Billet manipulating apparatus

Claim 1

A billet-manipulating unit adapted, in combination with similar units, to remove the leading billet from a horizontal stack of elongated billets which advance progressively across a charge table and are generally square in cross section in order to impart progressive increments of rotational movement to said leading billet for selective presentation of the sides of the billet to a grinding wheel positioned above the unit, said unit comprising a casing having a pair of spaced apart side walls defining therebetween a relatively deep narrow pocket, the upper edges of said side walls being notched to provide a billetreceiving slot, a normally horizontal linearly straight billet transfer arm disposed exteriorly of the casing, having its proximate end pivoted for swinging movement to one of said side walls of the casing and normally underlying said leading billet in the stack, a linearly straight billet-supporting arm having a longitudinally extending slot therein, disposed within said casing and pivoted at its proximate end to the casing at a region adjacent to the upper portion of said billet-receiving slot for swinging movement about a horizontal axis, and a linearly straight billet-clamping and eject arm disposed within said casing and pivoted at its proximate end to the casing at a region below the lower portion of said billet-receiving slot for swinging movement about a horizontal axis, said last-mentioned arm projecting through the slot in the billet-supporting arm, said transfer arm being operable when actuated to engage and raise said leading billet from the charge table and, by a sliding action, to deposit the same in said billet-receiving slot, said billet-supporting arm being provided with a protuberance at its distal end and being operable when actuated to engage and raise the billet from said billet-receiving slot and move the same into a grinding position above the level of said slot, said billetclamping and eject arm being operable when actuated to engage the thus raised billet and, in combination with said billetsupporting arm, to clamp the billet against said protuberance in an effective grinding position, said billet-clamping and eject arm being effective, when the billet-supporting arm is restored to its normal position, to engage the billet which has been raised above the level of the billet-receiving slot and to discharge the same from the manipulating unit, and means for selectively actuating said billet transfer arm, said billetsupporting arm and said billet-clamping and eject arm, said means comprising a cylinder and plunger device for each arm, each device having one end pivotally connected to its respective arm at a point medially of its ends and having its other end pivoted to the casing at a point below the level of said billet-receiving slot.