US 5,522,441 AGranted

Wood lathe tooling

AssigneeWestern Cutterheads, Inc.

InventorsKenneth R. Anselm, Gordon Footit, Roger Bowness, Stephen J. Perry, William D. Fulton

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Abstract

A cutterhead, particularly for wood lathe tooling includes one or more sleeves each of which has an inner hydraulically operated circumferential gripper for securement to a rotatable arbor, and an outer, independently hydraulically operated circumferential gripper for securement to a cylinder. The outer peripheral surface of the cylinder is provided with longitudinal dovetail ribs. Knife carriers and space-filling limiters slide axially onto these ribs and are locked in place by set screws. Each carrier has a slot for radially receiving a knife to be gripped between a wedge and a corrugated keeper. The keeper and carrier slot are keyed together to provide for radial adjustment of the knife. A threaded pin restrains slot spreading and radially retains the wedge and keeper. Wedge action prevents radial throwing of elements should someone neglect to secure the carriers or limiters, or neglect to elevate the wedges. Knives are slotted for easy removal, and corrugated to match the keepers to facilitate knife height adjustment. All but inner and outer rings of the sleeves, the threaded pins and keepers are made of aluminum. The knives are made of steel.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A hydraulic locking sleeve for releasably locking a knife carrier cylinder of a cutterhead onto an arbor of a wood-turning lathe, comprising:

a tubular main body having two axially opposite ends, a radially inner peripheral surface and a radially outer peripheral surface;
a first shell made of elastic hard metal closely encasing at least a circumferentially continuous portion of said radially outer peripheral surface of said main body;
a second shell made of elastic hard metal closely encasing at least a circumferentially continuous portion of said radially inner peripheral surface of said main body;
first fastening means securing said first shell to said main body while permitting limited radially outward expansion of said portion of said first shell;
second fastening means securing said second shell to said main body while permitting limited radially inward expansion of said portion of said second shell;
a circumferentially extending first channel or vein formed in said outer peripheral surface of said main body, radially underlying said portion of said first shell;
a circumferentially extending second channel or vein formed in said inner peripheral surface of said main body, radially overlying said portion of said second shell;
circumferential seals flanking each of said channels or veins and effectively sealing between respective of said peripheral surfaces and respective of said portions;
a separate valved inlet through said sleeve into each of said channels or veins from externally of said sleeve;
a separate valved outlet through said sleeve from each of said channels or veins to externally of said sleeve;
each of said valved inlets being openable when supplied with more highly pressurized pressurization fluid than contained within the respective channel or vein;
each of said valved outlets being normally closed but selectively openable for releasing pressure contained with the respective channel or vein;
each channel or vein being sufficiently pressurizable as to elastically distend the respective portion of the respective shell for independently correspondingly effectively increasing the sleeve in external diameter and decreasing the sleeve in internal diameter.

10 more elements

A cutterhead assembly, comprising:

a tubular cylinder having two axially opposite ends, a longitudinal bore and a radially outer peripheral surface;
means for mounting said cylinder on a rotatable arbor for rotation coaxially with the arbor;
and
means associated with said outer peripheral surface of said cylinder for removably mounting at least one knife on said cylinder for rotation therewith;
said outer peripheral surface of said cylinder comprising a plurality of equiangularly spaced, longitudinally extending, radially outwardly projecting ribs each of which is dovetailed in transverse cross-sectional shape so as to increase radially outwardly in transverse dimension;
said associated means comprising at least one circumferentially segmental carrier having a dovetailed slot formed in an underside thereof permitting axial sliding of that carrier onto a respective said rib, but preventing radial flinging of that carrier from said rib;
jack screw means operable between each said carrier and said cylinder for maximally raising and thereby tightening the respective carrier on said cylinder;
and
an assembly carried by each said carrier for removably mounting a knife thereto so as to project radially outwardly therebeyond.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.