B
SECTION B — PERFORMING OPERATIONS
  
SHAPING
 B23
MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR (punching, perforating, making articles by processing sheet metal, tubes, or profiles B21D; wire-working B21F; making pins, needles, or nails B21G; making chains B21L; grinding B24)
 B23

Note(s)

  1. In addition to operations not provided for in any other class, this class provides, in sub-class B23P, for combinations of operations provided for in different sub-classes of classes B21-B24, with the exception of subsidiary operations performed in conjunction with main operations covered by a single sub-class.
  2. In the following elaborations:
    1. The term "metal-working" should be understood as covering the working of other materials unless the context requires otherwise.
    2. The term "kind of operation" and similar expressions relate to such metal-working operations as boring, drilling, milling and grinding.
    3. The term "kind of machine" means a machine designed for a particular kind of metal-working operation (e.g. a lathe).
    4. The term "form of machine" means a machine of a particular kind adapted or arranged for a particular way of working or for particular work, e.g. face-plate lathe, tailstock lathe, turret lathe.
    5. The term "different machines" is to be understood as covering different forms of machine for performing the same type of metal-working operation, e.g. vertical and horizontal boring machines.
  3. Sub-class B23Q comprises features, specific to machine tools, which relate to a requirement or problem of a nature which is not peculiar to a particular kind of machine tool, e.g. feeding work, although the realisation of these features may differ according to the kind of machine tool concerned.

    That sub-class provides in general for such features, even if the feature or a specific function, in any particular case, is to some extent peculiar to, or is claimed only for, machine tools designed for one particular operation; only in exceptional cases are such features to be classified in the sub-class for the machine tool concerned. Certain features of this general nature are, however, referred to sub-classes relating to particular metal-working operations, especially B23B, in which case the sub-classes in question are not restricted, in respect of those features, to the kind of machine tool with which they are primarily concerned. If details, components, or accessories have no essential feature specific to machine tools, the more general class, e.g. F16, takes precedence.

 B23B
TURNING; BORING (arrangements for copying or controlling B23Q)

 B23C
MILLING (broaching B23D; broach-milling in making gears B23F; arrangements for copying or controlling B23Q)

 B23D
PLANING; SLOTTING; SHEARING; BROACHING; SAWING; FILING; SCRAPING; LIKE OPERATIONS FOR WORKING METAL BY REMOVING MATERIAL, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR (making toothed gears or the like B23F; cutting metal by applying heat locally B23K; arrangements for copying or controlling B23Q)
 B23D

Note(s)

This sub-class provides for machines for shearing sheet metal or other stock material except metal foils workable in a manner analagous to paper, which is covered by class B26.


 B23F
MAKING GEARS AND TOOTHED RACKS (by stamping B21D; by rolling B21H; by forging or pressing B21K; by casting B22; arrangements for copying or controlling B23Q)
 B23F

Note(s)

This sub-class includes primarily the use of methods and apparatus specially designed to produce accurately the shapes of gear teeth which are essential for proper intermeshing of toothed gearing elements to ensure the required relative motions. It also includes the use of similar methods and apparatus in the production of other articles of toothed or like form, e.g. dog clutches, splined shafts, milling cutters, but the production of such articles using other methods and apparatus is not included.

In this sub-class:

  1. The term "gear teeth" is to be understood as covering the teeth or lobes of other accurately-intermeshing members having relative movement of a similar kind, such as rotors of rotary pumps and blowers.
  2. The term "profile" may include the outline of both faces or only one face of a tooth, or the opposing faces of adjacent teeth.
  3. The term "straight" means that a tooth as a whole (ignoring any curvature of the tooth-face alone, e.g. crowning) is straight in the direction of its length, for example as seen in the direction of a radius of a spur wheel. It accordingly includes the teeth of helical gears and of the normal type of bevel gear.
  4. "Broach-milling" means milling with a rotary cutter having a number of teeth of progressively increasing depth or width.


 B23G
THREAD CUTTING; WORKING OF SCREWS, BOLT HEADS, OR NUTS, IN CONJUNCTION THEREWITH (thread-forming by corrugating tubes B21D 15/04; by rolling B21H 3/02, by forging, pressing, or hammering B21K 1/56; making helical grooves by turning B23B 5/48, by milling B23C 3/32, by grinding B24B 19/02; arrangements for copying or controlling B23Q)
 B23G

Note(s)

The term "thread cutting" is to be understood as including the use of tools similar both in form and in manner of use to thread-cutting tools, but without removing any material.


 B23K
SOLDERING; WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING METAL BY LASER BEAM (plating B23P 3/00; arrangements for copying or controlling B23Q; burners F23D)
 B23K

Note(s)

Electric circuits specially adapted for these purposes are dealt with in this sub-class.


 B23P
OTHER WORKING OF METAL; COMBINED OPERATIONS; UNIVERSAL MACHINE TOOLS (arrangements for copying or controlling B23Q)
 B23P

Note(s)

  1. Attention is drawn to the notes immediately following the class title B23.
  2. In interpreting the phrase "combined operations", the assembly of parts is regarded as an operation if it is not an essential feature of the next metal-working operation.
  3. The term "Working of metal" and equivalent terms are to be understood as covering non-mechanical treatment of metal so far as it is not provided for in a single other class such as C21D, C22C, C22F, C23. Thus, combinations of such treatment with other metal-working may be classified in this sub-class.
  4. In so far as non-mechanical treatments other than those specifically mentioned in this sub-class are concerned (see (2) above), non-metallic materials are excluded.

 B23Q
DETAILS, COMPONENTS, OR ACCESSORIES FOR MACHINE TOOLS, e.g. ARRANGEMENTS FOR COPYING OR CONTROLLING (tools of the kind used in lathes or boring machines B23B 27/00); MACHINE TOOLS IN GENERAL CHARACTERISED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTICULAR DETAILS OR COMPONENTS; COMBINATIONS OR ASSOCIATIONS OF MACHINE TOOLS, NOT DIRECTED TO A PARTICULAR METAL-WORKING RESULT
 B23Q

Note(s)

  1. Attention is drawn to the notes immediately following the title of class B23.
  2. In this sub-class

    Groups designating parts of machine tools are to be understood as covering machine tools characterised by constructional features of such parts.