Arrangement for feeding rod shaped workpieces to a machine tool

Abstract

An arrangement for feeding rod-shaped workpieces to a machine tool comprises an elongated hollow guide member for accommodating a respective workpiece therein. A support structure extends longitudinally of the guide member and surrounds the same with spacing, and a plurality of elongated elastically yieldable members extends longitudinally of the guide member in the spacing and supports the guide member in the support structure. The oscillations to which the guide member is subjected during the operation of the arrangement are damped by the elastically yieldable members so that they are not transmitted to the support structure. The elastically yieldable members may be hollow tubes into which a pressurized medium is introduced, and the pressure of the medium may be adjusted so as to correspond to the various working conditions. The guide member and the support structure may be constituted by several coextensive sections, the sections of the support structure being mounted on one another for pivoting about an axis which extends parallel to the elongation of the sections between an open position in which the workpiece can be introduced into the guide member and a closed position. A control arrangement is also disclosed which controls the pressure inside the hollow tubes and interrupts the electric circuit of the machine tool as long as the pressure inside the hollow tubes is below a threshold value.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.