Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor for changing attitude of item relative to conveyed... – By conveying randomly faced items and turning items to...
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-04
2001-04-17
Valenza, Joseph E. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor for changing attitude of item relative to conveyed...
By conveying randomly faced items and turning items to...
C198S392000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06216845
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Filed of the Invention
This invention concerns an automatic loader of ferrules for brushes as set forth in the main claim.
The invention is applied in the production of brushes, particularly to feed the ferrules in a desired and correct manner to the ferrule-assembling machine located downstream of the loader, wherein the bundle of bristles, and possibly also the handle, is associated with the ferrules.
The invention is applied to brushes of the flat type where the ferrule consists of a band of metal strip closed in a ring of whatsoever shape, either rectangular, round, polygonal, etc.
2. Background Information
Ferrule-assembling machines are known in the brush industry, which are fed separately by bundles of bristles, which constitute the terminal end of the brush, and by ferrules on which the bundles of bristles are attached, normally by means of glueing.
The ferrules are made by closing a band of metallic strip in a ring-shape, then super-imposing and crushing the edges along one of the narrow sides so as to constitute an outer closing projection.
The ferrules generally bear perimeter ribs and writings to identify the brush such as size, brand name, type of bristle or other information in order to define a univocal position wherein the bundle of bristles and the handle are assembled.
The function of the ribs is to stiffen the ferrule but they also function as an element to anchor the adhesive substance, for example the rubber cement, which is used to attach the bundle of bristles to the ferrule.
It is the presence of these ribs which determines univocally the side of the ferrule where the bundle of bristles will be inserted and the side of the ferrule, opposite the first, where the handle of the brush will be inserted.
At present, the operation of feeding the ferrules into the loader of the ferrule-assembling machine is performed manually by a worker who positions them one by one in the only correct feeding position inside the loader.
This manual operation takes a long time and involves a considerable increase in the costs of the operation of assembling the brushes.
To be more exact, the fact that the worker must be present conditions the productivity of the ferrule-assembling machine which, for this reason, is slowed down; this signifies that the full potential of the machine is not exploited and therefore businessmen working in this field have been complaining of this problem for some time.
To overcome this problem and to automate the step of feeding and loading the ferrules to the ferrule-assembling machine there has been a proposal to combine, upstream of the ferrule-assembling machine, a vibrator-feeder device to feed the ferrules automatically, separating them one by one and sending them towards the feeder zone of the ferrule-assembling machine.
This feeder device has the disadvantage that it cannot make a distinction between the side of the ferrule which will cooperate with the bundle of bristles and the side of the ferrule wherein the handle of the brush will be inserted.
In order to overcome this problem, the feeder device can be used only with particular ferrules of a symmetrical type, which increases costs due to the production of the particular ferrules and moreover it means that non-specialised ferrules obviously cannot be used.
The present applicant has designed, tested and embodied this invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art, and to provide further advantages.
The invention is set forth and characterised in the main claim, while the dependent claims describe variants of the idea of the main embodiment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the invention is to provide an automatic loader of ferrules for brushes which will ensure the correct positioning and directioning of the ferrules fed to the ferrule-assembling machine, thus allowing only correctly directioned ferrules to be fed.
The invention makes it possible to use both ferrules made of plastic material and also ordinary metallic ferrules, made from a strip of metal, either brass, stainless steel or otherwise, closed in a ring and having the outer closing projection on one of the narrow sides.
The invention makes it possible to considerably increase the productivity of the ferrule-assembling machine and does not need the constant presence of a worker, with a consequent reduction in the overall costs of the operation to produce the brushes.
The loader according to the invention is simple, economical, small in size and does not use any energy in its working.
The invention is applied in cooperation with the usual feeder assemblies, whether they be vibratory or not, by means of simple, rapid and inexpensive modifications.
The automatic loader according to the invention includes a guide channel, associated with the feeder assembly, for example of the vibratory type, on which the ferrules advance, separated one by one, with the wide face resting on the transport plane of the guide channel and with the open sides arranged in the direction of feed.
The guide channel comprises at least a substantially vertical side wall which cooperates with the transport plane.
The loader according to the invention comprises, upstream of the inlet to the feeder of the ferrule-assembling machine, means to monitor the directioning of the ferrules, functionally associated with expulsion means for expelling the ferrules which are not correctly directioned.
To be more exact, the expulsion means are governed by the monitoring-means and allow only the correctly directioned ferrules to pass towards the ferrule-assembling machine, while they send incorrectly directioned ferrules back inside the vibrator-feeder assembly.
According to a first embodiment of the invention, the monitoring and expulsion means consist respectively of a control aperture or window, made on a wall of the guide channel and by a protruding restraining element made on another wall of the same guide channel.
The control window is longer than the ferrule, the length of the ferrule being measured as the distance between the two open sides thereof, and is slightly less wide than the ferrule.
In this embodiment, at least in correspondence with the monitoring means and the expulsion means, the bottom wall of the guide channel slopes towards the side wall where there is the protruding restraining element; this ensures that one of the two narrow sides of the advancing ferrules continuously rests against the side wall of the guide channel where there is the protruding restraining element and therefore ensures that the protruding restraining element cooperates in contact with one of the two narrow sides of the ferrule.
When the ferrule is correctly positioned, that is to say, with the outer projection resting on the side wall of the guide channel where there is the protruding restraining element and with the fold of the outer projection facing downwards, the restraining element comes into contact with the fold, and holds the ferrule on the transport plane of the guide channel for the whole time needed to pass by the control window.
In all other cases when the ferrule is not correctly directioned on the guide channel, the vibrations cause the ferrule, which is not held laterally by the restraining element, to fall through the control window into the vibrator-feeder assembly again.
With this configuration, only those ferrules which are correctly positioned and directioned pass by the control window and are fed in the desired and correct position to the loader of the ferrule-assembling machine located downstream.
According to a variant of the invention, the aforesaid monitoring means consist of optical monitoring means such as video cameras, sensors, photoelectric cells, fibre optics, etc., and the expulsion means consist of thruster elements with an electromagnetic, pneumatic or hydraulic drive.
In one embodiment, the optical monitoring means consist of a video camera cooperating with the guide channel of the loader.
The images supplied by the video camera are processed, for example compared with a sample image of a corre
Adams & Wilks
Dillon, Jr. Joe
Polese Giovanni Automation Srl
Valenza Joseph E.
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