Claims:WE CLAIM :

A method of forming rings for use as a component in a seat recliner assembly of a four wheeler vehicle, which ring generally having a thickness of 0.5mm to 5mm comprising of :-

a. slicing a plurality of rings having a desired length from a tube, and
b. subjecting each ring to metal forming process to achieve a desired angular edged shape along its two circumferential edges.
, Description:FIELD OF INVENTION :

The invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for cutting short length rings from a long pipe. The present invention relates more particularly to improved apparatus and method for the use of a long pipe to prepare rings of shorter lengths.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION :

Without limiting the scope of invention, the background is described in connection with cutting of metal sheets to prepare pipes.

Conventionally, the ring is manufactured by constraining and pressing a coil of material between a male and female shape of the required profile and then subjecting the profile to further metal forming operations like drawing and piercing to get the required shape as in Fig.2a, Fig. 2b and Fig. 2c. Care has to be taken to ensure sufficient gap between the edge of the raw material and working edges of the tool to obtain the desired shape. The skeletal remains of the raw material after blanking and subsequent metal separation processes result in wastage of material in excess of usage of the material, to the tune of about 60 to 70%.

OBJECTS OF INVENTION :

The object of the invention is to manufacture a ring which is one of the many components used in the seat recliner assembly of typical four wheeler vehicle.

The first object of the invention is to manufacture a metal ring with a cylindrical body and having a desired shaped cross section.

The second object of the invention is to manufacture the above ring with minimum wastage of the material.

The third object of the invention is to manufacture the above ring with the precision demand duly met in the end prepared ring.

The fourth object of the invention is to avoid using flat continuous material to manufacture the above rings.

The fifth object of the invention is to utilise alternate shaped material such as tubes to manufacture the above rings.

All of the above objects have been achieved to form novel industrial ring which is in great demand in the field of four wheelers and thereby the product enjoys industrial utility which is enormous in the market.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION :

The metal ring of interest is a cylindrical body with L-shaped cross section, which is designed as desired for specific application. A typical configuration of the ring is shown in Fig. 1. Material and thickness of the sheet T are selected based on application requirement. Typically, the sheet thickness will be between 0.5mm to 5mm. The profile, as such, finds innumerous applications and is left to the imagination of the designer. One such application is in seat recliner assembly which is used in the seating system of 4-wheelers. The recliner assembly does the function of reclining the seats and locking it at occupant’s desired position.

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION :

From the foregoing it is apparent that there is a need in the art for a “cutting” improvement and this invention described herein provides a novel method and apparatus for “cutting” of industrial ring.

Instead of using flat sheet an alternative process sequence is proposed with 100% material utilization. In the proposed process, the form of raw material resembles very closely to the output shape such as a tube as in Fig. 3 instead of a flat material continuum like coil as in the conventional method. The tube is then sliced into required length considering the extra material necessitated by subsequent forming operations to form the ring. Appropriate counter support along the tube length is to be provided during slicing. The thickness of the tube is chosen appropriately based on ring dimensions. An incremental forming approach is followed to gradually flow one end of the tube to get final shape of the ring cross section and one such method is shown in Fig. 4. If required, a final consolidation can be made between appropriate dies to get the required geometrical tolerances.

Thus, an alternative to conventional process of manufacturing rings of specific cross section as shown in Fig.1 is claimed with advantages of effective material utilization and cost competitiveness.

For better understanding of the present invention, including the features and advantages, reference is made to detailed description of the invention alongwith the accompanying figures.

As detailed above the rings manufactured according to the invention is in the form of a tubular element having a through desired bore and formed with a plurality of desired profiled edge alongwith circumferential edges with metal forming operations.

Hence the present invention discloses a novel solutions i.e., cutting a tube to create a plurality of cut rings along its axial direction and as well as the ring manufacturing method.

It should be noted that any one of the foregoing embodiments is illustrative and not limitation of the present invention and therefore, various changes and modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention.