Pneumatically-controlled lathe system

Claim 2

A gas-controlled system for an automatic turret lathe having a crossfeed table and a turret ram table, said system comprising: a. a cylinder having a gas-operated piston connected between a fixed part and one of said tables for moving said table from one end position to the other; b. two fixed gas-operated sensors disposed to sense when said one of said tables is at each of its end positions for developing respective position signals; c. two liquid-operated dampers fixed with respect to and cooperating with said one of said tables for slowing down the movement of said table from a predetermined position during its travel in each direction; and d. gas-controlled means responsive to said position signals for controlling gas flow to said cylinder.

Claim 3

A system as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said sensors consists of a poppet valve for controlling air flow therethrough in response to said sensor being actuated, whereby said position signal is an air pressure signal.

Claim 4

A pneumatically controlled system for an automatic turret lathe having a reciprocable crossfeed table and a reciprocable turret ram table, siad system comprising: a. a first cylinder having a gas-operated piston connected between a fixed part and said turret ram table; b. a second cylinder having a gas-operated piston connected between a fixed part and said turret ram table; c. a first pair of sensors being fixed with respect to said crossfeed table for sensing each of the extreme positions of said crossfeed table; d. at least one further sensor for sensing the forward position of said turrret ram table; e. a first pair of liquid-operated dampers cooperating with said crossfeed table for slowing down the motion of said crossfeed table between each of two predetermined positions and an associated end position; and f. at least one additional liquid-operated damper cooperating with said turret ram table for slowing down its forward movement from a predetermined position to its forward end position.

Claim 5

A pneumatically controlled system for an automatic turret lathe having a reciprocable crossfeed table and a reciprocable turret ram table, siad system comprising: a. a first cylinder having a gas-operated piston connected between a fixed part and said turret ram table; b. a second cylinder having a gas-operated piston connected between a fixed part and said turret ram table; c. a first pair of sensors being fixed with respect to said crossfeed table for sensing each of the extreme positions of said crossfeed table; d. at least one further sensor for sensing the forward position of said turrret ram table; e. a first pair of liquid-operated dampers cooperating with said crossfeed table for slowing down the motion of said crossfeed table between each of two predetermined positions and an associated end position; and f. at least one additional liquid-operated damper cooperating with said turret ram table for slowing down its forward movement from a predetermined position to its forward end position.

Claim 6

A system as defined in claim 3 wherein air-operated means are provided for controlling air flow to each of said cylinders in response to signals received from said sensors.

Claim 7

A system as defined in claim 4 wherein each of said sensors consists of a poppet valve for permitting the passage of air upon actuation thereof, thereby to provide an air pressure signal.

Claim 8

A system as defined in claim 4 wherein said automatic turret lathe is provided with a turret indexing shaft rotatable from one position to another upon indexing of the turret, and a stop for each position of said turret indexing shaft cooperting with its associated damper to control the damping position of said turret ram table separately for each index position.

Claim 9

A system as defined in claim 6 wherein a cam is provided on said turret indexing shaft and three additional fixed sensors cooperating with said cam for sensing each particular indexing position of said indexing shaft.