Title of Invention

WORKPIECE-CLAMPING DEVICE

Abstract

A workpiece-clamping device is mounted a machine tool (100) having a cutter (130), and includes a workpiece-discharging unit (10) disposed upstream of the cutter (130) and including a pair of workpiece-discharging clamps (12,13) a workpiece-feeding clamp unit (20) disposed downstream of the cutter (130) and including a pair of workpiece-feeding clamps (23,24), and a workpeice-moving holder unit (30). When each pair of the workpiece-discharging clamps (12,13) and the workpiece-feeding clamps (23,24) is in a clamping state, a workpiece (200) can be clamped between the workpiece-discharging clamps (12,13) and between the workpiece-feeding clamps (23,24). When the pair of the workpiece-feeding clamps (23,24) is converted into a holder-receiving state, in which the workpiece (200) is released, the workpiece-moving holder unit (30) is operable to clamp the workpiece (200), and is moved to a positon between workpiece-feeding clamps (23,24).

Full Text

1 WORKPIECE-CLAMPING DEVICE This invention relates to a workpiece-clamping device, and more particularly to a workpiece-clamping device capable of minimizing waste material of a workpiece. Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a conventional circular saw machine includes a cutter seat 1 having a cutter 101, a tail seat 2, and a workpiece-clamping device 3. The workpiece-clamping device 3 includes two workpiece-discharging clamps 301, two workpiece-feeding clamps 302 having a width AVI, a sliding seat 303 movable along a feeding direction (X), and two workpiece-moving clamps 304 disposed movably on the sliding seat 303 and movable toward and away from each other. Each of the workpiece-moving clamps 304 is movable with the sliding seat 303 between a downstream position shown by the phantom lines in Fig. 2 and an upstream position shown by the solid lines in Fig. 2. The workpiece-moving clamps 304 can be operated to clamp a workpiece 4 and move from the downstream positions toward the cutter seat 1 by a standard distance (L) to the upstream positions whereat the workpiece-moving clamps 304 are spaced apart from the workpiece-f eeding clamps 302 by a safety distance AX. When the workpiece-moving clamps 304 are disposed in the upstream positions, the workpiece-discharging clamps 301 and the workpiece-feeding clamps 302 are operated to clamp the workpiece 4. Subsequently, the workpiece-moving clamps 304 are removed from the workpiece 4 and returned 2 to the downstream positions. As such, a leading section of the workpiece 4 that has a standard length (L) can be cut away to form a standard section 401. Referring particularly to Fig. 3, after the workpiece 4 is cut into a plurality of the standard sections 401, a tail section 402 is left remaining. If a portion of the tail section 402 of the workpiece 4 located downstream of upstream ends of the workpiece-moving clamps 304 has the standard length (L) , when the workpiece-moving clamps 304 return to the downstream positions, they cannot clamp and move the tail section 402 toward the cutter seat 1 (see Fig. 1) since the tail section 402 is located upstream of the workpiece-moving clamps 304. This results in waste material having a length L' = L + #AX + #AW. Referring to Fig. 4, to hold the tail section 402, the return distance of the workpiece-moving clamps 304 can be reduced by a clamping length AL. In this case, however, the length of a leading portion of the tail section 402 located upstream of the cutter 101 (see Fig. 1) is shorter than the standard length (L) . As a result, the tail section 402 is formed into waste material. The object of this invention is to provide a workpiece-clamping device that can shorten a length of waste material of a workpiece. According to this invention, a workpiece-clamping device is adapted to be mounted on a machine tool. The machine tool includes a cutter seat unit having a cutter 3 for cutting a workpiece fed toward a blade portion of the cutter along a feeding direction. The workpiece-clamping device includes: a workpiece-discharging clamp unit disposed in proximity to and upstream of the cutter along the feeding direction and including a pair of workpiece-discharging clamps movable toward and away from each other along a first clamping direction perpendicular to the feeding direction so as to convert between a clamping state, in which the workpiece is clamped therebetween, and a release state, in which the workpiece is released therefrom; a workpiece-feeding clamp unit disposed in proximity to and downstream of the cutter along the feeding direction and including a pair of workpiece-feeding clamps movable toward and away from each other along a second clamping direction perpendicular to the feeding direction so as to convert between a clamping state, in which the workpiece is clamped therebetween, and a release state, in which the workpiece is released therefrom; and a workpiece-moving holder unit for moving the workpiece along the first direction when each pair of the workpiece-feeding clamps and the workpiece-discharging clamps is in the release state; characterized in that, when in the release state, the workpiece-feeding clamps are further movable away from each other so as to convert into a holder-receiving state, after which the workpiece-moving holder unit is movable 4 along the first direction to a position that is located between the workpiece-feeding clamps and that is adjacent to the workpiece-discharging clamps. These and other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of this invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a conventional circular saw machine; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top view of the conventional circular saw machine, in which a cutter seat is removed for better illustration of two workpiece-discharging clamps and two workpiece-feeding clamps; Fig. 3 is a schematic view illustrating how a tail section of a workpiece is unable to be clamped by workpiece-moving clamps of the conventional circular saw machine; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, illustrating how the tail section may be clamped by the workpiece-moving clamps of the conventional circular saw machine through positioning readjustment of the workpiece-moving clamps; Fig. 5 is a schematic side view of the preferred embodiment of a workpiece-clamping device according to this invention, which is mounted on a machine tool; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary schematic top view 5 between two workpiece-feeding clamps; Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, illustrating how the workpiece is released from the workpiece-discharging clamps and the workpiece-feeding clamps; Fig. 8 is a schematic view of the preferred embodiment, illustrating how the workpiece is cut into a plurality of standard sections and a tail section; Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8, illustrating how the workpiece-feeding clamps are in a holder-receiving state and how two workpiece-moving clamps are operated to clamp the tail section of the workpiece and are moved to a position between the workpiece-feeding clamps; Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 7, illustrating how the workpiece-feeding clamps are in the holder-receiving state and how the workpiece-moving clamps are operated to clamp the tail section of the workpiece and are moved to the position between the workpiece-feeding clamps; and Fig. 11 is a schematic front view of the workpiece-feeding clamps and the workpiece-discharging clamps of the preferred embodiment, illustrating how the workpiece-moving clamps are moved away from each other by two second piston rods and converted into the holder-receiving state. Referring to Figs. 5, 6, and 7, the preferred embodiment of a workpiece-clamping device according to this invention is mounted on a machine tool 100 (such as a circular saw machine) . The machine tool 100 includes a cutter seat unit 6 110 and a tail seat 120. The cutter seat unit 110 has a cutter 130 for cutting a workpiece 200 fed toward a blade portion of the cutter 130 along a feeding direction (X). The workpiece-clamping device includes a workpiece-discharging clamp unit 10, a workpiece-feeding clamp unit 20, and a workpiece-moving holder unit 30. The workpiece-discharging clamp unit 10 is disposed in proximity to and upstream of the cutter 130 along the feeding direction (X) , and includes a first pressure cylinder 11, and a pair of workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13. The first pressure cylinder 11 has a first piston rod 111 movable along a first clamping direction (Y) perpendicular to the feeding direction (X) and connected fixedly to the workpiece-discharging clamp 12. The workpiece-discharging clamp 13 is fixed on a machine bed of the machine tool 100. The first piston rod 111 is operable to move the workpiece-discharging clamp 12 along the first clamping direction (Y) so as to convert the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13 between a clamping state shown in Fig. 6 and a release state shown in Fig. 7. Stated differently, the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13 are movable toward and away from each other to be placed in the clamping state and the release state, respectively. In the clamping state, the workpiece 200 is clamped between the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13. In the release state, the workpiece 200 is released from the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13. 7 The workpiece-feeding clamp unit 20 is disposed in proximity to and downstream of the cutter 130 along the feeding direction (X) , and includes a pair of second pressure cylinders 21, 22 and a pair of workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 having a width AW. The workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 are movable toward and away from each other along a second clamping direction perpendicular to the feeding direction (X) so as to convert among a clamping state shown in Fig. 6, a release state shown in Fig. 7, and a holder-receiving state shown in Figs. 9, 10, and 11. In this embodiment, the second clamping direction is the same as the first clamping direction (Y) . The second pressure cylinders 21, 22 have respectively two second piston rods 211, 221, which are movable toward and away from each other along the second clamping direction and which are connected respectively and fixedly to the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24. The second pressure cylinder 21 is disposed on the first piston rod 111. When the first piston rod 111 moves along the first clamping direction (Y) together with the workpiece-discharging clamp 12, the second pressure cylinder 21, and the workpiece-f eeding clamp 23, each pair of the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13 and the workpiece-f eeding clamps 23, 24 is convertible between the clamping state and the release state. As such, when the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13 are converted into the clamping or release state, so are the workpiece-feeding 8 clamps 23, 24. On the other hand, when the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 are in the release state, the second piston rods 211, 221 are operable to move away from each other so as to convert the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 into the holder-receiving state. The workpiece-moving holder unit 30 includes two workpiece-moving clamps 31 that are spaced apart from each other along the first clamping direction (Y) and that are capable of clamping the workpiece 200 therebetween. The workpiece-moving holder unit 30 is capable of clamping and moving the workpiece 200 along the feeding direction (X) when each pair of the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 and the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13 is in the release state or the holder-receiving state. When the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 are moved away from each other by the second piston rods 211, 221 and converted into the holder-receiving state, the workpiece-moving unit 30 is movable along the feeding direction (X) to a position shown in Fig. 10 and by the phantom lines in Fig. 9, which is located between the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 and which is adjacent to the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13. With particular reference to Figs. 6, 7, and 8, when the workpiece 200 is clamped by the workpiece-moving clamps 31, the workpiece-moving holder unit 30 can move the workpiece 200 toward the cutter seat unit 110 (see Fig. 5) by a standard distance (L1) so as to stop at a position 9 whereat the workpiece-moving holder unit: 30 is spaced apart from the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 by a safety distance AX. Subsequently, each, pair of the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 and the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13 is operated to clamp the workpiece 200 therebetween, and the workpiece-moving clamps 31 are removed from the workpiece 200 and returned to their original positions. After the workpiece 200 is clamped by the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 and the workpiece-discharging clamps 12, 13, the cutter 130 is moved to thereby cut the workpiece 200 so as to form a standard section 210. Such a cutting operation can be repeated so as to cut the workpiece 200 into a plurality of standard sections 210 having the standard length (LI) and a tail section 220, as shown in Fig. 8. Referring to Figs. 9, 10, and 11, when it is desired to cut the tail section 220, the workpiece-moving holder unit 30 is moved toward the tail seat unit 120 (see Fig. 5) by LI—AL1, wherein AL1 represents the clamping length of the workpiece-moving holder unit 30 with respect to the workpiece 200 and is equal to the sum of the safety distance AX and the width AW. As such, the workpiece-moving clamps 31 can clamp the tail section 220 along the clamping length Ll. When the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24 are moved away from each other by the second piston rods 211, 221 and converted into the holder-receiving state, the workpiece-moving clamps 31 are operated to move the tail 10 section 220 toward the cutter seat unit 110 by L1 — AL1 + AX + AW = L1. As such, the workpiece-moving unit 30 is disposed in the position shown in Fig. 10 between the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24, and a leading portion of the tail section 220 located upstream of the cutter 130 (see Fig. 5) has the standard length (L1). As a result, the leading portion of the tail section 220 can be cut into one standard section 210 and a waste material section 230 that has a length equal to the sum of the safety distance AX and the width AW. In view of the above, since the workpiece-moving holder unit 30 can be moved to the position between the workpiece-feeding clamps 23, 24, even though the tail section 220 has a length as short as the sum of the standard length (L1), the safety distance AX, and the width AW, it still can be cut to form one standard section (210) . This reduces significantly the length of the waste material. 11 CLAIMS: 1. A workpiece-clamping device adapted to be mounted on a machine tool (100), the machine tool (100) including a cutter seat unit (110) having a cutter (130) for cutting a workpiece (200) fed toward a blade portion of the cutter (130) along a feeding direction (X), the workpiece-clamping device including: a workpiece-discharging clamp unit (10) disposed in proximity to and upstream of the cutter (130) along the feeding direction (X) and including a pair of workpiece-discharging clamps (12, 13) movable toward and away from each other along a first clamping direction (Y) perpendicular to the feeding direction (X) so as to convert between a clamping state, in which the workpiece (200) is clamped therebetween, and a release state, in which the workpiece (200) is released therefrom; a workpiece-feeding clamp unit (20) disposed in proximity to and downstream of the cutter (130) along the feeding direction (X) and including a pair of workpiece-feeding clamps (23, 24) movable toward and away from each other along a second clamping direction perpendicular to the feeding direction (X) so as to convert between a clamping state, in which the workpiece (200) is clamped therebetween, and a release state, in which the workpiece (200) is released therefrom; and a workpiece-moving holder unit (30) for moving the workpiece (200) along the feeding direction (X) when each 12 pair of the workpiece-feeding clamps (23, 24) and the workpiece-discharging clamps (12, 13) is in the release state; characterized in that, when in the release state, the workpiece-feeding clamps (23, 24) is further movable from each other so as to convert into a holder-receiving state, after which the workpiece-moving holder unit (30) is movable along the feeding direction (X) to a position that is located between the workpiece-feeding clamps (23, 24) and that is adjacent to the workpiece-discharging clamps (12, 13). 2. The workpiece-clamping device as claimed in Claim 1, further characterized in that the workpiece-discharging clamp unit (10) further includes a first pressure cylinder (11), the first pressure cylinder (11) having a first piston rod (111) that is movable along the first clamping direction (Y) and that is connected fixedly to the workpiece-discharging clamps (12). 3. The workpiece-clamping device as claimed in Claim 2, further characterized in that the workpiece-feeding clamp unit (20) further includes a pair of second pressure cylinders (21, 22) that have respectively two second piston rods (211, 221), which are movable toward and away from each other along the second clamping direction and which are connected respectively and fixedly to the workpiece-feeding clamps (23, 24), the second pressure cylinder (21) being disposed on the first 13 piston rod (111) such that, when the first piston rod (11) moves along the first clamping direction (Y) together with the workpiece-discharging clamp (12), the second pressure cylinder (21), and the workpiece-feeding clamp (23), each pair of the workpiece-discharging clamps (12, 13) and the workpiece-feeding clamps (23, 24) is convertible between the clamping state and the release state; and when the second piston rods (211, 221) are moved away from each other, the workpiece-feeding clamps (23, 24) are moved from each other and converted into the holder-receiving state. . The workpiece-clamping device as claimed in Claim 3, further characterized in that the workpiece-moving holder unit (30) includes two workpiece-moving clamps (31) that are spaced apart from each other along a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction (X) and that are capable of clamping the workpiece (200) therebetween; and when the pair of the workpiece-feeding clamps (23, 24) is in the holder-receiving state, the workpiece-moving clamps (31) can be moved to the positions that are located between the workpiece-feeding clamps (23, 24) and that are adjacent to the workpiece-discharging clamps (12, 13).

Documents:

01033-kol-2006 correspondence-1.2.pdf

01033-kol-2006 form-18.pdf

01033-kol-2006-abstract.pdf

01033-kol-2006-claims.pdf

01033-kol-2006-correspondence others.pdf

01033-kol-2006-correspondence-1.1.pdf

01033-kol-2006-description(complete).pdf

01033-kol-2006-drawings.pdf

01033-kol-2006-form-1.pdf

01033-kol-2006-form-2.pdf

01033-kol-2006-form-3.pdf

01033-kol-2006-p.a.pdf

1033-KOL-20006-(06-06-2012)-ABSTRACT.pdf

1033-KOL-20006-(06-06-2012)-AMANDED CLAIMS.pdf

1033-KOL-20006-(06-06-2012)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

1033-KOL-20006-(06-06-2012)-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

1033-KOL-20006-(06-06-2012)-DRAWINGS.pdf

1033-KOL-20006-(06-06-2012)-FORM-1.pdf

1033-KOL-20006-(06-06-2012)-FORM-2.pdf

1033-KOL-20006-(06-06-2012)-FORM-3.pdf

1033-KOL-20006-(06-06-2012)-PETITION UNDER RULE 137.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-ABSTRACT.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-AMANDE CLAIMS.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-DRAWINGS.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECIEVED.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-FORM 1.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-FORM 2.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-FORM 3.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-OTHERS.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-(02-11-2011)-PA.pdf

1033-KOL-2006-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

abstract-01033-kol-2006.jpg