Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
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The present invention relates to an au-tomatic punchiny and
bending machine for the production of multi~form small parts
from metal band or wire comprising a draw-in system for the
band or wire, a punching device and at least one bending device,
the bending device consisting o~ a plurality o~ slide units
each provided with a bending tool~ the slide uni-ts being arranged
around a central working station, a central driving mechanism
for driving the plurality o bending tools, the punching
devic'e and the draw-in s~stem.
In known punching and bending machines of this kind the punching
device and the bending device form a construction unit with
a fixed space between one another. This space is large with
respect to the lonyitudinal dimensions of the small parts
to be produced. Difficulties ~rise with respect to the exact
transport of the small work pieces between the punching device
and the bending device if different series of small work
pieaes are to be produced in the machine.
One object of the invention is to'~rovide a punching and
bending machine which can be ças ~ reset or adapted for the
production of diferent work'pi~ces.
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It is further one object of the present invention to
provide an improvement of theknown machine in order to avoid
an inaccurate delivery of the work pieces from the punching
device to the bending device especially when work pieces of
different dimensions are to be produced by the machine
According to the present invention there is provided
in an automatic punching and bending machine for punching and
bending stock material, in form of a band of work pieces fed
by a draw-in device, said draw-in device, a punching device
and a bending-device being mounted in series in the feeding
direction of the band of work pieces on a machine base, the im-
provement comprising: a slide guide rail arrangement mounted
on the machine base and extending in the longitudinal direc-
tion thereof, the bending device being displaceably guided insaid slide guide rail arrangement ofset with respect to the
punching device whereby, in one end position of the ber;ding
device, said bending device and the punching device being in
an overlapping conditi.on.
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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The automatic punching and bending machine mentioned above
is improved in that the punching device and the bending device
being displaceably arranged relative]y to one another in the
feeding direction of the band or wire material and being
adj~stable with respect to the longitudinal dimension'of the
small parts.
The present invention has the advantage that the punching
device and the bending device can be arranged with a small
spacing such that only, one or a few work pieces have place
between them. In contrast to the known machine the sum of
the unavoidable inaccuracies i~ the length of the work pieces
is remarkably less and it is ensured that each working piece
comes into an accurate position within the bending device. The
maahine according to the invention can easily be adapted for
the pr~duction of working parts b different dimensions. The
spacing between the punching device and the bending device
can accurately be adjusted with respect ~o the longitudinal
dimension of',the work pieces. Therefore the degree of accuracy
of the produaed work pieces is greater and the machine can
be used with a higher versatility, because ver~ small wOrk
pi~ces can be produced as well as bigger ones.
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A further important feature of the invention lies in that the
bending device as a whole is removably and exchangeably
arranged with respect to the punchiny device. Thereby the
advantage is yained that the machine can be operated to produce
bent metal articles while at this time another bending clev.ice
can be prepared for the production of different articles.
Then the bending devices need only be exchanged and after
the new device having been adjusted with respect to the length
o~ the articles to be produced the machine can be started
again. The standstill pexiods are reduced and the util:Lzati.on
~actor of the machine is increas~d.
A further ~eature of the invention lies in that a moving track
of the bendiny device or punching device is o~fset in a
direction parallel to the axis of a central wh~ of the bending
device by an amount that the bending device and/or the punching
device can be moved into relative positions overlapping one
another in the feed~ng direction of the band or wire material.
By this overlapping the smallest possihle spacing between the
centre of the bending device and the centre of the punching
device is gained. Addording to a first alternative the bending
device can be moved longitudinally behind the punching device
and in the case of a horizontally arranged main wheel or central
wheel of.the bendlng device a second alternativ~e consists in
that the bending deviae is movable into a po.~tion at least
part,ly beneath the punching device. For this purpose the
punching device can be arranged on a blind case, which is
removable to provide place ~or the bending device.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION QF THE IN~ENTION
FIGURE 1 shows schematic side and plan views of a punching
and bending machine;
FIGURÉ 2 are schematic side and plan views similar to FIGURE 1,
but with the bending device being displaceably
arranged on an own base;
FIGURE 3 are schematic side and plan views of a punchi.ng and
bending machine, in which the bending device is moun~ed
in transverse direction such that the axis of the
central wheel of the bending device is parallel with
the feeding direction o~ the band or wiré material;
FIG~RE 4 shows a punching and bending ~achine in which the
axis of the central wheel lies vertically;
FIGURE 5 shows a schematic side view of a punching and bending
machine in which the interspace between the bending
device and the punching device is adjusted ~or
relatively large work piec~s; and
FIGURE ~ shows the machine of FIGURE 5 with a reduced inter-
spaae between the punching device and the bending
de~iae adapted ~or smaller work pieces.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
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FIGURE 1 shows schematically an automatic punching and bending
machine 10 which comprises a machine base 12 on which are
mounted a draw-in system 14, a pumching device 16,and a
bending device 18. The lakter has a central wheel 20 on which
are mounted a plurality of radially arranged slide units as
known (not shown) each supporting a bending tool. Th0 machine
base 12 is provided with a slide guide rail arrangement 22
(FIGURE 3), extending in the longitudinal direction of the
base 12 and by means o~ which the bending device 18 is
displaceably guided in the directions of the double arrow 24,
from a position shown in ull lines into a position shown in
do.tted lines. In the first position the bending device 18 as
a whole is spaced rom the punching device 16 whereas in the
second position the bending device has been moved in the
direction of the punching device by more than half of its
length~ thereby having reduced the i.nterspace between the axis
of the bending device and the centre of the punching device.
Because of the transverse of~set between the bending and
punching dévices shown in the lower part of F~GURE 1 the bending
device 18 and the punching device are in overlapping condition
and the bending device lies partly behind the punching device.
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The interspace between the bending and punching devices is
chosen as s'mall as possible dependent on the length of the
work pieces to be produced that means dependent on the pitch
of the band or wir~ material.
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The automatie punching and bending machine 10 has a central
driving mechanism 26, the main shat 28 of which drives an
eccentric shaft 32 of the punching device 16 or press by means
of a chain or belt 30 and also drives the draw-in system 14~
via bevel gears 34. The draw-in system and the punching device
are combined as a structural unit, rom which the bending
device 18 is separated which is drivingly connec-ted with the
main shaft 28 by means of a toothed hollow shaft 36 into which
the main shaft 28 is telescopically inserted. ThereforQ the
bending device is in driving connection with the main shaft 28
in any of its displaced positions on the machine base.
FIGURE 2 diers from FIGURE 1 i.n that the bending ~evice 18
is fixed on an own base and this unit is removab].e rom the
machine as a whole in order to reset the bending device at
another place while a prepared new bending device can easily
be connected with the machine. While the bending device 12 is
fixed on its base, the unit consisting of the draw-in system 14
and the punching device or press 16 is movably supported on the
base 12 in the direction of the double arrow 38, i.e. parallely
with the feeding direction of the band or wire between a first
position shown in full lines and a second position shown
schematically in dotted lines in the side view of FIGURE 2. In
the plan view below the second po~tion of the unit is shown in
full lines in which th0 bending device and the punching device
are in maximum lap condition.
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FIGURE 3 shows a punching and bending machine in which the
punching device 16 and the draw-in system 14 are not modified
bu~ a bending device 118 is movably mounted in a transverse
direction on a slide 40 which is movable in lon~itudinal
direction on the guide rai~s 22. The bendiny device 118 is
mounted in a positlon as turned by 90 with respect to
FIGURE 1 such that the axis of the central wheel lies
parallely with the feeding direction o the band or wire. The
telescoplcal toothed shat 36 is connected with a pinion 42
which engages the toothed outer circumference of the central
wheel 20.
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FIGURE 4 shows a punching and bending machine having a horizon-
tal ben~ing device 218. The axis of the central wheel extends
vertically. The punching device 16 is arranged above the base
with a vertical interspace equal with the height of the bend-
ing device 218. This interspace can be filled by a blind case
44 the height o which corresponds to that o~ the bending
device. After removal of the blind case 44 the bendlng device
218 can be moved into the space below the punching device and
out of this space in the direction of the double arrows 46.
The largest interspace between the centres of the bending de-
vice and the punching device is shown in full lines in
FIGURE 4 while the smallect interspace is shown by dotted lines
in which position almost half of the bending devioe lies
below the punching device 16. The bending dev;ce is driven
via a ~el~scopical shaft connection and a bevel gear arrangement.
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FIGURE 5 shows the punching and bending machine 10 according
to FIGURE 1 with the bending device 18 being in a displaced
position near ,the punching device 16 bu~ without overlapping
the punching device. The interspace between the axes 48 and 50
marked with dot and dashes is exactly adjuated to the pitch
o the band 56 of woxk pisces 52 and amounts accurately
two and a hal times the length of a work piece. If the machine
i~ to be adapted to work pieces 54 of shorter dimensions the
hending device must be moved to the right as shown in
FIGURE 6 into a position in which the interspace between the
axes 48 and 50 is reduced and corresponds exactly with the pitch
o the band o the smal~r work pieces 54. Also in this
example this interspace is two and a hal times as large as the
length of the work piece 54. Generally speaking the inter-
space must be two times, three times, four times and so on
as great as the work piece longitudinal dimension plus a half
working piece length respectively. The additional hal length
is required because the punching`device centre coincides with
the middle between two adjacent work pieces whereas the centre
o the bending device oincides with the middle o the work,
piece itse~.
A main advantage o this invention gained by the displaceable `
arrangement o~ the bending device and the punching device
relatively to one another lies in that very small work pieces
and remarkably longer work pieces can be produced in the same
machine. Further it is advantageous that the machine always
operates with a high precision because between the punching
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device and the bending device only a small number o~ work
pieces are situated, so that the sum of tolerances is extremely
low and the work pieces can be accurately delivered to the centre
of the bending device. Last not least it is highly advantageous
that the bending de.vice ca.n be ~ully removed from the rest
of the machine in order to replace it by anothe.r one which
has been reset and adapted to different bending operations in
a preceding working process at another working place. The
standstill periods of the machine therefore are substantially
redu¢ed.
Some modiications aan be made without leaving the scope o~
this i.nventlon.}nstead o having only one bending device 18, 118
or 218 a plurality o bending devices can be arranged in serles.
The machine not only has a draw-in system, a punching device
or press,and a bending device but additlonally other working
devlces can be inserted into the working process as milling
machines, plastic moulding machines and so on. The machine
~urther is not limit.ed operating with a band material bu~ also
a row o separate work pieces abutting one on another can be
handled.
