13. Bellows for industrial equipment

What makes distinction between human beings and other animals is said to be in the ability to use tools necessary in life and also the ability to make tools necessary for making the tools like edged tools and knives. Reviewing the history of machinery there have been two major currents; invention of tools needed for securing food to feed increasing populations and tools to record time for advancing social life. In other words, utilization of power for mills and development of timepiece that led to precision machines.

Other developments followed including establishment of iron manufacture and development of various machinery and tools to cope with life-styles related to food, clothing and shelter.

Industrial revolution based on steam engine as power source took place later. The steam engine is a mechanism to make use of change of temperature of water in the air. To utilize efficiently explosive power of steam, processing of cylinders was needed, in which reciprocal movement of piston takes place effectively. Machine tools that produce machines became necessary, and part to make machines such as screws were also developed. In early days however such parts were made without common standards and had to be used individually on the spot. Smith or blacksmith as an occupation got established in many places as the machine industry advanced.

In the United States, though later than England, series of wars stimulated demand for firearms and interchangeable production system of firearms was established that in turn enhanced production of good machine tools. Rifles were developed for hunting to acquire necessary food and standardization of parts took place there.

At the 1851international exhibition held in London, an American rifle manufacturer disassembled 6 rifles and had them reassembled on the spot form mixed up parts, demonstrating interchangeability of parts and duly shocked onlookers. Uniformity of parts or standardization brought about explosive increase of machines, and manufacture and development of machine tools, or mother machines got quite popular centered on the U.S.

Later in 1952 numerical control advancement of computer technologies resulted in the development by MIT of numerical control (NC) equipment, pioneering coupling of machine tools and electronic technologies. The numerically controlled NC machines gave objective standards to machine tools that so far had been dependant on experienced expertise of the operator, enabling repeated operation at the same level of precision.

The bellows used in machine tools and industrial machinery may be classified by their applications as follows:

Driving system:
1. Contact
  Ball screws, ball splines
  Rack and pinion
  Belts
2. Non-contact
  Linear motor
Direct-acting guide bearings; linear guide systems for ball bearings and roller bearings.
Elevating systems: Scissors lifts (hydraulic or electromotive)

Classification of bellows also may be made by the goods processed with the machine and by the purpose of the machines used for processing.

Characteristics required for bellows and what the bellows is supposed to cover is different in each field, which calls for different shapes, materials and manufacturing process. Machines generally operate at high-speed for efficient operation, giving greater burden on the bellows, and the bellows keep on improving to meet escalating requirements.

1. Bellows for machine tools

Bellows for machine tools