Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor system for arranging or rearranging stream of items – By longitudinally respacing successive articles in stream
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-27
2001-01-09
Valenza, Jospeh E. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor system for arranging or rearranging stream of items
By longitudinally respacing successive articles in stream
C198S461300, C198S459600, C198S832100, C198S834000, C198S836100, C198S419200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170639
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
My present invention relates to an apparatus for performing a sequence of mounting and/or machining operations on workpieces, especially small workpieces, wherein the workpieces have been mounted on respective workpiece carriers and the apparatus includes at least two work stations disposed one behind the other along a path of the workpiece carriers. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus of this kind in which the working stations provide mounting and machining operations in conjunction with a linear transfer and a stepwise movement and wherein the working stroke of the operating stations are coordinated with the stepwise movement of the workpieces. Apparatus of this type can be widely used for mounting and finishing operations of components made from a multiplicity of prefabricated parts, for example, electric plugs or jacks, couplings with the previously inserted seal, automotive accessories and the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Working stations at which mounting and/or machining operations are carried out with coordination between those operations and a feed movement of the workpieces in a stepwise manner, can utilize workpiece carriers and linear transporters for these workpiece carriers in accordance with DE A 43 20 501 and DE A 196 03 253. In these systems all of the working stations have essentially the same stroke independently of whether the particular operation practiced at the station is a fast operation, for example, a stamping or punching operation for producing plug components, or a slow operation, for example, gluing or soldering of a component in place. In order to increase output, the mounting and/or working operations for a slower process can be carried out in parallel to one another, but this complicates the travel of the workpieces and requires that the workpieces be shifted out of sequence into parallel paths and subsequently returned to the processing line. The need for diverting paths of workpieces and combining the paths of workpieces, complicates the travel and itself has a tendency to limit the productivity of the apparatus.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide an apparatus of the type described which permits higher outputs to be achieved without drawbacks of the kind one would expect from a line operating in a hybrid sense with both fast processes and slow processes.
More specifically it is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for the processing of workpieces in which both fast and slow processing can occur but which does not require branching of the workpiece path or a rejoining of the workpiece path after such branching.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for carrying out a succession of procedures on workpieces, especially small workpieces of a type which must be mounted on workpiece carriers, whereby drawbacks of earlier systems are avoided.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the invention, in an apparatus wherein the mounting/operating devices for the rapid procedures are carried out at a first work station I and the latter is operated at a rapid feed stroke with a high feed number N
V
per unit time. The mounting/operating devices for the slower processes are provided at least at one second work station II and with a stroke or cycling rate such that the workpiece number processed N
A
per unit time is smaller by a whole number divisor i than the feed stroke N
V
(N
V
=i·N
A
). In the second work station II, for the same operation there is provided a plurality of mounting and processing devices MII
1
. . . MII
i
arranged one after another in the longitudinal direction of a transfer device and in a number n
II
which corresponds to the quotient i formed by the feed stroke N
V
faster process and the stroke rate N
A
for the slower processes carried out in the second work station (i=N
V
/N
A
). Furthermore, the transfer device used in the second work station II encompasses a number of prepositioned workpiece carriers that also corresponds to the quotient of the feed stroke coefficient N
V
and the working stroke coefficient N
A
and a corresponding number n
II
of mounting stroke processing devices MII
1
, . . . MII
i
is supplied with the workpieces simultaneously with a given stroke.
It will be apparent that further working stations can be incorporated in the processing line without branching when similar stations are provided to the second work station and are operated in the same relationship to the feed stroke of the first station wherein, of course, the most rapid processing takes place. The processing can be carried out without limitation of the throughput since the number of units processed at each of the stations remains the same with all of the mounting and operating units in each station operating simultaneously.
The transfer device is so operated that all of the mounting and operating units MII
1
. . . MII
i
of each slower station are simultaneously or approximately simultaneously supplied with respective workpiece carriers in a single operating cycle or stroke.
Positioning can be effected by a carrying out of two or optionally more transport steps of equal length before startup of the entire apparatus whereby the workpiece carriers can be distributed to the mounting and operating devices MII
1
, MII
2
. . . MII
i
before the strokes described previously. According to a feature of the invention the transfer device for the second work station includes a feeder for workpiece carriers which is capable of prepositioning the workpiece carriers at spacings of the mounting/operating devices. In this arrangement according to the invention, a plurality or larger number of workpiece carriers may be simultaneously engaged by the transfer device and advanced in a single step to the corresponding number n
II
of mounting/operating devices.
The transfer means can be so configured that the workpiece carriers with workpieces already mounted thereon are provided ahead of the respective mounting and processing units so that, after traversing the work station, the workpiece carrier with the workpieces mounted thereon can be fed to the next work station. At each station, the insertion of the workpiece carrier at each work station must be such that the inserted workpiece carrier is exactly positioned at a predetermined time at the mounting/operating device therefor. The permissible tolerances are small. The transfer devices described subsequently satisfy these requirements.
Preferred transfer devices according to the invention include feeders for the workpiece carriers and an intermittently driven belt transmission with at least one cog belt which has matching profiles to the tooth profile of the workpiece carrier along a bottom side thereof. A coupling section of the belt is arranged to be raised and lowered so that the coupling section in a lifting action can engage in the teeth of the workpiece carrier which has been prepositioned on the feed unit.
Advantageously the coupling section of the transfer device of the second work station is so dimensioned that with a single stroke a number of workpiece carriers prepositioned on the feed unit, corresponding to the quotient i of the feed stroke coefficient N
V
and the working stroke coefficient N
A
are simultaneously engaged.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the transfer unit has guide rails along which the workpiece carriers engaged by the belt drive are laterally guided. One guide bar forms a precision rail or stop for the precise orientation of the workpiece carrier to the mounting and operating unit to satisfy the narrow range of machining tolerances.
Furthermore, a clamping device with a clamping element is provided which can engage the workpiece carrier in the working direction and can fix it at a precision abutment. Preferably the clamping element and workpiece carrier have mutually-engaging centering surfaces. The centering i
Dubno Herbert
Sim Automation GmbH & Co. KG
Tran Khoi H.
Valenza Jospeh E.
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