There is another advantage, however, in that a finer cut can be easier put on in the [Poole system], because if a feed be put on of 1⁄100th inch, the roll is only reduced 1⁄100th inch in diameter, but if the same amount of feed be put on with a single wheel, it will reduce the roll 1⁄50th inch, hence for a given amount of feed or movement of emery-wheel towards the roll axis, the amount of cut taken is only half as much as it would be if a single wheel is used. This enables a minimum of feed to be put on the wheel, wear being obviously reduced in proportion as the feed is lighter and the duty therefore diminished.
The method of driving the roll is as follows: Shaft t, [Fig. 681], runs in bearings in the head, and spindle r r′ passes through, and is driven by shaft t. A driving pulley is fitted on the spindle at end r′, at the other end is a driving chuck p for driving the roll through the medium of a wabbler, whose construction will be shown presently. Spindle r may be adjusted endwise in t, so that it may be adjusted to suit different lengths of rolls without moving the bearing blocks b.
Fig. 690.
The wabbler is driven by p and receives the end of the roll to be ground, as shown in [Fig. 690], the end of the roll being a taper square and fitting very loosely in a square taper hole in the end of the wabbler; similarly p may have a taper square hole loosely fitting the squared end of the wabbler. The looseness of fit enables the wabbler to drive the roll without putting any strain on it tending to lift or twist it in its bearings in block b, and obviates the necessity for the axis of the rolls to be dead in line with the axis of r r′. Various lengths of wabblers may be used to suit the lengths of roll and avoid moving blocks b, and it is obvious also that if the ends of the roll are round instead of square, two set-screws may be used to hold the roll end being set diametrically opposite, and if set screws are used in p to drive the wabbler they should be two in number, set diametrically opposite, and at a right angle to the two in the wabbler, so that it may act as a universal joint.
The method of automatically traversing the carriage c is as follows: Referring to [Fig. 681], two gears a, b are fast upon shaft t, gear a drives c which is on the same shaft as e, gear b drives d which drives a gear not seen in the cut, but which we will term x, it being on the same shaft as c and e. Now if e is driven through the medium of a c, it runs in one direction, while if it is driven through the medium of b d x, it revolves e in the opposite direction, and since e drives g and g is on the end of the feed screw (e, [Fig. 682]) the direction of motion of carriage c is determined by which of the wheels a or b drives e. At h is a stand affording journal bearing to a shaft n, whose end engages a clutch upon the shaft of wheels c, x and e. On the outer end of shaft n is ball lever l′′, whose lower end is attached to a rod k, upon which are stops l l′ adjustable along rod k by means of set-screws. At m is a bracket embracing rod k.
Now suppose carriage c to traverse to the left, and m will meet l moving rod k to the left, the ball i will move up to a vertical position and then fall over to the right, causing the clutch to disengage from gear c and engage with the unseen gear x, reversing the motion of e and of g, and therefore of carriage c, which moves to the right until m meets l′ and pushes it to the right, causing i to move back to the position it occupies in the engraving, the clutch engaging c, which is then the driving wheel for e.
Screw Machine.—The screw machine is a special form of lathe in which the work is cut direct from the bar, without the intervention of forging operations, and it follows therefore that the bar must be large enough in diameter to suit the largest diameter of the work, the steps or sections of smaller diameter being turned down from the full size of the bar. The advantages of the screw machine are, that the work requires no centring since it is held in a chuck, that forging operations are dispensed with, that any number of pieces may be made of uniform dimensions without any measuring operations save those necessary when adjusting the tool for the first piece, and that it does not require skilled labor to operate the machine after the tools are once set.
The capacity of the screw machine is, therefore, many times greater than that of a lathe, while the diameters and lengths of the various parts of the work will be more uniform than can be done by caliper measurements, being in this case varied by the wear of the cutting edges of the tools only, which eliminates the errors liable to independent caliper measurement. Hollow work, as nuts and washers, may be equally operated on being driven by a mandril held in the chuck.