Special receptacle or package – Holder for a removable electrical component – Bar or tapelike carrier for plural components
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-24
2001-12-25
Luong, Shian (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
Holder for a removable electrical component
Bar or tapelike carrier for plural components
C206S714000, C206S486000, C206S560000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332539
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a part retainer for housing and retaining various electronic and mechanical parts and a method for manufacturing this retainer, as well as a part supply apparatus for supplying parts housed in the part retainer to an automatic assembly machine.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventional part retainers for retaining and loading a collection of a large number of parts in a part supply apparatus include retaining tapes with a large number of housing recesses formed at a specified interval. After housing parts in the housing recesses, such part retainers cover the top surface thereof with cover tapes to prevent the parts from falling out.
Such part retainers, however, require parts to be covered with cover tapes during housing and the tapes to be released and wound during part supply, thereby requiring a part supply apparatus of a complicated configuration. In addition, the release tapes must be used, thereby increasing costs.
As a device that solves this problem, the applicant proposed in JPA 6-156562, a part retainer
31
comprising a connected retaining units
32
each having a housing recess
33
in which a part is housed and an engaging piece
34
disposed in the opening for preventing the part from falling out, as shown in FIG.
13
. The engaging piece
34
has a protrusion
36
protruding therefrom, is disposed at the end of a supporting piece
35
integrally extending from the sidewall of the retaining unit
32
, and protrudes into the opening of the housing recess
33
. Since the protrusion
36
on the top surface of the engaging piece
34
engages a guide groove (not shown) formed in a guide rail through which the part retainer
31
travels, the engaging piece
34
is guided by the guide groove to move toward a withdrawing position as the part retainer
31
moves, thereby enabling the part to be housed in and removed from the housing recess
33
. Reference numeral
37
designates a feed hole formed in either side of the retaining unit
32
, and
38
is a connecting piece for connecting retaining units
32
together.
In the part retainer disclosed in the above publication, however, if the engaging piece
34
remains at the withdrawing position for a long time, a creep phenomenon may cause the supporting piece
35
to remain deformed and to be prevented from elastic return. Thus, the engaging piece
34
cannot reliably retain parts.
In addition, since the engaging piece
34
protrudes into the housing recess
33
, a notch opposite to the engaging piece
34
must be formed during molding of the retaining unit
32
, and the part cannot be engaged or retained in its full circumference. Consequently, some parts cannot be stably retained.
Furthermore, conventional part supply apparatuses for supplying parts to an electronic part mounting machine have a structure in which the travelling surface for the part retainer is completely covered near a part removal position, as shown in FIG.
25
. Thus, if in particular, due to the switching of product types, the part retainer is removed from the part supply apparatus before all the housed parts have been used up, the tape must be cut before or after the part removal section and rewound to a feed or winding reel. If parts are used again, the tape must be connected again, and a large amount of time is required to replace the tape.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In view of the conventional problems, an objective of this invention is to provide a part retainer and its manufacturing method which can stably and reliably retain parts in their full circumference as well as a part supply apparatus for which the part retainer is used.
According to this invention, a part retainer of the present invention comprises connected retaining units for housing and retaining parts, and the retaining unit has an engaging piece that stably stops at both a position at which it protrudes toward the opening of the part housing space and a position at which it withdraws, and which can move between these two points under a specified or more amount of force. When protruding toward the opening, the engaging piece prevents the part housed in the housing space from falling out.
The above configuration enables the engaging piece protruding into the opening to hold the part housed in the part housing space. In addition, by moving the engaging piece to the withdrawing position, the part can be removed. Even if the engaging piece remains at the withdrawing position for a long time, it can be reliably moved to the protruding position to reliably retain the part. After supplying the housed part to the automatic assembly machine, the retainer can be reused by housing parts therein again.
To enable the engaging piece to stably stop at the position at which it protrudes toward the opening and the position at which it withdraws and to move between these two positions, each of the opposed sidewalls of the retaining unit and each end of the engaging piece are connected together by a pair of link pieces via a self hinge. This allows either side of the engaging piece to be supported by the quadric link mechanism, so the engaging-piece is stable at the two positions and can stably move between the two positions with its attitude maintained.
Even if each of the sidewalls of the retaining unit and each of the sides of the engaging piece are connected via a single link piece, the engaging piece is stable at the two positions and can stably move between these positions. Either end of the pair of link pieces hinge-connected together may be connected to either of the opposed or adjacent sidewalls of the retaining unit, with the engaging piece disposed in one of the link pieces. Either end of a curved supporting piece may also be connected to either of the opposed or adjacent end walls of the retaining unit via a self hinge, with the engaging piece disposed at the approximate center of the curved supporting piece. The more simple configurations described above can produce effects almost similar to those of the first embodiment.
In addition, by providing a protrusion located above or below the engaging piece for moving the engaging piece between the two positions through a guide groove or protrusion disposed along the travelling passage of the part retainer and leading to a part housing or removal position, the engaging piece can be moved between the two positions as the part retainer moves. In particular, when the protrusion is disposed below the engaging piece, the guide groove can be located on the same side as a feed mechanism of the part retainer to reduce the dimensional error between the guide groove and the feed mechanism, thereby improving the reliability of moving the engaging piece.
The engaging piece may be disposed at one or both ends of the retaining unit, or in one or more corners thereof. Disposing the engaging piece in corners enables dead space to be efficiently used and reduces the movement of the engaging piece, if corners of the part have protrusions such as leads.
In addition, by disposing connecting holes in one side of the retaining unit in the connection direction while disposing on the other side thereof in the connection direction engaging protrusions that fit and engage the engaging holes, and providing on the engaging protrusion an engagingly locking means that engages the circumference of the connecting hole to prevent the protrusion from being removed, simply fitting the engaging protrusions in the connecting holes enables retaining units to be connected so as not to be separated easily or inadvertently.
The method for manufacturing part retainers according to this invention comprises using a molding machine to mold a retaining unit, moving the molded retaining unit to a position at which a previously molded retaining unit has been placed, fitting in the connecting holes in one side of one retaining unit in the connection direction the engaging protrusions on the other side of the other retaining unit to connect the retaining units, and sequentially transferring the connected retaining units a distance corresponding to a
Hikita Osamu
Kadoriku Shinji
Maruyama Yoshio
Nagano Daisuke
Wada Yoshinori
Luong Shian
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Parkhurst & Wendel L.L.P.
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