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US 6,012,712 AGranted
Double vise with self-setting clamping with the same or different size workpieces
AssigneeKurt Manufacturing Company, Inc.
InventorLeon M. Bernstein
Life of this patent
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AssigneeKurt Manufacturing Company, Inc.
InventorLeon M. Bernstein
Estimating the term…
A double vise using a single actuating screw with a self-setting preload arrangement includes a vise base, a center fixed jaw and a pair of movable jaws which are movable toward and away from the center fixed jaw. The movable jaws being actuated with the vise screw. The loads on the vise screw from the jaws being reacted initially by springs that apply a resilient preload against a workpiece in either one of the movable jaws. One jaw is driven with a sleeve rotatably mounted on a cylindrical section of the vise screw and driven through a load release clutch. The springs are mounted on a vise screw support housing that is slidably mounted on the vise base and which provides automatic adjustment of the vise jaws to clamp different size workpieces in the jaws. The sleeve has a threaded section for operating one of the jaws.
A double vise assembly having a base supporting a center fixed jaw, and first and second movable jaws, movable toward and away from the fixed jaw on opposite sides of the fixed jaw, a vise screw for actuating the movable jaws including a threaded section threadably mounted in the second jaw, and a threaded clutch sleeve section threadably engaging the first jaw, said vise screw including a shoulder, a housing slidable on the vise screw, and a spring carried on the vise screw and reacting axial loads between the clutch sleeve section and the shoulder, the spring being compressed upon initial contact of either one of said movable jaws for clamping a workpiece to preload such workpiece, and a release coupling between the threaded clutch sleeve section and the vise screw to permit tightening the second jaw to a predetermined force level and subsequently releasing to permit the screw to rotate and be threaded relative to the first jaw.
A double vise with self-setting clamping jaw openings with the same or different size workpieces comprising a vise base, a pair of spaced apart ways supported on said base and having coplanar surfaces, a fixed jaw mounted on said base, a first jaw slidably mounted on said ways and movable toward one side of the fixed jaw, a second jaw mounted on said ways and movable toward and away from a second side of said fixed jaw, said first and second movable jaws each having a separate nut with internal threads, a vise screw having a first threaded section threadably mounted in said first jaw nut and being releasably coupled for releasable rotational movement relative to the vise screw, a second threaded section fixed to said vise screw and threadably mounted in said second jaw, a vise screw support housing slidably mounted on said vise base at a first end of the vise adjacent said first movable jaw, said vise screw being rotatably mounted in said vise screw support housing, a plurality of springs mounted within said vise screw support housing and having axial lengths parallel to an axis of rotation of said vise screw, said springs reacting against a shoulder on the vise screw at an outer end of said vise screw that is within the vise screw support housing, and a compression carrying load member between ends of said springs opposite from the ends of the springs engaging the shoulder, and said first screw threaded section, said first screw threaded section being slidable along said screw for a limited distance.
A machine vise adapted to hold two workpieces, and automatically adjust for workpieces of different size to be clamped relative to a fixed reference location, said vise comprising a body, a fixed jaw mounted on said body at a location spaced from both of opposite ends of the body, and having oppositely facing surfaces, a jaw actuator comprising a vise screw mounted on said base and having first and second screw thread sections thereon, said screw thread sections being of opposite direction lead, and first and second movable jaws threadably mounted on said first and second thread sections of said vise screw, respectively, and slidably mounted on said body to move a respective workpiece toward a different one of the oppositely facing surface of the fixed jaw, respectively, said first screw thread section being rotatably mounted on said vise screw and rotatably driven through a releasable clutch that releases when torque exerted by said vise screw on said first thread section exceeds a selected amount, the second screw section being rotationally fixed on the vise screw, a vise screw support housing slidably mounted on said body and supporting a first end of said vise screw adjacent a first end of said body, an annular shoulder on said vise screw adjacent the first end of said vise screw and slidably mounted in said body, and a spring assembly including a plurality of springs, each having one end that engages said shoulder when under compression, and opposite ends which are positioned to provide an axial force on said first thread section, said springs being compressible when there is relative movement between said screw support housing and said vise screw in each of opposite directions acting along a longitudinal axis of said vise screw to provide a preload on one of the first and second jaws which first engages a workpiece and causes the vise screw clutch to release the first vise screw section until the other of the first and second jaws engages a workpiece and tightens against the fixed jaw.
A vise assembly having a body with a sliding housing sliding on guide surfaces on the body, the housing including a pair of shoulders for supporting loads in a first direction and a support surface reacting loads in a second opposite direction, an adjustable block assembly self-contained in one of the shoulders including a block slidably mounted in a recess in one of the shoulders of the sliding housing, said block having a support surface engaging a guide surface on the vise body and a pair of surfaces that are inclined relative to a central plane and extending in opposite direction from the support surfaces, a pair of wedge members in the recess and slidably supported on an interior end surface of the recess, the wedge members having surfaces complimentary to the downwardly facing surfaces on the adjustment block, a screw rotatably mounted in one of said wedge members to react loads of the other of said wedge members to separate the wedge members and to move the wedge surfaces toward the inclined surfaces of the block, and a resilient layer of material between the wedge members and the inclined surfaces to be engaged by the wedge members and urged against the inclined surfaces when the wedge members are separated to tend to move the block out of the recess.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.