Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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POLISHING APPARATUS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
. _
The present invention relates to a polishing appa-
ratus, particularly a polishing apparatus which polishes
workpieces to be polished by rotating a polishing bath
which is charged with the polishing materials and the
workpieces to be polished.
Description of the Prior Art
A polishing apparatus has been used which carries out
fluid polishing against workpieces to be polished by
rotating a polishing bath wherein polishing materials and
the workpiecesto be polished are charged.
One example of the conventional polishing apparatus
of the above type is such that as shown in FIG. 4, where
a polygonal cylindrical polishing bath B provided with a
rotating shaft A is borne on a stand C at the both ends
of the rotating shaft A. At an end of the side of the
polishing bath B, an opening D is formed, thereon a cover
E is set removably by means of screws.
A pulley F, on the other hand, is secured to the
rotating shaft A such that the shaft A is rotated by
means of a motor G via a belt H.
In the conventional polishing apparatus, upon taking
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off a cover E, polishing materials J and workpieces to be
polished K are charged in a polishing bath B leaving such
space as they can freely be flown in said polishing bath B.
The opening D is then closed with the cover E fixed by
means of the screws and then the motor is driven so as
to have the polishing bath B rotated around the rotating
shaft ~.
The polishing materials J and the workpieces to be
polished K flow rubbing each other in the polishing bath
by the rotation thereof.
In the aforementioned polishing apparatus, however,
as the rotating speed is accelerated, the centrifugal
force acting on the polishing materials and the workpieces
to be polished in the polishing bath will be increased
resulting in such state as thay will be jammed to the
inner peripheral surface of the polishing bath. In such
a state, the polishing materials and the workpieces to be
polished will become to stay statically on the inner
peripheral surface to such extent as the contact flow
between them does not occur resulting in no polishing
action between them even with the polishing bath ratated.
In the conventional polishing apparatus, therefore, the
polishing bath should be rotated at alower rotating speed
so as not to increase the centrifugal force acting on the
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pollshing materlals and workpieces to be polished. This
only gave not so hlgh polishing efficacy to the workpieces
to be polished.
SUMM~RY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished in vlew
of the foregoing situation for the conventional pollshlng
apparatus, and lt is, therefore, that an object of the
present lnvention is to provide a pollshlng apparatus
whlch ls capable of high efflciency polishing for a large
amount of workpieces to be polished by rotating the polish-
ing bath at a high rotating speed.
To accompllsh the foregolng object of the present
lnventlon, the present invention comprises a sub-rotating
shaft, dlsplaced radially from the maln rotation center,
mounted on a rotator which rotates around the main rotation
center; a circular or polygonal type cyllndrlcal pollshing
bath in which polishlng materials and workpleces to be
polished are charged; a drlvlng means rotating said sub-
rotating shaft at fixed velocity ratio and in a fixed
rotational direction in relation to said center of the
main rotation, said sub-rotating shaft being borne at its
both ends using the rotator.as a balance wieght or by
disposlng rotators oppositely at the both sides respecteve-
ly of the apparatus.
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As the present invention is constituted as described
above, the sub-rotating shaft revolves both round the main
rotating shaft and simultaneously on its own axis at fixed
velocity ratio and in fixed rotational direction by the
driving means provided respectively on the center of the
main rotation and between the main rotation center which
has no through-shaft ~a revolution shaft) and the sub-
rotating shaft. In the present invention the polishing
bath, therefore, rotates on its own axis of the sub-rotat-
ing shaft and simultaneously revolves round the main
rotating center remaining upon a locus drawn by the center
displaced radially of the rotator having the main rotation
center. In the polishing bath, therefore, the polishing
materials and the workpieces to be polished can always be
flown in contact each other to accomplish an effective
polishing at a high rotating speed without leaving both of
the polishing materials and the workpieces to be polished
in any static state because of the centrifugal force.
In addition, due to a non-restricted diameter allowed for
the polishing bath because of the existence of the
revolution shaft, an effective polishing of the workpieces
to be polished in a polishing bath of large capacity can
be achieved.
BRIEF DESCRIPTIQN OF THE DRAWINGS
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Fig. 1 is a front view showing the constitution of
one example of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side
view showing the constitution of the present invention,
Fig.3 is an explanatory view of the example of the present
invention, and Fig.4 is a front view of the prior art
apparatus.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMsoDIMENTs
The embodiments of the present invention will now be
described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig.l and Fig.2, showing the constitution of the
present invention wherein like parts are designated by
like reference numerals, are the front and side view
respectively of the embodiment of the present invention.
In the embodiment, the rotating shaft 11 is divided in two
portions and they are pivotably borne on the right and left
sides of the stand 3 respectively. To this rotating shaft
11, the balance weights 12, 13 of the same shape are fixed
respectively.
Further, these balance weights 12, 13 may be of simple
rotator and not necessarily provided particularly at the
both ends oppositely of apparatus or formed into an inte-
grated through-shaft as the rotating shaft is only for
bearing the center of rotation of the rotator 12 tthe main
rotation center). tThe balance weight is hereinunder
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referred to as a rotator).
Cne sub-rotating shaft 14 is fixed pivotably at a
place radially displaced from the center of the main
rotation center of said rotators 12, 13 and one hex-
cylindrical polishing bath 2 is fixed to the sub-rotating
shaft 14. On the inner surface of this polishing bath 2,
coating such as rubber is applied throughout the surface
withunevenness formed on the rubber surface.
A pulley 15 is fired to the one side of the rotating
shaft 11 bearing said polishing bath 2, said pulley being
belted with a belt 8 which is driven by a motor 7 mounted
on the stand 3 so as to rotate the pulley 15 via the belt
8 thereby rotating the said rotating shaft 11.
Further, a pulley 16 having,as its center, the
rotating shaft 11, the rotation of which is driven by the
motor 7, or a pulley 16 integrated with a chain gear,
sprocket gear, etc. which is rotated by a driving means
such as transmission geared motor ~ia chain, is fixed to
the rotating shaft 11. On the other hand, a pulley 17
is fixed to the sub-rotating shaft 14 which is disposed
radially displaced from the rotating center of the rotat-
ing shaft 13 side of the polishing bath 2. These pullies
16, 17 are belted each other with a belt 18. Further,in
the embodiment, the covers 5 are mounted in 2 places on
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the both end sides of the polishing bath 2.
In the embodiment, as the diameters of the both
pullies 16, 17 are set e~ually, when the main rotation
center llC rotates one round thus the rotator 13 rotates,
the polishing bath 2 revolves on the locus drawn by the
shaft displaced radially of the rotator 13 and at the same
time the sub-rotating shaft 14 rotates a fixed member of
rounds. The polishing bath 2 is so constituted to make
rotation as described above.
Further, these is provided an unloading guide 19 on
the stand 3 changeably in unloading direction located
adjacent to the cover 5 of the rotator 13 side, and to this
unloading guide 19 a mesh 20 is fitted. The constitution
of other portions of the embodiment is the same as the
conventional polishing apparatus described already refer-
ring to Fig. 4.
The behavior of the embodiment will now be described
hereinunder.
In Fig. 1, the polishing materials and the workpieces
are loaded into the polishing bath 2 through the opened
cover 5 at the side of the balance weight 12 to such
e~tent as leaving an enough flowing space in the polishing
bath for the loads.
The over 5 is screwed for flxing, thereby the
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polishing materials and the workpieces to be polished are
then contained in the polishing bath. The motor 7 is
then driven to rotate the pulley 15 via the belt 8. The
rotation of pulley 15 gives rotation to the rotating shaft
11 at the fixed rotating speed. By the rotation of this
rotating shaft 11, the polishing bath 2 is revolved round
the rotation center llC of the rotator 13 remaining upon
the circular orbit Ql drawn by the axis 14C of the rotat-
ing shaft 14.
Simultaneously with this revolution, the rotation of
the rotating shaft 11 is transmitted to the sub-rotating 14
via the pulley 16, belt 18 and pulley 17 to rotate the
rotating shaft one round, thereby rotate the rotators 12,
13 in a fixed number of rounds to rotate the polishing
bath 2 round the sub-rotating shaft 14 in the fixed number
of rounds.
Fig. 3 shows the condition of revolution of the
polishing bath 2 round the rotation center llC of the
rotator 13 and also that of the rotation of the polishing
bath on the axis l~C of the sub-rotating shaft 14 in the
process of this revolution both in the embodiment. For
example, an arris Al of the polishing bath 2 is moving as
illustrated. By the rotation of the polishing bath 2,
the centrifugal force f due to the revolution of the
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polishing bath 2 and the centrifugal force and gravity due
to the rotation of the polishing bath itself act on both
of the polishing materials and workpieces to be polished
to flow in contact each other to polish the workpieces.
Further, the inner wall of the polishing bath moves
relatively against the polishing materials and the work-
pieces to be polished. As described previously, the
inner wall of the polishing bath is coated with rubber
having an uneven surface, and by such rubber application,
both of the polishing materials and the workpieces to be
polished lying adjacent to the inner wall of the polish-
ing bath are stirred up each other to enhance the polish-
ing efficacy.
Upon completing a full polishing operation, the motor
7 is stopped and the cover-5 of the balance weight 13 side
released to get the polishing materials and the workpieces
unloaded from the polishing bath 2 into the unloading guide
19 with the workpieces resting on the mesh 20 and separate-
ly the polishing materials passing therethrough to the
bottom of the unloading guide 19 for taking out.
Thus, according to the embodiment, as there ne~er
happen such case as the polishing materials and the work-
pieces to be polished come to a standstill being jammed
to the wall surface of the polishing bath 2 due to the
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centrifugal force, the workpieces can effectively be
polished by rotating the polishing bath 2 at a high
rotating speed. In case o the rotators 12, 13 being
mounted as balance weight, the moment applied to the
rotators 12, 13 is so balanced as the rotation of the
polishing bath 2 can smoothly be carried on to prevent the
rotating shaft 11 from any breaking by unbalanced load
applied to the rotating shaft 11, thereby a high speed
operation can safely be achieved. Further, because of no
rotating shaft provided on the rotator as the conventional
one does, the diameter of the-polishing bath is not
restricted by the shaft mentioned above and can be large
enough.
Further, the embodiment was illustrated to constitute
such that the rotator and the sub-rotating shaft rotates
at the same velocity ratio and in the same rotational
direction, the polishing bath is kept level, and the
interior of the polishing bath is made of uni-chamber.
The present invention, however, is not limited to the
embodiment, and can be such that, for example, the
rotators and the sub-rotating shaft are arranged with a
longitudinal inclination or the interior of the polishing
bath is divided into a plurality of chambers.
The embodiment was illustrated also to constitute
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such that the main rotating shaft side and the sub-rotating
shaft side are connected via rollies and belt. The present
invention however, is not limited to the embodiment, and
can also be such that the both are connected by means of
gears and chains or with gears.
Thus, according to the present invention, it is
advantageous in that an effective and safe polishing of
workpieces to be polished can be achieved by establishing
various conditions of stirring-polish by selecting the
driving means without the polishing materials and the
workpieces to be polished being jammed to the inner surface
of the polishing bath at a standstill due to the centrifu-
gal force even when driven at a high speed; the polishing
bath can be large enough suitable to make a bulk production
of polished workpieces as the rotators have no rotating
shaft; and the revolution and/or rotation of the polish-
ing bath can very effectively be smoothened by having the
rotators as balance weight or the rotators arranged at the
both sides of the apparatus borne at the both ends of the
sub-rotating shaft.
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