Wood turning process and apparatus for making cylindroconical wood products

Abstract

A process for manufacturing a plurality of concentric, cylindriconical, annular rings from plywood or other wood material for use in constructing cylindriconical wood products.

What I claim is: 
     
       1. A wood-turning process for manufacturing cylindroconical rings for use as components of cylindroconical wood products comprising: a. Starting with i. a generally circular disc of wood material axially affixed to an end of a rotatable shaft defining a shaft side of said disc and a nonshaft side;   ii. drive means causing said shaft to rotate at a speed such that the outer edge of said disc travels at a speed of less than 26,000 inches per minute;   iii. frame means on which said drive means and rotatable shaft are mounted;   iv. a shaft-side wood-cutting bit and a nonshaft-side wood-cutting bit mounted in a bit-holding guide means with tooth ends of said bits directed toward each other, said ends being displaced from each other a distance greater than one and one-half times the thickness of said discs;   v. swivel means and first locking means for fixable adjustment of the angle between said bits and the plane of said rotating disc, said swivel means and first locking means mounted on a table means;   vi. table guide means and second locking means for fixable adjustment of the position of said table means and said bits along a radius of said rotating disc of wood material, said table means, table guide means and second locking means mounted on said frame means;   vii. bit-moving means attached to said bit-holding-guide means and said swivel means for the purpose of directing cutting movement of each of said bits through substantially one-half of the thickness of said rotating disc; and   viii. release means for removing said bit-moving means from attachment to said bit-holding-guide means;     b. using said swivel means to set a desired cylindroconical angle between said bits and said rotating disc plane;   c. actuating said first locking means;   d. using said table guide means to position said bits to cut an outer cylindroconical surface of a first ring;   e. actuating said second locking means;   f. actuating said bit-moving means to cause bit-holding-guide means to direct said non-shaft-side bit to cut, on the non-shaft-side of said disc, a cylindroconical channel of depth approximately equal to one half of the thickness of said disc;   g. actuating said release means and causing said non-shaft-side bit to return to a position of no-contact with said disc;   h. de-actuating said release means and actuating said bit-moving means to cause said shaft-side bit to cut, on the shaft-side of said disc, a cylindroconical channel of depth sufficient to connect with previously cut cylindroconical channel;   i. actuating said release means and causing said shaft-side bit to return to a position of no-contact with said disc;   j. releasing said second locking means;   k. using said table guide means to position said bits to cut an inner cylindroconical surface of said first ring simultaneously with an outer cylindroconical surface of a second ring;   l. actuating said second locking means;   m. repeating steps (f) through (j);   n. using said table guide means to position said bits to cut an inner cylindroconical surface of said second ring;   o. actuating said second locking means; and   p. repeating steps (f) through (j).   
     
     
       2. The process of claim 1 in which said wood material is plywood. 
     
     
       3. The process of claim 1 in which a step (j) includes releasing said first locking means, using said swivel means to set a second cylindroconical angle and actuating said first locking means. 
     
     
       4. The process of claim 1 in which the position of step (k) is chosen such that the outer cylindroconical surfaces of said first and second rings form a continuous cylindroconical surface when said rings are stacked in proper relationship to each other. 
     
     
       5. The process of claim 1 in which each of said bits has a triangular-shaped tooth end with beveled edges. 
     
     
       6. The process of claim 1 in which more than two cylindroconical rings are formed. .Iadd. 7. Apparatus for turning cylindroconical rings from wood blanks comprising: frame means;   wood blank holding means mounted on said frame means, said holding means rotatable at a selected speed of rotation;   table means mounted on said frame means and adapted to be slidably movable with respect to said frame means in a direction parallel to a wood blank held by said wood blank holding means;   a pair of wood cutting bits;   bit holding means for holding said pair of wood cutting bits in a horizontally opposed position with the cutting edges of said bits spaced by distance greater than the thickness of the wood blank to be turned;   adjustment means attached to said table means for supporting said bit holding means, said adjustment means adapted to adjust the angle of said bits with respect to the plane of the wood blank to be turned;   bit moving means for selectably moving each of said cutting bits horizontally and so as to cause said cutting edges to engage a face of the wood blank to be turned;   drive means for rotating said wood blank holding means; and at least one movable template attachable to said frame means and having a series of spaced locking notches to permit accurate positioning of said table means during each turning operation. .Iaddend..Iadd. 8. The apparatus as defined in claim 7 in which said drive means rotates the wood blank to be turned at rotational speeds in the range of 800 to 1,000 rpm. .Iaddend. .Iadd. 9. The apparatus as defined in claim 7 in which said table means includes table guides and first locking means for locking said table means with respect to said frame means at selected positions during each turning operation. .Iaddend..Iadd. 10. The apparatus as defined in claim 7 in which said bit holding means comprises a generally U-shaped block with said cutting edges of said bits directed toward each other from the inner sides of said blocks. .Iaddend..Iadd. 11. The apparatus as defined in claim 7 in which said adjustment means includes a swivel means rotatably mounted on said table means and a second locking means for locking said swivel means at a selected angle. .Iaddend..Iadd. 12. The apparatus as defined in claim 7 in which the thickness of said wood cutting bits is approximately one fifteenth the thickness of the wood blanks to be turned. .Iaddend. .Iadd. 13. The method of turning cylindroconical rings from wood blanks for use as components of cylindroconical wood products comprising the steps of:   a. attaching a wood blank to a rotatable shaft;   b. rotating the shaft at a selected cutting speed;   c. disposing a pair of horizontally opposed wood cutting bits having the tooth ends spaced greater than the thickness of the wood blank and with the wood blank between but not in contact with the pair of bits;   d. adjusting the angle between the plane of the pair of bits and the plane of the wood blank to a desired cylindroconical angle;   e. adjusting the positions of the pair of bits relative to the axis of the rotatable shaft to cut the outer cylindroconical surface of the first ring;   f. moving the pair of bits in a first direction to cause one of the bits to cut into one face of the wood blank to a depth approximately equal to one half the thickness of the blank;   g. moving the pair of bits in a second direction to cause the other of the bits to cut into the opposite face of the wood blank to a depth sufficient to connect with the cut made in step f above;   h. moving the pair of bits to the position defined in step c above;   i. adjusting the position of the pair of bits relative to the axis of the rotatable shaft to cut the inner cylindroconcial surface of the first ring simultaneously with the outer cylindroconical surface of a second ring; and   j. repeating steps f through i until a desired number of cylindroconical rings has been produced. .Iaddend.