US 5,613,899 AGranted

Centerless ceramic ferrule grinder

AssigneeSouthern Carbide Specialists, Inc.

InventorsStanley Weiss, Cosper Nance

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Abstract

The novel ferrule grinding machine of the present invention has a wire support assembly having a wire that stretches the length of the wire support on which ferrules are strung. The wire rests in a novel guide that aids in producing ferrules within tolerances. The machine also has a grinding wheel and regulating wheel whose speed and composition may be changed to determine the surface finish and concentricity of a ferrule. The regulating wheel infeed assembly controls the size of the ferrules via a computer and a step motor that control the position of the regulating wheel as it tilts on a pivot base to attain the correct size of ferrule. The wire support assembly is placed on a variable speed work traverse that carries the work between the grinding wheel and regulating wheel, while the ferrules are supported on a rest blade such that the ferrules are worked slightly above their center.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A centerless grinder for shaping and finishing ceramic ferrules comprising:

A work traverse;
A means for oscillating the work traverse horizontally;
A wire support assembly for carrying about 30 ferrules appended to the work traverse that has at least one arm extending from each end thereof;
A wire for carrying the ferrules that is secured to each arm of the wire support assembly and held in tension;
At least one wire guide means associated with the wire support assembly to hold the wire straight along a predetermined path;
A grinding wheel means for removing material from the ferrules as the wire carries the ferrules across the grinding wheel means;
A regulating wheel means spaced apart from the grinding wheel means for spinning the ferrules and controlling the amount of material removed from the ferrules by the grinding wheel means;
An infeed means for moving the regulating wheel means in increments with relation to the grinding wheel means to assist in controlling the amount of material removed from the ferrules;
and
A rest blade assembly wherein the ferrules are supported on an upper edge of a rest blade between the regulating wheel means and the grinding wheel means and the rest blade is positioned such that the ferrules are worked above their center by the grinding wheel means.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.