Material or article handling – Horizontally swinging load support – Swinging about pivot
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-25
2001-05-08
Krizek, Janice L. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Horizontally swinging load support
Swinging about pivot
C294S119100, C414S744300, C901S021000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227793
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed generally to the manufacture of pre-hung doors, and more particularly to an automated system capable of selecting a door from one of a number of loading stations for pickup and transport to a work station.
In the construction industry it has long been found expedient to order, and have on hand at the construction site, pre-prepared or pre-hung doors of various sizes and handedness (i.e., the sides of a door at which hinge and door locks are installed). A builder may require several sizes and types of doors for a particular house or building being constructed. For example, some doors may need to be pre-prepared only to have the necessary lock and/or latch hole drilling on door edge, and hinge routing at the other, so that they open away to the right. Other doores may be needed to open away to the left. Thus, door locks, latches, and hinges for the former need to be installed on edges opposite to those for the latter. (Installation may either be at the construction site or by the manufacturer.)
The manufacture of doors, including pre-prepared and pre-hung doors, can be labor intensive. Thus, to reduce costs, the door manufacturing industry has resorted to automation wherever possible in order to reduce many of the labor-intensive aspects of door manufacture, providing automated workstations at which the various door preparation activities can take place. An example of such automated door preparation systems can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,895.
Today, however, door manufacture still has costly, labor-intensive aspects. Transporting doors to the workstation is one example. Although conveyors can be used to transport a door to the workstation, someone must still make door selection (size, style, hinged side, etc.) to place it on the conveyor for transport to the workstation. An order for doors may include 20 doors of one size, 20 more doors of the same size but with a different handedness (i.e., the edge on which the hinges and locks are to be placed), and 20 more doors of a different size. Someone must make the selection, place them on the conveyor belt (or other transport means) for transport to the workstation, and then off-load the doors from the conveyor belt to the workstation for preparing the doors.
Accordingly, there is needed in the door manufacturing industry apparatus that can conveniently and quickly transport different sizes of doors to a workstation without too much manual intervention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a door transport system capable of selecting between at least two door pick-up stations to pick up a door from one of the pick-up stations for transport to a workstation.
In one embodiment of the invention, a swing arm is pivotally mounted to a vertical column to extend laterally thereof and move through an arc to place a distal end of the swing arm in overlying relation to stacks of doors (pick-up stations). Attached at the distal end of the swing arm is a gripping mechanism capable of grasping a door for removal from a stack and transport to a workstation. The swing arm includes a master sprocket fixedly connected at the pivot point, a slave sprocket mounted at the distal end and connected to the door pick-up mechanism. The two sprockets are connected so that movement of the swing arm about the pivot point will produce a concomitant movement of the pick-up mechanism in a manner that causes the door pick-up mechanism to maintain its position relative to the stacks of doors and workstation.
In another embodiment of the invention the coupling between the master and slave sprockets includes pneumatically or hydraulically operated cylinders that operate to rotate the door pick-up mechanism for repositioning the door as desired. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the coupling between the master and slave sprockets is a chain that includes two cylinder pairs.
In use, the swing arm may be rotated about its pivot point to position the door pick-up mechanism in overlying relation to one or another stack of doors. The swing arm can then be lowered to bring the door pick-up mechanism into engagement with the door at the top of the selected stack. The door is grasped by the door pick-up mechanism, and the swing arm rotates again to transport the door to the workstation.
A number of advantages are achieved by the present invention. First, the automated nature of the system reduces much of the labor presently needed for handling the door to transport it to a workstation, as well as reducing the potential for back injuries of a person that must carry the door.
In addition, the ability to select between different stacks of doors allows the system to be used to fill a order of variety of doors. That is, different size doors can be placed in different stacks, and the doors from one stack and then the other transported to the workstation for pre-preparation and/or pre-hanging activities.
Further, since most workstations for door preparation have the hinge-routing and door lock-drilling mechanism for only one side of the door, the rotational capability of the door pick-up mechanism allows the user to change the handedness of the doors being prepared.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in this art upon a reading of the following detailed description of the invention, which should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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patent: 5391050 (1995-02-01), Gatteschi
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patent: 6068438 (2000-05-01), Barry
patent: 6171762 (1994-06-01), None
patent: 1579718 (1990-07-01), None
patent: 1627483 (1991-02-01), None
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KVAL Automated Door Systems, pp. 8 and 20 (No date).
Brochure: RUVO 2000 Unloading/Stacking Equipment (2 pages) (No date).
Krizek Janice L.
Norfield Industries
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
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