Apparatus for centering, guiding and advancing bars to be fed to machine tools

Abstract

An apparatus includes a self-centring device for centring and guiding a bar, tube or the like to be advanced to a spindle of a machine tool, includes a hollow containing body with through opening having a longitudinal axis, for receiving a bar to be fed along an advancement direction to the spindle; in the body an inner sliding surface is defined that is tilted with respect to the longitudinal axis; centring and guiding elements are provided housed in the hollow body and shaped for coming into contact with the bar and exert thereupon a distributed centring and guiding action; the centring and guiding elements that are slidable along the inner surface for the distance thereof from the longitudinal axis to adapt to different bar diameters; in the body an elastic member is housed to urge the centring and guiding elements to the position of minimal reciprocal distance so as to induce and maintain, during operation, the centring and guiding elements in contact with the surface of the bar. An advancement device is further disclosed for the bar, having a supporting and guiding member configured for restingly receiving, from a first side, a bar and configured for guiding said bar along an advancement direction, a movable grasping member mobile from a disengaged position, further from the member to be separated from the bar, to a locking position, nearer said supporting member to press longitudinally the bar from a second opposite side against the supporting member; advancement motor device is configured for rotating the supporting and guiding member and/or the movable grasping member in the locking position to draggingly advance the bar along the advancement direction.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.