Material or article handling – Chamber of a type utilized for a heating function and... – Including driven device and/or inclined flow path to carry...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-26
2001-07-10
Keenan, James W. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Chamber of a type utilized for a heating function and...
Including driven device and/or inclined flow path to carry...
C271S069000, C271S085000, C271S306000, C198S409000, C414S172000, C414S191000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257819
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a system designed to handle the flexible type of printed circuit, and in particular to hook and pick up circuits to be introduced into a kiln or the like.
The system uses a special mechanism that enables printed circuits of any size which need to be subjected to a firing process to be picked up from a car, introduced onto a conveyor line situated inside a tunnel kiln, and finally picked up from the conveyor line and sent onto the next stage of processing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The manufacture of printed circuits uses photographic processes to make the tracks or pattern of the circuit on a base board, which consists of one or more layers of copper or other conductive materials.
For this purpose a layer of material sensitive to ultraviolet light, for example, is spread on the board; that layer is photographically exposed, and the board is then introduced into baths that dissolve the unexposed layer and the underlying layer made of conductive material to produce the circuit tracks.
These known procedures comprise various stages including the stage when the said sensitive layer is fired, during which the boards that constitute the circuit base are introduced into a kiln, usually the tunnel type, in which the coating layer is “fired”.
At present, hooking devices are used for this purpose which allow the printed circuits to be picked up from feeder cars and introduced onto a conveyor line situated in the upper inner part of a tunnel kiln; finally the treated circuits are unloaded into a car situated at the tunnel outlet.
These known hooking devices comprise a pair of jaws, fitted to slide along lateral guides which allow synchronised movement in relation to the circuit feed area, so that by moving alternately back and forth they can grip the circuit at the sides and handle it for the purpose of the functions described above.
The main drawback of these known hooking devices is that the measurements of the circuit board need to be taken every time, and the jaw movements adapted to suit them.
In many known units the movement to be effected by the jaws is measured by optical sensors, which detect the width of the circuit and send the data detected to control devices which accordingly set the extent of the travel to be performed by the jaws so that they hook onto the two opposite sides of each printed circuit with precision.
All this obviously involves high costs for both the manufacture and the running of the plant, which have a considerable influence on the price of the finished product.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the present invention is to offer a new gripping system for handling flexible circuits, and in particular for their introduction onto the transport line present in kilns and pick-up at the end of the firing cycle; the said system requires the circuit boards to be gripped not at the sides but at their front edge, using a pair of actuators fitted at a distance from one another that does not exceed the minimum dimensions of the printed circuit to be introduced into the kiln.
The immediate advantage of the system proposed is that it totally eliminates the need to move the jaws laterally to adapt them to the width of the circuit, thus avoiding the use of expensive optical control and monitoring devices, and producing a drastic reduction in the cost of manufacturing and running the plant.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
All these particular purposes and advantages are achieved, in accordance with the invention, by a handling system, designed in particular for hooking and picking up flexible circuits to be introduced into a kiln or the like, which basically comprises a gripping unit that slides along a pair of vertical supports fitted at either side of a feed line; sliders mounted on the said supports are equipped with horizontal shafts, the ends of which are fitted with gripping parts such as jaws or the like, normally facing downwards and activated in accordance with a rotary movement by a rotating pneumatic or similar type of piston.
The said jaws, which can grip the flexible circuit to be handled by hooking it at its front edge, are fitted at a certain distance apart which slightly exceeds the length of the gripping part supports fitted on the conveyor belt which is part of a tunnel kiln or the like, but does not exceed the minimum dimensions of the printed circuit that may be introduced into the kiln.
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patent: 5354153 (1994-10-01), Ottone et al.
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patent: 5967291 (1999-10-01), Hansen
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Keenan James W.
Young & Thompson
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