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US 2014/0047961 A1Published application
System and method to prevent band saw operation when blade is not under full tension
AssigneeWalter Meier (Manufacturing) Inc.
InventorBarry M. Schwaiger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A band saw has a blade tension adjustment to permit the blade tension to be reduced during times when the saw will not be used for a time. A sensor is connected to the blade tension adjustment. The sensor inhibits saw operation if the tension adjustment is set to a reduced tension setting. The sensor enables the saw operation if the tension adjustment is set to a full operating tension setting.
Claims20
A band saw device, comprising:
- a housing including an upper housing portion and a lower housing portion;
- a work table;
- an upper wheel mounted for rotation in the upper housing portion and a lower wheel mounted for rotation in the lower housing portion;
- a drive motor connected to drive at least one of the upper and lower wheels;
- a motor circuit connected to the motor to operate the motor;
- a band saw blade riding on the upper and lower wheels and passing through the work table;
- a tension release lever connected to at least one of the upper and lower wheels to permit user adjustment of tension on the blade by adjusting relative spacing of the upper and lower wheels from one another, the tension release lever being movable by a user between a full tension position and a tension release position;
- and
- a sensor mounted to sense a position of the tension release lever, the sensor being connected to the motor circuit to inhibit motor operation of the motor when the sensor determines that the tension release lever is at the tension release position, the sensor enabling operation of the motor circuit and motor when the sensor determines that the tension release lever is at the full tension position.
6 more elements
A band saw operation inhibitor, comprising:
- a sensor mounted in a band saw device to sense at least one of a full tension condition of a band saw blade and a tension release position of the band saw blade;
- and
- a saw operation inhibitor connected to the sensor to inhibit operation of the band saw device when the sensor senses a less than full tension condition of the band saw blade.
A method for operating a band saw, comprising:
- permitting user adjustment of tension on a band saw blade between a full tension and a partial tension condition;
- sensing the tension applied to the band saw blade to determine whether the tension is at full tension or partial tension;
- and
- inhibiting operation of the band saw if the tension is determined to be at partial tension, otherwise enabling operation of the band saw if the tension is determined to be at full tension.
1 more element
A band saw device, comprising:
- a housing having an upper portion and a lower portion;
- upper and lower wheels in the respective upper and lower portions of the housing;
- a band saw blade extending about the upper and lower wheels;
- a motor operable to drive at least one of the upper and lower wheels;
- a tension adjustment operable to adjust tension on the band saw blade between a full tension position and a full release position and a partial tension position, the tension adjustment operating to move at least one of the upper and lower wheels relative to the other of the upper and lower wheels;
- a sensor mounted in the housing to sense a position of the tension adjustment to determine if the band saw blade is at full tension;
- and
- a band saw operation inhibitor connected to the sensor to inhibit operation of the band saw if the sensor fails to sense that the band saw blade is at full tension.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.