PIGATTI GIORGIO (IT)
| WO1999006179A1 | 1999-02-11 | |||
| WO2008065052A1 | 2008-06-05 | |||
| WO1990003867A1 | 1990-04-19 | |||
| WO1999006179A1 | 1999-02-11 |
| US3286597A | 1966-11-22 | |||
| EP0614717A1 | 1994-09-14 | |||
| EP2517826A1 | 2012-10-31 |
| C L A I M S 1 . An electronic key duplicating machine, comprising: - a base (2) on wh ich a first su pport ( 1 4) is mou nted for a cl am p ( 1 2) intended to clamp between its jaws (1 6, 1 8), at separate moments, an original key to be duplicated and a blank key to be bitted, - an optical reader (24) for sensing the bitting of the orig inal key to be duplicated, and a milling cutter (26) for reproducing said bitting on the blank key; said optical reader (24) and said milling cutter (26) being mounted on a second support (22) rigid with the machine base (2), - means associated with said base (2) to drive said clamp (12) along the X axis and the Y axis relative to said second support (22), - a unit for memorizing the bitting of the key to be duplicated sensed by the optical reader (24), and for controlling and commanding the movement of the clamp (1 2) and the operabil ity of the optical reader (24) and of the milling cutter (26), characterised in that: - said second support (22) for the optical reader (24) and for the mill ing cutter (26) is of C-shape with its opening facing the clamp (12), and - the optical reader (24) is mounted on the two horizontal branches of said second C-shaped support (22), while the milling cutter (26) is mounted in the cavity defined by said horizontal branches. 2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 , characterised in that the two jaws (16, 1 8) of said clamp (1 2) are mounted in superposed relationship on a vertical pin fixed to said first support (14) and associated with a knob (20) for controlling the mutual approach of said jaws (16, 18), against the reaction of elastic means interposed between them. 3. A machine as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that said means for driving said clamp (12) comprise means for moving said clamp (12) parallel to and perpendicular to the axis of a key intended to be clamped between said jaws (16, 18). 4. A machine as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that the optical reader (24) and the milling cutter (26) are mounted on said second support (22) such that the distance of the optical reader (24) from the clamp (12) is less than the distance of the milling cutter (26) from said clamp. |
The present invention relates to an electronic key duplicating machine.
Key duplicating machines of mechanical type are known, provided with a feeler wh ich is made to sl ide along the profile of the orig inal key to be duplicated , clamped in a first clamp, and with a mill ing cutter rig id with the feeler and acting on the blan k key to be bitted, clamped in a second clamp fixed relative to the first.
Electronic duplicating machines are also known, which instead of the feeler use an optical reader for the key bitting pattern; in particular, the optical reader comprises a light source facing the original key and a sensor which collects the rays emitted by said source and traversing the bitted portion of the key. These mach ines also requ ire the presence of two clamps, one for the blank key to be bitted, facing the milling cutter, and one for the original key to be duplicated, facing the optical reader. The two clamps are mutually rigid and are movable relative to the optical reader and to the milling cutter, which are fixed relative to the machine base.
A drawback of these known electron ic dupl icating machines is their large overall size; in addition the result of this duplication can be influenced by the different manufacturing errors, inevitably existing between the two clamps, and the errors in positioning the two keys therein. Again there is the fact that a preliminary and laborious aligning operation between the two clamps has to be carried out such that the original key and the blank key clamped thereby are both positioned with their axes rigorously parallel to each other.
WO 99/061 79 describes an electron ic key dupl icating mach ine in which the key is retained at its head by suitable tabs. The optical reader and milling cutter are mounted on a rotary discoidal support which is suitably rotated such that the optical reader or milling cutter face the key at different moments.
An object of the invention is to provide an electronic key duplicating machine which reduces the duplication errors encountered in electronic duplicating machines provided with optical readers.
Another object of the invention is to provide an electronic key duplicating machine which is of particularly small dimensions.
Another object of the invention is to provide an electronic key duplicating machine which can be produced simply, quickly and at low cost.
These and other objects which will be apparent from the ensuing description are attained, according to the invention, by an electronic key duplicating machine in accordance with claim 1.
The present invention is further clarified hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an electronic key duplicating machine according to the invention,
Figure 2 shows it in lateral view in the direction along the milling cutter axis, and
Figure 3 is a front view thereof on the line Ill-Ill of Figure 2.
As can be seen from the figures, the improved electronic key duplicating machine according to the invention comprises a base 2, on which a first carriage 4 is mounted associated with a first motor, not represented, preferably of stepping type, for driving the carriage in the two directions along the Y axis of the machine. On the first carriage 4 a second carriage 8 is mounted, associated with a second motor 10 also preferably of stepping type, for driving the carriage relative to the first carriage 4 in the two d irections along the X axis of the machine.
On the second carriage 8 a cl am p 1 2 is mou nted , com prisi ng a support 14 with two superposed jaws 16 and 18 mounted on a pin fixed to said support. In particular, the jaws 1 6 and 1 8 are of square plan with their opposing surfaces of different shapes, such as to be able to retain keys of different profiles therebetween.
With the upper portion of the pin of the clamp 12 a knob 20 is suitably associated, its purpose being to cause the two jaws 16, 18 to approach and withdraw from each other and to lock them to the support 14.
In a position facing the clamp 12, on the machine base 2, a support 22 is mounted on which an optical reader 24 and a milling cutter 26 are mounted . In greater detail , the optical reader 24 and the mill ing cutter 26 are mutually rigid and are disposed on the support 22 such that the action of one does not h inder the position ing of the other. For th is purpose, the su pport 22 is preferably of C-shape with the two horizontal parallel branches supporting respectively the light source and the sensor of the optical reader 24, while the milling cutter 26 is disposed within the internal cavity of the C.
The support 22 also supports a motor 28 for rotating the cutter.
A unit, not represented, is also provided for controlling and managing the entire machine. In particular, said unit comprises means for memorizing the key bitting pattern sensed by the optical reader 24, and for controlling all machine motors. The aforedescribed machine operates in the following manner: initially the knob 20 of the clamp 1 2 is operated in the direction to cause the jaws 1 6 a nd 1 8 to withdraw from each other, by the action of a spring interposed between them and compression-preloaded. An original key to be duplicated is then placed between the jaws 1 6 and 18, and clamped by operating the knob 20 in the opposite d irection to the preced ing. In particu lar, said key is positioned such that its bitted portion is perpendicular to the support 22 of the optical reader 24 and of the milling cutter 26.
When the key has been correctly clamped, the optical reader 24 is activated, while the cutter 26 remains deactivated. In addition, the clamp 12 is su itably driven such as to cause the key to sl ide relative to the optical reader 24, which hence senses its bitting pattern for subsequent memorization by the control and management unit.
In a like manner, the original key between the jaws 1 6 and 1 8 is then replaced by the blank key.
After the blank key has been successfully clamped, the optical reader 24 is deactivated and the milling cutter 26 is activated. In addition, the clamp 12 is suitably driven to enable the cutter 26 to reproduce on the blank key the key bitting pattern sensed on the original key.
F rom th e aforego i ng it is a ppa rent th at the i m proved mach i n e according to the invention is much more advantageous than traditional machines, in that:
- it is more compact, economical and easy to produce, given the presence of just one clamp; in particular, the particular arrangement of the optical reader and of the nnilling cutter on the C-shaped support enables space to be optimized and hence the machine dimensions to be reduced,
- it is not influenced by manufacturing errors inevitably present if two clamps are used; it is also not influenced by positioning errors thereof; in particular, such errors are compensated and null ified, g iven that they are the same during both reading and cutting,
- no clamp aligning operation is required.
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