Electric heating – Metal heating – For bonding with pressure
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-23
2003-02-11
Dunn, Tom (Department: 1725)
Electric heating
Metal heating
For bonding with pressure
C219S083000, C228S005700, C228S044300, C228S049400, C228S213000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06518535
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a seam welding apparatus and a seam welding method for seam-welding a plurality of blanks, and is intended particularly to be used in a mash-seam welding operation or in a general seam welding operation for manufacturing a member to be a part of a car body of an automobile and the like.
BACKGROUND ART
A seam welding operation of joining a plurality of blanks is performed by overlapping respective end portions of the blanks to be joined together, clamping the respective blanks to these positions, and thereafter, seam-welding the respective end portions of the blanks by a pair of electrode rollers of a seam welding machine with its forward movement. Thereby, a finished product made of the plurality of the blanks is manufactured, and after the welding, the seam welding machine moves backward and the clamp is released. Thereafter, in the conventional art, the finished product is hung up by being attached by suction to suction means of a carrying device in an welding area where the plurality of the blanks are seam-welded, and carried from the welding area to another area by the carrying device.
Based on the conventional art, since the finished product having a size almost equal to the total size of the blanks is hung up by being attached by suction to the suction means of the carrying device in the welding area, the welding area needs to be a space with its top open widely.
However, it is sometimes necessary to dispose various members, devices and the like for moving the seam welding machine forward/backward and for other reasons in the welding area. In such cases, it is impossible to keep the welding area to be the space with its top open widely, and it is necessary to work out ways of carrying the finished product from the welding area to the other area and disposing the various members, devices and the like which are necessary for the welding area, even when the welding area is the space in the above condition.
An object of the present invention is to provide a seam welding method and a seam welding apparatus for carrying out the welding method, which is capable of carrying the finished product made of the plurality of the blanks from the welding area to the other area, even though the various members and devices which are necessary for the area are disposed in the welding area for seam-welding the plurality of the blanks.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
A seam welding apparatus according to the present invention comprises a transfer table having a jig member for putting a plurality of blanks thereon and being movable between a standby area and an welding area, a moving device to allow the transfer table to reciprocate horizontally between the standby area and the welding area, a clamping device disposed in the welding area for clamping the plurality of the blanks with these end portions overlapped one another in positional relations for seam-welding the respective end portions in the welding area, and a seam welding machine being movable forward/backward to the welding area for seam-welding the respective end portions.
According to the seam welding apparatus, the plurality of the blanks to be seam-welded are put on the jig member on the transfer table and sent from the standby area to the welding area, and after the seam welding, a finished product made of the plurality of the blanks is similarly put on the jig member on the transfer table and returned to the standby area. Further, the transfer table horizontally reciprocates between the standby area and the welding area by the moving device.
Therefore, even when various members, devices and the like which are necessary for moving the seam welding machine forward/backward and for other reasons are disposed in the welding area, and hence the welding area becomes a space without its top open widely, it becomes possible to send the plurality of the blanks into the welding area and to send the finished product made of the blanks out of the welding area, and to dispose the members, devices and the like which are necessary for the welding area.
Moreover, in the seam welding apparatus, the finished product which is manufactured in the welding area by the plurality of the blanks is returned to its original standby area from which the blanks are sent to the welding area so that an opposite area to the standby area with the welding area therebetween can be freely used.
When a temporary clamping device for temporarily clamping the plurality of the blanks is disposed on the transfer table of the seam welding apparatus according to the present invention, the plurality of the blanks can be temporarily clamped before these are sent from the standby area to the welding area by the transfer table, and hence the plurality of the blanks which are sent to the welding area while being temporarily clamped can be permanently clamped by the aforesaid clamping device and seam-welded in the welding area.
Further, when a lapping device for overlapping the respective end portions of the plurality of the blanks to be seam-welded is disposed to the transfer table of the seam welding apparatus, it is possible to temporarily clamp the blanks by the temporary clamping device after the respective end portions of the plurality of the blanks are overlapped by the lapping device in the welding area.
Thereby, it becomes unnecessary to dispose the lapping device in the welding area, and hence the many more members, devices and the like of various kinds which are necessary for the seam welding can be disposed in the welding area.
Moreover, with the seam welding apparatus according to the present invention, there are two of the jig members provided on the transfer table for putting the plurality of the blanks thereon and disposed with a gap therebetween, and a position of the gap when the transfer table reaches the welding area and stops therein corresponds to a position in which the seam welding machine moves forward/backward, and an electrode roller lying-on member with a part thereof projecting into the gap is disposed on at least one of the two jig members, and the electrode roller lying-on member onto which an upper electrode roller lies, out of two upper/lower electrode rollers of the seam welding machine for seam-welding the respective end portions of the plurality of the blanks, is disposed at a position opposing to at least one of start part side and end part side of welding of the plurality of the blanks.
According to the electrode roller lying-on member, when the electrode roller lying-on member is disposed at the position opposing to the start part side of the welding, the two upper/lower electrode rollers abut against the lying-on member and move to the overlapped end portions of the plurality of the blanks to start the seam welding by pressurizing the end portions. Meanwhile, when the electrode roller lying-on member is disposed at the position opposing to the end part side of the welding, the two upper/lower electrode rollers move to the lying-on member after pressurizing the overlapped end portions of the plurality of the blanks to complete the seam welding. Therefore, the start part and the end part of the welding of the respective end portions of the plurality of the blanks can be prevented from being mashed and deformed.
It is suitable to provide one transfer table of the seam welding apparatus according to the present invention. It is also suitable that the standby areas are disposed at two spots of both sides of the welding area, the two transfer tables are provided, and the moving device allows one of the transfer tables to reciprocate between one of the two standby areas and the welding area and the other transfer table to reciprocate between the other standby area and the welding area.
When there are two transfer tables, the seam welding operation can be performed efficiently by making good use of the transfer tables.
The upper electrode roller out of the two upper/lower electrode rollers of the seam welding machine of the seam welding apparatus is pressed downwardly by pressing means for pressurizing the
Inoue Masayuki
Yamaguchi Shunji
Yamashita Yoshihiro
Yoneya Masataka
Dunn Tom
Flynn, Theil, Boutell & Tanis, P.C.
Kikuchi Co., Ltd.
Stoner Kiley
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