Application tool

A tool, particularly adapted for use with a computer controlled robot includes an adhesive application device for depositing a quantity of liquid adhesive to a work piece, a transport roller for engaging the elongated material with the deposited adhesive on the work piece and about which the elongated material may be fed, and a separation means for severing a predetermined applied length of the elongated material from the supply of such material. The position of a pinch roller relative to the elongated material and transport roller is remotely controlled to provide holding of the elongated material during adhesive application, tacking, and cutting, and feeding of the material between tacking and cutting.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates generally to the application of an elongated 
material to a work piece and more particularly to a tool and technique for 
engaging a length of elongated material onto a quantity of adhesive 
deposited on the work piece and separating the length of elongated 
material from a supply of such material. 
BACKGROUND ART (PRIOR ART) 
Representative of the closest known prior art is an article in the IBM 
Technical Disclosure Bulletin entitled "Flat Wire Feeder" by F. W. Chapin, 
et al, Volume 21, No. 2, pages 511-12 (July 1978). In this article a 
feeder tool feeds flat wire, such as wire ribbon, between bonding sites of 
a printed circuit board or the like. The wire ribbon is fed from a spool 
through a pair of rollers to an end portion of the tool. The end portion 
of the tool includes a device for cutting the wire ribbon from its supply 
spool. 
A requirement has been presented to automatically apply strips of 
acoustical, sound absorbing material to the inside covers of office 
machines during their manufacture. With programmable robot technology 
being increasingly employed in the manufacture of business machines it 
would be desirable to utilize a robot driven tool to apply these strips of 
acoustical foam material to the insides of the covers of the office 
machines. However, in attempting to choose a tool from known prior art 
devices, such as the flat wire feeder described in the publication 
referenced above, certain shortcomings in these prior art tools are 
apparent. For example, in the publication referenced above, a bonding 
device to bond the flat wire to the printed circuit board is suggested, 
but not shown. Such a bonding operation in the concept of this publication 
seems to be a separate operation unrelated to the feeder tool operation 
shown and described. In applying the strips of acoustical foam it became 
desirable to place adhesive on the work piece and then place the 
acoustical foam atop the adhesive so that the adhesive could form a bond 
between the acoustical foam and the work piece. Thus, bonding could not be 
accomplished as suggested by the publication, as a step in the process to 
be accomplished after the strip material is placed in its bonding position 
relative to the work piece. In view of these kinds of shortcomings the 
wire feeder described in the publication could not be readily utilized for 
the attachment of strips of acoustical foam material inside the covers of 
office machines with the assistance of robotics technology. 
It would, therefore, be desirable to have a tool and technique for 
automatically applying a length of elongated material to a work piece from 
a supply of such material in which a quantity of adhesive is deposited 
onto the work piece and means are provided for engaging the length of 
material to the adhesive, and, therefore, the work piece, and for 
separating the length of material from the supply of such material. 
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, an efficient and economical tool and technique are provided 
for applying an elongated material from a supply of such material to a 
work piece by the combination of a device for depositing a quantity of 
liquid adhesive to a work piece and a structure for engaging the elongated 
material with the deposited adhesive, over which said strip material can 
also be fed in a continuous manner. Additionally included is a means for 
separating a length of the elongated material from the supply of the 
elongated material. The tool and technique are particularly adaptable to 
computer controlled robot devices which can provide appropriate movement, 
including rotation, to the tool to facilitate the operation of the 
adhesive application device, the structure for engaging the strip material 
with the deposited adhesive and feeding the elongated material and with 
the separation means for separating a length of the elongated material 
from the supply of such material. 
More particularly, an adhesive applicator reservoir with a pressure 
activated adhesive deposition tip is attached to the tool of this 
invention. The tool may be rotated by the computer controlled robot so 
that the tip of the adhesive applicator reservoir is depressed onto the 
work piece at a controlled pressure for a controlled length of time to 
deposit a predetermined amount of adhesive. During this time the 
supporting structure of a pinch roller, to which structure the adhesive 
applicator reservoir is attached, is selectively positioned by the action 
of one or more fluid operated actuators so that the pinch roller supported 
thereby provides a compressive clamping force to the end of a supply of 
elongated material which end is positioned between the pinch roller and a 
transport roller. After the adhesive application steps the tool is 
rotated, (but in a direction opposite to that required for adhesive 
application) and moved toward the work piece to compress the end of the 
strip material onto the deposited adhesive so that the strip material is 
pressed into contact with the adhesive by the transport roller. At this 
time the compressive force provided by the pinch roller is released by 
operation of the fluid operated actuator and relative movement between the 
work piece and the tool allows the elongated material to feed onto the 
work piece. Additional cycles of applying adhesive, engagement of the 
elongated material with the adhesive, and further feeding of the elongated 
material can be accomplished. Finally, the pinch roller can again be moved 
into compressive engagement with the elongated material and additional 
rotation of the tool can be provided to interpose a separation device, 
such as a heated, severing device between the length of elongated material 
applied to the work piece and the supply of such material. 
The foregoing and other objects, features, extensions, and advantages of 
the invention will be apparent from the following more particular 
description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in 
the accompanying drawing.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
Referring now to FIG. 1 the tool of this invention is shown in a 
perspective view including frame members 1 and 2 thereof, oppositely 
disposed and each rigidly mounted to an attachment block 3. Attachment 
block 3 is suitably adapted for engagement with, and movement by, a 
controllable, moveable apparatus, such as a robot arm. A pinch roller 5 is 
held rollably captive by a pinch roller yoke 6. Yoke 6 is rigidly attached 
to a piston rod 7 of a fluid operated actuator 8. Actuator 8 is rigidly 
attached to a pivot block 9 which pivot block is pivotably mounted via pin 
10 through frame members 1 and 2 so that block 9, actuator 8, piston rod 
7, yoke 6, and roller 5 may rotatably pivot about an axis defined by pin 
10. 
Actuator 8 provides linear movement of the position of roller 5 with 
respect to a position along the extension of a line defined by the travel 
of rod 7. Another fluid operator actuator 14 has one end thereof rigidly 
attached to a pivot block 11 which is pivotably mounted by pin 12 through 
frame members 1 and 2 to allow rotation of block 11 and actuator 14 with 
respect to an axis defined by pin 12. The piston rod 13 of actuator 14 is 
pivotably mounted to yoke 6 so that inward and outward movement of rod 13 
causes angular movement of the axis of pinch roller 5 with respect to a 
center of rotation defined by pin 10. 
Also rigidly attached to yoke 6 is an adhesive applicator reservoir 
mounting block 15 through which an adhesive applicator reservoir 16 is 
rigidly attached. The lower end of applicator reservoir 16 is a pressure 
activated adhesive deposition tip 17 having a pin 18 at the extremity 
thereof which, when depressed, allows adhesive to flow therethrough. The 
amount of adhesive deposited is proportional, within a linear range, with 
the extent of the depression of pin 18 and also the length of time pin 18 
is depressed. 
At the lower end of frame members 1 and 2 is freely rotatable transport 
roller 20 having an axis defined by pin 21. A heating element wire 22 for 
severing the elongated material applied with the aid of this tool is 
mounted between a pair of electrical terminals 23 and 24, which terminals 
are mounted through an insulating block 25. Block 25 is attached to the 
lower end of frame members 1 and 2. 
A liquid adhesive may be dispensed into adhesive applicator reservoir 16 
through a supply tube 30 under pressure. A suitable fluid (air or 
hydraulic fluid) may be introduced into supply tubes 31 and 32 to cause 
movement of piston rods 7 and 13, respectively, out of actuators 8 and 14, 
respectively. Such a fluid may be introduced into supply tubes 34 and 35 
to cause the withdrawal of piston rods 7 and 13, respectively, into 
actuators 8 and 14, respectively. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, a side view of the tool of this invention is shown 
in its starting position. An end 40 of an elongated material 41, such as 
acoustical foam, is shown being compressed between rollers 5 and 20 and 
held in a captive position thereby. This compression is established by the 
operation of actuators 8 and 14 to cause pinch roller 5 to compress the 
elongated material between roller 5 and roller 20. The remainder of the 
elongated material 41 may be, for example, rolled on a supply spool or 
otherwise stored in a continuous form and made available for feeding 
through the tool of this invention onto a work piece. 
In FIG. 3 the tool has been temporarily rotated into position so that pin 
18 of the adhesive deposition tip 17 is engaged against a surface 50 of a 
work piece 60 to allow a quantity of adhesive to flow through the end of 
tip 17 onto the surface of work piece 60 during the time that pin 18 is 
engaged against surface 50. 
In FIG. 4 the tool is rotated opposite to the direction necessary for 
adhesive dispensing and the transport roller 20 causes engagement with the 
end 40 of elongated material 41 at the position 51 at which the adhesive 
was dispensed. Any downward motion required for this engagement as well as 
any necessary relative motion of the tool to the work piece to properly 
position the end 40 of elongated material 41 over the position of adhesive 
application may be accomplished by a programmable robot arm to which the 
tool of this invention can be attached, as is well known by those skilled 
in the art. At the completion of this operation described with respect to 
FIG. 4 the actuators 8 and 14 are operated to cause repositioning of the 
pinch roller 5 to loosen the engagement of pinch roller 5 relative to the 
surface of the elongated material 41. Depending on the nature of elongated 
material being fed, pinch roller 5 may or may not continue to positively 
engage the elongated material. By removing this compressive holding force 
provided by pinch roller 5 against the elongated material, the material 41 
becomes free to be pulled over a transport roller 20 during relative 
movement between the tool and the surface 50 of the work piece. As shown 
in FIG. 5, three cycles of adhesive applications have been accomplished 
with feeding of the elongated material onto the work piece between 
applications of the adhesive. Thus, the elongated material is tacked down 
along the surface 50 of the work piece 60, at positions 51, 52, and 53 
without continuous adhesive bonding. 
For termination of the application of a length of the elongated material 41 
to the surface 50 of work piece 60 the tool is rotated further opposite to 
the rotation needed for adhesive application while a current is 
simultaneously applied through the electrical heating element wire 22 
which severs the applied length of elongated material from the supply 
source of such material by melting. It will, of course, be obvious to 
those skilled in the art that other separation means could be provided at 
this position, such as a knife blade. It will also be noted that actuators 
8 and 14 have been operated to reposition the pinch roller 5 to compress 
the elongated material 41 so that it will not have to be rethreaded 
through the rollers 5 and 20 to begin application of another length of the 
elongated material 41. 
After separating the length of applied elongated material from the supply 
of such material, FIG. 7 shows the tool repositioned at the start of this 
cyclical operation. In FIG. 7 it will be observed that a length 45 of the 
elongated material has been attached to the surface 50 of the work piece 
60 in accordance with this cyclical operation of applying adhesive, 
tacking the elongated material to the portion of applied adhesive, feeding 
the material a predetermined distance, retacking and feeding the material 
a successive number of times in this manner, and finally separating the 
material from the supply of elongated material. 
In summary, an efficient and economical tool and technique are provided for 
applying a length of elongated material to a work piece in a cyclical 
manner by utilizing a tool which combines a device for depositing a 
quantity of liquid adhesive to the work piece and a structure for engaging 
the elongated material with the deposited adhesive. The strip material can 
be successively applied and tacked to the work piece with the same tool. A 
means is also included on the tool for separating a portion of the 
elongated material from the supply of such material. 
While the invention has been shown and described with reference to 
particular embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in 
the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details may be 
made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 
For example while the tool of this invention has been described with 
reference to the application of acoustical foam material, it will be 
understood by those skilled in the art that the tool can be used for the 
application of a great variety of elongated materials, including but not 
limited to insulation, gasketing, shielding, molding, trim, and decals, to 
name a few.