Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor system having a gravity conveyor section – With means to affect flow
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-30
2001-07-10
Noland, Kenneth W. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor system having a gravity conveyor section
With means to affect flow
C221S227000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257394
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a part-conveying apparatus, particularly, to an apparatus in which parts are aligned along a sloped chute and the parts are slid down the chute.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a separating and conveying apparatus for small parts such as chip parts, an apparatus as described below is known.
The apparatus has a chamber, a sloped chute, and a horizontal guide path. The chamber stores a large number of parts. The chute aligns the parts from a lower end section of the chamber and ejects the parts. The guide path is connected to the lower end section of the chute, and the parts are ejected from the end of the guide path. This type of apparatus is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 63-127600 and 8-222890.
The conveying apparatus allows the parts to slide down with the weight of the parts. Therefore, the larger the slope angle in the chute, the easier the parts slide down the chute. With a large slope angle in the chute, however, the angle at which the chute intersects with the horizontal guide path also increases, in which the parts may not move smoothly in the guide path and at the intersection. In contrast, with a small slope angle in the chute, the parts move smoothly in the guide path and at the intersection, but frictional forces between the parts and the chute increase, thereby frequently causing jamming of the parts. Simple increase of the slope angle in the chute is not a sufficient measure for prevention of jams in cases where the individual parts are of a small mass, are dirty, or are electrostatically charged.
To solve these problems, proposals have been made to feed compressed air into the chute or to draw out air therefrom to force the parts to slide down. These arrangements, however, require additional devices, such as an air supply and air paths, thereby producing problems of increased cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the problems as described above, the present invention provides a part-conveying apparatus that has a simple configuration and allows parts within a chute to slide therethrough smoothly.
To achieve this and other objects described above, the present invention provides a part-conveying apparatus that has a chute sloped to align and slide down parts, a mobile member for slidably supporting the parts in a bottom section of the chute either in the direction of or perpendicular to the chute so as to be movable, and driving means for finely moving the mobile member either in the direction of or perpendicular to the chute.
When the parts in the chute are of a small mass, are dirty, or are electrostatically charged, frictional forces may occur between the parts and the mobile member provided in a bottom section of the chute, stacking the parts and causing jams. In the present invention, however, the mobile member is finely moved either in the direction of or perpendicular to the chute to discontinue the friction, thereby allowing the parts to slide down the chute smoothly.
In the above case, the slope angle in the chute can be reduced to allow the parts to slide down smoothly. Therefore, in an arrangement where a guide path is connected to intersect with a lower end section of the chute, the angle at which the chute intersects with the guide path can also be reduced. This allows the parts to move from the chute into the guide path smoothly.
So that the mobile member may finely move, the present invention may be composed of a horizontal guide path connected to the lower end section of the chute to align and guide the parts, a conveying member in a bottom section of the horizontal guide path arranged movable forward and backward, and a conveying means for reciprocating the conveying member so as to move backward faster than to move forward and for conveying forward the parts on an upper surface of the conveying member. In this respect, the driving means may be used as an engaging section formed between the mobile member and the conveying member to finely move the mobile member either in the direction of the chute or perpendicular to the chute in coincidence with forward and backward movement of the conveying member.
In the above arrangement, since the conveying member can be used to finely move the mobile member, no particular driving mechanism need be provided, thus simplifying the configuration. Furthermore, the mobile member operates in coincidence with every feed of the parts, thereby ensuring prevention of the problem of parts being stacked and jammed.
Furthermore, the present invention may be arranged to have a guiding means for guiding the mobile member so as to be movable by a constant distance in the direction of the chute. The aforementioned driving means may be composed of a first spring for urging down the mobile member, a second spring for urging up the mobile member, and a lever to which at least one of the first spring and the second spring is connected so as to oscillate and move in the direction of the chute.
In the above, the lever oscillates and moves in a first direction to increase a spring force of the second spring to be greater than a spring force of the first spring so as to move up the mobile member. Also, the lever oscillates and moves in a second direction to increase a spring force of the first spring to be greater than a spring force of the second spring so as to move down the mobile member.
In the above arrangement, since the stroke of the mobile member can be determined according to the guiding means or without depending on the stroke of the lever. Therefore, the stroke of the mobile member can be determined with high precision. Furthermore, the size relationship in the springing force of the first and second springs causes movement of the mobile member without an excessive load being exerted. Therefore, the mobile member operates smoothly, eliminating the problems due to friction.
In the present invention, the guide path does not need to be connected to the lower end section of the chute. Furthermore, the conveying member provided in the bottom section of the guide path is not restricted to a reciprocating type. It may be displaced by a conveying member such as a belt that operates in a single direction.
Furthermore, provision of the conveying means in the guide path is not mandatory. It may be a simple arrangement in which parts that have slid down a chute are conveyed into a horizontal guide path using the falling force of the parts.
Furthermore, as is apparent from the above, compared to conventional apparatuses using compressed air or a drawn-out air, the present invention is simple in configuration. This allows reduction in cost to be achieved.
Furthermore, even with a small slope angle in the chute, the parts can be cased to slide down easily. Therefore, in an arrangement where the guide path is connected to a lower end section of the chute, the angle at which the chute and the guide path intersect can be small, by which the parts can be moved smoothly from the chute to the guide path.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4732296 (1988-03-01), Heck et al.
patent: 5426930 (1995-06-01), Badaili et al.
patent: 5702028 (1997-12-01), Shirodera
patent: 0 683 625 (1995-11-01), None
patent: 2244482 (1991-12-01), None
patent: 2 244 482 (1991-12-01), None
patent: 63-127600 (1988-05-01), None
patent: 8-222890 (1996-08-01), None
patent: 246292 (1969-11-01), None
Kaishita Nihei
Nemoto Akira
Takahashi Shigeki
Burns Doane , Swecker, Mathis LLP
Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Noland Kenneth W.
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