Patent Application
20140179201
(a) Field
The subject matter disclosed generally relates to blade sharpening and more specifically to blade sharpening apparatuses and methods of using the same to produce sharpened skate blades.
(b) Related Prior Art
Blade sharpening devices for sharpening of all types of blades ranging from cutting blade and skating blades are known.
For example, cutting blade sharpening devices are known which have two or more pairs of grinding rollers or wheels located in mutually facing positions with their respective lateral grinding surfaces in adjacent relation. The blade is sharpened by being interposed between the two rollers with the blade edge contacting the grinding surfaces and causing the rollers to rotate about respective parallel axes with opposite directions of rotation.
A first drawback of such a solution consists in that rigidly held grinding rollers provide a blade having a profile, whose quality is not always acceptable. An additional drawback of these known solutions is that, during sharpening, the blade has to be pressed against the roller, and is thus heated, which may cause loss of hardness of the material, usually steel. Another drawback is that the top-to-bottom rotation of the grinding surfaces of the rollers causes burr build-up that forces frequent process stops for burr removal.
A further drawback is that prior art sharpening devices are mounted to fixed shells which set an operating position thereof, and introduction of the blades to be sharpened from both sharpening sides between the grinding members, for better sharpening, requires users to repeatedly move around the device for direct access to each side.
Another drawback is that, during blade sharpening, the user that holds the blades may inadvertently introduce them through an excessive distance between the grinding members, with the blade handles possibly contacting the latter and being damaged by their fast rotation, as soon as contact occurs.
Ice skates typically have a convex shape along a length of the skate blade and a concave shape across the width of the blade, defining two edges along the length of the blade. A skater can use either of these two edges in executing maneuvers on the ice surface. To maintain a desired blade configuration, a skate sharpening apparatus must be employed to re-grind the lower surface of the blade to create a groove along the length of the blade according to the preferred profile
Skate blades differ from one pair to another. In the prior art, such as Canadian Patent 2,309,222C, the operator of a skate sharpening machine is required to first dress a grinding wheel, which is usually carried out using a single point diamond dresser that is pivoted about an axis generally perpendicular to an axis of rotation of the grinding wheel. The single point diamond dresser intersects the outer periphery of the grinding wheel, removing material from the wheel to create and define a grinding wheel contour.
A drawback of such solution is that to have the desired contour applied to the skate blade, one must manually ensure that during the grinding process the centerline of the contour on a wheel coincides with the centerline of the blade along its full length. When each centerline is not carefully matched, an irregular groove will be created along the length of the blade, with one edge being higher/lower than the other. The contour formed on the grinding wheel may range from a convex arcuate surface with a radius typically in the range of 0.25 inch to 2 inches through to a triangular profile. Therefore, ice skate blade profiles have evolved into different profiles of blade between speed skating and ice dance, defender, goalie, attacker, short speed and long speed.
Accordingly it would be desirable to provide an ice skate blade sharpening machine that allows for sharpening multiple blades simultaneously allowing accurate alignment of profiles for example within a single player's pair, across multiple pairs for a user or simply to reduce time and cost in retail establishments offering blade sharpening services.
According to an embodiment, there is provided a blade sharpening system which may comprise:
The blade holding apparatus may further comprises adjustable grip tuning members for abutting the first and second parallel gripping members to provide a substantially even gripping pressure along the blade to straighten the blade.
The constant grinding pressure may be according to a type and/or a make of the blade.
The blade sharpening device may further comprise a lever configured to pivot the grinding assembly according to the predetermined shape of the blade.
The blade sharpening device may further comprise an arm pivotally coupled to the lever to pivot the lever according a predetermined shape of the blade.
The blade sharpening device may further comprise a cam coupled to the arm to actuate the arm.
The blade holding apparatus may further comprises a stage having at least one longitudinal slot in longitudinal alignment with the grinding wheel.
The parallel first and second gripping members may be slidably mounted on the stage over the longitudinal slot, for aligning the blade within the longitudinal slot.
The centerline of the grinding wheel may be configured to be in longitudinal alignment with a centerline of the edge of the blade.
The grinding wheel may comprise a contour having a convex arcuate surface with a radius from about 0.25 inch to about 3 inch.
The blade holding apparatus may further comprise an actuating member to bring the first and second parallel gripping members in proximity.
The blade holding apparatus may further comprise a blade extremity rest to abut a blade extremity to position the blade in the blade holding apparatus.
The blade sharpening device may further comprise a balancing mechanism to counterbalance weight of the grinding assembly.
The balancing mechanism may be a weight.
The controller may be operable to
The controller may further comprise one or more processor, and a memory.
The controller may be further operable to receive and store a blade sharpening parameter set.
The blade sharpening parameter set may comprise a height of the grinding wheel with respect to the blade at start of grinding, a height of the grinding wheel with respect to the blade at end of grinding, an initial point of contact with the blade, acceleration time of the blade holding apparatus, speed of the blade holding apparatus, cam speed, cam acceleration time, grinding wheel drive system delay, a predetermined shape of a blade, a constant grinding pressure for a given blade, a constant grinding rotation speed for a given blade, the number of sharpening cycles, and combinations thereof.
The blade sharpening system may be further operable to be accessible from a computer network.
The blade sharpening system may be further comprising a dust collecting apparatus, for collection of dust generated from grinding the blade.
According to another embodiment, there is provided a method of sharpening blades with a blade sharpening system of the present invention comprising the step of:
The method may be further comprising step b)
The following terms are defined below.
The term “predetermined shape” is intended to mean that the shape of the blade being sharpened is known to the blade sharpening system. It may have been previously measured and may be for example stored in the controller of the system, or may be accessible for an available source. The predetermined shape of the blade is dependent upon the type (e.g. ice skating, figure skating, speed skating blade) and/or the make (e.g. CCM, Bauer, Easton) of the blade being sharpened.
The term “constant grinding pressure” is intended to mean that the pressure applied on the blade being sharpened is constant over the entire length of the surface/edge being sharpened. By pressure, it is meant the weight and/or force applied by the grinding wheel on the blade. Maintaining a constant pressure ensure an even sharpening over the entire length of the edge being sharpened, thereby avoiding waves along the blade's edge.
The term “constant grinding rotation speed” is intended to mean that the rotation speed of the grinding wheel is maintained constant over the entire length of the surface/edge being sharpened. Maintaining a constant rotation speed prevents unnecessary heating of the blade being sharpened, which prevent deformation and hardening of the blade during sharpening.
Features and advantages of the subject matter hereof will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of selected embodiments, as illustrated in the accompanying figures. As will be realized, the subject matter disclosed and claimed is capable of modifications in various respects, all without departing from the scope of the claims. Accordingly, the drawings and the description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive and the full scope of the subject matter is set forth in the claims.
Further features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended drawings, in which:
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.
In a first embodiment there is disclosed a blade sharpening system comprising:
In a second embodiment, there is disclosed a method of sharpening blades with a blade sharpening system of the present invention, comprising the step of:
a) moving at least once said blade holding apparatus having a blade mounted thereon toward said grinding wheel in alignment with said blade, to contact said blade with said grinding wheel with a constant grinding pressure, and a constant grinding rotation speed, according to a predetermined shape of said blade, to sharpen and prevent deformation of said blade.
Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to
The blade sharpening system 10 of the present invention comprises a blade sharpening device 20 configured to contact the blade according to a predetermined shape of the blade. The blade sharpening device 20 includes a grinding assembly 30 having a grinding wheel 32 demountably attached to a spindle 34 operatively coupled to a grinding wheel drive system 36. The grinding wheel 32 is configured to contact the blade with a constant grinding pressure and a constant grinding rotation speed.
According to another embodiment, the centerline of the grinding wheel 32 may be configured to be in longitudinal alignment with the corresponding centerline of the edge of the blade. According to another embodiment, the grinding wheel 32 may comprise a contour having a convex arcuate surface with a radius from about 0.25 inch to about 3 inch. The perfect alignment results in a perfectly concave edge on the blade being sharpened, resulting in an optimal skating blade.
According to another embodiment, the blade sharpening device 20 may further comprise a lever 22, which is configured to pivot the grinding assembly 30 according to the predetermined shape of the blade. For example, lever 22 may be pivotally mounted on pivot 24. According to another embodiment, the blade sharpening device 20 may further comprise an arm 26, which is pivotally coupled to the lever 22 to actuate and pivot the lever 22 according the predetermined shape of the blade. Now referring to
According to another embodiment, the blade sharpening device 20 may further comprise a balancing mechanism to counterbalance weight of the grinding assembly 30. For example, the balancing mechanism may be a weight, a retaining arm, or the likes or a combination thereof. Preferably, the balancing mechanism is a weight. For example, according to an embodiment, the weight may be a series of weights 28 mounted in lever 22 in order to equilibrate the weight of the grinding assembly 30 mounted at the extremity of the lever 22.
The blade sharpening system 10 of the present invention also includes a blade holding apparatus 40, which slides the blade over the blade sharpening device 20. The blade holding apparatus 40 may be slided by any suitable means or assembly capable of smoothly sliding it. For example, one or more rails operatively coupled to drive to move back and forth the blade holding apparatus 40 could be used. The blade holding apparatus 40 may be mounted on wheels and operatively coupled to drive to move it back and forth. The blade holding apparatus 40 may be mounted on a linear bearing and operatively coupled to drive to move it back and forth. According to an embodiment, the blade holding apparatus 40 may be coupled to a linear bearing 45. The blade holding apparatus 40 includes parallel first and second gripping members 41, 42, that contact opposite sides of the blade and align an edge of the blade with the grinding wheel 32 for sharpening.
The blade holding apparatus may further comprise a stage 46, having at least one longitudinal slot 48 in longitudinal alignment with the grinding wheel 30. According to another embodiment, the parallel first and second gripping members 41, 42 may be slidably mounted on the stage 46 over the longitudinal slot 48, for aligning the blade within said longitudinal slot.
According to another embodiment, the blade holding apparatus 40 may further comprise an actuating member 60 to bring said first and second parallel gripping members 41, 42 in proximity to one another. When the first and second parallel gripping members 41, 42 are brought in proximity in this fashion, the blade to be sharpened is held between the parallel gripping members 41, 42. The actuating member 60 may be any suitable means of bringing the first and second parallel gripping members 41, 42 in proximity. For example, the actuating member may push on the external sides of the parallel gripping members 41, 42 to bring them near one another and clamp on the blade. Alternatively, the actuating member 60 may push or pull on the parallel gripping members 41, 42 to bring them near one another and clamp on the blade. Now referring to
According to another embodiment, the blade holding apparatus 40 further comprises adjustable grip tuning members 44 that abut the first or the second parallel gripping members 41, 42 to provide a substantially even gripping pressure along the blade and straighten the blade prior to sharpening. According to another embodiment, the adjustable grip tuning members 44 allow the first or the second parallel gripping members 41, 42 to slide against the adjustable grip tuning members 44, which in combination with the guiding members 66, guide the first or the second parallel gripping members 41, 42 against one another to clamp around a blade there between.
According to another embodiment, the blade holding apparatus 40 may further comprises a blade extremity rest 49, to abut a blade extremity to position the blade in the blade holding apparatus 40.
The blade sharpening system 10 of the present invention also includes a controller 50, which is operatively coupled to the blade sharpening device 20 and the blade holding apparatus 40, to control sharpening of the blade. According to an embodiment, the controller 50 is operable to
According to an embodiment, the controller 50 may comprise one or more processor, and a memory. The controller 50 may be further operable to receive and store a blade sharpening parameter set. For example, the blade sharpening parameter set may be stored in the memory of the controller 50. The blade sharpening parameter set may include numerous parameters, non-limiting examples of which include:
The height of the grinding wheel 32 with respect to the blade at start of grinding. This parameter specifies the position of the grinding wheel 32 at the entry (e.g. the tip) of the blade to begin grinding, and will be different according to the type and/or the make of the blade. This parameter may empirically determined by measurements provided and stored in the system.
The height of said grinding wheel with respect to the blade at end of grinding Is a parameter that specifies the position of the grinding wheel 32 when it is at the end of the blade. Specifically, it locks the position of the grinding wheel 32 (e.g. through locking arm 26) after sharpening of the blade to prevent the blade sharpening device 30 from moving upwards toward the bottom of a skate and damage the boot of the skate. It may also position the grinding wheel 32 in such a manner that it prevents deformation of the blade upon exit.
The initial point of contact with the blade (with the grinding wheel 32). This parameter is a point in space just before the contact is initiated between the grinding wheel 32 and the blade; Depending of the make and/or shape of the blade, the initial point of contact will range from about 10 thousandth of an inch to 70 thousandth of an inch (from about 250 μm to about 1800 μm).
Speed of the blade holding apparatus, is a parameter that specifies the speed at which the blade holding apparatus travels during the grinding of the blade. The speed of the blade holding apparatus 40 is also held constant during grinding, and it may vary from about 1 inch to 2 inches per seconds (2.54 cm/sec to about 5.08 cm/sec).
Acceleration time of the blade holding apparatus is a parameter that determined how much time the blade holding apparatus will take to achieve the travelling speed of the blade holding apparatus 40 when it is grinding the blade, from a completely stationary (stopped) position. According to an embodiment, the acceleration time of the blade holding apparatus may be from about 0.5 seconds to about 2 seconds, or from about 0.5 seconds to about 1.5 seconds, or from about 0.5 seconds to about 1.0 seconds.
Cam speed may also be specified to move the cam according to a constant speed in order to stabilize the blade grinding process and prevent deformation of the blades. Cam speed may vary from about 0 degree (stopped) to about 90 degrees per second.
Cam acceleration time may also be specified in order to further stabilize the grinding process and prevent deformation of the blades. The acceleration time specifies how long the cam will accelerate from a complete stop position to the desired cam speed. The acceleration may be from about 10 degrees per second to about 30 degrees per second.
The grinding wheel drive system delay is also a parameter that may be specified. This parameter specifies how long the grinding wheel drive system will be turned on before grinding begins. This prevents cases where the grinding wheel and the blade are put into contact while the wheel is stopped or has not reached the desired grinding rotation speed.
The predetermined shape of a blade is the shape of the blade that is being sharpened based on measurements made prior to sharpening.
The constant grinding pressure for a given blade, represents the pressure (or weight) being applied on the blade during grinding. This pressure may be from about 5 ounces to about 12 ounces (about 56 grams to about 336 grams).
The constant grinding rotation speed may be from about 6250 feet/min to about 7860 feet/min (about 1905 m/min to about 2394 m/min.
The number of sharpening cycles simply specifies the number of times the blade will be sharpened by the grinding wheel until the system is stopped.
According to another embodiment, the blade sharpening system 10 may be further operable to be accessible from a computer network, and/or it may comprise suitable connections to allow a user to input external data, such as new blade sharpening parameter sets.
According to another embodiment, the blade sharpening system of the present invention may further comprise a dust collecting apparatus (such as a vacuum pump, a vacuum cleaner, a filter connected to a negative pressure source, or the likes) for collection of dust generated from grinding the blade.
According to another embodiment, in use, the blade sharpening system 10 of the present invention sharpens blades according to a constant grinding pressure (ex. 5 to 12 ounces-56 to 336 grams of pressure/weight) and a constant grinding rotation speed (ex. 6250 feet/min to about 7860 feet/min (about 1905 m/min to about 2394 m/min) of the grinding wheel. Both of these parameters are predetermined and available to the blade sharpening system 10 of the present invention according to the type and/or make of the blade being sharpened. According to another embodiment, the constant grinding rotation speed may be the same for all blades, irrespective of the types and makes of blades. According to an embodiment, the pressure applied on the blade being sharpened is maintained constant over the entire length of the surface/edge being sharpened. This is to ensure an even sharpening over the entire length of the edge being sharpened and avoid grooves and waves along the blade's edge, resulting in an imperfect and non-optimal blade. According to an embodiment, the speed of the blade holding apparatus 40 is also held constant, also to ensure an even sharpening over the entire length of the edge being sharpened resulting in an imperfect and non-optimal blade.
According to another embodiment, a constant grinding rotation speed is maintained over the entire length of the surface/edge being sharpened to prevent unnecessary heating of the blade being sharpened, which prevents deformation and hardening of the blade during sharpening.
According to an embodiment, the constant grinding pressure and constant grinding rotation speed are also influenced by the weight of the grinding assembly 30, and balancing said weight with a balancing mechanism contributes to the system's blade sharpening device stability and its ability to deliver such constant grinding pressure and rotation speed. According to another embodiment, actuation and pivoting of the lever 22 by arm 26 with cam 29 also allows the system of the present invention to ability to deliver such constant grinding pressure and rotation speed.
According to another embodiment, there is disclosed a method of sharpening blades with a blade sharpening system of the present invention. The method comprises the step of:
The grinding assembly 30 is positioned according to the blade sharpening parameter set provided for a given blade, and the blade holding apparatus 40 is moved toward the grinding assembly 30, which then contacts the blade and sharpen it according to the constant grinding pressure, and the constant grinding rotation speed of the grinding wheel 30, according to the predetermined shape of the blade. This may be repeated as many times as required in order to obtain an adequately sharpened blade. The combination of the constant grinding pressure, and the constant grinding rotation speed of the grinding wheel 30, with the predetermined shape of the blade results in an even and highly reproducible sharpening of the blade. The blade is straightened just prior to sharpening, and the constant grinding pressure and rotation speed prevent the introduction of undesired alterations to the blade, such as grooves and hardened sections.
According to yet another embodiment, the method may be further comprising step b)
Prior to contacting the extremity of the blade, the grinding wheel 32 is rotating at a constant speed. Once the grinding wheel 32 reaches the point of contact the blade holding apparatus 40 is promptly accelerated to the targeted blade holding apparatus speed, which is then kept constant until the end of the sharpening cycle of the blade. According to an embodiment, the point of contact may be from about 0.01 inch to about 0.07 inch (from about 250 μm to about 1800 μm) from the extremity of the blade.
The blade is contacted within a fraction of second when the acceleration is completed. Contacting the blade directly without accelerating the blade holding apparatus 40 would potentially distort the blade, while contacting the blade with an accelerating blade holding apparatus 40 does not.
While preferred embodiments have been described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made without departing from this disclosure. Such modifications are considered as possible variants comprised in the scope of the disclosure.
