Claims
- 1. A straight line shear for forming glass gobs comprising:
- a pair of opposed slides carrying opposed shear blades,
- guide means for guiding the slides for displacement along a predetermined path,
- a pair of spaced apart toothed racks coupled to said slides,
- pinion drive means for conjointly, equally displacing said racks in opposite directions including
- pinion means, and
- motor means coupled to said pinion means.
- 2. A straight line shear according to claim 1 wherein said motor means is a servo-motor.
- 3. A straight shear according to claim 2 wherein said motor means further comprises right angle drive means for interconnecting with said pinion means.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This is a continuation of co-pending application Ser. No. 731,300 filed on May 7, 1985 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,643.
This invention relates in general to new and useful improvements in straight line shears for cutting glass runners into individual gobs, and more particularly to improved rotary drives for such shears.
This invention, in particular, constitutes a modification on the shear drive disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,611 to Francis A. Dahms, granted Aug. 5, 1980, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The disclosure of the aforesaid patent is incorporated herein by reference.
It is known to provide a straight line shear wherein there are two slides mounted for guided movement towards and away from one another, and arranged in opposed relation. The slides carry cooperating blades. The slides are driven by racks which are interconnected by a pinion. The drive unit is in the form of a double-acting air cylinder or linear air motor which is coupled to one of the racks between that rack and an associated one of the slides.
In accordance with this invention, there is provided a rotary drive which is coupled to a pinion to effect rotation of the pinion which, in turn, will reciprocate both racks in the required opposite direction. On the one hand such a rotary drive unit may be in the form of an electrical servomotor. Such an electrical servomotor will be controlled by a microprocessor together with a servo controller power switching device. On the other hand, the rotary drive unit may be in the form of electric-hydraulic stepping motor or a hydraulic rotary motor with an electric hydraulic control valve.
The rotary drive unit may be directly coupled to the pinion or may be coupled thereto by way of spur gears or beveled gears. When beveled gears are utilized, the rotary drive unit may be disposed parallel to the drive mechanism.
In accordance with the present invention, the double-acting air cylinder normally would be discarded. On the other hand, it is feasible to utilize in conjunction with the double-acting air cylinder a rotary drive unit which would provide the required supplemental torque during the shearing operation.
It is also feasible to provide a unidirectional drive unit which would be coupled to a converter having a one direction input and a reversing output.
In the drawing, wherein throughout like numerals refer to like parts,
FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing one embodiment of straight line shear utilizing an electro servomotor coupled to the drive pinion by a beveled gear;
FIG. 2 is a wiring schematic for the servomotor;
FIG. 3 is a velocity profile for the shear;
FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view similar to FIG. 1 but of an embodiment wherein the rotary drive unit provides a supplemental torque to a double-acting air cylinder;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken generally along the line 5--5 of FIG. 4 and shows the specifics of the rack and pinion type drive;
FIG. 6 is a graph showing the velocity profile of the shear shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4;
FIG. 7 is another schematic plan view of a modified form of shear drive incorporating a one-direction rotation rotary drive unit utilizing a direction converter;
FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of the motion converter;
FIG. 9 is a graph showing the velocity profile of the shear shown in the embodiment of FIG. 7;
FIG. 10 is a fragmentary view showing the rotary drive unit of FIG. 1 directly coupled to the pinion of the drive assembly;
FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 10 and shows the rotary drive unit connected to the pinion utilizing spur gears;
FIG. 12 is a fragmentary schematic view showing the rotary drive unit as an electric-hydraulic stepping motor; and
FIG. 13 is another fragmentary schematic view showing the rotary drive unit as a rotary hydraulic motor with an electric-hydraulic control valve.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Continuations (1)
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731300 |
May 1985 |
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Patent Grant
4813994
