Method of beveling plate-like metal member

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6502441
  • Patent Number
    6,502,441
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, August 17, 2000
    24 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, January 7, 2003
    21 years ago
Abstract
A blanked plate-like metal member for use as an element of a belt in a continuously variable transmission has an recess including an undercut therein. A stream of a liquid mixed with particle members is ejected toward an edge to be beveled of the recess thereby to bevel the recess. After the edge is beveled by deburring the edge, the recess is finished by removing a bulge formed on an outer surface of the edge by deburring the edge.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to a method of beveling a plate-like metal member.




2. Description of the Related Art




Plate-like metal members to be beveled include elements of a belt for use in continuously variable transmissions, for example. As shown in

FIG. 5

of the accompanying drawings, an element


1


of such a transmission belt comprises a body


2


for contacting a pulley of a continuously variable transmission (not shown), and a head


4


joined to the body


2


by a narrow neck


3


. The element


1


is blanked out of a metal plate (not shown). The body


2


has a pair of symmetrical saddles


5


, and the head


4


has a pair of ears


6


spaced respectively, from the saddles


5


with gaps therebetween. The element


1


includes undercuts


3




d


defined at upper and lower ends of the neck


3


. A pair of laminated rings


8


each comprising a stack of metal sheet rings


7


is held in engagement with the respective saddles


5


. Although not shown, the transmission belt comprises an annular array of stacked elements


1


that are held together in an annular shape by the laminated rings


8


.




If the neck


3


of the element


1


has sharp edge corners


3




a


or is burred at edge corners


3




a


when the element


1


is blanked, then the metal sheet rings


7


tend to be damaged by contact with the neck


3


. To avoid such damage, it has been customary to deburr and bevel the edge corners


3




a


of the neck


3


.




It is known in the art that, as shown in

FIG. 6

of the accompanying drawings, a rotating grinding belt


60


is held in sliding contact with the edge corners


3




a


of the neck


3


of the element


1


to deburr and bevel the edge corners


3




a


of the neck


3


.




According to the known process, each element


1


is supported on a rotary disk


61


, and rotated thereby while the edge corners


3




a


of the neck


3


are being held against the grinding belt


60


. As shown in FIG.


7


(


a


) of the accompanying drawings, the grinding belt


60


passes between an upper edge


5




a


of one of the saddles


5


and a lower edge


6




a


of the corresponding ear


6


into abutment against the neck


3


. Therefore, the width of the grinding belt


60


is of such dimension that it can pass between the upper edge


5




a


of the saddle


5


and the lower edge


6




a


of the ear


6


.




However, if the upper edge


5




a


of the saddle


5


is slightly arcuate in shape, then the distance e between the crest of the upper edge


5




a


of the saddle


5


and the lower edge


6




a


of the ear


6


is relatively small, and a range f of the neck


3


which is beveled by the grinding belt


60


having passed through the distance e is smaller than a range g of the neck


3


which is held in contact with the metal sheet rings


7


of the laminated ring


8


. Specifically, the rings


7


of the laminated ring


8


engaging the saddle


5


slide along an extension h (see FIGS.


7


(


a


) and


7


(


b


)) of the upper edge


5




a


of the saddle


5


into abutting engagement with the neck


3


, as shown in FIG.


7


(


b


) of the accompanying drawings. At this time, a lower one of the rings


7


abuts against a range i outside of the beveled range f. Therefore, the conventional beveling process using the grinding belt


60


fails to bevel the entire range g of the neck


3


which is contacted by the laminated ring


8


. As a result, the rings


7


are not fully protected against damage because they tend to contact the range i of the neck


3


where burrs and sharp edge corners remain unremoved.




According to the conventional beveling process using the grinding belt


60


, furthermore, as shown in

FIG. 6

, the elements


1


supported on the rotary disk


61


are beveled one by one. Consequently, a large number of elements


1


are beveled with poor efficiency in a prolonged period of time.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of beveling a plate-like metal member at a predetermined position thereof reliably and efficiently.




According to the present invention, there is provided a method of beveling a blanked plate-like metal member having an recess including an undercut therein, comprising the step of ejecting a stream of a liquid mixed with particle members toward an edge to be beveled of the recess thereby to bevel the recess.




When the stream of the liquid mixed with particle members is ejected toward the edge to be beveled of the recess including the undercut, the particle members collide with the edge to be beveled, polishing, removing burrs from, and beveling the edge of the recess.




The particle members have such directivity that they collide accurately with the recess in the plate-like metal member. Therefore, the recess can reliably be beveled even if it is located in a relatively narrow region. When the particle members collide with the edge to be beveled, they impart a residual stress in the edge, thereby increasing the mechanical strength of the edge.




The plate-like metal member may comprise an element of a belt for use in a continuously variable transmission. A plurality of such elements are stacked in an annular form and held together by sheet rings, providing the transmission belt. The element comprises a body for contacting a pulley of the continuously variable transmission, and a head joined to the body by a narrow neck, the body having a saddle engageable by the sheet rings, the head having an ear spaced from the saddle with a gap therebetween. The recess is defined by an upper edge of the saddle, a side edge of the neck, and a lower edge of the ear. The stream is ejected toward the edge to be beveled which extends in a range between a point of intersection between the side edge of the neck and an extension of the lower edge of the ear and a point of intersection between the side edge of the neck and an extension of the upper edge of the saddle.




Since the particle members are ejected with directivity, they can collide accurately with a point of intersection between the side edge of the neck and the extension of the upper edge of the saddle. The particle members can therefore reliably deburr and bevel the edge to be beveled which extends in the range between the point of intersection between the side edge of the neck and the extension of the lower edge of the ear and the point of intersection between the side edge of the neck and the extension of the upper edge of the saddle, which range would be contacted by the sheet rings on the side edge of the neck. Therefore, the sheet rings are reliably prevented from damage by contact with the neck. Furthermore, because the mechanical strength of the neck is increased by the residual stress that has been developed in the neck by the impinging particle members, the neck is further protected against damage by contact with the neck.




After the edge is deburred thereby to bevel the recess, the recess is finished by removing a bulge formed on an outer surface of the edge by deburring the edge. Therefore, the recess is given a highly accurate beveled shape. The recess may be finished by barrel polishing.




A stack of the plate-like metal members may be moved in a direction along the stack while recesses in the plate-like metal members are being exposed to one side, and the stream may be ejected toward edges to be beveled of the recesses thereby to bevel the recesses. Therefore, many plate-like metal members can be beveled simultaneously with increased efficiency. If the plate-like metal members comprise elements of a belt for use in a continuously variable transmission, then the stack of elements may be moved in a direction of the stack, and the stream may be ejected toward edges to be beveled of the recesses thereby to bevel the recesses. Consequently, may elements can be beveled simultaneously with increased efficiency.




At this time, the stream may be ejected toward edges to be beveled on one diagonal line of the neck of a stack of the elements to bevel the edges while moving the stack of elements in a direction along the stack, then the stack of elements may be turned 180° about an axis along the direction, and the stream may be ejected toward edges to be beveled on the other diagonal line of the neck of the stack of the elements to bevel the edges while moving the stack of elements in the direction along the stack. In this fashion, the four edge corners of a pair of recesses defined in each element can efficiently be beveled.




The particle members may be made of a material selected from the group consisting of glass, alumina, steel, cast iron powder, and zirconia. The particle members made of the above material are mixed with the liquid, and the stream of the liquid is ejected to the edge to be beveled. Since the particle members collide accurately with the edge to be beveled because of the directivity they have, the edge can be beveled well.




The particle members may be crushed upon collision with the edge to be beveled. The particle member that can be crushed upon collision with the edge to be beveled may comprise glass beads. The glass beads are broken by the impact at the time they collide with the edge. The fragments of the glass beads thus broken are pressed again against the edge by the stream of the liquid for reliably and efficiently beveling the edge.




The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention by way of example.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a schematic view of an apparatus used to carry out a method of beveling a plate-like metal member according to the present invention;





FIG. 2

is a fragmentary view showing a portion of an element as a plate-like metal member to be beveled by the method according to the present invention;





FIG. 3

is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view, partly broken away, of an edge of a neck of the element shown in

FIG. 2

;




FIG.


4


(


a


) is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of an edge corner of the neck;




FIG.


4


(


b


) is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the edge corner of the neck as it is beveled;




FIG.


4


(


c


) is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the edge corner of the neck as it is finished;





FIG. 5

is a front elevational view of an element;





FIG. 6

is a schematic view of an apparatus used to carry out a conventional method of beveling a plate-like metal member;




FIG.


7


(


a


) is a fragmentary view showing a portion of the element shown in

FIG. 6

which is beveled by the conventional method;




FIG.


7


(


b


) is a fragmentary view showing the portion of the element shown in

FIG. 7

that is poorly beveled and tends to damage a laminated ring.











DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




An element


1


of a belt for use in continuously variable transmissions, as a plate-like metal member to be beveled, will first be briefly described below with reference to FIG.


5


. The element


1


is blanked out of a metal plate, and comprises a body


2


and a head


4


joined to the body


2


by a narrow neck


3


. The body


2


has a pair of symmetrical saddles


5


, and the head


4


has a pair of ears


6


spaced respectively from the saddles


5


with gaps therebetween. The element


1


includes undercuts


3




d


defined at upper and lower ends of the neck


3


. The transmission belt comprises an annular array of stacked elements


1


that are held together in an annular shape by a pair of laminated rings


8


each comprising a stack of metal sheet rings


7


. The laminated rings


8


are held in engagement with the respective saddles


5


.




According to the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, the neck


3


of the element


1


is beveled.

FIG. 1

shows a beveling apparatus


9


used to carry out a method of beveling a plate-like metal member according to the present invention. The beveling apparatus


9


comprises a rotatable holding means


10


for holding a stack of elements


1


and a rotating means


11


for rotating the holding means


10


. The holding means


10


is movable back and forth in the direction along which the elements


1


are stacked, by a displacing means (not shown). The beveling apparatus


9


includes a pair of ejection nozzles


12


disposed one on each side of the holding means


10


. As shown in

FIGS. 2 and 3

, each of the ejection nozzles


12


ejects a stream of water


14


mixed with glass beads


13


as particle members toward the neck


3


of the element


1


that is held by the holding means


10


. As shown in

FIG. 1

, each of the ejection nozzles


12


is inclined to the neck


3


of each of the stacked elements


1


.




For beveling the neck


3


of the element


1


with the beveling apparatus


9


, a stack of elements


1


are held by the holding means


10


, as shown in FIG.


1


. Then, the stream of water


14


mixed with glass beads


13


are ejected from each of the ejection nozzles


12


toward the neck


3


of each of the elements


1


, while at the same time the holding means


10


is moved in the stacked direction of the elements


1


by the displacing means. In this manner, the elements


1


held by the holding means


10


are deburred and beveled in a relatively short period of time.




Since the glass beads


13


ejected from each of the ejection nozzles


12


have directivity, the glass beads


13


can be oriented to pass accurately between the ear


6


and the saddle


5


of the element


1


and applied accurately to an edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


, as shown in FIG.


2


. Furthermore, the glass beads


13


can be applied accurately to a region of the neck


3


with which the rings


7


of the laminated ring


8


engaging the saddle


5


possibly slide along the extension h of the upper edge


5




a


of the saddle


5


into abutting engagement, i.e., a point j of intersection between the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


and the extension h of the upper edge


5




a,


as shown in FIG.


2


.




More specifically, as shown in

FIG. 3

, the stream of water


14


and the glass beads


13


ejected from the ejection nozzles (see

FIG. 1

) collide with the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


, and fragments


15


of the glass beads


13


which are broken upon collision are pressed again against the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


by the stream of water


14


. In the illustrated embodiment, the glass beads


13


have a diameter of 0.1 mm, and the stream of water


14


is ejected under a pressure of about 200 Mpa. The elements


1


are moved at a speed of 500 mm/min. by the displacing means, and the distance from the ejection nozzle


12


to the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


is 50 mm.




As a result, a burr


3




b


(see FIG.


4


(


a


)) on the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


is ground off by the glass beads


13


and their fragments


15


, as shown in FIG.


4


(


b


), thus beveling the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


leaving a small bulge


3




c


on the surface of the neck


3


. Since a residual stress is developed in the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


thus beveled by collision with the glass beads


13


, a beveled surface of high mechanical strength is produced on the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


.




As shown in

FIG. 2

, each of the ejection nozzles


12


faces a point p of intersection between the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


and an extension k of the lower edge


6




a


of the ear


6


. Since the ejection nozzle


12


can apply the glass beads accurately to the point p of intersection, the edge corner


3




a


of the neck


3


can be deburred and beveled in a relatively wide range g between the points j, p of intersection.




As shown in

FIG. 1

, the ejection nozzles


12


are oriented to face the respective edge corners


3




a


on one diagonal line of the neck


3


of each of the stacked elements


1


held by the holding means


10


. After the edge corners


3




a


on one diagonal line of the neck


3


have been beveled by the respective ejection nozzles


12


, the elements


1


are turned 180° about the axis of the stack by the rotating means


11


through the holding means


10


to bring the edge corners


3




a


on the other diagonal line of the neck


3


into facing relationship to the respective ejection nozzles


12


. The edge corners


3




a


on the other diagonal line of the neck


3


can now be beveled by the respective ejection nozzles


12


.




After the edge corners


3




a


of the necks


3


of the elements


1


are beveled, the elements


1


are detached from the holding means


10


. The elements


1


are then finished by barrel polishing. As a consequence, the elements


1


from which the bulge


3




c


has been removed from the surface of the neck


3


and which are hence highly accurate in dimensions are produced.




In the illustrated embodiment, the glass beads


13


are employed as particle members. However, particle members may be made of alumina, steel, cast iron powder, ceramics such as zirconia, etc.




The method according to the present invention been described as being applied to beveling elements of belts for use in continuously variable transmissions. However, the method according to the present invention is also applicable to beveling other plate-like metal members having recesses defined by edges that need to be beveled.




Although a certain preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described in detail, it should be understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. A method of beveling a blanked plate-like metal member having a recess including an undercut therein, comprising the steps of:ejecting a stream of a liquid mixed with particle members toward an edge to be beveled of the recess thereby to bevel the recess; deburring said edge thereby to bevel the recess; and thereafter, finishing said recess by removing a bulge formed on an outer surface of said edge by deburring said edge.
  • 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said recess is finished by barrel polishing.
  • 3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:moving a stack of said plate-like metal members in a direction along said stack while recesses in said plate-like metal members are being exposed to one side; and ejecting said stream toward edges to be beveled of the recesses thereby to bevel the recesses.
  • 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said plate-like metal member comprises an element of a belt for use in a continuously variable transmission, said element being engageable by sheet rings, said element comprising a body for contacting a pulley of the continuously variable transmission, and a head joined to said body by a narrow neck, said body having a saddle engageable by said sheet rings, said head having an ear spaced from said saddle with a gap therebetween, said recess being defined by an upper edge of said saddle, a side edge of said neck, and a lower edge of said ear, said method further comprising the step of:ejecting said stream toward said edge to be beveled which extends in a range between a point of intersection between said side edge of the neck and an extension of the lower edge of said ear and a point of intersection between said side edge of the neck and an extension of the upper edge of said saddle.
  • 5. A method according to claim 4, further comprising the steps of:moving a stack of said elements in a direction along said stack while recesses in said elements are being exposed to one side; and ejecting said stream toward edges to be beveled of the recesses thereby to bevel the recesses.
  • 6. A method according to claim 4, further comprising the steps of:ejecting said stream toward edges to be beveled on one diagonal line of the neck of a stack of said elements to bevel said edges while moving said stack of elements in a direction along said stack; turning said stack of elements 180° about an axis along said direction; and ejecting said stream toward edges to be beveled on the other diagonal line of the neck of said stack of said elements to bevel said edges while moving said stack of elements in said direction along said stack.
  • 7. A method according to claim 1, wherein said particle members are made of a material selected from the group consisting of glass, alumina, steel, cast iron powder, and zirconia.
  • 8. A method according to claim 1, wherein said particle members are crushed upon collision with said edge to be beveled.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
11-305194 Oct 1999 JP
US Referenced Citations (10)
Number Name Date Kind
3719009 Thompson Mar 1973 A
3820419 McLagan Jun 1974 A
4135283 Kohlhage Jan 1979 A
4658683 Phillips Apr 1987 A
4753051 Tano Jun 1988 A
4794741 Van Dijk Jan 1989 A
5249485 Hayden, Sr. Oct 1993 A
5810644 Schmidt Sep 1998 A
6099391 Suzuki et al. Aug 2000 A
6315646 Hoyashita Nov 2001 B1
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number Date Country
4213186 Oct 1993 DE
11151671 Sep 1999 JP