Machining centre for timepiece components
AssigneeETA SA Manufacture Horlogere Suisse
InventorsPatric Pham, Pierre-Andre Buehler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A machining centre includes a base supporting several superposed stages. At least one stage is movable and can be position indexed relative to the base. Each stage includes distinct stations at a constant angular pitch including machining units or grippers. The combination of stations from adjacent stages defines a plurality of machining locations each combining a unit and a gripper. Each relative movement between two indexing positions of two stages changes the composition of the locations. Each gripper has at least one rotational degree of freedom relative to the stage that carries it. At least one station includes both at least one machining unit and at least one gripper.
Claims21
A machining center for machining timepiece components, the machining center comprising:
- a fixed base on which are coaxially superposed a plurality of stages which are superposed and adjacent to one another such that a virtual straight line extending out from the fixed base intersects each of the plurality of stages,
- wherein the plurality of stages comprises a first stage, a second stage, and a third stage,
- wherein said first stage and said second stage each include, on the periphery thereof, respective distinct stations arranged at a constant angular pitch around an axis of said first stage and said second stage, each of said respective distinct stations of the first stage including a machining unit that machines the timepiece components and whose movements are controlled by a control, and each of said respective distinct stations of the second stage including a gripper that holds the timepiece components one at a time and whose movements are controlled by the control, and
- wherein at least the first stage is rotatable about the axis such that said first stage is able to be position indexed with respect to the fixed base,
- wherein machining locations of the machining center are each formed by a combination of one of said stations from said first stage and one of said stations from said second stage, and each of said machining locations combines a given machining unit of said first stage and a given gripper of said second stage,
- wherein each relative movement between two indexing positions of said first stage and said second stage is able to change a composition of each of said machining locations, and
- wherein each gripper of the second stage has at least one rotational degree of freedom relative to the second stage that carries each gripper, and
- wherein the third stage is formed by an automation station for loading in the grippers components of the timepiece components to be machined and for unloading from the grippers components of the timepiece components that were machined.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.