Patents Assigned to Howa Machinery, Ltd.
  • Publication number: 20210379674
    Abstract: A chuck-claw guide structure includes a guide-space delimiting part that delimits a guide space in communication with an attachment groove, and a regulation part provided on the guide-space delimiting part. The guide-space delimiting part has a contact surface configured to regulate the claw in contact therewith at a position along the attachment groove in a first direction. The regulation part is configured to regulate the claw at a position along the attachment groove in a second direction different from the first direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2019
    Publication date: December 9, 2021
    Applicant: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi NAGAOSA
  • Publication number: 20210379676
    Abstract: A chuck-claw coupling mechanism includes a coupling member provided in a master jaw, a first resilient member, and an operation unit. The coupling member is movable between a coupling position at which the coupling member is coupled to the claw, and a separation position at which the coupling member is separated from the claw. The first resilient member urges the coupling member toward the coupling position. The operation unit moves the coupling member to the separation position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2019
    Publication date: December 9, 2021
    Applicant: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi NAGAOSA, Shin YOSHIDA
  • Publication number: 20170306991
    Abstract: In this rod-less cylinder equipped with a guide mechanism (32), the guide mechanism (32) has: a first rail member (34), which is attached to the sidewall of a cylinder tube (2), has an inner rolling groove (34a), and is composed of alloyed steel; a second rail member (36), which is attached to a protrusion (31) of a slider (27), has an outer rolling groove (36a), and is composed of alloyed steel; a guide path (38a) provided in the protrusion of the slider and extending parallel to the second rail member; a connection member (39) having a connection path (39a) that connects the guide path and the inner rolling groove; and a plurality of rolling bodies (43) accommodated within an endless circulation path (42) formed of the inner rolling groove, the outer rolling groove, the guide path, and the connection path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2015
    Publication date: October 26, 2017
    Applicant: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi YONEZAWA, Yoshimi MORIYAMA
  • Patent number: 8746129
    Abstract: In a rodless cylinder 1, a band accommodating depression 60 having a transverse inner surface 62 extending along the width of a slit 12 of an inner hole 10 of a tube 2 and a wall surface 64 inclined with respect to the transverse inner surface 62 is formed on each side of the inner opening of the slit 12. In the case where one of the edges of the inner seal band 42 comes into contact with one of the wall surfaces 64, the other edge of the inner seal band 42 comes into contact with the other one of the transverse inner surfaces 62, while at the same time securing a distance I between the inner seal band 42 and an inner opening 58 of the slit 12. Once a fluid is introduced into the tube 2, the inner seal band 42 can be bent toward the slit 12 due to the distance I even in the case where one of the edges of the inner seal band 42 comes into contact with the transverse inner surface 62 and the other edge comes into contact with the wall surface 64.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tsuyoshi Yonezawa
  • Patent number: 7669515
    Abstract: A pair of cylinder holes 10 are formed in a cylinder tube 2 in the axial direction, a slit 25 is formed between these cylinder holes, and an iron plate 22 is inserted in the slit covering the whole range of the movement of the pistons 3 in the cylinder holes. Spacers 23 made of a synthetic resin are interposed on both sides of the iron plate 22 to reliably hold the iron plate 22 in the slit 25. The iron plate 22 disposed between the cylinder holes works to decrease the repulsive force acting between the inner magnets 14 of the pistons and produce an attracting force between the iron plate 22 and the inner magnets 14, and a contact surface pressure between the wear rings 9 of the pistons 3 and the wall surfaces of the cylinder holes 10 can be adjusted to a suitable value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2010
    Assignees: Howa Machinery, Ltd., Koganei Corporation
    Inventors: Akiyoshi Horikawa, Naoki Minowa, Hiroshi Yoshida, Mitsuo Noda
  • Patent number: 7657410
    Abstract: A tabular form element arrangement data describing the arrangement of various component elements constituting a production system along the work flow in a combination of process identification names with component element names, is prepared. Element definition files describing programs for simulating the operations of various component elements are prepared. A program preparation unit sequentially reads component element names combined with process identification names from the element arrangement data and sequentially reads the element definition files corresponding to the read component element names. A variable array containing variables described in respective element definition files is prepared simultaneously along with an initial process program array containing programs described in respective definition files and a simulation program array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuaki Serizawa, Shoichi Tanaka, Katsuyoshi Ishida
  • Patent number: 7644648
    Abstract: A pair of independent cylinder holes 3, 3 are formed in a cylinder tube 2 of a flat outer shape. When a pressurized fluid is alternately supplied into the cylinder tube 2 through a port 7 formed in an end cap 5, the internal pressure for operating the cylinders acts uniformly on the cylinder tube 2 greatly decreasing stress and deflection of the cylinder tube 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignees: Howa Machinery, Ltd., Koganei Corporation
    Inventors: Naoki Minowa, Hiroshi Yoshida, Akiyoshi Horikawa, Mitsuo Noda
  • Patent number: 7568423
    Abstract: Repulsive magnetic forces in the axial direction of cylinder tubes act between the rows 11 of inner magnets of pistons 10, 10 accommodated in two cylinder tubes 2, 2, and the inner magnets 12 of the pistons 10 come to a halt being slightly deviated relative to the outer magnets 22 in the axial direction of the tube. Due to this deviation, a magnetic holding force Fc is produced between the inner and outer magnets 12, 22. Since the magnetic holding force Fc is produced in a static state, a smooth movement can be attained from a static state suppressing the occurrence of a stick slip phenomenon at the start of movement as compared to the prior art, which does not produce the magnetic holding force in a static state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2009
    Assignees: Howa Machinery, Ltd., Koganei Corporation
    Inventors: Naoki Minowa, Hiroshi Yoshida, Akiyoshi Horikawa, Mitsuo Noda
  • Patent number: 7493848
    Abstract: A magnet type rodless cylinder provided with a slide magnetically coupled with a piston arranged in a cylinder tube and a slide able to move outside of the cylinder tube. The slide has a connection mount detachably attached to it. When attaching the connection mount, the position where the connection mount and an end cap strike/contact becomes the striking/contacting position of the piston. When using a rodless cylinder without a connection mount, the distance between the slide and an end cap when the piston is positioned at the striking/contacting position becomes longer than the striking/contacting distance due to the removal of the connection mount. Therefore, external dampers able to strike/contact the slide are detachably attached to the end caps at the slide sides. Due to this, regardless of the use or nonuse of a connection mount, the piston and slide can always stop at the striking/contacting position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2009
    Assignees: Howa Machinery, Ltd., Koganei Corporation
    Inventors: Akiyoshi Horikawa, Naoki Minowa, Hiroshi Yoshida, Mitsuo Noda, Tsuyoshi Yonezawa
  • Patent number: 7334721
    Abstract: A sheet cutter for cutting a sheet with a cutting blade held by a cutting blade elevating body which is elevated by one servo motor, including a pair of cutting blade elevating bodies; an elevation driving body for elevating the pair of cutting blade elevating bodies; a guide member for guiding the elevation of the pair of cutting blade elevating bodies; a holding body capable of holding the pair of cutting blade elevating bodies at an up position; and a transmission change-over device for selectively engaging the pair of cutting blade elevating bodies with the elevation driving body and selectively disengaging the pair of cutting blade elevating bodies from the elevation driving body, wherein one of the pair of cutting blade elevating bodies, which has been selected, is elevated by the servo motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignees: Howa Machinery, Ltd., Hori Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuya Oketani, Mitsutaka Hori
  • Patent number: 7194949
    Abstract: A magnet type rodless cylinder comprised of cylinder tube of a double tube structure provided with an outside tube of an elliptical flattened outside circumferential shape and two inside tubes inserted into the outside tube. When pressurized air is supplied alternately to the inside tubes from a port provided at an end cap, two pistons move reciprocatingly inside the inside tubes. Due to this reciprocating motion, this reciprocating motion causes reciprocating motion of a slide magnetically coupled with the two pistons at the outside of the outside tube. The inside pressure caused by the pressurized air acts exclusively on the inside tubes and does not directly act on the outside tube of the flattened outside circumferential shape, so the thickness of the outside tube can be reduced and, even if the cylinder tube is made a double tube structure, the total thickness will not become greater than in the past.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventor: Mitsuo Noda
  • Patent number: 7184854
    Abstract: A machining data generator generates NC machining data specifying machining operations for shaping the external shape of a piston. The machining data generator uses a machining data sheet (provided by a spreadsheet software) describing noncircular part shape data on the shape of a noncircular part and condition data (machining condition data and shape data on shapes of parts other than the noncircular part necessary for shaping the overall shape of the piston). The machining data sheet is prepared beforehand. A machining data generation program reads the machining data sheet in step S4, recognizes directives “start cell” and “end cell” defining a cell region and described in the machining data sheet and fetches matrix data from the cell region in step S5, and fetches condition data other than the noncircular part shape data from the machining data sheet, and calculates NC machining data to be given to a NC machine tool on the basis of the condition data and the noncircular part shape data in step S6.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2007
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuaki Serizawa
  • Patent number: 6957508
    Abstract: A safety lever (safety control member) is provided in its inner surface with first, second and third positioning holes. The tapered outer end part of a safety lock (trigger blocking member) is engaged in the first positioning hole of the safety lever to retain the safety lever at a perfect lock position. In this state, the forward turning of the upper arm of the trigger is blocked by the safety lock. Thus, the trigger cannot turn even if the same is pulled. Since the safety lock is fitted in a sliding hole formed in a casing so as to be slidable in directions perpendicular to a plane in which the trigger turns, and force applied to the trigger is born by the casing, the safety lock does not deform and is able to block the movement of the trigger with reliability even if the trigger is pulled strongly. In this state where the safety lever is at the perfect lock position, the bolt blocking part of the safety lever is engaged in a groove formed in a bolt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2005
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventor: Teruhiko Sato
  • Patent number: 6502834
    Abstract: A holding chuck has a clamping device for firmly holding the tire-wheel in the position aligned with a center axis of a holding chuck. Chatter-suppressing dampers are disposed on an intermediate plate fitted around the chuck. The dampers are disposed on circles concentric with the center axis of the holding chuck. Each of the dampers has a damping rod extending in the direction parallel to the center axis and abutting a rim of the wheel. A damper cover is disposed between the rim of the wheel and the dampers and fastened to the holding chuck. The damper cover has slot holes disposed on a circle concentric with the center axis of the chuck which allow the damping rods of the dampers disposed on only one of the concentric circles to extend therethrough and abut the rim of the wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2003
    Assignees: Howa Machinery, Ltd., Toyota Motor Hokkaido Inc., Kanzaki Kokyukoki Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsumi Fukui, Akihiko Imai, Hiromasa Tuzuki, Hirokazu Ueda
  • Patent number: 6474658
    Abstract: Each of master jaws (17) has a middle spherical part guided for sliding movement by a spherical guide surface (16) formed in a chuck body (2), a round back end part (19) extended slidably through a spherical bearing member (12) supported on a support member (10) attached to a middle part of a driving member (5). Each master jaw (17) is provided with a through hole (26) extending between the front and the back end thereof and a sliding member (30) is inserted in the through hole of the master jaw (17) through the front end of the same so as to come into sliding contact with a stopper (36) attached to a chuck body (2). Therefore, the state of sliding contact between the sliding member (30) and the stopper (36) can be adjusted on the side of the front part of the chuck and work for adjusting the state of sliding contact can be easily achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2002
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventor: Teruo Hanai
  • Patent number: 6450932
    Abstract: A guide rail (12) is laid on a frame (4) of a horizontal machining center provided with a tool magazine (5) to guide a tool changer (11) for movement between a tool transfer station near the tool magazine (5) and a tool changing station at a lower part of the frame (4). The guide rail (12) has a horizontal section (12a), a vertical section (12b) and a curved section (12c). The direction of the tool changer (11) is changed while the tool changer (11) is traveling along the curved section (12c). The tool changer (11) carries a spare tool (T) in a horizontal position along the horizontal section (12a) of the guide rail (12) and in a vertical position along the vertical section (12b) of the guide rail (12). The tool changer (11) has a carriage (16) and a tool holding device (17) supported on the carriage (16) so as to be movable in directions perpendicular to the guide rail (12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2002
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiro Hirose, Tetsuya Yamada
  • Patent number: 6427992
    Abstract: A clamping cylinder actuator has a front end cover (7). A back surface (9) of the front end cover (7) has a joining surface (102) joined to a fixed member (100). A thin, flat gasket (30) formed from elastic rubber materials and such is interposed between the front end cover (7) and a front end surface of a cylinder (1) facing the front end cover (7). The gasket (30) is fitted on a boss (10) formed on the front end cover (7) and extends over the entire back surface of the front end cover (7) having a sealing surface (11) surrounded by the joining surface (12). When the front end cover (7) is fastened to the fixed member (100) with bolts (101), the gasket 30 is held between the front end cover (7) and the fixed member (100). The gasket (30) prevents the loosening of the bolts (101).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2002
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuo Noda, Kanji Miyata, Tsuyoshi Yonezawa
  • Patent number: 6412763
    Abstract: A rotary cylinder actuator has a piston rod placed in a cylinder, provided in its surface with a guide groove and capable of being moved axially between a position corresponding to a clamping angular position and a position corresponding to an unclamping angular position. A guide member is attached to the cylinder to engage in the guide groove. The piston rod turns from a first angular end position toward a second angular end position for normal turning and turns from the second angular end position toward the first angular end position for reverse turning. The opposite guide surfaces of the guide groove serve as a first guide surface for normal turning and a second guide surface for reverse turning, respectively, so that the guide member moves relative to the piston along different paths in the guide groove while the piston rod turns for normal turning and reverse turning, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2002
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuo Noda, Yuichi Ishitani, Tadanori Sugimoto
  • Patent number: D454575
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2002
    Assignee: Howa Machinery, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuo Noda, Tsuyoshi Yonezawa, Tadanori Sugimoto
  • Patent number: D529938
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2006
    Assignees: Howa Machinery, Ltd., Koganei Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuo Noda, Tsuyoshi Yonezawa, Akiyoshi Horikawa, Naoki Minowa, Hiroshi Yoshida