Radiant energy – Photocells; circuits and apparatus – Optical or pre-photocell system
Patent
1990-08-30
1992-09-22
Nelms, David C.
Radiant energy
Photocells; circuits and apparatus
Optical or pre-photocell system
250223R, 414752, G01N 2186, G01N 904
Patent
active
051499797
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to sagger loading apparatus and a method of loading a sagger with unfired ceramic bodies, such as "green" sparking plugs.
Sparking plug bodies are made from a mixture of ceramic material and wax by pressing quantities of the mixture in an isostatic press and then grinding all over the bodies so formed. At this stage, before firing, the bodies are very delicate, being easily broken, scratched or indented, but the material of any damaged bodies can be re-used if they can be isolated before firing.
The plug bodies are typically produced in families of different main body dimensions. Each family has about 30 different plugs, the differences being mainly in body length. The only common dimensions of all plugs is the diameter of the center axial hole therethrough.
Saggers are open-topped containers which are to be loaded with such unfired ceramic bodies for feeding to a furnace in which the bodies are to be fired. Saggers are generally made of porcelain; by virtue of that construction and the damage they sustain in use, they have large dimensional tolerances and are very rough inside and out.
At the present the unfired bodies, after grinding, pass along a conveyor to a position at which they are hand loaded into a sagger, typically 112 or more large plugs, or 175 small ones, per sagger. The hand loading results in many scrapes and bumps through contact with the sagger sides and base and these damaged bodies are undetected, so that after firing they are scrap.
It is one object of the present invention to reduce the quantity of scrap plug bodies.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided sagger loading apparatus including an intermediate store, a first transfer means for taking unfired ceramic bodies in succession to the intermediate store, and second transfer means to remove simultaneously a plurality of said bodies from the intermediate store and deposit said bodies into a sagger.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided sagger loading apparatus including an array of locators, a first transfer means for taking unfired ceramic bodies in succession each to one of the locators in the array, to be located thereby, and second transfer means to remove simultaneously a plurality of said bodies located by the array therefrom and deposit said bodies into said sagger.
The present invention further comprises a method of loading unfired ceramic sparking plug bodies into a sagger, including the steps of operating a first transfer means to transfer the bodies in succession each to one of an array of locators, then operating a second transfer means to remove simultaneously a plurality of the bodies from the array and to deposit the bodies into the sagger.
Preferably, measuring equipment is provided to check at least one dimension of each body before it is taken by the first transfer means. The dimension may be the major axial length of the body, so as to detect bodies of which a length is broken off. The measuring equipment conveniently includes a radiation beam source and a radiation detector between which source and detector the body passes, interruption of the beam thereby signalling the position of one or other end of the body. The radiation may be optical wavelength or infra-red.
The radiation detector preferably has a narrow receiving aperture which is adjustable either by varying the diameter of a circular aperture or by varying the width of crossed adjustable windows.
There may be a first radiation beam source and a first radiation detector between which each body passes, and then a second radiation beam source and a second radiation detector between which each body passes, so as to detect both ends of the body simultaneously. To accommodate different sizes of bodies the spacing between the two beams of radiation may be adjustable. Furthermore, to accommodate bodies having different dimensions normal to the dimension being checked, the or each radiation beam source and detector may be adjustable in a direction normal to said length. The spacing between the t
REFERENCES:
patent: 4088411 (1978-05-01), Ahlquist et al.
patent: 4365705 (1982-12-01), Zinck et al.
patent: 4553375 (1985-11-01), De Santis
patent: 4569183 (1986-02-01), De Santis
Allen S.
Gordon David P.
Nelms David C.
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