Material or article handling – Apparatus for positioning plural orderly articles onto pallet
Patent
1988-12-16
1990-05-29
Brown, David H.
Material or article handling
Apparatus for positioning plural orderly articles onto pallet
53542, 4147988, B65G 5728, B21D 5308
Patent
active
049291440
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for loading of radiator fins into trays.
2. Discussion of the Related Arts
In certain types of radiators used in motor vehicles the cooling water flows through flat tubes which extend between two header tanks and the heat dissipation area is increased by means of convoluted fins which are fixed to the tubes and lie in the spaces between the tubes.
In the manufacture of such radiators, the fins are typically made from a flat strip which is passed through rollers which form louvre-like slots in the strip and then convolute it into a zig-zag. Subsequently, the strip is cut into individual fins each as long as the distance between the header tanks and these fins are temporarily stored side by side in trays. The trays have slots for receiving the fins and are used in a separate assembly jig to slide the fins between the tubes prior to the tubes being brought together in the jig and the headers being fitted to the ends of the tubes.
From the latter assembly jig, the assembled radiator cores are transferred to a further station where the fins, the tubes and the headers are vacuum braised or sometimes soldered together. The core can then be fitted to the header tanks and painted to complete the radiator manufacture.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above description has been given by way of background only and the invention is concerned only with the step of loading the fins side by side in horizontal trays after they have been formed and cut from the continuous strip.
Normally the steps of slotting and convoluting the strip are carried out with the strip lying horizontally. This assists in the transportation of the fin material on a conveyor belt for after the convolutions have been made each fin behaves as a long weak spring and is too flexible to be easily transported vertically. On the other hand when loaded in trays as individual fins, the plane of the strip must be vertical for it is in this attitude that the fins are introduced between the flat tubes. It is therefore necessary when loading the trays from the continuously produced fins to turn each fin onto its side, introduce the fin into the appropriate slot in the tray, and then move the tray on by one slot in readiness for the next fin.
One method previously employed for this purpose involves the use of a horizontal drum having radial slots around its periphery for receiving the individual fins as they are still horizontal. The fins are fed into the drum at the 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock position and are carried round the 6 o'clock position where they drop into the slots of the tray. Rotation of the drum is synchronised with the cutting of the fins and with the movement of the trays.
This known construction suffers from many disadvantages. First, the indexing of the drum and of the trays must be in synchronism with the cutting of the individual fins from the continuous convoluted strips. This in itself requires a complex and costly mechanism. The complexity necesitates accurate setting up of the loading part of the fin making machine and the machine is prone to frequent stoppages because the loader does not operate correctly if the fins are defective in certain respects. Because of the inter-dependence between the loading and the fin forming parts of the machine a fault in any part of the equipment causes a complete stoppage.
Furthermore, there is no facility for testing that a fin is correctly dimensioned until it has left the loader. This means that the loader must be run, even at the risk of its being jammed by an improperly formed fin, before a fin can be tested for tolerance and enough fins must be passed to fill all the slots in the horizontal drum lying between the 9 o'clock and the 6 o'clock positions.
With a view to mitigating at least some of the above disadvantages, the present invention provides an apparatus for loading convoluted radiator fins into parallel slots in a tray, characterised by an input conveyor for transporting the fins in a horizontal
REFERENCES:
patent: 2859859 (1958-11-01), Winkel et al.
patent: 3126105 (1964-03-01), Marguet
patent: 4193489 (1980-03-01), Siniscal
patent: 4321739 (1982-03-01), Martin et al.
Brown David H.
Drouillard Jerome R.
Ford Motor Company
May Roger L.
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