US 5,575,488 AGranted

Hand-held part holder and fixture

AssigneeSRW Associates, Inc.

InventorWilliam C. Sholly, Jr.

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Abstract

A hand-held, chuck-type part holder provides holding means for a machine part. The hand-held part holder may be secondary holding means for a part which itself is then inserted into a primary machine clamp. The chuck uses standard replaceable collets which may be easily interchanged for different size parts. The collet is actuated by a rod which is moved in turn by an air cylinder which is supported by a handle. The part-gripping collet may be actuated by a tilt switch which provides the automatic clamping action of the collet as the operator turns the holder to the vertical position before inserting or removing a part from the end of the collet. Additionally, a fixture mounted to the bed of the processing machine may be used which guides the part holder into alignment with the primary clamp as it is inserted. The fixture includes pivot and slide means which both support and direct the movement of the part holder.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A workpiece holder, comprising:

a main body of the holder supporting nosepiece at one end and a handle at the other end;
a clamp having resilient jaws with outer surfaces located within said nosepiece, said nosepiece including a tapered, inner surface bearing against said outer surface of said clamp jaws, said clamp being linearly movable relative to said nosepiece between at least two positions;
a retracted position of said clamp where said inner surface of said nosepiece bears against said jaws moving them to a gripping position;
an advanced position of said clamp where said jaws, being resiliently biased in the open. position, move to a release position;
powered means for moving said clamp between said retracted and said advanced positions, wherein said powered means for moving said clamp comprises an air cylinder located within said holder main body, said cylinder including a piston connected to said clamp;
and
a power distribution block which regulates air flow from a main supply to and from said air cylinder, wherein the regulation of said air flow is provided by an electrically activated valve, said valve being controlled by changing its electrical supply between "on"and "off" states, the electrical supply to said valve being actuated by an operator-controlled switch, wherein said switch is a tilt switch on said holder responsive to the angular position of the holder in the vertical plane such that the electrical supply to said valve is changed when said holder is tilted between horizontal and vertical positions.

4 more elements

A workpiece clamping system for a metalworking machine, comprising:

a primary clamp affixed to said machine;
a hand-held workpiece holder having a main body supporting a nosepiece at one end and a handle at the other end;
a second clamp having resilient jaws with outer surfaces located within said nosepiece, said nosepiece including a tapered, inner surface bearing against said outer surface of said second clamp jaws, said second clamp being linearly movable relative to said nosepiece;
a retracted position of said second clamp where said inner surface of said nosepiece bears against said jaws moving them to a gripping position;
an advanced position of said second clamp where said jaws, being resiliently biased in the open position, move to a release position;
means for moving said second clamp between said retracted and said advanced positions;
and
means for inserting said nosepiece of said workpiece holder into said primary clamp.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.