Apparatus for automatically opening and closing a bar stockguide tube for a multispindle automatic lathe

Abstract

The disclosed apparatus features a plurality of identical guide tubes which are mutually parallel and mounted on a loading drum which rotates with a spindle drum of the lathe into a loading position for the guide tubes. Each tube consists of a feed channel and a cover which is hinged so that it can cover the open longitudinal section of the feed channel. The outer surface of the cover has a number of gear segments molded into it at longitudinally spaced locations, and these mesh with a corresponding number of pinion gears on an actuating shaft fixed to the loading drum. A spring biases the shaft axially to force locking extensions on the pinion gears into receiving recesses in the bearing supports for the shaft for locking the cover in the closed position. The loading position for a tube aligns it with the cylindrical coupling member of a drive mechanism. The coupling member is forced forward by a hydraulic piston-cylinder unit and simultaneously rotated by the action of a cam groove in its outer surface which is engaged by a follower pin fixed to the bearing support for the coupling member. A receiving opening in the end of the coupling member receives a splined stub on the end of the shaft. The shaft is first pushed axially to unlock it from its bearing supports and then rotated to open the cover. The closing of the cover proceeds in the reverse order when the hydraulic piston-cylinder unit is reversed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.