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US 4,787,134 AGranted
Automatic tool exchange apparatus
AssigneeMazda Motor Corporation
InventorsTanji Yamamoto, Yohinori Abe
Life of this patent
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AssigneeMazda Motor Corporation
InventorsTanji Yamamoto, Yohinori Abe
Estimating the term…
An automatic tool exchange apparatus includes a magazine for holding a plurality of freely detachable tools, a machine tool spindle whose distal end has a collet chuck in which a tool is loaded and which is tightened by a screw ring, a quill arm movable swingably and axially for engaging the screw ring, whereby rotation of the screw ring is inhibited, spindle rotating mechanism for rotating the spindle in a state where rotation of the screw ring is inhibited by the quill arm, whereby the spindle and screw ring are caused to rotate relative to each other to loosen the collet chuck, an exchange arm movable swingably between the spindle and magazine and axially for extracting one tool held by the magazine and mounting the one tool on the distal end of the spindle, swinging mechansim for swinging the quill arm and the exchange arm, and moving mechanism for moving the quill arm and the exchange arm in the axial direction.
An automatic tool exchange apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
The storage means rotating or circulating in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the spindle: the axis of the stored tools being arranged…
Parts of devices for automatically inserting or removing tools: tensioning devices or tool holders, e.g. grippers
The storage device comprising rotating or circulating storing means: rotary discs or drums
Means for securing grinding wheels on rotary arbors: accessories therefor
Term ended 16 Sep 2007 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
This invention relates to an automatic tool exchange apparatus in which a wearable tool such as a grindstone is exchanged when it is worn beyond its service life or in which one tool is selected from a wide variety of tools depending upon the particular job and is exchanged for and used in place of another tool.
In general, when a wearable tool such as a grindstone is worn beyond its service life in a grinding operation, the grindstone must be exchanged for a new grindstone. Accordingly, a grindstone exchange apparatus disclosed in e.g. the specification of Japanese Patent Publication (KOKOKU) No. 47-25622 has been proposed for the purpose of exchanging grindstones automatically.
The grindstone exchange apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned patent publication has a grindstone carrying device for grasping and detaching a grindstone, which has completed prescribed grinding work, from a grinding device, and for carrying the grindstone to a storage device where the grindstone is deposited. The grindstone carrying device then grasps and detaches a grindstone to be used next from the storage device, carries this grindstone to the grinding device and loads it on the grinding device. A grindstone exchange apparatus of this kind is capable of exchanging grindstones rapidly and easily.
FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating one embodiment of an automatic tool exchange apparatus according to the present invention together with a grindstone apparatus functioning as a machine tool;
FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating the automatic tool exchange apparatus and grindstone apparatus of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an exchanging mechanism of the automatic tool exchange apparatus extracted in a state where an exchange arm assembly and quill arm assembly are both spaced away from a spindle;
One embodiment of an automatic tool exchange apparatus according to the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings for a case where the embodiment is applied to an automatic grindstone exchange apparatus.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an automatic grindstone exchange apparatus 12 of the illustrated embodiment is arranged above a grindstone apparatus 10 serving as a machine tool.
The automatic grindstone exchanging apparatus 12 comprises a table 14 provided so as to straddle the grindstone apparatus 10, and an exchanging mechanism 16 and magazine mechanism 18 arranged side by side on the table 14. The exchanging mechanism 16 is adapted to detach and discard a grindstone 20 that has finished being used by the grindstone apparatus 10, described below, extract a new grindstone 20 a number of which are being held by the magazine mechanism 18, described below, and mount the new grindstone on a spindle 22 of the grindstone apparatus 10.