Workpiece perforating machine
OwnerAnthony J. Lichtinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A machine for perforating workpieces, particularly corrugated plastic drain pipe or tile, to produce holes using drills is described. Multiple drills are radially mounted on a guide wheel so that the individual drills are sequentially extendable from the periphery of the guide wheel into the workpiece as the guide wheel rotates against a surface of the workpiece. A motor rotates a drive disc which as the guide wheel rotates sequentially contacts a cylindrical bushing on each drill to extend and rotate the drill into the work surface to create a perforation or hole and the drill is then extracted from the perforation by the rotation of the guide wheel.
Claims12
In a machine for drilling holes in a workpiece and including a frame for supporting the workpiece, the improvement which comprises:
- (a) a guide wheel which rotates on a central axis with a peripheral surface positioned so as to be in surface contact with the workpiece as the workpiece advances through the frame;
- (b) at least one drill mounted on a radial axis from the central axis of the guide wheel such that the drill is rotatable and extendable into and retractable from the workpiece from the peripheral surface of the guide wheel;
- (c) a cylindrically surfaced driven bushing fixedly mounted on each drill around a radial axis;
- and
- (d) a rotatable powered drive disc mounted on the frame and having an axis of rotation transverse to said drill axis when the disc periodically frictionally engages each said bushing to rotate and axially extend each said drill with respect to said guide wheel into the workpiece to drill said workpiece and whereby upon rotation of the guide wheel each said drill is removed from each hole.
In a machine for drilling holes in corrugated tubing including a frame for supporting the tubing on its longitudinal axis, the improvement which comprises:
- (a) at least one guide wheel which rotates on a central axis mounted on the frame with the central axis of rotation perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tubing as supported in the frame and with a peripheral surface with projections which cooperate with the tubing corrugations to provide alignment of the tubing with the guide wheel during rotation;
- (b) a plurality of rotatable drills journalled on radial axes from the central axis and at equal angles around the guide wheel so as to be extendable and retractable from between the projections on the guide wheel into the tubing;
- (c) cylindrically surfaced driven bushings fixedly mounted on each of the drills around a radial axis;
- and
- (d) a rotatable powered drive disc mounted on the frame and having an axis for rotation transverse to said drill axis when the disc periodically frictionally engages each said bushing to rotate and axially extend each said drill with respect to said guide wheel into the pipe to drill said pipe and whereby the rotation of the guide wheel removes each said drill from each hole.
The method of drilling a hole in a workpiece which comprises:
- (a) providing a guide wheel which rotates on a central axis with a peripheral surface positioned so as to be in surface contact with the workpiece, the guide wheel having at least one drill mounted on a radial axis from the central axis of the guide wheel such that the drill is rotatable and extendable into and retractable from the workpiece from the peripheral surface of the guide wheel and the drills having cylindrically surfaced driven bushings fixedly mounted around a radial axis of each drill;
- (b) providing a rotatable powered drive disc with an axis of rotation positioned transversely to said drill axis so ythat the disc periodically frictionally engages each said bushing to rotate and axially extend each said drill with respect to said guide wheel into the workpiece to drill said workpiece and whereby upon the rotation of the guide wheel each said drill is removed from each hole;
- and
- (c) moving the workpiece surface and the guide wheel relative to each other so as to drill the hole.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.