A Two Motion Duplicator for Machine Tools

The Raytheon Two Motion Duplicator for machine tools is discussed with emphasis on the vector operations performed by the electronic circuitry to accomplish constant velocity tracing of a two dimensional contour. Two low level 60 cycle voltages are obtained from the follower (an electro magnetic transducer) when its stylus is brought in contact with a templet which represents the contour to be traced. These two voltages, representing the resolved components of stylus deflection, are the input vectors to the system and are operated on to produce, eventually, two DC voltages of complementary magnitudes, which determine the speeds of two motors through thyratron power stages. The motors drive leadscrews which continuously position the machine element carrying both follower and cutting tool. The relative motor speeds are so controlled and corrected by interpreting amplitude and phase information of follower out-put signals that the path of the follower and cutting tool duplicates the templet contour.