Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor for changing attitude of item relative to conveyed... – By actuating item-holder relative to holder-carrying conveyor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-26
2001-05-01
Olszewski, Robert P. (Department: 3652)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor for changing attitude of item relative to conveyed...
By actuating item-holder relative to holder-carrying conveyor
C198S409000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223882
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally concerned with automatic loading and/or offloading of a machine of any kind including at least one processing station to which objects to be processed must be presented one by one.
It is more particularly, but not necessarily exclusively, directed to the situation in which the machine is a printing machine, for example a silkscreen printing machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With an eye on productivity, machines of this kind are frequently serviced by at least one conveyor.
There are usually two conveyors, a feed conveyor on the upstream side of the processing station and an evacuation conveyor on the downstream side of the station.
A loading and/or offloading device is also provided for automatically transferring an object to be processed from the feed conveyor to the processing station, for automatic loading of the processing station, and/or transferring a processed object from the processing station to the evacuation conveyor, for automatic offloading of the processing station.
The loading and/or off loading device used in this case therefore comprises at least one transfer member adapted to pick up an object.
The present invention is more particularly directed to the situation in which a transfer member of the above kind has two jaws for holding the object, namely a fixed jaw and a jaw that is mobile relative to the fixed one and which, during an operating cycle of the machine, is alternately closed to pick up an object by cooperating with the fixed jaw to grip the object and opened to release the object.
From one production run to another the objects to be processed may have different configurations and it is important for the transfer member to be easily and quickly adapted to suit the objects without risk of damaging them.
A first object of the invention is an arrangement that satisfies this requirement in a very simple and effective manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In that arrangement, the present invention more precisely consists in a loading and/or offloading device for a machine including a processing station to which objects to be processed must be presented one by one, the loading and/or offloading device including at least one transfer member which includes two jaws for picking up an object, one of which jaws is fixed and the other of which is mobile, wherein the mobile jaw of the transfer member is mounted to be mobile under the control of an actuator including compensator spring means, the tension in which can be adjusted.
Accordingly, from one production run to another, all that is required is to operate on the tension in the compensator spring means so that, when an object is picked up, the force with which the object is gripped by virtue of being clamped between the mobile jaw and the fixed jaw will not lead to any deterioration of the object compromising its integrity.
Moreover, the objects to be processed are handled one by one by a holding device which holds them during printing, when the processing station is a printing station in a printing machine.
It is therefore important for the objects to be processed to be presented to the processing station with a particular orientation that corresponds to that of the holding device.
In practice, in the case of a silkscreen printing machine, each object to be processed then extends along a horizontal axis.
In contrast, when, with an eye on productivity, machines of the kind in question are serviced by two conveyors, a feed conveyor and an evacuation conveyor, the objects to be processed, on the one hand, and the processed objects, on the other hand, both usually extend thereon along a vertical axis.
This is the case, in particular, when the objects are bottles.
Thus, when, still with an eye on productivity, a loading and/or offloading device is used at the processing station concerned and automatically takes the objects to be processed one by one from the feed conveyor, then offers the object to the holding device of the processing station concerned, and then places it on the evacuation conveyor after it has been processed, it is important for the loading and/or offloading device to be able to provide this change of orientation. A loading and/or offloading device for this purpose has been proposed that includes a carriage which is mounted to reciprocate on a frame under the control of translation actuator means, at least one transfer member carried by the carriage and adapted to pick up and to release an object, and tilting means to which the transfer member is slaved and which are able to move the transfer member from a first orientation, in which the picked up object extends along a first axis, to a second orientation, in which the picked up object extends along a second axis which is different from the first axis and which in practice is perpendicular to the plane defined by the first axis and an intermediate axis orthogonal to it.
Two transfer members operating concomitantly are usually provided side by side, one for loading and the other for offloading.
Be this as it may, in prior art loading and/or offloading devices the tilting means of the transfer member(s) are usually controlled individually.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,598 describes a loading and/or offloading device in which, in contrast, the tilting means are operative entirely because of the effect of movement of the carriage, which is to the benefit of productivity.
The above loading and/or offloading device is satisfactory and may continue to be so.
However, it has the drawback of being adapted only to use a transfer member of a particular type, in this instance a transfer member in which the picked up object is held by suction.
The present invention also consists of an arrangement which, in contrast, enables the use of another type of transfer member, if required, and which also has other advantages.
In accordance with this arrangement, the present invention consists of a loading and/or offloading device for a machine including a processing station to which objects to be processed must be presented one by one, said loading and/or offloading device including a carriage which is mounted to reciprocate on a frame under the control of translation drive means, at least one transfer member carried by said carriage adapted to pick up and to release an object, and tilting means to which said transfer member is slaved and which, due exclusively to the effects of movement of said carriage, are adapted to move said transfer member from a first orientation in which said object picked up extends along a first axis to a second orientation in which said object picked up extends along a second axis perpendicular to the plane that said first axis defines with an intermediate axis orthogonal to it, in which device said tilting means for said transfer member include a link articulated to said frame, a crank mounted to rotate about a first shaft end prevented from rotating on said carriage and articulated to said link, a second shaft end orthogonal to said first shaft end and mounted to rotate relative to said crank, and a base carried by said second shaft end, carrying said transfer member and with a bevel gear operating in the manner of an epicyclic gear between said two shaft ends.
Accordingly, and in accordance with the invention, the movement in translation of the carriage brings about the change in the orientation of the transfer member, on the one hand, by means of the crank which, due to the action of the link, causes the transfer member to tilt, and, on the other hand, by the bevel gear which, conjointly with the aforementioned tilting, causes the transfer member to pivot, the bevel gear that carries the shaft end to which is fixed the base carrying the transfer member rolling on that carried by the fixed shaft end as the crank tilts.
Accordingly, if required, the transfer member can be a mechanically operated transfer member, for example, with a gripping or clamping effect, which for some objects at least may be preferable to a transfer member using suction.
Also, if re
Chin Paul T.
Olszewski Robert P.
Societe d'Exploitation des Machines Dubuit
Young & Thompson
LandOfFree
Loading and/or offloading device, in particular for printing... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Loading and/or offloading device, in particular for printing..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Loading and/or offloading device, in particular for printing... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2539799