Ford Motor Company Limited

Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

David A Donovan

Nathaniel L Field

Anthony T Anderson

Robert D Abramson

An apparatus for testing the adhesion quality of a coating on the interior surface of a hollow cylindrical substrate, and a method for its use, the apparatus comprising an element joined to the coating, the element having a joining face at one end, a neck at the other end for pulling in a direction perpendicular to the joining face, and a channel through the element aligned with the direction of pulling; a non-adhering plug present in the channel of the element effective to be maintained in contact with the coated surface while extending through and out of said element; a die cut adhesive disc gluing the face of the element to the coated surface as a result of pressure and heat, said disc having a die cut circumference and inner opening commensurate with the size of the plug extending therethrough; a piston and piston housing assembly in which the piston housing is slidable on the piston in response to pressure and has an extension circumferentially overlapping the neck of the element to place a substantially pure tension force on the element when the housing slides away from the coating, the piston remaining engaged with the plug which in turn stays in solid contact with the coated substrate; and a hydraulic pressure supply effective to exert a force between the piston and piston housing to pull the cylinder housing and the element away from the coated surface.

Measuring adhesion of cylinder bore coatings

Method of masking one or more extremities of a cylinder bore from internal thermal spraying, when using a rotary gun inserted from one end of the bore, by essentially the steps of: (a) supporting one or more inflatable mask members adjacent an end of the bore wall; (b) pressurizing the inflatable mask member to expand and annularly engage an end of the bore, the mask being constituted of an inflatable and collapsible air tight bag of heat resistant (fiberglass) cloth coated on opposite sides with a sacrificial heat resistant non-stick coating (silicone). The inflatable characteristic of the mask member allows it to conform to the periphery of the cylinder bore extremities, and allows it to be easily installed in or through the component in its deflated condition. The mask is reusable by being comprised of coating material that may gradually be sacrificed to heat and wear of the over spray.

Masking cylinder bore extremities from internal thermal spraying

Method of dimensionally stabilizing the interface between metal parts of differing thermal expansion characteristics (TEC), regardless of temperature variations under normal designed use of such parts, comprising: (a) hot extruding a mixture of ceramic fibers (i.e., Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, SiC, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3) and a powder of the metal having the higher TEC (i.e., Al, Ti, Mg) while aligning the fibers generally along the direction of extrusion, to form an insert; (b) shaping the insert to align its fibers generally in at least one direction of anticipated thermal growth that may interfere with the interface; (c) casting the insert in place within a first part compound of the higher TEC metal and with the insert's fibers (i) oriented as above, and (ii) preheated to a temperature no greater than 35-45% of the temperature of the molten light metal; and (d) bringing together the first metal part with a second part of lower TEC metal (i.e., Fe or steel) to form the interface. The insert may be located in a mold in a manner to be totally enveloped by the molten light metal with the insert having a surface spaced a uniform, predetermined distance from the exterior of the cast light metal part, or the insert may be located to expose a surface thereof upon completion of the casting.

Method of dimensionally stabilizing interface between dissimilar metals

Stitch-machining the walls of a cylindrical blind cavity of a workpiece, the cavity being deep and narrow with respect to the axis of the cavity, is carried out by: (a) supporting a tubular housing for axial movement throughout substantially the axial extent of the cavity interior and in close-fitting tolerance to the walls of the cavity, the tubular housing having a free end; (b) rotationally driving a spindle (10,000-40,000 rpm) in the tubular housing for conjoint axial movement with the tubular housing, the spindle extending beyond the housing end for carrying a radially adjustable cutting tool; (c) inserting the tubular housing together with the rotationally driven spindle into the cavity (at lineal speeds of 400-800 inches/minute) with a cutting tool radially positioned for rough boring of the cavity walls, while guiding and steering the tubular housing and spindle to accurately concentrically position the cutting tool with respect to the cavity axis; (d) substantially immediately upon the execution of rough boring, withdrawing the tubular housing together with the rotationally driven spindle from the cavity with the cutting tool repositoned for finish boring of the cavity wall during withdrawal; and (e) upon substantial execution of finish boring and withdrawal of the tubular housing and spindle into a fixed housing positioned closely adjacent the face of the workpiece, moving said workpiece relatively transversely with respect to the axis of the spindle for carrying out milling while radially adjusting the cutting tool for milling of the face, the tubular housing being guided and steered within the fixed housing to attain close milling tolerances.

Method and apparatus for stitch-machining deep cavities in metal

Method and apparatus for conducting boring of a series of spaced walls on a workpiece using a self-adjusting boring bar. The method comprises: (a) supporting a spindle in a rotationally fixed tubular housing to provide an assembly having an unsupported extremity adapted to extend throughout the series of walls, the support providing for independent rotary movement but conjoint axial movement of the spindle within such tubular housing, such spindle carrying a cutting tool to project beyond the tubular housing; (b) providing an angularly flexible joint in each of said spindle, such as complementary curvilinear splines on two mated ends of different portions of said spindles, and tubular housing, such as separate tubular housing sections coupled by a web; (c) advancing the cutting tool successively through the series of walls to machine the aligned openings and thereby causing the spindle and tubular housing to follow successively through such machined openings, said spindle and housing providing, during advancement to machine the second and successive walls of the series, (i) concentric macroalignment of the spindle within the tubular housing and macroalignment of the tubular housing within the walls of the openings, and (ii) a sense of microalignment of the housing within at least the previously machined; and (d) in response to a sensed micromisalignment of said spindle head, selectively imparting a microangular steering force to the tubular housing and thereby to the spindle to achieve the desired microalignment. The apparatus employs a split tubular housing with piezoelectric means for imparting microscale angular adjustments.

Method and apparatus for self-adjusting boring bar

A shift lever and throttle lever coaxially mounted on the casing of an automatic transmission are engaged, respectively, by a lever mounted on each of two concentric shafts whose axes are aligned with the axis of the transmission levers. The shafts have torque sensors located between the levers carried by the shafts and bearings that support the shafts in rotation. The outer shaft has a radial positioning actuator which is hydraulically driven from a source of hydraulic pressure through a servo controlled valve that selectively opens and closes hydraulic passages. The actuator includes a vane fixed to the shaft and a stator that divides a cavity into two halves, each of which is pressurized selectively by operation of the servo. The angular position of the shaft from a reference position is produced by a variable impedance transducer whose sensor is held at a fixed distance from the axis of the shaft and which produces an output voltage that is proportional to the distance between the face of the sensor and a cam surface, whose distance from the axis of the shaft varies linearly with its rotation from a reference position.

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Chelsea, MI, United States of America

David A Donovan