Honing tool
AssigneeBICC Public Limited Company
InventorsEdward Z. Kaczmarski, Richard Grigsby
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A honing tool for sharpening an end of an electrode to be employed in the fusion splicing of optical fibres includes a rotatably mounted honing wheel of frusto-conical shape and a rotatably mounted bush whose axis is parallel to that of the honing wheel and is so coupled to the honing wheel that, when the honing wheel is rotated with respect to the body of the tool, the bush will be rotatably driven in the same rotational direction. An electrode is so mounted coaxially within the bush that an end of the electrode will bear against the frusto-conical surface of the honing wheel and that, when the honing wheel is rotated, rotation of the electrode with respect to the bush is prohibited and the abrasive frusto-conical surface of the honing wheel will form a sharp point at the end of the electrode.
Claims10
A honing tool for use in forming a sharp point at the end of a substantially rigid elongate member of metal or metal alloy, which honing tool comprises:
- a support body;
- a honing wheel which is rotatably mounted on the support body, which is of frusto-conical shape and, over substantially the whole of its frusto-conical surface, is of an abrasive material and which has an associated handle for rotating the honing wheel with respect to the support body;
- which support body has at least two throughbores whose axes extend substantially parallel to the rotational axis of the honing wheel, the axis of each throughbore being spaced from the rotational axis of the honing wheel a distance different from that of the axis of each other throughbore;
- a bush which is rotatably mounted in any one of said throughbores in the support body about an axis extending substantially parallel to the rotational axis of the honing wheel and which, when so rotatably mounted, is so coupled to the honing wheel that, when the honing wheel is rotated with respect to the support body, the bush will be rotatably driven with respect to the support body;
- and means for so mounting a substantially rigid elongate member of metal or metal alloy coaxially within the bush that rotation of the elongate member with respect to the bush is substantially prohibited and an end of the elongate member will bear against a part of the frusto-conical surface of the honing wheel different from that when the elongate member is mounted in the bush and the bush is rotatably mounted in a different one of said throughbores, the arrangement being such that, when the honing wheel is rotated, said end of the elongate member will move relative to that part of the frusto-conical surface with which it is in contact and the abrasive frusto-conical surface will form a sharp point at said end of the elongate member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.