Starting from the known technique in which guide elements (screws) engaging in inclined grooves (threads) are used to convert linear movement of an element into rotational movement of another element, the object of the present invention is generally to make available an arrangement which, upon linear reciprocating motion of one element between two end positions, gradually generates rotation of the other element.

A particular object of the invention is to make available an arrangement which is intended for use in a plate press tool for embossing plates and which produces non-identical embossed patterns in two plates embossed one after the other in the press tool.

According to the invention, this is achieved by the fact that the groove is divided into several oblique groove sections over the periphery of the inner cylindrical element, which groove sections begin and end in each axial groove section, so that linear displacement of the sleeve in a direction with the guide members in an inclined groove section leads to

rotation of the inner cylindrical element relative to the sleeve element, and so that subsequent return movement of the sleeve element can take place without rotation of the inner cylindrical element, when the guide members run in an axial groove section to the start of a subsequent oblique groove section.

A preferred embodiment of the arrangement according to the invention is distinguished by the fact that the sleeve element is guided linearly in an external guide element, which is fixed to a lower part of a press tool for vertical linear control of the sleeve element relative to the press tool, in that the sleeve element is spring-loaded against an upper part of the press tool, and in that the inner cylindrical element has a profiled upper surface facing the upper part of the press tool.

When the arrangement according to the invention is used in a plate press, succeeding plates will have embossed patterns which do not coincide with each other, which means that the embossing can serve as a distance element, as a result of which the need for so-called racks for storing the plates is eliminated.

The invention is described in greater detail with reference to illustrative embodiments shown in the attached drawings, where Fig. 1 shows a longitudinal section through an embodiment of an arrangement according to the invention, Fig. 2 shows the arrangement from Fig. 1 in a first position in a plate press tool, and Fig. 3 shows the arrangement from Fig.

2 in a second position.

The arrangement shown in the figures consists of an outer sleeve element 1, an inner sleeve element 2 mounted displaceably therein, and a cylindrical element

3 which can turn in the sleeve element 2 and can be displaced relative to the latter. The outer sleeve element 1 is designed with opposite axial slots 4 which receive first rollers 5 with spindles 7 which are mounted rotatably in bores 6 in the sleeve element 2.

The width of the slots 4 is a few millimetres wider than the diameter of the rollers. The inner sleeve element 3 is thus guided for linear movement relative to the outer sleeve element 1 except for a few millimetres of rotational movement, which is permitted by the play between the rollers 5 and the slots 4.

The spindles 7 are also provided with second rollers 8 which project into a groove 9 formed in the inner cylindrical element 3, which groove 9 extends over the whole periphery of the element 3. The groove 9 is divided into four equally divided groove sections 10 which, in the illustrative embodiment shown, slant at 45 degrees to the radial plane. The lower end of each groove section 10 merges into an axial groove section 11, from which the next slanting groove section 10 starts. As will be seen from the figures, the slanting groove sections 10 merge into the vertical guide sections 11 immediately above the lower end of the latter. In an intermediate space 12 between the outer and inner sleeve elements 1 and 2, respectively, springs 13 are tensioned between an lower surface of the inner sleeve element 2 and a base plane 14 with a ball-bearing 15. With the inner sleeve element 2 unloaded, the springs 13 hold the sleeve elements in the relative position shown in Figures 1 and 2. The number of springs should be 8 to 10, and they are slightly inclined (about 2-5° in relation to the centre line) in order to give a tangential force to the rollers 5. The inner cylindrical element 3 at all times stands on the base plane 14 and the ball-bearing 15 is

only for holding the construction together (to take up the spring force). The base plane 14 is designed such that the frictional force is minimal (for example bronze in the lower part).

In Figures 2 and 3, the outer sleeve element 1 is fixed in a diagrammatically indicated lower part 20 of a plate press tool, with an upper part 21, likewise indicated diagrammatically. On its top surface, the inner cylindrical element 3 has two raised areas 22.

The top part of the press tool, which can move towards and away from the lower part 20, has two pairs of recesses 23 in a female part 24 which match the pair of raised areas 22. Both the recesses 23 in one pair are shown in the cross section through the female part 24 shown in Fig. 2, while only one is shown in the cross section through the female part 24 shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 shows the starting position with a plate 25 which is to be embossed lying between the upper edge of the sleeve element 2 and the female part 24. The distance between the lower edge of the plate 25 and the top surface of the lower part of the tool is here about 50 mm.

When the lower part 20 and upper part 21 of the tool are moved towards each other from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position show in Fig. 3 and the inner sleeve element 2 has been displaced downwards, the cooperation between the rollers 8 and the slanting groove sections 10 has the effect that the inner cylindrical element 3 is turned anticlockwise, so that it has been turned a quarter of a turn when the position shown in Fig. 3 has been reached. The rollers 8 are then located in the axial groove sections 11 at the same time as the plate 25 makes contact with the raised areas 22. Continued displacement of the inner sleeve element 2 means that the rollers 8 travel downwards in the axial groove sections 11, in practice a distance of 5 mm, without the inner cylindrical element 2 being turned further, and the plate is embossed when the raised areas 22 press the plate into the recesses 23. During the embossing procedure, the springs 13 are compressed. When the tool parts are separated after embossing is finished, the inner sleeve 2 is returned to its starting position with the rollers 8 lying at the upper end of the groove sections. The inclination of the springs 13, giving the tangential force, ensures that the rollers 8 follow the groove 9 in the inner cylindrical element 3.