Large displacement hydrostatic workpiece holder
AssigneeHydra-Lock Corporation
InventorsWilliam M. Andre, Bruce W. Irwin, Sr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hydrostatic tool holder having a displaceable metal sleeve formed with a plurality of circumferentially spaced and longitudinally extending slots and a flexible, polymeric ring defining at least in part a fluid chamber to separate the fluid in the chamber from the sleeve to prevent the fluid from escaping through the slots in the sleeve. The slots in the metal sleeve enable a large displacement of the sleeve through the polymeric ring so that the hydrostatic tool holder may be used with workpieces having rough finishes, such as cast metal workplieces like cylinder liners for internal combustion engines, which as cast have relatively rough surfaces and relatively low dimensional accuracy.
Claims19
An apparatus to releasably retain a workpiece with a generally cylindrical surface comprising:
- a body;
- at least two spaced apart and separate polymeric rings carried by the body, each polymeric ring defining at least in part a fluid chamber constructed to contain a fluid;
- and
- two separate annular, generally cylindrical metal sleeves each formed with at least one slot and having an inner surface and an outer surface, each sleeve carried by the body with at least one polymeric ring adjacent to and engageable with one of the inner or outer surfaces of each sleeve and the other of the inner and outer surfaces of each sleeve being constructed to receive and directly engage a workpiece, and the slots enabling each sleeve to undergo a change in diameter of as much as at least 0.10 of an inch to firmly engage a workpiece, one sleeve being disposed adjacent each end of the workpiece when the workpiece is received by the sleeves, whereby when the fluid in the fluid chamber is pressurized, the force of the pressurized fluid is transmitted through the polymeric ring to the sleeve to urge the sleeve into firm engagement with the workpiece to firmly hold the workpiece.
An apparatus to releasably retain a workpiece with a generally cylindrical surface comprising:
- a body;
- at least one polymeric ring carried by the body, each polymeric ring defining at least in part a fluid chamber constructed to contain a fluid;
- and
- at least one annular, generally cylindrical metal sleeve formed with at least one slot and having an inner surface and an outer surface, each sleeve carried by the body with at least one polymeric ring adjacent to and engageable with one of the inner or outer surfaces of each sleeve and the other of the inner and outer surfaces of the sleeve being constructed to receive and directly engage a workpiece, and the slots being constructed and arranged to enable each sleeve to undergo a change in diameter of as much as at least 0.10 of an inch to firmly engage a workpiece, whereby when the fluid in the fluid chamber is pressurized, the force of the pressurized fluid is transmitted through the polymeric ring to the sleeve to urge the sleeve into firm engagement with the workpiece to firmly hold the workpiece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.