Article dispensing – With discharge assistant – With size adjusting means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-05
2003-01-14
Bollinger, David H. (Department: 3653)
Article dispensing
With discharge assistant
With size adjusting means
C221S254000, C221S258000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06505756
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a delivery device, by which small parts in the nature of studs, bushes and pins are delivered to a transportation channel from a sloping collection area, with a retaining and dividing wall, which stands approximately perpendicular, on one side of which the sloping collection area ends in an aperture at a distance from the retaining and dividing wall and along the other side of which is the transportation channel running at an incline to the horizontal, and with a strut in the form of a plate, also displaceable approximately perpendicularly along the retaining and dividing wall, which in its lower position is located approximately at the height of the end edge of the sloping collection area and in its upper position above the transportation channel, in such a way that small parts coming to rest on the retaining and dividing wall are carried along by the upper narrow side of the strut and are delivered into the transportation channel over the upper edge of the retaining and dividing wall.
A delivery device of this kind is known from operational practice. The small parts such as studs, bushes and pins arrive on the sloping surface from a magazine and come to a halt at the retaining and dividing wall still in a largely random arrangement. The strut travels upwards at regular intervals and takes the small parts located on its upper narrow side with it. The small parts located on the upper narrow side are by this time substantially aligned in their longitudinal direction. Once the upper edge of the strut has gone beyond the height of the retaining and dividing wall, a side infeed conveys the small parts over the upper edge of the retaining and dividing wall into the transportation channel located on the other side. The receiver profile of the transportation channel, i.e. the shape of its cross-section, is often a segment of a circle, the measurement of which approximately corresponds to that of the small parts to be transported. The small parts then slide in a kind of flat channel or trough, wherein the transportation channel vibrates. They are delivered therein to an application site.
In practice it has been found that the known delivery device is not free of defects. For instance, during the lifting movement of the strut individual small parts often fell back on to the sloping collection area in an erratic fashion. Or they were not reliably delivered to the transportation channel at the highest point of the strut. It had also proved desirable to be able to meter the exact number of small parts arriving in the transportation channel from the sloping collection area. This is the way to achieve as even a supply to the transportation channel as possible.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is therefore to create a delivery device of the kind initially mentioned, by which the small parts can be delivered to the transportation channel from the sloping collection area reliably and in amounts which can be exactly determined.
The delivery device is characterised in that the upper narrow side of the strut slopes diagonally downwards at least partially towards the retaining and dividing wall.
When the upper narrow side of the strut slopes obliquely downwards in the way described, in a lower position of the strut the small parts arrive in a kind of channel of acute-angled cross-section, which is formed by the perpendicular side face of the retaining and dividing wall on the one hand and by the obliquely running upper narrow side of the strut on the other hand. Small parts in the nature of studs, bushes and pins, which usually have a basically rotationally symmetrical shape, thus lodge themselves on the retaining and dividing wall in a substantially orderly fashion and with their axial direction running parallel to the retaining and dividing wall. If the strut is then driven upwards into an upper position, the obliquely designed upper narrow edge prevents the small parts from falling down and they roll with no further ado from the narrow side down into the transportation channel when the upper edge of the retaining and dividing wall has been passed. The delivery device according to the invention therefore works very reliably and it can be expected that the small parts, having reached the oblique upper narrow edge of the strut, will be reliably delivered into the transportation channel. The amount of small parts with which the transportation channel is supplied can therefore be set with great accuracy.
According to a further development of the invention it is provided that upwardly directed projections in the nature of pinnacles and gaps alternate with one another in the longitudinal direction of the upper narrow side of the strut. Preferably the slope directed obliquely downwards towards the retaining and dividing wall is only present in the gaps.
Thus, according to this further development not the whole upper narrow side of the strut is utilised to transport the small parts. In other words, the upwardly directed projections of the strut are not used for transporting the small parts. The number of small parts which are to arrive in the transportation channel can thus be varied.
A further improvement can occur if the projections slope obliquely upwards towards the retaining and dividing wall. In this way it is achieved that those small parts which are not to be taken along arrive back promptly and carefully on the sloping collection area and that the small parts are prevented from being left behind and falling down.
In order to make the best possible use of the transportation length of the strut, according to a further advantageous development the longitudinal extension of the gaps is to be a multiple of the longitudinal extension of the projections. Concretely it is preferable if the longitudinal extension of the gaps is three to five times the longitudinal extension of the projections.
To accommodate different types of small parts or to adapt to different amounts to be conveyed each time the strut is lifted, the strut could be changed each time. However, according to a further advantageous development it is preferably provided that a metering plate is joined on to the strut, in particular to the upper region of the strut, on which the gaps are left open and the projections are formed by bending upwards. In this case adapting to different types or numbers of small parts can be done by simple changing of the metering plate. The metering plate can, for example, be screwed to the strut for ease of changing.
So that the small parts move as easily and automatically as possible from the sloping collection area on to the upper narrow side of the strut when they come to rest on the retaining and dividing wall in the lower operating position of the strut, it is provided, according to yet another development, that in the lower position of the strut the higher edge of its upper narrow side is located approximately at the height of the adjacent end edge of the sloping collection area. The upper narrow side of the strut therefore becomes a continuation of the sloping collection area and facilitates the transition and the alignment of the small parts.
The invention also relates to a transportation channel in a device for transporting small parts in the nature of studs, bushes, pins and suchlike which are delivered to an application site from a store, the transportation channel having a receiver profile of such a kind that the small parts are conveyed on the transportation channel sliding substantially in the direction of their longitudinal axis. Transportation channels of this kind are known. In combination with the corresponding automatic transportation devices they serve in automatic assembly to deliver a large number of small parts, including, for example, screws, continuously to the assembly site. A known example is the automatic production of motor vehicles. The transportation channel can be sloping or driven by an oscillating conveyor. The receiver profile in the transportation direction, i.e. its cross-section, is often a segment
Schneider Stefan
Walldorf Hugo
Bollinger David H.
Murphy Edward D.
Newfrey LLC
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