Material or article handling – Plural – static structures for supporting discrete loads and... – Load-underlying members
Reexamination Certificate
1997-07-09
2001-02-06
Werner, Frank E. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Plural, static structures for supporting discrete loads and...
Load-underlying members
C414S626000, C212S327000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06183184
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to work transport system for not only transporting boxes (hereafter, a box in which finished products and unfinished products are stored will be known simply as “work”) in which each type of intermediate product and finished product is stored, using a travelling carriage that runs along a rail arranged in the vicinity of the ceiling, but also stacks work at processing stations that perform the various processing of the work and retrieves work from the processing station by vertically moving the work.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, a work transport system has been known where, after stopping above a predetermined processing station, a winding drum arranged on the overhead travelling carriage is suitably rotated in both directions and by winding the wire onto the winding drum or feeding out the wire from the winding drum, a chuck device that grips the work moves vertically and stacks work gripped in the chuck device at the processing station or retrieves work from the processing station by gripping the work in the chuck device.
On conventional work transport systems, when batch processing is performed by grouping a plurality of works at a predetermined processing station, a predetermined quantity of work is stacked at the processing station or on the floor near the processing station or a table placed on the floor or the like using the overhead travelling carriage, and thereafter, a predetermined quantity of work is supplied to the processing station using the overhead travelling carriage once again. As conventional work transport systems stack work at the processing station or on the floor near the processing station or on a table placed on the floor or the like in this way, the processing station and floor area must be enlarged.
Furthermore, as the work is stacked at the processing station or on the floor near the processing station or a table placed on the floor or the like, the distance for vertical movement of the chuck device that grips the work increases and as a result, the stacking time of the work increases and the operating efficiency of the overhead travelling carriage decreases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to propose a work transport system that solves those problems present on a conventional system.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, a first aspect of the present invention being a work transport system having an overhead travelling carriage that runs along a rail arranged near the ceiling and vertically moves a chuck device by winding a wire onto a winding drum or feeding out the wire from the winding drum by forward and backward rotation of the winding drum, is the positioning of a storage rack member on which work may be stacked above the floor and morever, below the rail.
A second aspect of the present invention is the mounting of a platform assembly on the rail.
A third aspect of the present invention is the presence of a groove formed along the longitudinal direction of the rail into which a nut may be inserted and a framework arranged with a hole into which a bolt may be inserted, the insertion of the bolt in the hole of the framework arranged on the rail, moreover the mounting of the framework on the rail by the screwing of the bolt into the nut inserted in the groove formed in the rail, and the mounting of the rack on that framework.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is the arrangement of a work storage conveyor between the rail and floor and the arrangement of a predetemined position above the conveyor as a work transfer station and the transfer of work between this station conveyor and the overhead travelling carriage.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is the arrangement of a pair of stations on the conveyor where work received at one station is moved to the other station by the conveyor and transported by the overhead travelling carriage from the other station.
A sixth aspect of the present invention is the arrangement of a work processing device along the rail by the arrangement of the work transport system inside a clean room, the opposed positioning of the conveyors at the work processing device and moreover, the suspension of that from the rail.
REFERENCES:
patent: 840807 (1907-01-01), Shem
patent: 3593869 (1971-07-01), Zurheide et al.
patent: 4049132 (1977-09-01), Strömbäck
patent: 4474523 (1984-10-01), Murao
patent: 4735539 (1988-04-01), Häkkinen et al.
patent: 4787804 (1988-11-01), Edenäs
patent: 3342849 (1985-06-01), None
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Murata Machinery Ltd.
Werner Frank E.
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