Crimping apparatus for sub-harness production employing...

Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Means to assemble electrical device

Reexamination Certificate

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C029S745000, C029S747000, C029S748000, C029S857000, C029S861000, C029S863000, C198S346100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06810581

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crimping apparatus having a pair of crimpers provided correspondingly in a pair of frames and a pair of connector tables located on each frame and capable of manufacturing various kinds of sub-harnesses and a method of manufacturing them.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIGS. 14
to
16
show a crimping apparatus disclosed in JP-A-7-161438 and JP-A-161439(which correspond to U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,523).
A crimping apparatus, generally
81
, as shown in
FIG. 14
, sends an electric wire
82
(simply referred to as “wire”) to a pair of crimpers
86
and
86
′ arranged in a wire shifting direction through a supporting roller
83
, guide roller
84
and measuring roller
85
, and crimps the wire onto connectors
89
and
89
′ on moving tables
87
and
87
′ below the respective crimpers
86
and
86
′ by the ascent/descent operation of vertical cylinders
88
and
88
′. After the wire is crimped on the connector on the forward moving table
87
′, it is extended to a prescribed length like
82
a
by the measuring roller
85
and crimped on the connector on the backward moving table
87
. The connector is equipped with a crimping terminal.
As seen from
FIG. 15
, the connectors
89
and
89
′ are loaded on the moving tables
87
and
87
′, respectively. Specifically, a cover
91
is opened by pulling a handle
90
and the connector
89
is loaded in a load section
92
. The connector
89
is hooked by a hook (not shown) at a tip of a horizontal cylinder
93
and moved to a stopper
94
on the moving table
87
. As shown in
FIGS. 16A and 16B
, a crimping blade
96
falls from a slit
95
on the connector
89
to crimp the wire
89
on the connector
89
. The wire
82
can be crimped in a crossing manner by movement of a moving table
87
.
As shown in
FIG. 16A
, the wire
82
is crimped in a state where it is held by a wire holder
99
of the cylinder
97
which falls integrally with crimping blade
96
. The crimping blade
96
is driven by the vertical cylinder
86
(FIG.
14
). As the crimping blade
96
falls, the wire
82
is cut by a cutter
98
and crimped on the crimping terminal
100
within the connector as shown in FIG.
16
B.
In the above configuration, however, as shown in
FIG. 15
, only the connectors corresponding to a set of sub-harnesses can be supplied. In addition, the connectors must be manually loaded one by one. This requires further improvement of productivity and workability. Further, only the connectors having a single shape (common in only the longitudinal cross section and different in length) could be loaded so that sub-harnesses using various kinds of connectors could not be manufactured. Therefore, the arrangement of connectors are likely to be limited, thus making “set production of sub-harnesses” in which the completed sub-harness has a product pattern) difficult. Further, in
FIG. 16
, where the height h of the connector
89
is large, positioning of the wire
82
by the wire holder
99
was apt to be unstable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide a crimping apparatus capable of improving the productivity of sub-harnesses and supplying efficiency of connectors, permitting set-production of sub-harnesses, and surely positioning a wire even when the height of the connector is large.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a wiring harness using such an apparatus.
In order to attain the first object, there is provided a crimping apparatus comprising a pair of frames arranged orthogonal to a wire shifting direction; a pair of crimpers each provided centrally in each frame; a pair of connector tables each provided movably in a longitudinal direction of each frame; locking means for securing the connector tables on both ends of each frame; a pair of moving means for moving each said connector table along the frame; and connector holding poles in each of which a plurality of connectors are arranged to be settable on each said connector table.
In order to attain the second object, there is provided a method of manufacturing a sub-harness using a crimping apparatus including a crimper provided centrally in a frame and a pair of first and second connector tables slidable in the longitudinal direction of the frame, comprising the steps of:
moving the first connector table immediately beneath said crimper; supplying a connector to said second connector table while crimping a wire onto a connector on said first connector table to form a sub-harness; returning said first connector table to an initial position; moving said second connector table immediately beneath said crimper; and removing the sub-harness from the first connector table to supply another connector to said first connector table while crimping the wire onto the connector on the second connector table.
In accordance with the present invention, while a wire can be crimped onto a connector on the first connector table, another connector can be supplied to the second connector table, or otherwise a sub-harness can be recovered from the second connector table. Thus, the time taken from connector supply to take-out of a product can be shortened, thereby improving the productivity of the sub-harness.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3735467 (1973-05-01), Smart
patent: 3754324 (1973-08-01), Krehbiel et al.
patent: 4043032 (1977-08-01), Spangler
patent: 4281442 (1981-08-01), Senior et al.
patent: 4367575 (1983-01-01), Forster et al.
patent: 4489476 (1984-12-01), Over et al.
patent: 4492023 (1985-01-01), Schneider et al.
patent: 4566164 (1986-01-01), Brown et al.
patent: 4729152 (1988-03-01), Hammond et al.
patent: 4976294 (1990-12-01), Kudo et al.
patent: 5119666 (1992-06-01), Fujiwara
patent: 5208969 (1993-05-01), Hidese
patent: 5249662 (1993-10-01), Nakano et al.
patent: 5432995 (1995-07-01), Takenami et al.
patent: 5454523 (1995-10-01), Matsuda
patent: 5611141 (1997-03-01), Takada et al.
patent: 5737835 (1998-04-01), Murata
patent: 5791037 (1998-08-01), Takada et al.
patent: 5878489 (1999-03-01), Shioda et al.
patent: 5933932 (1999-08-01), Watanabe et al.
patent: 7-161437 (1995-06-01), None
patent: 7-161440 (1995-06-01), None
patent: 8-124967 (1996-05-01), None
patent: 8-189511 (1996-07-01), None
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08-857,249 filed May 16,1997 for Method and Apparatus of Manufacturing Wiring Harness.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/870,289 filed Jun. 6, 1997 for Pressure Welding Apparatus and Pressure Welding Method.

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