The Timken Company

Stephen B Fitch

Stephen P Johnson

Jerry L Mills

William I Stuehr

John Gadus

Xiaolan Ai

An apparatus for magnetic induction hardening of a workpiece includes a magnetic tool having a body portion formed of a generally non-magnetic material. The body portion has a surface configured to be positioned in close proximity to the workpiece being hardened. The apparatus further includes a magnetic arrangement coupled to the body portion at or adjacent the surface of the body portion and configured to provide regions of alternating polarity. A workpiece holder is configured to support the workpiece in close proximity to the surface of the magnetic tool. A drive arrangement for rotating the magnetic tool relative to the workpiece holder about an axis of rotation is provided to induce heating of the workpiece to achieve a temperature in the austenitic range of the workpiece resulting in hardening of the workpiece through a microstructural transformation.

Apparatus for induction hardening

A method for heat treating a gear having gear teeth includes removably mounting the gear on a work-piece holder, moving one of either a magnet assembly or the work-piece holder to bring the gear and the magnet assembly into heating proximity, rotating the magnet assembly for a desired amount of time while said magnet assembly and gear are in heating proximity to each other to heat treat surfaces of the gear teeth, moving one of either the magnet assembly or the work-piece holder relative to the other to bring different surfaces of the gear into heating proximity with said magnet assembly, and repeating for each opposed pair of gear teeth surfaces until all said gear teeth surfaces are heat treated.

Growing community of inventors

Massillon, OH, United States of America

Stephen B Fitch