Key cutter

Claim 2

A machine for cutting key blanks, comprising, in combination, a frame, a cutter, an indexable carriage movably mounted on said frame, vise means adapted to hold key means, said key means including a blank key for operation thereon by said cutter and having a longitudinal axis, means mounting one of said cutter and said vise means on said carriage and the other on said frame for relative longitudinal movement between said cutter and vise means, cut spacing means acting between said carriage and said frame to establish the spacing of successive cuts along the length of the blank key, said cut spacing means including a plurality of spacing walls carried on one of said carriage and said frame and acting on the other, cut actuating means to actuate one of said cutter and said vise means relative to the other to cut a notch in a blank key, and indexing means responsive to movement of said cut actuating means to index said carriage to the next selected spacing wall.

Claim 3

A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cutter includes an anvil and a punch cooperable therewith.

Claim 4

A machine as set forth in claim 2, wherein said cut actuating means includes lever means connected to actuate said punch.

Claim 5

A machine as set forth in claim 2, including punch spring means urging said punch to an open position relative to said anvil.

Claim 6

A machine as set forth in claim 7, including lever means in said cut actuating means connected to actuate said punch against the urging of said punch spring means.

Claim 7

A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cutter is mounted on said frame and said vise means is mounted on said carriage.

Claim 8

A machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said plurality of spacing walls include a plurality of steps on a stepped plate, an indexing arm cooperable with said stepped plate, and said indexing means moves one of said indexing arm and said stepped plate relative to the other in a first direction to permit cooperation of said indexing arm with the next adjacent step for each successive indexing movement.

Claim 9

A machine as set forth in claim 1, including indexing spring means urging said carriage in a first direction relative to said frame, and said indexing means permitting movement of said carriage by said spring means.

Claim 10

A machine for cutting key blanks, comprising, in combination, a frame, a cutter, an indexable carriage movably mounted on said frame, vise means adapted to hold key means, said key means including a blank key for operation thereon by said cutter and having a longitudinal axis, means mounting one of said cutter and said vise means on said carriage and the other on said frame for relative longitudinal movement between said cutter and vise means, cut spacing means acting between said carriage and said frame to establish the spacing of successive cuts along the length of the blank key, indexing means to index said carriage in an indexing direction to the next selected one of said cut spacing means, and reset means connected to said carriage to reset said indexing means upon movement of said carriage in a direction opposite to said indexing direction.

Claim 11

A machine for cutting key blanks, comprising, in combination, a frame, a cutter, an indexable carriage movably mounted on said frame, vise means adapted to hold key means, said key means including a blank key for operation thereon by said cutter and having a longitudinal axis, means mounting one of said cutter and said vise means on said carriage and the other on said frame for relative longitudinal movement between said cutter and vise means, cut spacing means acting between said carriage and said frame to establish the spacing of successive cuts along the length of the blank key, indexing means to index said carriage in an indexing direction to the next selected one of said cut spacing means, and reset means connected to said carriage to reset said indexing means upon movement of said carriage in a direction opposite to said indexing direction.

Claim 12

A machine as set forth in claim 9, wherein said reset means includes a handle to move said carriage in a single direction.

Claim 13

A machine as set forth in claim 9, including cut spacing means, cut actuating means to actuate one of said cutter and said vise means relative to the other to cut a notch in a blank key, and said indexing means being responsive to said movement of said cut actuating means.

Claim 14

A machine as set forth in claim 9, including depth setting means establishing the depth of cut of said cutter laterally on a blank key, and said reset means movable in a single direction and resetting said depth setting means as well as said indexing means.

Claim 15

A machine for cutting key blanks, comprising, in combination, a frame, a cutter, vise means adapted to hold key means, said key means including a blank key for operation thereon by said cutter and having a longitudinal axis, an indexable carriage movably mounted on said frame, first means mounting one of said cutter and said vise means on said carriage and the other on said frame for relative longitudinal movement between said cutter and vise means, depth setting means establishing the depth of cut of said cutter lateralLy on a blank key, said depth setting means including a plurality of depth gauges, a follower cooperable with said depth gauges in succession, first means connecting one of said vise means and said cutter to move relative to each other in accordance with relative movement between said follower and said depth gauges to vary the depth of cut on a key blank, cut spacing means acting between said carriage and said frame to establish the spacing of successive cuts along the length of the blank key, said cut spacing means including a plurality of spacing walls carried on one of said carriage and said frame and acting on the other, cut actuating means to actuate one of said cutter and said vise means relative to the other to cut a notch in a blank key, and indexing means responsive to movement of said cut actuating means to index one of said depth gauges and follower relative to the other to the next selected depth gauge and to index said carriage in an indexing direction to the next selected spacing wall.

Claim 16

A machine for cutting key blanks, comprising, in combination, a frame, a cutter, vise means adapted to hold key means, said key means including a blank key for operation thereon by said cutter and having a longitudinal axis, an indexable carriage movably mounted on said frame, first means mounting one of said cutter and said vise means on said carriage and the other on said frame for relative longitudinal movement between said cutter and vise means, depth setting means establishing the depth of cut of said cutter lateralLy on a blank key, said depth setting means including a plurality of depth gauges, a follower cooperable with said depth gauges in succession, first means connecting one of said vise means and said cutter to move relative to each other in accordance with relative movement between said follower and said depth gauges to vary the depth of cut on a key blank, cut spacing means acting between said carriage and said frame to establish the spacing of successive cuts along the length of the blank key, said cut spacing means including a plurality of spacing walls carried on one of said carriage and said frame and acting on the other, cut actuating means to actuate one of said cutter and said vise means relative to the other to cut a notch in a blank key, and indexing means responsive to movement of said cut actuating means to index one of said depth gauges and follower relative to the other to the next selected depth gauge and to index said carriage in an indexing direction to the next selected spacing wall.

Claim 17

A machine as set forth in claim 13, wherein said first mounting means and said first connecting means includes mounting said vise means on said carriage to be movable both longitudinally and laterally with the lateral movement establishing the variable depth of cut on a key blank.

Claim 18

A machine as set forth in claim 13, wherein said first connecting means includes mounting said carriage to be movable both longitudinally and laterally with the lateral movement establishing the variable depth of cut on a key blank.

Claim 19

A machine as set forth in claim 13, wherein said plurality of spacing walls include a plurality of steps on a stepped plate, said stepped plate having a plurality of risers between each of said steps, and the distance between successive risers establishing cooperation of said cam follower with successive depth gauges during said indexing means relative movement.

Claim 20

A machine as set forth in claim 13, wherein said depth gauges and follower are relatively movable in a first path and said carriage is movable in a second path transverse thereto.

Claim 21

A machine as set forth in claim 13, including parallelogram linkage means mounting said vise means on said frame as part of said first connecting means.

Claim 22

A machine as set forth in claim 18, wherein said first mounting means mounts said vise means on said carriage, and said first connecting means includes means mounting said carriage on said parallelogram linkage means to move said key means laterally.

Claim 23

A machine as set forth in claim 19, including first and second vises on said carriage adapted for receiving a blank key and a master key, respectively.

Claim 24

A machine as set forth in claim 20, including gauge means in each of said vises to establish the longitudinal and lateral positions of each the blank and master keys.

Claim 25

A machine as set forth in claim 13, including parallelogram linkage means in said first connecting means mounting said carriage on said frame with movement of the parallelogram linkage means effecting lateral movements of said vise means, and a pivot axle fixedly mounted on said frame journalling said parallelogram linkage means for axial and rotative movements as part of said first mounting means with the axial movements providing longitudinal movement of said vise means.

Claim 26

A machine as set forth in claim 22, including lever means in said cut actuating means, and means pivotally mounting said lever means on said pivot axle.

Claim 27

A machine as set forth in claim 13, wherein said depth setting means includes a gear connected to rotate each of said plurality of depth gauges, and indicia connected to each of said gears.

Claim 28

A machine as set forth in claim 24, including a pinion gear meshing with each of said gears, and means to rotate each depth gauge from a respective pinion.

Claim 29

A machine as set forth in claim 24, wherein said indicia includes a gauge ring connected to each of said gears. 27. A machine as set forth in claim 24, including cam means to move said depth gauges.

Claim 30

A machine as set forth in claim 27, wherein each sector corresponds to one-half a revolution of said cam means.

Claim 31

A machine as set forth in claim 13, including cam means moving said depth gauges.

Claim 32

A machine as set forth in claim 13, including reset means connected to said carriage for movement thereof in a single direction to reset both said depth setting means and said cut spacing means to an initial position ready for a second cycle of cutting.

Claim 33

A machine as set forth in claim 30, wherein said reset means includes a link on said carriage operable to move said carriage in a direction opposite to the indexing direction.

Claim 34

A machine as set forth in claim 31, including a plurality of steps on a stepped plate as said spacing walls, an indexing arm cooperable with said stepped plate, and said reset means relatively moving said indexing arm and said stepped plate to an initial position.

Claim 35

A machine for cutting key blanks, comprising, in combination, a frame, a cutter, vise means adapted to hold key means, said vise means including first and second vises adapted for receiving a blank key and a master key, respectively, a stylus cooperable with a master key in the second vise, a carriage, parallelogram linkage means mounting said carriage on said frame, first means mounting one of said cutter and said vise means on said carriage and the other on said frame for relative longitudinal and lateral movement between said cutter and vise means, and first means connecting said vise means and said cutter for relative movement in accordance with relative movement between said stylus and said second vise to permit cooperation of said stylus and the master key in said second vise to relatively position a blank key in the first vise and said cutter to permit cutting said blank key in accordance with the shape of the master key.

Claim 36

A machine for cutting key blanks, comprising, in combination, a frame, a cutter, vise means adapted to hold key means, said vise means including first and second vises adapted for receiving a blank key and a master key, respectively, a stylus cooperable with a master key in the second vise, a carriage, parallelogram linkage means mounting said carriage on said frame, first means mounting one of said cutter and said vise means on said carriage and the other on said frame for relative longitudinal and lateral movement between said cutter and vise means, and first means connecting said vise means and said cutter for relative movement in accordance with relative movement between said stylus and said second vise to permit cooperation of said stylus and the master key in said second vise to relatively position a blank key in the first vise and said cutter to permit cutting said blank key in accordance with the shape of the master key.

Claim 37

A machine as set forth in claim 33, wherein said first mounting means includes means to mount said first vise on said carriage.

Claim 38

A machine as set forth in claim 33, wherein said first mounting means includes means to mount said second vise on said carriage.

Claim 39

A machine as set forth in claim 33, wherein said first mounting means includes means to mount both said first and second vises on said carriage, and said parallelogram linkage mounting of said carriage retaining the same planar attitude of said vise means relative to said cutter for all lateral positions of said vise means for the same attitude of cut despite variations in depth of cut.

Claim 40

A machine as set forth in claim 36, wherein said carriage may be longitudinally and laterally manipulated with the stylus in engagement with a master key to cut a blank key in accordance therewith.