US1513815A - Metal manufacture - Google Patents

Description

. Patented Nov. 4, 1924.

um'rso STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM R. HURD, 2ND, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METAL MANUFACTURE.

Application filed March 11, 1918. Serial No. 221,812.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it Known that I, WILLIAM R. HURD, 2nd, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Metal Manufacture, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to the treatment of corrodible metal surfaces in the manufacture of machine parts, metal tools and the like. For'the sake of illustration, the invention is herein set forth with particular reference to its applicability to the manufacture of cutters used for trimming the sole edges of shoes. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not at all limited to the treatment of edge-trimming cutters, but is applicable generally to the manufacture and reclamation of tools, machine castings and parts and various other metallic articles having iron and steel or other corrodible metal surfaces.

A great deal of difliculty is experienced in the preservation of such metal surfaces from corrosion which lessens their efficiency and injures their appearance. With this in vlew, it is one object of my invention to provide an improved method of surfacing metal articles, the practice of which will 1nsure the preservation of the articles only while they are in use but when they are. in storage or otherwise idle.

In addition to the general liability of corrosion by exposure of machines, parts and tools 'to dampness and other corroding influences liable to produce rust, when they are in storage or in stock, many machines and tools, when in use, are operated only intermittently with intervening periods 0 idleness. This is sometimes due to the fact that machines or devices as a whole are operated only occasionally. In many instances, of which edge-trimming cutters furnish a good example, the particular liability to corrosion is due to the fact that the necessary equipment of a-machine includes a considerable number of spare parts or interchangeable tools. For instance, edgetrimming cutters are each profiled to treat sole-edges of only one style, so that the cuttreated not ters have to be interengaged as shoes of different styles come to the machines. The result is that although any given cutter has usually a long knife, it is subject to frequent and considerable periods of idleness. Such tools consequently are especially liable to become rusty and thus to cause damage to the work operated upon.

On the other hand, it is for many uses disadvantageous to have metal surfaces too bright or highly polished. Here again the use of edge-trimming cutters may be referred to as illustrative of this partof the problem. In performing an edge-trimming operatlon, the operator holds the shoe in his hands without any support, or guide whatever,and draws its sole edge past the rapidly rotating cutter. There is nothing to control the depth of cut except the operators judgment and skill. The reflection of light from a bright cutter has a tendency to dazzle the operator, making him unable to cause the trimming to extend to just the right depth. In short, either extreme in the condition of the cutter will result in unsatisfactory work.

A further difficulty met with in cutters heretofore obtainable has been that, as is very generally true of tools and machine parts, they are covered with a thick heavy oil by their manufacturer to protect them from rust while in stock. t is not feasible to clean this substance all on from between the teeth before a cutter is 'fi st used, and so it greases the grinding wheel badly when the cutter is reground the first time. The wheel then has to be dressed off to clean it. Moreover, the slushing of tools and machine parts by coating them with heavy oil is many times objectionable because of the liability of soiling the hands or clothing of the, operator or the work operated upon, this f tendency being aggravated by the obvious fact that such oil-coated surfaces catch a great deal of dust and dirt.

In view of these difficulties and in ac- .cordance with a further object, my invention is directed to the protection of a metal surface with a preservative coating which is not disagreeable to the touch, is not destroyed by handling or ordinary use, and will not soil the hands or clothing.

In the attainment of the above-stated and other objects, it isa particularly advantageous characteristic of 'the invention that it provides metal surfaces liable to corrosion with a substantially indestructible dull finish, which will not require cleaning, with conse- 5 quent danger of brightening. In'the illustrated exemplification of the invention, the articles to be treated are immersed in a bath comprising hot parafiin and then, immediately upon removal from the bath, the

coated articles are subjected to an air blast moved in order that the air blast may actto remove the surplus coating. When different sides of the articles are to be coated and the nature of the articles permits, the air jet and the coated articles are relatively against diiferent sides of the articles. In the treatment of many metallic articles, it is preferable to turn or whirl the articles in "the air blast, thus generating centrifugal force which aids in removing the surplus coating substance. This may be. effected where the articles are of such a character as to lend themselves to it by utilizing the air jet itself to whirl the articles. The surfaces of the articles hold a very thin layer of coating substance effectually against removal by any ordinary handling to which the articles are subjected, and the dull char-' acter of the coating diffuses any light reflected thereby. The articles are thus preserved indefinitely in a dull, greaseless and rustless condition.

These and other aspects of the invention will be better understood from the follow- 5 ing description of a preferred practice coating the ened and ground, it is preferably surface roughened. This operation nay be performed in any way that will produce minute sharp edged abrasions in the surface or surfaces to be treated. The general dimensions 5 of these abrasions and of their distances from each other may well be of the same .order of magnitude as the wave length of light in order to form a dull, non-refiectin surface. I perform the roughening pre erably by a sand blast, as shown in Fig. 2.

The apparatus there shown comprises a rotating table 18 having a, number of spindles 20 on which the cutters are loosely mounted. The sand box 22 rotates above the table 18 and has a plurality of nozzles 24 through which" the sand isdrivenl The cutters are turned in both directions by the-impact as they pass through a sand stream so that all parts of their surface are treated. Any sand blasting apparatus may be used, and

the same forms no part of the present invention and need not be further described. This operation removes the scale and soda and creates a mat finish ori the metal.

The cutter is then coated with an airproof and moisture proof, substance which is solid under ordinary conditions and pins on a plate 25 (Fig. 3) arranged to rotate and to pass beneath the surface of the melted parafiin or other substance 26. The

bath may be heated by flame jets 28.

In the illustrated exemplification of the method, the heat-retaining articles to be treated are heated by immersion in the hot melted coating substance to a temperature which will maintain the coating in a liquid state for a substantial period after the re- I moval of the articles from the coating bath.

After the cutters 'or other articles to be treated have been coated, they are removed from the bath and before the coating solidifies they are transferred from the bath to another locality where they are subjected to an air blast indicated at 30. The illustrated apparatus is so designed that the impact of the air will rotate or whirl the cutters or any other, articles, provided they are rotatively mounted and have a shape that renders them responsive to the propelling force of the air. When so treated, the rotative action of the articles generates sufiicient centrifugal force to aid materially in removing the surplus coating substance. Moreover, the surplus coating substance is removed from all the treated surfaces, including a recess such as that "illustrated at 10. I have found that this removes a large quantity of the coating substance which then runs back into the bath, but that the minute abrasions caused by the roughening operation retain enough of the material to make'a rust-proof coating which it is very hard to remove. It appears to be actually incorporated in the finely abraded surface, being probably held by minute sharp fins struck up by the sand blast, does not rub ofl", and 1 have found that it remains unaltered after long use, and that surfaces so treated become neither polished nor rusty. The amount of the coating material remaining on the faces 32 of the teeth is so slight that it does not interfere with the operatlon of the grinding wheel. Moreover, metallic articles so treated are not open to the disetters advantages, including those heretofore pointed out, arising from the slushing of the articles with heavy oil.

My invention thus provides for the manufacture of a metal surface having a permanent non-corrodible indestructible dull finish.

' Having described my invention, what ll claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. That improvement in the art of treating metallic articles which consists in simultaneously heating and coating a metallic article by immersing it in a bath of hot melted' coating substance that solidifies at ordinary atmospheric temperatures, removing said article from said coating bath, and directing an air jet against the article to re move surplus coating substance before it solidifies.

2. That improvement in the art of treating metallic-articles which consists in applying a coating of liquefied substance that solidifies under ordinary conditions, and removing surplus coating substance from the article by blowing against the article in such a way as to rotate the latter before the coating solidifies, thus generating centrifugal action.

3. The improved method of treating an article which consists in applying a coating of liquefied substance that solidlfies under ordinary conditions, and simultaneously rotating the article about an axis intersecting it and blowing against the coating substance on the article. I

4. That improvement in the art of treating metallic articles which consists in a plying a coating of a liquefied waxy su stance to an article, and removing the surplus coating substance by the conjoint efiect of centrifugal force and a blast of air.

1 '5. That improvement in the art of treating metallic articles which consists in coating an article with a liquefied waxy substance,

, and removing the surplus coating substance from the article by causing an air-blast to impinge on and rotate the article.

6. That improvement in the art of treating metallic articles which consists in immersing an article in a bath of liquefied Waxy substance, removing the article from said bath, and blowing against the coating substance while rotating the article so as to generate centrifugal force to remove the surplus coating substance before it solidifies.

7. That improvement in the art of treating metallic articles which consists in immersing an article in a bath comprising liquid parafiin, raising the article out of said bath, and removing surplus'parafin. from the article by blowing against the liquid coating of parafin and turning the article so as to blow against all parts of its surface.

8. That improvement in methods of treating metallic articles which consists in giving an article an excessive coating of a liq- -uid waxy substance, and thereafter blowing against the liquid coating while relatively moving the article and the blowing means so as to remove surplus coating substance from difierent sides of the article.

9. That improvement in methods \of treating metallic articles which consists in givin an article an excessive coating of a liqui substance that will solidify at ordinary atmospheric temperatures, and thereafter simultaneously blowing against the coating and whirling the article so as to remove surplus coating substance.

10. That improvement in methods of treating metallic articles which consists in giving an article an excessive coating of a liquid substance that will solidify under ordinary conditions, and thereafter removing surplus coating substance from the article by the conjoint efi'ect of an air-blast and centrifugal force. I

11. That improvement in the'art of treating metallic articles, which consists in giving an article having a recess an excessive coating of a liquid waxy substance that will solidify under ordinary conditions, and thereafter removing surplus coating substance from the recess by whirling the article and simultaneously causing a jet of air to impinge on the coating in saidrecess.

in testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

LIAM R. HURD, 2ND.

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