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US 4,898,017 AGranted
Quick-change tooling for progressive formers and the like
AssigneeThe National Machinery Company
InventorsWilliam H. Hite, Gene E. Allebach
Life of this patent
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AssigneeThe National Machinery Company
InventorsWilliam H. Hite, Gene E. Allebach
Estimating the term…
A progressive former having quick-change tooling provides tooling supports with means for adjusting the tools. The tooling is mounted so that the tooling and the structure for adjusting the tooling can be removed as units without loss of the fine-tuning of the adjustments and so that reinstallation does not require readjustment of the tooling. A transfer also provides adjustable cams for opening and closing gripper fingers which transport workpieces from one work station to the next. The adjustable cams are removable with the dies as units and can be reinstalled without further fine-tune adjustment. With the invention, entire tool sets can be changed in a very short time to eliminate loss of production capacity of the machine. Similar sized machines are provided with a fixed spacing between the locating surfaces for the stationary dies and the reciprocating tools so that tool sets having adjustments fine-tuned in one machine can be installed in a similar machine without further retuning of the adjustments.
A progressive former comprising a die breast on said frame, a powered slide reciprocable on said frame toward and away from said die breast, tooling mounted on said slide and die breast cooperating to define a plurality of work stations for progressively forming workpieces, a transfer for progressively positioning workpieces at said work stations, and tooling support means removably mounted on said slide independent of said die breast for supporting said tooling on said slide, said tooling support means including adjustable means for positioning the tooling therein with respect to the associated tooling on said die breast in three directions perpendicular to each other, said tool support means along with said adjustable means being removable and reinstallable on said slide without disturbing the adjustment of said adjustable means.
A progressive former comprising a frame, a die breast removably mounted on said frame, a tool slide reciprocable on said frame toward and away from said die breast, tooling on said slide and die breast cooperating to define a plurality of work stations for Progressively forming workpieces, a transfer operable to progressively position said workpieces at each of said work stations, said transfer including a reciprocable transfer slide supporting a plurality of grippers, and a transfer housing, said transfer housing being movable between an operative position and a retracted position, said housing being operable when access to said die breast is required to move said slide and grippers clear of said die breast when said housing moves to said retracted position, said housing also being movable to said retracted position without moving said transfer slide and grippers from said die breast permitting removal of said die breast along with said transfer slide and grippers as a unit.
A progressive former comprising a frame, a die breast removably mounted on said frame, a slider reciprocable on said frame toward and away from said die breast, a tool support removably mounted on said slide, tooling cooperating to provide a plurality of work stations at which workpieces are progressively formed, said tooling including a first set of tools mounted on said die breast and a second set of tools mounted on said tool support, adjustment means for one of said set of tools for finetuning adjustment of the position of said one set of tools relative to the other of said sets of tools by means causing said one set of tools to more relative to its respective tool support or die breast to properly form said workpieces, said die breast and tool support being separately removable from said former as units along with their respective tools and said adjusting means of said one set of tools without loss of said fine-tuning adjustment of said one set of tools, said units and said adjusting means being reinstallable on said former without requiring fine-tuning of said adjustment means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.