Object supplying apparatus

Details Object supplying apparatus Object supplying apparatus

2000-06-15

2002-04-23

Schwartz, Christopher P. (Department: 3613)

Conveyors: power-driven

Conveyor for changing attitude of item relative to conveyed...

By conveying randomly faced items and turning items to...

C198S407000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06374986

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for supplying objects such as leadless electric components and particularly to the art of improving the reliability with which the apparatus supplies the objects.
2. Related Art Statement
There is known an electric-component (“EC”) supplying apparatus which supplies leadless ECs each of which has no leads or no lead wires and which are carried by an EC carrier tape. The EC carrier tape includes an EC accommodating tape having a plurality of pockets which are formed at a predetermined pitch and each of which accommodates an EC; and a cover tape which is adhered to the EC accommodating tape and covers respective openings of the pockets. The EC supplying apparatus includes a tape feeding device which feeds the EC carrier tape so that the ECs are fed one by one to an EC-supply portion of the apparatus from which each of the ECs is taken out by an EC holder.
Since the EC carrier tape holds the ECs in the pockets, the EC supplying apparatus can supply the ECs one by one, with high reliability. However, this apparatus suffers from various problems. For example, the apparatus needs to deal with a long EC accommodating tape having a number of EC accommodating pockets, to supply the ECs. In addition, the ECs must be accommodated in the pockets of the tape in advance.
Thus, there is a demand for an object supplying apparatus which can supply objects with high reliability, without using a carrier tape.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an object supplying apparatus which has one or more of the technical features that are described below in respective paragraphs given parenthesized sequential numbers (1) to (29). Any technical feature which includes another technical feature shall do so by referring, at the beginning, to the parenthesized sequential number given to the latter feature. Thus, two or more of the following technical features may be combined, if appropriate. Each technical feature may be accompanied by a supplemental explanation, as needed. However, the following technical features and the appropriate combinations thereof are just examples to which the present invention is by no means limited. In addition, in the case where one technical feature recites a plurality of items, it is not essentially required that all those items be simultaneously employed. That is, it is possible that only a portion (one, two, . . . , but not all) of those items be selected and employed.
(1) According to a first feature of the present invention, there is provided an object supplying apparatus, comprising a housing; a plurality of pulleys which are rotatable about respective substantially horizontal axis lines and at least one of which is provided in the housing; a conveyor belt which has a plurality of pockets provided in a surface thereof and arranged in a lengthwise direction thereof, and which is wound on the pulleys such that a portion of the belt extends in a substantially horizontal direction and the pockets provided in said portion of the belt open upward; a circulative lifter which is circulated on a substantially vertical plane in the housing, and which has at least one holder which holds at least one of a plurality of objects present in a lower portion of the housing, conveys the object upward, and releases the object at an object-release position in the housing; a guide device which is provided below the object-release position and which guides the object toward said portion of the conveyor belt; and a clearing device which clears, from said portion of the conveyor belt, the object which has not been accommodated in any of the pockets of said portion of the belt and is present on said portion of the belt. The holder may be provided by a bucket, a blade, or a permanent magnet. For example, in the case where a bucket is employed as the holder, the object held by the bucket hardly falls off the bucket as the circulative lifter is circulated, and accordingly the lifter can reliably convey the object. The object is guided by the guide device and is accommodated by the upward opening pocket of the conveyor belt. As the conveyor belt is moved, the object present in the pocket is conveyed to, e.g., an object-supply portion of the object supplying apparatus. One or more objects which are not accommodated in the pockets of the conveyor belt and are present on the belt are cleared from the belt by the clearing device. Some objects fall downward off the conveyor belt by being cleared by the clearing device, and other objects fall downward without being received on the belt when the objects are released from the holder of the circulative lifter. Those objects are conveyed upward by the holder of the circulative lifter, subsequently are released from the holder, and then are guided by the guide device toward the pockets of the conveyor belt. The clearing of objects by the clearing device, the conveying of objects by the circulative lifter, and the guiding of objects by the guide device are repeated, while each object is accommodated by one pocket at an appropriate convenience and is conveyed by the belt to the object-supply portion. The present object supplying apparatus can reliably supply, one by one, the objects each of which is accommodated in the pocket, without using a carrier tape. After one object is taken out from each pocket and the pocket is made empty, another object is accommodated by the pocket. Since in this way the conveyor belt can be used repeatedly, the present apparatus can supply the objects one by one with high reliability and at low cost. The present object supplying apparatus can be said as one which includes an object-carrier-tape producing device which produces an object carrier tape having a number of pockets formed in a lengthwise direction thereof and accommodating a number of objects, respectively; and a tape feeding device which intermittently feeds the object carrier tape through the object-supply portion. Thus, the present object supplying apparatus is equivalent to one which circulates the object carrier tape and repeatedly uses the same.
(2) According to a second feature of the present invention that includes the first feature (1), a first one of the plurality of pulleys is provided inside the housing and a second one of the pulleys is provided outside the housing, and said portion of the conveyor belt extends in the substantially horizontal direction between the first and second pulleys. According to the second feature (2), a pocket of a portion of the conveyor belt that is located in the vicinity of the second pulley opens upward, so that an object present in the upward opening pocket can be taken out by, e.g., a negative-pressure suction nozzle. In this case, it is preferred that a cover member be employed to cover a portion of the conveyor belt that is located between the housing and the suction nozzles so as to prevent one or more objects accommodated in one or more pockets of that portion of the belt, from jumping out of the pockets because of, e.g., vibration. However, it is possible to provide all of the plurality of pulleys and the entirety of the conveyor belt inside the housing. In the last case, the portion of the belt that extends in the substantially horizontal direction between the first and second pulleys, may be moved at a level below the top wall of the housing, with only a small space left between the portion of the belt and the top wall of the housing, and the top wall may have an aperture through which each object is taken out from each pocket of the belt, so that the top wall may function like the above-indicated cover member.
(3) According to a third feature of the present invention that includes the first or second feature (1) or (2), the circulative lifter comprises a rotatable lifter which is rotatable about a substantially horizontal axis line and which has a plurality of said holders in an outer peripheral portion thereof such that the holders are angularly spaced from each other about the horizontal axis line. The ho

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