Patent Application
20250010420
The present invention relates to a rotary grinding wheel apparatus, particularly useful for shaping and sharpening saw blade teeth. More particularly, the present invention relates to improvements to a rotary grinding wheel apparatus for shaping and sharpening reciprocating and oscillating saw blade teeth, circular saw blades, drill bits, chisels, knives, and similar bladed tools. The rotary grinding wheel apparatus comprises at least one rotary multi-point grinding wheel and preferably at least one single point grinding wheel.
Blades for both reciprocating and oscillating saws tend to wear out after continued use and the blade teeth can be worn down or break. Typically, a user will throw away damaged or worn reciprocating and oscillating saw blades because the most common method to sharpen the saw blades would be to file one side of one tooth at a time making the task of sharpening a saw blade very time consuming and extremely tedious. As a result, most users simply would discard damaged or worn saw blades. However, there often is more metal left in the blade that can be used to shape newly sharpened teeth rather than simply discarding the blade.
There have been many attempts in the prior art to provide methods and devices for grinding and sharpening saw blade teeth. An early example of a rotary grinding device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,045,016 to George et al. which uses a driving shaft with a series of grinding disks for sharpening bush-hammers. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 2,144,987 to Miller shows another early method for forming serrations in a cutter blade by bringing one side of the blade into contact with a rotating abrasive wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,408 to Idel, issued Apr. 26, 1977, teaches a method of grinding band saw teeth on an abrasive wheel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,841 to Mote, issued Nov. 9, 1982 provides an automated apparatus for converting a manually operated machine for saw grinders. U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,000 to Lenard et al., issued Mar. 13, 1984, shows another sharpening machine for saws, the object being to reduce set up times and idle periods when using the machine. U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,639 to Emter, issued Aug. 13, 1991, is directed to a face grinder for a circular saw blade. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,236 to Williams, issued Sep. 17, 1991, a device for grinding saw blades is provided such that a predetermined tooth profile is obtained. U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,655 to Rein, issued Jan. 27, 2004, provides a grinding attachment with an HF spindle to a saw blade grinding machine. U.S. Pat. No. 7,033,254 to Lenard et al., issued Apr. 25, 2006 relates to the use of a double-sided grinding machine for grinding saw tooth edges. U.S. Pat. No. 9,233,428 to Williams et al., issued Jan. 12, 2016, is directed to a computer controlled multiple axis grinding machine. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0171334 to Turnac et al., published Sep. 2, 2004 provides a multi-station grinding machine for sharpening saw blades.
Related U.S. Pat. No. 10,406,616 B2 to Dunda, issued Sep. 10, 2019 and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2015/0343542 A1 to Dunda both show a hand-held sharpening device for vibratory or oscillating cutting tools. However, in actual use, Dunda cannot create teeth as typically made on a blade but rather creates slots without sharpened points with metal burrs or bent over points which need to be sharpened in a crisscross fashion requiring two passes, resulting what Dunda correctly terms as “teeth-like” configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 11,258,248 B1 to Schollaart provides a mechanized blade sharpening apparatus which holds a blade in a position to exposed a toothed edge of the serrated blade. Schollaart does not provide the user with the means to manually hold (e.g. free-hand) and manipulate the saw blade to create, shape and sharpen any type of desired saw teeth.
Despite the teachings of the prior art, a need still exists to provide an apparatus which allows a saw blade to be reused multiple times until there is no metal remaining on the saw blade to shape and sharpen new teeth. As both reciprocating and oscillating saw blades have a similar tooth pattern, such an apparatus should be capable of shaping new teeth of both types of blades.
The invention of the present subject matter relates to a rotary grinding wheel apparatus comprising at least one removeable and interchangeable rotary multi-point grinding wheel having a plurality of grinding blades, each grinding blade having at least one angular surface and preferably two angular surfaces for shaping and sharpening saw blade teeth. In a preferred embodiment, the rotary grinding wheel apparatus further comprises at least one single point grinding wheel. The rotary grinding wheel apparatus is powered to spin the multi-point grinding wheel at a speed sufficient for shaping and sharpening metal saw blade teeth.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus having a rotary multi-point grinding wheel which can shape and sharpen teeth on both oscillating saw blades and reciprocating saw blades.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus which allows saw blades to be reused multiple times until there is no metal remaining in the blade to shape and sharpen new teeth.
It is another object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus which is capable of shaping and sharpening multiple saw blade teeth simultaneously, thereby making the task of sharpening a saw blade more efficient, less time consuming an extremely less tedious.
It is still another object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus that can shape one side of a saw's blade teeth by plunging a saw blade against a rotating row of staggered angled grinding surfaces to a desired depth, then moving the saw blade laterally and plunging it against the rotating row of staggered angled grinding surfaces to shape the opposing side of the blade teeth.
It is a yet another object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus that quickly can shape a row of teeth with sharp points or radius points on worn or broken saw blades.
It is an additional object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus that quickly can sharpen a row of teeth by sliding the blade edge angularly against a rotary multi-point grinding wheel to form sharp points or radius points.
It is a further object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus that can create a saw blade from a strip of metal of other material.
It is still a further object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus having a removeable single point grinding wheel.
It is yet a further object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus having multiple interchangeable single point grinding wheels.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus that is powered by an electric motor to spin the rotary grinding wheel at a speed sufficient to shape and sharpen saw blade teeth.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus that is powered by a battery adapter that fits commercially available rechargeable batteries and custom battery configurations.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus that is powered by a power tool, such as a power drill.
It is another object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus that is powered electrically with a power cord and wall outlet.
It is an additional object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus that utilizes various abrasives on the grinding surfaces to enable the shaping and sharpening of saw blades composed of a variety of materials.
It is still another object of the present subject matter to provide a rotary grinding wheel apparatus comprising dual rotary multi-point grinding wheels including a CBN rotary multi-point grinding wheel and a multi-point diamond rotary grinding wheel, and further comprising two single point grinding wheels.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a dual rotary grinding wheel apparatus comprising two removeable and interchangeable rotary multi-point grinding wheels and two removeable and interchangeable single point grinding wheels.
These and other objects of the present subject matter are accomplished by providing a rotary grinding wheel apparatus comprising at least one rotary multi-point grinding wheel having a main body with a plurality of grinding blades disposed therein, each of the grinding blades having at least one angular surface for shaping and sharpening saw blade teeth, the main body being supported on a shank which provides a mounting point for use with a power source. Preferably, the rotary grinding wheel apparatus further comprises at least one single point grinding wheel.
In the following description, like reference numbers are used to identify like elements. Furthermore, the drawings are intended to illustrate major features of exemplary embodiments in a diagrammatic manner. The drawings are not intended to depict every feature of every implementation nor relative dimensions of the depicted elements and are not drawn to scale. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to clearly describe various specific embodiments disclosed herein. One skilled in the art, however, will understand that the presently claimed invention may be practiced without all the specific details discussed below. In other instances, well known features have not been described so as not to obscure the invention.
The terms “rotary grinding wheel apparatus”, “rotary grinding wheel device”, “grinding wheel apparatus”, “grinding wheel device”, “device”, and “apparatus”, and similar terms may be used throughout the specification and it is to be understood that such terms are interchangeable and all refer to the rotary grinding wheel apparatus of the present subject matter.
Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of the terms “including”, “comprising”, “having”, and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.
Referring to
The rotary grinding wheel apparatus 100 comprises a rotary multi-point grinding wheel 102 having a main body 101, and a plurality of staggered and angled grinding blades 104 that are dispersed evenly on the main body 101 in such a manner that the plurality of grinding blades corresponds to one side of a saw blade teeth arrangement. The main body 102 is of sufficient size to provide support to the plurality of grinding blades 104. As shown in
The use of staggered angled grinding surfaces allows the user flexibility to create more teeth or fewer teeth over a given length of saw blade. Creating shallow teeth using shallow plunges into the rotary multi-point grinding wheel allows for more teeth to be created over a given length of saw blade. Creating deeper plunges allows for fewer, more aggressive larger teeth to be created over a given length of a saw blade.
The staggered multi-point grinding wheel design allows for many small teeth or larger but fewer teeth to be created. Smaller teeth are useful for cutting hard materials such as metal, plastics, and hardwood. Large aggressive teeth are good for softer woods and materials. This design allows for a wide range of capability when it comes to creating blade teeth. For example, a 12-row multi-point grinding wheel is designed to create at least 23 teeth and preferably 23 or 24 teeth in two passes, depending upon the width of the saw blade edge. However, that same grinding wheel can create more shallow teeth or fewer larger teeth, depending upon how it is used. The deeper inverted V shapes allow for larger teeth if desired.
An alternate embodiment of the rotary grinding wheel apparatus 200 of the present subject matter is illustrated in
Another alternate embodiment of the rotary grinding wheel of the present subject matter is illustrated in
The rotary grinding wheel apparatus of the present subject matter further can comprise at least one single point grinding wheel which can be removably connected to the shank supporting the rotary multi-point grinding wheel and which can be interchangeable with other single point grinding wheels having differing profiles. In some of the embodiments shown, the single point grinding wheel has a flat and thin profile. Such a design facilitates the sharpening of a single edge of many forward angled teeth or straight teeth. The thin profile fits in the narrow slot between forward angled teeth or straight teeth. Referring to
The use of a single point grinding wheel can create custom tooth geometry, sharpen individual teeth, sharpening forward set directional teeth, or sharpen unusual teeth geometry. Adding a single point grinding wheel also enables the user to sharpen other cutting tools such as drill bits, chisels, knives, and circular saw blades. When a removable single point grinding wheel is utilized, it can be removed to allow for longer reciprocating and oscillating blades to be sharpened using the multi-row sharpening main multi-point grinding wheel.
Another embodiment of the rotary grinding wheel apparatus of the present subject matter is shown in
In addition to the rotary grinding wheel apparatus of the present subject matter being powered by an electric motor or by a rechargeable battery, the rotary grinding wheel device can be adapted to be driven by a separate power tool, such as a power drill. Referring to
In an alternate embodiment of the present subject matter, the rotary grinding wheel apparatus utilizes a dual opposed multi-point grinding wheel arrangement as shown in
The rotary grinding wheel apparatus 700 further comprises a first shank 708 for supporting the CBN rotary multi-point grinding wheel 740 between a first inner linear bearing 712 and a first outer bearing support 714, and for receiving a first single point grinding wheel 744. The rotary grinding wheel apparatus 700 further comprises a second shank 718 for supporting the diamond rotary multi-point grinding wheel 750 between a second inner bearing support 722 and a second outer bearing support 724, and for receiving a second single point grinding wheel 758. Disposed between the CBN grinding wheel 740 and the diamond grinding wheel 750 is an electric motor 760 having a power switch 762 and, in a preferred embodiment, a variable speed control knob 764, electrically connected thereto, the electric motor powering the CBN rotary multi-point grinding wheel 740, the diamond rotary multi-point grinding wheel 750, the first single point grinding wheels 744, and the second single point grinding wheel 758. A first removable work surface 710 and a second removable work surface 720 also are provided with the rotary grinding wheel apparatus of the present subject matter.
Each of the rotary multi-point grinding wheels is removable and interchangeable with other rotary multi-point grinding wheels. Similarly, each of the single point grinding wheels are removable and interchangeable, thereby providing the user with multiple options to shape and sharpen saw blade teeth, sharpen knives, drill bits, chisels, and similar bladed tools. As shown in
Referring now to
The rotary grinding wheel apparatus 700 can cut new teeth for straight edge saw blades and curved edged saw blades by rotating the blade as the teeth are being formed. Straight surfaces on the grinding wheels can be used for removing old teeth which is useful prior to creating new teeth. Straight surfaces on the rotary multi-point grinding wheel also can be used to change the overall shape of the blade's cutting surface, such as forming a curved cutting surface along which teeth can be created.
While several illustrative embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, numerous variations and alternative embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. Such variations and alternative embodiments are contemplated and can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
The foregoing detailed description of exemplary and preferred embodiments is presented for purposes of illustration and disclosure in accordance with the requirements of the law. It is not intended to be exhaustive nor to limit the invention to the precise form(s) described, but only to enable others skilled in the art to understand how the invention may be suited for a particular use or implementation. The possibility of modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. No limitation is intended by the description of exemplary embodiments which may have included tolerances, feature dimensions, specific operating conditions, engineering specifications, or the like, and which may vary between implementations or with changes to the state of the art, and no limitation should be implied therefrom. Applicant has made this disclosure with respect to the current state of the art, but also contemplates advancements and that adaptations in the future may take into consideration of those advancements, namely in accordance with the then current state of the art. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims as written and equivalents as applicable. Reference to a claim element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless explicitly so stated. Moreover, no element, component, nor method or process step in this disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, under the provisions of 35 U.S.C § 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for . . . ” and no method or process step herein is to be construed under those provisions unless the step, or steps, are expressly recited using the phrase “step(s) for . . . ”
This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/104,515 filed Feb. 1, 2023, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application 63/305,774, filed Feb. 2, 2022, and incorporates both filings in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63305774 | Feb 2022 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 18104515 | Feb 2023 | US |
| Child | 18891592 | US |
