Page 49 - Modular design for machine tools

20 Modular Design Guide and Machine Tools Description

1.3 A Firsthand View of Developing History
and Representative Applications
The first meaningful trial of the modular design is credited to the late
Prof. Königsberger in the beginning of the 1930s on the basis of his first
application of the unit construction to the milling machine of Wanderer
brand [6].
Figure 1-11 is a firsthand view of the chronological history of the mod-
ular design, showing in part the change in terminology. As can be seen,
the modular design has been developed continuously in responding to
the changing requirements of the machine tool, and it was also deployed
to various extents, encompassing the production system and machine
tool accessories. As quickly described earlier and will be detailed later,
the production system has often been converted to a compact machine,
for instance, those from FMCs to system machines. In this context, the
modular design has functioned very well to form the suitable structural
configuration. In the following, the quick notes on the history of modu-
lar design will be stated using, if necessary, the historical nomenclature
while emphasizing the epoch-making events and showing the repre-
sentative applications of world class. Actually, the three milestones can
be observed as follows, when we scrutinize the developing history up to
now.

1930 1940 1950 1960

Growing order volume /
Rationalization of production
Application of
Unit A unit construction
construction
Increase of order in U.S. to conventional
manufacturer due to the machine
Milling machine of
Wanderer make war of Europe and rapidly ( 1957) ( 1962)
growing production
Headstock unit of radial Modular design
drilling machine volume of units in U.S. B
(Proposed by Prof. across whole
G. Schlesinger) Gear train for main drive in different kinds
universal milling machine
(Ansaldo S A/Italy)
Milling head of planomiller Manufacturing
(Newton Co./U.S.) C
line consisting of
Exemplification different kinds of
machine tools
Lathe: Heyligenstaedt Co.
Cylinder grinding machine: Naxos-Union Co. Piston rod processing line
(Cincinnati Milling Co./U.S.)
Horizontal boring machine: Kearns Co.
Planomiller: TOS Co. D Realization
of TL
( 1960)
By U.S. American
automobile industry
(a)
Figure 1-11 Developing history of modular design: (a) Between 1930s and 1965 and
(b) between 1965 and 2000.