Document G6LBgRz0RQeXnd11b72G0kYkv

AIRFLEX (Who Are We?) What is now the Airflex Plant of the Eaton Corporation was an original venture by Mr. Thomas 1. Fawick. (slide of Mr. Fawick) Mr. Fawick was an inventor of great imagination and a compatriot of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, etc. The initial development work of the Airflex Clutch by Tom Fawick dates back to the summer of 1936. ' . v`>\. /j\l* .if' a\ . \ The practicality of the clutch idea was demonstrated by the'successful ' (!(* v: 's installation of several expanding-type units on a drillingrig manufactured by Young Engine Corporation of Canton, Ohio. So you dart- .see that" the association between Airflex and oil field applications. goes back a long iP \V a_ -r<iA ~ way# y,s-. **** a - The first Airflex units were of the pubber-faped type. This is what the early models looked like, (slide of, "Fawick I'irst") This was a 24 inch diameter by 4-3/4 inch wide expanding units-. Ttie tube was vulcanized to a _. r' cylindrical steel rim which was then .riveted to the stamping of a Ford truck v., .. -iifc ' '<?' ' , wheel. ' ^ At that time , an <,air -pressure of 50 PSI was used as opposed to the 110 to 125 PSI used*.today.5' This first unit proved very successful in trans mitting the power/from a, 185 HP engine at 400 to 450 RPM's. This unit com pares to,, apt,present r24ER475 element assembly. In\order|`1if6<itoake the clutch more universally acceptable in those early days1* it wan. found necessary to add asbestos lining to the friction surface. r The early iunits of all sizes had the friction block molded into the tube, "" ' \J ' as ;Seen here, (slide of 4EB) It was quickly seen that when the friction ,,;maiterial wore out, the whole unit would have to be replaced. O .3 SCF-EC-0037 FAW 00319 This would be great for spare parts business, but expensive for the machine owner, so Mr. Fawick decided to make the shoes replaceable for both the expanding and constricting type clutches. After many unsuccessful tries at various fastening methods, the present shoepin and lockwire arrangement was decided upon as being best, (slides of EB & CB showing shoe) a'* As mentioned earlier, the use of Airflex Clutches on oil drilling equip-V ./ ' . . \ ment started very early in the development. Engineering layouts we;j-e made 1 1 ` '' if i* I W " for engine clutch applications in early 1939 and for pumps and Engine j'\.' V.J . 4 ~ compounding in early 1940. *** . i\ In the fall of 1941, the Oilwell Supply Company of'Oil City,- Pennsylvania, successfully installed two (2) 26 x 6-1/2 constricting elements as master clutches on their No. 64 drawworks to transmiti!'41)6J Hf,sat ^6 RPM. V % j Late in 1943, the Unit Rig and Equipment fConjpany 'ol Tulsa, Oklahoma, applied their first 16 x 5-1/2 constricting units ,as engine clutches on a medium sized rig. At about the sametime,.a 36 x 6 constricting unit was used by the International Hoist and Derrick Company of Beaumont, Texas, as A-.. .1. .r. * 3 the hoist clutch on their newly designed M10,000 rig. The Houston and Los 'Ingeles^Di^isions of Emsco Derrick and Equipment Company began us ing. Airflex jn)early 1944, followed closely by the Torrance California Dividilinf of ^deifo in 1945 and National Supply Company in 1946. The sqal^Ss of.ffehdse early units led to the adoption by all major rig manufacturers ,of'Airflex as standard equipment for the pump drive, engine compounding,^ master clutch, high and low drum clutches, rotary as well as, A 0 V-v ' ' for' the' iqertia brake. ...Through the years, the Airflex Clutch construction has evolved to its present, sophisticated state. The units are manufactured at the Airflex ' i?lant of Eaton Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio, (slide of aerial view & front ' entrance - insert slide 13 & 14 Group I) FAW 00320 The plant has in excess of 210,000 square feet of manufacturing space in two buildings. 410 people are employed, doing nothing but making clutches. The Airflex Plant is equipped with some of the most modern machinery in the Northern Ohio area. Turning operations are performed quickly and efficiently on this bank of five 56-inch Giddings and Lewis, tape-controlled p ,,' ft ' ; VTL's (slides of VTL's) Precision drilling and tapping is done without the . v .. need of expensive drilling fixtures on two Burgmaster and one AveyJtape-... 4 controlled, six and eight spindle drills, and soon to be installed - Avey N.C. Drill for excess of 100 in. in diameter. (slide of drills need) For high volume parts requiring milling, drilling, reaming and' trapping, we \ '% *,, % * ` 4 '*.>''*** use this G &'l tape-controlled Numericenter (slide: of. Numericeiiter), which < * '% ' can perform 40 different operations with as many* .different: tools, 20 tools pet magazine, without removing the part fi^pa'title machine. ' - For low quantity runs, our newly acquired: Wprttbr and Swasey SC15 Automatic Turret Lathe has been a/godseUd ./'(slide of SC15) Parts can be machined here by'proper programming of the controls without the need for expensive tooling' or prolonged set-up time. To machine large quantities of smaller parts, we have 11 Warner and Swasey AC s and Acme bar machines, (vkrioua slides of W & S) }r-?v ' ,y t Milling op^afeions .ar^a'performed on two G & L numerically-controlled milling machines, (slides of G & L-need) and one new G & L Fraser Mill. <:S. V*. `` 4 Thp largest parts presently in our product line, the rims of our 66VC1600 f <:'* Clutfches) are tedbhined on this 86-inch Bullard (slide of large Bullard & i-s*. V _\ ' ' . Rims-naed)\acquired new in 1972. This machine can turn a piece having a diampteif of approximately 9 feet. A slightly smaller, 76 inch Bullard, was delivered in March of 1974 to add to our turning capacity. s . y O^. V-i FAW 00321 The first step in manufacturing an Airflex element is to make the rim. We start with a formed channel, (slide of straight channel and channel entering bender) of SAE1010-1015 mild steel. This channel is worked into a circular form on two "Buffalo Benders". After the circle has been formed, the ends are welded together (slide of welding fixture) and the rough rims machined (slide of machined rim) to the proper O.D. and I.D. prepared for , ' - ,<5i:4:>. 7 :* bonding the rubber tube. Small units, sizes 4CB to 14CB400, use & .stamping for the rim. The finished machined rims are then sent to the Molded fhroductsijPlant of Eaton Corporation' in Akron, Ohio, to have the tubes bonded toJthem. (slide of front of Flexi) Molded Products was originally, a division of Fawick Corporation - then under the name of Fiex:i-Grif>, .the major manu- -facturer of rubber golf grips in the world.S!lfpon`'bhe merger of Fawick ' f*| 1/ . into Eaton, the plant became part of ttie*.Generai -products Division. However, just recently it was switched back, iifto theHindus trial Drives Division to bring the two related operation's (Airflex ?;& Flexi-Grip) closer together. The Molded Products iPlant has. a total of approximately 60,000 square feet of manufacturing area- of which approximately 12,000 square feet is 1 .x*t> 8 S devoted to the manufacture of'Airflex tubes. (overall view of tube area) 4 ? . -i:.r ' The rubbef used for -the tubes is prepared entirely by Molded Products. Raw neoprend'ahd natural rubber are brought into the plant in large quan- . '4' M :-4. titiesWlA Banbury4Mixer (slide of Banbury) is used to combine certain i' ingredients according to a time-tested formula. . '%./ Further processing takes place on a rubber mill (slide of rubber mill) to combine all the ingredients into a homogeneous mixture. After passing -through a calendaring machine, where useable thickness and width are obtained : the finished rubber stock is ready for use on the Airflex tubes. Incidentally, both of these pieces of machinery are equipped with Airflex units. The tube is constructed much the same as an automobile tire. In fact, the cord-ply material, as purchased from one of the major Akron tire makers, is the same material used in car tires. It is purchased in large rolls and is cut to proper dimensions on a Custom-built cutting table, (slide* of cutting table) ' >? / The layers of the ply material are then wrapped around the rappropriate diameter "building drums", (slides of building drums) to form the!rough tube. Depending on its size, the tube consists of two or four' cord plys with a neoprene, air-tight inner tube and outer covet. Neoprene is used because of its excellent oil and heat resistant qualities;* The "green" ..... -s. y-:. * * tube is removed from the building drum, ready* to she ^fitted to the rim. (slide of tube coming off drum) ^< .V :i `-a . A specially prepared, rubber-solvent (slide of goup on rim) is applied . `"tv?*' . to the O.D. of the tube to insure a proper bond between the rubber and steel rim. Much care must be exercised to be certain the valve in the . trf t,r;' tube lines up with the%opening\ih;the rim, (slide 128-group 3), since once the tube sticjfed.to the rift, there is no moving it. The lugs on the I.D. are placed loosely over, a,.fixture which gives shoepin holes the proper spacing, (slide of, lugs) .f Th4\rim ahh .tube assembly is pressurized to 125 PSI and placed in a strgam-jaqJciejEed mold for approximately 2 to 3 hours at about 350F for Puringi. After coming out of the mold and removing a small amount of flashing, theCfinished rim and tube is ready to be returned to the Airflex Plant for d*mbly. (slide of finished rim and tube) vr - ^ V, S | FAW 00323 The Airflex Element Assembly is made up of just a few simple parts: the rim and tube, the friction shoes and shoe pins, (slide of components) lockwires and if required, a side connection elbow. The friction shoe is a stamped, (slide of basket of back plates) cadmium plated steel plate with molded asbestos lining bonded to it. (slide of bonding) (3 insert slide 61 of group 2) \. \ Airflex uses a high quality molded asbestos friction material,--as j a i-v opposed to woven friction material. Mainly because the molded-material has a lower coefficient of friction, thereby, imposing lowe5'qtreseeS.j in the \Jis, " i rubber tube. Also we feel that the molded asbestos friction!.material ' <" ` - ..ji (although having a lower coefficient of friction)"is much' kinder to the drum* . \} ** The friction material is bonded to a .cadmium plated backing plate using 4' > 3 -7 ,-r a special adhesive under heat and pjressute... Thfe'finished friction shoe 5: ' X '1 must meet the same quality control^requirements as all other Airflex . ,^i S-. ' products. - _ The shoe is attached; to- the tube with shoepins and the lockwire which are cadmium plated to^jlgSist -eqrrosion. (slide close-up of lockwire) The e Ik if if*** ' use of the lockwire, inrevents/rotation of the pin during operation. It is desireable toprevent the'pin from rotating to eliminate the possibility of ..t.. '5.s =}, "X !r`.. wear to the%tube ^m<isholes in the friction shoes. Only a pair of pliers is needqd to, install* the lockwires - No special tools. We tried snap rings as used'by Pneb-Grip many years ago, but discarded the idea because of pin rotation,,,Causing premature tube failure. t- . *. -The final manufacturing step is to balance the unit on one of several balancing machines, (slide of balancer-need at 41) Depending on the size of the element, unbalance is either corrected by weight addition or weight removal. (2 slide of welding lugs onto rim) FAW 00324 A coat of distinctive coppertone paint, (slide painted booth) the application of the Airflex decal, (decal slide) and the unit is ready for the stockroom. Several million dollars worth of parts are stocked at all times (various slides (5) of stockroom) to satisfy customers' requirements. To continue to provide a truly quality product and develop new products, we maintain an in-plant test facility (slides (4) of lab) (note PowerFlow - clutch) equipped with a 300 HP teststand. Here, the bugs are .worked out. Of ' V:', i ' * new product designs and ways are found to improve existing product's!, -s Although the basic operating principal of the clutch remains the`same, many `'V % ':v MVfi - improvements have been made to the design, construction, and^ materials throughout the years. .'i . .' &. .*'**>""*:*. :-i i % A continuing in-plant R & D Program ii5jsmaintaiijesd'to keep pace with todays fast moving technology. For example,,we recently purchased a new friction testing machine at a cost of -morel than $50,000 to more closely evaluate the new materials appearing op*the market. As part of Eaton Corporation, We also have available to us, the Corporate Research Center* locate!*, in Southfield, Michigan, (slide 2 of '. it r'k"' aerial views) This, facility has the capability to carry out any product *?:, *:h. % g- research and d.qfyljopment which is beyond our plant capacity. To improve manufacturing*:processes and equipment, we can call upon the expertise of the Eaton ikanu'fa'cturing Services Center in Cleveland, Ohio. o ^ vf V,,/ f`y. <r V /: r . u,,-. \\ f .. n, FAW 00325