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US 4,570,385 AGranted
Computer controlled workpiece finishing apparatus
AssigneeFox Grinders, Inc.
InventorsJohn M. Richter, James G. Bair, Jr.
Life of this patent
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AssigneeFox Grinders, Inc.
InventorsJohn M. Richter, James G. Bair, Jr.
Estimating the term…
The finishing apparatus is a grinder or like device having a workpiece holder manipulator which is translatable along X and Y axes and rotatable about a Z axis, an axis of tilt with respect to the plane of the X and Y axes and an axis normal to the plane of tilt. The grinder head is mounted on an arm which moves toward and away from the workpiece holder manipulator. All of the above movements are hydraulically powered through servo valves driven by feedback amplifiers, the feedback coming from position and rate transducers on the apparatus. Signals from those transducers are supplied through analog-to-digital converters to a digital computer with random access memory. The grinder is operated in the Teach mode by manually controlling the movement of the workpiece manipulator and grinder head to cause the grinding element to transverse the faces of a finished workpiece or a pattern thereof and the successive positions are stored in the memory. The pattern is then replaced by a workpiece to be finished and the machine in the Reproduce mode repeats the path of travel under control of the computer.
In a metal removing system comprising a workpiece holder and a power-operated rotatable metal-removing tool mounted for movement against each other by positioning means, means connected with said positioning means generating signals indicative of successive positions of said tool and said holder with respect to each other, and memory means for storing control signal for said positioning means, the improvement comprising operator-directed means connected with said positioning means for causing said workpiece holder and said tool to trace a three dimensional path for said tool over a three dimensional workpiece pattern, operator-directed means for storing in said memoroy said signals generated at said successive positions in said path, and operator-directed means for automatically retrieving said signals from said memory and applying them to said positioning means so as to cause said tool to remove metal from a workpiece along said path, whereby successive three-dimensional workpieces can be machined to the countour of said workpiece pattern.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.