GB1584297A - Tool slide and associated tool magazine for a lathe - Google Patents

Description

(54) A TOOL SLIDE AND ASSOCIATED TOOL MAGAZINE FOR A LATHE (71) We, GEBRUDER BOEHRINGER GESELLSCHAFT MIT BESCHRANKTER HAFTUNG, a Company of the German Federal Republic' of Stuttgarter Strasse 50, 7320 Göppingen, Federal Republic of Germany, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a lathe with a longitudinally displaceable bed-slide, a crossslide transversely displaceable on said bed-slide and a tool magazine.

In the case of a known lathe of the kind described above (German DOS 1 777 034), the tool magazine is arranged on the bedslide itself.

This has the result of the guide means for the bed-slide having to take the load of the weight of the magazine and being therefore subjected to wear which is greater than would be the case without this additonal load. Furthermore, shocks occur in the magazine when the latter is indexed, or when a tool holder is taken out of the magazine or replaced, and these shocks act directly on the bed-slide and are also transmitted to the cross-slide, to the tool-holder carrier on the cross-slide and to the tool itself whereby the quality of the machined surface of the workpiece can suffer.

It is an object of the invention to provide a lathe of the kind described in which the guide means are not subjected to the additional load of the weight of the tool magazine and the transfer of shocks emanating from that magazine to the point of cutting is reduced.

Accordingly the present invention consists in a lathe comprising a bed-slide longitudinally displaceable on guide means, a cross-slide transversely displaceable on said bed-slide and a tool magazine movable in unison with said bed-slide, and wherein said tool magazine is secured to an auxiliary slide provided in addition to said bed-slide and having its own guide means on the machine bed in addition to and separate from the guide means provided for said bed-slide. This has the result that the weight load of the tool magazine does not have to be taken by the guide means for the bed-slide and that any shocks emanating from that magazine are not directly transmitted to the bed-slide and to the units mounted on the bed-slide.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing which represents a diagrammatic plan view of the bed of a lathe with the slides arranged on that bed.

The bed of the lathe shown in the drawing is provided with a horizontal guideway 10 which extends parallel to the axis of the spindle of the turning machine and along which a bed-slide 12 is slidably guided. The bed-slide 12 is provided with a guideway which extends perpendicularly relative to the spndle axis of the turning machine and along which is a cross-slide 14 can slide.

The cross-slide supports a tool carrier 16 to which a holder 18 for a tool 20 is clamped. The bed-slide 12 carriers along a tool magazine 22 which contains a number of tool-holders with tools. When the tool 20 has finished its operation, a holder with another tool is selected from the magazine 22, and the tool holder 18 is detached from the tool carrier 16. A gripper (not shown) engages the holder 18 and exchanges it for the holder in the magazine with the newly selected tool.

However, whilst in the case of known lathes of the kind described, the tool magazine 22 has been arranged on the bedslide 12, the bed of the lathe being described herein is provided with a guideway 24 additional to the guideway 10 and parallel to the latter, an auxiliary slide 26 being displaceable on the guideway 24. The slide 26 supports the tool magazine 22 and is connected to the bed-slide 12 by a coupling 28.

The frictional forces to which the bedslide 12 is subjected by the guideway 10 occur variously on the surfaces of that guideway with which the bed-slide is in contact. There exists a "frictional centre of gravity" which can be defined as follows: If the force which displaces the bed-slide 12 along its guideway 10 were concentrated at this " frictional centre of gravity", then this force would not subject the bed-slide 12 to any tilting moments, neither in the plane of the drawing nor to a plane perpendicular to that plane and parallel to the axis of the spindle of the turning machine. Assuming that the "frictional centre of gravity" be situated at the point R then it is preferred to arrange the coupling in a position in which it is in alignment with the point R in the direction of movement of the bed-slide 12. This has the effect that the traction force which the bed-slide 12 during its displacement exerts on the auxiliary slide, in order to carry the latter along, does not subject the bed-slide to any tilting moments. It is therefore possible for the coupling 28 to be of the kind which is not capable of transmitting tilting moments about axes extending trans tersely to the spindle axis of the turning machine, but only a traction or thrust force which is parallel to the axis of the spindle of the lathe.

Preferably, one half of the coupling 28 consists of a pin 30 which is secured to one of the slides 12 or 26 so as to be parallel to the guideway 10 and projects with a clearance through a hole in a plate 32 which is secured to the other of the two slides so as to extend transversely to the pin 30.

This plate is the other half of the coupling 28. Arranged on the pin 30 at both sides of plate 32 are disc-shaped springs or rubber rings 34, 36 which abut with one side against plate 32 and with the other side against a shoulder or nut (not shown) on the pin 30.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A lathe comprising a bed-slide longitudinally displaceable on guide means, a cross-slide transversely displaceable on said bed-slide and a tool magazine movable in unison with said bed-slide, and wherein said tool magazine is secured to an auxiliary slide provided in addition to said bed-slide and having its own guide means on the machine bed in addition to and separate from the guide means provided for said bed-slide.

2. A lathe according to claim 1 wherein said auxiliary slide is connected to said bed-slide by a coupling which is arranged in a position which is in alignment with the frictional centre of gravity as defined herein in the direction of movement of said bedslide.

3. A lathe, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (3)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. of gravity" which can be defined as follows: If the force which displaces the bed-slide 12 along its guideway 10 were concentrated at this " frictional centre of gravity", then this force would not subject the bed-slide 12 to any tilting moments, neither in the plane of the drawing nor to a plane perpendicular to that plane and parallel to the axis of the spindle of the turning machine. Assuming that the "frictional centre of gravity" be situated at the point R then it is preferred to arrange the coupling in a position in which it is in alignment with the point R in the direction of movement of the bed-slide 12. This has the effect that the traction force which the bed-slide 12 during its displacement exerts on the auxiliary slide, in order to carry the latter along, does not subject the bed-slide to any tilting moments. It is therefore possible for the coupling 28 to be of the kind which is not capable of transmitting tilting moments about axes extending trans tersely to the spindle axis of the turning machine, but only a traction or thrust force which is parallel to the axis of the spindle of the lathe. Preferably, one half of the coupling 28 consists of a pin 30 which is secured to one of the slides 12 or 26 so as to be parallel to the guideway 10 and projects with a clearance through a hole in a plate 32 which is secured to the other of the two slides so as to extend transversely to the pin 30. This plate is the other half of the coupling 28. Arranged on the pin 30 at both sides of plate 32 are disc-shaped springs or rubber rings 34, 36 which abut with one side against plate 32 and with the other side against a shoulder or nut (not shown) on the pin 30. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A lathe comprising a bed-slide longitudinally displaceable on guide means, a cross-slide transversely displaceable on said bed-slide and a tool magazine movable in unison with said bed-slide, and wherein said tool magazine is secured to an auxiliary slide provided in addition to said bed-slide and having its own guide means on the machine bed in addition to and separate from the guide means provided for said bed-slide.

2. A lathe according to claim 1 wherein said auxiliary slide is connected to said bed-slide by a coupling which is arranged in a position which is in alignment with the frictional centre of gravity as defined herein in the direction of movement of said bedslide.

3. A lathe, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.