Method and means for belt lapping and finishing

Claim 1

A MACHINE FOR FINISHING THE SURFACE OF A WORKPIECE HAVING A HARD MICROSCOPICALLY ROUGH, CYLINDRICAL SURFACE, WHICH SURFACE COMPRISES ELONGATED MICROSCOPIC RIDGES RISING ABOVE AND BETWEEN MICROSCOPIC VALLEYS WHOSE BOTTOMS ARE PROXIMATE THE SMOOTHER AND TRUER FINISHED SURFACE THAT IS SOUGHT, SAID MACHINE COMPRISING MEANS FOR ROTATING THE WORK ABOUT A FIXED AXIS WITH ITS SURFACE COAXIAL THEREOF A LIGHT, FLEXIBLE, ABRASIVELY CHARGED BELT FOR CONVEYING ABRASIVE PARTICLES ACROSS SAID SURFACE IN A PLANE APPROXIMATELY TANGENT TO SAID INTENDED FINISHED SURFACE AND IN CLEAN CUTTING ENGAGEMENT WITH ONLY THE RIDGES OF THE ROUGH SURFACE AND AT HIGH SPEEDS AS FROM ABOUT 8,000 TO 12,000 FEET PER MINUTE AND IN A SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT LINE AND IN A PLURALITY OF ANGULAR RELATIONS TO SAID AXIS AND WITH SELECTABLY RESTRAINED RADIAL PRESSURES UPON SAID CONTROLLED ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID SURFACES, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING, TENSIONING AND DRIVING SAID BELT WITH ITS WORK ENGAGING STRAND HELD TAUT AND SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR AND ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID SURFACE OF THE WORK TANGENTIALLY THEREOF IN APPROXIMATELY A LINE OF CONTACT PARALLEL WITH THE AXIS OF THE WORK, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID BELT FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT ABOUT AN AXIS PARALLEL TO SAID AXIS OF THE WORK ABOUT WHICH SAID STRAND MAY BE ADJUSTABLY INCLINED AND FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT ABOUT AN AXIS NORMAL TO THE PATH OF SAID STRAND AND ABOUT WHICH THE PATH OF SAID STRAND MAY BE ADJUSTABLY ROTATED, MEANS FOR MOVING SAID BELT BODILY TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE WORK, AND MEANS SPACED REMOTELY AHEAD OF SAID LINE OF CONTACT, IN THE SENSE OF BELT TRAVEL, FOR DEFLECTING SAID STRAND FROM ITS SAID PLANAR PREDISPOSITION TOWARD THE WORK, AND MEANS DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID LAST NAMED MEANS AND SAID LINE OF CONTACT FOR SELECTIVELY RESTRAINING SAID DEFLECTION.