Other

Innovex, Inc.

Mar Engineering, Inc.

Leon G Dashevsky

Mikhail Braginsky

A machine tool having a machining member such as a grinding wheel, a milling cutter, shaping cutter or also includes a slide on which a straight edge bar is mounted. The straight edge bar is engaged by the machining member to machine a surface on the bar held on the slide. The slide is moved at the feed rate used for machining with the particular machining member used, and then the bar is rotated about its longitudinal axis, that is, the axis parallel to the movement of the slide. The amount of error from a straight line that has been formed is sensed by sensors positioned in the same plane as the contact line of the grinding wheel. The actual error of the slide is thus determined, and portions of the surface of the bar can be gradually scraped or refined by other means until the sensors indicate that the surface has become a precise straight edge. The straight edge surface can then be used as a reference for checking workpieces or for automatic error compensation. Surfaces at 90.degree. to the first formed surface also can be corrected by rotating the workpiece to the desired position, running the machine slide and machine tool at the desired feed rate, and then determining the error from a straight line after rotating the workpiece about its longitudinal axis.

Method of determining slide straightness and for providing a straight

Hollow ball bearings of improved strength and uniformity are produced by causing identical first and second hemispheric units to rotate at different speeds in facing relationship upon a common axis, and forcing the hemispheres into aligned contact. The frictional heat generated by such contact melts the material adjacent the open rim of each contacting hemisphere. The molten material is distributed by centrifugal force about the interior of the hemispheres. The speeds of the two hemispheres are then equalized with attendant cooling and re-solidification of the molten material, thereby producing a hollow sphere.

Process for the production of hollow ball bearings

A three axis control for a machine tool which maintains a plane surface being ground or machined by a tool at a desired orientation. A base supports an intermediate plate on flexures, and the position of the intermediate plate in a plane parallel to the base is controlled by a pair of actuators that are spaced apart along a line that is parallel to the direction of movement of the intermediate plate and a workpiece past the tool. Sensors move along a planar reference surface as the intermediate plate moves and sense deviations of the intermediate plate from a straight line and control the actuators to maintain the intermediate plate in its desired path through closed loop control. The workpiece to be worked on is preferably mounted on a tooling plate that in turn is mounted on the intermediate plate about an axis parallel to the line of movement. The position of the tooling plate about the axis is sensed by a third sensor operating on the reference surface to control an actuator that in turn controls position of the tooling plate about the axis. The sensors and controlled actuators insure that the surface of the workpiece will be planar, that is, straight and flat.

Three axis control for machine tool

A cassette type part clamping member holding precision parts of small size to very close tolerances. The parts are clamped in a manner so that they are securely held but are not damaged. The cassette mounts relatively easily made, low cost, and useful reference bar for providing a reference surface against which the parts are clamped and also against which a sensor will operate during an operation such as grinding to insure that a straight grind cut is made. The cassette that holds the part clamping members and the reference bar, and a separate outer cassette holder fixture which provides reference surfaces for supporting the reference bar holding it in position accurately and without affecting the preload on the clamping members is mounted on the tool table. The cassette can be removed from and replaced into the holding fixture without releasing the parts.

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Plymouth, MN, United States of America

Leon G Dashevsky