Material or article handling – Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into – within,... – Stack forming apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-15
2001-01-30
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Material or article handling
Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into, within,...
Stack forming apparatus
C198S468400, C198S468800
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179547
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a workpiece loading and unloading apparatus for loading workpieces into a plate member working machine, such as a turret punch press and a laser working machine, and unloading processed workpieces from the plate member working machine.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, a workpiece loading and unloading apparatus
201
, which loads workpieces into a plate member working machine, such as a turret punch press and a laser working machine, and unloads the processed workpieces from the plate member working machine, has, as shown in
FIG. 5
, a stand-type main body frame
203
, and a material pallet
205
on which workpieces W are stored is disposed on an upper portion on a front side (left side in
FIG. 5
) of the main body frame
203
so as to be capable of moving in a front-and-rear direction (right-and-left direction in FIG.
5
).
A product pallet
207
on which the workpieces processed by the plate member working machine, namely, products G are stored is disposed on a lower portion on the front side of the main body frame
203
so as to be capable of moving up and down by means of a hydraulic lifter
209
.
A loader
211
, which is capable of moving to the plate member working machine (moving to a direction intersecting perpendicularly to a paper surface in FIG.
5
), is disposed on the front side (left side in
FIG. 5
) of an upper frame
203
U of the main body frame
203
. The loader
211
is composed of a slider
213
and a workpiece carrier
215
which are capable of moving to the plate member working machine, and an air cylinder
217
as the workpiece carrier
215
is mounted to the slider
213
.
An absorption frame
221
is disposed at a lower end of a piston rod
219
mounted to the air cylinder
217
, and a plurality of absorption pads
223
are disposed on the absorption frame
221
.
In addition, an unloader
225
having an unloader clamp (not shown) is provided on the front side (left side in
FIG. 5
) of the upper frame
203
of the main body frame
203
so as to be capable of moving to the plate member working machine.
According to the above constitution, when the workpiece W is loaded into the plate member working machine, the air cylinder
217
is operated, the piston rod
219
is lowered and the one workpiece W on the material pallet
205
is absorbed by the absorption pads
223
. Next, after the piston rod
219
is lifted to its original position, the slider
213
of the loader
211
is moved to the plate member working machine, namely, an inner side of a direction intersecting perpendicularly to the paper surface in FIG.
5
.
When the absorption pads
223
reach a position above a table of the plate member working machine, the movement of the slider
213
is stopped, and when the piston rod
219
is lowered by the operation of the air cylinder
217
and the absorption pads
223
are released, the workpiece W is put onto the table of the plate member working machine.
The workpiece W put onto the table of the plate member working machine is clamped by a workpiece clamp and moved and located so as to undergo desired plate member processing. While the workpiece W is undergoing the plate member processing, the slider
213
of the loader
211
is returned to its original position, and the unloader
225
is moved to the plate member working machine. Moreover, the material pallet
205
is moved to the right side in
FIG. 5
, and the product pallet
207
is lifted by the operation of the hydraulic lifter
209
.
After the product G which underwent the plate member processed by means of the plate member working machine is clamped by the unloader clamp, the unloader
225
is returned to the original position, and the product G is located in a position above the product pallet
207
in FIG.
5
. Next, when being unclamped from the unloader clamp, the product G is placed on the product pallet
207
.
When a next workpiece W is processed, after the product pallet
207
is lowered by the operation of the hydraulic lifter
209
and the material pallet
205
is moved to the left side in
FIG. 5
to be returned to the original position, the steps thereafter are repeated in the above-mentioned manner so that a lot of workpieces W undergo the plate member processing.
Incidentally, in the conventional workpiece loading and unloading apparatus
201
, since the workpiece W on the material pallet
205
and the product G on the product pallet
207
are positioned up and down on the front side of the main body frame
203
, there arises a problem such that a pass line is high and thus it is difficult to use this apparatus at the time of off-line.
In addition, when a workpiece W is loaded into the plate member working machine, it is necessary to move the material pallet
205
to the front and rear and to move up and down the product pallet
207
. For this reason, the operation for loading and unloading the workpiece W is complicated, and it takes a long time to load and unload one workpiece W.
Furthermore, in the conventional workpiece loading and unloading apparatus
201
, since a countermeasure against the case where a workpiece is processed in an emergency is not taken, it is difficult for the apparatus to cope with this situation.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece loading and unloading apparatus which is easily used at the time of off-line, and in which a time required for preparing a workpiece is shortened and interruption by another urgent workpiece which requires plate member processing is possible.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above object, a workpiece loading and unloading apparatus of a first aspect of the invention for loading workpieces into a plate member working machine and unloading the processed workpieces from the plate member working machine, is characterized by including: a material pallet, disposed on a lower portion on a front side of a main body frame, for storing workpieces; a product pallet, for storing the processed workpieces, which is disposed on a lower portion on a rear side of the main body frame and is capable of moving up and down; a workpiece carrier which is disposed above the material pallet in the main body frame, has absorption pads for absorbing the workpieces and is capable of moving up and down; a loader for moving the workpiece carrier to the plate member working machine; an unloader which has an unloader clamp and is capable of moving to the plate member working machine; a moving support table which reciprocates between a position above the material pallet and a position above the product pallet; a moving clamp and support clamp which are capable of moving a front-and-rear direction and are disposed respectively on front and rear sides in the position above the product pallet; and a control device for controlling the respective units.
Therefore, after the absorption pads disposed on the lower portion of the workpiece carrier are lowered and the one workpiece on the material pallet provided on the lower portion on the front side of the main body frame is absorbed by the absorption pads, the workpiece carrier is lifted to its original position. In this state the loader is moved to the plate member working machine so that the workpiece carrier reaches a position above a workpiece table, for example, of the plate member working machine and is stopped. When the absorption pads are lowered and released, the workpiece is placed onto the workpiece table of the plate member working machine so as to undergo the plate member processing.
While the plate member process is executed, the loader is returned to its original position and the unloader is moved to the plate member working machine so as to wait. After the product which underwent the plate member processing is clamped by the unloader clamp provided to the unloader, the unloader is returned to its original position. Thereafter, when being unclamped from the unloader clamp, the product is placed onto the moving support table, and the moving support table is moved to the position above the product palle
Amada Metrecs Company Limited
Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley LLP
Ellis Christopher P.
Sharma Rashmi
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