US 4,217,733 AGranted

Method of and apparatus for effecting combined surface finishing operations for a tapered roller bearing cup

AssigneeRail Bearing Service

InventorRobert J. Van Sickle

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Abstract

A method of and apparatus for effecting combined surface finishing operations for a cup for tapered roller bearings. The apparatus will accept cups of random sizes, will automatically load them onto an indexing mechanism, index the cups through necessary work stations, and discharge the surface-finished cups. At the surface finishing station, a drive roller frictionally engages the cup and rotates it while a plurality of brushes are brought into engagement with the surfaces to be finished. The brushes are rotated in a direction which results in a force component which tends to hold the cup within the open pockets of the indexing mechanism. The brushes are also wear compensating so that the apparatus will operate without an attendant and without requiring a preliminary set-up or changing of parts for different sizes of bearing cups.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A method of effecting combined surface finishing operations for roller bearing cups, each of said cups having a cylindrical outer diameter surface and an internal raceway, said internal raceway having opposed inboard and outboard cylindrical counterbores and a pair of conical inboard and outboard raceway surfaces which slope toward a centrally located cylindrical raceway portion, said method comprising the steps of

a. feeding roller bearing cups to an indexing means,
b. sequentially indexing said cups with said indexing means from an infeed position to an outfeed position,
c. engaging said cup to be surface finished with a rotatable drive roller to rotate said cup,
d. contacting said cylindrical outer diameter surface of said cup with a first brush and traversing the length of said cup while said cup is being rotated,
e. simultaneously axially inserting a pair of rotatable internal raceway brushes from opposite ends of said cup with each of said internal raceway brushes having a first conical portion which has substantially the same slope as the slope of associated conical raceway surface and a second portion on each of said internal raceway brushes for engagement with its associated cylindrical counterbore raceway portion,
f. rotating said internal raceway brushes,
g. axially removing said internal raceway brushes before indexing said roller bearing cup.
h. and presenting all of said brushes at right angles to their respective surfaces to be finished.

5 more elements

An apparatus for surface finishing roller bearing cups, each of said cups having a cylindrical outer diameter surface and an internal raceway, said internal raceway having opposed inboard and outboard cylindrical counterbores and a pair of conical inboard and outboard raceway surfaces which slope toward a centrally located cylindrical raceway portion, said apparatus comprising:

a. means for feeding roller bearing cups to an indexing means,
b. indexing means to receive said cups and feed them to a surface finishing station,
c. a drive roller engageable with said cylindrical outer diameter of a cup at said surface finishing station to effect rotation of said cup,
d. first brush means engageable with the outer diameter of said cup at said surface finishing station to effect surface finishing of the outer diameter of said cup,
(1) means to rotate said first brush,
e. second brush means engageable with said internal raceway of said cup at said surface finishing station, said second brush means consisting of a pair of brushes mounted for axial motion at opposite ends of the cup being surface finished,
(1) means to rotate said second brush means,
f. and means for receiving said cups after said cups have been surface finished.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.