Coating apparatus – Control means responsive to a randomly occurring sensed... – Responsive to attribute – absence or presence of work
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-30
2001-06-26
Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)
Coating apparatus
Control means responsive to a randomly occurring sensed...
Responsive to attribute, absence or presence of work
C118S679000, C118S713000, C156S064000, C156S356000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06251186
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a machine for applying adhesive to preset regions of products in general, particularly soles for shoes. In many industrial fields, and particularly in the field of shoes, there is the need to be able to apply to preset regions, i.e., at the upper edge of the sole in the case of shoes, a band of adhesive so as to bond the upper of the shoe.
The solutions of the prior art substantially provide for a machine in which the perimetric shape of the sole is acquired and then stored in a programmable processing unit, which drives a dispensing unit below which the sole is conveyed. During the application of the adhesive, the sole stationary and the dispensing unit is moved along two perpendicular directions on a plane, so that the dispensing nozzle can discharge, along a closed path, a jet of adhesive in a direction which is substantially perpendicular to the plane of arrangement of the sole.
This type of apparatus yields satisfactory results in the case of substantially flat soles which have no welt, but it is fully unsuitable in the case of contoured soles, soles with a welt and particularly so-called box soles, i.e., more generally, all soles with contours which form raised portions or have a peripheral region which lies on a plane other than the horizontal plane, so that acquiring the perimetric contour of the sole is not sufficient to allow easy application of the adhesive in the preselected regions. In the current situation, after the acquisition unit has acquired the images, it is necessary to perform considerable corrections in order to reconstruct an acceptable path for the movement of the nozzle, since the acquisition of the contour of the sole against a backlight can provide only partial information which is not sufficient to define a path in space.
Another drawback of the solutions of the prior art is the fact that since the adhesive has to be applied while the sole is stationary, the operating times are relatively long.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The aim of the present invention is to solve the above-cited problems, by providing a machine for applying adhesives to preset regions of products in general, particularly shoe soles, which allows to automatically apply a band of adhesive to shaped soles and allows to affect, with the adhesive, also surfaces which are not predominantly arranged on a horizontal plane.
Within the scope of this aim, a particular object of the present invention is to provide a machine in which it is possible to process so-called box soles while still obtaining a precise acquisition of the shape of the product being acquired, with a consequent precise definition of the actuation of the units meant to dispense adhesive.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a machine which allows to drastically reduce working times, since the sole is not stopped even during the adhesive application step.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a machine for applying adhesive in preset regions of products in general, particularly soles for shoes, which thanks to its particular constructive characteristics is capable of giving the greatest assurances of reliability and safety in use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a machine which can be easily obtained starting from commonly commercially available elements and materials and is also competitive from a merely economical point of view.
This aim, these objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are achieved by a machine for applying adhesive to preset regions of products in general, particularly soles for shoes, according to the invention, characterized in that it comprises a conveyor for continuously moving individual products to be glued, a three-dimensional vision unit for acquiring the spatial shape of each individual product in transit, a first gluing head, which is driven by said vision unit to apply the adhesive to a first portion of said product in transit, and at least one second gluing head, which is driven by said vision unit to apply the adhesive to a second portion of said product in transit which is different from said first portion.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3568638 (1971-03-01), Isaac
patent: 4642975 (1987-02-01), Langen et al.
patent: 4815660 (1989-03-01), Boger
patent: 5114267 (1992-05-01), Smith et al.
patent: 5807449 (1998-09-01), Hooker et al.
Crispino Richard
Josif Albert
Modiano Guido
O'Byrne Daniel
Tadesse Yewebdar T.
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