Glenview, Ill., assignor to Buehler Ltd., Evanston, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed May 25, 1964, Ser. No. 369,995 4 Claims. (Cl. 51-170) This invention relates to a polishing device and more particularly to a portable device for polishing spots on metallic and other surfaces which are to be examined under the reflected light microscope. To make such examination the material must be polished and etched with an acid to reveal the crystalline structure. The polishing should not distort the structure by cold working and should not leave scratches or cause pitting or other deformation and it should not enlarge or fill in the voids which may exist. It should be capable of removing any surface or skin layers which are not to be examined.

Conventionally, such process is accomplished by cutting a small sample from the metal and taking it to a laboratory where it is abraded manually or mechanically against successively finer grades of abrasives on rotating wheels. The sample is moved around the wheel so that the direction of abrasion changes constantly. If done by hand the direction is changed by different directional movements of the hand.

However, it is sometimes desirable to polish and examine a spot on a large article which cannot be moved or may not be destroyed, such as large castings, pipes, tanks, welded joints or the like.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a portable apparatus which can accomplish polish ing of a spot to be examined under a microscope on the situs of the object to be inspected without cutting a piece thereof or examining it in places where the removal of a section would be destructive.

The device of the present invention may be rested on top of a horizontal or substantially horizontal surface by means of tripod legs. Instead of the legs it may be attached by suitable means to vertical, upside-down, inclined or other surfaces and the polishing accomplished in situ.

The portable spot polisher of the present invention comprises a spindle carrying a resilient flexible polisher head and is rotated by suitable means simultaneously about its axis and in a gyratory movement, or more specifically in an orbital path on the fixed surface to be polished in a convenient and economical manner.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention, its details of construction and arrangement of parts, will be apparent from a consideration of the following specification and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device of the present invention disposed vertically on tripod legs.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of the device shown in FIG. 1 and in lieu of the legs of FIG. 1 the device of FIG. 2 is provided with an adapter which permits the polisher to be used either vertically with its polishing head down, or vertically with its polishing head up, or in horizontal or inclined positions.

FIG. 3 is a transverse section on the line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 diagrammatically indicates the orbital movement of the polisher head of the present invention, and

FIG. 5 diagrammatically indicates the abrading pattern or action of the spot polishing device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the polishing head showing the separable abrasive or polishing cloth attached thereto.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 3,284,961 Patented Nov. 1 5, 1966 indicates a two-piece substantially cylindrical outer housing suitably composed of two sections having annular flanges joined together by bolts as at 11. Concentrically disposed within this outer housing is the inner housing 12. This inner housing 12 is rotatably mounted within the outer housing 10 by means of the bearing 13 disposed between the forward end portions 14 and 15 at one end of the assembly, and at the other end by means of the bearing 16 which journals the shaft 17 secured to the end plate 18 integral with the inner housing 12.

Disposed within the inner housing -12 and at an incline of about 25 to its longitudinal axis is a motor generally indicated as 19. This motor is fixedly seated at one end by means of its boss 20 lodged in the intermediate plate 21 extending transversely in the inner housing 12, and at its opposed or forward end by means of the boss 22 disposed within the annular seat 23 integral with the forward end or head of the housing 1 2.

One end of the armature shaft 24 has secured thereto a chuck 25 which carries the axially reciprocal resiliently mounted or spring-pressed spindle 26. The spindle in turn has removably secured therein a flexible resilient polisher head 27 to which there is adhesively and releasably secured abrasive paper or other polishing material 28.

For operation in the field this motor 19 may be a 12 volt DC. motor and operated from a source such as .a battery, rectifier or generator. The current is fed to the battery through the line or cord 29 controlled by the On-Of'f switch 30, and leads to a pair of annular brass rings 31, 32 seated in the hardened resinous holder, such as a phenolic composition 33, within an annular recess in the dome 34 of outer housing 10. The current is picked up from the rings 31 and 32 by means of the spring-pressed brushes 35 and 36 leading to the motor field through the leads 37.

The inner housing 12 and its fixedly secured, angularly disposed, motor 19 are caused to jointly rotate by means of the rubber surfaced friction wheel 38- in engagement wit-h the dome 34 and operatively secured through reduction gearing to the motor armature shaft end 39 which carries the pinion gear 40. This gear train consists of the gear 41 engaged to the gear 40', which in turn carries the pinion gear 42 meshed with the gear 43. The latter carries a pinion gear 44 which in turn meshes with the gear 45 of the shaft 46 which is supported in the bushing 47 seated in'the transverse plate 21 in the inner housing 12. The shaft 46 extends through an opening in the head 18 of inner housing 12 and supports the friction wheel 38 in operative engagement with the inner periphery of the dome 34 of outer housing 10 .as previously described. Thus, when the motor 19' is actuated, its spindle 26 will rotate at for example 5,000 r.p.-m., whereas the spindle 26 and its attached polisher head 27 will gyrate about the axes of the housings 10 and 12 in an orbital pat-h at a much lesser speed.

The assembly may be vertically disposed over the work to be polished by means of the tripod legs 48 which are in threaded engagement with the lower section of the outer housing 10, as at 49, this threaded engagement permitting vertical adjustment of the unit with respect to the surface to be polished.

In lieu of the tripod legs 48 an adapter may be provided comprising an arm 50 as shown in FIG. 2, which snugly embraces the outer housing 10 and is held engaged by the standard 51 over the aperture plate 52 where it may be adjusted longitudinally of the standard 51 by means of the spring 54. The plate 52 may be engaged to the work by suitable clamps, chains, or other means not shown.

FIG. 4 diagrammatically indicates the orbital path of the polishing head 27. As will appear from the illustrations, when the head 27 contacts the work its entire surface is not in contact therewith but rather approximately one-half the area thereof. As this rotates in its orbital path the overlapping pattern causes polishing of a rela: tively small area indicated at 55 shown within the dotted circle in FIG. 4.

FIG. 5 very diagrammatically indicates the polishing pattern of the present invention and shows in a linear manner superimposed semi-circular patterns showing their multitudinous overlap of the spot 55 being polished. Actually, the movement instead of being rectilinear as shown in the semi-circular portions is curvilinear, and the grinding action comes from all directions during a complete circuit of the polishing head 27. By successively reducing the fineness of the abrasive pad 28, and through the .aid of liquids for suspending polishing materials as is conventional in the art to which the present invention pertains, ultimately a highly polished spot ready for microscopic examination is obtained.

Although I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it -wil be understood by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the details thereof without departing from its scope as comprehended by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A portable spot polisher comprising .an outer ho-using adapted to be supported adjacent to a surface to be polished, an inner concentric housing rotatably mounted within said outer housing, a motor fixedly secured to and within said inner housing and at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said inner housing, means for rotating said inner housing and motor operatively associated with one end of the motor shaft and disposed within said outer housing and a spindle carrying a resilient flexible polisher head engaged to the opposed end of the motor shaft and projecting outwardly through aligned apertures formed in said housings.

2. A portable spot polisher comprising an outer housing, means for supporting said housing adjacent to a surface to be polished with its longitudinal .axis normal to said surface, an inner concentric housing rotatably mounted within said outer housing, a motor fixedly secured to and within said inner housing and at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said inner housing, means for rotating said inner housing and motor operatively associated with one end of the motor shaft and disposed With-in said outer housing and a yieldably urged axially reciprocable spindle carrying a resilient flexible polisher head engaged to the opposed end of the motor shaft and projecting outwardly through aligned apertures formed in said housings.

3. A portable spot polisher comprising an outer housing adapted to be supported adjacent and normal to a surface to be polished, an inner concentric housing rotatably mounted within said outer housing, a motor fixedly secured to and within said inner housing with its axis at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said inner housing, frictional drive means for rotating said inner housing and motor operatively associated with one end of the motor shaft and disposed within said outer housing and a spindle carrying a resilient flexible polisher head engaged to the opposed end of the motor shaft and projecting outwardly through aligned apertures formed in said housings.

4. A portable spot polisher comprising an outer housing adapted to be supportedadjacent and normal to a surface to be polished, an inner concentric housing rotatably mounted within said outer housing, a motor fixedly secured to and within said inner housing with its axis at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said inner housing, frictional drive means for rotating said inner housing and motor disposed within said outer housing and operatively associated with one end of the motor shaft through an interposed speed reducing gear train, and a spindle carrying a resilient flexible polisher head engaged to the opposed end of the motor shaft and projecting outwardly through aligned apertures formed in said housings.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,519,526 12/ 1924 Bean 51-43 1,622,592 3/1927 Kartz 5ll70 1,996,842 4/1935 Stevens 51-43 2,303,531 12/ 1942 Eyster 51-120 2,942,3 84 6/ 1960 Higley 51-1702 3,205,622 9/1965 Leveque 51120 FOREIGN PATENTS 627,428 6/ 1927 France.

373,465 4/1923 Germany.

324,583 l/1930 Great Britain.

HAROLD D. WHITEHEAD, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A PORTABLE SPOT POLISHER COMPRISING AN OUTER HOUSING ADAPTED TO BE SUPPORTED ADJACENT TO A SURFACE TO BE POLISHED, AN INNER CONCENTRIC HOUSING ROTATABLY MOUNTED WITHIN SAID OUTER HOUSING, A MOTOR FIXEDLY SECURED TO AND WITHIN SAID INNER HOUSING AND AT AN ANGLE TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID INNER HOUSING, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID INNER HOUSING AND MOTOR OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH ONE END OF THE MOTOR SHAFT AND DISPOSED WITHIN SAID OUTER HOUSING AND A SPINDLE CARRYING A RESILIENT FLEXIBLE POLISHER HEAD ENGAGED TO THE OPPOSED END OF THE MOTOR SHAFT AND PROJECTING OUTWARDLY THROUGH ALIGNED APERTURES FORMED IN SAID HOUSINGS.

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