Patent ID: 6393693
Filing Date: 2002-05-28
Classification: D04H,Y10T

Abstract:
Apparatus for the maintenance of a needle-bearing plate of a needle punching machine and for replacing needles in said plate, said plate having a plurality of through seats arranged in a prefixed order, the needles having respective angled ends and each needle having a tapered portion, said angled ends being engaged within said seats, the apparatus comprising:a bed, a frame mounted on said bed for supporting the needle-bearing plate to be submitted to maintenance, said frame supporting said plate so that said plate lies in a plane, an operating head mobile with respect to said bed in two mutually perpendicular directions defining a plane parallel to the plane in which the plate is supported on the supporting frame, said operating head comprising: means for extracting a damaged or worn one of the needles, comprising a pressing member alignable to the damaged or worn needle as a consequence of a movement of the operating head and mobile toward the damaged or worn needle to engage the angled end of the damaged or worn needle so as to exert a push through the tapered portion of the needle, and a plier device for grasping damaged or worn needle in correspondence to the angled end of the damaged or worn needle to exert a traction force thereon, said plier device being frontally aligned to said pressing member and being positioned so that said plate is located between said plier device and said pressing member; and means for positioning a new needle in a respective through seat of said plate comprising a needle inserting plier for taking a needle from a new needle feeding device integrally movable with said operating head, said inserting plier being alignable to said respective through seat as a consequence of a movement of the operating head and movable toward said respective through seat to partially insert the new needle there into, and a pushing member placed substantially sideways of said inserting plier, alignable to said partially inserted new needle, as a consequence of a movement of said operating head, to engage the angled end thereof and exert a pushing force for completing the insertion; and said apparatus further comprising processor means for controlling operation of said operating head, said processor means including a memory unit for storing a map of the through seats present on said plate.