Tool for installing shrink fit parts

Abstract

A tool for installing shrink fit parts formed of a material which is dimensionally stable over a wide range of temperatures having a locating surface on which a part to be shrunk is clamped and having a chamber adjacent the locating surface, which is filled with a cooling media as the part is being shrunk in a source or vat of cooling media, to maintain the part in its shrunken condition after removal from the cooling media. A valve is provided for removing the cooling media from the chamber after the shrunken part is positioned precisely in a second part so that the shrunken part will warm and expand into the second part to form a shrink fit therewith. Also disclosed is a method comprising, positioning a part to be shrunk adjacent a chamber, filling the chamber with a cooling media as the part is being shrunk, maintaining the cooling media adjacent the part while the part is fitted into a second part, thereafter removing the cooling media from the chamber thus allowing the part to expand into the second part to provide a shrink fit therewith and thereafter removing the chamber from the two parts.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.