Advancing material of indeterminate length – By intermittent material-mover – Adjustable feeder
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-08
2001-02-06
Mansen, Michael R. (Department: 3653)
Advancing material of indeterminate length
By intermittent material-mover
Adjustable feeder
C226S150000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182880
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates in general to strip feeding devices.
More particularly, the invention concerns a feeding device of the type comprising a pair of longitudinal sliding guides, means for feeding the strip in steps parallel to said guides, including a stationary gripper and a movable gripper each comprising a fixed jaw and a movable jaw arranged transversally and on opposite sides of the strip and a pneumatic actuator group for commanding the linear alternating movement forward and backward of the movable gripper with respect to the stationary gripper along said longitudinal guides and the opening and closing movements of the movable jaws of the said grippers with respect to the respective fixed jaws in sync with the alternating movement of the movable gripper, and an adjustable abutment member interacting with the movable gripper at the end of its forward movement in order to determine the strip feeding step.
PRIOR ART
Feeding devices of this type are known from the European patents EP-B-655405 and EP-B-655406 wherein the abovementioned abutment member comprises a crosspiece provided with a pair of end blocks suitable for engaging, by way of removable positive couplings, with corresponding reference seats of the sliding guides of the feeder.
This embodiment is illustrated schematically in
FIG. 1
, wherein with the numeral
1
are indicated the two longitudinal sliding guides at one end of which is fitted a pneumatic actuator unit
2
with which the stationary gripper
3
, with its fixed
3
a
and movable
3
b
jaws, is operatively associated. Indicated with the numeral
4
is the movable gripper, with its fixed
4
a
and movable
4
b
jaws, which is movable with an alternating rectilinear motion along the sliding guides
1
by means of the rod
5
of the pneumatic actuator unit
2
.
The movable jaws
3
b
and
4
b
of the stationary
3
and movable
4
grippers are made from crosspieces arranged orthogonally to the feeding direction of the strip, parallel to the sliding guides
1
and indicated with F, and actuated—in sync with the alternating movement of the movable gripper
4
—between a raised position and a lowered strip gripping position.
The movable gripper
4
, at the end opposite the stationary gripper
3
, bears a central damping abutment
6
suitable for interacting with an adjustable screw-in stop
7
borne by a crosspiece
8
adjustably fastened to the sliding guides
1
. The adjustment position of the crosspiece
8
, and therefore the adjustment of the relative screw-in stop
7
, permit to determine with precision the stroke of the movable gripper
4
and, as a result, the strip feeding step.
For adjustment purposes, the stop crosspiece
8
is traditionally provided with a pair of end blocks
9
each removably attached thereto by a respective pair of lateral screws
10
. Each end block
9
is made integrally with an internal prismatic key-shaped protrusion
11
suitable for selectively engaging, through a removable positive coupling, with complementary prismatic key seats
12
made in the external side of the corresponding sliding guide
1
.
The production of the prismatic key seats
12
involves relatively complex and delicate milling operations, followed by manual rectification. These are obviously onerous operations, leading to high production costs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of this invention is that of overcoming the above drawback.
In accordance with the invention, this object is achieved due to the fact that the abovementioned reference seats of the longitudinal sliding guides are made from substantially hemispherical recesses, and that said end blocks of the stop crosspiece are provided with substantially hemispherical protrusions suitable for engaging in said recesses.
Production of the hemispherical recesses, using simple, complementarily shaped milling tools, does not present any particular difficulties and does not require any further finishing work. The hemispherical protrusions of the end blocks of the crosspiece are also particularly simple to produce, given that these protrusions may to advantage be made of end heads borne on pins inserted in corresponding holes in the blocks themselves.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2624575 (1953-01-01), Koch
patent: 2670953 (1954-03-01), Marsilius
patent: 4513899 (1985-04-01), Ledgerwood
patent: 4580710 (1986-04-01), Ledgerwood
patent: 5505360 (1996-04-01), Giusto
patent: 5513790 (1996-05-01), Giusto
Herrblitz Modular System S.r.l.
Mansen Michael R.
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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