US2878562A - Method for forging - Google Patents

Description

March 24, 1959 J. H. BRUC-E, sl 2,878,562

1 METHOD FOR FORGING Filed July 28, 1953 ZSheets-Sheet'l INVENTOR James RBI-ace, 3".

March 24, 1959 J. H. BRUCE, SR

METHOD FOR FORGING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 28. 1953 INVENTOR whines IZBrucqJ'r.

United States Patent METHOD FOR FORGING James H. Bruce, Sr., Beaver, Pa., assignor to Rochester Machine Corp., Beaver, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 28, 1953, Serial No. 370,722

7 Claims. (Cl. 29-5524) This invention relates to a method for forging and particularly to a method for accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged section upon an elongated metal member. It has long been the practice to form portions of enlarged section upon elongated metal members such as wheels or hubs upon axle shafts by repeatedly heating the portion to be enlarged and then upsetting the heated portion after each heating by means of a hammer until the enlarged portion had arrived at the desired size. This required the use of dies of various sizes and shapes to carry the enlarged portion through the several stages necessary in order to produce the final desired enlarged section. This method of enlarging an elongated member is expensive, inconvenient and slow, but has been used for many years in spite of its many drawbacks for lack of anything better.

I have discovered a method by means of which enlarged portions may be readily formed on an elongated member. In a preferred practice of my invention a portion of the elongated metal member sutficiently large to furnish the cubical content of metal necessary for the elongated section is heated to forging temperature. The heated portion of the member and an unheated portion of the member on each side thereof are confined against movement transverse to the length of the elongated member. Pressure is exerted upon the ends of the elongated member and simultaneously therewith the confining pressure on the heated portion is released to form an enlarging die, thus permitting the heated portion to expand transversely of the length of the elongated member into the enlarging die to form the desired enlarged section. Preferably, this is carried out in an apparatus having a base, a die formed on said base and having a portion thereof adapted to receive and confine one end of an elongated member to be expanded, sleeve means fitting within said die and reciprocable therein, the opening in the sleeve aligned with the opening in the base of the die receiving the end of the elongated member, ram means adapted to exert pressure on the end of an elongated member extended out of said opening and reciprocable relatively to the sleeve whereby the ram is moved lengthwise of the elongated member to exert pressure between the ends thereof while the sleeve is simultaneously withdrawn to form a gradually enlarging portion in the die into which the heated portion of the elongated metal flows while only retracting the sleeve. Preferably the ram is actuated by a hydraulic cylinder and the sleeve is mounted on a movable framework actuated by one or more hydraulic cylinders independent of the cylinder operating the ram.

I have attempted to point out certain of the salient features of my invention. However, other features, objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the description and of the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section through the apparatus of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section on line III-III of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section through the apparatus of Figure 1 showing the first stage of forming a hub on an axle;

Figure 5 is the section of Figure 4 in a further advanced stage;

Figure 6 is a horizontal section of the apparatus of Figure 1 applied to the manufacture of a universal joint yoke;

Figure 7 is a side elevation of a second embodiment of this invention.

Referring to the drawings there is illustrated parallel guide frames 10 carrying end plates 11 and 12. A die 13 is mounted in a movable platen 14 which is movable on the guide frames 10 to a selected position where it may be locked in fixed position. The die 13 is adapted to receive one end of an elongated member 16 which is to havea portion thereof enlarged. The balance of the elongated member extends upwardly through the center of the die 13. A reciprocable sleeve 17 is mounted on a movable platen 18 which is movable on the guide frames 10 by means of pistons 19 operated by hydraulic cylinders 19a. The sleeve 17 is provided with a central opening 20 which is adapted to surround and contact the outer periphery of the elongated member 16 projecting through the center of the die 13. A reciprocable ram 21 mounted in a hydraulic cylinder 22 on the end platen 12 is mounted for engagement against the end of the elongated member 16 projecting into the opening 20 in the sleeve. In order to forge an enlarged portion on the elongated member a portion of the member sufliciently large to contain the cubical content of metal desired in the enlarged portion is heated to the temperature at which the metal will flow. One end of the elongated member 16 is then inserted into the reduced portion 15 of the die and the platen 14 is moved to a position where one end of the heated portion of the elongated member 16 begins at the bottom of the die 13 and extends into the sleeve 17 which is at the bottom of the die 13 and surrounds the heated portion of the member and a portion of unheated member above the heated portion confining it against movement transverse to the length thereof. The ram 21 is then brought against the unheated end of the elongated member in the sleeve 17 and pressure is brought to bear against that end. Simultaneously the movable platen 18 is retracted towards the fixed platen 12 and continuous pressure is exerted by the ram 21 on the end of the member 16. As the sleeve 17 is withdrawn the heated portion of the elongated member 16 which is no longer confined, is forced outwardly into the die beneath the sleeve 17 to form an enlarged portion 23. As the sleeve 17 is withdrawn the enlarged portion 23 follows the sleeve, gradually lengthening the enlarged portion until the desired size is attained. This gradual enlargement is illustrated in chain line in Figure 1. By changing the shape of the die, various shapes of enlarged section may be formed on an enlongated member. For example, the yoke commonly used on automobile universal joints can be readily formed in this fashion as shown in Figure 6. Other similar shapes may likewise be formed.

The die 13 may be held in the movable platen 14 by means of a flange 24 on the die mating in a groove in the platen. In order to make removal of the die rapid and easy a locking member 25 may be provided in the movable platen to hold the die in position therein as shown in Figure 3.

In Figure 7 there is illustrated a different embodiment of this invention in which all of the components are identical with those of Figures 1 through 6 with the addition of a hydraulic cylinder 30 mounted on fixed platen 11 and provided with a ram 31 to act as a back-up for the workpiece 16. Hydraulic cylinders 32 are provided on either side of cylinder 30 to operate the movable platen 14 carrying the die 13.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred practice and apparatus for carrying out my invention it will be understood that it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged section on an elongated metal member comprising the steps of heating a portion of said member sufliciently large to furnish the cubical content of metal necessary for the enlarged section, confining the heated portion and an adjacent unheated portion of said member against movement transverse to the length thereof, exerting pressure between the ends of the elongated member, simultaneously gradually releasing the confining pressure on the heated portion and permitting the heated portion to expand transversely of the length of the elongated member to form the desired enlarged section.

2. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged section on an elongated metal member cornprising the steps of heating a portion of said member sufficiently large to furnish the cubical content of metal necessary for the enlarged section to forging temperature, confining the heated portion and an unheated portion of said member on each side thereof against movement transverse to the length thereof, exerting pressure between the ends of the elongated member, simultaneously releasing the confining pressure on the heated portion lengthwise of the member and permitting the heated portion to expand transversely of the length of the elongated member to form the desired enlarged section.

3. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged section on an elongated metal member comprising the steps of heating a portion of said member sufficiently large to furnish the cubical content of metal necessary for the enlarged section, confining the heated portion against movement transverse to the length thereof, exerting pressure between the ends of the elongated member, simultaneously releasing the confining pressure on the heated portion lengthwise of the member and permitting the heated portion to expand transversely of the length of the elongated member to form the desired enlarged section.

4. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged section on an elongated metal member comprising the steps of heating a portion of said member sufiiciently large to furnish the cubical content of metal necessary for the enlarged section, confining the heated portion against movement transverse to the length thereof, exerting pressure between the ends of the elongated member, simultaneously releasing confining pressure on the heated portion to form an enlarging die and permitting the heated portion to expand transversely of the length of the elongated member into said enlarging die to form the desired enlarged section.

5. The method of accumulating and forming a portion A. of enlarged section on an elongated metal section comprising the steps of heating a portion of said section sufiiciently large to furnish the cubical content of metal necessary for the enlarged section, maintaining one end of the elongated section against movement, exerting pressure longitudinally on the opposite end of said elongated section all the While confining the heated portion against expansion transverse to the longitudinal direction, releasing stepwise the confining pressure about the sides of the elongated section and permitting the heated section to expand into a gradually enlarging cavity having the shape of the desired enlarged section.

6. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged section on an elongated metal section comprising the steps of heating a portion of said section sutficiently large to furnish the cubical content of metal necessary for the enlarged section, maintaining one end of the section against movement, exerting pressure longitudinally on the opposite end of said elongated section all the while confining said opposite end and the heated portion against expansion transverse to the longitudinal direction, releasing gradually the confining pressure about the sides of the elongated member from a point adjacent the end maintained against movement and going in the axial direction and permitting the heated section to expand following the release of the confining pressure into an enlarged die having the general shape desired.

7. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged section on an elongated metal section comprising the steps of heating a portion of said section sufiiciently large to furnish the cubical content of metal necessary for the enlarged section, maintaining one end of the elongated section against movement, confining the heated portion against movement transverse to the longitudinal direction, exerting pressure longitudinally on the opposite end of said elongated section, simultaneously slowly releasing the confining pressure in the longitudinal direction and permitting the heated section to expand substantially transversely to the longitudinal axis of the elongated section into a gradually enlarging die having the shape of the desired enlarged section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,613,595 Abel Jan. 11, 1927 1,668,442 Wineman May 1, 1928 1,837,097 Barth Dec. 15, 1931 1,983,618 Lamond Dec. 11, 1934 2,029,800 Templin Feb. 4, 1936 2,168,641 Arbogast Aug. 8, 1939 2,209,490 Greve July 30, 1940 2,344,285 Cormode Mar. 14, 1944 2,499,980 Stokes et a1. Mar. 7, 1950 2,509,783 Richardson May 30, 1950 2,556,951 Weidner June 12, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 107,912 Switzerland Dec. 1, 1924

Images