Method and apparatus for simultaneously grinding multiple sleeves

Abstract

A grinding wheel is fixedly supported on a machine bed by bearings at each end of the wheel with a friction bearing slide mounted on a swivel plate mounted on the machine bed for movement toward and away from the grinding wheel. A headstock mounted to the slide rotates a cantilevered grinding arbor such that the slide is moved toward the grinding wheel for simultaneously grinding multiple sleeves axially received on the arbor. Sleeves are automatically handled by a first arbor mounted to a sleeve conveyor trolley for unfinished sleeves and a second arbor also mounted to the trolley for finished sleeves. The trolley is operated to deposit finished sleeves and pick up unfinished sleeves on one side of the system, and to pick up finished sleeves and position unfinished sleeves for grinding on the other side of the system. Finished sleeves are deposited onto a pivotally mounted finished sleeve receiving arbor when the arbor is pivoted to a first position. When pivoted to a second position, the finished sleeve receiving arbor cooperates with a first gripper which moves finished sleeves to a gauging station. A second gripper then moves the finished sleeves to a conveyor where they are sorted based on measurements made on the finished sleeves by the gauging system. Sleeve handling fingers move sleeves among the various arbors to move the sleeves within the grinding system. The grinding wheel is periodically dressed in response to measurement signals generated by the gauging system.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.