Apparatus for stabilizing a rotary saw blade

Claim 2

A guide for hydrodynamically stabilizing a rotary saw blade mounted on a rotatable arbor comprising: a housing having therein first and second opposed surfaces that define a narrow space therebetween for receiving said saw blade and a side opening in at least one of said surfaces for accommodating said arbor, said housing also having means enclosing all but a portion of said space so as to provide another opening through which said blade extends for engaging a workpiece; passageway means within said housing for injEcting a liquid into said space; and means on said first and second surfaces for directing said injected liquid against and at a right angle to the opposite faces of said blade during rotation thereof so as to substantially hydrodynamically stabilize said blade.

Claim 3

A guide as set forth in claim 1 wherein said housing comprises first and second separable members and said first and second inner surfaces are integral with said first and second members respectively, and further including means for securing said members in fixed relation to one another.

Claim 4

A guide as set forth in claim 2 further including means for adjusting the spacing between said members.

Claim 5

A guide as set forth in claim 2 wherein said members are hingedly connected to one another by a loose hinge pin.

Claim 6

A guide as set forth in claim wherein said side opening is located substantially perpendicular to said surfaces.

Claim 7

A guide as set forth in claim 1 further including means in said housing for draining said liquid from said housing.

Claim 8

A guide as set forth in claim 1 further including channel means within said housing for directing said liquid to flow to said another opening.

Claim 9

A guide as set forth in claim 1 wherein said passageway means comprises two passages leading from outside said housing to said first and second surfaces.

Claim 10

A guide as set forth in claim 1 wherein said liquid directing means comprises first and second like circular arrays of depressions on said first and second opposed surfaces respectively, said depressions on each of said surfaces shaped to create an axially directed liquid pressure on the opposite faces of said saw blade.

Claim 11

A guide as set forth in claim 9 further including an additional circular array of depressions on each of said opposed surfaces in radial spaced relation to said first and second arrays of depressions, and a groove between the two arrays of depressions in each opposed surfaces through which said injected liquid is distributed in said space to said depressions.

Claim 12

A guide as set forth in claim 9 wherein the depressions in each array are equally spaced from one another and are of a uniform size.

Claim 13

A guide as set forth in claim 9 wherein each of said depressions is tapered circumferentially about said side opening.

Claim 14

A guide as set forth in claim 12 wherein each of said depressions is crescent-shaped.

Claim 15

In combination with apparatus comprising an arbor support, an arbor rotatably mounted in said support, and a saw blade mounted on one end of said arbor, the improvement comprising means for hydrodynamically stabilizing said saw blade, said stabilizing means comprising a housing attached to said arbor support having a side opening in said housing through which said arbor extends, said housing also having first and second surfaces disposed in confronting spaced relations to each other, said blade extending into the space between said first and second surfaces and being spaced axially from each of said surfaces, means for injecting a liquid into the space between said first and second surfaces, and means on said surfaces for directing said liquid against the adjacent faces of said blade so as to substantially hydrodynamically stabilize said blade during rotation thereof.

Claim 16

In combination with apparatus comprising an arbor support, an arbor rotatably mounted in said support, and a saw blade mounted on one end of said arbor, the improvement comprising means for hydrodynamically stabilizing said saw blade, said stabilizing means comprising a housing attached to said arbor support having a side opening in said housing through which said arbor extends, said housing also having first and second surfaces disposed in confronting spaced relations to each other, said blade extending into the space between said first and second surfaces and being spaced axially from each of said surfaces, means for injecting a liquid into the space between said first and second surfaces, and means on said surfaces for directing said liquid against the adjacent faces of said blade so as to substantially hydrodynamically stabilize said blade during rotation thereof.

Claim 17

The combination of claim 14 wherein said last mentioned means comprises at least one circular array of depressions on each of said surfaces, said depressions being shaped so as to create an axially directed liquid pressure on the opposite faces of said saw blade.

Claim 18

The combination of claim 14 wherein said housing further includes means for channeling said liquid out of said housing.

Claim 19

The combination of claim 14 wherein a portion of said blade projects out of said housing a distance sufficient to engage a workpiece, and means for channeling said liquid from the interior of said housing to said workpiece.

Claim 20

The combination of claim 17 wherein said housing has a transversely extending slot in the region where sAid blade projects from said housing.