METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING MULTIPLE MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS ON AN OBJECT

• Main Authors: SOSSEN, David, GARDNER, Craig, Martin
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 21.04.2021
• Subjects: COMBINATIONS OR ASSOCIATIONS OF METAL-WORKING MACHINES, NOTDIRECTED TO A PARTICULAR RESULT; DETAILS, COMPONENTS, OR ACCESSORIES FOR MACHINE TOOLS, e.g.ARRANGEMENTS FOR COPYING OR CONTROLLING; MACHINE TOOLS; MACHINE TOOLS IN GENERAL CHARACTERISED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OFPARTICULAR DETAILS OR COMPONENTS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING

A multi-tool positioning and manufacturing system moves a workpiece among many tools, such as grinding wheels, each of which performs a manufacturing operation on the workpiece. The system moves the workpiece automatically, quickly, repeatably, and precisely among the tools, without any manual intervention. It can perform the same manufacturing operations as many separate tools, such as grinding the inner diameter, outer diameter, and rib of a tapered roller bearing cone. Because a machinist does not have to move the workpiece between machines for different operations, the total manufacturing process can be faster and higher yield than with separate tools. The system can also move a single dresser among the tools for dressing and truing, further increasing manufacturing efficiency by eliminating the need for separate dressers for separate tools.