US1540474A - Grinding and smoothing machine for glassware - Google Patents

Description

June 2, 1925. 1,540,474

F. L. HITCHQOCK GRINDING AND SMOOTHING- MACHiNE FOR GLASSWARE Filed July 14. 1922 r 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. i fb/iwasr LH/rcficocw.

I BY N a g WM A TTORNEYS.

June 2, 1925. 1,540,474

F. L. HITCHCOCK I GRINDIM} AND SMQQTHING MACHINE FOR GLASSWARE 511 l 15}, 1922 3 Sheets-,Sheet 2 v f h A TTORNEYS.

June 2, 1925.

F. L. HITCHCOCK GRINDING AND SMOOTHING MACHINE FOR GLASSWARE Filed July 14. 1922 .3 Sheets-Sheet u INVENTOR. a fafifsfL/flrtl/COCK; j

BY N

' ATTORNEYS,

Patented June 2,1925.

A 1,540,474 'r OFFICEQd ronnnsrn'rrrrcnoocx, on innrannroms, mmnnn, nssrenon '10 THEMARIETTA MANUFACTURING COMPANY,

OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION.

GRINDING, AND SMOOTHIHG IMACHIN'E- FOR GLAS'SWARE.

Application filed July 14, 192.2. Serial No. 574,968.

To all whom it may camera:

Be it known that I, Forum-s1 L. HITCH- coon, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Grinding and Smoothing Machine for Glassware; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in

which like numerals refer to like parts.

This invent-ion relates to a grinding and smoothing machine for grinding and smoothing the curved edge of a circular glass plate whereby said edge will be finished in a true circle for use principally as table tops, round mirrors, windows and the like.

One feature of the invention resides in the pneumatic means for securing and clamping the plates in position for the grinding and smoothing process and thereafter relieving the same for removal from the machine.

Another feature of the invention resides in the means for centering the plates be tween the clamping members, whereby their annular edges may be the grinding element.

Another feature of the invention relates to the mechanism for rotating the carriage whereby the glass plates will be first presented to the grinding element and thereaf tor presented to the smoothing element after the edges have been ground.

Still another feature of the invention relates to the driving mechanism for rotating the clamping members and glass plates secured thereby at onespeed as they are presented to the grinding element, at another speed as they are presented to the smoothing element, and brought to rest after having been smoothed for permitting their removal from the machine.

Other features of the invention reside in the driving mechanism for the grinding and smoothing elements and the adjustments and associated parts of themachine, as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

The full nature of this invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view looking down thereon. Fig. 3 is an end elevaupper. ends of the shafts there are properly presented to I power or driving end thereof. Fig. 4 is an end elevation with parts removed and in partial cross section, showing the means Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings there is shown an automatic grinding and smoothing machine supported upon the legs 10, upon which is mounted a frame 11. Rotatably and cen trally mounted upon the frame, there is a carriage or table 12 which carries about'its periphery a plurality of vertically extend ing shafts 18 supported beneath the carriage at their lower end by the bearing plates 14 mounted upon the depending brackets 15 which are secured to the under side of said carriage. The shafts 13 carry friction disks 16 slidably keyedthereto, and extend upwardly through the carriage and the bearings 17 mounted thereon. Upon the keyed the lower clamping members 18 upon which the glass plates 19 are supported when in position.

"Mounted directly above the lower clamping members 18 there is an upper clamping member 20 supported by ingarms 21* carried upon the center of the carriage 12. Mounted upon said armsin alignment with the clamping members 20 there air cylinders 22. The shafts 23 upon which the members 20 are rotatably mounted, extend upwardly into the air cylinders 22 and have secured on the upper ends thereof tion showing the taken plunger-s 24. Mounted between the plunger and the bottom of the air cylinder there is a compression spring 25 surrounding the shaft 23 for normally lifting the member 20 and holding it open in spaced relation to the member 18, as shown in the left hand side of Fig. 1. The central cylinder 22, shown in Fig. 1, is broken away to disclose the plungers 24 and spring 25. Connected with the top of the cylinders 22 there are compressed air pipes 26 which are controlled by the two way cocks 27. Bymeans of this arrangement when the glass is positionediand adjusted upon the lower clamping member 18, the operator moves the cock 27,0pening the same, closing it to the atmosphere, and permitting the compressed air to force the.

upper. member 20 down on to the glass so as V to clamp the same thereon. When the for revolving the table. a I

the radially extenda centers of the uppers are compressed smoothing process has been completed, the operator'turns the cook 27 so that it closes the compressed air pipe and opens to the atmosphere, whereby the spring 25 will raise the member 20 and permit the removal of the glass. plate.

The glass plates 19 are positioned upon the clan'iping members 18 so that their centers are substantially coincident by means of the adjusting lingers 28 mounted upon the sleeves 29 which are slidably mounted upon the rectangular bar frame 30 supported by the arms 21, there being two sleeves and lingers upon each side of the clamping members, as shown in 2. The sleeves 29 are caused to slide back and forth upon the frame by means of the hand wheel 31 which is provided with a pinion mounted in engagement with the rack bars 32 secured to and slidable with the sleeves 29. This construction causes the sleeves 29 and lingers 28 to slide back and forth to and from center upon the turning of the hand wheel 31. In a smuch as the arms 28 are provided with downwardly extending engaging lugs 83 on each end, said lugs will be brought into engagement with the periphery of the glass plate as the hand wheel is turned. in theproper direction so as to center said plate upon the clamping member with respectto the four points of contact. It will be understood that the plate has been previously broken off roughly in a substantially circular form. After the plate has been centered on the clamping member and the top clamping member brought down into clamping engagement therewith, the hand wheel 31 is turned for causing the release of the peripheral edge of the glass plate so as to permit it to freely rotate with the clamping members, as will be hereinafter described. The arms 28 have the downwardly and rearwardly extending portions which are pivotally mounted upon the pin 34 so as to be. adjustable to plates with edges of varying curvatures. Afterthe arms 28 are properly positioned with respect to each other they are secured in rigid connection by the lock nuts 34 For driving the machine, there is provided a motor 35 mounted upon the frame at one end of the machine which,-through the gear 36 drives the chain 37 which in turn drives the gear 38. The gear 38 is keyed upon the shaft 39 which extends through suitable bearings in the frame and upon which is secured the grinding element 10, whereby said driving element will be driven by the motor. Keyed upon the shaft 89 there is a pulley 11 which drives the belt 12 which in turn drives the pulley 43, asshown in Fig. 3. The pulley 43 is mounted upon the shaft 14' mounted in the bearings {15 inthe frame .of said machine and having on one end thereof a beveled mounted in the bearings 49.

gear 46 adapted to mesh with the bevel gear 1-? which is keyed upon the shaft 48 Upon one end of the shaft &8 there is a pulley 50 for driving the belt 51. i

For rotating the clamping members 18 and 20, and the glass plate clamped therebetween, there is provided a friction disk 52 keyed upon the shaft 53 extending longitudinally through the frame of the machine and mounted in the bearings 5 1. On the opposite end of the shaft 53 from the friction disk 52 there is secured a worm gear 55 adapted to mesh with the worm 56 on theshaft 48, whereby said worm gear and friction disk are slowly rotated through the driving mechanism above described. As the carriage 12 is turned so thatone of the friction wheels 16 come in contact with the friction disk 52, as shown in Fig. 1, the clamping members and-glassfplate are slowly rotated about the center of their shaft 13 sothat the edge of the glass plate is brought into contact with the rapidly rotating grinding element 40. The grinding element thereby grinds off the rough edge of the glass plate as it is slowly rotated by the mechanism above described. It will be noted that the glassplate is only rotated when the carriage is moved to bring it into position so that its friction wheel 16 will be in frictional engagement with the disk 52.

The pulley 50 and belt 51 drive the pulley 5'] which is directly connected with the friction disk 58 mounted on the shaft 59 supportedby the bearings 60. Upon the completion of the grinding process the carriage is revolved so that the friction wheel 16, which has been in engagement with the disk'52, is moved out of. engagement therewith and into engagen'ient with the friction disk 58. The glass plate is then rotated at a high rate ,of speed with its ground edge in engagement with the smoothingblocks 61, whereby the ground edge is smoothed and made ready for polishing.

The smoothing block 61 is secured within the holder 62 which is pivotally mounted on the arm 63 andheld in adjusted position with respect to the curvature of the edge of the plate glass by the set screws 6 1. The arm 63 is mounted upon a shaft 65 which extends downwardly in the bearing support 66 which is held in vertical position by the bracket 6'1 secured to the frame of the machine. upon the arm 63 and yieldingly holding the smoothing block in engagement with the edge of the glass plate, there is provided a rod .68 secured at one end to the frame and extending through a lever 69 on the shaft For exerting a yielding pressure on the endof said rod. For increasing the pressure of the smoothing block against the.

edge ofthe glass plate, the nut 71 is screwed on the rod against the spring, and for decreasing the pressure said nut is screwed in the opposite direction for releasing the spring. The vertical adjustment of the smoothing stones is obtained by means of a lever 72 which is pivotedintermediate its ends upon the bracket 73 and is provided with a projection 7% on one end adapted to extend slightly into a recess in the lower end of the shaft 65. Between the lower end of the bearing support 66 and a collar 75 there is a spring 76 for normally maintaining the shaft and arm 68 in lowered positron. Engaging the other end of the lever 72 there'is a rod 77 which extends vertically as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 into engagement with the lever 7 8 which is fulcrumed intermediate its ends to the frame of the machine. The opposite end of the lever 7 8, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, is mounted in engagement with the cam 80 mounted on the shaft 53 adjacent-the friction disk 52. Inasmuch as the shaft 53 rotates comparatively slowly, the cam 80 will slowly move the lever 78 up and down, which in turn will slowly raise the shaft 65 and smoothing block 61, and permit the same to be lowered by the spring 7 6. This arrange ment causes a slow vertical reciprocation of the smoothing block so as to prevent its wearing out at one portion of the surface.

For rotating the carriage upon the frame there is provided a hand wheel 81 keyed to the shaft 82 which extends laterally through the lower portion of the frame and is provided with a worm 83 adapted to mesh with the worm gear 84, which is keyed to the spindle 85 extending through the central portion of the frame and mounted in suitable hearings 86, as shown in Fig. 4. WVhen the operator has set and clamped the plate glass in position he turns the hand wheel 81 so as to cause the machine to revolve until the glass engages the grinding element and is caused to slowly rotate. Upon the entire circumference of the glass plate having been ground, the operator rotates the table, again bringing the glass into engagement with the smoothing element and a new glass plate into engagement with the grinding element, which operation is continued as long as new plates are placed in the machine for grinding.

For varying the diameter of the plates after grinding, and for taking up wear upon the grinding element, said element is mounted upon the sliding carriage 87 which slides longitudinally upon the cross bars 88 of the frame. For adjusting the position of the grinding element said carriage 87 is moved back and forth by turning the hand wheel 89 which is keyed upon the shaft 90 extending laterally through the end of the frame. The shaft 90' is provided with a worm 91 which meshes with the worm gear 92 mounted on the end of the threaded screw 93. Said screw is mounted in suitable hearings in the frame and is adapted to screw through internally threaded projections extending from the carriage 87.

In Fig. 6 is illustrated a mounting of the friction wheel 16 upon the shaft 13, whereby it may be adjustable thereon for varying the position of its engagement with the driving disks 52 and 58. This permits the operator to so adjust the vertical position of said friction wheels as to vary the speed of rotation thereof with respect to the driving disks. The shaft 13 is hollow and is provided with a vertical and diametrically. positioned slot 100 through which the inwardly extending key portions 101 of the friction wheel 16 are adapted to pass sothat said wheel may be vertically slidable upon said shaft and be keyed thereto. For adjusting the vertical position of said wheel with respect to the shaft, there is provided an adjusting screw 102 which extends into said shaft and has an adjusting hand wheel 103 on the lower end thereof, said shaft being rotatably seated in the bearing plate 14; by which it is fixedly supported, and screwing through the collar 104 which is formed integral with the portions 101.,

Therefore, upon turning the hand wheel 103 the collar 104- and the wheel 16 may be vertically adjusted on said shaft within the limits of the slot 100.

The invention claimed is:

1. A machine for grinding or abrading the circular edge of a piece of work, comprising a supporting table, a plurality of clamping members mounted on said table for clamping said work in position, a grinding element mounted adjacent said members in position to engage the edge of the work for grinding the same, power driven mechanism for rotating said clamping members, and pneumatic means for forcing one of said clamping members against the other under pressure for clamping the work therebetween and permitting the free rotation thereof.

2. A machine for grinding or abrading the circular edgeof a piece of work, comprising a supporting table, a plurality of clamping members mounted on said table for clamping said work in position, a grinding element mounted adjacent said members in position to engage the edge of said work for grinding the same, power driven IIgnechanism for rotating said clamping memers, said clamping members against the other under pressure for clamping the work therebetween and permitting the free rotation thereof, and means for releasing the pneumatic means for forcing one of Work and causing said clamping members to separate upon the pressure of the pneu matic means being cut off.

3. A machine for grinding or abrading the circular edge of a piece of Work, comprising a supporting table, a plurality of clamping members mounted on said table for clamping said Work in position, a grinding element mounted adjacent said members in position to engage the edge of said Work for grinding the same, power driven mechanism for rotating said clamping members, an air cylinder connected With a compressed air pipe having a valve therein, a

thereof reciprocating plunger in said cylinder conne'cted With one of the movable clamping members so as to permit the free rotation with respect to said cylinden whereby upon opening said valve the compressed air Will force said movable clamping member into clamping position, and means for returningsaid clamping memher from clamping position upon said valve being closed for cutting off the compressed air.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto afiixed my signature.

FORREST L. HITCHCOCK.

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