dial-feed

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In sheet-metal work, a feed-motion adapted to multiple-die presses which perform one or more operations upon a single blank or shell. It consists essentially of a circular plate, called the dial, which revolves horizontally under the upper dies of the press. Two types are in use. In one the dial is a flat plate on which the shells are placed by hand. As it revolves the shells are carried under the single upper die, each being brought to the right position by stationary guides above the dial. The dial can also be used to carry the shells to a second feed-motion which carries each in turn under a gang of dies that perform a series of operations upon each shell. See multiple-press (with cut). In the other type the dial carries a number of female dies placed in a ring upon the plate. The blanks or shells are fed to these as they pass the front and are carried by the rotation of the dial under one or more upper dies in turn. The press may have three upper dies and perform an equal number of similar operations, or it may have two or three different dies and perform a series of consecutive operations upon each blank in turn. Presses having a dial feed-motion are called dial-presses.