Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Unit load conveying surface means moved about an endless or...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-01
2001-09-11
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Unit load conveying surface means moved about an endless or...
C198S345300, C198S465100, C198S867080
Reexamination Certificate
active
06286661
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improvements for adjustable pallets used in pallet conveyor production line systems for dynamo-electric machine components, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for adjusting the distance between support members of pallets capable of carrying dynamo-electric machine component workpieces of different dimensions.
The apparatus and methods disclosed herein are applicable to pallets having support members such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,060,780, 5,060,781, 5,099,978, 5,115,901, 5,255,778, 5,346,058 and 5,474,166, all assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Pallet conveyor systems are used in production lines where dynamo-electric machine component workpieces (e.g., armatures or stators for electric motors, generators, alternators, etc.) are to be subjected to a sequence of operations at successive workstations. A workpiece that is to be assembled, machined, or operated on is placed on support members that are mounted on a pallet. The pallet is set upon a moving conveyor that will advance the pallet and the workpiece to a series of workstations that perform a sequence of desired operations to complete the production cycle. A plurality of pallets carrying a like plurality of workpieces are typically used.
The pallets may be frictionally driven by a conveyor. As a workpiece is brought to a workstation, the pallet is stopped and the work station operation is performed. While stopped, the pallet may continue to rest on the moving conveyor in sliding contact, or may be lifted off the moving conveyor. Depending on the desired operation, the workpiece may be worked upon while resting on the support members of the pallet, or it may be removed from the support members, worked upon, and then returned to the support members. At the conclusion of the operation, the pallet is released or placed back on the conveyor to advance to the next workstation. The pallets thus move asynchronously, i.e., pallets upstream of a stopped pallet will advance until they are stopped behind a stopped pallet while the conveyor continues to advance, individually or in sets or groups, and accumulate in order to wait their turn at the workstation.
Pallet conveyor production lines are adapted for performing the same operations on workpieces that belong to the same family of workpieces and require the same machining operations, even though they may differ in certain dimensions. It is known to provide workstations with automatic adjustment devices that can receive workpieces of different dimensions and adjust for the differences in order to properly perform the desired operation. Sometimes support members of pallets in conventional pallet conveyor systems are manually adjusted for the dimensions of particular workpieces for a particular production cycle.
One of the problems associated with adjusting support members of conventional pallets is the redundancy of effort involved in locking and unlocking the support members relative to the pallet. Support members having mechanical connecting links or fasteners are manually loosened in order to move the support members, and then manually re-fastened to secure the support members in a desired location. This re-fastening step is a substantial duplication of the effort expended to unlock the support member. Thus, it would be desirable to eliminate the duplicative manual re-fastening step.
Another problem associated with adjusting support members of conventional pallets is that manual adjustment procedures typically allow for error in the settings used from one pallet to the next. As a result, workpieces are not always properly supported during the production cycle, which may result in differences in the quality of the finished product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide more efficient methods and apparatus for adjusting the positions of the dynamo-electric machine component workpiece support members of a pallet to correspond to the dimensions of particular workpieces.
It is another object of this invention to provide a pallet with a locking means having a manual release mechanism that can be easily unlocked to permit movement of the support members, and then automatically locked to secure support members in place.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide adjustment methods and apparatus for uniformly adjusting the locations of and/or distance between support members of the pallets so that dynamo-electric machine component workpieces having a given set of dimensions are properly supported on the pallet.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a pallet with a locking means that impedes accidental or unwanted unlocking of the release mechanism.
In accordance with this invention, apparatus and methods are provided for uniformly adjusting the locations of and/or distance between two dynamo-electric machine component workpiece support members of pallets to compensate for the different dimensions of the workpieces to be operated on by a given pallet conveyor production line. Broadly, the invention concerns a modified pallet and an adjustment apparatus that is constructed such that the support members can be manually adjusted to a desired position corresponding to the workpiece and, prior to and subsequent to engagement, the support members are locked in place on the pallet.
The adjustment apparatus of the present invention includes a means for engaging the first and second support members of the pallet such that once the support members are moved into the desired position further movement in the direction of adjustment is prevented.
The pallet of the present invention includes at least two support members that are slidably mounted relative to the pallet and to each other, and a preferably cylindrical guide bar for controlling the direction of movement of the first and second support members. The guide bar may have an inexpensive cylindrical shape and is preferably mounted on the pallet such that it is easy to replace when worn. The first and second support members may be independently laterally moved toward or away from each other along the guide bar within an extreme range of selectable positions to accommodate a range of workpiece dimensions appropriate for a given production line. The guide bar may also support the weight of the support members in the loaded or unloaded condition.
A locking means is provided so that each support member can be tightly secured on the guide bar with no movement relative to the pallet, for example, at times other than when the support members are to be adjusted. The locking means includes a manual release mechanism to unlock the support members so that they can be moved relative to the pallet into a desired position. The manual release mechanism is configured so that when the desired adjustment of the support member is obtained, simply disengaging contact with the release mechanism causes it to automatically lock the support member into place. In the preferred embodiment, each support member has a separate locking means.
Further with regard to the locking means, the guide bar preferably has a longitudinal axis and first and second surface portions that are each substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis and that face away from one another. Each workpiece support member is mounted on the pallet for movement substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis. The locking structure for a support member is mounted on that support member. The locking structure has first and second edges that respectively face toward the first and second surface portions and that are spaced from one another by a distance which is slightly greater than an adjacent perpendicular distance between the first and second surface portions. The locking structure is resiliently biased to rotate the first and second edges about a medial axis which is between them so that the first and second edges respectively contact the first and second surface portions and thereby cause the locking structure to resist motion of the s
Galassi Rossano
Mugelli Maurizio
Randazzo Antonio
AXIS USA Inc.
Deuble Mark A.
Ellis Christopher P.
Fish & Neave
Jackson Robert R.
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