Protective cover detachably installed on a cutting machine/engraving machine combination

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6561887
  • Patent Number
    6,561,887
  • Date Filed
    Tuesday, March 12, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, May 13, 2003
    21 years ago
Abstract
A protective cover detachably installed on a cutting machine/engraving machine combination including a main body and a protective cover. The protective cover is disposed with a fixing ring which can be directly tightened on an outer thread section of the main body. The gap of the split of the fixing ring can be changed by means of a tightening member so as to tightly engage the inner thread section of the fixing ring with the outer thread section of the main body without loosening. Therefore, the protective cover can be quickly and conveniently installed and taken off from the main body.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a protective cover detachably installed on a cutting machine/engraving machine combination, and more particularly to a protective cover which can be quickly, safely and conveniently installed and taken off from the main body according to the using state of the combination.





FIG. 6

shows a conventional cutting machine having a main body


8


in which a pneumatic motor (not shown) is installed. A rotary shaft


82


of the motor is coupled with a sand disk


83


for cutting off a work piece. The front end of the main body


8


is disposed with a thread section


84


. A nut


85


is screwed on the thread section


84


to tighten a protective cover


86


which partially covers the sand disk


83


. When cutting a work piece, the sand disk


83


may be broken and sparks will be produced so that the protective cover serves to protective a user from being hurt by the broken sand disk and prevent the sparks from affecting the sight of the user or burning the user. Therefore, it must be ensured that the protective cover is truly fixed without loosening. Otherwise, the safety in use of the cutting machine can be hardly ensured. When the sand disk


83


is replaced by a grinding stone


91


and relevant components, the cutting machine is changed into an engraving machine (as shown in FIG.


7


). However, when using the engraving machine, the protective cover


86


is unnecessary and is changed into a flat cover


92


so that the protective cover must be detached and removed. At this time, a user must untighten the nut


85


with a large wrench. Such operation is quite inconvenient for the user. Moreover, when untightening or tightening the nut


85


, due to the obstruction of the protective cover


86


(the protective cover


86


has small openings on two sides), each time the wrench can untighten or tighten the nut by a small angle so that such procedure is quite troublesome and time-consuming.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a protective cover detachably installed on a cutting machine/engraving machine combination. The protective cover is disposed with a fixing ring which can be directly tightened on an outer thread section of the main body. The gap of the split of the fixing ring can be changed by means of a tightening member so as to tightly engage the inner thread section of the fixing ring with the outer thread section of the main body without loosening. Therefore, the protective cover can be quickly and conveniently installed and taken off from the main body.




According to the above object, the combination includes:




a tubular main body, a motor being disposed in the main body, a switch being disposed on an outer side of the main body to control the rotation of the motor, the motor having a rotary shaft axially forward protruding out of the main body, a front end of the rotary shaft being fixed with a sand disk or a grinding stone, an outer thread section being disposed at the front end of the main body, the outer thread section can be alternatively fixed with a flat cover or a protective cover; and




a protective cover disposed at the front end of the main body to cover one half of the sand disk, a rear end of the protective cover having a fixing ring disposed on the outer thread section of the main body, the inner wall of the fixing ring is formed with an inner thread section cooperating with the outer thread section of the main body, the fixing ring being formed with a split, the fixing ring being disposed with a tightening member on two sides of the split. By means of tightening or untightening the tightening member, the gap of the split can be changed so as to tighten the fixing ring on the outer thread section of the main body.




The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1A

is a perspective assembled view of a protective cover installed on a cutting machine/engraving machine combination of the present invention;





FIG. 1B

is a perspective assembled view of a flat cover installed on a cutting machine/engraving machine combination of the present invention;





FIG. 2

is a perspective exploded view of the present invention;





FIG. 3

shows that the fixing ring is tightened;





FIG. 4

shows that the outer thread section and inner thread section are not tightly engaged with each other;





FIG. 5

shows that the outer thread section and inner thread section are tightly engaged with each other;





FIG. 6

is a perspective exploded view of a conventional cutting machine; and





FIG. 7

is a perspective exploded view of a conventional engraving machine.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




Please refer to

FIGS. 1

to


5


. The pneumatic cutting machine of the present invention includes:




a tubular main body


1


, a rear end of the main body being formed with an air inlet


11


, a pneumatic motor (not shown) being disposed in the main body


1


, a switch


13


being disposed on an outer side of the main body


1


to control the rotation of the pneumatic motor, the pneumatic motor having a rotary shaft


14


axially forward protruding out of the main body


1


, a front end of the rotary shaft


14


being disposed with a cylindrical chuck


17


for fixing a grinding stone


18


or a locating member


12


for fixing a sand disk


15


, an outer thread section


16


with smaller outer diameter being fitted in the front end of the main body


1


and partially protruding therefrom, the outer thread section


16


can be alternatively fixed with a flat cover


19


or a protective cover


2


; and




the flat cover


19


having a hole


191


for the cylindrical chuck


17


to pass through the hole


191


, the flat cover


19


further formed with an inner thread section


192


to rotary lock the outer thread section


16


of the main body


1


; and




the case-like protective cover


2


disposed at the front end of the main body


1


on the same side as the switch


13


to cover one half of the sand disk


15


, a rear end of the protective cover


2


having a fixing ring


21


formed with an inner thread section


22


cooperating with the outer thread section


16


of the main body


1


, the fixing ring


21


being formed with a split


23


on one side opposite to the protective cover


2


, the fixing ring


21


being formed with a cut plane


24


on the side with the split


23


so that a lug


25


is defined on one side of the cut plane


24


, the lug


25


being formed with a through hole


26


passing through the lug


25


to one side of the split


23


, the fixing ring


21


being further formed with a thread hole


28


coaxial with the through hole


26


on the other side of the split


23


, a tightening screw


27


being screwed into the through hole


26


and the thread hole


28


.




It should be noted that the fixing ring


21


is made of a resilient material. The inner thread section


22


of the fixing ring


21


is loosely screwed onto the outer thread section


16


of the main body


1


. When the tightening screw


27


is tightened in the thread hole


28


, the side of the fixing ring


21


opposite to the split


23


serves as a fulcrum and two ends of the fixing ring


21


are forced to get closer to each other by the tightening screw


27


(as shown in FIG.


3


). The thread of the outer thread section


16


obliquely extends by a predetermined guide angle and the fixing ring


21


radially tightly clamps the outer thread section


16


respectively from two sides of the protective cover


2


. Therefore, the inner thread section


22


of the fixing ring


21


will not move along the guide angle of the outer thread section


16


so that the thread face of the inner thread section


22


and the thread face of the outer thread section


16


will tightly engage with each other ( as shown in FIG.


5


). By means of the engagement therebetween, the fixing ring


21


will not loosen from the outer thread section


16


.




When assembling the protective cover


2


, first the rotary shaft


14


of the main body


1


is passed through the fixing ring


21


of the protective cover


2


and the fixing ring


21


is slightly tightened on the outer thread section


16


. Then the tightening screw


27


is tightened by a wrench. At this time, the outer thread section


16


and the inner thread section


22


are tightly engaged with each other to prevent the fixing ring


21


from loosening due to the shock in work. Finally, the sand disk


15


is fixed on the rotary shaft


14


. When it is desired to take off the protective cover


2


and apply the main body


1


to an engraving machine, a reverse operation is performed to take off the sand disk


15


and the protective cover


2


. Then the flat cover


19


is fixed on the outer thread section


16


of the main body


1


. Finally the grinding stone


18


is fixed in the cylindrical chuck


17


.




According to the above arrangement, the tightening screw


27


can be turned conveniently by a general small wrench and the wrench can be rotated by a quite large angle so that the tightening and untightening can be both quickly performed. Therefore, the protective cover


2


can be installed or taken off by a user himself, depending on the using state.



Claims
  • 1. A protective cover detachably installed on a cutting machine/engraving machine combination, wherein the combination comprising:a tubular main body, a pneumatic motor being disposed in the main body, a switch being disposed on an outer side of the main body to control the rotation of the pneumatic motor, the pneumatic motor having a rotary shaft axially forward protruding out of the main body, a front end of the rotary shaft being fixed with a sand disk or a grinding stone, an outer thread section being disposed at the front end of the main body, the outer thread section can be alternatively fixed with a flat cover or a protective cover; and the protective cover disposed at the front end of the main body to cover one half of the sand disk, a rear end of the protective cover having a fixing ring disposed on the outer thread section of the main body, said protective cover being characterized in that the inner wall of the fixing ring is formed with an inner thread section cooperating with the outer thread section of the main body, the fixing ring being formed with a split, the fixing ring being disposed with a tightening member on two sides of the split, whereby the tightening member is able to change the gap of the split so as to tighten the fixing ring on the outer thread section of the main body.
  • 2. The protective cover detachably installed on a cutting machine/engraving machine combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fixing ring has at least one cut plane on one side of the split, whereby a lug is formed on the fixing ring on one side of the cut plane, the fixing ring being formed with two through holes respectively on two sides of the split, the two through holes being coaxial with each other, one of the through holes being a thread hole, the tightening member being a tightening screw which can be screwed into the thread hole.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation-In-Part Application of Ser. No. 09/505,866, filed Feb. 17, 2000 now abn., and entitled “PROTECTIVE COVER DETACHABLY INSTALLED ON A CUTTING MACHINE/ENGRAVING MACHINE COMBINATION.”

US Referenced Citations (10)
Number Name Date Kind
2429356 Hicks Oct 1947 A
3126021 May Mar 1964 A
3969856 Zerrer Jul 1976 A
4440045 Aksamit Apr 1984 A
4891915 Yasuda Jan 1990 A
5005321 Barth et al. Apr 1991 A
5031325 Walter et al. Jul 1991 A
5163252 Garner et al. Nov 1992 A
5411433 Keller May 1995 A
6210261 Johnson Apr 2001 B1
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number Date Country
36 38 337 May 1988 DE
39 40 584 Jun 1991 DE
Continuation in Parts (1)
Number Date Country
Parent 09/505866 Feb 2000 US
Child 10/095068 US