Material or article handling – Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into – within,... – Stack forming apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-22
2001-09-04
Krizek, Janice L. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into, within,...
Stack forming apparatus
C414S788800, C414S794200, C414S798100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283703
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus for sequentially conveying a plurality of nestable or stackable JEDEC trays and, in particular, for sequentially conveying a plurality of nested JEDEC trays each containing a plurality of integrated circuit devices or some other electronic components, to an automated assembly system where the supplied components can be retrieved and used for production of various electronic end products or for conveying an empty carrier member to an assembly area where components can be loaded on said carrier member for use in later production of a desired component.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A variety of automated assembly systems currently exist for assembling various electronic and computer components. However, all of the known prior art automated assembly systems typically work as batch cycles when retrieving components from JEDEC trays. One such automated assembly system
2
is diagrammatically shown in FIG.
1
. Once all of the supplied components are assembled on the end product(s), the automated assembly system
2
must be temporarily shut down to replenish the supply of components. This is typically done by opening a side panel or door
4
, of the automated assembly system
2
, and replacing the emptied JEDEC tray(s)
8
with one or more fresh JEDEC trays
8
, which each support additional components to be assembled into end product(s). Once a new supply of components is provided, the automated assembly system
2
then recommences operation to place the additional components, as required, and assemble the desired end product(s).
As the known prior art automated assembly systems
2
work very rapidly, the replenished supply of provided components is utilized fairly quickly, e.g. usually within a few seconds to a few minutes or so. Each time the quantity of supplied components is completely retrieved from the carrier members, the automated assembly system
2
must be temporarily interrupted or shutdown so that a new reserve of components can be supplied to the automated assembly system
2
. Once the supply of components is replenished, a further batch cycle can occur. This procedure is continuously repeated throughout a work shift of each work day.
As is apparent from the above brief discussion, the known prior art automated assembly systems have a couple of associated drawbacks. In particular, such automated assembly systems are batch cycle systems rather than continuous or substantially continuous feed systems thus requiring numerous interruptions in the manufacturing process during the work shift of each work day. In addition, as a relatively bulky carrier tray
6
is sometimes utilized to support a plurality of JEDEC trays
8
carrying the supply of components to be assembled, a significant amount of important working space or area, within the interior of the automated assembly system, is utilized to accommodate the carrier members supporting the components to be assembled. Further, the automated assembly system must to be programmed to pick up components to be assembled from a plurality of different locations on the tray, rather than a single location or a relatively small number of locations, and assemble them properly on the product being manufactured by the automated assembly system.
Another problem associated with prior art automated assembly systems is that the working space or area for accessing the interior of the automated assembly systems is fairly limited. Accordingly, all of the available prior art systems are fairly cumbersome and occupy a substantial amount of working space or area adjacent the access door to the automated assembly system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Wherefore it is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks.
A further object of the invention is to provide a conveying apparatus, for a plurality of nested carrier members such as JEDEC trays, which sequentially supplies one of the nested carrier members, either empty or carrying a plurality of components to be assembled, to an automated assembly system as required.
Another object of the invention is to provide a conveying apparatus which facilitates automatic collection of each one of the supplied carrier members, from the automated assembly system, once filled with components to be assembled or once all the supplied components carried thereby are utilized by the automated assembly system.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a conveying apparatus which occupies a minimal amount of working area within or adjacent the automated assembly system.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a conveying apparatus in which at least the first (supply) bin and the second (collection) bin, of the feed apparatus, are readily accessible from an exterior of the automated assembly system so that a substantially continuous supply of components can be provided to the automated assembly system without any significant interruption in the manufacturing process.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a conveying apparatus which minimizes the locations where the automated assembly system must be programmed to pick up the components to be assembled during the manufacturing process or placed when loading a JEDEC tray with components for later assembly.
The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus for sequentially feeding a plurality of stacked carrier members, said conveying apparatus comprising: a first bin for storing a desired quantity of stackable carrier members, said first bin having an outlet for sequentially discharging a carrier member therefrom; a feed mechanism communicating with said outlet of said first bin, and said feed mechanism facilitating individual feeding of said carrier members, in a sequential manner, from said first bin during use; a conveyor mechanism communicating with said outlet of said first bin for receiving one carrier member, fed by said feed mechanism, and for conveying said carrier member to an assembly area where a plurality of components can be retrieved from said carrier member to manufacture a desired product or loaded on said carrier member for later manufacture of a desired product; a second bin for collecting each said carrier member returned by said conveyor mechanism from said assembly area, and said second bin having an inlet located adjacent said conveyor mechanism; and a transfer assembly for transferring carrier members from said first bin to said feed mechanism and for transferring each said carrier member, returned by said conveyor mechanism from said assembly area, to the second bin.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3289861 (1966-12-01), Carle et al.
patent: 3620385 (1971-11-01), Vermeijlen et al.
patent: 4693659 (1987-09-01), Burke et al.
patent: 4789079 (1988-12-01), Kobayashi et al.
patent: 5024593 (1991-06-01), Hehl
patent: 5441380 (1995-08-01), Horikawa
patent: 5645392 (1997-07-01), Leichty et al.
patent: 2 322 945 (1974-11-01), None
Blades Brian
Dowling James L.
Davis & Bujold P.L.L.C.
Krizek Janice L.
Laurier Incorporated
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