Article dispensing – With orienting – By manipulation of successive individual articles
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-03
2001-07-24
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Article dispensing
With orienting
By manipulation of successive individual articles
C221S200000, C221S236000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264061
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic component supply apparatus, which supplies prism-shaped electronic components stored within a storage chamber in a bulk state by arranging them in a prescribed direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-232596 discloses an apparatus, which supplies electronic components stored within a storage chamber by arranging them in a prescribed direction.
This apparatus is equipped with a storage box for storing a large number of chip components in a bulk state, a taking-in pipe vertically movably disposed in a bottom of the storage box, and a conveyance pipe disposed inside the taking-in pipe. When vertically moving the taking-in pipe by a lever mechanism, the chip components within the storage box are taken lengthwise into the taking-in pipe one by one, whereupon the chip components taken in the taking-in pipe are moved downward within the conveyance pipe by their own weight in a state of their being oriented in the same lengthwise direction.
The above-described apparatus is suited for supplying column-shaped components but is very unsuitable for supplying prism-shaped chip components.
Namely, in a case where supplying prism-shaped chip components, when these chip components are taken into the taking-in pipe and when the chip components are moved in the conveyance pipe by their own weight, it is necessary to make four side surfaces of the chip components other than both end surfaces in the lengthwise direction of it the same direction. However, said apparatus cannot make such a posture control, it is not possible to make the posture of the chip components taken in the taking-in pipe and the posture of the chip components moved in the conveyance pipe by its own weight the same direction.
With even said apparatus, if making the cross-sectional configuration of the inner holes of the taking-in pipe and conveyance pipe conform to the configuration of the end surface of the prism-shaped chip component, when the chip component is taken into the taking-in pipe and when the chip component is moved in the conveyance pipe by its own weight, controlling the posture of the chip component is possible if theoretically.
However, in said apparatus wherein the taking-in pipe is moved vertically on the outer side of the conveyance pipe, even if the cross-sectional configuration of the respective inner holes of the taking-in pipe and conveyance pipe has been conformed to the configuration of the end surface of the prism-shaped chip component, it is very difficult, in actuality, to cause the prism-shaped component to be taken into the taking-in pipe. As a result, there occurs the inconvenience that the supply of the chip components will be often interrupted due to a decrease in the taking-in probability.
Among others, in recent years, because of a demand to speed up the loading of the components onto a circuit board and the inserting of the components into accommodation recessed portions of a component wrapping tape respectively, there has been demanded the electronic component supply apparatus having a supplying performance capable of satisfying such a speed-up demand.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel electronic component supply apparatus which can perform stably and successively the operation of supplying prism-shaped electronic components stored within a storage chamber in a bulk state by arranging each of them in a prescribed direction.
To achieve the above object, an electronic component supply apparatus of the present invention comprises a storage chamber for storing prism-shaped electronic components each having a prescribed width, thickness and length in a bulk state; two taking-in members upper ends of which are directed to the interior of the storage chamber, said two taking-in members being disposed at a bottom of the storage chamber in a state where flat surfaces thereof are in contact with each other and are relatively movable; a recessed portion formed in the flat surface of at least one of the taking-in members, said recessed portion forming a parallel space between the upper portions of the two taking-in members at the time of relative movements, said parallel space having a clearance larger than the thickness of one electronic component and smaller than a total sum of the thicknesses of two electronic components; and a groove formed in the flat surface of at least one of the taking-in members, said grove forming a supply passageway between the two taking-in members so as to be communicated with the parallel space, said supply passageway having a rectangular cross section conforming to the configuration of an end surface of the electronic component
According to this apparatus, by causing relative movement of the two taking-in members having their flat surfaces kept in contact with each other, the prism-shaped electronic components stored within a storage chamber can be entered into the parallel space between the upper portions of the two taking-in members in a state where the thicknesswise directions thereof are equally arranged. Then, the electronic components which have been entered into the parallel space can be taken lengthwise into the supply passageway one by one in a state where the thicknesswise direction and the widthwise direction are made the same and can be moved downward by their own weight.
Since the electronic components stored in the storage chamber is entered into the parallel space between the upper portions of the two taking-in members in a state where the thicknesswise directions thereof are equally arranged and then the electronic components which have been entered into the parallel space are taken lengthwise into the supply passageway one by one in a state where the thicknesswise direction and the widthwise direction are made the same, it is possible to enhance the probability that the prism-shaped electronic components will be taken with a prescribed posture into the supply passageway. As a result, it is possible to perform stably and successively the operation of supplying the prism-shaped electronic components stored in the storage chamber by orienting each of them in a prescribed direction.
Also, an electronic component supply apparatus of the present invention comprises a storage chamber for storing prism-shaped electronic components each having a prescribed width, thickness and length in a bulk state; two taking-in members upper ends of which are directed to the interior of the storage chamber, said two taking-members being disposed at a bottom of the storage chamber in a state where flat surfaces thereof oppose each other through a gap therebetween in parallel with each other; a spacer disposed relatively movably between the flat surfaces of the two taking-in members, said spacer forming a parallel space between the upper portions of the two taking-in members at the time of relative movements, said parallel space having a clearance larger than the thickness of one electronic component and smaller than a total sum of the thicknesses of two electronic components; and a slit formed in the spacer, said slit forming a supply passageway between the two taking-in members so as to be communicated with the parallel space, said supply passageway having a rectangular cross section conforming to the configuration of an end surface of the electronic component.
According to this apparatus, by causing relative movement of the spacer between the two taking-in members, the prism-shaped erecronic components stored within a storage chamber can be entered into the parallel space between the upper portions of the two taking-in members in a state where the thicknesswise directions thereof are equally arranged. Then, the electronic components which have been entered into the parallel space can be taken lengthwise into the supply passageway one by one in a state where the thicknesswise direction and the widthwise direction are made the same and can be moved downward by their own weight.
Aikawa Yutaka
Fukai Kikuji
Saito Koji
Yasuda Taro
Crawford Gene O.
Ellis Christopher P.
Lowe Hauptman & Gilman & Berner LLP
Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd
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