Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Electrical device making
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-16
2004-04-06
Arbes, Carl J. (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Electrical device making
C029S03300H, C029S741000, C029S748000, C227S084000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06715205
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A circuit board or substrate incorporated in an electric device bears a number of electronic components. Although most of the components are connected with one another only through circuits integrally formed on the board, some are connected with another components through bracket-like jump wires with opposite ends securely inserted in holes defined in the board.
FIG. 12
shows a conventional wiring machine generally indicated by reference numeral
1
for mounting the jump wire or wire component in the form of bracket or staple on the circuit board. The wiring machine
1
includes a wire supply
2
having a reel around which the wire is wound, a wire feeder
3
for feeding the wire sequentially, an insert machine
4
for cutting the incremental portion of the wire, bending the cut wire into a bracket-like wire component and then inserting opposite ends of the bracket-like wire component into the corresponding holes of the board. The machine
1
also includes a board holder
5
for transporting and then holding the circuit board in place and a controller
6
for controlling the whole operation of the machine
1
.
FIGS. 13A and 13B
show several parts incorporated in the wiring machine
1
and an electric connection of the parts. In particular, in
FIG. 13A
, the wire supply
3
is illustrated on the right side and the wire insert machine
4
is depicted on the left side, so that the circuit board
11
is retained under the wire insert machine
4
. The wire supply
3
has a main frame
8
or body with a mechanism for feeding the wire. For this purpose, the mechanism has a pair of rotatable feed rollers
13
for holding the wire and feeding a certain length of the wire intermittently in the direction of arrow E from the reel. A wire guide
9
is also provided for the wire supply
3
for directing the fed wire toward the wire insert machine
4
. To this end, the guide
9
has a tube or nozzle
16
. The wire guide
9
is supported so that it swings about a vertical support axis
15
in a horizontal plane relative to the main frame
8
in the directions indicated by arrows C and D to change a direction in which the wire is extended. A motor
17
is drivingly connected with the rollers
13
so that the rollers
13
rotate to feed the wire
12
. Also, an actuator
18
with an air-cylinder, for example, is drivingly connected at the support axis
15
so as to swing wire guide
9
and its guide nozzle
16
. An amount of rotation of the motor
17
and a displacement of the actuator for the intermittent feeding of the wire are determined and controlled by the controller
6
(FIG.
12
). For this purpose, as shown in
FIG. 13B
, the controller
6
includes central processing unit (CPU), sequential control, NC control. The sequential control is electrically connected with magnetic valves for driving the actuators or air-cylinders
18
and
27
-
29
, described below. Also, the NC control is electrically connected with drivers for driving elements, for example, motors
17
and
26
.
The wire insert machine
4
has a pair of cutters
21
and
22
for receiving the distal end portion of the wire
12
fed from the wire supply
3
and cutting the wire into a certain length and a bender for bending the cut wire into a predetermined shape in the form of bracket, for example, so that its opposite ends can be inserted in the corresponding holes of the circuit board. For this purpose, the pair of cutters
21
and
22
have movable blade
21
a
and
22
a
and fixed blades
21
b
and
22
b
, respectively. The movable blades
21
a
and
22
a
are supported for elevation so that they cooperates with the fixed blades
21
b
and
22
b
to cut a distal end potion of the wire, forming a piece of wire having a predetermined length. The bender
23
has a bending dye
24
and a pair of insert guides
25
positioned on outside, opposite sides of the bending dye
24
. The blades
21
a
and
22
, bending dye
24
, and guides
25
are drivingly connected with actuators
27
,
28
, and
29
, respectively. The insert guides
25
are mounted for elevation so that they moves downward to cooperate with the inward bending dyne
24
to bend the opposite ends of the cut wire in the form of bracket. After bending, the bending dye
24
is moved away by a linkage mechanism not shown.
The wire insert machine
4
is supported for rotation about a vertical axis parallel to the Z-axis and drivingly connected with a motor
26
. This allows the insert machine
4
to rotate so that the opposite ends of the cut wire
12
to be positioned at the corresponding holes
19
in the circuit board
11
. After positioning, the wire
12
is moved down with the guides
25
so that the opposite ends of the wire are inserted in the holes
19
.
The actuators and motors may be substituted with another driving means. For example, the wire feeder may be made of a reciprocating linkage driven by a suitable drive so that the linkage catches the wire as it moves away from the reel and releases as it moves toward the reel, thereby advancing the wire intermittently.
Referring to
FIGS. 14
to
26
, operations of the wiring machine
1
so constructed will be described in detail.
FIGS. 14
to
17
illustrate the operations performed by the machine, in which the wire insert machine
4
is not rotated for positioning of the wire at the insertion of the wire. As shown in
FIG. 14
, a certain length of the wire is forwarded through the guide nozzle
16
by a predetermined rotation of the rollers
13
. At this moment, the guide nozzle
16
is rotated horizontally about the support axis
15
so that the wire
12
and the guide nozzle
16
do not interfere with the insert machine
4
. Therefore, a portion of the wire
12
held between the guide nozzle
16
and the feed rollers
13
is curved away from a feed line
31
indicated by a short and long dotted line. The feed line
31
is a line extending at the center of and perpendicular to a line connecting the centers of the rollers
13
. This causes that the wire
12
is forwarded along the feed line
31
if no biasing or transverse force is applied to the wire. However, as described above, since the rotation of the guide nozzle
16
moves the wire away from the feed line
31
, the wire
12
is forwarded without any interference with the insert machine
4
.
FIG. 14
also shows the operation of the insertion of wire. In this operation, the wire component
12
x
in the form of bracket, for example, shown on the left side of the drawing, is mounted on the circuit board
11
with its opposite end inserted into the corresponding holes
19
formed in the board.
As described above, the wire mounting machine carries the wire feed operation and the wire insert operations simultaneously.
FIG. 15
shows an operation in which a distal end of the wire is transferred to the insert machine. That is, a distal end portion of the wire fed out near the insert machine in the previous wire feed operation is rotated horizontally about the support axis
15
in the direction D from a setback position (see
FIG. 14
) to a cut and bent position (see FIG.
15
). In the cut and bent position, the wire stays on the feed line
31
in a straight manner. Since at this moment the previous wire component
12
x
has already been mounted on the circuit, the distal end of the wire
12
can be received without any trouble. After being received by the insert machine
4
, the distal end of the wire is cut by the two pairs of blades
21
and
22
to form a piece of wire having a certain length. This completes the transfer of the wire
12
to the insert machine
4
.
In the setback position in
FIG. 17
, for preparing the subsequent feeding of the wire, the guide nozzle
16
is rotated about the support shaft
15
in the direction indicated by arrow C. This prevents the guide nozzle
16
and the wire to be fed out in, the subsequent wire feeding from making any interference with the insert machine
4
. In this condition, the piece of wire in the insert machine
4
is bent into the predetermined shape, e.g., bracket form. When ben
Kinoshita Hiromi
Koyama Toshiyuki
Watanabe Hideaki
Yokoyama Dai
Arbes Carl J.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Phan Tim
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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