Tape winding apparatus and tape winding method

To assure that a tape-shaped package is automatically wound around a reel, a tape winding apparatus includes a reel driving shaft having a reel fitted thereon, a tape-shaped package guide for guiding movement of a tape-shaped package from a pair of pinch rollers to the reel, and a guide driver for moving the tape-shaped package guide to positions including a first position adjacent the pinch rollers, a second position adjacent the reel, and a third position located between the first and second positions. In addition, the apparatus includes a seizing device, disposed on the tape-shaped package guide, for seizing the foremost end of the tape-shaped package.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a tape winding apparatus for winding a 
tape-shaped package around a reel. Further, the present invention relates 
to a tape winding method to be practiced in association with the foregoing 
type of tape winding apparatus. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
In the case that chip-like electronic components such as chip resistors, 
chip-like miniature mold transistors, chip-like miniature diodes or the 
like are practically installed on a semiconductor substrate, a hitherto 
known measure is usually taken such that these chip-like electronic 
components are taken one by one from a tape-shaped package having them 
received therein in the equally spaced relationship as seen in the 
longitudinal direction by actuating a manipulator, and subsequently, they 
are automatically mounted on the semiconductor substrate at predetermined 
positions. 
Generally, the tape-shaped package is composed of a plurality of pocket 
portions each having an electronic component received therein as a work, a 
carrier tape having one or two rows of perforations holes formed thereon 
in parallel to each other in the equally spaced relationship as seen in 
the longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped package, and a cover tape 
thermally fused to the carrier tape for peelably covering the pocket 
portions therewith. A film molded of a synthetic resin and having a 
plurality of pocket portions embossed thereon and a cardboard having a 
plurality of pocket portions punched therefrom are usually used as a 
carrier tape. 
A tape-shaped package is continuously produced by operating a taping 
machine, and subsequently, it is wound around a reel disposed in a tape 
winding apparatus after it is cut to assume a predetermined length. The 
foremost end of the tape-shaped package is inserted into a tape insert 
slot formed through a hub core of the reel on the inner peripheral side of 
the tape-shaped package. The carrier tape on the outer peripheral side of 
the tape-shaped package is cut to have a length shorter than that of the 
cover tape by a quantity of, e.g., about 200 mm. A part of the cover tape 
having a length more than that of the carrier tape is used as a leader 
portion when the tape-shaped package is applied to a mounting machine on a 
production line. In addition, a measure is taken such that an end tape or 
an end seal having excellent adhesiveness is firmly connected to the 
terminal end part of the cover tape to serve as a leader portion in order 
to prevent the tape-shaped package from being disconnected from the reel 
in the unwounded state. 
For example, a tape-shaped assembly winding method as disclosed in Japanese 
Patent Application Laying-Open No. 63-123746, a mechanism for forming a 
leader portion for a taping tape corresponding to the tape-shaped package 
in the present invention, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application 
Laying-Open No. 63-200993, and an automatic chip-type component packaging 
tape (corresponding to the tape-shaped package in the present invention) 
winding apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open 
No. 4-239418 are hitherto known by experts in the art in association with 
the tape winding apparatus for winding a tape-shaped package around a reel 
as mentioned above. 
The tape-shaped assembly winding method as disclosed in Japanese Patent 
Application Laying-Open No. 63-123746 is practiced such that the fore end 
side of a sleeve-shaped product guide located in a reel, the base end part 
of the product guide is expanded in the form of a trumpet, a guide portion 
is interposed between a trumpet-like opening portion of the product guide 
and a tape cutter, and the fore end part of the tape-shaped assembly cut 
by a tape cutter is fed into the trumpet-like opening portion of the 
product guide from a guide portion. 
The mechanism for forming a leader portion for a taping tape as disclosed 
in Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 63-200993 is constructed 
such that a second cutter section for cutting a carrier tape is disposed 
downstream of a first cutter section for cutting a tape-shaped package so 
that a part of the carrier tape downwardly bent after completion of the 
cutting operation performed for tape-shaped package by the first cutter 
section is cut by the second cutter section for forming a leader portion 
composed of a cover tape therewith. 
Next, the automatic chip-type component packaging tape winding apparatus as 
disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 4-239418 is 
constructed such that the foremost end of a movable type guide shoe is 
displaced in the radial direction of a reel corresponding to a quantity of 
winding of a chip-type component packaging tape around the reel, a tape 
guiding portion is interposed between the movable guide shoe and a cutter, 
and the foremost end of the chip-type component packaging tape is 
delivered to the base end part of the movable type guide shoe from the 
tape guide portion. 
As is generally known, a tape-shaped package fed from a taping machine has 
problems that a carrier tape constituting the tape-shaped package is roll 
set, and moreover, the tape-shaped package itself is undesirably warped 
due to the thermal strain arising therein after a cover tape is thermally 
fused to the carrier tape. 
In the case that the tape-shaped assembly winding method as disclosed in 
Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 63-123746 is applied to a tape 
winding operation, when the foremost end of the tape-shaped assembly is 
conveyed to the reel side, there is a possibility that the foremost end of 
the tape-shaped assembly is undesirably disconnected from the guide 
portion in the course of the conveying operation, resulting in the 
foremost end of the tape-shaped assembly failing to be introduced into the 
trumpet-like opening portion of the product guide. Similarly, in the case 
that the automatic chip-type component packaging tape winding apparatus as 
disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 4-239418 is 
likewise applied to a tape winding operation, a thrusting roller and a 
turnable pawl portion are additionally attached to the tape guiding 
portion in order to prevent the chip-type component packaging tape from 
falling down from the tape guiding portion. However, once the chip-type 
component packaging tape is roll set, and moreover, the tip tape is 
thermally warped due to the inner strain arising therein at the time of a 
thermal fusing operation, it becomes difficult to reliably deliver the 
foremost end of the chip-type component packaging tape to the base end 
part of the movable guide shoe. 
As far as the conventional tape winding apparatus as mentioned above is 
concerned, there often arises an occasion that the position assumed by 
each of tape insert slots formed through a hub core of the reel largely 
varies from reel maker to reel maker or the foregoing position slightly 
varies from reel maker to reel maker. For this reason, an inserting 
operation for inserting the foremost end of the tape-shaped package into 
one of tape insert slots should be achieved with an operator's hand. 
Consequently, an automatic tape winding operation can not continuously be 
performed with the conventional tape winding operation. 
On the other hand, with respect to the mechanism for forming a leader 
portion for a taping tape as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application 
Laying-Open No. 63-200993, only the leader portion having a length 
corresponding to a distance between a pair of cutter portions disposed in 
the direction of conveyance of the taping tape while extending in parallel 
with each other can be formed. Thus, when the foregoing mechanism is 
applied to an actual machine which requires a leader portion having a 
comparatively long length, there arises a necessity for enlarging the 
distance between the pair of cutter portions, resulting in the whole 
structure of the tape winding apparatus being unavoidably designed with 
large dimensions. Such a malfunction as mentioned above likewise occurs 
with the automatic chip-type component packaging tape winding apparatus as 
disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 4-239418. 
To assure that the leader portion is wound around the reel after it is 
formed, a measure is taken such that an end seal having excellent 
adhesiveness is adhesively secured to the terminal end of the leader 
portion in order to prevent the tape-shaped package from being unwound 
from the reel. With respect to the conventional automatic chip component 
packaging tape winding apparatus as mentioned above, since the terminal 
end of the leader portion is not restrictively held, there is a 
possibility that when an end seal is adhesively secured to the terminal 
end of the leader portion, the terminal end of the leader portion is 
vibratively displaced, causing the end seal to adhere to one of flange 
portions of the reel. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention has been made in consideration of the aforementioned 
background. 
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a tape winding 
apparatus which assures that the foremost end of a tape-shaped package 
having any roll set or thermal warpage arising in the tape-shaped package 
during a winding operation performed for the tape-shaped package can 
reliably be delivered to the interior of a reel, and moreover, assures 
that the foremost end of the tape-shaped package can automatically be 
inserted into one of tape insert slots formed through a hub core of each 
reel molded in conformity with a different dimensional standard. 
A secondary object of the present invention is to provide a tape winding 
apparatus which is simple in structure, and moreover, assures that a 
leader portion having an arbitrary length can be formed with a tape-shaped 
package of the foregoing type. 
A thirdly object of the present invention is to provide a tape winding 
method which assures that a leader portion having an arbitrary length can 
be formed with a tape-shaped package of the foregoing type. 
A fourthly object of the present invention is to provide a tape winding 
apparatus which assures that the terminal end of a leader portion can 
exactly be wound around a reel together with an end seal usable for a 
tape-shaped package of the foregoing type. 
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a 
tape winding apparatus for winding a tape-shaped package around a reel, 
the tape-shaped package being composed of a carrier tape having a 
plurality of pocket portions for receiving works therein formed in the 
equally spaced relationship as seen in the longitudinal direction of the 
tape-shaped package and a cover tape connected to the carrier tape in the 
face-to-face relationship for covering the pocket portions therewith, 
wherein the tape winding apparatus comprises a reel driving shaft having a 
reel for winding the tape-shaped package therearound detachably fitted 
thereonto; a pair of pinch rollers for delivering the tape-shaped package 
toward the reel driving shaft; a tape-shaped package guiding slider for 
guiding the movement of the tape-shaped package from the pinch roller side 
to the reel driving shaft side, the tape-shaped package guiding slider 
being capable of reciprocably moving between the pair of pinch rollers and 
an empty reel fitted onto the reel driving shaft; slider driving means for 
driving the tape-shaped package guiding slider to a predetermined stop 
position; and a tape-shape package foremost end seizing means disposed on 
the tape-shaped package guiding slider for seizing the foremost end of the 
tape-shaped package therewith; whereby the predetermined stop position to 
be assumed by the tape-shaped package guiding slider is one of a 
tape-shaped package receiving stop position located in the vicinity of the 
pair of pinch rollers for receiving the foremost end of the tape-shaped 
package delivered from the pair of pinch rollers, a tape-shaped package 
delivering stop position located in the vicinity of the reel driving shaft 
for delivering the foremost end of the tape-shaped package to the empty 
reel fitted onto the reel driving shaft, and a tape-shaped package guiding 
stop position located between the tape-shaped package receiving stop 
position and the tape-shaped package delivering stop position for guiding 
the movement of the tape-shaped package from the pair of pinch rollers to 
the reel driving shaft side during a winding operation performed for 
winding the tape-shaped package around the empty reel by rotating the reel 
driving shaft. 
In the case that the tape winding apparatus is constructed according to the 
first aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that the tape 
winding apparatus further includes tape insert slot detecting means for 
detecting one of tape insert slots formed through a hub core of the reel 
fitted onto the reel driving shaft so as to allow the foremost end of the 
tape-shaped package to be inserted thereinto and reel driving shaft 
controlling means for properly controlling the position where the rotation 
of the reel driving shaft is to be stopped, so as to allow the tape insert 
slot to be indexed to a predetermined rotational position on the hub core 
in response to a detection signal outputted from the tape insert slot 
detecting means. 
According to the first aspect of the present invention, an empty reel is 
first fitted onto the reel driving shaft, and subsequently, one of the 
tape insert slots formed through the hub core of the reel is indexed to a 
predetermined rotational position on the hub core of the reel by 
activating the reel driving shaft controlling means in response to a 
detection signal outputted from the insert slot detecting means. On the 
other hand, as the slider driving means is actuated, the tape-shaped 
package guiding slider is displaced to the tape-shaped package receiving 
stop position from which the foremost end of the tape-shaped package is 
delivered toward the tape-shaped package guiding slider side by the pair 
of pinch rollers. At this time, the foremost end of the tape-shaped 
package is seized on the tape-shaped package guiding slider by actuating 
tape-shaped package foremost end seizing means. 
While the foremost end of the tape-shaped package is seized by the 
tape-shaped package foremost end seizing means, the tape-shaped package 
guiding slider is displaced to the tape-shaped package delivering stop 
position by actuating the slider driving means. Subsequently, after the 
foremost end of the tape-shaped package is released from the seized state 
attained by the tape-shaped package foremost end seizing means, the 
foremost end of the tape-shaped package is inserted into one of the tape 
insert slots formed through the hub core of the reel held in the standby 
state. In addition, the reel driving shaft is rotated together with the 
reel in synchronization with the rotation of the pinch rollers at a low 
speed by several revolutions with the aid of the reel driving shaft 
controlling means, causing the foremost end of the tape-shaped package to 
be wound around the reel by several turns. Thereafter, the tape-shaped 
package guiding slider is escapably displaced to the tape-shaped guiding 
slider stop position by actuating the slider driving means. 
Subsequently, the reel is rotated together with the reel driving shaft at a 
high speed by activating the reel driving shaft controlling means so that 
the tape-shaped package is wound around the reel while the movement of the 
tape-shaped package is properly guided by the tape-shaped package guiding 
slider. 
Therefore, the foremost end of the tape-shaped package can be delivered to 
the interior of the reel regardless of any roll set or thermal warpage 
arising on the tape-shaped package during a winding operation performed 
for the latter. In addition, the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 
can automatically be inserted into one of the tape insert slots formed 
through the hub core of each reel molded in conformity of a different 
dimensional standard. 
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a 
tape winding apparatus for winding a tape-shaped package around a reel, 
the tape-shaped package being composed of a carrier tape having a 
plurality of pocket portions for receiving works therein formed in the 
equally spaced relationship as seen in the longitudinal direction of the 
tape-shaped package and a cover tape connected to the carrier tape in the 
face-to-face relationship for covering the pocket portions therewith, 
wherein the tape winding apparatus comprises a reel driving shaft having a 
reel for winding the tape-shaped package therearound detachably fitted 
thereonto; a pair of pinch rollers for delivering the tape-shaped package 
toward the reel driving shaft; cover tape sucking means disposed between 
the pair of pinch rollers and the reel driving shaft for holding the cover 
tape in the sucked state; a carrier tape cutter disposed on the opposite 
side relative to the cover tape sucking means with the tape-shaped package 
interposed therebetween, the carrier tape cutter being reciprocably 
displaced in the direction toward and away from the tape-shaped package; a 
tape-shaped package cutter disposed opposite to the carrier tape cutter 
with the tape-shaped package interposed therebetween, the tape-shaped 
package cutter being reciprocably displaced in the direction toward and 
away from the carrier tape cutter; a tape thrusting cylinder disposed 
sideward of the carrier tape cutter for thrusting the carrier tape toward 
the tape-shaped package cutter side; and a cutter receiver adapted to be 
inserted between the carrier tape of the tape-shaped package and the cover 
tape of the same for cutting the carrier tape by actuating the carrier 
tape cutter, and moreover, cutting the tape-shaped package by actuating 
the tape-shaped package cutter. 
With the tape winding apparatus constructed according to the second aspect 
of the present invention, when the tape-shaped package is wound around the 
reel fitted onto the reel driving shaft by a predetermined length, the 
rotational speed of the pinch rollers is increased to assume a value 
higher than that of the reel driving shaft, whereby a part of the 
tape-shaped package is held in the loosened state between the pinch 
rollers and the reel fitted onto the reel driving shaft. When the cover 
tape is sucked by actuating the cover tape sucking means, a gap is formed 
between the cover tape and the carrier tape. Subsequently, the cutter 
receiver is inserted into this gap so that the carrier tape interposed 
between the cutter receiver and the carrier tape cutter is cut by 
actuating the carrier tape cutter. At this time, since the reel driving 
shaft is continuously rotated, a part of the cover tape which should serve 
as a leader portion is wound around the reel. 
When the leader portion having a predetermined length is formed with the 
tape-shaped package, the cutter receiver is escapably retracted, and 
thereafter, the carrier tape is thrusted toward the tape-shaped package 
cutter by actuating a tape thrusting cylinder. While the foregoing state 
is maintained, the cutter receiver is projected so that the cutter 
receiver and the tape-shaped package cutter face each other with the 
carrier tape between, and thereafter, the cover tape and the carrier tape 
located between the tape-shaped package cutter and the cutter receiver are 
cut by actuating the tape-shaped cutter, resulting in the terminal end of 
the leader portion to be wound around the reel being formed. 
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a 
tape winding apparatus for winding a tape-shaped package around a reel, 
the tape-shaped package being composed of a carrier tape having a 
plurality of pocket portions for receiving works therein formed in the 
equally spaced relationship as seen in the longitudinal direction of the 
tape-shaped package and a cover tape connected to the carrier tape in the 
face-to-face relationship for covering the pocket portions therewith, 
wherein the tape winding apparatus comprises a reel driving shaft having a 
reel for winding the tape-shaped package therearound detachably fitted 
thereonto; a pair of pinch rollers for delivering the tape-shaped package 
toward the reel driving shaft; cover tape sucking means disposed between 
the pair of pinch rollers and the reel driving shaft, the cover tape 
sucking means being capable of holding the cover tape in the sucked state; 
a carrier tape cutter disposed on the opposite side relative to the cover 
tape sucking means with the tape-shaped package interposed therebetween, 
the carrier tape cutter being reciprocably displaced in the direction 
toward and away from the tape-shaped package; a cover tape cutter disposed 
opposite to the carrier tape cutter with the tape-shaped package 
interposed therebetween, the cover tape cutter being reciprocably 
displaced in the direction toward and away from the carrier tape cutter; 
and a cutter receiver adapted to be inserted between the carrier tape of 
the tape-shaped package and the cover tape of the same for cutting the 
carrier tape by actuating the carrier tape cutter, and moreover, cutting 
the cover tape by actuating the cover tape cutter. 
In addition, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there 
is provided a tape winding method of winding a tape-shaped package around 
a reel, the tape-shaped package being composed of a carrier tape having a 
plurality of pocket portions for receiving works therein formed in the 
equally spaced relationship as seen in the longitudinal direction of the 
tape-shaped package and a cover tape connected to the carrier tape in the 
face-to-face relationship for covering the pocket portions therewith 
wherein a leader portion composed merely of the cover tape is formed at 
the terminal end of the tape-shaped package when the latter is wound 
around the reel, wherein the tape winding method comprises a step of 
setting a speed of delivering the tape-shaped package to the reel to be 
higher than a speed of winding the tape-shaped package around the reel; a 
step of forming a gap between the cover tape and the carrier tape by 
sucking the cover tape; a step of inserting a cutter receiver into the gap 
between the cover tape and the carrier tape; a step of cutting the carrier 
tape by utilizing the cutter receiver; a step of winding the cover tape 
around the reel by a predetermined length so as to allow a part of the 
cover tape to serve as a leader portion; and a step of cutting the cover 
tape together with the carrier tape by utilizing the cutter receiver 
interposed therebetween. 
According to the third aspect and the fourth aspect of the present 
invention, when a leader portion having a predetermined length is to be 
formed with a part of the tape-shaped package, the carrier tape cutter and 
the cover tape cutter are actuated, causing the cover tape and the carrier 
tape located between these cutters and the cutter receiver to be cut, 
resulting in the terminal end of the leader portion to be wound around the 
reel being formed with the tape-shaped package. 
Further, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is 
provided a tape winding apparatus for winding a tape-shaped package and a 
leader portion around a reel, the tape-shaped package being composed of a 
carrier tape having a plurality of pocket portions for receiving works 
therein formed therein in the equally spaced relationship as seen in the 
longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped package for covering the pocket 
portions therewith, and the leader portion being connected to the terminal 
end of the tape-shaped package, wherein the tape winding apparatus 
comprises a reel driving shaft having a reel for winding the tape-shaped 
package and the leader portion therearound detachably fitted thereonto; 
means for connecting an end seal to the terminal end of the leader 
portion; a turn arm located on the upper side of the reel having the reel 
driving shaft fitted thereinto, the base end of the turn arm being 
turnably fitted onto a pivotal shaft extending in parallel with the reel 
driving shaft; a retaining roller rotatably fitted to the foremost end of 
the turn arm, the retaining roller coming in rolling contact with the 
tape-shaped package, the leader portion and the end seal; and sucking 
means for sucking the leader portion and the end seal, the sucking means 
being kept open on the reel side of the turn arm. 
With the tape winding apparatus constructed according to the fifth aspect 
of the present invention, the retaining roller is normally biased toward 
the reel driving shaft side by the dead weight of the turn arm and the 
retaining roller in such a manner as to turn about the pivotal shaft 
fitted to the base end of the turn arm, causing the leader portion to be 
thrusted toward the inside of the reel. At this time, the sucking means is 
actuated to firmly hold the leader portion by the air suction force 
without any vibrative movement of the leader portion. Since the end seal 
adheres to the terminal end of the leader portion with the aid of end seal 
connecting means while the foregoing state is maintained, the end seal can 
reliably adhesively be connected to the leader portion or the tape-shaped 
package wound around the reel. 
Additionally, according to the second aspect to the fifth aspect of the 
present invention, a leader portion having an arbitrary length can be 
formed with the tape winding apparatus constructed in the above-described 
manner. Since the tape-shaped package cutter or the cover tape cutter is 
disposed opposite to the carrier tape cutter with the cutter receiver 
interposed therebetween, there does not arise a necessity for elongating a 
conveyance path for the tape-shaped package regardless of the length of 
the leader portion, resulting in the whole structure of the tape winding 
apparatus being designed with small dimensions. Further, since the sucking 
means for sucking the leader portion and the end seal is disposed on the 
lower surface side of the turn arm adapted to hold the tape retaining 
roller, causing the leader portion wound around the reel to be retained by 
the tape retaining roller, the terminal end of the leader portion and the 
end seal can reliably be wound around the reel. 
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present 
invention will become apparent from reading of the following description 
which has been made in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The present invention will now be described in detail hereinafter with 
reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred 
embodiments thereof. 
First, a tape winding apparatus constructed in accordance with an 
embodiment of the present invention based on a first aspect of the latter 
will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 26 
wherein a tape-shaped package having a plurality of semiconductor chip 
components received therein is used for the tape winding apparatus. 
As is apparent from FIG. 1 which shows by way of front view the contour of 
the whole structure of the tape winding apparatus and FIG. 2 which shows 
by way of side view the contour of the tape winding apparatus as seen from 
the right-hand side in FIG. 1, the tape winding apparatus includes a lower 
casing 106 which is mounted on a floor surface 104 with the aid of four 
expansible/contractible feet 102 each having a caster 100 attached 
thereto, and a control panel 108 and an upper casing 110 are arranged on 
the lower casing 106. A start switch, a stop switch, various kinds of 
alarm lamps, a display unit and a counter (each of which is not shown in 
the drawings) are arranged on the control panel 108 for properly operating 
the tape winding apparatus. With this construction, the tape winding 
apparatus can automatically be operated by actuating these switches with 
an operator's hand in order to assure that a tape-shaped package 112 fed 
from a taping machine (not shown) is successively wound around an empty 
reel 116 fitted onto a reel driving shaft 114. 
First, the empty reel 116 is fitted onto the reel driving shaft 114 and one 
of tape insert slots 120 (see FIG. 18) formed through a hub core 118 of 
the empty reel 116 is then indexed to a predetermined position. 
Subsequently, the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 112 is inserted 
into the tape insert slot 120 formed through the hub core 118 of the empty 
reel 116, and the tape-shaped package 112 is then wound around the reel 
116 by a predetermined length by rotationally driving the reel driving 
shaft 114. On completion of the winding operation, a leader portion 122 
(see FIG. 3) is formed on the terminal end of the tape-shaped package 112, 
and after an end seal 124 is adhesively connected to the terminal end of 
the leader portion 122, the reel 116 is detached from the reel driving 
shaft 114, and thereafter, a next winding operation is performed again 
from the beginning. 
In this embodiment, to assure that a series of operations as mentioned 
above are automatically repeated, a pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 
provide a first guide for feeding the foremost end of the tape-shaped 
package 112 toward the reel driving shaft 114, a tape-shaped package guide 
or, in other words, a tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130 
provide a second guide for conducting the tape-shaped package 112 
discharged from the pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 to the empty reel 
116 fitted onto the reel driving shaft 114 while seizing the foremost end 
of the tape-shaped package 112 therewith, a tape-shaped package cutting 
unit 132 located between the pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 and the 
tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130 to cut the tape-shaped 
package 112 therewith, a carrier tape cutting unit 136 for cutting only a 
carrier tape 134 of the tape-shaped package 112 to form a leader portion 
122 with the cut part of the carrier tape 134, an end seal feeding unit 
138 for connecting an end seal 124 to the terminal end of the leader 
portion 122, a reel attaching/detaching unit 140 for attaching the reel 
116 to the reel driving shaft 114 and detaching the former from the latter 
(see FIG. 17), and a reel chip components unit 142 for indexing one of the 
tape insert slots 120 formed through the hub core 118 of the reel 116 to a 
predetermined position are arranged in the upper casing 110. In addition, 
a reel receiving/delivering unit 144 for delivering an empty reel 116 to 
the reel driving shaft 114 and receiving the reel 116 having a tape-shaped 
package 112 wound therearound from the reel driving shaft 114 (see FIG. 
23) and a reel delivering/discharging unit 146 for delivering an empty 
reel 116 to the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 and receiving the reel 
116 having a tape-shaped package 112 wound therearound from the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 (see FIG. 24) are firmly arranged in the 
lower casing 106. Additionally, a dancer unit 148 for temporarily storably 
holding the fore end side of the tape-shaped package 112 delivered from 
the taping machine is arranged within the range extending between the 
upper casing 110 and the lower casing 106. 
The taping machine installed for producing a tape-shaped package 112 is 
equipped with a chip component inserting mechanism (not shown) for 
successively receiving semiconductor chip components 152 in a series of 
pocket portions 150 formed on a carrier tape 134 one by one and a tape 
connecting mechanism (not shown) for thermally fusing a cover tape 154 to 
the carrier tape 134 having the semiconductor chip components 152 received 
in the pocket portions 150 thereof as shown in FIG. 3 which schematically 
illustrates the structure of the tape-shaped package 112. The chip 
component inserting mechanism is constructed such that semiconductor chip 
components 152 are received in the pocket portions 150 on the carrier tape 
134, and after a predetermined number of semiconductor chip components 152 
are successively received in the pocket portions 150, a predetermined 
number of empty pocket portions 150 having no semiconductor chip 
components received therein are formed on the carrier tape 134. In 
addition, the tape connecting mechanism is constructed such that the cover 
tape 154 is thermally fused to a part of the carrier tape 134 having 
semiconductor chip components 152 received in the pocket portions 150 
thereof and a part of the cover tape 154 is used as a leader portion 122 
by forming a non-fusing part on the cover tape 154 without any thermal 
fusion of the latter to the empty pocket portions 150. 
As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 that is a fragmentary enlarged front view of the 
dancer unit 148 and FIG. 5 that is a sectional view of the dancer unit 148 
taken along line 5--5 in FIG. 4, a slider 164 having two tape guide 
rollers 160 and 162 rotatably held thereon to rotate about their 
horizontal shafts is slidably fitted onto a guide rod 158 supported by a 
pair of upper and lower rod holders 156 fixedly secured to the side wall 
portion of the upper casing 110 at the upper end of the latter as well as 
the side wall portion of the lower casing 106 at the lower end of the 
latter in such a manner as to allow the slider 164 to be slidably raised 
up and lowered along the guide rod 158 in the upward/downward direction. 
To prevent the slider 164 from being turned in the horizontal direction, a 
slide turning movement preventive pin 168 threadably fixed to the slider 
164 is slidably received in the substantially U-shaped groove of a slider 
turning movement preventive member 166 firmly secured to the upper casing 
110 and the lower casing 106 while extending in parallel with the guide 
rod 158 in the spaced relationship. 
In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, four slider position detecting sensors 
170, 172, 174 and 176 located in the order as seen from below are disposed 
sideward of the slider turning movement preventive member 166 
corresponding to a highest winding speed, a high winding speed, a low 
winding speed and a lowest winding speed, and the base end of a dog plate 
178 adapted to cooperate with the slider position detecting sensors 170, 
172, 174 and 176 is fixedly secured to the slider 164. In response to a 
detection signal outputted from each of the slider position detecting 
sensors 170, 172, 174 and 176, the winding speed of the tape-shaped 
package 112 set by the reel driving shaft 114 is automatically changed by 
controlling unit (not shown). 
Specifically, in the case that the slider position detecting sensor 170 
detects the position of the slider 164 corresponding to a highest winding 
speed, the winding speed of the tape-shaped package 112 is increased to 
reach a preliminarily determined highest speed, causing the position of 
the slider 164 to be quickly raised up. In addition, in the case that the 
slider position detecting sensor 172 detects the position of the slider 
164 corresponding to a high winding speed, the winding speed of the 
tape-shaped package 112 is increased to reach a preliminarily determined 
high speed, causing the position of the slider 164 to be correspondingly 
raised up. Additionally, in the case that the slider position detecting 
sensor 174 detects the position of the slider 164 corresponding to a low 
winding speed, the winding speed of the tape-shaped package 112 is reduced 
to assume a preliminarily determined low speed, causing the position of 
the slider 164 to be correspondingly lowered. Further, in the case that 
the slider position detecting sensor 176 detects the position of the 
slider 164 corresponding to a lowest winding speed, the winding speed of 
the tape-shaped package 112 is reduced to assume a preliminarily 
determined lowest speed, causing the position of the slider 164 to be 
quickly lowered. 
As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6 that is an enlarged front view 
of a pin roller 186 arranged at the left upper end part of the upper 
casing 110, FIG. 7 that is an enlarged sectional view of the pin roller 
186 taken along line 7--7 in FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 that is an enlarged 
sectional view of a section represented by an arrow-shaped mark of 8 in 
FIG. 7, the pin roller 186 is disposed slantwise downward of a tape-shaped 
package introduction pulley 646 which is rotatably disposed at the left 
uppermost end of the upper casing 110, and a number of pins 182 arranged 
in the equally spaced relationship as seen in the circumferential 
direction of the pin roller 186 so as to be brought in meshing engagement 
with a plurality of perforation holes 180 formed through the tape-shaped 
package 112 (see FIG. 3) are radially projected from the pin roller 186 
with the aid of a plurality of set screws 184. In addition, a rotary 
encoder 188 is disposed integral with the pin roller 186 in the coaxial 
relationship relative to the latter in order to detect the length of 
passage of the tape-shaped package 112 past the pin roller 182, i.e., the 
length of the tape-shaped package 112 wound around the reel 116. 
In this embodiment, the pins 186 on the pin roller 186 are brought in 
meshing engagement with the perforation holes 180 formed through the 
tape-shaped package 112 in the equally spaced relationship in order to 
detect the length of passage of the tape-shaped package 112 by utilizing 
the followable rotary movement of the pin roller 186 caused as the 
tape-shaped package 112 moves in the forward direction. Alternatively, a 
pair of light permeation type optical sensors having the perforation holes 
180 interposed therebetween may be substituted for the pin roller 186. In 
this case, the length of passage of the tape-shaped package 112 is 
detected by counting a series of pulse-like detection signals each 
outputted every time the optical sensors detect one perforation hole 180 
without any necessity for coming in contact with the perforation hole 180. 
To assure that the tape-shaped package 112 is properly conducted from the 
package introduction pulley 646 to a pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 to 
be described later, a stationary guide member 196 having a guide portion 
194 formed thereon to slidably hold the right-hand end of the tape-shaped 
package 112 therewith and a movable guide member 198 capable of moving 
toward or away from the stationary guide member 196 (i.e., in the 
rightward/leftward direction as seen in FIG. 7) corresponding to the width 
of the tape-shaped package 112 are mounted on an inverted L-shaped bracket 
192 fixedly secured to the upper casing 110 by using bolts 190. 
As is apparent from FIG. 9 which shows by way of perspective view the 
appearance of both the guide members 196 and 198, to assure that the 
movable guide member 198 can be displaced toward or away from the 
stationary guide member 196 with the aid of two bolts 200 threadably 
fitted to the bracket 192, a pair of elongated holes 202 are formed 
through the movable guide member 198 so as to allow a series of pocket 
portions 150 on the tape-shaped package 112 to move past a gap 204 formed 
between the stationary guide member 196 and the movable guide member 198. 
A relief groove 208 is formed at the central part of a guide portion 206 
of the movable guide member 198 usable for slidably holding the left-hand 
end of the tape-shaped package 112 in order to allow the pins 182 on the 
pin roller 186 to be successively received in the relief groove 208. With 
this construction, when the tape-shaped package 112 moves between the pin 
roller 186 and both the guide members 196 and 198, the fore end part of 
each pin 182 on the pin roller 186 is fitted into one perforation hole 180 
formed through the tape-shaped package 112, whereby as the tape-shaped 
package 112 moves in the forward direction, the pin roller 186 is 
followably rotated so as to enable a quantity of movement of the 
tape-shaped package 112 to be detected by the rotary encoder 188. 
As is apparent from FIG. 10 that is an enlarged front view of a pair of 
pinch rollers 126 and 128 and FIG. 11 that is a sectional view of the 
pinch rollers 126 and 128 taken along line 11--11 in FIG. 10, a pinch 
roller driving shaft 212, of which fore end part is projected outside of 
the upper casing 110, is rotatably supported by a pair of bearings 214 in 
a cylindrical holder 210 fixedly secured to the rear surface of the upper 
casing 110. A pair of driving pinch rollers 126a and 126b adapted to hold 
the opposite sides of the tape-shaped package 112 with the pocket portion 
150 on the tape-shaped package 112 interposed therebetween are fitted onto 
the fore end part of the pinch roller driving shaft 212, and the driving 
pinch roller 126a located outside of the driving pinch roller 126b can 
immovably be held on the pinch roller driving shaft 212 at an arbitrary 
position determined corresponding to the width of the tape-shaped package 
112 as seen in the longitudinal direction of the pinch roller driving 
shaft 212 by tightening a set screw 216. A pinch roller driving motor 218 
for rotationally driving the pinch roller driving shaft 212 is attached to 
a frame 220 in the upper casing 110 via a speed reducing unit 222, and an 
endless toothed belt 232 is bridged between a driving gear 226 integrated 
with an output shaft 224 of the speed reducing unit 222 and an idling gear 
230 rotatably fitted onto the pinch roller driving shaft 212 via bearings 
228 while extending around the driving gear 226 and the idling gear 230. 
An electromagnetic clutch 234 is interposed between the idling gear 230 and 
the upper casing 110. In this embodiment, the electromagnetic clutch 234 
is substantially composed of a spline sleeve 236 integrated with the 
idling gear 230, an armature 238 slidably fitted onto the spline sleeve 
236 to slidably move on the latter, a frictional plate 240 integrally 
fitted onto the pinch roller shaft 212, a compression coil spring 242 
interposed between the spline sleeve 236 and the armature 238 for normally 
biasing the armature 238 toward the frictional plate 240, and a coil block 
244 for magnetizing the frictional plate 240 for biasing the armature 238 
toward the idling gear 230 by the magnetic force against the resilient 
force of the compression coil spring 242. The coil block 244 having the 
pinch roller driving shaft 212 surrounded thereby with bearings 246 
interposed therebetween is held by a coil holder 248 fixedly secured to 
the upper casing 110 at the left-hand end thereof. 
Thus, when the coil block 244 is turned off, the armature 238 is thrusted 
against the frictional plate 240 by the resilient force of the compression 
coil spring 242 so that the rotational force of the pinch roller driving 
motor 218 is transmitted from the frictional plate 240 to the pinch roller 
driving shaft 212 by the frictional force arising between the armature 238 
and the frictional plate 240, via the endless toothed belt 232, the spline 
sleeve 236 integrated with the idling gear 230 and the armature 238. On 
the contrary, when the coil block 244 is turned on, the armature 238 is 
parted away from the frictional plate 240 by the magnetic force generated 
by the coil block 244 against the resilient force of the compression coil 
spring 242. Thus, the rotational force of the pinch roller driving motor 
218 is transmitted only to the spline sleeve 236 integrated with the 
idling gear 230 and the armature 238 via the endless toothed belt 232, 
resulting in the spline sleeve 236 and the armature 238 being idly rotated 
relative to the pinch roller driving shaft 212. 
The electromagnetic clutch 234 is held in the inoperative state that it is 
turned off until the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 112 is seized 
by the tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130 located at the 
position where the receipt of the package to be described later is 
stopped. In addition, the electromagnetic clutch 234 is held also in the 
inoperative state that it is turned off when the reel driving shaft 114 is 
rotated at a low speed so as to allow the fore end part of the tape-shaped 
package 112 to be wound around the hub core 118 of the reel 116 while the 
package foremost end guiding unit 130 is located at the position where the 
delivery of the tape-shaped package is stopped. While the foregoing state 
is maintained, the rotational force of the pinch roller driving motor 218 
is transmitted to the pinch roller 126a. However, the electromagnetic 
clutch 234 is held in the operative state that it is turned on for a 
period of time other than the aforementioned one. 
On the other hand, a turn shaft holding sleeve 250 is fixedly secured to 
the upper casing 110 in the vicinity of a bearing holder 210 so that a 
turn shaft 252 extending through the upper casing 110 in parallel with the 
pinch roller driving shaft 212 is rotatably supported in the turn shaft 
holding sleeve 250. The upper end part of a turn arm 254 is firmly fitted 
onto the turn shaft 252 at the left-hand end of the latter as seen in FIG. 
11, and a roller holding shaft 256 is projected from the lower end part of 
the turn arm 254 in parallel with the pinch roller driving shaft 212. An 
idling pinch roller 128 is rotatably supported on the roller holding shaft 
256 while facing to the pair of driving pinch rollers 126a and 126b with 
the tape-shaped package 112 interposed therebetween in the clamped state. 
A tension pin 260 is projected from the rear surface of the upper casing 
110 at the position above the turn shaft 252, and an adjustment screw 
shaft 262 is threadably inserted through the tension pin 260 with a pair 
of lock nuts 264 located on the opposite sides of the tension pin 260. As 
the lock nuts 264 are threadably tightened from the opposite sides of the 
tension pin 260, the tension pin 260 is immovably held on the adjustment 
screw shaft 262 while building an integral structure with the adjustment 
screw shaft 262. A tension coil spring 268 is bridged between the 
left-hand end of the adjustment screw shaft 262 and a circular disc-shaped 
tension ring 266 immovably fitted onto the turn shaft 252 at the left-hand 
end of the latter in order to normally bias the idling pinch roller 128 
toward the driving pinch rollers 126a and 126b. 
With this construction, the idling pinch roller 128 is normally biased 
toward the driving pinch rollers 126a and 126b by the resilient force of 
the tension coil spring 268, whereby as the driving pinch rollers 126a and 
126b are rotationally driven, the tape-shaped package 112 held between 
both the driving pinch rollers 126a and 126b in the clamped state is 
slantwise downward conveyed in the rightward direction as seen in FIG. 1. 
It is obvious that the resilient force of the tension coil spring 268 can 
arbitrarily be changed by adequately adjusting the position where the lock 
nuts 264 are threadably fitted onto the adjustment screw shaft 262. 
A tape-shaped package cutting unit 132 is arranged at the position 
slantwise downward of the pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128. FIG. 12 shows 
by way of an enlarged sectional view the structure of the package cutting 
unit 132. 
Specifically, a knife driving air cylinder 270 is arranged on the rear 
surface of the upper casing 110 via a bracket 272 fastened to the latter 
with a downward attitude, and the left-hand end part of a rod holder 276 
extending through the upper casing 110 is connected to the lower end of a 
piston rod 274 extending through the knife driving air cylinder 270. In 
addition, the lower end of a cutter rod 280 slidably held by a pair of 
guide bushes 278 fastened to the front surface of the upper casing 110 is 
firmly connected to the right-hand end part of the rod holder 276. A 
cutter holder 282 is secured to the lower end of the cutter rod 280, and a 
cutter knife 284 is firmly attached to the cutter holder 282 in order to 
cut the tape-shaped package 112 therewith. A plate-shaped knife receiver 
286 adapted to be projected from the rear side of the upper casing 110 is 
slidably held relative to a knife receiver holder 288 fastened to the rear 
surface of the upper casing 110 directly below the cutter knife 284 in 
such a manner as to slidably move in the normal direction relative to the 
upper casing 110 (i.e., in the rightward/leftward direction as seen in 
FIG. 13). The foremost end of a piston rod 294 projected from the holder 
driving cylinder 292 fixedly secured to the rear surface of the upper 
casing 110 via a bracket 290 is connected to the left-hand end of the 
knife receiver holder 288 via a connecting member 296. In operation, 
before the piston rod 274 of the knife driving air cylinder 270 is 
lowered, the piston rod 294 of the holder driving cylinder 292 is 
displaced in the forward direction, causing the fore end part of the knife 
receiver holder 288 to be projected directly below the carrier tape 134 of 
the tape-shaped package 112 in order to receive the thrusting force of the 
cutter knife 284. 
On the other hand, to damp the shock caused when the tape-shaped package 
112 is cut by the cutter knife 284, a damper ring 298 having a 
substantially U-shaped sectional shape is attached to the upper end of the 
piston rod 274 of the knife driving air cylinder 270. In this connection, 
the lower end part of the damper ring 298 adapted to collide against the 
upper surface of the bracket 272 is molded of an elastic material such as 
a rubber or the like. The tape-shaped package cutting unit 132 is actuated 
when it is detected by the rotary encoder 188 that the tape-shaped package 
112 is wound around the reel 116 by a predetermined length. At this time, 
the reel driving shaft 114 is held in the temporarily stopped state. 
It should be noted that any hitherto known structure other than that 
described above may be employed for the package cutting unit 132. 
FIG. 13 schematically shows by way of rear view the structure of a 
tape-shaped package guide or, in other words, a tape-shaped package 
foremost end guiding unit 130 for conducting the tape-shaped package 112 
discharged from the pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 to the empty reel 
116 fitted onto the reel driving shaft 114 while the foremost end of the 
tape-shaped package 112 is seized by the guiding unit 130, FIG. 14 shows 
by way of sectional view the structure of the tape-shaped package foremost 
end guiding unit 130 taken along line 14--14 in FIG. 13, and FIG. 15 shows 
by way of sectional view the structure of a carrier tape cutting unit 136. 
The opposite ends of a slider guide shaft 300 extending in the direction in 
parallel with a line segment between the pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 
and the reel driving shaft 114 are held on the upper casing 110 within the 
range between the pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 and the reel driving 
shaft 114 with the aid of a bracket 302, and a slidable pin 310 slidably 
received between a guide block 308 and an upper guide member 306 having an 
inverted L-shaped sectional contour and fixedly secured to the upper 
casing 110 in parallel with the slider guide shaft 300 is firmly secured 
to a slider base 304 slidably fitted onto the slider guide shaft 300 to 
slidably move along the latter by tightening screws. 
Structure shown in FIGS. 13-15 is provided for moving the tape-shaped 
package guide or guiding unit 130 to different predetermined positions. An 
air cylinder 322 includes a piston rod 316 of which foremost end is 
operatively connected to the slider base 304 via a bracket 318 and a 
connecting member 320. To assure that a slide member 312 of a rodless 
cylinder 314 fixedly secured to the upper casing 110 can reciprocably move 
in the direction in parallel with the slide guide shaft 300, the air 
cylinder 322 is firmly secured to the sliding member 312. Three stop 
positions, i.e., a tape-shaped package receiving stop position located in 
the vicinity of the pinch rollers 126 and 128 to receive the fore end part 
of the tape-shaped package 112 delivered from the pinch rollers 126 and 
128, a tape-shaped package delivering stop position located in the 
vicinity of the reel driving shaft 114 to deliver the fore end part of the 
tape-shaped package 112 to the reel 116 fitted onto the reel driving shaft 
114, and a tape-shaped package guiding stop position located between the 
tape-shaped package receiving stop position and the tape-shaped package 
delivering stop position for guiding the movement of the tape-shaped 
package 112 from the pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 to the reel driving 
shaft 114 in the course of a winding operation for winding the tape-shaped 
package 112 around the reel 116 are determined by combining the opposite 
end positions of reciprocable movement of the sliding member 312 of the 
rodless cylinder 314 with the opposite end positions of reciprocable 
movement of the piston rod 316 of the air cylinder 322. 
A slider 324 having the slider base 304 firmly secured to the lower surface 
thereof is projected outside of an opening portion 326 formed through the 
upper casing 110 in parallel with the slider guide shaft 300 so that a 
tape-shaped package introduction block 328 and a tape-shaped package 
guiding arm 330 are mounted on the fore end part of the slider 324. 
The tape-shaped package introduction block 328 having a tape-shaped package 
guide groove 332 formed so as to slidably receive the tape-shaped package 
112 therein is exchangeably secured to the slider 324 by tightening 
screws. A block holder 336 is firmly fitted onto a rotary clamp shaft 334 
rotatably inserted through the central part of the tape-shaped package 
introduction block 328 in the horizontal direction at a right angle 
relative to the direction of conveyance of the tape-shaped package 112, 
and a clamp block 338 having an inverted L-shaped sectional contour is 
firmly secured to the block holder 336 by tightening set screws. In 
addition, a clamp pawl 340 adapted to thrust the fore end part of the 
tape-shaped package 112 received in the tape-shaped package guide groove 
332 of the tape-shaped package introduction block 328 against the 
tape-shaped package guide groove 332 is integrally secured to the clamp 
block 338. In addition, a clamp lever 342 of which left-hand end part is 
integrally fitted onto the rotary clamp shaft 334 is connected to a lever 
extension member 346 while a tension coil spring 344 is spanned between 
the right-hand end part of the clamp lever 342 and the right-hand end part 
of the bracket 318. To turn the clamp lever 342 about the rotary clamp 
shaft 334 together with the lever extension member 346 in the 
anticlockwise direction as seen in FIG. 13 against the resilient force of 
the tension coil spring 344, an air cylinder 350 including a piston rod 
348 is firmly mounted on the bracket 318. 
Specifically, while the tape-shaped package 112 is wound around the reel 
116, the piston rod 348 of the air cylinder 350 is retracted in the 
downward direction as shown in FIG. 13, and the clamp lever 342 is 
turnably biased by the resilient force of the tension coil spring 344 in 
such a manner as to allow the tape-shaped package guide groove 332 of the 
tape-shaped package introduction block 328 to be parted away from the 
clamp pawl 340. As a result, a gap wide enough to allow the tape-shaped 
package 112 to pass between the clamp pawl 340 and the tape-shaped package 
guide groove 332 is formed therebetween. On the contrary, in the case that 
the fore end part of the tape-shaped package 112 is delivered to the reel 
116, the piston rod 348 of the air cylinder 350 is expanded from the state 
shown in FIG. 13 in the upward direction, causing the clamp lever 342 to 
be turnably biased so as to allow the tape-shaped package guide groove 332 
of the tape-shaped package introduction block 328 to come in contact with 
the clamp pawl 340, whereby the fore end part of the tape-shaped package 
112 received in the tape-shaped package introduction block 328 is thrusted 
against the tape-shaped package guide groove 332, resulting in the fore 
end part of the tape-shaped package 112 being firmly seized by the clamp 
pawl 340 in the tape-shaped package introduction block 328. 
On the other hand, as is apparent from FIG. 13 and FIG. 16 which shows by 
way of enlarged sectional view structure of the tape-shaped package 
guiding arm 330, the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 is turnably 
supported to turn about a pivotal pin 354 which is inserted through an arm 
support plate 352 integrated with the slider 324. To assure that the 
tape-shaped package 112 is reliably brought in contact with the 
tape-shaped package guide groove 356 as the former slidably moves along 
the latter, a leaf spring 358 is fastened to the upper surface of the 
tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 by tightening a screw 360 in order to 
apply a certain intensity of resilient force of the leaf spring 358 to the 
tape-shaped package 112 from above. In addition, a compression coil spring 
362 is disposed between the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 and the 
slider 324 to normally bias the package guide arm 330 in such a manner as 
to allow the latter to turn about the pivotal pin 354 in the clockwise 
direction as seen in FIG. 13. 
The fundamental structure of a carrier tape cutting unit 136 located 
between the tape-shaped package cutting unit 132 and the reel driving 
shaft 114 to form a leader portion 122 by cutting only the carrier tape 
134 of the tape-shaped package 112 is substantially coincident with that 
of the tape-shaped package cutting unit 132, and the carrier tape cutting 
unit 136 is operated directly after the tape-shaped package cutting unit 
132 is operated. 
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 15, a knife driving air cylinder 364 is 
attached to the front surface of the upper casing 110 with the aid of a 
bracket 366 with an upward attitude, and the upper end of a piston rod 368 
extending through the knife driving air cylinder 364 is slidably held by a 
rod guide 370 secured to the upper casing 110 while extending through the 
rod guide 370. A cutter holder 372 is secured to the upper end of the 
piston rod 368, and a cutter knife 374 is firmly attached to the cutter 
holder 372 in order to cut the carrier tape 134 of the tape-shaped package 
112 therewith. A plate-shaped knife receiver 376 projected outside of the 
upper casing 110 from the rear side of the latter is located directly 
above the cutter knife 374, and it is slidably held by a knife receiver 
holder 378 fastened to rear surface of the upper casing 110 to slidably 
move in the normal direction relative to the upper casing 110 (i.e., in 
the rightward/leftward direction as seen in FIG. 15). A holder driving 
cylinder 382 is secured to the knife receiver holder 378 via a bracket 
380, and the foremost end of a piston rod 384 of the holder driving 
cylinder 382 is operatively connected to the left-hand end of the knife 
receiver holder 378 via a connecting member 386. The piston rod 368 of the 
holder driving air cylinder 364 is expanded before the piston rod 368 of 
the knife driving air cylinder 364 is raised up, causing the fore end part 
of the knife receiver 376 to be projected between the carrier tape 134 and 
the cover tape 154 both of which are not still fused to each other, in 
order to receive the thrusting force of the cutter knife 374 therewith. 
On the other hand, a tape sucking plate 642 having a L-shaped sectional 
contour is fastened to the upper casing 110 by tightening screws in order 
to take up the cover tape 154 after the latter is cut by actuating the 
tape-shaped package cutting unit 132, and a suction tube 644 is disposed 
on the rear surface of the tape sucking plate 642 facing to the cover tape 
154 of the tape-shaped package 112 while making communication with a 
suction pump (not shown). Thus, when the suction pump is driven before the 
tape-shaped package cutting unit 132 is actuated, the cover tape 154 is 
sucked up to reach the lower surface of the tape sucking plate 642, 
causing only the carrier tape 134 to be downwardly suspended from the tape 
sucking plate 642 due to its own dead weight. As a result, the carrier 
tape 134 is separated from the cover tape 154, whereby only the carrier 
tape 134 can reliably be cut by the cutter knife 374 after the knife 
receiver 376 is inserted between the carrier tape 134 and the cover tape 
154. The suction pump is continuously driven directly before the leader 
portion 122 of the tape-shaped package 112 is completely wound around the 
reel 116. 
To damp the shock caused when the carrier 134 is cut by the cutter knife 
374, a damper ring 388 having a U-shaped sectional contour and molded of 
an elastic material such as a rubber or the like is attached to the lower 
end of the piston rod 368 of the knife driving air cylinder 364 to collide 
against the lower surface of the bracket 366. The carrier tape cutting 
unit 136 is actuated subsequent to the cutting operation achieved for the 
tape-shaped package 112 by actuating the tape-shaped package cutting unit 
132. For this reason, the reel driving shaft 114 should temporarily be 
held in the stopped state between the time when the tape-shaped package 
cutting unit 132 starts to be actuated and the time when the carrier tape 
cutting unit 136 concludes to be actuated. 
The structure of the carrier tape cutting unit 136 should not be limited 
only to that employed in this embodiment but any other type of hitherto 
known structure may be employed for the carrier tape cutting unit 136. 
FIG. 17 shows by way of sectional view the structure of a reel 
attaching/detaching unit 140 constructed in accordance with this 
embodiment. 
Specifically, a subframe 390 having a heavy thickness is immovably held 
inside of the upper casing 110 with the aid of a plurality of support 
columns 392 while extending in parallel with the upper casing 110. A 
cylindrical driving shaft holder 394 is immovably secured to the central 
part of the subframe 390, and a hollow shaft 396 extending through the 
driving shaft holder 394 is rotatably held in the driving shaft holder 394 
with the aid of a pair of bearings 398. A compressed air supply source 
(not shown) is communicated with the left-hand end of the hollow shaft 396 
via a rotary joint 400, and a reel chuck shift valve 406 communicated with 
a compressed air supply path 402 in the hollow shaft 396 via an air piping 
404 as well as a reel driving shaft expanding/contracting unit 410 
including a reel driving shaft 114 adapted to fitted into a reel hole 408 
formed through the central part of the hub core 118 of the reel 116 are 
connected to the right-hand end of the hollow shaft 396. 
In this embodiment, the reel driving shaft expanding/contracting unit 410 
includes a reel driving shaft 114 having a split structure composed of 
three split segments so as to allow the outer diameter thereof to be 
reduced by the resilient force of spring means (not shown) and a plurality 
of engagement pins 414 adapted to be engaged with a plurality of 
engagement grooves 412 radially formed outward of the outer periphery of 
the reel hole 408. As compressed air is fed from the reel chuck shifting 
valve 406, the three split segments of the reel driving shaft 114 are 
radially displaced in such a manner that the outer diameter of the reel 
driving shaft 114 is enlarged against the resilient force of spring means. 
When the enlarged outer diameter of the reel driving shaft 114 collides 
with the inner peripheral surface of the reel hole 408, the reel 116 is 
firmly held on the reel driving shaft 114 while building an integral 
structure with the latter. On the contrary, when the compressed air in the 
reel driving shaft expanding/contracting unit 410 is exhausted to the 
outside by actuating the reel chuck shifting valve 406, the three split 
segments of the reel driving shaft 114 are equally radially displaced in 
the inward direction until the outer diameter of the reel driving shaft 
114 is reduced to such an extent that the reel 116 can be detached from 
the reel driving shaft 114. Each of the engagement pins 414 is normally 
biased by the resilient force of a compression coil spring 415 received 
therein in such a manner as not to allow it to be projected from the outer 
end surface of the reel driving shaft 114. With such construction, when 
the position of each engagement pin 414 does not coincide with that of 
each engagement groove 412 in the reel hole 408, the foremost end of each 
engagement pin 414 is retracted inside of the reel driving shaft 114 
(i.e., in the leftward direction as seen in FIG. 17) by the resilient 
force of the compression coil spring 415. 
In this embodiment, the reel chuck shifting valve 406 is actuated to stop 
the feeding of compressed air to the reel driving shaft 
expanding/contracting unit 410 only when the reel 116 is displaced between 
the reel driving shaft 114 and a reel receiving/delivering shaft 416 to be 
described later (see FIG. 23) so that it is received from and delivered to 
the reel receiving/delivering shaft 416. Otherwise, the reel chuck 
shifting valve 406 is actuated to feed compressed air to the reel driving 
shaft expanding/contracting unit 410. As will be described later, since 
the reel receiving/delivering shaft 416 is dimensioned to have an outer 
diameter substantially equal to that of the reel driving shaft 114 in the 
contracted state, when the reel driving shaft 114 is correctly located 
opposite to the reel receiving/delivering shaft 416 as seen in the axial 
direction, receiving of the reel 116 from the reel receiving/delivering 
shaft 416 and delivering of the former from the latter can be achieved 
between the reel driving shaft 114 and the reel receiving/delivering shaft 
416 without an occurrence of any particular problem irrespective of some 
downward positional offset of the center axis of the reel hole 408 of the 
reel 116 relative to the center axis of the reel driving shaft 114 and the 
reel receiving/delivering shaft 416. 
A speed reducing unit 420 is mounted on the subframe 390 via a bracket 418. 
A driving gear 424 is firmly fitted onto an output shaft 422 of the speed 
reducing unit 420 and a follower gear 426 is firmly fitted onto the 
left-hand end part of the hollow shaft 396 so that an endless toothed belt 
428 is spanned between both the gears 424 and 426 while extending around 
them. Thus, as a reel driving stepping motor 430 assembled with the speed 
reducing unit 420 is rotationally driven, the hollow shaft 396 is rotated 
at a reduced speed together with the reel chuck shifting valve 406 and the 
reel driving shaft expanding/contracting unit 410 via the speed reducing 
unit 420 and the endless toothed belt 428. 
In response to detection signals outputted from the slider position 
detecting sensors 170, 172, 174 and 176, the rotary encoder 188 and an 
insert slot detecting sensor 452 to be described later, the rotational 
speed of the reel driving shaft 114 can arbitrarily be changed in 
conformity with a command issued from a controlling unit (not shown). 
Basically, the reel driving shaft 114 is rotated at a low speed not only 
when the tape-shaped package 112 starts to be wound around the reel 116 
but also directly before completion of the winding operation, and it is 
rotated at a high speed for a period of time other than the foregoing 
ones, but rotation of the reel driving shaft 114 is stopped at the time of 
exchanging the reel 116 with another one. 
To assure that the reel 116 is detached from the reel driving shaft 114 
after the tape-shaped package 112 is completely wound around the reel 116, 
an annular reel thrusting plate 432 is arranged in such a manner as to 
surround the reel driving shaft 114 therewith, and the foremost ends of a 
plurality of guide rods 436 slidably inserted through rod guide bushes 434 
attached to the upper casing 110 are fixedly secured to the rear surface 
of the annular reel thrusting plate 432. The left-hand ends of the guide 
rods 436 are fixedly secured to an annular connection plate 438 which 
surrounds the right-hand end part of the hollow shaft 396 therewith, and a 
piston rod 444 of a reel discharging air cylinder 442 mounted on the 
subframe 390 via a bracket 440 is operatively connected to the annular 
connection plate 438 via a flexible joint 446. 
When the piston rod 444 of the reel discharging air cylinder 442 is 
expanded, the reel thrusting plate 432 located at the retracted position 
shown in FIG. 17 is displaced in the forward direction to reach a position 
represented by phantom lines shown in the drawing, whereby the reel 116 
fitted onto the reel driving shaft 114 is thrusted toward the reel 
receiving/delivering shaft 416 which is located opposite to the reel 
driving shaft 114 as seen in the axial direction. 
It should be noted that the structure of the reel attaching/detaching unit 
140 should not be limited only to that in the aforementioned embodiment 
but any other type of hitherto known structure may be employed for the 
reel attaching/detaching unit 140. 
To assure that the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 112 delivered 
front the tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130 is 
automatically engaged with a tape insert slot 120 formed through a hub 
core 118 of an empty reel 116 fitted onto the reel driving shaft 114, a 
reel indexing unit 142 serves to stop the tape insert slot 120 at a 
predetermined position at all times. FIG. 1 and FIG. 18 show the structure 
of the foregoing reel indexing unit 142, respectively. 
Specifically, an expansible/contractible air cylinder 450 including a 
piston rod 448 adapted to expand toward and contract away from the hub 
core 118 is arranged at the lower end part of the upper casing 110. A 
reflection type insert slot detecting sensor 452 is disposed at the 
foremost end of the piston rod 448 of the air cylinder 450 via a sensor 
bracket 454 in order to detect one of the tape insert slots 120 formed 
through the hub core 118 of the reel 116 by using an optical fiber. To 
assure that the sensor bracket 454 is smoothly displaced in the reel 116 
in the forward direction to reach a detecting position represented by 
phantom lines in FIG. 18 while it is not adversely affected by any warpage 
of both the flange portions 456 of the reel 116, the sensor bracket 454 is 
tapered as shown in FIG. 19 that is a plan view of the sensor bracket 454. 
In addition, to assure that the tape-shaped package 112 is reliably 
brought in the interior of the reel 116 by forcibly expanding both the 
flange portions 456 of the reel 116 in the outward direction, an enlarged 
portion 458 having an increased width is fastened to the rear end part of 
the sensor bracket 454 (on the left-hand side as seen in FIG. 19). 
When one of the tape insert slots 120 is indexed to a predetermined 
position on the hub core 118 of the reel 116 fitted onto the reel driving 
shaft 114, the piston rod 448 of the air cylinder 450 is expanded from the 
standby position as shown in FIG. 18, causing the sensor bracket 454 to be 
displaced in the space defined between both the flange portions 456 of the 
reel 116 in the forward direction to reach a detecting position located 
opposite to the hub core 118 of the reel 116. At this time, the reel 116 
is immovably held without any rotation thereof. Subsequently, the reel 
driving stepping motor 430 is rotationally driven at a low speed. When the 
insert slot detecting sensor 452 detects one of tape insert slots 120 
formed through the hub core 118 of the reel 116 while the foregoing state 
is maintained, a detection signal is outputted to a controlling unit (not 
shown) for the reel driving stepping motor 430. In response to the 
detection signal, the reel driving shaft 114 is rotated by a predetermined 
angle with the aid of the controlling unit, and thereafter, the rotation 
of the reel driving shaft 114 is stopped, whereby the tape insert slot 120 
on the hub core 118 is located at the position facing to the foremost end 
of the tape-shaped package 112 conveyed from the tape-shaped package 
foremost end guiding unit 130. 
In this embodiment, the insert slot detecting sensor 452 is employed for 
the reel indexing unit 142 as means for detecting the position of each 
tape insert slot 120 formed through the hub core 118 of the reel 116. It 
of course is obvious that any other type of hitherto known sensor such as 
a supersonic sensor, a contact sensor or the like may be substituted for 
the insert slot detecting sensor 452. 
FIG. 20 schematically shows by way of illustrative view the structure of an 
end seal feeding unit 138 for connecting an end seal 124 to the terminal 
end of the leader portion 122, and FIG. 21 shows by way of sectional view 
the structure of the end seal feeding unit 138 in the developed state. 
Specifically, an end seal feeding reel 464 is detachably and rotatably 
mounted on a reel mounting bracket 462 projected outside of the right-hand 
side surface of the upper casing 110, and a release liner 466 having a 
plurality of ribbon-shaped end seals 124 adhesively attached thereto in 
the equally spaced relationship as seen in the longitudinal direction of 
the release liner 466 is wound around the end seal feeding reel 464. A 
release liner winding shaft 472 is rotatably supported by the upper casing 
110 and an inner frame 468 arranged inside of the upper casing 110 with 
the aid of a pair of bearing bushes 470 while extending through the upper 
casing 110 and the inner frame 468, and a release liner winding reel 474 
having a single flange structure is detachably fitted onto the fore end 
part of the release liner winding shaft 472 by tightening a screw 476. 
A wedge-shaped peeling plate 478 is firmly secured to the upper casing 110 
at the position above the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 disposed at 
the tape-shaped package guiding stop position of the tape-shaped package 
foremost end guiding unit 130 in order to peel the fore end part of an end 
seal 124 from the release liner 466, and a pair of retaining rollers 480 
and 482 are rotatably fitted onto roller shafts 484 and 486 projected 
outside of the upper casing 110 on the left-hand side of the peeling plate 
478. As the release liner tape 466 is unwound from the end seal feeding 
reel 464, it is delivered to the release liner winding reel 474 via the 
first retaining roller 480, the peeling plate 478 and the second retaining 
roller 482. At this time, one of end seals 124 is peeled off from the 
release liner 466 due to a large magnitude of direction change induced by 
the peeling plate 478, resulting in the end seal 124 being projected away 
from the foremost end of the peeling plate 478. 
A pair of tape seizing rollers 488 and 490 for holding the release liner 
466 in the clamped state and an end seal sensor 492 for detecting whether 
an end seal 124 is adhesively attached to the release liner 466 or not are 
disposed between the end seal feeding reel 464 and the first retaining 
roller 480 at the positions located in the order as seen from the end seal 
feeding reel 464 side, and the tape seizing rollers 488 and 490 are 
rotatably fitted onto roller shafts 494 and 496 projected outside of the 
upper casing 110. In addition, a pair of pinch rollers 498 and 500 for 
holding the release liner 466 in the clamped state are disposed between 
the second retaining roller 482 and the release liner winding shaft 472. 
One of the pair of pinch rollers 498 and 500, i.e., the driving pinch 
roller 498 is firmly fitted onto the fore end part of a pinch roller 
driving shaft 504 rotatably supported by the upper casing 110 and the 
inner frame 468 with the aid of a pair of bearing bushes 502, while the 
other one of the pair of pinch rollers 498 and 500, i.e., the idling pinch 
roller 500 is rotatably fitted onto a roller supporting shaft 512 firmly 
secured to the outer end part of a turn lever 510 which is turnably 
supported by a turn shaft 508 which in turn is turnably held in a bearing 
bush 506 fixedly secured to the upper casing 110. Additionally, spring 
means (not shown) is disposed on the turn shaft 508 for the purpose of 
normally biasing the idling pinch roller 500 toward the driving pinch 
roller 498 side by the resilient force of the spring means. 
A release liner driving motor 516 including a speed reducing unit 518 is 
mounted on a bracket 514 fastened to the upper casing 110 by tightening 
screws. An endless tooted belt 526 is spanned between a driving gear 522 
firmly fitted onto an output shaft 520 of the speed reducing unit 518 and 
a follower gear 524 firmly fitted onto the pinch roller driving shaft 504 
while extending around both the gears 522 and 524, and moreover, an 
endless power transmitting belt 532 is spanned between a pulley 528 firmly 
fitted onto the rear end part of the release liner winding shaft 472 and a 
pulley 530 firmly fitted onto the rear end part of the pinch roller 
driving shaft 504 while extending around both the pulleys 528 and 530. 
The release liner driving motor 516 is intermittently rotated every time a 
leader portion 122 is formed by actuating the carrier tape cutting unit 
136. Specifically, the release liner driving motor 516 starts to be 
rotated at a low speed in synchronization with the rotation of the reel 
driving stepping motor 430 directly after completion of the cutting 
operation performed for cutting the carrier tape 134 by actuating the 
carrier tape cutting unit 136, in order to convey the release liner 466 at 
a speed corresponding to the conveying speed of the leader portion 122, 
whereby the foremost end of the end seal 124 is adhesively connected to 
the rear end part of the leader portion 122 by utilizing the adhesive 
power of the end seal 124. When it is detected that the release liner 466 
is wound around the release liner winding reel 474 by a predetermined 
length, the release liner driving motor 516 stops its rotation. 
As shown in FIG. 20, FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 that is a sectional view of an end 
seal retaining roller 540 taken along line 22--22 in FIG. 20, a bearing 
bush 536 is fastened to the upper casing 110 at the position above the 
reel driving shaft 114 by tightening screws in order to rotatably support 
a tape retainer shaft 534 which extends through the upper casing 110 and 
the bearing bush 536, and the tape retaining roller 540 adapted to be 
brought in the hollow space defined between both the flange portions 456 
of the reel 116 firmly fitted onto the reel driving shaft 114 is rotatably 
held at the foremost end of a turn lever 538 of which base end part is 
fitted onto the foremost end of the tape retaining shaft 534. The tape 
retaining roller 540 is turned about the tape retaining shaft 534 by its 
own dead weight in the clockwise direction as seen in FIG. 20. With this 
construction, as the tape-shaped package 112 is wound around the reel 116, 
the outer periphery of the tape-shaped package 112 is depressed toward the 
hub core 118 side by the dead weight of the tape retaining roller 540 in 
order to assure that there does not arise a malfunction that the end seal 
124 is incorrectly connected to the tape-shaped package 112. A relief 
lever 542 is firmly fitted onto the innermost end of the tape retaining 
shaft 534, and a retaining roller relief cylinder 544 is immovably held 
inside of the upper casing 110 while facing to the upper end of the relief 
lever 542. As a piston rod 546 of the retaining roller relief cylinder 544 
is expanded, the foremost end of the piston rod 546 thrusts the relief 
lever 542. As a result, the tape retaining roller 540 is turnably 
displaced together with the turn lever 538 adapted to turn about the tape 
retainer shaft 534. In such manner, the reel 116 can be attached to or 
detached from the reel driving shaft 114. 
It should be noted that the structure of the end seal feeding unit 138 
should not be limited only to the aforementioned one but any other type of 
hitherto known structure may be employed for the end seal feeding unit 
138. 
FIG. 23 shows by way of sectional view the structure of a reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 which serves to feed an empty reel 116 to 
the reel driving shaft 114, and moreover, receives the reel 116 having the 
tape-shaped package 112 wound therearound from the reel driving shaft 114. 
Specifically, a swing arm 550 is turnably mounted on a horizontally 
extending pivotal shaft 548 at a right angle relative to the reel driving 
shaft 114, and the pivotal shaft 548 is located above the upper end 
surface of the lower casing 106. The upper end of an arm turning air 
cylinder 554 is pivotally connected to the right-hand end of the swing arm 
550, while the lower end of the same is pivotally connected to a bracket 
552 fastened to the inner wall surface of the lower casing 106 at the 
upper end part of the latter. When the arm turning air cylinder 554 is 
actuated, the swing arm 550 selectively assumes a standby position, i.e., 
a horizontal attitude as represented by solid lines in FIG. 23. Otherwise, 
it assume a vertical attitude, i.e., a reel receiving/delivering position 
as represented by phantom lines in the drawing. 
A fitting shaft driving air cylinder 556 including a reel 
receiving/delivering shaft 416 adapted to be fitted into a reel hole 408 
formed through the central part of the reel 116 is fixedly secured to the 
left-hand end part of the swing arm 550 with an upward attitude, and the 
reel receiving/delivering shaft 416 is dimensioned to have an outer 
diameter substantially equal to that of the reel driving shaft 114 which 
is held in the state that no compressed air is fed to the reel driving 
shaft enlarging/contracting unit 410. In addition, a receiving ring 
driving air cylinder 558 is firmly disposed rightward of the fitting shaft 
driving air cylinder 558 with an upward attitude while extending in 
parallel with the fitting shaft driving air cylinder 556. While the swing 
arm 550 is held in the standby state, a reel receiving ring 566 of which 
upper end surface is held in the horizontal state with the aid of a 
receiving ring bracket 564 is firmly connected to a piston rod 562 of the 
receiving ring driving air cylinder 558. While the fitting shaft driving 
air cylinder 556 is held in the expanded state, the fore end part of the 
reel receiving/delivering shaft 416 is projected outside of the central 
part of the reel receiving ring 566 as represented by phantom lines in 
FIG. 23 so that it extends through the reel hole 408. On the contrary, 
while the fitting shaft driving air cylinder 556 is held in the retracted, 
the reel receiving/delivering shaft 416 is lowered below the reel 
receiving ring 566 as shown in the drawing. When the piston rod 562 of the 
receiving ring driving air cylinder 558 is expanded from the state that 
the reel driving shaft 114 is linearly aligned with the reel 
receiving/delivering shaft 416, the reel 116 held on the reel 
receiving/delivering shaft 416 is drawn out of the latter, and thereafter, 
it is thrusted toward reel driving shaft 114 side. 
In this embodiment, the pivotal shaft 548 for the swing arm 550 of the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 is laid with a horizontal attitude so that 
the swing arm 550 is caused to turn about the pivotal shaft 548 by an 
angle of ninety degrees. However, the present invention should not be 
limited only to this embodiment. It of course is obvious that other type 
of structure rather than the foregoing one and any type of driving means 
for turnably driving the swing arm 550 may be employed for the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 depending on the layout of a reel 
feeding/discharging unit 146 to be described later. 
In this embodiment, the pass line of the tape-shaped package 112 is 
downwardly inclined at a certain angle relative to the horizontal plane in 
order to reduce a floor area required for mounting the tape winding 
apparatus, and moreover, a measure is taken such that the taping machine 
can continuously be operated without any reduction of an operation rate 
thereof by determining a raising/lowering stroke of the slider 164 of the 
dancer unit 148 to assume a large value. 
Next, FIG. 24 shows by way of plan view the structure of a reel 
feeding/discharging unit 146 which serves to feed an empty reel 116 to the 
reel receiving/delivering unit 144, and moreover, receive a reel 116 
having a tape-shaped package 112 wound therearound from the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144, FIG. 25 shows by way of sectional view the 
structure of the reel feeding/discharging unit 146 taken along line 25--25 
in FIG. 24, and FIG. 26 likewise shows by way of sectional view the 
structure the reel feeding/discharging unit 146 taken along line 26--26 in 
FIG. 24. 
Specifically, an empty reel storage station 568 is arranged on the lower 
casing 106 on the left-hand side of the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 
held in the standby state in order to storably hold a plurality of empty 
reels 116 in the overlapped state, and spacers 570 fastened to the lower 
casing 106 by tightening screws while projecting upward of the lower 
casing 106 and two fore and rear support columns 574 each standing upright 
from the corresponding spacer 570 via a bracket 572 are mounted on the 
empty reel storage station 568. A plurality of empty reels 116 are placed 
one above another in the overlapped state in the hollow space defined by 
the four support columns 574, and one of the empty reels 116, i.e., the 
lowermost reel 116 is placed on the upper surface of the lower casing 106. 
In addition, a recovered reel storage station 576 is arranged rightward of 
the lower casing 106 on the opposite side to the empty reel storage 
station 568 while the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 located in the 
standby position is interposed therebetween. A stocker housing 578 is 
integrated with the lower casing 106 while surrounding the recovered reel 
storage station 576 therewith, and a magazine base 582 is placed on the 
bottom wall of the stocker housing 578 in order to detachably place a reel 
magazine 580 on the magazine base 582 in the correctly located state. The 
magazine base 582 is surrounded by a frame-shaped lifter 584 of which 
right-hand end part is integrated with a guide bush 588 adapted to be 
slidably displaced along an upright standing guide rod 586 in the stocker 
housing 578. In addition, a raising/lowering screw shaft 592 is rotatably 
supported by upper and lower bearings 590 in the stocker housing 578 while 
upright standing in parallel with the guide rod 586, and a feed nut 594 
fastened to the lifter 584 is threadably engaged with the raising/lowering 
screw 592. A follower bevel gear 596 is firmly fitted onto the lower end 
of the raising/lowering screw shaft 592 so as to mesh with a driving bevel 
gear 604 firmly fitted onto an output shaft 602 of a speed reducing unit 
600 which is secured to the lower surface of the stocker housing 578 via a 
bracket 598. As a lifter raising/lowering motor 606 integrated with the 
speed reducing unit 600 is rotationally driven in the normal/reverse 
direction, the raising/lowering screw shaft 592 is rotated in the 
normal/reverse direction with the result that the lifter 584 integrated 
with the feed nut 594 threadably engaged with the raising/lowering shaft 
592 is raised up and lowered along the guide rod 586. 
In this embodiment, the reel magazine 580 is substantially composed of a 
bottom plate 608 placed on the magazine base 582 in the correctly located 
state and a core rod 610 standing upright from the bottom plate 608 to 
extend through the reel hole 408 of the reel 116. When a predetermined 
number of reels 116 are placed one above another on the base plate 608 in 
the overlapped state while the core rod 610 extends through the respective 
reels 116, the reel magazine 580 can be exchanged with a new empty reel 
magazine 580 with an operator's hand. A dog 612 is integrated with the 
lifter 584 at the right-hand end of the latter while projecting from the 
lifter 584 in order to detect the position of the lifter 584 in the stock 
housing 578. An upper position detecting sensor 614 serves to detect the 
upper end of the dog 612, while a lower position detecting sensor 616 
serves to detect the lower end of the dog 612, and both the position 
detecting sensors 614 and 616 are fastened to the stocker housing 578 on 
the right-hand side of the latter by tightening screws. To assure that the 
lifter 584 is lowered by a distance equal to the width of a reel 116 every 
time the reel 116 having a tape-shaped package 112 wound therearound is 
conveyed onto the reel storage station 576 so that the upper end surface 
of the uppermost reel 116 is always flush with the upper surface of the 
lower casing 106, a pair of upper end position detecting sensors 618 are 
disposed at the opposing positions with flange portions 456 of the 
uppermost end reel 116 interposed therebetween, in order to detect the 
position of the uppermost end reel 116 among a plurality of reels 116 
placed on the recovered reel storage station 576 in the overlapped state. 
In this embodiment, to cope with the problem that the width of a reel 116 
varies corresponding to variation of the width of a tape-shaped package 
112, a measure is taken such that the positions of the upper end position 
detecting sensors 618 can correctively be changed in the vertical 
direction. 
With this construction, when no reel is placed in the reel magazine 680, in 
response to a detection signal outputted from the upper end position 
sensor 614, the lifter raising/lowering motor 606 is rotationally driven 
in the normal direction until the lifter 584 is raised up to reach the 
position where the upper surface of the lifter 584 is flush with the upper 
surface of the lower housing 106. When a reel 116 is conveyed to the 
recovered reel storage station 576 while the foregoing state is 
maintained, in response to a detection signal outputted from the upper end 
position detecting sensor 618, the lifter raising/lowering motor 606 is 
rotationally driven in the reverse direction so that the lifter 584 is 
lowered by a distance equal to the width of the reel 116, causing the core 
rod 610 of the reel magazine 580 to be relatively inserted through the 
reel hole 408 of the reel 116. Thus, a plurality of reels 116 are placed 
one above another in the reel magazine 580 in the overlapped state by 
repeating the aforementioned steps of operations. When a predetermined 
number of reels 116 are placed one above another in the reel magazine 580 
in the overlapped state, the lower position detecting sensor 616 is turned 
on, causing alarming means (not shown) to be activated so as to promote an 
operator to exchange the reel magazine 580 with an empty one. 
As is apparent from FIG. 24, the empty reel storage station 568, the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 held at the standby position and the 
recovered reel storage station 576 are arranged side by side in the 
equally spaced relationship. To assure that a lowermost reel 116 among a 
plurality of reels 116 placed on the empty reel storage station 568 in the 
overlapped state is thrusted to the position directly above the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 held in the standby position, a plate-shaped 
empty reel feeding member 620 is reciprocably displaced between the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 held at the standby position and the empty 
reel storage position 568 represented by solid lines in FIG. 24. The empty 
reel feeding member 620 includes two opposing pairs of rollers 622 each of 
which can roll on the upper surface of the lower casing 106. In addition, 
to assure that a reel 116 having a tape-shaped package 112 wound 
therearound and placed on the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 held at 
the standby position is conveyed to the recovered reel storage station 
576, a substantially U-shaped conveying table 624 is reciprocably 
displaced between the recovered reel storage station 576 and the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 held at the standby position to surround the 
reel receiving ring 566 therewith. The recovered reel conveying table 624 
includes a pair of rollers (not shown) each of which can roll on the upper 
surface of the lower casing 106. The empty reel feeding member 620 and the 
recovered reel conveying table 624 are operatively connected to each other 
via a joint bracket 626 bridged therebetween, and a sliding member 630 of 
a rodless cylinder 628 fastened to the upper part of the lower casing 106 
is operatively connected to the joint bracket 626 via a plurality of bolts 
632. 
In the case that the sliding member 628 of the rodless cylinder 628 is held 
at one of stroke ends thereof, the empty reel feeding member 620 and the 
recovered reel conveying table 624 are located at their standby positions 
represented by solid lines in FIG. 24. In the case that the sliding member 
630 of the rodless cylinder 628 is held at the other stroke end thereof, 
the position of the empty reel feeding member 620 is shifted to the empty 
reel storage station 568, and moreover, the position of the recovered reel 
conveying table 624 is shifted to the recovered reel storage station 576. 
Concretely, the empty reel feeding member 620 held in the standby state is 
displaced to the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 side, a side end 
surface 634 of the empty reel feeding member 620 collides against the 
outer peripheral edge of a lowermost reel 116 held on the empty reel 
receiving storage station 568, causing the lowermost reel 116 to be 
thrusted to the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 side. At the same time, 
the recovered reel conveying table 624 is displaced to the recovered reel 
storage station 576 together with the reel 116 placed on the recovered 
reel conveying table 624 and having a tape-shaped package 112 wound 
therearound. 
A reel retaining cylinder 638 including a piston rod 636 adapted to be 
projected in the forward direction is disposed on the side end of the 
upper casing 110 located directly above the stocker housing 578, and a 
reel retainer 640 interposed between the standby position of the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 and the recovered reel storage station 576 
and adapted to collide against the outer periphery of the flange portions 
456 of the reel 116 on the recovered reel conveying table 624 located on 
the recovered reel storage station 576 is firmly fitted onto the fore end 
part of the piston rod 636. To assure that the reel 116 placed on the 
recovered reel conveying table 624 and having a tape-shaped package 112 
wound therearound is immovably retained on the recovered reel storage 
station 576 when the recovered reel conveying table 624 returns to its 
standby position from the recovered reel storage station 576, the reel 
retainer 640 is projected in the hollow space between the standby position 
of the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 and the recovered reel storage 
station 576, whereby the reel 116 on the recovered reel conveying table 
624 can immovably be retained on the recovered reel storage station 576 
when the recovered reel conveying table 624 moves to the reel 
receiving/delivering unit 144 side. 
It should be noted that the structure of the reel feeding/discharging unit 
146 as described above should not be limited only to the shown one but any 
other type of hitherto known structure may be employed for the reel 
feeding/discharging unit 146. 
Next, a tape winding apparatus constructed in accordance with another 
embodiment of the present invention based on a second aspect of the latter 
will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 27 to FIG. 38 
wherein a tape-shaped package having a plurality of semiconductor chip 
components received therein is used for the tape winding apparatus. It 
should be noted that same structural components as those described above 
in the preceding embodiment are represented by same reference numerals. 
As shown in FIG. 27 that is a front view of the tape winding apparatus and 
FIG. 28 that is an enlarged front view of an upper casing of the tape 
winding apparatus, an upper casing 108 having a control panel 108 attached 
to the front surface thereof is arranged on a lower casing 106 which in 
turn is mounted on a floor surface 104 with the aid of a plurality of 
casters 100. A start switch, a stop switch, various kinds of alarm lamps, 
a display unit and a counter (each of which is not shown in the drawings) 
are arranged on the control panel 108 for properly operating the tape 
winding apparatus. With this construction, the tape winding apparatus can 
automatically be operated by actuating these switches with an operator's 
hand in order to assure that a tape-shaped package 112 (see FIG. 3) fed 
from a taping machine (not shown) is successively wound around an empty 
reel 116 fitted onto a reel driving shaft 114. 
First, the empty reel 116 is fitted onto the reel driving shaft 114 and one 
of tape insert slots 120 formed through a hub core 118 (see FIG. 36) of 
the empty reel 116 is then indexed to a predetermined position. 
Subsequently, the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 112 is inserted 
into one of the tape insert slots 120 formed through the hub core 118 of 
the empty reel 116, and the tape-shaped package 112 is then wound around 
the reel 116 by a predetermined length by rotationally driving the reel 
driving shaft 114. On completion of the winding operation, a leader 
portion 122 (see FIG. 3) is formed at the terminal end of the tape-shaped 
package 112, and after an end seal 124 is adhesively connected to the 
terminal end of the leader portion 122, the reel 116 is detached from the 
reel driving shaft 114, and thereafter, a next winding operation is 
performed again from the beginning. 
In this embodiment, to assure that a series of operations as mentioned 
above are automatically repeated, a pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 for 
feeding the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 112 toward the reel 
driving shaft 114, a package fore end part guiding unit 130 for conducting 
the tape-shaped package 112 discharged from the pair of pinch rollers 126 
and 128 to the empty reel 116 fitted onto the reel driving shaft 114 while 
seizing the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 112 therewith, a tape 
cutting unit 648 located between the pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 and 
the tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130 to cut only a 
carrier tape 134 so as to form a leader portion 122 or to cut a cover tape 
154 together with a carrier tape 134, an end seal feeding unit 138 for 
connecting an end seal 124 to the terminal end of the leader portion 122, 
and a reel attaching/detaching unit 140 (see FIG. 35) are arranged in the 
upper casing 110. In addition, a reel receiving/delivering unit 144 (see 
FIG. 23) for feeding an empty reel 116 to the reel driving shaft 114 and 
receiving the reel 116 having a tape-shaped package 112 therearound from 
the reel driving shaft 114 and a reel receiving/discharging unit 146 (see 
FIG. 24) for feeding an empty reel 116 to the reel receiving/delivering 
unit 144 and receiving the reel 116 having a tape-shaped package 112 wound 
therearound from the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 are arranged in 
the lower casing 106. Additionally, to temporarily storably hold the fore 
end part of the tape-shaped package 112 continuously fed from the taping 
machine at the time when the reel 116 is attached to and detached from the 
reel driving shaft 114, a dancer unit 148 is displaceably arranged in such 
a manner as to be slidably displaced between the lower casing 106 and the 
upper casing 110. 
In this embodiment, a label adhering unit for adhesively attaching a label 
650 having various kinds of informations on a type of tape-shaped package 
112, a content of each article received in the tape-shaped package 112 and 
other items printed thereon to one of flange portions 456 of the reel 116 
having the tape-shaped package 112 wound therearound is disposed at the 
position located sideward of the tape winding apparatus. 
With respect to a taping machine to be operatively associated with the tape 
winding apparatus for producing a tape-shaped package 112 as shown in FIG. 
3, the taping machine as described above in the preceding embodiment can 
be used as it is. 
In this embodiment, a dancer unit 148 includes a slider 164 adapted to be 
slidably displaced along a guide rod 158 in the upward/downward direction, 
and the tape-shaped package 112 is caused to extend through the slider 164 
in such a manner as to enable a speed of winding of the tape-shaped 
package 12 around the reel 116 caused by rotation of the reel driving 
shaft 114 to be automatically changed corresponding to the position of the 
slider 164 on the guide rod 158. 
Specifically, in the case that the slider 164 is slidably displaced to the 
lowermost end of the guide rod 158, the winding speed of the tape-shaped 
package 112 is increased to assume a preset highest speed, causing the 
position of the slider 164 to be quickly rased up. On the contrary, in the 
case that the slider 164 is slidably displaced to the uppermost end of the 
guide rod 158, the winding speed of the tape-shaped package 112 is reduced 
to assume a lowest speed, causing the position of the slider 164 to be 
quickly lowered. Thus, when it is required that the slider 164 is held at 
the intermediate position of the guide rod 158, the rotational speed of 
the reel driving shaft 114 is correspondingly adjusted. 
A pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 are disposed rightward of a tape-shaped 
package introduction pulley 646 rotatably mounted on the upper casing 110 
at the left-hand end of the latter in order to convey the tape-shaped 
package 112 toward the reel driving shaft 114 side. The structure of the 
pair of pinch rollers 126 and 128 is entirely same to that shown in FIG. 
11 that is a sectional view taken along line 11--11 in FIG. 10. 
In addition, a pin roller 186 is disposed rightward of the pair of pinch 
rollers 126 and 128, and the sectional structure of the pin roller 186 is 
entirely same to that shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 that is an enlarged 
sectional view of a section represented by an arrow-shaped mark of 8 in 
FIG. 7. 
FIG. 29 shows by way of sectional view the structure of a tape cutting unit 
648 arranged rightward of the pin roller 186, and moreover, FIG. 30 shows 
by way of side view the structure of the tape cutting unit 648 as seen 
from the right-hand side of FIG. 29. 
Specifically, a tape-shaped package cutter 652 and a carrier tape cutter 
654 are disposed in the tape cutting unit 648 in the opposing relationship 
while a conveyance path for the tape-shaped package 112 is interposed 
therebetween. The tape-shaped package cutter 652 adapted to be actuated in 
the downward direction includes a knife driving air cylinder 270 of which 
piston rod 274 is firmly equipped with a cutter knife 284 via a cutter 
holder 282 so as to cut a cover tape 154 of the tape-shaped package 112 
therewith. On the other hand, the carrier tape cutter 654 adapted to be 
actuated in the upward direction likewise includes a knife driving air 
cylinder 364 of which piston rod 368 is firmly equipped with a cutter 
knife 374 via a cutter holder 372 so as to cut a carrier tape 134 of the 
tape-shaped package 112 therewith. 
As is best seen in FIG. 30, a plate-shaped knife receiver 286 adapted to be 
projected in the hollow space defined between both the cutter knifes 284 
and 374 from the rear side of the upper casing 110 is slidably held by a 
knife receiver holder 288 fixedly secured to the rear surface of the upper 
casing 110 so as to be slidably displaced in the horizontal direction 
(i.e., in the leftward/rightward direction as seen in FIG. 30) while it is 
operatively connected to a cutter receiver driving cylinder (not shown). 
Before the piston rod 274 of the knife driving air cylinder 270 is driven 
in the downward direction and the piston rod 368 of the knife driving air 
cylinder 364 is driven in the upward direction, a piston rod 294 of a 
knife receiver driving air cylinder (not shown) is linearly driven in the 
forward direction, causing the fore end part of the knife receiver 286 to 
be inserted into a gap formed between the carrier tape 134 and the cover 
tape 154 of the tape-shaped package 112 by way of steps to be described 
later, in order to receive the thrusting force of each of the cutter 
knives 284 and 374 therewith. Incidentally, the carrier tape 134 and the 
cover tape 154 are not still fused to each other at this time. 
A tape projecting cylinder 656 adapted to be actuated in the upward 
direction is disposed rightward of the carrier tape cutter 654 so as to 
enable the knife receiver 286 to be projected directly below the carrier 
tape 134 by forcibly raising up the carrier tape 134 to the package cutter 
652 side in excess of the knife receiver 286. 
When the tape-shaped package cutter 652 and the carrier tape cutter 654 of 
the tape cutting unit 648 are actuated to cut the cover tape 154 and the 
carrier tape 134, the reel driving shaft 114 is temporarily immovably held 
together with the reel 116. Subsequently, after the carrier tape cutter 
654 is actuated, the reel driving shaft 114 is rotationally driven again 
to wound the cover tape 154 around the reel 116 by a predetermined length 
so as to allow a part of the cover tape 154 to serve as a leader portion 
122. Thereafter, the piston rod 294 of the cutter receiver driving 
cylinder is retracted in the rearward direction, causing the knife 
receiver 286 to be retracted inside of the upper casing 110. At this time, 
the carrier tape 134 held in the suspended state in the downward direction 
due to its own dead weight is raised up by expanding the piston rod 658 of 
the tape projecting cylinder 656 again, and subsequently, the knife 
receiver 286 is displaced in the forward direction to reach the position 
directly below the carrier tape 134. Thereafter, the tape-shaped package 
cutter 652 is actuated to cut the cover tape 154 and the carrier tape 134 
at the same time. 
When the tape-shaped package cutter 652 is actuated, a cut piece of the 
carrier tape 134 falls down away from the tape-shaped package 112. To 
discharge the foregoing cut piece of the carrier tape 134 to a 
predetermined location on the lower casing 106 side, a cut tape piece 
discharging chute 660 is disposed at the lower part of the upper casing 
110 adjacent to the tape cutting unit 648. It should be noted that the 
structure of the tape cutting unit 648 should not be limited only to the 
aforementioned one but any other type of hitherto known structure may be 
employed for the tape cutting unit 648. 
In contrast with the second aspect of the present invention as mentioned 
above, according to a third aspect of the present invention, the 
tape-shaped package cutter 652 serves as a cutter for cutting only the 
cover tape 154, and moreover, it can cut both the cover tape 154 and the 
carrier tape 134 without any necessity for actuating the tape projecting 
cylinder 656. Specifically, when the tape cutting unit 648 is actuated to 
cut both the cover tape 154 and the carrier tape 134, the knife receiver 
286 is inserted between the cover tape 154 and the carrier tape 134, and 
while the foregoing state is maintained, the carrier tape cutter 654 is 
actuated to cut the carrier tape 134. Subsequently, after the reel driving 
shaft 114 is rotationally driven to wound the cover tape 154 around the 
reel 116 by a predetermined length so as to allow a part of the cover tape 
154 to serve as a leader portion 122, the tape-shaped package cutter 652 
and the carrier tape cutter 654 are successively actuated to cut the cover 
tape 154 with the tape-shaped package cutter 652, and moreover, cut the 
carrier tape 134 with the carrier tape cutter 654. 
A pair of cover tape sucking blocks 662 are firmly secured to upper casing 
110 while they are disposed along a conveyance path of the tape-shaped 
package 112 at the positions directly above the foregoing conveyance path 
in such a manner that one of them is located before the tape cutting unit 
648 and the other one is located behind the same. A plurality of suction 
holes 664 are formed through each of the cover tape sucking blocks 662 in 
order to bring the tape-shaped package 112 in contact with close contact 
with the lower surface of each cover tape sucking block 662 by the air 
suction force induced by the suction of air through the suction holes 664 
while the tape-shaped package 112 slidably moves along the lower surface 
of each cover tape sucking block 662, and the respective suction holes 664 
are communicated with a suction pump (not shown). Thus, as the suction 
pump is driven, the cover tape 154 is brought in close contact with the 
lower surface of each cover tape sucking block 662, and the suction pump 
is continuously driven for a period of time that elapses from the time 
when the leader portion 122 is formed to the time when the cover tape 154 
passes past a tape confirming sensor 666 to be described later. 
In this embodiment, the cover tape sucking blocks 662, the suction holes 
664 and the suction pump are used as cover tape sucking means. However, it 
of course is obvious that other type of structure applicable to these 
components rather than the aforementioned one may be employed for the same 
purpose, provided that the cover tape 154 of the tape-shaped package 112 
can reliably be brought in the sucked state when the tape-shaped package 
cutter 652 is actuated. 
FIG. 31 schematically shows by way of plan view the structure of a 
tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130 for conducting the 
tape-shaped package 112 discharged from the pair of pinch rollers 126 and 
128 to the empty reel 116 fitted onto the reel driving shaft 114 while 
seizing the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 112 therewith, FIG. 32 
shows by way of front view the structure of a driving mechanism for 
driving the tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130, FIG. 33 
shows by way of sectional view the driving mechanism for driving the 
tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130 taken along line 33--33 
in FIG. 32, and FIG. 34 shows by way of sectional view the driving 
mechanism for driving the same taken along line 34--34 in FIG. 32. 
Specifically, the opposite ends of a slider guide rail 668 extending in the 
direction in parallel with the line extending from the tape cutting unit 
648 to the reel driving shaft 114 are held between the tape cutting unit 
648 and the reel driving shaft 114 on the rear side of the upper casing 
110 with the aid of a bracket 670. A slider 324 inserted through an 
opening portion 326 formed through the upper casing 110 in parallel with 
the slider guide rail 668 and having the fore end part thereof projected 
on the front side of the upper casing 110 is slidably engaged with the 
slider guide rail 668. A clamp block 338 and a tape-shaped package guiding 
arm 330 are assembled with the slide 324 at the fore end part of the 
latter. 
The clamp block 338 is firmly secured to one end of a clamp turn shaft 334 
which rotatably extends through the slider 324 in the horizontal direction 
at a right angle relative to the conveying direction of the tape-shaped 
package 112, and a receiving plate portion 672 facing to the upper surface 
of the clamp block 338 with a gap held therebetween is formed integral 
with the slider 324. In addition, a clamp lever 342 is firmly connected to 
the other end of the clamp turn shaft 334, and a tension coil spring 344 
is bridged between the foremost end of the clamp lever 342 and the 
foremost end of a bracket 674 disposed on the slider 324. With this 
construction, a gap is formed between the clamp block 338 and the 
receiving plate portion 672 by the resilient force of the tension coil 
spring 344 as represented by solid lines in FIG. 29 so that the 
tape-shaped package 112 passes through the gap formed between the clamp 
block 338 and the receiving plate portion 672. 
To properly maintain the gap between the clamp block 338 and the receiving 
plate portion 674 in such a manner as to allow it to assume an adequate 
magnitude, a lever stopper 676 is threadably attached to the bracket 674. 
In addition, to assure that a magnitude of the gap between the clamp block 
338 and the receiving plate portion 672 is reduced as represented by 
phantom lines in FIG. 29 by turning the clamp lever 342 in the 
anticlockwise direction against the resilient force of the tension coil 
spring 344 with an operator's hand to assume the state as represented by 
phantom lines in FIG. 32, an air cylinder 350 is firmly fitted to the 
bracket 674 to hold the fore end part of the tape-shaped package 112 
between the clamp block 338 and the receiving plate portion 672 in the 
clamped state. 
Additionally, to detect whether or not the tape-shaped package 112 is 
caused to pass through the gap between the clamp block 338 and the 
receiving plate portion 672, a tape confirming sensor 666 is disposed 
directly above the receiving plate portion 672. When the tape confirming 
sensor 666 detects the fore end part of the tape-shaped package 112, the 
air cylinder 350 is actuated, causing the fore end part of the tape-shaped 
package 112 to be firmly held between the clamp block 338 and the 
receiving plate portion 672 in the clamped state. 
On the other hand, the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 having a 
tape-shaped package guide groove 332 formed thereon to slidably hold the 
tape-shaped package 112 on the upper surface thereof is firmly fitted onto 
an arm turn shaft 680 which rotatably extends through the slider 324 in 
the horizontal direction at a right angle relative to the direction of 
conveyance of the tape-shaped package 112. To retain the tape-shaped 
package 112 slidably moving along the tape-shaped package guide groove 332 
so as not to allow the tape-shaped package 112 to be floated up from the 
tape-shaped package guide groove 332, the base end part of a leaf spring 
358 is secured to the base end part of the tape-shaped package guiding arm 
330 by tightening screws. In addition, a turn lever 682 is firmly fitted 
onto the arm turn shaft 680, and a tension coil spring 686 is spanned 
between the foremost end of the turn lever 682 and a bracket 684 disposed 
on the slider 324. With this construction, the tape-shaped package guiding 
arm 330 is horizontally oriented toward the reel driving shaft 114 by the 
resilient force of the tension coil spring 686 as represented by solid 
lines in FIG. 28, whereby the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 112 
can correctly be conducted to one of tape insert slots 120 formed through 
a hub core 118 of the reel 116. 
To detect one of the tape insert slots 120 formed through the hub core 118 
of the reel 116, an insert slot detecting sensor 452 is disposed on the 
lower surface of the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 at the foremost 
end of the latter. To this end, first, while the tape-shaped package 
guiding arm 330 is held at the package delivering position, the foremost 
end of the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 is located near to the hub 
core 118 of the reel 116 while facing to the same. Subsequently, the reel 
116 is rotationally driven together with the reel driving shaft 114 at a 
low rotational speed. When the insert slot detecting sensor 452 detects 
one of the tape insert slots 120 formed through the hub core 118 of the 
reel 116 while the foregoing rotating state is maintained, a detection 
signal is outputted from the insert slot detecting sensor 452 to a 
controlling unit (not shown) for a reel driving stepping motor 430 to be 
described later. In response to the detection signal outputted from the 
insert slot detecting sensor 452, the controlling unit controls the 
rotation of the reel driving shaft 114 in such a manner that after the 
reel driving shaft 114 is rotated by a predetermined angle, the rotation 
of the reel driving shaft 114 is interrupted, causing the tape-shaped 
package guide groove 322 of the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 to be 
linearly aligned with one of the tape insert slots 120 formed through the 
hub core 118 of the reel 116. 
To assure that the foremost end of the tape-shaped package 112 is properly 
received in the tape-shaped package guiding groove 332 of the tape-shaped 
package guide arm 330, a tape insert guiding air cylinder 688 is disposed 
at the tape-shaped package receiving position so as to turnably tilt the 
tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 as represented by phantom lines in 
FIG. 29. In addition, to assure that the tape-shaped package 112 is 
properly delivered between the upper surface of the clamp block 338 and 
the receiving plate portion 672 as the fore end part of the tape-shaped 
package 112 is fed in the forward direction, a tape projecting cylinder 
656 is disposed at the position between the clamp block 338 located at the 
tape-shaped package receiving position and the knife receiver 286 of the 
tape cutting unit 648 so as to allow the fore end part of the tape-shaped 
package 112 to be temporarily raised up by a piston rod 658 of the tape 
projecting cylinder 656. 
A pair of toothed pulleys 690 and 692 are rotatably disposed at the 
opposite ends of the slider guide rail 668 as seen in the longitudinal 
direction of movement of the slider 340 so that an endless toothed belt 
694 is bridged between both the toothed pulleys 690 and 692 while 
extending around them. The slider 324 is operatively connected to the 
endless toothed belt 694 via a connecting member 696, and a guide unit 
driving stepping motor 698 mounted on the upper casing 110 is operatively 
connected to one of the toothed pulleys 690 and 692, i.e., the toothed 
pulley 690. 
Thus, the slider 324 can be displaced along the slider guide rail 668 in 
the rightward/leftward direction as seen in FIG. 32 via the endless 
toothed belt 694 by rotationally driving the guide unit driving stepping 
motor 698. To assure that the slider 324 is stopped not only at the 
tape-shaped package receiving position but also at the tape-shaped package 
delivering position, a receiving switch 702 and a delivering switch 704 
are disposed at predetermined positions as seen in the longitudinal 
direction of movement of the slider 324 for the purpose of interrupting 
the rotation of the guiding unit driving stepping motor 698 by detecting a 
plate-shaped dog 700 projected downward of the slider 324. Specifically, 
when the dog 700 is detected by the receiving switch 702, the rotation of 
the guiding unit driving stepping motor 698 is interrupted, whereby the 
slider 324 is located at the tape-shaped package receiving position in the 
vicinity of the tape cutting unit 648. In addition, when the dog 700 is 
detected by the delivering switch 704, the rotation of the guiding unit 
driving stepping motor 698 is interrupted, whereby the foremost end of the 
tape-shaped package guide arm 330 is received in the hollow space defined 
by the flange portions 456 of the reel 116 so that it is located at the 
tape-shaped package delivering position facing to the outer periphery of 
the hub core 118 of the reel 116. 
As the tape-shaped package 116 is increasingly wound around the reel 116, 
the guiding unit driving motor 698 is gradually displaced from the 
tape-shaped package delivering position toward the package receiving 
position in the rearward direction so that the distance between the 
foremost end of the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 and the outer 
periphery of the tape-shaped package 112 wound around the reel 116 is kept 
substantially constant. To prevent any occurrence of a malfunction that 
the foremost end of the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 collides 
against the flange portions 465 of the reel 116 during the displacement of 
the tape-shaped package guiding arm 330 from the tape-shaped package 
receiving position to the tape-shaped package delivering position, a 
flange widening air cylinder 450 including a flange widening member 458 
(see FIG. 28) is arranged in the upper casing 110 at the position below 
the tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130 so as to resiliently 
enlarge a distance between both the flange portions 456 of the reel 116. 
Specifically, when a rotational phase of the reel 116 fitted onto the reel 
driving shaft 114 is correctly indexed in order to assign the foremost end 
of the tape-shaped package 112 to one of the tape insert slots 120 formed 
through the hub core 114 of the reel 116, the flange widening air cylinder 
450 is actuated so as to allow the flange widening member 458 to be 
projected toward the reel 116 side, causing a distance between both the 
flange portions 456 to be enlarged by the wedge-shaped foremost end part 
of the flange widening member 458. Subsequently, when the guide unit 
driving stepping motor 698 is rotationally driven while the foregoing 
state is maintained, the fore end part of the tape-shaped package guide 
arm 330 is brought in the hollow space of the reel 116, and thereafter, 
the flange widening member 458 is retracted away from the reel 116 by 
actuating the flange widening air cylinder 450 again. While this state is 
maintained, a next rotational phase of the reel 115 can be indexed. 
FIG. 35 shows by way of sectional view the structure of a reel 
attaching/detaching unit 140 for the tape winding apparatus constructed in 
accordance with this embodiment of the present invention. 
Specifically, a subframe 390 having a heavy thickness is immovably arranged 
inside of the upper casing 110 while extending in parallel with the upper 
casing 110. The right-hand end of a cylindrical driving shaft holder 394 
is firmly fastened to the upper casing 110 while the cylindrical driving 
shaft holder 394 is located between the upper casing 110 and the subframe 
390, and the reel driving shaft 114 is rotatably supported by a pair of 
bearings 398 while extending through the driving shaft holder 394. A reel 
driving stepping motor 430 is operatively connected to the left-hand end 
of the reel driving shaft 114 via a joint 706. As the reel driving motor 
430 is rotationally driven, the reel 116 fitted onto the reel driving 
shaft 114 is rotated. In addition, a disc 708 having a number of radially 
extending cutouts formed along the outer periphery thereof is firmly 
fitted onto the left-hand end part of the reel driving shaft 114, and a 
reel rotational position indexing sensor 710 is fastened to the subframe 
390 via a bracket 712 in order to index the rotational phase of the reel 
116 relative to the reel driving shaft 114 to a predetermined position by 
detecting a quantity of rotation of the disc 708. 
In response to a detection signal outputted from the encoder 188, the 
insert slot detecting sensor 452, the receiving switch 702, the delivering 
switch 704, the reel rotational position indexing sensor 710 or a cutout 
detecting sensor 714 to be described later, the controlling unit (not 
shown) can arbitrarily change the present rotational speed of the reel 
driving shaft 114 to another one in conformity with a command issued 
therefrom. Basically, the controlling unit controls the rotation of the 
reel driving shaft 114 in such a manner that the reel driving shaft 114 is 
rotated at a low rotational speed at the time of winding of the 
tape-shaped package 112 around the reel 116 as well as directly before 
completion of the winding operation, it is rotated at a high rotational 
speed for a period of time other than the aforementioned one, and the 
rotation of the reel driving shaft 114 is interrupted when the reel 116 is 
exchanged with another one. 
An engagement pawl 414 adapted to be engaged with one of engagement grooves 
412 formed along the reel hole 408 at the central part of the reel 116 is 
turnably disposed at the right-hand end part of the reel driving shaft 114 
to turn about a pin 716 in the radial direction (i.e., in the 
upward/downward direction as seen in FIG. 35), and the fore end part of 
the engagement pawl 414 is normally biased in the radial direction (i.e., 
in the upward direction as seen in FIG. 35) by the resilient force of a 
compression coil spring 415 received in the right-hand end of the reel 
driving shaft 114. However, a largest quantity of turning movement of the 
engagement pawl 414 in the upward direction is restrictively limited by a 
stopper 718. With this construction, when the engagement pawl 414 is not 
correctly aligned with the engagement groove 412, the fore end part of the 
engagement pawl 414 is forcibly retracted inside of the outer peripheral 
surface of the reel driving shaft 114 but when the engagement pawl 414 is 
correctly aligned with the engagement groove 412, the fore end part of the 
engagement pawl is turnably projected outside of the outer peripheral 
surface of the reel driving shaft 114 to come in engagement with the 
engagement groove 412, whereby the reel 116 is followably rotated by the 
reel driving shaft 114. 
To detach the reel 116 having a tape-shaped package 112 wound therearound 
away from the reel driving shaft 114, an annular thrusting plate 432 is 
disposed in the concentrical relationship relative to the reel driving 
shaft 114 in such a manner as to surround the latter therewith, and a 
plurality of guide rods 436 are firmly secured to the rear surface of the 
reel thrusting plate 432 while slidably extending through a plurality of 
guide bushes 434 fitted to the upper casing 110. The left-hand ends of the 
guide rods 436 are fixed to an annular connecting plate 438 disposed in 
such a manner as to surround the driving shaft holder 394 with the annular 
connecting plate 438, and a piston rod 444 of a reel discharging air 
cylinder 442 fastened to the subframe 390 via a bracket 440 is operatively 
connected to the annular connecting plate 438. 
With this construction, when the reel discharging air cylinder 442 is 
actuated so as to allow the piston rod 444 to be expanded, the reel 
thrusting plate 432 located at the retracted position as shown in FIG. 35 
is displaced in the forward direction to reach a position represented by 
phantom lines in the drawing, whereby the reel 116 fitted onto the reel 
driving shaft 114 is thrusted to a reel receiving/delivering shaft 416 as 
the above-mentioned first embodiment which is located opposite to the reel 
driving shaft 114. 
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 35 and FIG. 36 which shows by way of 
front view the appearance of the reel 116, because of a necessity for 
adhering a label 650 to a label adhering portion 720 formed on one of the 
flange portions 456 of the reel 116 with the aid of a label adhering unit 
to be described later, a cutout portion detecting sensor 714 is secured to 
the upper casing 110 for the purpose of detecting a cutout portion 722 
formed on the outer periphery of one of the flange portions 456 of the 
reel 116. When the cutout portion detecting sensor 714 detects the cutout 
portion 722 formed on the flange portion 456 of the reel 116, a detecting 
signal is inputted into the controlling unit (not shown) for the reel 
driving stepping motor 430. In response to the detecting signal outputted 
from the cutout portion detecting sensor 714, the controlling unit serves 
to rotate the reel driving shaft 114 by a predetermined angle, and 
thereafter, interrupt the rotation of the reel driving shaft 114. Thus, 
when the reel 116 is conveyed to the label adhering unit with the aid of 
the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 while the foregoing state is 
maintained, a desired label adhering position on the flange portion 456 of 
the reel 116 can exactly be indexed for a label 650 to adhere thereto. 
It should be noted that the structure of the reel attaching/detaching unit 
140 should not be limited only to the aforementioned one constructed in 
accordance with this embodiment buy any other type of hitherto known 
structure may be employed for the reel attaching/detaching unit 140. 
As shown in FIG. 28, an end seal feeding reel 464 is rotatably and 
detachably disposed at the upper end of the upper casing 110 for an end 
seal feeding unit 138 which serves to adhesively connect an end seal 124 
to the terminal end of a leader portion 122, and a release liner 466 
having a plurality of ribbon-shaped end seals 124 adhesively attached 
thereto in the equally spaced relationship is wound around the end seal 
feeding reel 464. A release liner winding shaft 472 is rotatably fitted to 
the upper casing 110 at the position leftward of the end seal feeding reel 
464 so that the used release liner 466 is wound around the release liner 
winding shaft 472. 
To peel an end seal 124 away from the release liner 466 at the foremost end 
of the end seal 124, a wedge-shaped peeling plate 478 is firmly secured to 
the upper casing 110 at the position located above the tape-shaped package 
guiding arm 330 disposed at the tape-shaped package receiving position of 
the tape-shaped package foremost end guiding unit 130, and a pair of 
retaining rollers 480 and 482 are rotatably disposed on the upper casing 
110 in such a manner that the first retaining roller 480 is located above 
the wedge-shaped peeling plate 478 and the second retaining roller 482 is 
located below the same. With such construction, as the release liner 466 
is unwound from the end seal feeding reel 464, it is delivered to the 
release liner winding shaft 472 via the first retaining roller 480, the 
wedge-shaped peeling plate 478 and the second retaining roller 482. At 
this time, since the direction of conveyance of the release liner 466 is 
sharply changed at the foremost end of the wedge-shaped peeling plate 478, 
each end seal 124 is reliably peeled away from the release liner 466, 
causing it to be projected forward of the foremost end of the wedge-shaped 
peeling plate 478. 
A tape retaining roller 724 for depressively retaining the release liner 
466 and an end seal detecting sensor 492 located downstream of the tape 
retaining roller 724 for detecting whether an end seal 124 is adhesively 
attached to the release liner 466 or not are arranged between the end seal 
feeding reel 464 and the first retaining roller 480, and the tape 
retaining roller 724 is rotatably supported on the upper casing 110. In 
addition, a pair of pinch rollers 498 and 500 are arranged between the 
second retaining roller 482 and the release liner winding shaft 472 for 
holding the release liner 466 in the clamped state therebetween. One of 
the pair of pinch rollers 498 and 500, i.e., the driving pinch roller 498 
is operatively connected to a release liner driving motor 516 adapted to 
be intermittently rotationally driven, and the idling pinch roller 500 is 
rotatably supported at the foremost end of a turn lever 510 adapted to 
turn about a pivotal shaft 508 firmly fitted to the upper casing 110. To 
normally bias the idling pinch roller 500 toward the driving pinch roller 
498, spring means (not shown) is disposed on the pivotal shaft 508 for the 
purpose of applying a certain intensity of resilient force to the turn 
lever 510. 
The release liner driving motor 516 is intermittently rotationally driven 
every time a leader portion 122 is formed by actuating the tape-shaped 
package cutter 652 of the tape cutting unit 648. Specifically, the release 
liner driving motor 516 starts to be rotated at a low rotational speed in 
synchronization with the rotation of the reel driving stepping motor 430 
immediately after the cover tape 154 is cut by the tape-shaped package 
cutter 652, causing the release liner 466 to be conveyed at the speed 
corresponding to the speed of conveyance of the leader portion 122. When 
the foremost end of the end seal 124 is adhesively connected to the 
rearmost end of the leader portion by the adhering power of the end seal 
124, and subsequently, the used release liner 466 is wound around a 
release liner winding reel 474 by a predetermined length, the rotation of 
the release liner driving motor 516 is interrupted. 
As shown in FIG. 28, FIG. 37 and FIG. 38 that is a sectional view taken 
along line 38--38 in FIG. 37, a bearing bush 536 for rotatably supporting 
a tape retaining shaft 534 is fastened to the upper casing 110 at the 
position above the reel driving shaft 114 by tightening screws, and a tape 
retaining roller 540 adapted to be brought in the hollow space between 
both the flanges 456 of the reel 16 is rotatably held at the foremost end 
of a turn lever 538 fitted onto the tape retaining shaft 534 which extends 
through the upper casing 110 and the bearing bush 536. The tape retainer 
roller 540 is caused to turn about the tape retaining shaft 534 in the 
clockwise direction as seen in FIG. 37 by its own dead weight, and as the 
tape-shaped package 112 is wound around the reel 116, the tape retaining 
roller 540 serves to thrust the tape-shaped package 112 toward the outer 
periphery of the hub core 118 in order to prevent each end seal 124 from 
incorrectly adhering to the tape-shaped package 112. A plurality of 
suction holes 726 are formed on the surface of the turn lever 538 facing 
to the reel 116, i.e., the lower surface of the turn lever 538 for 
bringing the leader portion 122 and the end seal 124 in close contact with 
the suction holes 726 by the air suction force so as to prevent them from 
being vibratively displaced toward and away from the tape-shaped package 
112 wound around the reel 116, and a suction pump (not shown) is 
communicated with the respective suction holes 726 via a communication 
path 728. With this construction, when the suction pump is driven, the 
leader portion 122 and the end seal 124 are wound around the reel 116 by 
allowing them to slidably move along the lower surface of the turn lever 
538 while they are brought in close contact with the lower surface of the 
turn lever 538. 
A retaining roller escape cylinder 544 is fastened to the inner wall 
surface of the upper casing 110 by tightening screws while facing to an 
escape lever 542 firmly fitted onto the inner end of the tape retaining 
shaft 534. As a piston rod 546 of the retaining roller escape cylinder 544 
is expanded, the foremost end of the piston rod 546 collides against the 
escape lever 542. As a result, the turn lever 538 is turnably displaced 
away from the reel 116 together with the tape retaining roller 540 via the 
escape lever 542 in the anticlockwise direction as seen in FIG. 28 with 
the tape retaining shaft 534 as a center. Now, the reel 116 is ready to be 
attached to and detached from the reel driving shaft 114. 
It should be noted that the structure of the end seal feeding unit 138 
should not be limited only to that described above in connection with this 
embodiment but any other type of hitherto known structure may be employed 
for the end seal feeding unit 138. 
The sectional structure of the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 for 
feeding an empty reel 116 to the reel driving shaft 114 and receiving the 
reel 116 having a tape-shaped package 112 wound therearound from the reel 
driving shaft 114 is entirely same to that as described above with respect 
to the preceding embodiment with reference to FIG. 23. 
The label adhering unit as mentioned above is mounted on the upper end of 
the stocker housing 578. A label feeding reel 732 and a release liner 
winding reel 734 are rotatably fitted to the front surface of a casing 730 
for the label adhering unit located substantially above the recovered reel 
storage station 576. A release liner 736 having a plurality of 
substantially rectangular labels 650 adhesively attached thereto in the 
equally spaced relationship as seen in the longitudinal direction of the 
release liner 736 is wound around the label feeding reel 732. In addition, 
a ribbon feeding reel 740 having an ink ribbon 738 wound therearound and a 
ribbon winding reel 742 for winding a used ink ribbon 738 therearound are 
rotatably arranged directly below the label feeding reel 732, and 
moreover, a printing head 744 for printing informations such as bar codes 
or the like on each label 650 is disposed below the ribbon feeding reel 
740 and the ribbon winding reel 742. 
A wedge-shaped peeling plate 746 for peeling each label 650 away from the 
release liner 736 is disposed directly below the printing head 744 with a 
substantially horizontal attitude, and as the release liner 736 is unwound 
from the label feeding reel 732, it is delivered to the release liner 
winding reel 734 via the printing head 744 and the peeling plate 746. 
Since the direction of conveyance of the release liner 736 is sharply 
changed at the peeling pate 746, each label 650 is reliably peeled away 
from the release liner 736, and thereafter, it is projected from the 
foremost end of the peeling plate 746 in the forward direction. During the 
conveyance of the release liner 736 in that way, necessary informations 
are printed on each label 650 by activating the printing head 744. 
A printing operation driving motor (not shown) adapted to be intermittently 
driven is disposed in the casing 730 for the label adhering unit, and the 
release liner winding reel 734 and the ribbon winding reel 742 are 
operatively connected to the printing operation driving motor. The 
printing operation driving motor is intermittently driven every time the 
reel 116 having a tape-shaped package 112 wound therearound is delivered 
to the recovered reel storage station 576, whereby the label 650 having 
predetermined necessary informations printed thereon is projected from the 
foremost end of the peeling plate 746 in the forward direction. 
A label adhering air cylinder 748 is disposed on the casing 730 of the 
label adhering unit in such a manner that it is located opposite to the 
label adhering portion 720 on the reel 116 on the recovered reel 
conveyance table 624 arranged at the recovered reel storage station 576, 
and a label suction pad 752 for holding the label 650 projected from the 
foremost end of the peeling plate 746 by the air suction force is attached 
to the foremost end of a piston rod 750 of the label adhering air cylinder 
748. The piston rod 750 of the label adhering air cylinder 748 is 
reciprocably displaced between the peeling plate 746 and the label 
adhering portion 720 on the reel 116 placed on the recovered reel 
conveying table 624 of the recovered reel storage station 576 in the 
upward/downward direction so that each label 650 having predetermined 
desired informations printed thereon is caused to adhere to the label 
adhering portion 720 on the reel 116. 
While the tape-shaped package 112 is wound around the reel 116 by actuating 
the tape winding unit, the label suction pad 752 is held in the standby 
position sideward of the peeling plate 746. Before the reel 116 on the 
recovered reel conveying table 624 is conveyed to the recovered reel 
storage station 576 by actuating the rodless cylinder 628, the printing 
operation driving motor is intermittently driven, and after necessary bar 
code informations are printed on a predetermined location on one of the 
labels 650 adhesively attached to the release liner 736 in the equally 
spaced relationship by activating the printing head 744, the printing 
operation driving motor is intermittently driven so as to allow the label 
650 having bar code informations printed thereon to be peeled away from 
the peeling plate 746. 
The label 650 peeled away from the release liner 736 is sucked to the label 
suction pad 752 held in the standby position. When the reel 116 is 
conveyed to the recovered reel storage station 576, the piston rod 750 of 
the label adhering air cylinder 748 is expanded from the standby position 
in the downward direction, causing the label 650 to be thrusted against 
the label adhering portion 720 formed on one of the flange portions 456 of 
the reel 116 placed on the recovered reel conveyance table 624. 
Subsequently, when a suction operation performed by the label suction pad 
752 is stopped and the piston rod 750 of the label adhering air cylinder 
748 is then restored to the original standby position, the adhesion of 
each label 650 to the label adhering portion 720 on the reel 116 is 
completed. 
Thereafter, the reel retainer 640 is projected between the standby position 
of the reel receiving/delivering unit 144 and the recovered reel storage 
station 576, and subsequently, the recovered reel conveyance table 624 is 
returned to the reel receiving/delivering unit 144. 
While the present invention has been described above with respect to two 
preferred embodiments thereof, it should of course be understood that the 
present invention should not be limited only to these embodiments but 
various change or modification may be made without any departure away from 
the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.