Western Atlas Inc.

Litton Industrial Products, Inc.

Litton Industrial Automation Systems, Inc.

Russell E Kaiser, Jr

Ricky L Mowen

Dennis F Rice

Timothy W Hykes

Dennis A Fortney

William W Pflager

Steven G Lueckeman

A grinding machine utilizing multiple, parallel, endless, abrasive belts for simultaneously grinding several surfaces on a workpiece, such as cam lobes on a cam shaft. The grinding machine includes a contouring head assembly comprising a plurality of contour feed units, each contour unit including a curved back-up shoe, a back-up shoe holder, an adaptor for mounting the shoe holder, and a ball-spline mechanism is secured to the adaptor for transmitting power from a drive motor to the back-up shoe to press an abrasive belt, associated with the back-up shoe against a workpiece. A locating lip is defined on each adaptor, and a reference pad is established on the contouring head assembly. The adapters are divided into an upper and lower row, and the locating lips are formed oversized. One row of lips is ground to a desired distance from the reference pad, and the other row of lips is then ground relative to the previously ground row of locating lips. The back-up shoe holders are then secured in position upon the locating lips. The method of assembling the machine, the enclosure that encompasses the rear face of the contouring head assembly, the laterally movable support bracket for the drive drum assembly, and several other complementary features, coact to provide a grinding machine that functions efficiently while maintaining tolerances previously unobtainable with multiple belt grinding machines.

Multiple grinding machine with contouring feed units

A grinding machine utilizing multiple, parallel, endless, abrasive belts for simultaneously grinding several surfaces on a workpiece, such as cam lobes on a cam shaft. The grinding machine includes a contouring head assembly comprising a plurality of contour feed units, each contour unit including a curved back-up shoe, a back-up shoe holder, an adaptor for mounting the shoe holder, and a ball-spline mechanism secured to the adaptor for transmitting power from a drive motor to the back-up shoe to press an abrasive belt, associated with the back-up shoe against a workpiece. A locating lip is defined on each adaptor, and a reference pad is established on the contouring head assembly.

Grinding machine utilizing multiple, parallel, abrasive belts for

A tapered bearing for the drive drum assembly of a belt grinding machine that employs multiple, parallel, abrasive grinding belts, and back-up shoes for pressing the belts against the surfaces on a workpiece to be ground. The drive drum assembly, in cooperation with small pulleys operatively associated with the contouring head, keeps the abrasive belts properly trained. The central shaft of the drive drum assembly, which has a plurality of large pulleys and spacers positioned therealong, is secured between a fixed bearing support and a laterally movable support bracket. A tapered bearing is fastened to one end of the central shaft, and a complementary shaped aperture is defined in a spindle retained in the movable support bracket. When the movable support bracket is shifted inwardly, by the hydraulic circuitry of the grinding machine, the tapered bearing fits snugly into the aperture so that the drive drum assembly is supported in a rigid, sag-free manner. The snug fit 'pre-loads' the drive drum assembly and bearing assembly, so that such assemblies rotate smoothly, without slippage, when the drive belt delivers power to the drive drum assembly. Seals are provided about the tapered bearing so that dust and debris cannot degrade the bearing, and the bearing does not wear excessively, even under prolonged, high speed operation.

Tapered bearing for drive drum assembly of grinding machine utilizing

A radial locator is carried by the bed of a cam lobe grinding machine proximate the workpiece chuck. An initial locating pin is carried by the chuck to sense a rough locating hole in a sprocket carried by a cam shaft to be disposed in the chuck to have its cam lobes ground. A timing tooth is provided on the sprocket in proper proximity to the rough locating hole and for coaction with complimentary locating teeth carried by a rockable locating arm of the radial locator. An actuating arm carries the locating arm for movement between an at rest disposition and a rocked disposition wherein the locator teeth coact with the timing tooth to rotate the sprocket, cam shaft and cam lobes to a final position for proper grinding of the cam lobes. A rotary actuator moves the actuating arm an locating arm between their respective dispositions.

Workpiece radial locator device and method

Grinding machine utilizing multiple, parallel, abrasive belts

A locking mechanism for the contouring head assembly of a belt grinding machine that employs multiple, parallel, abrasive grinding belts, and back-up shoes for pressing the belts against the surfaces on a workpiece to be ground. The locking mechanism secures the contouring head assembly to the bed of the grinding machine. The locking mechanism includes a protrusion, such as a ball, that is carried by the contouring head assembly and a pivotable arm with a socket defined near its free end. The pivotable arm is secured to a shaft that is driven by a rotary actuator, that is powered by a hydraulic motor. The socket engages the protrusion to securely support one side of the contouring feed assembly. A hydraulic cylinder forces a tapered plunger against the pivotable arm to enhance the locking action.

Locking mechanism for contouring head assembly for multiple belt

A cylindrical grinder for effecting stock removal from a cam surface on a workpiece, the cam surface including a base portion, a nose portion and flank portion joining the base and nose portions, the nose portion having a smaller radius of curvature than the base portion and being more distant from the axis of rotation of the cam than the base portion, comprising means for supporting the workpiece for rotation about a predetermined axis, means for defining a selected velocity profile for each revolution of the cam, the velocity profile having a plurality of acceleration/deceleration segments whereby the velocity of the surface of the cam at the grinding location is selectively varied, stock removal means including a grinding wheel and grinding wheel feed control means, the grinding wheel feed control means including rough feed control means having means for infeeding the grinding wheel at a plurality of sequentially operable feeds, finish control means having means for infeeding the grinding wheel at a plurality of sequentially operable feeds, means for sensing the presence of a selected point on the cam surface at a predetermined angular location, and means for actuating one of the rough and finish feed control means at the first of the plurality of feeds when the selected point is sensed and for sequentially actuating each of the remaining plurality of feeds when the selected point is sensed each of the next remander of the same plurality of revolutions.

Growing community of inventors

Mercersburg, PA, United States of America

Russell E Kaiser, Jr