Welding torch oscillator

Claim 2

A welding head clamping and oscillating assembly for use in a welding machine having means for supporting and moving said assembly along a joint to be welded, said assembly comprising, a support platform, means for connecting said platform to the assembly supporting means of a welding machine, a support plate, means for freely slidably mounting said supporT plate on said support platform for reciprocal movement in a direction transverse to said joint, a welding head clamp, means for pivotally mounting said clamp on said support plate along a pivot axis extending generally perpendicularly to the plate for arcuate oscillating movement in a plane extending substantially parallel to said support plate and in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of slidable mounting of said support plate and transversely of said joint, and a reversible stepping motor operatively connected to said clamp for oscillating the clamp about said perpendicularly extending pivot axis.

Claim 3

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in claim 1 including a pivot shaft rotatably mounted at one end in said plate and extending generally perpendicularly thereto along said pivot axis, and a spur gear rigidly secured to said shaft, said stepping motor having an output shaft extending perpendicularly to said pivot shaft and a worm gear secured to the end of said output shaft in meshing engagement with said spur gear for oscillating said pivot shaft and said welding head clamp being rigidly secured to said pivot shaft for oscillation therewith.

Claim 4

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein said stepping motor shaft has a free end extending beyond said worm gear and includes means at said free end for manually rotating said shaft whereby the position of said welding head clamp may be manually adjusted.

Claim 5

A welding head clamping and oscillating assembly for use in a welding machine having means for supporting and moving said assembly along a joint to be welded, said assembly comprising, a support platform, means for connecting said platform to the assembly supporting means of a welding machine, a support plate, means for freely slidably mounting the support plate on said support platform for reciprocal movement in a direction transverse to said joint, a welding head clamp, a pivot shaft rotatably mounted at one end in said support plate and extending generally perpendicularly thereto, a spur gear rigidly secured to said shaft, a welding head clamp rigidly secured to said pivot shaft for arcuate oscillation therewith in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the slidable mounting of siad support plate, a reversible stepping motor for oscillating the clamp and shaft about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, a spur gear rigidly secured to said shaft, said stepping motor having an output shaft extending perpendicularly to said pivot shaft and a worm gear secured to the end of said output shaft in meshing engagement with said spur gear for oscillating said pivot shaft and said welding head clamp; said stepping motor having a free end extending beyond said worm gear and including means at said free end for manually rotating said shaft whereby the position of said welding head clamp may be manually adjusted; and a housing mounted on said plate and enclosing said pivot shaft and stepping motor output shaft; said free end of said output shaft and the other end of said pivot shaft extending through said housing, first index means on said other end of said pivot shaft and second index means on said housing adjacent said pivot shaft, said first and second index means being respectively located to be adjacent each other when said welding head clamp is in position intermediate the ends of its path of oscillation, thereby to provide a visual indication of said intermediate position of said head and to facilitate positioning of said clamp by said manually rotating means.

Claim 6

A welding head clamping and oscillating assembly for use in a welding machine having means for supporting and moving said assembly along a joint to be welded, said assembly comprising, a support platform, means for connecting said platform to the assembly supporting means of a welding machine, a support plate, means for freely slidably mounting the support plate on said support platform for reciprocal movement in a direction transverse to said joint, a welding head clamp, a pivot shaft rotatably mounted at one end in said support plate and extending generally perpendicularly thereto, a spur gear rigidly secured to said shaft, a welding head clamp rigidly secured to said pivot shaft for arcuate oscillation therewith in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the slidable mounting of siad support plate, a reversible stepping motor for oscillating the clamp and shaft about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, a spur gear rigidly secured to said shaft, said stepping motor having an output shaft extending perpendicularly to said pivot shaft and a worm gear secured to the end of said output shaft in meshing engagement with said spur gear for oscillating said pivot shaft and said welding head clamp; said stepping motor having a free end extending beyond said worm gear and including means at said free end for manually rotating said shaft whereby the position of said welding head clamp may be manually adjusted; and a housing mounted on said plate and enclosing said pivot shaft and stepping motor output shaft; said free end of said output shaft and the other end of said pivot shaft extending through said housing, first index means on said other end of said pivot shaft and second index means on said housing adjacent said pivot shaft, said first and second index means being respectively located to be adjacent each other when said welding head clamp is in position intermediate the ends of its path of oscillation, thereby to provide a visual indication of said intermediate position of said head and to facilitate positioning of said clamp by said manually rotating means.

Claim 7

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in Claim 2 including at least two cylindrical rods mounted in said support platform and a pair of elongated bearing members mounted on said plate respectively receiving said rods for slidably mounting said support plate on said platform.

Claim 8

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein said welding head clamp comprises fiRst and second pivotally interconnected members, said first member having a recess on one side thereof which is adapted to receive said second member and a split ring collar on the other side thereof and integral therewith for receiving said pivot shaft, and means for rigidly clamping said collar about said pivot shaft, said second member having a split collar integral therewith on the side thereof opposite said first member for receiving a welding head and means for rigidly clamping said collar about a welding head inserted therein.

Claim 9

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in claim 6 including means for clampingly engaging the sides of said first member which define said recess with the portion of said second member received therein for selectively preventing pivotal movement of said second member with respect to said first member.

Claim 10

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in claim 7 wherein the central axis of said split collar receiving a welding head is in the same plane as and at a slight angle to the axis of said pivot shaft.

Claim 11

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for connecting said platform to said assembly supporting means comprises a first plate adapted to be rigidly connected to said assembly supporting means and having a dove-tail flange on the side thereof opposite said supporting means, said flange extending generally perpendicularly of said supporting platform, a second plate rigidly secured to said platform and having a dove-tail recess adapted to slidably receive said flange, and means slidably mounted in said first plate and rigidly connected to said second plate for holding said flange in said recess while permitting relative movement between said first and second plates, whereby said welding head clamping and oscillating assembly is mounted on said supporting assembly and is relatively movable with respect thereto.

Claim 12

A welding head clamping an oscillating assembly for use in a welding machine having means for supporting and moving said assembly along a joint to be welded, said assembly comprising, a support platform, means for connecting said platform to the assembly supporting means of a welding machine, a support plate, means for freely slidably mounting said support plate on said support platform for reciprocal movement in a direction transverse to said joint, a welding head clamp, means for pivotally mounting said clamp on said support plate for arcuate oscillating movement in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the slidable mounting of said support plate, and a reversible stepping motor operatively connected to said clamp for oscillating the clamp about its pivot axis; said means for connecting said platform to said assembly supporting means including a first plate adapted to be rigidly connected to said assembly supporting means, and having a dove-tail flange on the side thereof opposite said supporting means, said flange extending generally perpendicularly of said supporting platform, a second plate rigidly secured to said platform having a dove-tail recess adapted to slidably receive said flange; and means slidably mounted in said first plate and rigidly connected to said second plate for holding said flange in said recess while permitting relative movement between said first and second plates; said last mentioned means including an elongated rod slidably mounted on said first plate adjacent said flange and having a threaded end threadedly engaged with a boss rigidly secured to said second plate, a nut on said threaded end remote from the free end thereof, and spring means surrounding said rod and operative between said nut and said first plate to bias said rod in said platform downwardly towards the joint to be welded.

Claim 13

A welding head clamping an oscillating assembly for use in a welding machine having means for supporting and moving said assembly along a joint to be welded, said assembly comprising, a support platform, means for connecting said platform to the assembly supporting means of a welding machine, a support plate, means for freely slidably mounting said support plate on said support platform for reciprocal movement in a direction transverse to said joint, a welding head clamp, means for pivotally mounting said clamp on said support plate for arcuate oscillating movement in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the slidable mounting of said support plate, and a reversible stepping motor operatively connected to said clamp for oscillating the clamp about its pivot axis; said means for connecting said platform to said assembly supporting means including a first plate adapted to be rigidly connected to said assembly supporting means, and having a dove-tail flange on the side thereof opposite said supporting means, said flange extending generally perpendicularly of said supporting platform, a second plate rigidly secured to said platform having a dove-tail recess adapted to slidably receive said flange; and means slidably mounted in said first plate and rigidly connected to said second plate for holding said flange in said recess while permitting relative movement between said first and second plates; said last mentioned means including an elongated rod slidably mounted on said first plate adjacent said flange and having a threaded end threadedly engaged with a boss rigidly secured to said second plate, a nut on said threaded end remote from the free end thereof, and spring means surrounding said rod and operative between said nut and said first plate to bias said rod in said platform downwardly towards the joint to be welded.

Claim 14

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in claim 10 wherein said platform includes a guide wheel rotatably mounted thereon along an axis substantially perpendicular to the path of tRavel of said assembly, said guide wheel being adapted to engage the surface of an adjacent workpiece and cooperate with said spring to maintain said platform and the welding head mounted thereon a predetermined distance from the surface of said workpiece.

Claim 15

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in claim 11 wherein the axis of rotation of said wheel extends perpendicularly to said rod and lies in a common plane therewith.

Claim 16

A welding head clamping and oscillating assembly for use in a welding machine having means for supporting and moving said assembly along a joint to be welded, said assembly comprising, a support platform, means for connecting said support platform to the assembly supporting means of a welding machine, a support plate, means for freely slidably mounting said support plate on said support platform for reciprocal movement in a direction transverse to said joint, a welding head clamp, means for pivotally mounting said clamp on said support plate for arcuate oscillating movement in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the slidable mounting of said support plate, a reversible stepping motor operatively connected to said clamp for oscillating the clamp about its pivot axis, and a metal brake bar rigidly secured to said platform, and a selectively activated electrical solenoid rigidly mounted on said support plate in closely spaced relation to said brake bar, said solenoid being adapted, when activated, to attract and hold said brake bar in fixed position with respect thereto whereby said support plate is held against movement with respect to said platform.

Claim 17

A welding head clamping and oscillating assembly for use in a welding machine having means for supporting and moving said assembly along a joint to be welded, said assembly comprising, a support platform, means for connecting said support platform to the assembly supporting means of a welding machine, a support plate, means for freely slidably mounting said support plate on said support platform for reciprocal movement in a direction transverse to said joint, a welding head clamp, means for pivotally mounting said clamp on said support plate for arcuate oscillating movement in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of the slidable mounting of said support plate, a reversible stepping motor operatively connected to said clamp for oscillating the clamp about its pivot axis, and a metal brake bar rigidly secured to said platform, and a selectively activated electrical solenoid rigidly mounted on said support plate in closely spaced relation to said brake bar, said solenoid being adapted, when activated, to attract and hold said brake bar in fixed position with respect thereto whereby said support plate is held against movement with respect to said platform.

Claim 18

The welding head clamping and oscillating assembly as defined in claim 1 including a rack gear mounted on said support platform and a selectively operable reversible electrical motor mounted on said support plate, said reversible electrical motor having an output shaft and a pinion mounted on the free end thereof for cooperation with said rack gear whereby the relative position of said support plate with respect to said platform may be varied by operation of said reversible electric motor.

Claim 19

A welding head clamping and oscillating assembly for use in a welding machine having means for supporting and moving said assembly along a joint to be welded, said assembly comprising, a support platform, means for connecting said platform to the assembly supporting means of a welding machine, a support plate, means for freely slidably mounting said support plate on said support platform for reciprocal movement in a direction transverse to said joint, a pivot shaft rotatably mounted on said support plate and extending generally perpendicularly thereto, a spur gear rigidly secured to said shaft, a reversible stepping motor having an output shaft extending perpendicularly to said pivot shaft and a worm gear secured to the end of said output shaft in meshing engagement with said spur gear whereby said pivot shaft is adapted to be oscillated about its axis of rotation by said stepping motor, a welding head clamp rigidly connected to said pivot shaft for oscillation therewith in a plane extending substantially parallel to said support plate and in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of sliding movement of said support plate, a rack gear mounted on said support platform and a selectively operable reversible electric motor mounted in said support plate, said reversible electric motor having an output shaft and a spur gear mounted on the free end thereof for cooperation with said rack gear whereby the relative position of said support plate with respect to said platform may be varied by operation of said reversible electric motor.

Claim 20

A welding head clamping and oscillating assembly for use in a welding machine having means for supporting and moving said assembly along a joint to be welded, said assembly comprising, a support platform, means for connecting said platform to the assembly supporting means of a welding machine, a support plate, means for freely slidably mounting said support plate on said support platform for reciprocal movement in a direction transverse to said joint, a pivot shaft rotatably mounted on said support plate and extending generally perpendicularly thereto, a spur gear rigidly secured to said shaft, a reversible stepping motor having an output shaft extending perpendicularly to said pivot shaft and a worm gear secured to the end of said output shaft in meshing engagement with said spur gear whereby said pivot shaft is adapted to be oscillated about its axis of rotation by said stepping motor, a welding head clamp rigidly connected to said pivot shaft for oscillation therewith in a plane extending substantially parallel to said support plate and in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of sliding movement of said support plate, a rack gear mounted on said support platform and a selectively operable reversible electric motor mounted in said support plate, said reversible electric motor having an output shaft and a spur gear mounted on the free end thereof for cooperation with said rack gear whereby the relative position of said support plate with respect to said platform may be varied by operation of said reversible electric motor.