Honda of America Mfg. Inc.

Kevin Ray Chapman

Mitsuhisa Sato

William Newton Ramsey

Angela A Harmon

Donald C Hoag

Willard Anthony Stafford

Hiroyuki Kachi

Darryl Lane Turner

A guard apparatus for a rotational tool prevents direct contact of the cutting regions by an operator of the tool. The rotational cutting tool to which this invention is particularly applicable is the type having at least a shank portion and a toothed region, with the shank portion attachable to a holding attachment device to hold the tool, particularly during operation. The guard apparatus comprises a compressible guard housing for defining a guard circumferential area following a circular path parallel to but greater than a cutting circumferential area defined by the toothed region of the rotational cutting tool; and a first securement device having a first periphery at a first end for abutting the holding attachment device and a flared and tapered periphery at a second end for associating with the compressible guard housing.

Rotational cutting tool guard apparatus

A method of operating an automotive production line including the steps of advancing a plurality of self-propelled carriages along a conveyor of the production line. The carriages are continuously advanced at a fixed operational speed and a fixed operational pitch to obtain a fixed processing time at a plurality of work stations along the production line. Any one of the carriages are stopped when a reduced pitch is obtained due to a stoppage of the immediately preceding carriage. The reduced pitch is less than the operational pitch and is preferably the minimum pitch available between the carriages. Stopped carriages are restarted when the reduced pitch returns to the operational pitch due to the restarting of the immediately preceding carriage. Production losses are reduced by continuing operations upstream of a stoppage to form a dynamic online buffer upstream of the stoppage. Production losses are further reduced when the dynamic online buffer is utilized to prevent the formation of a gap due to a subsequent stoppage located upstream of the dynamic online buffer. Production losses are even further reduced when previously existing gaps located upstream of the stoppage are closed as a result of continuing operations upstream of the stoppage.

Dynamic buffer for conveyor modules

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Marysville, OH, United States of America

Kevin Ray Chapman