Tool store for machine tools

Abstract

A tool store device comprises a stnad having a base and a support frame on which is supported a tool carrier. The tool carrier is constructed as a semi-spherical shell which is rotatable about a horizontal axis and carries tools which are densely arranged thereon with their longitudinal axes extending at right angles to the store surface. On the inside of the tool carrier there is positioned an advance unit having a displacement unit and a gripper which are rotatably mounted in the support frame about a vertical axis passing through the center (M) of the imaginary ball of which the semi-spherical shell of the tool carrier is the part. The advance unit cooperates with a tool changer, which has a swivel arm swivellable about the horizontal axis. A tool double gripper is fixed to the arm. The advance unit can advance a tool at a random point of the tool carrier to a transfer station, where it can be taken over by the double tool gripper. The swivel arm brings the double gripper at the transfer station into the vicinity of a work spindle of a machine tool, where the tool is inserted into the spindle from the tool double gripper. The tool is taken back from the work spindle in the reverse order by the tool gripper, which transfers the tool to the advance unit at the transfer station of the tool store device.