Article dispensing – With discharge assistant – Article adhering or gripping type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-12
2001-08-21
Olszewski, Robert P. (Department: 3651)
Article dispensing
With discharge assistant
Article adhering or gripping type
C221S219000, C221S281000, C406S052000, C406S062000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276564
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sorting magazine for the supply of loose small parts such as rivets, eyes, press fasteners and so forth, comprising a trough-shaped storage container which has a front wall and a magazine base plate and which has a filling opening for the small parts and in the base plate an aperture which adjoins an inclined bottom wall and by way of which the small parts can be guided into an adjoining rotary magazine comprising a drum-like rotary member which is mounted rotatably about a substantially horizontal axis and which serves for separating and aligning the small parts for further processing thereof by machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known sorting magazine of this kind (DE 196 49 417 Al) the small parts pass through the aperture in the base plate into the operative region of the rotary magazine. It is not only the case that the subdivision of the storage container which is afforded in this sorting magazine by virtue of the presence of intermediate walls has a nuisance effect, but also, in the rotary magazine, in spite of the agitator elements which are provided therein, a situation involving mutual impediment comes about from time to time, together with a stoppage in the feed movement of the small parts into the passage with the adjoining conveyor shaft. Emptying the storage container, that is to say making an effort to remove the small parts, involves not inconsiderable difficulties in terms of reaching all small parts, in particular those which have already penetrated into the entry region to the passage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to further develop the sorting magazine of the kind set forth in the opening part of this specification, in such a way that if necessary rapid and convenient emptying of the sorting magazine with the adjoining rotary magazine is made possible, by virtue of the removal of all small parts.
The sorting magazine according to the invention with which that object is attained is essentially distinguished in that the magazine base plate has a plate section which includes the aperture and which is formed with the walls defining the storage container to form a unit, and that said unit is movable from a closed operative position into an open position permitting the removal of all small parts, and vice-versa. That avoids the need for complicated endeavours in terms of also reaching the small parts which have remained separately at inaccessible locations.
The unit could be in the form of a separate magazine element and could be released and removed as a whole. It has proven to be particularly desirable however if the unit is pivotable from the operative position into the open position and vice-versa by way of a pivot axis provided in the edge region of the magazine base plate.
If, in the sorting magazine, the aperture adjoins the inclined bottom wall defining the storage container at its underside and is provided with a passage which is associated with the rotary magazine and passes the small parts in an oriented position for further processing thereof by machine, it has proven to be highly advantageous, in regard to the speedy removal of all small parts, if the lower boundary of the aperture of the plate section extends at a spacing from the lower boundary edge of the plate section of the magazine base plate, which in the closed operative position of the plate section covers over a small part-orientation region disposed upstream of the passage and in the open position ensures free removal even of the small parts which are disposed in that orientation region.
By virtue of the fact that, in a further advantageous configuration of the sorting magazine according to the invention, the lower boundary edge of the plate section extends at a spacing from the axis of the rotary member of the rotary magazine, which approximately corresponds to the diameter of the rotary member, free and convenient accessibility even to the last small parts in the rotary magazine and thus removal thereof are ensured, when the sorting magazine is put into the open condition.
In a further embodiment, it has proven to be highly advantageous in regard to free accessibility to the interior of the rotary magazine in the opened condition, if a plate region is cut out of the plate section of the magazine base plate, said plate region extending to over the central region of the container unit and being in the form of a mounting or bearing for the shaft carrying the rotary member of the rotary magazine.
The unit could be for example mounted pivotably by way of an axis in the upper edge region. However two hands would be required for operation of the assembly in the emptying operation. Therefore, an embodiment which has proven to be considerably more practical in comparison therewith is one in which the unit is pivotable in the edge region of the magazine base plate by way of a hinge about a lateral, approximately vertical pivot axis.
REFERENCES:
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patent: 3552601 (1971-01-01), Hansen et al.
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patent: 3638829 (1972-02-01), Frase et al.
patent: 3670671 (1972-06-01), Lienemann et al.
patent: 4057137 (1977-11-01), Hansen et al.
patent: 4137854 (1979-02-01), Lattin
patent: 4450979 (1984-05-01), Deckler
patent: 4664290 (1987-05-01), Martin et al.
patent: 5005752 (1991-04-01), Obst
patent: 5325801 (1994-07-01), Fiorido
patent: 5377867 (1995-01-01), Schick et al.
patent: 5603442 (1997-02-01), Schmidt et al.
patent: 5815914 (1998-10-01), Kamps et al.
patent: 196 49 417 A1 (1998-06-01), None
patent: 841093 (1960-07-01), None
Kueffner Friedrich
Olszewski Robert P.
Ridley Richard
Stocko Fasteners GmbH
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