Patent ID: 7123987
Filing Date: 2006-10-17
Classification: A24C

Abstract:
1. A receiving apparatus for receiving rod members carried in a direction parallel to their axes and carrying the received rod members in a direction crossing their axes along a predetermined conveying path, comprising: a catcher drum forming a beginning end of the conveying path and rotatable in one direction, said catcher drum having a plurality of receiving grooves in an outer circumferential surface thereof, arranged in the circumferential direction of said catcher drum at regular intervals, and a receiving position defined at a predetermined position in the circumferential direction of said catcher drum and to which rod members are fed, the receiving grooves being so designed as to each receive a rod member at the receiving position when said catcher drum rotates and the receiving grooves pass the receiving position one after another, and allow the received rod member to move forward in the receiving groove; braking means for stopping the forward movement of a rod member in each of the receiving grooves, said braking means including braking areas each defined at an bottom of one of the receiving grooves to apply a predetermined braking force due to suction onto the rod member when the rod member enters the braking area; detection means for detecting whether a stop position at which the rod member is stopped in each of the receiving grooves is within a tolerance area or not, and feeding a result of detection; control means for regulating the braking force by said braking means on the basis of the result of detection to thereby control the stop position of rod members; and positioning means for, after the rod member is stopped in each of the receiving grooves, pushing the rod member from the stop position back to a normal position, in the direction opposite to the direction of the forward movement of the rod member, on the conveying path.