Rapid Prototyping

The technique and apparatus described herein make a tubular shelf post having a plurality of spaced apart annular grooves along the length thereof and stamped indicia on the outside surface of the post at various groove areas. A grooving and metal stamping roller is utilized to simultaneously groove and stamp the post with indicia, such roller becoming substantially larger in diameter relative to the post whereby a single roller revolution is adequate to groove and stamp the post thereby eliminating double metal stampings.

The present invention relates to the grooving and metal stamping of tubular shelf posts, and much more particularly to providing a post with spaced apart annular grooves along the length thereof and simultaneously metal stamping indicia on the outside surface ofthe post at the groove areas.

Adjustable metal shelving is well recognized, such shelving generally including a planar shelf member and four corner posts. The shelf member has corner supports at each of its corners, and these corner supports are adapted to receive and securelyhold the corner posts. The posts are fitted with post supports which hold the corner supports and the posts in a wedging secured arrangement. The posts usually contain spaced apart annular grooves along the length thereof, the grooves getting at fixeddistances along the vertical dimension of the post, and the post supports have inwardly directed projections created to match into the post grooves. In use, each post support is positioned with the projections thereof in a certain annular groove, eachat the same preferred vertical height along the post. The corner supports of the shelf member fit over the post supports in wedging engagement therewith to thereby horizontally locate the shelf member at the desired vertical height.

In many instances the annular grooves are spaced about one inch apart along the vertical dimension of the post thereby enabling a wonderful deal of shelf height adjustment. Even so, with a wide range of obtainable shelf heights, suitable shelf place isdifficult. With at least 4 post supports to position, it is often very hard to properly position each and every post support at the exact same preferred vertical height along the post. Time consuming trial and error procedures.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is the production of shelving posts with spaced apart annular grooves along the length thereof in mixture with stamped indicia on the post at a variety of groove locations to facilitate effortless assemblyof the shelving.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of each apparatus and technique for simultaneously grooving and metal stamping posts, such apparatus and approach becoming simple to use and adhere to, effective and very effective.

In accordance with the present invention, in an apparatus for grooving a tubular post a major framework is offered with a pair of closely spaced drive rollers journaled to such primary framework. The axes of the drive rollers are parallel to oneanother and collectively define a assistance surface among the rollers for a tubular post. A motivator is connected to drive each and every of the rollers in the very same path and thereby rotate a tubular post in an opposite path. A grooving carriage is movablyconnected to the major framework, and a grooving roller is journaled to the carriage, the roller obtaining a plurality of spaced apart grooving tools along the length thereof. The axis of the grooving rollers is parallel to the axes of the drive rollers,and the carriage and grooving rollers are shifted toward and away from the drive rollers so that the grooving tools thereon engage a post supported by the drive rollers to thereby groove the posts. The improvement of the present invention is directed toa grooving roller which is substantially bigger in diameter than the post becoming grooved. Also, indicia metal stamping structure is arranged along the length of the grooving roller, such metal stamping structure comprising person dies, one particular die positioned neareach of substantially all of the grooving tools. Appropriate controls are arranged to let engagement of the grooving tools with a post throughout roughly a single revolution of the grooving roller to thereby get rid of double metal stamping of a post. Preferably, the metal stamping structure comprises individual dies substantially serial numbered.

In the process of the present invention, a tubular post is rotatably supoported, and spaced apart annular grooves are machined in the post along the length thereof. The improvement comprises the step of simultaneously metal stamping indicia next toeach of substantially all of the annular grooves to thereby recognize each annular groove. Preferably the metal stamping indicia comprises numbers arranged in a substantially serial manner.

The tubular post of the present invention has a plurality of spaced apart annular grooves on the outer surface thereon arranged along the length of the post. Stamped indicia is offered near every single of substantially all of the annular grooves tothereby identify each and every groove. Preferably the stamped indicia comprises numbers arranged in a substantially serial manner.

In accordance with the present invention, a grooving and metal stamping machine is supplied for machining spaced apart annular grooves in a tubular post and simultaneously therewith metal stamping indicia on the post at numerous groove areas. As explained elsewhere in this application, the annular grooves facilitate assembly of adjustable metal shelving which in its simplest type involves a planar shelf member and 4 corner posts. The stamped indicia of the present invention enables shelfassembly in an efficient and extremely effective manner by quicky and accurately locating positions on the posts.

Uncover Far more China Metal Stamping Articles