GB874909A - Improvements in or relating to manipulators - Google Patents

Abstract

874,909. Forging. BRITISH IRON & STEEL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION. March 9, 1959 [March 7, 1958], No. 7398/58. Class 83 (4). A forging manipulator has its manipulating members 13 mounted on a carriage 17 running on wheels or rollers 18 and driven by mechanical power through a positive driving connection between the carriage and a stationary support. The manipulator has a pair of jaws 13 mounted on a bracket 14 carried by a peel 12 rotatable in bearings 28, 29 by an hydraulic motor 38. The latter drives through gearing 40, 41 and has an indexing mechanism, with a yieldable safety detent, for determining fixed angular positions of the peel. Bearings 28, 29 are pivotally supported on links 30 which are pivoted on pillars 27 upstanding from the wheeled carriage 17 running along rails 20. End thrust on the peel is taken by thrust-plates 28a. For raising or-.lowering the peel the front links 30 are connected to an hydraulic motor 36 controlled by a valve 56 actuated by remote control through a receiver 57. The hydraulic motors 36, 38 are supplied with hydraulic fluid from a source separate from the manipulator. Rear bearing 29 is in two halves biased together by springs 42 to permit the peel 12 to rock about this bearing during forging. The manipulator is propelled along its rails 20 by a draw-bar 21 incorporating a rack 22 meshing with a pinion 24 driven through a worm gear 25a by an hydraulic motor 25. Alternatively the carriage may be propelled by an hydraulic motor mounted thereon and driving a pinion meshing with a stationary rack disposed beneath the carriage. In this case the carriage may run on rollers located in the floor. The manipulator may be controlled automatically to work in synchronism with the forging press described in Specification 874,908.