US3014314A - Lens edger - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 26, 1961 E. H. NOVAK 3,014,314

LENS EDGER Filed May 27, 1959 s sheets-sheet 2 EZQA H- NOVAK INVENTQQ. M

AT TODN EVS E. H. NOVAK Dec. 26, 1961 LENS EDGER 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 27, 1959 EZQA H. NOVAK INVENTOQ. BY M ATTOQN evs United States Patent 3 .ii14,3ll l LENS EDGER Ezra Novels, 2802 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, (Iaiif. Filed May 27, 1959, Ser. No. 816,328 14 Claims. (Cl. 51-401) This invention has to do with apparatus for grinding and finishing the edges of lenses, such as spectacle lenses, and has as an object the provision of a machine which has novel and efficient mechanical actuating means for controlling the driving mechanism to carry out an edge grinding and finishing operation.

An additional object is to provide a machine of this character which is capable of completing a grinding operation during a single revolution of the lens.

Another object is to provide a machine of this character which incorporates novel and efiicient chuck means for holding the lens during the grinding operation.

Another object is the provision of a lens edging machine which includes novel means for centering and aligning the lens between opposed chucks.

A further object is to provide a construction of this character which has novel features of adjustability.

Another object is to provide a lens edger having adjustable means for varying the pressure of a lens edge against the grinder wheel.

A still further object is to provide novel means for insuring the proper centering of a lens between the lens holding chucks.

Other objects and corresponding advantages will appear hereinafter.

While I shall point out in the appended claims the features which I believe to be new, I shall now, for the purpose of making clear to those skilled in the art how to carry my invention into practice, describe a presently preferred embodiment thereof, for which purpose I shall refer to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational View;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view;

FIG. 3 is a reduced view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a reduced view taken on line 55 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view, partly in section and partly in front elevation, showing the head mounting;

FIG. 8 is a view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary section taken on line 9-9 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a view taken on line ill-10 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 11 is a view taken on line 11l1 of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a device for centering the lens when it is being mounted between the chucks; and

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a lens marking element.

Referring now to the drawings, the numeral 5 denotes a base, from the rear end of which an upright portion 6 extends. The upright 6 has a back wall 6a, side walls 6b and a top wall 6c. A conventional electric motor M is mounted on the rear end of the base.

A grinder wheel 15 is secured on a shaft 17 journaled in bearings 18 carried by the base. The hub portion 19 of the wheel engages the contiguous ends of the bearings 18. An oil cup 20 is provided for each bearing, and each bearing is secured on the base by bolts and nuts 21.

A pair of pulleys of relatively different diameters are secured on the left end of shaft 17 to selectively receive a continuous belt 26 which also extends about a selected one of a pair of pulleys 27 of relatively difierent diameters mounted on the motor shaft 28.

As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the grinder wheel has ice a relatively wide peripheral surface portion 15a and a V-grooved portion 15b.

On the right-hand end of the shaft 17, I secure a pair of pulleys 30, of relatively diiterent diameters, from any selected one of which pulleys a continuous belt 32 extends about any selected one of a pair of pulleys 35 (FIG. 6) mounted on a shaft 37 journaled in a bearing 38 carried by a side wall 6!) of the upright 6. The pulleys 35, while secured together, are both mounted for free r0- tation on and relative to the shaft 37. A flexible, driven shaft as is' secured on the left-hand end of the shaft 37 by a suitable connector 42.

A gear 45, disposed in a housing 47, is secured on shaft 37 for. cooperation with a clutch mechanism, generally denoted 5%, to be hereinafter described. The inner pulley- 35a is resiliently frictionally connected to the gear 45 only by an arched leaf spring 52, so as to permit slippage as between pulley 35a and gear 45 when the gear 45 is subjected to the braking action of the clutch 50.

The clutch 5t) (FIGS. 5 and 6) includes a pinion 5S rotatably carried on a spindle 57. A clutch disc 58 is secured on the inner end of the pinion 55, the disk rotating between a resilient pad 6%, carried on the inner end of an adjustment screw 32, and a resilient pad 64 secured on the free end of a leaf spring 65 which latter is secured atits inner end to the wall 6b as by a rivet 66.- The spring 65 normally urges the pad 6 to the left, or out of braking engagement with the disk 58. The spindle 57, on which pinion 55 is mounted, is, as shown in FIG. 5, carried by an arm 67 of a bell crank 61 pivoted to side wall 6b of the upright 6 by pivot pin 62. The other arm 67a of the bell crank may be used for swinging the crank about the pivot er. to disengage the pinion 55 from gear 45 when desired.

The pad 64 is, as shown in FIG. 6, normally in yieldable engagement with the disk 58 by pressure exerted by wire 63, so that the disk and the pinion are normally braked to prevent rotation of the gear 45. However, when pressure exerted by wire 65 is relieved the pad 64- is moved, by the spring 65 out of braking engagement with the disk so that the gear 45 is free to rotate, causing the shaft 37 to rotate. This brake releasing movement of the pad 64 is effected by axial movement of a wire 63 axially mounted in a flexible tube 63. The mechanism for so moving the wire 63 will be hereinafter described.

Means for chucking and rotating the lens blank relative to the grinder wheel will now be described.

I provide a head member 7% which is mounted for both vertical and lateral adjustment relative to the grinder wheel in the following manner (FIGS. 7-9);

As best shown in FIGS. 7-9, a screw 67 is mounted uprightly within the portion 6 of the base and has a pointed bottom end which engages a threadedly adjustable support 67a carried by the base. The top end of this screw is axially socketed to receive the squared bottom end (not shown) of an actuating pin 69 journaled in the top Wall 60 of the upright portion of the base; the pin carrying handle 69a to facilitate manually rotating it. An internally threaded sleeve 71 threadedly engages screw 67 and is restrained from rotating with the screw by means of an arm '76 whose inner end is fixed to the sleeve in embracing relationship thereto. The sleeve 71 has, atits top end, a relatively large exterior portion 71a which has an integral crossarm portion 71b presenting a diagonal left end portion 71c (FIG. 9), and has bracket portions 71d, one on each side of the portion 710. Link member 77 is pivotally connected to a bracket portion 71d by pivot member 71e; and the head 70 is rigidly secured to the outer end of the link 77, as by'bolt 7711..

It will be observed that the pivotal connection of the link 77 to the bracket portion 71d is such as to permit swinging of the link 77 as well as the head in a vertical spring (not shown) is mounted in the post 154 below the bottom end of the pin 16:? so that the pin is normally urged outwardly of the post. A cup 177 is carried by another portion of the top surface of the base and within the cup there is an inked pad 178.

In using the lens marking element, the user first rotates the knurled knob portion 179 of the pin to swing the disk 172 into position above and in register with the cup 177. The user then depresses the pin 166 to cause the fingers 174 to engage the inked pad 178 to receive a coating of ink. The user then returns the disk into position above and in register with the lens blank L on the pad 175 and depresses the pin 166 to cause the fingers to resiliently engage and apply markings 1843 to the lens at points spaced apart 90 adjacent the periphery of the lens blank.

The lens applying and retaining device 161 (FIG. 12) includes a clamp having two relatively swingable springloaded jaws 185, 186 pivotally secured together between their ends at 187.

The jaw 186 has a bifurcated outer end portion 189. The bifurcations are parallel at their outer end portions 189a and curved at and adjacent their intersecting portions 1891;. The top surface of the bifurcations is cut away to provide a recess 1% to conform to the peripheral portion of either of the chucks, and carries a plurality of soft pads 191 as well as 90 spaced marking indicia 192. The bifurcated top jaw 185 clamps the marked lens blank L, shown in FIG. 13, against the pads and with the indicia markings 180 on the lens in register with the indicia markings 192 on the jaw 186. The bottom jaw 186 also carries, at the intersection of the bifurcations, an outwardly projecting finger 193 for engagement in a pe ripheral slot 185 in a selected one of the chucks.

Thus, after the lens blank is marked in the marker shown in FIG. 13 and mounted between the jaws of the holder 161, the chucks are separated and the holder 161, with its carried lens blank, is inserted between the chucks with the cut-away portion 191 of the jaw 186 engaging over substantially 180 of the peripheral surface of the chuck at the outer edge of the latter, and with the finger 193 engaging in the slot 1&5. This insures that the lens blank is properly centered between the chucks.

For maintaining the periphery of the grinder wheel wetted during grinding, I provide a water container 2011, supported on top wall 6c. A manually controllable out let valve 292 is provided for the container outlet to deposit water from the container into the funnel-like inlet end 203 of a conduit 2t15'whose discharge end is positioned to deposit thev water on the periphery of the grinder wheel.

Operation The user installs a template 83 on the chuck shaft 35, the periphery of the template defining the desired peripheral shape to whichthe lens blank is to be ground. The knob 1132 is then unscrewed to allow the spring 91) to move the chuck shaft 73- axialiy to the right in FIG. 3 to separate the chucks. After having marked the lens and mounted it in the clamp device 161, the user positions the lens incentered position between and relative to the chucks, after which the knob 1&2 is rotated to cause the spring 90 to move the chuck shaft '73 axially to the left to clamp the lens blank between the chucks.

In edging some lenses, it is desirable first to grind the periphery of the lens blank generally to the shape desired by engaging the periphery of the lens blank with the flat surface portion a of the grinder wheel. Then, after this first grinding operation, the head 7 may be swung to the right and lowered into the position of PEG. 2 to bring the lens blank into register with the grooved portion 15b of the grinder wheel.

To lower bracket 138 and its carried clutch-actuating elements into position to cause the lens blank to engage 6 in groove 15b, thev user swings: the lever 152 to operate the cam 15 4 The nut 148 is rotated manually to bring the shoe 142 into the desired position. in relation to the template to off by the grinder wheel until sufficient is ground off to cause the template to depress the shoe 142. When this occurs, the bell crank will functionto disengage the pad 64- from the clutch disk, permitting shaft 4% to be rotated by pulley 35. Thus the chucks will be rotated until a next adjacent highpoint of the lens edge is reached, which causes the template to again depressingly engage the shoe 14-2, which will'again cause the clutch to arrest rotation of gear 45 and thereby stop rotation of the chucks until the high point of the lens edge is ground off.

The foregoing-described sequences of operation continue.

until the lens has been rotated through a complete revolution.

If it should be desired temporarily to eliminate the controlof the rotation of the chucks effected by engagement of the template with the shoe 142, so that the chucks might be rotated continuously rather than intermittently, this can be accomplished by the user swinging lever 67a to the left, in FIG; 5, to-free the clutch pinion 55 from engagement with gear 45. Normally the clutch pinion is resiliently held in engagement with said gear by a spring 210.

I claim:

1. In a lens grinding machine, a driven grinder wheel,

lens-carrying chucks rotatably supported for adjustment relative to said grinder wheel, a drive shaft operatively connected to said chucks, a template supported for rotative movement with such chucks, a power-driven pulley mounted on said drive shaft for rotation relative thereto, a gear secured on said drive shaft, a slip connection between said gear and said pulley, a bell crank supported in position for engagement by said template and a brake operably associated with said bell crank for arresting rotation of said gear whereby to cause said pulley to retate relative to said drive shaft.

2. In a lens grinding machine, a driven grinder wheel, lens-carrying chucks rotatably supported for adjustment relative to said grinder wheel, a drive shaft operatively connected to said chucks, a template supported for rotative movements with such chucks, a power-driven pulley mounted on said shaft for rotation relative thereto, a gear secured on said shaft, a slip connection between said gear and said pulley, a bell crank supported in position for engagement with said template, a clutch including a pinion rotatably supported in meshing engagement with said gear, a disk carried by said pinion for rotation therewith, a disk-engaging brake, a spring supporting said brake, said spring normally urging said brake out of engagement with said disk, and mechanical means connecting said bell crank tosaid spring whereby normally to cause said spring to hold said brake in engagement with said disk; said mechanical means being operable in response to movement of said bell crank in one direction to cause said spring to move said brake out of engagement with said disk.

3. The machine of claim 2 wherein said bell crank is supported for adjustment relative to said template.

4. The machine of claim 2 wherein said means connecting said bell crank to said spring comprises a flexible wire axially slideably mounted in a flexible tube and wherein said wire and tube are movable into bowed position in response to movement of said bell crank.

5. In apparatus for grinding the edge of a lens, a body, a power-driven grinder wheel rotatably carried by said body, a head member supported by said body for movement towards and away from the grinding surface of said grinder wheel, chuck shafts rotatably carried by said head member in coaxial alignment, one of said chuck shafts being axially adjustably movable towards and away from the other, a pair of chucks carried by said respective shafts, said chucks being disposed to clampingly engage therebetween a lens to be ground with its edge in engage ment with said grinding surface, a template carried by one of said chuck shafts coaxial with the said chucks, means for controllably rotating said chuck shafts, including a drive shaft operatively connected to said chuck shafts, a driven pulley mounted on said drive shaft for rotation relative thereto, a gear secured on said drive shaft, spring means interposed between and resiliently engaging said pulley and gear and constituting the sole driving connection between said pulley and said gear, brake means operatively associated with said gear to arrest rotation thereof whereby to arrest rotation of said drive shaft, and mechanical brake-actuating means carried by said body in position to be operatively engaged by said template.

6. The apparatus of claim wherein said brake means includes a pinion meshing with said gear, a disk coaxial with and secured to said pinion, and braking means carried by said body for movement into and out of braking engagement with said disk.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 which additionally includes means for moving said pinion out of meshing engagement with said gear whereby to render said brake means inoperative.

8. In apparatus for grinding the edge of a lens, a body, a power-driven grinder Wheel rotatably carried by said body, a head member supported by said body for move ment towards and away from the grinding surface of said grinder wheel, chuck shafts rotatably carried by said head member in coaxial alignment, one of said chuck shafts being axially adjustably movable towards and away from the other, a pair of chucks carried by said respective shafts, said chucks being disposed to clampingly engage therebetween a lens blank to be ground with its edge in engagement with said grinding surface, a template secured on one of said chuck shafts coaxial with the said chucks, means for controllably rotating said chuck shafts; said last-named means including a spring-loaded bell crank pivotally carried by said body in position to have one of its arms engaged by said template, a drive shaft rotatably carried by said body and operatively connected to said chuck shafts, a driven pulley mounted on said drive shaft for rotation relative thereto, a gear secured on said driveshaft adjacent said pulley, spring means interposed between and resiliently engaging said pulley and said gear and constituting a slippable friction driving connection between said pulley and said gear, brake means operatively associated with said gear to arrest rotation thereof and including a pinion rotatively sup ported for meshing engagement with said gear, a disk secured to said pinion coaxially therewith, a resilient pad, a leaf spring secured at one end to said body and supporting said pad at its other end in position to engage and disengaged from said disk, and said spring normally urging said pad out of engagement with said disk, and actuating means connecting the other arm of said bell crank to said leaf spring and being operative in response to pressure engagement of said template with said firstmentioned arm of said bell crank to permit said leaf spring to move said pad out of braking engagement with said disk.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said actuating means comprises a flexible wire and a flexible tubular housing for said wire, said wire being axially movable with relation to said housing.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 which additionally includes a crank member supporting said pinion for movement into and out of meshing engagement with said gear.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 which additionally includes a second resilient pad disposed in opposed relationship to said first-mentioned pad at the opposite side of said disk, and adjustable screw means supporting said second resilient pad in position to engage said disk in opposition to said first-mentioned resilient pad.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said bell crank is adjustable toward and away from said template.

13. In apparatus for grinding the edge of a lens, a

body, a lens grinding wheel drivingly carried by said body, a head member adjustably carried by said body, lens carrying chuck means rotatably carried by said head member, means for rotating said chuck means, a template operatively associated with said chuck means for controlling the peripheral shape of said lens, a mechanical clutch operative in response to grinding of said lens by said grinding wheel to intermittently cause rotation of said chuck means, mechanical clutch actuating means operatively associated with said template, and mechanical means for rendering said clutch means inoperative and to cause continuous rotation of said chuck means.

. 14. The apparatus of claim 13 in which said clutch means includes a spring loaded control element and wherein said clutch actuating means includes a bell crank operatively associated with said template, a flexible tube, and a flexible wire axially slidably mounted in said tube, said wire being operabiy connected at one end to said bell crank and operably connected at its other end to said spring loaded clutch control element and being operative to move said last named element in one direction by bowing laterally in response to movement of said bell crank.

References @ited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,197,785 Arnold Sept. 12, 1916 1,269,680 Bugbee June 18, 1918 1,452,917 Kovacs Apr. 24, 1923 1,494,333 Bausch May 20, 1924 1,630,264 Gunning May 31, 1927 2,164,155 Lemay June 27, 1939 2,508,099 Bonin May 16, 1950 2,765,523 Vaughan Oct. 9, 1956 2,871,627 Bringelson et a1. Feb. 3, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 681,311 Great Britain Oct. 22, 1952 1,145,211 France Oct. 23, 1957 788,471 Great Britain Jan. 2, 1958 W 47 3 INVENTOR.

Dec. 26, 1961 F. D. CLAYTON 3,014,315

GRAVEL WASHER Filed April 15, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet l I I2 Few/441M 0. (M/45W BY 37 z alzm Argue/V5)

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