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US 5,476,412 AGranted
Blade and wheel plate for blast cleaning wheel and method of connecting a blade to the wheel plate
AssigneeBlast Cleaning Products Ltd.
InventorEdward J. Stoltz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This invention relates to a method of releasably connecting a blade to a single wheel plate of a centrifugal blasting wheel without using a separate stop-member to prevent outward radial movement of the blade. An alternative method of releasably connecting a blade to a wheel plate, and an alternative blade, wheel plate and blasting wheel are provided. The invention is useful in releasably aligning blades without the use of stop members. The blade can be accurately aligned in the channel of the wheel plate as a result of positive abutment of the sides of a wedge on the blade against the sides of the channel.
Claims33
A method of releasably connecting a blade to a single wheel plate of a centrifugal blasting wheel without using a separate stop-member to prevent outward radial movement of the blade, comprising:
- inserting the blade into the wheel from an inner, central region of the wheel;
- releasably sliding the blade radially outwardly into a radial channel in an inner face of the single wheel plate;
- wherein the wheel plate is annular and has an inner periphery and an outer periphery;
- wherein the channel has an opening extending radially along the inner face of the wheel plate and the opening has a width, the channel has a bottom extending radially in the wheel plate and the bottom has a width, and the channel has two side faces and corresponding locations on each side face are separated by a channel width;
- wherein the channel extends radially from the inner periphery of the wheel plate to at least a region intermediate of the inner periphery and the outer periphery of the wheel plate;
- wherein the channel has a cross-sectional shape and, at each of a first region along the channel and at a second region along the channel that is separated radially from the first region, the cross-sectional shape of the channel is such that the width of the opening is less than the width of the bottom so as to prevent a corresponding, fully-inserted blade from moving transversely to the face of the wheel plate;
- wherein, in the first and second regions, the channel width is narrower at locations further from the inner periphery of the wheel plate;
- wherein the blade has a connecting means extending radially along one side edge of the blade to slidably engage with the channel;
- and
- wherein the blade connecting means corresponds in cross-sectional shape and width to the cross-sectional shape and width of the channel, and wherein the connecting means has two side faces corresponding to the two side-faces of the channel;
- and
- causing the two side faces of the blade to abut against the two corresponding side faces of the channel, in the first and second regions, so as to prevent outward radial movement of the corresponding blade without an additional stop-member.
9 more elements
A centrifugal blasting wheel comprising:
- an annular wheel plate having an inner face, an inner periphery and an outer periphery;
- a plurality of radially extending channels which are equally spaced around the wheel plate;
- a blade releasably inserted into each channel;
- wherein each channel has an opening extending radially along the inner face of the wheel plate and the opening has a width, each channel has a bottom extending radially in the wheel plate and the bottom has a width, and each channel has two side faces and corresponding locations on each side face are separated by a channel width;
- wherein each channel extends radially from the inner periphery of the wheel plate to at least a region intermediate of the inner periphery and the outer periphery of the wheel plate;
- wherein each channel has a cross-sectional shape and, at each of a first region along the channel and at a second region along the channel that is separated radially from the first region, the cross-sectional shape of the channel is such that the width of the opening is less than the width the bottom so as to prevent a corresponding, fully-inserted blade from moving transversely to the face of the wheel plate;
- wherein, in the first and second regions of each channel, the channel width is narrower at locations further from the inner periphery of the wheel plate;
- wherein each blade has a connecting means extending radially along one side edge of the blade to slidably engage with the corresponding channel;
- and
- wherein each blade connecting means corresponds cross-sectional shape and width to the cross-sectional shape and width of the corresponding channel;
- wherein each connecting means has two side faces corresponding to the two side faces of the corresponding channel such that when the two side faces of the blade connecting means abut against the two corresponding side faces of the corresponding channel, in the first and second regions, outward radial movement of the corresponding blade is prevented without an additional stop-member.
8 more elements
A blade releasably-connectable to a single wheel plate of a centrifugal blasting wheel without using a separate stop-member to prevent outward radial movement of the blade, comprising:
- a blade-connecting wedge extending radially along one side edge of the blade to slidably engage with a radial channel in an inner face of the single wheel plate;
- wherein the wedge has an outer face extending radially and the outer face of the wedge has a width, the wedge has an inner portion extending radially and the inner portion has a width, and the wedge has two side faces and corresponding locations on each side face are separated by a wedge width;
- wherein the wedge extends radially from an inner end of the blade to a region intermediate of the inner end and an outer end of the blade;
- wherein the wedge has a cross-sectional shape and, at each of a first region along the wedge and at a second region along the wedge that is separated radially from the first region, the cross-sectional shape of the wedge is such that the width of the inner portion is less than the width of the outer face so as to prevent a fully-engaged blade in a corresponding radial channel from moving transversely to the face of the wheel plate;
- wherein, in the first and second regions, the wedge width is narrower at locations further from the inner end of the blade;
- wherein the wedge corresponds in cross-sectional shape and width to a cross-sectional shape and width of the channel;
- and
- wherein the two side faces of the wedge correspond to two side faces of the channel such that, when fully engaged, the first and second regions of the two side faces of the wedge abut against the two corresponding side faces of the channel so as to prevent outward radial movement of the blade in the corresponding channel without an additional stop-member.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.