US1585776A - Positioning mechanism - Google Patents

Description

May 25 1926. I I B. A. LINDERMAN POSITIONING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 25 1926;

. 1,585,776 B. A. LINDERMAN POSITIONING MECHANISM Filed Jan 19, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 25, 1926.

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BERT A. LINDERMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGN 01% 1'0 MUSZiiEGON MACHINE COM- PANY, OF MUSKEGON, MEOH'IGAN, A CQREORATION OF MICHIGAN.

POSITIONING MECHANISM.

Application filed January 19, 1325. Serial No. 3,215.

lvl y present invention relates to positioning mechanism associated with the feeding devices employed in wood working machinery, such, for example, as machines for operating upon boards to provide a straight edge thereon, preparatory to uniting plurality of such boards by means of a dovetail joint between the edges thereof.

The apparatus is of the same general character and has, broadly, the same function as the apparatus of my prior Patents No. 1,316,015, granted September 16, 1919, and No. 1,519,783, granted December 16, 1924-.

An important object of the invention is the provision of positioning mechanism for this or analogous purposes, which is of simple i'nechanical construction and operation, involving a minimun i amount of mechanism and being thus relatively inexpensive and adapted for incorporation in mall machines, the construction cost of which should be lrept as low as possible.

In practice, it is found that lumber, as ordinarily provided, is more or less irregular, the edge portions frequently having depressions causedby knots, or flaws in the material, or by irregular sawing or cutting, and when the boards are to be used for exact work, such as the making of various kinds of furniture, automobile bodies, caskets, etc., in which practically a continuous surface is ,requircd, it is necessary to have a true and accurate edge on each board, in order that it may be joined to adjacent boards by a glue jointing or dove-tailing process. It is desirable, however, that no more material be removed than is actually necessary, since lumber employed for such purposes is frequently expensive and the mechanism of my invention is adapted to accurately position the edge of the board with respect to cutting elements so that just enough inaterial and no more is removed to provide an even and true edge, the controlling devices being, for this purpose, extremely sensitive and adapted to position the board with such exactness as to avoid wastage to the greatest possible extent without saci'iliceof accuracy.

A further object of the invention is the provision of mechanism of this character adapted to act upon the edge of a board fed into the machine with the width of the board disposed vertically and with the edge to be operated upon at the bottom. 7

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent it is better understood from the following description,

which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiiinent thereof.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is an elcvat-ional view of a por tion of a wood working machine equip led with a positioning iznechanisn'i, or selectrion, in which my invention is enji'b'odied;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, taken through the movable support or fence of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken substantially upon the section line in Fig. 2; and

Fig. t is ,a section taken substantially upon the section line 1 1: in Fig. 2.

In said drawings, 1 have shown, for illustrative purposes only, a preferred form of my invention, in which the reference character 11 indicates a feed chain a lumber joining machine, which is supported upon a main frame 12, upon one end of which is mounted the mechanism of my invention, which is known in the trade as a. selectrion since the function thereof is .to select the portion of the board surface which determines the board position as it enters the feeding devices. The selectrion. in the present instance, is adapted to be operated by a board '13 as the same is pressed downwardly upon the top of a movable sup port or fence, which I have indicated, generally, by the reference character 14;. Said fence comprises spaced side plates 15, connected by cross pieces 16 at the top and carrying the operating parts of .the mechanism, which will now be described.

A plurality of toes, or detectors, are pivoted at 18 between the plates in and have rearwardly extending tail portions 19, carrying vertically disposed rods 21, upon which are mounted wedge members 22, held in desired position between springs 23 on the lower ends of the rods and nuts 2% threaded onto the upper ends of said rods. The tension upon the springs 23 may obviously be varied in accordance with the extent to which the nuts are screwed down- \vardly and the parts are so balanced that the toes 17 are normally held in their up position, protruding through the spaces 25 between the cross pieces 16.

A pair of longitudinally disposed bars 26 are connected by means of studs 21' and are slotted, as indicated at 28, between said studs 27. Studs 29 extend between the plates 15 and through the slots 28 d are adapted to cooperate with said studs 27 to grip the wedge members 22 under predetermined conditions, as will be presently described.

The fence, or support, 14 is preferably pivotally mounted at one or more points and is normally held level and in raised position by means of a parallel motion device, comprising levers 31, centrally pivoted at 32 to the frame 12 of the machine, the upper ends of said levers being connected by means of a connecting rod 33 and the lower ends by means of a similar rod 3% and a spring 35 being connected to one end of the rod 2-33 and to the opposite end of the roe Bell cranks 36 are pivoted at 37 to the plates 15, one arm thereof being rigid with the o0 lever 81 and the other arm 39 being pivoted upon a pintle 27 passing through one of the studs 2? connecting the bars 26.

Openings 45 are provided in the upper part of the side plates 15 and retaining members 45 are pivoted at a? to said plate and arrangeable over openings 18 therein in which the pivoted pins 18 are disposed.

In operation, a board to be aligned with respect to the cutters of the lumber joining machine is placed upon the top of the fence 1 1, as shown in Fig. 2, with the edge thereof which is to be trued in contact with said fence. The toes 17 thereupon arrange thenr selves in contactwith the board edge, it being apparent from Fig. 2 that when there is a depression in said edge, such as is indicated at 41, the toe beneath said depression will be raised above the others and the wedge 22 associated therewith will be in correspond ingly lowered position. Continued pressure upon the board 18 serves to move the fence lat downwardly against the tension of the spring 35, which is stretched by the action of the bell crank 36, the arm 38 of which is rigid with one of the levers 31. This tends to turn said lever 31 upon its pivot from the vertical to the position indicated in Fig. 2. This downward movement of the fence also produces a horizontal movement of the bars 26 by reason of the turning of the bell crank 36 upon the fixed pivot 32, and this separates the studs 27 and 29, thus permitting the wedges 22 to descend between said studs. Upon release of the pressure upon the board, the fence will tend to rise through the action of the spring 35 and the bars 26 will be returned toward tl c original position. it will be manifest that the v-sedge member 22 which is furthest down will be first gripped between the studs 2'? and 29, this being the wedge associated with the too 17 which is furthest up, so that the point of greatest (repression in the board ct deter mines the point at which the up motion of the fence is arrested and thus controls the board position in accordance with its surl'arc so that when it is passed over the cutter, only so much thereof as is necessary to produce an even surface will be removed by the c'" ters, which, it will be understood, are diposed beneath the board as it is directed through the machine by the feed chains 11. In order to restore the parts to starting nosition after the board has passed, the ic to may be pushed downwardly to separate the studs 27 and 29 and thus release the wedge 22 which has been engaged. It will be obvious that with all of the toes 19 depressed to the full extent, there will be no gripping of the wedge members and the parts may be restored to original position.

It is thought that the invention and man of its attendant advantages will be uud stood from the foregoing description, it will be apparent that various changes 1: be made in the form, const uction and rangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. Positioning mechanism, comprisin fran'ie, a member pivotally supported yieldably movable under pressure of the article to be positioned, yielding abutmcnis carried by said men'ibcr and en gea'ole by said article, apart movable at n angle to the movement of said member upon n'essurc being applied to the latter, and means adapted to cooperate with said part whrn the pressure is relieved to determine the extent of return movement of said member in accordance with the position of said yicl ing abutments.

2. Positioning mechanium, comprising a frame, a member pivot-ally supported and yieldably movable in a vertical direction under pressure of the article to be positioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable by said article, a part movable horizontally upon pressure being applied to the latter, and means adapted to cooperate with said part when the pressure is relieved to determine the extent of return movement of said member in accordance with the position of said yielding abutments.

3. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member pivotilly supported and yieldably n'iovable under pressure of the are ticle to be positioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and ongagoable by said article, a part movable at an angle to the movement of said member upon pressure being applied to the latter, and means adapted to cooperate with said part when the pressure is relieved. to determine the extent oi return movement of said member in accordance with the position of the most extended oi said yielding tiblliilllQil'ilS.

Positioning mechanism, con'iprising a frame, a member having pivotal support and being movable under pressure of the article to be positioned, yielding alnitments carried iy said member and engageable by said article, a part movable at an angle to the move ment of said member upon pressure being applied to the latter, and means carried by said n'iember and aonuted to cooperate with said part when the pressure is relieved to determine the extent return movei'nent of said member in accordance with the position of said yielding abutments.

5. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member having pivotal support and being movable under pressure oi the article to be positioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable by said article, a part movable at an angle to the movement oi said member upon pressure being applied to the latter, a wedge associated with each oi said abutinents, and gripping elements carried respectively by said men1- her and said relatively movable part for engaging the wedge associated with the most extended yielding abutment to limitthe return movement oi said member and thus determine the position of the article.

6. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member having pivotal support and being movable under pressure of the article to be positioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable by said article, a part movable at an angle to the movement of said member upon pressure being applied to the latter, spring means for returning the mechanism to starting position, and means adapted to cooperate with said part when the pressure is relieved to determine the extent of return movement of said member in accordance with the position of said yielding abutments.

'i'. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a. member having pivotal support and being movable under pressure of the article to be positioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable by said article, a part movable at an angle to the movement of said member upon pressure being applied to the latter, a parallel motion spring device for returning the mechanism to starting position, and means adapted to cooperate with said part when the pressure is relieved to determine the extent of return movement of said member in accordance with the position of said yielding abutments.

8. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member having pivotal support and being movable under pressure of the article to be positioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable by said artiole, a part movable at an angle to the movement of said member upon pressure being applied to the latter, a parallel motion spring device for returning the mechanism to starting position, said device being pivoted to the frame and having an extension pivoted to said member and to said relatively movable part, and means adapted to cooperate withsaid part when the pressure is relieved to determine the extent of return movement of said member in accordance with the position of said yielding abutments.

9. Positioning mechanism, comprising a frame, a member having pivotal support and being movable under pressure of the article to be positioned, yielding abutments carried by said member and engageable by said article, a part movable at an angle to the move ment of said member upon pressure being applied to the latter, a parallel motion spring device for returning the mechanism to starting position, said device being pivoted to the frame and having an extension pivoted to said member and to said relatively movable part, the retracting movement of the member moving said device and shifting said partagainst the tension of the spring, and means adapted to cooperate with said part when the pressure is relieved to determine the extent of return movement ofsaid member in accordance with the position of said yielding abutments.

10. Positioning mechanism, comprising a pivotally supported unit movable under pressure of the article to be positioned and in cluding a part movable at right angles to the direction of the pressure and operable upon return movement of the unit to deter mine the extent of said movement in accord ance with the form oi the applied surface of said article.

11. Positioning mechanism, comprising, a frame, a member directly movable under pressure of the article to be positioned, and

means carried by said member and controlled by said article for limiting the return movement of said member.

12. Positioning mechanism, comprising, a frame, a member directly movable under pressure of the article to be positioned, and means carried by said member and controlled by said article for limiting the return movement of said member, said means comprising a finger adapted to engage the article, and

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means controlled by said finger and adapted to be interposed between relatively movable parts of said member.

13. Positioning mechanism, comprising, a

5 frame, a member pivotally mounted in said frame at a plurality of points and movable under pressure of an article to be positioned,

and a plurality of devices associated with said member and adapted to engage the article and to restrict the return movement of 10 said member in accordance with the contour of the surface of the article.

BERT A. LINDERMAN.

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