Metal working – Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for... – Separate tool stations for selective or successive operation...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-13
2001-05-15
Briggs, William (Department: 3722)
Metal working
Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for...
Separate tool stations for selective or successive operation...
C029S03300H
Reexamination Certificate
active
06230386
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic cutting and press-fitting apparatus which is used for cutting a covered electric wire for an automotive wire harness, peeling insulating covers of the so-cut wire at both ends thereof and press fitting both ends of the wire to terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the automatic cutting and press-fitting apparatus of this kind, there is a press-fitting apparatus for press fitting both ends of the covered wire, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (kokai) No. 8-102354.
FIG. 1
shows the press-fitting apparatus in the publication. The press-fitting apparatus
1
includes a loading station
3
where many wire supply tubes
3
a
are arranged on a base
2
. The loading station
3
is adapted so as to move in the direction of arrow e. Provided on the wire-discharge side of the loading station
3
is a swivel arm
4
which has a not-shown clamp unit for clamping a wire W being supplied from the station
3
. The swivel arm
4
is constructed so as to swivel or pivot right and left about a shaft
5
as the swivel center with respect to the base
2
. The swivel arm
4
is also provided with a head part
4
a
which can occupy a base position H, a maximum rotational processing position J by a maximum pivot angle against the base position H and an intermediate processing position I between the position H and the position J, owing to the swivel operation of the swivel arm
4
. The head part
4
a
opposes a wire cutting part
6
A at the position H, a wire peeling part
6
B at the position I and a terminal pressfitting part
6
C at the position J, respectively.
As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the base
2
is provided, thereon, with a first transporting section
7
which is movable in both directions of arrows m and n. In the section
7
, four (first to fourth) clamp parts
7
a
-
7
d
are arranged at even intervals. The first clamp part
7
a
is moved between the base position H and a first processing position K, the second clamp part
7
b
between the first processing position K and a second processing position L, the third clamp part
7
c
between the second processing position L and a third processing position M, and the fourth clamp part
7
d
is moved between the third processing position M and a fourth processing position N, respectively.
The first clamp part
7
a
of the first transporting section
7
is arranged so as to oppose the wire cutting part
6
A (
FIGS. 1 and 3
) by moving a movable cylinder
7
S to the base position H along a cylinder rod
7
R. The wire cutting part
6
A includes a guide member
6
a
provided with an U-shaped groove for guiding the wire W, and a pair of cutting edges
6
b
,
6
b
for cutting the wire W, as shown in FIG.
3
.
At the first processing position K of the first transporting section
7
, a second transporting section
8
is arranged so as to move to a direction of arrow (p). The second transporting section
8
is provided with a clamp part
8
a
for clamping the wire W and adapted so as to transport it to a position opposing a peeling section
6
D with the movement in the direction of arrow (p). At the second processing position L of the first transporting section
7
, a third transporting section
9
is arranged so as to move to a direction of arrow (q). Having a clamp part
9
a
for clamping the wire W, the third transporting section
9
is also adapted so as to transport the wire W to a position opposing a terminal press-fitting section
6
E with the movement in the direction of arrow (q).
At the third and fourth processing positions M, N of the first transporting section
7
, there are provided a clamping section
6
F and a wire discharging section
6
G, respectively.
With the above-mentioned arrangement, the wire W is supplied from the supply station
3
to the swivel arm
4
and clamped by not-shown clamping means while the end portion of the wire W is projected from the head part
4
a
of the arm
4
. Next, the projecting wire W is cut off by the wire cutting part
6
A. After that, the swivel arm
4
is rotated from the reference position H to the intermediate position I. Successively, an insulating cover at one end of the so-cut wire W is peeled by the wire peeling part
6
B and then, the swivel arm
4
is further rotated from the intermediate position I to a maximum rotational processing position J. At this position J, it is executed to press fit a terminal to a conductor of the wire W by the terminal press-fitting part
6
C and thereafter, the arm
4
is returned from the position J to the reference position H. In this way, the processing for one end of the wire W is completed.
When the swivel arm
4
returns to the reference position H, then the first transporting section
7
is moved in the direction of arrow (m) so as to position the first clamp part
7
a
at the reference position H and the wire W of a predetermined length is drawn out through the head part
4
a
of the arm
4
. Next, the so-drawn wire W is clamped by the first clamp part
7
a
of the first transporting section
7
and thereafter, the section
7
is moved in the direction of arrow (n) so as to position the part
7
a
at the first processing position K. After that, the second transporting section
8
does clamp the wire W over again through the clamp part
8
a
and sequentially moves in the direction of arrow (p), so that the wire W is moved in the vicinity of the wire peeling section
6
D.
Next, it is carried out to peel the insulating cover on the other end of the wire W by wire peeling section
6
D and thereafter, the second transporting section
8
returns to the initial position. Next, the second clamp part
7
b
of the first transporting section
7
is moved to the first processing position K to clamp the wire W over again. After clamping the wire W, the first transporting section
7
is shifted to the direction of arrow (n), so that the second clamp part
7
b
occupies in the second processing position L. After that, the third transporting section
9
does clamp the wire W through the clamp part
9
a
over again and sequentially moves in the direction of arrow (q), so that the wire W is moved in the vicinity of the terminal press-fitting section
6
E.
At the terminal press-fitting section
6
E, it is executed to press fit the terminal to the conductor at the other end of the wire W and thereafter, the third transporting section
9
returns to the initial position. Next, the third clamp part
7
c
of the first transporting section
7
is moved to the second processing position L to clamp the wire W over again. After clamping the wire W, the first transporting section
7
is shifted to the direction of arrow (n), so that the third clamp part
7
c
occupies in the third processing position M. Next, the wire W is clamped by the clamping section
6
F over again and successively moved to the fourth processing position N with the movement of the first transporting section
7
, for discharging the wire W through the wire discharging section
6
G. In this way, the processing of the other end of the wire W is completed, too.
The above-mentioned press-fitting apparatus
1
has the following drawbacks.
First, on the way of the head
4
a
of the arm
4
from the position J to the reference position H, there is sometimes caused a problem that the insulating cover of the wire W, the terminal fixed thereto, etc. are damaged to produce inferior products because the leading portion of the wire W is bent and caught on cutting edges
6
b
(
FIG. 3
) of the wire cutting part
6
A, or the like, under the influence of weight of the terminal being press-fitted on the end of the wire W, etc.
Second, when drawing the wire W out of the head part
4
a
of the arm
4
in order to clamp the wire W on the first clamp part
7
a
of the first transporting section
7
, there is also caused a problem of inaccurate pinching of the wire W by the first clamp part
7
a
since the leading portion of the wire W is bent to interfere with a lower plate
7
P (
FIG. 2
) of the first transporting s
Briggs William
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Yazaki -Corporation
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