US2015646A - Polishing wheel - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 24, 1 935. F. F. HILLIX POLISHING WHEEL Filed March 22, 19::

Esra? A" #144. I1

Arm/aways Patented sci-35235 9 -1351- olirlclz rousnmc wnnan I mmewmromo, minor to The United States Platers Supply Company, Cleveland, Ohio, in corporajionof Ohio 3 Claims.

The present invention relates 'to polishing wheels for polishing or finishing surfaces, particularly metal surfaces.

In the polishing art as practiced for a great many years, the work is held against a rotating set-up wheel, that is a wheel with a polishing medium or abrasive glued to the surface thereof, and the abrasive is caused to remove small amounts of stock, leaving a uniformly scratched surface. As the wheels are changed using a progressively finer abrasive, the surface of the work becomes finer and finer until the scratches become some that the surface does not appear scratched to the eye, and begins to have what is called color.

After the surface becomes nearly to the color stage, the work is carried on by what is called bufling. In bufling the abrasive is usually not glued to the buff, but is applied by holding a cake or brick of the compound, which is a mixture of fine abrasive and suitable greases, waxes, etc., to the running bufi, causing a small amount to melt off and cover the surface of the bulf.

The polishing wheels are made of various material, such as wood, leather, felt, paper, cloth, etc., and after a wheel has been in use a short time the cutting ability begins to decrease, which is followed by a lowering of the quality of the work. Various methods have been resorted to to restore the cutting quality of the wheel, such as opening up the wheel by using a pumice stone thereon, or dressing the wheel to remove the worn or dull abrasive. After a certain amount of dressing, etc., the wheel must be replaced at a considerable expense, which, in addition to the time lost dressing and changing the wheels, is a serious objection especially in continuous processes and automatic machines.

The bufis can be restored, as mentioned above, without removing the same'from the machine or even shutting down the machine, by merely holding a cake of the compound against the running buff, from which it follows that the sooner the work can be put on the buif the less set-up wheels required, with a' resulting decrease in cost of production. This has led to a great development in polishing compounds with the view of increasing the cutting ability of the buff, so that the work may be put thereon sooner. But development in this direction is limited because the face of the-buff is softer than that of the set-up wheels and tends to follow the surface being finished.

If the work is put on the buff before it has what is commonly called a bottom, that is benpplieation muchez, 1933, Serial No. 662,063

fore all the deep scratches, pits, surface defects, etc haregremoved and before the surface is scratched with uniform scratches, no color can be obtainedlater because the buff which follows the surface tends to gouge out the deep scratches, 6' pits, etc., and the surface while it will look bright, will not reflect properly. The ideal polishing wheel and/or buff must be able to follow the surface to the extent that the outline can be preserved, and should. remove the ridges or project- 10 ing defects without gouging out and digging into the scratches, pits, etc., and exaggerating them. Attempts have been made to use polishing wheels of wood, leather, paper, etc., and apply the abrasive to the work in the form of a paste 1 or as loose grains with only partial success. If the wheel is soft enough to carry the abrasive well, it

is so soft that the fibers will crowd down into the scratches, pits, etc., and gouge them out, exaggerating the same and producing very poor work, in addition to producing excessive frictional heat where enough pressure is used to make the abrasive do its work most efficiently. When a harder wheel is used to overcome the above difllculties, the same will not carry the 25 abrasive which will roll between the work and the wheels. Brushes have been employed to some extent for polishing but they have the disadvantages of gouging out the scratches, pits, etc., and have a tendency to streak the work.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a polishing wheel which will remove ridges, projections, etc., and smooth or level the surface without gouging out the scratches, pits, etc., and without any tendency to streak the 35 work.

Other objects of this invention are the provision of a highly eilicient polishing wheel in which the density of the wheel face may be readily controlled and held constant; whichv will generate 40 little heat in operation and in which the heat dissipation will be automatic and eflicient; which can be readily made of any diameter or length of face, can be easily-cleaned to facilitate changes from coarse to fine abrasive and the cutting 45 ability of which will remain constant over extended periods without alteration.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a method of polishing, which is especially adapted for continuous process work, is uniform as to quality, is fast and readily controlled, has substantially no-tendency to dig holes in the surface being polished in the event of irregular feed, and is clean, thus avoiding the danger of scratches. I 55 back into place.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a polishing wheel embodying the present invention operating upon a surface to be polished.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the'polishing wheel shown in Fig. l, with a portion broken away to show the interior construction; and

Fig. 3 is a section with portions in elevation on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

Referring to the drawing, the reference character A designates a polishing wheel in general, adapted to be supported upon a suitable arbor (not shown) and rotated in' engagement with a surface to be polished. As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the polishing wheel A is in working engagement with the upper surface of a metal strip B, preferably fed relative to the wheel by mechanism not shown. The reference character C designates abrasive material being fed to the strip B ahead of the wheel A in any convenient manner. The metal strip B is also preferably supported from underneath adjacent the wheel A by some convenient means, such as a table D.

The polishing wheel A comprises a hub II], a. flange I I formed integral with the hub I0, a cover plate 12, and a plurality of bundles of lamina I3. Each bundle of lamina is made of a plurality of separate thin rectangular sheets of suitable paper material, doubled back upon themselves into U- shape about one of a plurality of pins or rods I4, supported in suitable apertures in the flange II and the cover plate I2, with the inner or middle part of each bundle clamped between said flange and cover plate by means of bolts I 5. A plurality of pins or rods I6 positioned in an outer row of apertures in the flange and cover plate II and I2, respectively, extend between adjacent bundles of laminae, act as separators for the bundles of lamina, and cause the same to stand out, radially, similar to a pencil of planes.

In operation the Wheel is rotated from some suitable source of power, and the surface to be finished is brought in contact therewith. Since the individual lamina are unsupported beyond the side disks of the wheel, that is beyond the flange I I and the cover plate I2, they are free to separate, and bend or flex circumferentially independently of each other while in engagement with the work, and as they leave the work snap The wheel is usually rotated at a relatively high speed and the thin lamina snap back into position as they leave the work, in a manner similar to cards during riffiing, setting up air currents with a ventilating action, keeping the temperature of both the work and the wheel down. This feature of my polishing wheel is particularly advantageous in polishing strip metal.

In addition to the ventilating feature of the present polishing wheel noted above, the centrifugal action on the air between the lamina and bundles will set up additional air currents, that is a steady flow of air into the wheel adjacent the hub thereof, and out at the periphery. The design of the wheel causes large amounts of air to circulate past the point of work and carry away the heat. The amount of air circulated will vary with the speed of the wheel-and is, theremits the amount of abrasive fed per unit area of 0 surface to be controlled; the abrasive is always fresh and sharp, and the greases and other constituents give a cool, clean cutting operation.

The paper employed in forming the lamina is preferably of such a composition that it will be 15 very tough and composed of long fibrous material produced by such a method that it will not leave scratches on the surfaces. Such paper has been found far superior to cotton for producing what is called French mirror finish because cotton tends to leave thread scratches on the surface. The selection of proper material for the lamina gives absolute control of the cutting action, and the length of time that the wheel will cut is controlled by the amount of abrasive fed, or by the 25 engagement or disengagement of the wheel with the work. The wheel is preferably given a slight axial reciprocation to equalize the wear and keep the wheel face in proper condition.

During operation, the work is swept clean of 3 the paste which is thrown from the wheel by centrifugal action and caught in suitable guards. The density of the wheel depends upon the thickness, length and compactness of the lamina, and also the speed at which the wheel is revolved, from which it follows that the density of the working face of the wheel can be controlled with exactness. A slight decrease in speed of the wheel will overcome any tendency of the wheel to become stiffer as it wears away. 40

As illustrated, the lamina are shown extendiing parallel with the axis of the wheel or substantially parallel therewith, but in some instances, it is preferred that the lamina make an appreciable angle with the axis of the wheel 4 as this construction tends to produce a shearing action with reference to the work, eliminating any chatter or pounding and increasing the quallty of the work.

From the foregoing description of the pre which may be varied within the scope of this invention, and I particularly point out and claim as my invention the following:

1. A polishing wheel comprising a rotatable hub member and a plurality of lamina supported thereby so as to project beyond the hub member 65 in substantially radial planes with the planes intersecting at substantially the axis of rotation, the outer edges of the free ends of the lamina constituting the working surfaces, said lamina being made of relatively stiff tough paper and 70 their outer projecting portions being free to flex in a circumferential direction but being substantially non-yielding in other directions.

' 2. A polishing wheel comprising a rotatable hub member and a plurality of spaced groups of 7 aoiag oe'o a 'n 3 laminae supported thereby so as to project beyond the hub member in substantially radial planes with the planes intersecting at substantially the axis of rotation, the outer edges of the tree ends or the lamina: constituting the working surfaces. said laminie being made of relatively stii! tough paper and their outer projecting portions being free to flex in a circumferential direction but being substantially non-yielding in other directions.

3. A polishing wheel comprising a rotatable hub member and a plurality oi lamina supported thereby so as to project beyond the hub member in substantially radial planes with the planes intersecting at substantially the axis of rotation, the 'outer edges 01' the free ends of the lamina constituting the working surfaces and being continuous from one end of the wheel to the other, saidlaminabeingmadeotrelative stiii'tough paper and their-outer projecting portions being free to flex in a circumferential direction but being substantially non-yielding in other directions. 10

FOBTERRHIILIX.

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