Apparatus for hardening bearings on crankshafts

Claim 1

IN APPARATUS FOR INDUCTIVITY HEATING, INCIDENTAL TO HARDENING, BEARING SURFACES OF WORK IN THE FORM OF CRANKSHAFTS, COMPRISING AT SUCCESSIVE STATIONS UNITS EACH COMPRISING A TRANSFORMER AND AT LEAST ONE INDUCTOR ADAPTED ONLY PARTIALLY TO EMBRACE THE SURFACE OF THE WORK AND MEANS FOR GRIPPING AND ROTATING THE WORK; MEANS FOR PRESENTING AN INDUCTOR TO THE WORK SO THAT THIS YIELDINGLY RESTS ON A CRANK PIN AND PARTICIPATES IN ITS ORBITAL MOTION, AND MEANS FOR AUTOMATICALLY TRANSPORTING THE WORK TO PRESENT IT TO THE SAID GRIPPING MEANS, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES THE PROVISION OF SUCCESSION INDEPENDENT WORKTRANSPORTERS FOR COOPERATING WITH THE GRIPPING MEANS AT EACH STATION AND MEANS FOR RELATIVELY DISPLACING SAID TRANSPORTERS TO CAUSE A CRANKSHAFT THAT HAS BEEN TREATED AT ONE STATION TO BE CONVEYED AND TRANSFERFED TO THE TRANSPORTER WHICH CONVEYS THE SAID SHAFT TO THE GRIPPING AT THE NEXT STATION, EACH SAID TRANSPORTER BEING PROVIDED WITH WORK-SUPPORTING MEANS, THE SAID WORK SUPPORTING MEANS OF ONE SAID TRANSPORTER BEING TRANSVERSELY OFFSET RELATIVELY TO THE WORK-SUPPORTING MEANS OF THE OTHER SAID TRANSPORTER AND SAID TRANSPORTER-DISPLACING MEANS BEING OPERATIVE TO CAUSE RELATIVE DISPLACEMENT OF THE SAID TRANSPORTERS OUT OF THEIR NORMAL RESPECTIVE PLANES TO ENABLE THE WORK TO BE TRANSFERRED FROM THE WORK-SUPPORTING MEANS OF THE SAID ONE TRANSPORTER TO THE WORK-SUPPORTING MEANS OF THE SAID OTHER TRANSPORTER.