Tray positioning arrangement for delivery system

A tray positioning arrangement for delivery system in which a tray is formed of a casing opened at its top and an article receptacle member accommodated therein and having plural article holding pits. The article receptacle member has abutment portions and the casing has openings at its positions corresponding to the abutment portions of the article receptacle member so as to allow a positioning device directly act on the article receptacle member through the openings of the casing and the abutment portions of the article receptacle member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a tray positioning arrangement for a delivery 
system, and more particularly to a positioning arrangement for a tray 
assembly with an article receptacle member, for use in a delivery system 
of a processing line, an assembling line, a warehouse or the like. 
2. Prior Art 
In a processing line, an assembling line, a warehouse, etc., a tray having 
an article receptacle member is generally used to simultaneously convey 
and deliver a plurality of articles such as products, intermediate 
products, parts, tools, etc. To deliver such articles from or receive by 
the tray, the tray is positioned by a pressing member which is adapted to 
press the tray against a stopper. 
However, a conventional tray assembly having an article receptacle member 
involves such a problem that, although the article receptacle member can 
be formed precisely, the shaping of a casing for accomodating the article 
receptacle member therein can not always have a sufficient precision. In 
especial, a casing made of a synthetic resinous material which is most 
commonly used today for the tray assembly is liable to thermal 
deformation, which produces a significant error in the positioning of the 
tray assembly. By this reason, there may possibly be caused a problem 
that, for example, a robot can not accurately or positively pick up the 
articles from the tray assembly for the delivery thereof or put the 
articles onto the tray assembly for the receipt therof. 
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tray 
assembly positioning arrangement for use in an article delivery system 
which is capable of accurately positioning the tray assembly for the 
delivery or receiving or processing of the articles. 
In accordance with the present invention, there are provided several forms 
of arrangements for accurately positioning a tray assembly for use in an 
article delivery system which are similar in principle. The common 
principle is such that the positioning of the tray assembly is made 
through a precisely formed article receptacle member accomodated in a 
casing of the tray assembly. 
One aspect of the invention is a tray assembly positioning arrangement for 
use in an article delivery system, which comprises a stopper and a 
pressing member oppositely disposed at an article delivering and receiving 
portion of the system; a tray assembly formed of a casing and an article 
receptacle member accomodated in the casing and adapted to hold articles 
therein, said casing having openings formed on the sides thereof which 
correspond to the stopper and the pressing member, respectively and said 
article receptacle member having abutment portions at the sides thereof 
which correspond to the openings of the casing, respectively; and 
positioning members provided on the respective tip ends of the stopper and 
the pressing member and adapted to engage with the abutment members of the 
article receptacle members, respectively, through the respective opeinigs 
of the casing. 
Another aspect of the invention is a tray assembly positioning arrangement 
for use in an article delivery system, which comprises two sets of stopper 
and pressing member which are oppositely disposed, along the two 
directions perpendicular with each other, at an article delivery and 
receiving portion of the system, respectively; a tray assembly formed of a 
casing and an article receptacle member accomodated in the casing and 
adapted to hold articles therein, said casing having openings formed on 
the sides thereof which correspond to said two sets of stopper and 
pressing members, respectively and said article receptacle member having 
abutment portions at the sides thereof which corresponds to said openings 
of the casing, respectively; and positioning members provided on the 
respective tip ends of the stoppers and the pressing members and adapted 
to engage with the abutment members of the article receptacle members, 
respectively, through the respective opeinigs of the casing. 
A still another aspect of the invention is a tray assembly positioning 
arrangement for use in an article delivery system, which comprises a 
positioning device provided beneath an article delivering and receiving 
portion of the delivery system and adapted to be movable up and down; a 
tray assembly formed of a casing and an article receptacle member 
accomodated in the casing and adapted to hold articles therein, said 
casing having at least one opening formed on the bottom side thereof and 
said article receptacle member having at least one abutment portion at the 
bottom side thereof at a position which corresponds to the opening of the 
casing; and a positioning member provided on the tip end of the 
popsitioning device and adapted to engage with the abutment member of the 
article receptacle member through the opeinig of the casing.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described 
referring to the drawings. 
FIGS. 1 to 8 illustrate a first preferred embodiment of the present 
invention. 
1 is a conveying and delivering system which comprises a carrying-in line 2 
and a carrying-out line 3 disposed in parallel with each other. The 
carrying-in line 2 and the carrying-out line 3 are each formed by a roller 
conveyor 4, 5, respectively. 6 designates an article delivering and 
receiving portion provided at the end of the carrying-in line 2. In this 
article delivering and receiving portion, the positioning of a tray 
assembly 10 as will be described in detail later is carried out for 
delivering and receiving articles such as products, intermediate products, 
parts, tools, etc. through the tray assembly 10 to and from, for example, 
a robot R. 7 is a transferring apparatus for transferring the tray 
assembly 10 from the carrying-in line 2 to the carrying-out line 3. In 
this transferring apparatus, a chain conveyor 7a is provided between the 
article delivering and receiving portion of the carrying-in line 2 to the 
carrying-out line 3. The chain conveyor 7a is adapted to be raised or 
lowered by a cylinder 7b so as to be positioned at a level in alignment 
with or above the surface of the roller conveyors 4 and 5 or lowered so as 
to be retired from the level. 
The tray assembly 10 comprises a casing 11 with the top opened and an 
article receptacle member 12 for holding articles therein as illustrated 
in FIG. 3. The article receptacle member 12 is accomodated in the casing 
11 as illustrated in FIG. 4. The casing 11 has elongated openings 11a, 11b 
at the opposite sides of the casing. In the embodiment as illustrated, the 
openings 11a, 11b are formed on the sides of the casing 11 which are 
located on the left and right sides of the carrying-in line 2. The article 
receptacle member 12 has a plurality of article holding pits 12a and 
abutment portions 13, 14 on the sides thereof corresponding to the 
openings 11a, 11b, respectively. 
As can be seen from FIG. 5, 20 is a positioning device comprising a stopper 
21 disposed on the left side of the article delivering and receiving 
portion 6 and a pressing member 23 disposed on the right side thereof. A 
positioning member 22 provided on the inner surface of the stopper 21 is 
shaped so as to fit in the abutment portion 13 formed on the left side of 
the article receptacle 12 through the left opening 11a of the casing 11, 
while a positioning member 24 provided at the tip end of the pressing 
member 23 has a shape so as to fit in the abutment portion 14 formed on 
the right side of the article receptacle member 12 through the right 
opening 11b of the casing 11. The pressing member 23 includes the 
positioning member 24 as described above and a mechanism comprised of a 
hydraulic cylinder 231 connected to a lower portion of the positioning 
member 24 so as to move the positioning member 24 laterally, a guide 
member 232 for guiding the movement of the positioning member 24 in the 
horizontal direction, a swing member 234 which is swingably carried by a 
fixture 233 and fixed, at the upper portion thereof, to the guide member 
232 and connected, at the lower portion thereof, to the hydraulic 
cylinder, allowing the cylinder to be swingable, and a guide roller 235 
for guiding the lower portion of the positioning member 24. 
With such an arrangement, when the cylinder 231 is actuated to project its 
shaft, the positioning member 24 is advanced and a convex portion formed 
at a lower portion of the positioning member 24 rides on the guide roller 
235, which raises the positioning member 24 above the conveyor roller 4 
while advancing the same forwardly. Consequently, the positioning member 
24 engages with the abutment portion 14 of the article receptacle member 
12 through the opening 11b and presses the tray assembly 10 against the 
stopper 21. As a result, the abutment portion 13 of the article receptacle 
member 12 on the stopper side thereof is caused to engage with the 
positioning member 22 of the stopper 21. Thus, the positioning of the tray 
assembly is completed. On the other hand, when the cylinder 231 is 
actuated so as to pull its shaft, the positioning member 24 is retired, 
causing a concave portion to engage with the guide roller 235. As a 
result, the positioning member 24 is lowered to below the conveyor roller 
4 while being retired. Then, the tray assembly is allowed to be 
transferred to the carrying-out line 5. 
The arrangement of the abutment portions 13, 14 of the article receptacle 
member of the tray assembly 10 and the positioning members 22, 24 of the 
stopper 21 and the pressing member 23 may be in various modes. 
For example, in order to effect the positioning of the tray assembly in 
either one of the longitudinal direction of the conveying and delivering 
system and the direction transverse thereto, the abutment portions 13, 14 
and the positioning members 22, 24 may be formed in flat configurations as 
illustrated in FIG. 6. In this case, there may be employed a two-point 
positioning mode wherein the stopper 21 and the pressing member 23 each 
have a single positioning member 22, 24, respectively (FIG. 6(a)), a 
three-point positioning mode where the positioning member 22 of the 
stopper 21 is divided into two (FIG. 6(b)), or a four-point positioning 
mode wherein each of the positioning member 22 of the stopper 21 and the 
positioning member 24 of the pressing member 23 is divided into two (not 
shown). In this connection, it is to be noted that if the engagement 
between the abutments 13, 14 and the positioning members 22, 24 may 
face-to-face engagement, the accuracy of the positioning can be enhanced. 
In order to effect the positioning of the tray assembly 10 in both the 
longitudinal direction and the transversal direction, the abutment 
portions 13, 14 may be shaped in concaved configuration and the 
positioning members 22, 24 may have complementary tapered convex shape, 
for example, as illustrated in FIG. 4 and FIGS. 7(a) to (d). In these 
cases, there may also be employed the two-point positioning mode, 
three-point positioning mode, or four-point positioning mode. Of course, 
one of the abutment portions on the side of the stopper 21 or on the side 
of the pressing member 23 may be in flat engagement with the corresponding 
positioning member 22 or 24. The shapes of the abutment portions 13, 14 
and the positioning members 22, 24 for effecting concave-to-convex 
engagement is not limited to those as illustrated in FIGS. 7(a) to (d). 
In order to attain three-directional positioning of the tray assembly 10, 
i.e., in the londitudinal direction, the transversal direction and the 
vertical direction, the abutment portions 13, 14 and the positioning 
members 22, 24 may be formed in concave and convex configurations, 
respectively, each having a slanting top face and tapered side faces as 
illustrated in FIG. 8(a) and FIG. 8(b). In this case, there may also be 
employed a two-point positioning mode, a three-point positioning mode, or 
four-point positioning mode. The positioning of the tray assembly 10 in 
the vertical direction may be effected by moving both the article 
receptacle member 12 and the casing conjointly or by moving only the 
article receptacle member 12. 
The operation of the present embodiment will now be described. 
When the tray assembly 10 is conveyed on the carrying-in line of the 
conveying and delivering system 1 to the article delivering and receiving 
portion 6 by the roller conveyor 4, the roller conveyor 4 is stopped and 
simultaneously the pressing member 23 is actuated. The pressing member 23 
is disposed on the right side of the article delivering and receiving 
portion 6 so as to be opposite to the stopper 21 which is disposed on the 
left side of the article delivering and receiving portion 6. Therefore, 
when the pressing member 23 is actuated and the positioning member 24 
thereof is raised above the roller 4, the pressing member 23 abuts against 
the right abutment portion 14 of the article receptacle member 12 through 
the opening 11b and presses the tray assembly 10 against the stopper 21. 
Consequently, the positioning member 22 of the stopper 21 is brought into 
engagement with the left abutment portion 13 of the article receptacle 
member 12 through the opening 11a. Thus, the one-directional, 
two-directional or three-directional positioning of the tray assembly 10 
at the article delivering and receiving portion 6 is attained. 
Then, the robot R carries out required operation such as taking the 
articles out of the pits 12a of the article receptacle member 12 or 
putting the articles into the pits 12a. Upon completion of the article 
delivering or receiving operation by the robot R, the pressing member 23 
is actuated to let the positioning member 24 be lowered to below the 
roller 4 while being retreated. Thereafter, the transferring apparatus 7 
is actuated to move the tray assembly 10 in the direction perpendicular to 
the carrying-in line 2 to transfer the assembly 10 onto the roller 
conveyor 5 of the carrying-out line 3. 
The present embodiment includes the following modifications: 
(1) The stopper and the pressing member are disposed oppositely in the 
longitudinal direction of the line; 
(2) The stopper is formed retractile; 
(3) The article receptacle member is formed in, for example, such a shape 
having a planar plate and legs; 
(4) The abutment portions and the positioning members are formed in shapes 
different from those as specified in the figures; and 
(5) The positioning arrangement is adapted to be used in a series-type 
conveying and delivering system. 
FIGS. 9 to 12 illustrate a second embodiment of the present invention, 
wherein two sets of the stoppers each having a positioning member and the 
pressing members each having a positioning members are provided along the 
longitudinal direction of the conveying line and the transversal 
direction, respectively, to effect the two directional positioning of the 
tray assembly. 
The tray assembly 10 employable in the present invention comprises a casing 
11 opened at the top thereof and an article receptacle member 12 as in the 
foregoing embodiment, but it differs from that of the foregoing embodiment 
in that the casing has openings 11a, 11b, 11c and 11d formed on the four 
sides thereof, respectively, and the article receptacle member 12 has, its 
four sides, abutment portions 13, 14, 15 and 16, respectively, 
corresponding to the openings 11a to 11d of the casing 11, respectively. 
30 is a positioning devive for positioning the tray assembly 10 in the 
longitudinal direction of the conveying and delivering system 1. This 
positioning device comprises a stopper 31 disposed at a forward end 
portion of the article delivering and receiving portion 6 and a pressing 
member 32 disposed at a rear end portion of the article delivering and 
receiving portion 6. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the stopper 31 has a 
positioning member 31a which is so formed that it may directly abut 
against or engage with the forward abutment portion 15 of the article 
receptacle member 12 through the opening 11c of the casing 11. The 
pressing member 32 has a positioning member 321 which abuts against or 
engage with the rear abutment portions 16 of the article receptacle member 
12 through the opening 11d. The pressing member 32 further comprises a 
hydraulic cylinder 322 which rotates the positioning member 321 through a 
link, a guide member 323 for guiding the positioning member 321 in the 
horizontal direction, and a support member 325 which rotatably supporting 
the guide member 323 and slides the junction portion of the positioning 
member 321 and the link through a roller 324. 
With this arrangement, when the cylinder 322 is actuated to pull its shaft, 
the positioning member 321 is advanced and raised above the conveyor 
roller 4. Consequently, the positioning member 321 presses the rear 
abutment portion 16 of the article receptacle member 12 through the 
opening 11d towards the stopper 31. As a result, the positioning member 
31a of the stopper 31 is brought into engagement with the forward abutment 
portion 15 through the opening 11c. Thus, the positioning of the tray 
assembly 10 in the longitudinal direction is attained. On the other hand, 
when the cylinder 321 is actuated to project the shaft, the positioning 
member 321 is retired while being guided by the guide member 323 and 
lowered to below the conveyor roller 4 while drawing an arc as a whole. 
The positioning device for positioning the tray assembly in the transverse 
direction to the length of the conveying and delivering system is 
substantially the same as that of the first embodiment as illustrated in 
FIG. 5. 
The operation of the present embodiment will now be described. 
When the tray assembly 10 is conveyed on the carrying-in line 2 to the 
article delivering and receiving portion by the roller conveyor 4, the 
roller conveyor 4 is stopped and the pressing memebrs 22 and 32 are 
actuated. Upon actuation of the pressing member 32, the positioning member 
321 is raised above the roller 4 and presses the rear abutment portion 16 
of the article receptacle member 12, so that the positioning member 31a of 
the stopper 31 is engaged with the forward abutment portion 15. The 
positioning of the tray assembly 10 in the longitudinal direction is thus 
attained. When the pressing member 22 is actuated, the positioning member 
221 is raised above the roller 4 and presses the right abutment portion 14 
of the article receptacle member 12. As a result, the positioning member 
21a of the stopper 21 is brought into engagement with left abutment 
portion 13 of the article receptacle member 12, whereby the positioning of 
the tray assembly 10 in the transversal direction is attained. Thus, 
two-directional positioning is attained and thereafter the robot R 
operates to deliver the articles from or to the pits 12a of the article 
receptacle member 12 of the tray assembly 10. 
After completion of the article delivery by the robot R, the pressing 
members 22 and 32 are actuated to lower the positioning member 221 and 321 
to below the roller 4, respectively. Then, the roller conveyor 4 is 
slightly reversed to release the engagement of the positioning member 31a 
of the stopper 31 from the opening 11c. Thereafter, the transferring 
apparatus 7 and the roller conveyor 5 of the carrying-out line 3 is 
actuated to carry out the tray assemblies 10 sequentially in the direction 
of arrow mark in FIG. 9. 
In a modification of the present invention, the positioning members 21a and 
221 and/or the positioning members 31a and 321 and the abutment portions 
13 and 14 and/or the abutment portions 15 and 16 may be formed in such 
shapes which enable positioning of the tray assembly 10 in the vertical 
direction. The stoppers 21 and 31 may be retractile. In this case, the 
retirement of the tray assembly 10 at the time of carrying-out of the tray 
assembly 10 may be omitted and the present tray positioning arrangement 
may be applicable to a series-type conveying and delivering system. 
Further, the stoppers 21 and 31 may be formed integral with each other as 
illustrated in FIG. 12(b) or the abutment portion may be divided as 
illustrated in FIG. 12(c). 
FIGS. 13 to 18 illustrate third embodiment of the present invention, 
wherein a positioning device is provided under the article delivering and 
receiving portion and it is adapted to move up and down to engage with and 
disengage from an abutment portion or portions formed on the bottom of the 
article receptacle member of the tray assembly through a corresponding 
opening or openings formed in the bottom of the casing of the tray 
assembly. 
FIG. 13 is a plan view of the present embodiment. The arrangement of the 
conveying and delivering system 1 and the transferring apparatus is 
identical with that of the foregoing embodiments. 
The tray assembly 10 employable in the present embodiment comprises a 
casing 11 opened at the top thereof and an article receptacle member 12 
accomodated in the casing as in the foregoing embodiments. As illustrated 
in FIG. 14, the casing 11 of the present embodiment as illustrated, 
however, has openings 11a and 11b on its bottom at the forward end portion 
and the rear end portion, respectively, and the article receptacle member 
12 has abutments 17 and 18 on the bottom thereof at the forward portion 
and the rear portion, respectively. 
40 is the positioning device which is disposed beneath the article 
delivering and receiving portion 6. The positioning device 40 comprises 
two positioning members 41a, 41b provided so as to correspond to the 
abutment potions 17 and 18, respectively and adapted to appear and 
disapper, passing through the rollers 4, links 42 each having, at the 
respective tip ends, the positioning members 41a and 41b, respectively, 
and adapted to move up and down according to the operation of a cylinder 
43, and guide rods 45 each fitted in elongated slots 24 formed in the 
links 42, respectively, for guiding the links 42 vertically. The mechanism 
for bringing the positioning members 41a, 41b into operative positions or 
inoperative positions is not limited to that as illustrated. 
The shapes of the abutment portions 13 and 14 of the article receptacle 
member 12 and the positioning members 41a, 41b of the positioning device 
40 are selected according to the modes of the tray assembly positioning. 
More particularly, in order to effect the positioning only in the vertical 
direction, the shapes of the abutment members 13 and 14 and the 
positioning members 41a and 41b may be formed flat because flat engagement 
therebetween is sufficient (FIG. 16). 
In order to effect two-directional positioning, i.e., in the vertical 
direction and in the longitudinal direction of the conveying and 
delivering system or the direction transverse thereto, the abutments 17 
and 18 and the positioning members 41a and 41b may be formed, for example, 
in such shapes each having a top positioning face and side positioning 
faces in either one of the longitudinal and transversal directions as 
illustrated in FIGS. 17(a), (b) and (c). 
In order to effect three-directional positioning, i.e., in the vertical 
direction, the longitudinal direction and the transversal direction, the 
shapes of the abutments 17 and 18 and the positioning members 41a and 41b 
may, for example, be a truncated conical or pyramid shape having 
positioning faces in the vertical direction and in the longitudinal and 
transversal directions as illustrated in FIGS. 18(a) and 18(b) and FIGS. 
19(a) and 19(b). In this case, if the truncated conical shape is adopted, 
a single abutment portion 17 and a single positioning member 41a will 
suffice to attain the three-directional positioning. 
If a plurality of abutment portions and positioning portions are provided, 
they may, for example, be disposed as illustrated in FIGS. 20 and 21. In 
this case, the accuracy of the positioning can be enhanced. 
The operation of the present invention will now be described. 
When the tray assembly 10 is conveyed on the carrying-in line 2 of the 
conveying and delivering system 1 to the article delivering and receiving 
portion 6 by the roller conveyor 4, the roller conveyor 4 is stopped and 
at the same time, the positioning device 40 is actuated. Since the 
positioning device 40 is disposed beneath the article delivering and 
receiving portion 6, the convex positioning members 41a and 41b are 
raised, upon actuation of the positioning device 40, above the roller 4 
and abut against or engage with the concave abutment portions 17 and 18, 
respectively to effect the tree directional positioning. 
Then, the article delivering or receiving operation is carried out by the 
robot R. After completion of the robot operation the positioning members 
41a and 41b are lowered to below the roller 4. Thereafter, the 
transferring apparatus 7 is actuated to move the tray assembly 10 in the 
direction perpendicular to the carrying-in line 2 and transfer the same 
onto the roller conveyor 5 of the carrying-out line 3. 
The third embodiment of the present invention includes the following 
modifications: 
(1) The shapes of the abutment portions and the positioning members may be 
formed differently from those as illustrated. For example, the abutment 
portions may be convexed and the positioning members may be concaved; 
(2) The abutment portions are formed diagonal and the positioning members 
are moved diagonally; and 
(3) The tray positioning arrangement of the present embodiment is applied 
to a series-type conveying and delivering system.