GB958671A - Clinching apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

958,671. Seaming. BRITISH FEDERAL WELDER & MACHINE CO. Ltd., and T. F. TRIBE. Aug. 16, 1961 [Aug. 31, 1960], No. 30010/60. Heading B3J. A clinching apparatus to bend over and clinch an upstanding marginal flange of a panel comprises a frame, a clinching member to perform the clinching operation mounted for movement in relation to the frame by way of pivot means controlling the attitude of the clinching member, and a toggle linkage between the frame and the clinching member so constructed and arranged that the pressure of application of the clinching member to the flange to be clinched is a maximum during the final stage of said operation. A flange 10 on an outer panel 8 resting on a cradle 7 is partially bent over the margin 11 of an inner panel 9 by a preforming member 20, Fig. 2, on a pivoted arm 16 rocked in by a lever 18, pivoted to a bar 13 connected by parallel links 12 to a pillar 6, as the bar 13 is moved down. The member 20 then moves out as the bar 13 continues to move down so that a clinching member 19 on the bar 13 engages the flange 10 and presses it down. The bar 13 is lowered by an hydraulic jack 24, the rod of which is pivoted at 21 to a radius lever 22, pivoted to the machine frame, and to a tie rod 14 pivoted at 15 to the bar 13. In a modification, Fig. 4, a single member 28 performs both the pre-forming and the clinching operation and is moved by a horizontal jack 31, moving the pillar 6, as well as by the jack 24. In another modification, a preforming member is actuated by a cam carried by the clinching member or is carried by the clinching member and is movable, for preforming, independently thereof. The rod 14 may be pivoted to a slider carried between vertical guides and coupled to the clinching member or the jack may be connected to one arm of a bell-crank lever, the centre pivot of which is secured to the slider and the other arm is pivoted a lever pivoted to the machine frame. Specifications 927,642, 928,229, 958,672, 958,673, 958,675 and 958,676 are referred to.