Litton Industrial Products, Inc.

Alan M Papp

Richard R Carroll

A pallet conveyor assembly for moving, positioning, and transferring a heavy palletized load comprising a pallet, support means having a plurality of independent support modules each including a power driven closed loop vertically oriented link chain, the chain including engagement pins, means for supporting the pallet for displacement along the support means in a selected direction, pin engagement means mounted to the pallet including an engagement plate having a spaced pair of downwardly opening slots in which one of the engagement pins can be located, and spring means for biasing the engagement plate between an upper position whereat one of the slots can engage an engagement pin on the top run of the link chain, to a lower position, adjacent modules being selectively spaced and engagement pins being selectively located on the drive chain so that as a pallet is driven forwardly from one module to another an engagement pin of the one module will become disengaged from the front slot and an engagement pin of the other module will simultaneously engage the front slot when the engagement plate is at the lower position.

Pallet conveyor

A machining center comprising a tool spindle, a tool magazine, a tool shuttle assembly for transferring tools between the tool spindle and the tool magazine including rail means, a tool change mechanism including a carriage, means for mounting the carriage on the rail means for displacement therealong, a dynamically brakeable motor for driving the tool change mechanism along the rail means in a selected direction, means for stopping the tool change mechanism driven in the selected direction including first proximity switch means secured to the carriage at a selected spacing from the rail means for maintaining the condition of the proximity switch means as the carriage is displaced along the rail means, opening means in the rail means at a selected location for changing the condition of the first proximity switch means as the carriage means is displaced in the selected direction along the rail means, second proximity switch means secured to the rail means, the tool change mechanism including a projecting element for changing the condition of the second proximity switch means from a first condition to a second condition as the tool change mechanism is displaced therealong, the projecting element being selectively located and the opening being selectively configured so that the first and second proximity switches will simultaneously have the second condition when the tool change mechanism is at the predetermined position.

Machining center

A machining center comprising tool spindle means, tool changing means, tool drum assembly means including first and second axially spaced integral tool drums each having a plurality of tool holding chucks about the periphery thereof, each of the tool holding chucks having a movable jaw, extension means operatively associated with each the movable jaw on one of the first and second tool drums for permitting movement of the associated movable jaw from a predetermined remote location, tool housing means for rotatably supporting the tool drum assembly means including first actuator means for displacing the one of the extension means of the one tool drum located at a selected location, and second actuator means for displacing one of the movable jaws of the other one of the tool drums located at a selected location, means for supporting the tool housing means for axial displacement, and means for axially displacing the tool housing means from a first position to a second position.

A tool changing mechanism for a machining center comprising arcuate shuttle path means including rail means having a uniform width with opposing sides and a gear track parallel to the rail, and a tool shuttle including a tool change arm, shuttle path engagement means including post means, means for mounting the post means on the tool shuttle for selective rotation about a vertical axis, a pair of guide rollers, means for mounting the pair of guide rollers on the post means with a selected spacing therebetween substantially equal to the rail width, whereby the pair of guide rollers will engage the opposing rail sides and selectively change their orientation to automatically maintain an orthogonal relation thereto while the shuttle traverses the arcuate shuttle path, a driven gear concentrically mounted for rotational movement relative to the post means about the post rotational axis and for engagement with the gear track, and means for driving the driven gear, whereby the shuttle may traverse the arcuate shuttle path maintaining the gear in continuous driving engagement with the gear track while the orientation of the guide rollers changes maintaining continual orthogonal engagement with the opposing rail sides.

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Eastlake, OH, United States of America

Alan M Papp