Claims
- 1. An apparatus for positioning tools wherein a plurality of tools or pairs of tools mounted on a carrier shaft or a pair of carrier shafts are moved and positioned along said carrier shaft or pair of carrier shafts by means of a plurality of shifters which correspond in number to the number of said tools or pairs of tools, said shifters being mounted on a rotatable shaft and controlled by a control system so as to be moved or not to be moved along said rotatable shaft in accordance with the rotation of said rotatable shaft, characterised in that said apparatus comprises.
- (a) a stand-by reach for storing the tools,
- (b) a positioning reach in which the tools are selectively and operatively postioned by the shifters, said stand-by and positioning reaches being arranged side-by-side whereby tools can be moved selectively between said reaches by the shifters,
- (c) an origin disposed between said stand-by and positioning reaches, said origin providing a borderline between said reaches where tools may be retained stationary temporarily while other tools in the postioning reach are being moved,
- (d) a signal generator disposed at a fixed location spaced from the shifters, said signal generator being rotatable synchronously with the rotation of said rotatable shaft to measure movement of the shifters when said shifters are located in the positioning reach,
- (e) a first detector located at the origin for the purpose of indicating the origin,
- (f) a second detector located at a stand-by position in said stand-by reach and
- (g) detector means mounted on each shifter for cooperation with the detectors located at the origin and at the stand-by position to enable detection of a shifter when located at said origin or at said stand-by position.
- 2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein a plurality of detectors corresponding in number to the number of shifters are disposed in the stand-by reach, said detectors being operative to locate the shifters at selected stand-by positions in the stand-by reach.
Priority Claims (3)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
| 55-160317 |
Nov 1980 |
JPX |
|
| 56-27377 |
Feb 1981 |
JPX |
|
| 56-138095 |
Sep 1981 |
JPX |
|
RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a division of our pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 318,042 filed Nov. 4, 1981 and now entitled "Method for Positioning Tools".
This invention relates to method and apparatus for positioning a plurality of tools or pairs of tools slidably mounted on a carrier shaft or a pair of carrier shafts along the carrier shaft or shafts onto respective desired positions. The invention is particularly applicable to slitter-scorer apparatus having plural pairs of slitter rolls or tools and/or plural pairs of scorer rolls or tools for manufacturing corrugated board.
As to conventional apparatuses performing this kind of method for positioning tools, there is known an apparatus which is used in slitter-scorer apparatuses for manufacturing corrugated boards which repositions slitting and scoring tools in accordance with the pattern of a corrugated board to be manufactured in a subsequent performance. That invention is not limited to use in slitter-scorer apparatuses but is applicable to machines for processing paper, cloth, plastic film and sheet, and thin metallic sheet. However, the following descriptions are given in connection with the slitter-scorer apparatuses.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,418 discloses a method and an apparatus for positioning slitting and scoring tools in a conventional slitter-scorer apparatus.
The apparatus for positioning slitting and scoring tools according to the U.S. patent aforesaid has been commonly used for four slitter-scorer units, and accordingly the apparatus has parts necessary for this purpose. The apparatus for positioning the slitting and scoring tools for one of the four slitter-scorer units is provided with shifters equal to the total number of the pairs of slitting and scoring tools of the unit, each shifter being capable of engaging and disengaging with a pair of slitting or scoring tools. The apparatus is also provided with a rotatable shaft, which is a driven screw, for moving the multiple shifters. Each shifter is controlled so that the shifter may or may not be moved when the rotatable shaft is rotated, and the pairs of tools are simultaneously moved by means of the shifters along a pair of carrier shafts respectively when the tools are to be moved in the same direction, and then positioned at desired positions.
Since each shifter is provided with a signal generator for communicating its actual location to a control system, the control system can compare signals from each shifter signal generater with signals corresponding to the actual location of a pair of tools with which the shifter is to be engaged, or with signals corresponding to a desired location of a pair of tools with which the shifter has been engaged, and command each shifter to move or not to move in accordance with the rotation of the rotatable shaft. Accordingly, the multiple shifters may be simultaneously moved when the shifters are to be moved in the same direction.
In the control system, the signals corresponding to actual locations of tools, from which associated shifters have been disengaged, and the signals which have been communicated to the control system for the actual locations of the shifters, when the tools have been disengaged from the shifters, are registered.
The actual location of each tool and shifter is counted as the distance from an origin which each tool and shifter pass when they are moved from one of two stand-by reaches located adjacent opposite ends of the carrier shafts to a positioning reach extending over the middle portions of the carrier shafts.
A disadvantage of the method for positioning tools according to the U.S. patent aforesaid is that signals corresponding to an actual location of a tool or shifter are generated according to the distance over which the shifter has moved after it has passed the origin. Of course, a distance over which the shifter is moved in the opposite direction is counted as a negative distance. Accordingly, owing to the inaccuracy of the mechanism of the apparatus, unavoidable errors originate between the actual location of the shifter and the location corresponding to the signals generated by the signal generator for the shifter, and the errors grow large in proportion to the total distance over which the shifter has been moved and the frequency of the movement of the shifter. In order to eliminate the errors, it is necessary to move the shifters into the standby reach so that the erroneous data registered in the control system may be cancelled.
A second disadvantage is that each shifter is provided with its own signal generator, and accordingly there are many kinds of signals and the control system is complicated.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a method for positioning tools, wherein the disadvantages of the before-mentioned method are solved and the tools are positioned accurately.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for positioning tools, wherein the disadvantages of the before-mentioned apparatus are solved and the control system is simplified.
Further objects of the invention will become apparent from the description given below presented in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The preferred method and apparatus for positioning tools according to the present invention are illustrated in connection with the annexed drawings, where a slitter-scorer machine for manufacturing corrugated board is illustrated.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
318042 |
Nov 1981 |
|
Patent Grant
4548109
