The present invention relates to a moving member fixing apparatus which has a stationary member and a moving member movable with respect to the stationary member and fixes the stationary member by pressing the moving member against the stationary member.
As the most typical example of a moving member fixing apparatus of this type, a printing switching apparatus for a sheet-fed offset rotary printing press with a convertible press mechanism is available which can perform both single-sided printing and double-sided printing with one printing press. The printing switching apparatus for a sheet-fed offset rotary printing press with a convertible press mechanism has a fixed gear fixed to the end shaft of a convertible cylinder, and a rotary gear fixed to and released from the fixed gear. When switching operation is to be made between single-sided printing and double-sided printing, the phases in the circumferential direction of cylinder groups upstream and downstream, respectively, of the convertible cylinder are adjusted.
As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,959, a conventional moving member fixing apparatus has a disk with a flange that fits in an annular groove formed in a rotary gear. The groove and flange portion have inclined surfaces that are to come into contact with each other. When the disk moves, the rotary gear is fixed to the fixed gear by the wedge operation of the inclined surfaces.
In the conventional moving member fixing apparatus, the groove is formed in the entire circumferential portion of the rotary gear, and the strength of the rotary gear decreases accordingly. The inclined surfaces of the groove and flange that are to come into contact with each other form curved surfaces in the circumferential direction of the rotary gear. It is difficult to obtain uniform working accuracy throughout the entire inclined surfaces. Thus, the moving member cannot be fixed to the stationary member reliably.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a moving member fixing apparatus which can fix a moving member to a stationary member reliably.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a moving member fixing apparatus comprising a stationary member, a moving member movably provided to the stationary member, a press member which presses the moving member to fix the moving member to the stationary member, and cancels pressing the moving member so that the moving member is released from the stationary member, a first flat inclined surface formed to be associated with the stationary member, and a second flat inclined surface which is formed on the press member and comes into contact with the first inclined surface.
A printing switching apparatus for a sheet-fed offset rotary printing press with a convertible press mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
As shown in
As shown in
A flat, substantially square parallelepiped holding member 8 has a projection 8a at the center of its upper end on the rotary gear 5 side. A flat inclined surface 8b inclined in a direction (direction of an arrow A) to gradually come close to the rotary gear 5 from above downward is formed on the end face of the projection 8a. The support member 7 is attached to the holding member 8 with bolts 9a such that a bottom 7d of the groove 7b engages with the lower end of the projection 8a of the holding member 8. The support member 7 attached to the holding member 8 is clamped between the holding member 8 and the side surface of the stationary gear 3. In this state, bolts 9b inserted in the insertion holes (not shown) of the holding member 8 are threadably engaged in the tapped holes (not shown) of the stationary gear 3, respectively, so that the support member 7 is fixed to the side surface of the stationary gear 3. In other words, the support member 7 and holding member 8 are integrally fixed to the stationary gear 3.
A press member 10 formed to have a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape has a tapped hole 10a at its center. A flat inclined surface 10b inclined in a direction (direction of the arrow A) to gradually come close to the rotary gear 5 from above downward is formed in the end face of the press member 10 which is in contact with the end face of the projection 8a. The press member 10 is fitted and inserted in the groove 7b of the support member 7 such that its inclined surface 10b is in contact with the inclined surface 8b of the projection 8a and that its end face 10c on the opposite side to the inclined surface 10b is in contact with one side surface 5a of the rotary gear 5.
A bolt 11 as a rod-like member has a columnar main body 11a and a threaded portion 11b formed at the distal end of the main body 11a. The main body 11a has a diameter larger than that of the threaded portion 11b. A step 11c is formed between the main body 11a and threaded portion 11b. The main body 11a has a diameter slightly smaller than that of the hole 7c of the support member 7. The distal end of the main body 11a of the bolt 11 extends through a hole 7c of the support member 7, and the threaded portion 11b threadably engages with the tapped hole 10a of the press member 10. In this state, a nut 12 is threadably engaged with the threaded portion 11b, so that the press member 10 is clamped by the step 11c of the bolt 11 and the nut 12. A ring-like member 13 is fitted on the bolt 11. The ring-like member 13 abuts against a head portion 11d of the bolt 11, so the ring-like member 13 is regulated from being removed from the bolt 11. The end face of the head portion 11d of the bolt 11 forms a first abutting portion 11e.
A Coned disc spring 15 serving as the first biasing member is elastically mounted between the ring-like member 13 and a bottom surface 7e of the recess 7a of the support member 7. The press member 10 is biased toward the support member 7 through the bolt 11 by the spring force of the Coned disc spring 15. At this time, the press member 10 is pressed in the direction (direction of the arrow A) to come close to the rotary gear 5 by the wedge operation of the inclined surface 10b of the press member 10 and the inclined surface 8b of the projection 8a fixed to the stationary gear 3. The end face 10c of the press member 10 presses one side surface 5a of the rotary gear 5 in the direction of the arrow A. The other end face 5b of the rotary gear 5 is urged against the end face of the stationary gear 3 in
According to this arrangement, the inclined surface 8b of the projection 8a and the inclined surface 10b of the press member 10 which is in contact with the inclined surface 8b are formed flat. It suffices as far as the respective inclined surfaces are formed on the end portions of the corresponding members, and accordingly they can be formed with the same machining method. Therefore, the respective inclined surfaces can be machined with high accuracy. Consequently, the press member 10 can fix the rotary gear 5 to the stationary gear 3 reliably and smoothly. The rotary gear 5 and stationary gear 3 have no grooves. Thus, the strengths of the rotary gear 5 and stationary gear 3 do not degrade, and their durabilities improve.
A fixing/releasing structure for the rotary gear 5 with respect to the stationary gear 3 will be described.
As shown in
A wheel 23 of the pivotal member 22 side is rotatably, axially supported at the distal end of the first arm 22a such that it opposes the wheel 21. Six cam followers 24 serving as the second abutting portion are supported at those portions of the pivotal member 22 which equally divide the pivotal member 22 by six in the circumferential direction. The six cam followers 24 as the press mechanism are set at those positions where they can abut against the first abutting portions 11e of the bolts 11 of the six fixing mechanisms 6, respectively. In
More specifically, when the pivotal member 22 pivots counterclockwise and the cam followers 24 respectively abut against the first abutting portions 11e of the bolts 11, the second arm 22b is positioned spaced from the stopper 25b, as indicated by an alternate long and two short dashed line in
The pivotal member 22 is biased clockwise in
As shown in
The second working portion 33 includes a second inclined surface 33a which abuts against the outer surface of the wheel 23 on the opposite side to the wheel 21 when the rod 30a moves backward. The second working portion 33 has a distal end shorter than that of the first working portion 32. The reference surface 32a of the first working portion 32 extends in the same direction as the forward direction B of the rod 30a. The distal end side of the first inclined surface 32b extends in a direction inclined counterclockwise from the arrow B by an angle α. The second inclined surface 33a of the second working portion 33 is formed parallel to the first inclined surface 32b. The gap between the second and first inclined surfaces 33a and 32b is set slightly larger than the diameter of the wheel 23 of the rotary member side.
In this arrangement, when the rod 30a of the actuator 30 moves forward, the working element 31 moves in the direction of the arrow B, and the first working portion 32 enters between the wheels 21 and 23. At this time, as the reference surface 32a of the first working portion 32 extends in the same direction as the moving direction of the working element 31, the first inclined surface 32b moves on the wheel 21. As the first inclined surface 32b is inclined from the arrow B by the angle α, when the working element 31 moves in the direction of the arrow B, the wheel 23 in contact with the first inclined surface 32b moves in a direction to separate from the wheel 21.
Hence, the pivotal member 22 pivots counterclockwise, and each cam follower 24 abuts against the corresponding first abutting portion 11e of the bolt 11, as shown in
In this state, the phases in the circumferential direction of the cylinder groups upstream and downstream, respectively, of the convertible cylinder are adjusted. At this time, while the reference surface 32a of the first working portion 32 engages with the wheel 21, the wheel 23 engages with the first inclined surface 32b, so that the pivot motion of the stationary gear 3 is regulated. The rotary gear 5 can thus be rotated while the pivot motion of the stationary gear 3 is regulated. Hence, the phase adjusting operation for the cylinder groups upstream and downstream, respectively, of the convertible cylinder can be performed easily and reliably.
After the phase adjusting operation is ended, when the rod 30a of the actuator 30 moves backward, the second working portion 33 also moves backward, and the wheel 23 in contact with the second inclined surface 33a moves in a direction to come close to the wheel 21. Therefore, the pivotal member 22 pivots clockwise slightly, and abutment of the cam followers 24 and the first abutting portions 11e of the bolts 11 is canceled, as shown in
According to this embodiment, the direction of the spring force of the Coned disc spring 15 is set in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the rotary gear 5 is pressed against the stationary gear 3, that is, set in the radial direction of the convertible cylinder. The pivotal member 22 is pivoted by the rod 30a of the actuator 30 which moves forward/backward in the radial direction of the convertible cylinder, to fix and release the rotary gear 5 to and from the stationary gear 3. As a mechanism employing the leverage is not used, unlike in the prior art, the apparatus can be downsized.
The extending direction of the bolt 11 and the direction of the spring force of the Coned disc spring 15 are set in the radial direction of the convertible cylinder. Also, the press member 10 is pressed in the axial direction of the convertible cylinder by the wedge operation of the inclined surfaces 8b and 10b. Thus, the rotary gear 5 can be fixed to and released from the stationary gear 3 with the pressing force of the press member 10 which is obtained by amplifying the spring force of the Coned disc spring 15. Therefore, the spring force of the Coned disc spring 15, and the driving force of the actuator 30 itself which moves the bolt 11 against the spring force of the Coned disc spring 15 can be decreased. As a result, an actuator 30 having a small outer size can be used, and the space where the actuator 30 is to be installed can be decreased.
A printing switching apparatus for a sheet-fed offset rotary printing press with a convertible press mechanism according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
In the first embodiment described above, the rotary gear 5 is fixed to and released from the stationary gear 3 automatically with the actuator 30. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a rotary gear 5 is fixed to and released from a stationary gear 3 manually. In the second embodiment, a press member 36 is moved vertically by pivoting a flange 37c of a bolt 37 with a tool such as a wrench. Accordingly, the second embodiment does not include an actuator 30, a pivotal member 22 pivoted by the actuator 30, a Coned disc spring 15 which pushes a press member 10 downward, and the like.
Referring to
The bolt 37 serving as a rod-like member threadably meshes with the tapped hole 35a of the support member 35, and has a small-diameter portion 37a, at the distal end, which is exposed from the support member 35. A step 37b is formed between the small-diameter portion 37a and a threaded portion. The small-diameter portion 37a of the bolt 37 is inserted in the through hole 36a of the press member 36. The press member 36 is clamped by a ring 38 fitted in an annular groove (not shown) at the distal end of the bolt 37, and the step 37b.
In this arrangement, the head portion 37c of the bolt 37 is pivoted with a tool such as a wrench, to move the bolt 37 vertically. Then, the press member 36 moves vertically together with the bolt 37. As the press member 36 moves vertically, the rotary gear 5 is fixed to and released from the stationary gear 3. In this case, the wedge operation of the inclined surfaces 8b and 36b generates a force in the axial direction (directions to come close to and separate from the rotary gear 5) of the convertible cylinder, to fix and release the rotary gear 5. At this time, because a small force is amplified to a large force, no burden is applied to the operator.
In the embodiments described above, the stationary member and rotary member take the form of gears. Alternatively, the stationary member and rotary member may be a cam unit formed of a stationary cam and moving cam. In this case, a frame can be used in place of the stationary cam. Although a printing switching apparatus for a printing press has been described, the present invention can also be applied to a switching apparatus for a coating apparatus.
As has been described above, according to the present invention, two flat inclined surfaces that are to come into contact with each other can be machined at high accuracy. Therefore, a moving member can be fixed to a stationary member reliably and smoothly by using a press member. As the strengths of the moving member and stationary member are not decreased by formation of grooves, the durabilities of the moving member and stationary member are improved.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2003-326930 | Sep 2003 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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444106 | Spraker | Jan 1891 | A |
3700292 | Owens | Oct 1972 | A |
4133085 | Hansson | Jan 1979 | A |
4457231 | Kawaguchi | Jul 1984 | A |
4787261 | Becker | Nov 1988 | A |
4805475 | Hannel | Feb 1989 | A |
5410959 | Sugiyama et al. | May 1995 | A |
5588363 | Becker | Dec 1996 | A |
5802920 | Becker | Sep 1998 | A |
Number | Date | Country |
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1148367 | Dec 1957 | FR |
2309421 | Jul 1997 | GB |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20050061173 A1 | Mar 2005 | US |