TEXT OF THE DESCRIPTION

SCOPE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is part of the equipment made to block pieces, for example mechanical during their processing and/or handling.

In particular, the present invention falls within the category of vises.

STATE OF THE ART

To date, vises are widely used in various fields of use, including mechanical processing where they are often positioned on work benches but also on pallets to be moved by robotic arms or the like.

The characteristics that differentiate the many types of vises are essentially related to the clamping force that they can get between the two tightening parts of the same, that is the jaws/clamps, the weight of the vise itself, the possibility of adaptation in different working situations, the precision in the modulation of the movement of the jaws and therefore in the modulation of the retention force.

More specifically, what is more complicated to obtain for a vise is the best compromise between the characteristics described above: usually to obtain a vise with high retention force, particularly heavy clamps are used and made in a prismatic shape that is ill-suited to use said clamps for example, by mounting them at the end of a robotic arm, for at least two reasons or important disadvantages: the high inertia forces that are generated during the movements of the arm (on the end of which the mass of the vise is mounted, which will be high) and the due dimensions to the prismatic dislocation of the vise which are often an obstacle for the approach of the vise to the piece and for its movement on the robotic arm at more degrees of freedom. It is not uncommon, in fact, that the size of the vise can create important difficulties in designing the processing.

To avoid excessive weight, still said clamps are sometimes made with details less resistant, which wear out much faster by their nature. This is disadvantageous because if the material wears out gaps are quickly created between the various components reaching to compromise both the displacement of the jaw and its effectiveness: therefore, disadvantageously there are not very firm grips or on the contrary, too constraining grips failing to regulate the force of the grip of the jaw, risking to tighten the piece by damaging it or not holding it firmly.

However, the vise remains large in order to allow the required forces to be obtained and for overall dimensions it remains disadvantageously unmanageable on a robotic arm.

Ultimately, the vises very often used also present problems of restoration/maintenance: the clamps in their use are subject to wear and tear of components that can be damaged even following collisions; to restore the vise, the intervention of external personnel is necessary with economic expenditure both for machine stops and cost of the operation itself, substantially because there is no possibility of reconditioning the vise to the factory state using in part common components available on the market and in part with dedicated spare parts and therefore making it impossible for the user to replace the parts independently, avoiding the use of third parties and related waste of resources.

For example, the prior art document US 2001/027720 discoloses a vise comprising a cylinder having a piston and a cylinder body having a piston chamber in wich said piston is housed in sliding way, a drivng shaft extending towards the piston chamber is provided on a extreme wall of the head side 8 of the body of the cylinder and the piston includes a guide hole in wich is housed the driving shaft. A plurality of grooves extending in axial direction respectively are provided between an external peripheral surface of the driving shaft and an internal peripheral surface of the guide hole. A plurality of steel balls are provided between the grooves. The invention discolsed in the patent US’ differs from the invention object of this discolsure as the movement between the jaws and the guides respectively is performed by rolling means, more precisely balls. Therefore this solution is differente from the disclosed solution in wich the jaws slide relative to the guide without rolling means but directly emploing the guides.

It is an object of the present invention to describe a compact vise that is light and therefore easier to handle even by a robotic arm.

A further object of the present invention is to describe an innovative vise that presents a greater clamping force with the same dimensions of other vises on the market. Another object of the present invention is to provide an innovative vise that can also be used for complex movements (five degrees of freedom) creating no interference and collisions in the piece approach phase.

A further object of the present invention is to make the vise innovatively resettable directly by the user without external intervention.

Still a further object of the present invention is to describe an innovative vise that is precise in the movements of the jaw for a safe and not harmful grip of the piece.

A further object of the present invention is to describe an innovative wear resistant vise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

These and further objects will be achieved thanks to the innovative compact vise object of the present patent application comprising at least one body/base and included in said body since there is at least one piston connected to a plate, at least one joint, further said vise comprises at least one jaw and relative closing plate, at least one or more clamping clamps and at least one guide, and at least one flange for closing the body of the vise, at least two equally cylindrical concentric cavities of different bore, the smaller bore cavity houses a first part of said piston, the cavity of larger bore houses said cylindrical plate suitable to slide in said cavity and connected to said piston characterized by the fact that said body of the vise comprises a first substantially cylindrical part, said first part being concentric with the cylindrical cavity with larger bore, said cavity comprising a plate with a large/maximized diameter with respect to the external dimensions of the vise to maximize the force applied by the clamps, on a piece to be retained.

In a further advantageous way, said plate of the piston and said body/base of said vise and of the flange are advantageously made of ergal, said material being lighter and more resistant with the same dimensions with other materials such as steel.

Said sliding guide, said jaw and relative closing plate, said one or more joints and said piston being made of nitride and ground steel in the parts mutually in contact with each other, for maximum precision and resistance to wear; all parts of the vise being standardized and available individually aftermarket to make it possible to restore the vise directly by the user. The innovative compact vise object of the present invention comprises at least one vise body with a first cylindrical part or cylindrical base within which a cylindrical seat or cavity with a smaller bore is formed inside of which a first part of the piston slides and further comprises a second seat or cylindrical cavity of larger bore in which it is comprised the plate. Said plate is solidly connected to the piston and it is pushed for example by compressed air. Said plate, moving in the cylindrical seat of larger bore, transfers in a completely innovative and advantageous way an increased force to the piston since the size of the plate is maximized thanks to the outer shape of the lower cylindrical part of the vise body which is concentric with the larger bore cavity. Said plate, in order to resist the force increased and without weight increase, it is innovative and made of ergal.

The cylindrical body/base is closed in the part - which is defined lower, that is the cylindrical shape - by a flange, and both are made of ergal also in this case innovatively for greater strength and lighter weight of the vise. The piston comprises at least three parts, of which a first part suitable for engaging with the plate, a second part suitable for engaging and sliding in the cavity of smaller bore and a third final part in which a groove is made, where one end of a joint is housed (if there are two joints, the first ends of them remain housed in said groove). The second end(s) of one or more joint(s) are housed in special grooves made in the jaw. Said jaw slides on a guide and is held in position thereon by a plate. The clamps are mounted on the jaw. To make the kinematic chain particularly precise, including: plate/piston - joint - jaw, with drastic reduction of wear and therefore with high precision maintenance (no play etc...), the specific jaw, sliding guide, joint, piston and closing plate are made of nitride steel such as 2311 HRC60 steel and bored in the parts where said parts are in contact with each other in the kinematic chain.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Fig. 1 shows an assembly of the innovative compact vise object of the present invention; in fig. 2 a perspective view of the innovative compact vise;

Fig. 3 shows a detail of the jaw of said innovative compact vise; in figs. 4a, 4b, 4c parts of the vise are visible in greater detail for completeness.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Fig. 1 shows the innovative vise 1 composed of a body 2 comprising a first part 2a with an innovatively cylindrical shape in which a cylindrical concentric cavity 10 with the external structure of said first body part 2a is obtained inside.

Said cavity 10 having maximized bore thanks to the cylindricity of the body 2.

The body comprises a second part 2b, again substantially cylindrical in shape, but being able to comprise blunt areas.

Said body 2 also includes a piston 3, a plate 4 connected to the piston, and joints 6. The vise 1 further comprises at least one closing flange 5 of the body 2 from the lower defined side, on the upper defined side, i.e. close to the body part 2b, including a jaw 7, a closing plate 8, clamps 9 and a guide 14 on which the jaw slides. In a completely innovative and advantageous way, the cylindrical-shaped body 2 is suitable for housing said plate 4 which can slide into the cylinder 10. Said plate connected to the piston 3 is moved for example by compressed air coming in from a socket 15 in the flange 5, said plate 4 advantageously in relation to the external body of the vise has dimensions, if compared with plates/vises of known art, definitely relevant with respect to the external dimension of the vise.

This allows to maximize the thrust of the plate 4 in relation to the external dimensions of the innovative vise, i.e. with the same size a greater clamping force is obtained with a “compact” vise, exploiting the maximum bore obtainable in said body 2.

The piston 3 is connected to the joints 6 which transfer the motion of the piston to the jaw 7 and hence to the terminals 9 arranged above. The plate 4 is made integral with the piston 3 thanks to the tightening of a ring nut 30 and relative washer 31.

It should be noted that in a completely innovative and advantageous way the greater diameter of the plate compared to the cylinder allows to exploit, as mentioned, the maximum bore that can be contained inside the body 2.

In a preferred embodiment, the plate 4 is capable of generating particularly high stresses with respect to the proportions required to the details of the innovative vise, the body 2 and the flange 5 are made innovatively for example in ergal 7075, a material as known highly resistant with weights relatively contained advantageously optimizing the possibility of generating increased clamping forces with reduced overall weight of the vise.

Advantageously, therefore, the "compact" dimensions of the vise and the reduced weight advantageously render the movement of the vise much simpler and more effective, even when it is mounted for example on a robotic arm.

Again, quite advantageously, in a preferred embodiment, the parts indicated with B are made for example of nitride and bored steel. This allows to have harder parts, therefore less subject to wear, and made more precisely (thanks to the hardness of the material) consequently the vise and its parts are more resistant, more reliable, last longer over time and still the gaps between the parts are eliminated.

In a still innovative way, all the pieces making up the vise, being standardized, can also be easily found aftermarket and replaced directly on site by the user personnel, bypassing specialized technical intervention, reducing operating costs and machine downtime.

Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the innovative vise which highlights the particular compactness and optimization of dimensions and therefore of weights.

Fig. 3 shows a detail of the jaw 7, in particular, said jaw 7 has on the surface in contact with the clamps a notched section 40 which allows a stable joint between the jaw 7 and the clamps which will also be provided with the same section in the part that will come into contact with the jaw 7.

Finally, for convenience, the components of the vise 1 are shown in figure 4a, b, c:

- 3 pin/piston;

- 4 plate in various views;

- 30 ring nut and 31 rose;

- 14 sliding guide in plan and elevation;

- 7 jaw plan and elevation view;

- 5 flange in plan, elevation and section;

- 8 closure plate;

- 2 body of the vise in plan, elevation, section.

It is clear from the present invention how the innovative compact vise described by the present invention advantageously allows to achieve all the objects just described. Indeed, thanks to the innovative body 2 of the vise comprising a part 2b it is possible to optimize the space in the vise body, obtaining, even keeping the vise body of "fairly small" dimensions, a clamping force equal to that of large-sized clamps, thanks to the housing 10 for the plate 4 of dimensions and diameter optimized with respect to the dimensions of the vise, this housing being concentric with the body 2b, and therefore the plate 4 being able to have proportional larger dimensions in a "reduced" vise, with respect to the known art.

This being extremely advantageous and innovative and allowing to solve reliability problems, footprint, mobility and maintenance as said.

Variations in non-fundamental parts of the vise and their shape, materials used, as long as they are suitable for the purposes described, dimensions, shapes, as long as they are consistent with the description and the innovative advantages, are to be considered object of the present invention as described in the attached claims.