DISTRIBUTION TRANSPORTER WITH AN IMPROVED SYSTEM FOR MOVING AN ARTICLE ON AND OFF A CONTINUOUSLY MOVING BELT

Abstract: A plurality of work stations (11-18) are provided along a continuously moving belt (19) with the ability to move an article or container (21) of articles being processed from one work station to the other along the belt. A right angled arm (27) is provided at each work station for reaching out and removing an article from the belt as it passes that work station. Each work station is also provided with a pushing mechanism (29) for ejecting completed articles from the work station back onto the belt for subsequent processing.

Description: Descriptior. Distribution Transporter With An Improved System For Moving An Article On And Off A Continuously Moving Belt , This invention relates generally to material transporters, and more particularly to such transporters for moving work pieces among various work stations in an assembly line production system. A popular transporter for work stations utilizes an elongated belt that moves at a continuous high rate of speed for moving articles or baskets of articles from an end of the belt to an appropriate work station. When that particular work station has completed its operation on the article or articles, they are returned to the beginning of the belt and transported to a different work station for the next succeeding opera¬ tion to be performed on them. The article or articles are placed on the belt return by hand at each work station. They are removed from the belt to a work station by an arm that extends across the belt at an angle of about 25 degrees with its direction of travel to divert the article from the belt to the work station. It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved distribution transporting system that allows movement of articles from one work station to the other without having to first be returned to an end or other common location along the moving belt. It is another object of the present invention to provide mechanisms for moving an article or articles onto and off of the belt of each work station semi- automatically or automatically in a positive and gentle manner. Disclosure of Invention These and additional objects are accomplished by the present invention, wherein, briefly, a plurality of locations are connected by a moving belt in order to transfer articles therebetween, each such location containing a unique device for either moving an article onto the belt, or removing an article from the belt, or both. The most common application of the system is for positioning a number of work stations at various locations along the length of the belt, with each work station including both of the systems for removing articles from the belt and moving articles onto the belt. The article can then be moved from one work station to another for performing successive operations on it, such as in a product manufacturing operation. Sensors are provided at each work station to detect whether there is an article awaiting action at that station and whether there is a finished article awaiting ejection onto the belt for passage to a subsequent work station. A controller, either human or automatic electronic equipment, receives a signal from each of the sensors in every work station. The controller routes an article completed by one work station to a work station downstream on the belt that is set up to perform the next in order operation or. the article and which is determined not to have an arricle waiting for processing. There is no need to return * he articles to the beginning of the belt before they can be advanced to the next appropriate work station, and all the operations can be controlled centrally or by all the workers at the individual work stations through communi¬ cation between them. An improved mechanism for removing an article from the belt, according to one aspect of che present invention, uses a sweep arm structure that includes two arms that intersect each other at a vertex and form a substantially right angle. The structure is rotatable substantially about its vertex about an axis adjacent the belt but displaced off of it a small distance. When an article is to be removed from the belt, the structure rotates so that one of the arms is extending substantially the distance across the belt in a manner forming an acute angle with the oncoming belt traffic. A sensor is provided as part of that arm so that when an article strikes it, the arm is rotated back to a rest position that takes the article off the belt. According to another aspect of the present invention, a pusher mechanism is provided for ejecting a completed article from the work station. An enabling sensor detects when an article is in position at a sending location of the work station, and at an appro¬ priate time where there is room at a work station downstream that is to perform a subsequent operation on the article, the pusher is caused to move the article onto the belt. This sending location of each work station provides a surface allowing easy movement of the article into position by the worker at that station in a manner that does not interfere with the pushing or sensing mechanisms. Additional objects, advantages and features of the various aspects of the present invention are illustrated in the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof. This description should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 shows one application of the various aspects of the present invention in an embodiment of a production line having a plurality of work stations positioned along the length of a moving belt; Figure 2 shows a typical sweep arm structure of the system of Figure 1 , taken at section 2-2 thereof; --fTORE_ " / o..:?ι L'V.YA-Π Γ Figure 3 is a plan view of the sweep arm structure of Figure 2; Figure 4 shows an ejection mechanism for the work stations of the system of Figure 1 , taken at section 4-4 thereof; Figure 5 is a plan view of the ejection mechanism of Figure 4; Figure 6 illustrates the pusher element of the ejecting mechanism of Figures 4 and 5; Figure 7 shows in block diagram form the electronic control for the system of Figure 1 ; and Figure 8 illustrates a variation of the system of Figure 1 wherein a sweeparm structure is utilized to transfer articles from one belt to another. Figure 1 illustrates a specific application of the various aspects of the present invention in order that they may be understood. That application is in a production line having a plurality of individual work stations 11 through 18 that are positioned on opposite sides of and along the length of a continuously moving belt 19. Articles to be moved along the belt are illustrated to be a tote or basket 21 that contains small parts being manufactured. An example of such parts is small semiconductor components or printed circuit boards wherein each pair of opposing work stations, or a group of such pairs adjacent one another, perform one manufacturing step, the next group of work stations performs the next manufacturing step, and so forth. The belt 19 thus has the purpose of moving the article from one station to another for performing different assembly or other operations on the articles. Each of the work stations illustrated in Figure 1 is essentially the same. Taking work station 15 as an example, a worker utilizes a table surface portion 23 for performing the operations on the articles. Adjacent to that surface is another surface 25 in which articles to next be processed at that location are temporarily stored. It will be noted that work station 11 and 17 show totes being positioned at their respective work input temporary storage locations. A sweeparm 5 assembly 27 is provided for diverting an article from the belt into this storage location 25. Details of the sweeparm assembly 27 are described hereinafter with respect to Figures 2 and 3. On an opposite side of the working surface 23 at 0 the station 15 is an ejection mechanism 29 provided as a surface for storage of an article which has been processed by that work station and which is awaiting ejection back onto the belt 19 at an appropriate time. This time will be when a work station downstream is available to receive the article at its temporary input storage location. The ejecting mechanism of work stat ' ion 11 is shown to be pushing a tote onto the belt 19. Details of the ejecting mechanism 29 are discussed hereinafter with respect to Figures 4, 5 and 6. Additional work surface areas are provided at each work station. For example, a surface area 31 , sharing a table top with the input storage location 25, is available for the worker of that station to move a tote or other article from the region 25 to the region 31. That station would then be able to accept another article for storage in the surface 25 by diversion from the belt 19 with the arm structure 27. Similarly, a table surface 33 is provided adjacent the ejecting mechanism 29 for storage of another article such as one that has been completed and is awaiting ejection back onto the belt 19. Furthermore, the surface 33 allows the operator to easily push a completed article onto the mechanism 29, as described hereinafter with respect to Figures 4, 5 and 6. Since the system of Figure 1 permits the movement of articles between work stations without having to return them to the beginning or some other common location along the length of the belt 19, the speed of the belt 19 can be less than that of the predomoninent commercial systems without slowing down the transfer of articles. The ability to be transferring more than one article along the length of the belt at the same time also has this same advantage. The slower, uniform speed of the belt 19 results in more careful handling of the articles, an important feature when the articles are somewhat delicate such as when electronic components are being transferred. At a downstream end 35 of the belt 19, the totes or other articles are removed. Either they are com¬ pletely assembled or are removed to a further assembly operation. An option particularly useful for incorpora¬ ting adjacent the end 35 of the belt 19 is an orthogonal belt for selectively removing articles from the belt 19. This modificatfon is shown in Figure 8 wherein a belt 37 is arranged substantially perpendicular with the belt 19'. A sweeparm structure 27" , of the type to be described to Figures 2 and 3 hereinafter, is provided for selectively removing articles from the belt 19 and onto the belt 37. It may be desired to selectively remove defective articles, for example, or to transport some or all of the articles by way of the further belt 37 to additional work stations. Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the structure and operation of the sweeparm 27 is now described. Two arms 39 and 41 are held by a bracket 43 to intersect each other at substantially a right angle at a vertex 45. The arm assembly is supported by a verticle shaft 47 that is attached to the bracket 43 adjacent the vertex 45. The arm assembly of Figures 2 and 3 is shown to be in one of its two stable positions. The position shown is that for intercepting and removing an article from the belt 19, such as the tote 21 (Figure 1). It has been found preferable for one specific set of parameters to cause th s article capturing position of the arm assembly 27 to rotate the assembly so that the arm 39 5 forms an angle around 60 degrees with the direction of travel of the belt 19. In any event, something less than 90 degrees, but greater than 45 degrees, is a workable range. An angle of from 55 to 65 degrees is preferred for many applications. This acute angle 0 faces the direction from which the article approaches the arm 39 on the belt 19. -/ The second stable operable position of the sweeparm structure 27 is with the arm 39 parallel to the direction of travel of the belt 19 but removed from its edge. 5 This is shown with the arm structure in a rest position at any of the work stations 12, 14, 16 and 18 (Figure 1). In this rest position, the arm assembly does not interfere with passing articles. The arm assembly is rotated between these two positions by some con- venient mechanism, such as a rotary air cylinder 51 which applies compressed air thereto from a compressed air source 53 through a solonoid operated valve 55 that determines the direction of rotation of the shaft 47. This particular article removing structure has been found to have a significant advantage in being very gentle to the articles it is removing. It also. takes up little linear space along the belt so that the work stations can be positioned close together. The arms 39 and 41 are preferably made of a slightly resilient material, such as nylon, and each extend in only one direction from the vertex 45. An electrical switch 57 is operated upon pressing an activator 59 that extends inward of the arm 39. As an article such as the tote 21 (Figure 1) contacts the arm 39, the continued motion of the belt 19 causes it to slide -along the arm 39 toward the vertex 45 because of its angular relationship. As the article does this, the switch activator 59 is pushed in the electrical state of the switch 57 is changed to give an indication that an article is in contact with the arm 39. This indication is utilized to operate the arm, as explained hereinafter with respect to Figure 7. Referring to Figures 4, 5 and 6, the mechanism 29 for ejecting an article back on to the belt 19 is described in detail. Two rows 61 and 63 of rollers are fixed to a frame 65 in a manner to rotate about axes which are substantially parallel with the direction of travel of the belt 19. This results in a tote 67 or other article to be ejected from the work station back on the belt 19 of freely moving over the rollers in a direction substantially perpendicular to the belt 19. The rollers form a top surface, upon which the tote 67 sits, which is substantially in the same plane as the adjacent table top 33 and adjacent top surface of the moving belt 19, although it may be preferable to provide this surface slightly higher than that of the belt 19 onto which the tote is to be pushed. The two rows of rollers 61 and 63 are separated by a gap in which a pusher assembly 69 is provided for moving back and forth toward and away from the belt 19. This movement is preferably provided by a rodlesε air cylinder 71 to which the pusher assembly 69 is attached for movement. The pusher assembly 69 is caused to move in one direction or the other, depending upon which end of the cylinder 71 compressed air is applied. A solonoid operated air valve 73 directs compressed air from a source conduit 75 to either the far end of the cylinder 71 through a hose 77 or the end closest to the belt 19 through a hose 79. The pusher assembly 69, best shown by Figure 6, includes a pusher blade 81 that is pivotally attached to the main pusher assembly member 69. A spring 83 (or ■ 9- some other convenient standard mechansim such as counter weighting of the blade 81) is provided to bias the blade in a normal upright position. The blade 81 will depress downward, however, as a tote 67 is pushed 5 from the table surface 33 onto the rollers, as shown best in Figure 4. Once the tote 67 clears the blade 81 , the blade snaps back into position so that operation of the air cylinder 71 will cause the assembly 69 to move toward the belt 19 and thus push the tote 67 onto 10 the belt. In order to detect when an article such as the tote 67 is positioned on the rollers, an electrical switch 85 is provided affixed to the frame 65. An actuator 87 causes the switch to be operated when a 15 tote 67 or some other article has been placed on the rollers in position for subsequent ejection onto the belt 19. The position of the switch actuator 87 when a tote 67 is in such a position is shown in dotted outline in Figure 4. The state of the switch 85 20 provides necessary information for controlling the operation hereinafter with respect to Figure 7. Referring to Figure 7, several alternatives for controlling the transport system described with respect to Figures 1 through 6 will be explained. The two 5 article sensing switches and two solonoids for each of the work stations are connected to a controller 91. Those elements for the one work station that has been described as an example are schematically repre¬ sented in Figure 7; corresponding elements for every 0 other work station also exist and are connected to the controller 91. One form of the controller 91 is to provide indicators as to the state of the switches at each work station and manually actuate its switches on a control 5 panel by operation of a central control person who observes the state of the switches and perhaps has visual observation of the entire assembly procedure. Thus, when the operator receives an indication that an article was placed in the ejection location at one work station, he then looks for an available position at the temporary input surface of a work station performing the next operation on the article. The existence of a free input location at such a work station would be given by the absence of the arm switch (57 for the work station described) previously being depressed. For example, if a tote is in that input position, as it is in work stations 11 and 17 of Figure 1 , the switch is depressed and the operator knows that the sweep arm structure at those locations cannot be rotated at that time until the indicator on the control panel shows that the tote has been removed from that input position by the operator at that station. The switch 57 can also be used by a simple circuit in the controller for each work station to initiate rotation of the sweeparm structure from its article capturing position (as shown in Figures 2 and 3) to its rest position when an article is in position against the arm 39 and thus actuates the switch 57. Another alternative for the control function is to provide indicators and switches at each of the work stations. The workers can then communicate with each other, by an intercom system or otherwise to prearrange transfer of totes. No central operator would thus be required. Another alternative for the controller 91 is to include a computer control that receives the switch input and sends ' commands to the solonoids in response to the existence of predetermined conditions. Such a computer is programmed to know what functions are being performed at the various work stations and then looks for a tote on the ejecting rollers on one work station (activating the switch 85) and a free input location at (no activation of switch 57) a work station downstream that is to perform the next operation on the article. When this condition is noted and other conditions are right, the controller will automatically operate the solonoid of the first station to eject the article onto the belt and operate the solonoid for the sweeparm structure at the second downstream work station at an appropriate time to place it in the path of the article that is to be directed to that second work station. These are the same functions that can be done manually by a human operator who observes the state of the various switches and in response to those states actuates the various solonoids at the work station to accomplish the same results. The present invention has been described with respect to a particular embodiment thereof and it will be understood that the invention is entitled to pro¬ tection within the full scope of the appended claims. Many variations of this particular embodiment are possible but which still can utilize one or more aspects of the present invention. For example, the temporary storage surface 25 of the typical work station 15, and the additional storage surface 31, can be replaced by a set of rollers that decend in a direction away from the belt 19 so that any articles removed from the belt by the sweep arm structure are carried by gravity away from the belt. If this is done, an additional sensing switch is provided in connection with the rollers to detect when the input storage space provided by the rollers is filled. The switch 57 on the arm structure 27 can no longer serve that function since the articles will roll away from the arm structure 27 as soon as they are removed from the belt 19. Another alternative is to provide a means in connection with a main belt for removing an article therefrom for processing at additional work stations that are removed from the belt 19. This removal can be accomplished 1 by use of an orthogonal belt, as described with respect to Figure 8. A return belt would then also have to be added which will return the articles to a roller sending location, such as location 29 of the work station 15, for eventual ejection back onto the main belt 19 when conditions are appropriate.

Claims: Claims 1. For a transport system wherein a moving belt is provided for carrying thereon an article from at least one location there along to at least a second location there along, an improved device for removing an article from said belt at said second position, comprising: a sweep arm structure including in plan view first and second substantially straight arms joined together substantially orthogonally at a vertex, means holding said arm structure with its vertex along side but off of said belt for permitting rotation of said arm structure about said point, and means providing rotating power to said arm structure for moving it between a rest position and an article capturing position, said rest position holding said arm structure with said first arm substantially parallel to said belt and the second arm extending away therefrom, said article capturing position being with said first arm extending across said belt to capture an article in an . acute angle made by said first arm and the length of said belt, said acute angle being in excess of 45 degrees, whereby an article being carried by the belt is stopped by said first arm and slid by action of the belt therealong toward the second arm, the article then being removable from the belt by rotating said arm structure from its article capturing position to its rest position. -14- 2. The combination of Claim 1 wherein a work station exists at said second location, said sweep arm structure delivering from the belt an article to be worked upon. 5 3. The combination of Claim 1 which additionally comprises a second belt positioned substantially perpendicular to said first belt at said second location, whereby said sweep arm structure is able to remove an article from one belt onto the second belt. 10 4. The combination of Claim 1 wherein said acute angle made between the direction of movement of the belt and said first arm of the sweep arm structure when in its article capturing position is substantially within the range of 55 to 65 degrees. 15 5. The combination according to Claim 1 which additionally comprises an electrical switch carried by said one arm and positioned in a manner to be actuated upon an article carried by said belt striking said first arm when the sweep arm structure is in its 0 article capturing position. 6. The combination according to Claim 5 which additionally comprises means responsive to actuation of said electrical switch for causing said arm to operate to rotate from its article capturing position to its 5 rest position. 7. The combination according to Claim 5 which additionally comprises means responsive to actuation of said electrical switch when the sweep arm structure is in its rest position for preventing rotation of said 0 sweep arm structure. -15- 8. For a transport system wherein an elongated means moving in a direction of its length is provided for carrying thereon an article, an improved device for moving an article transversly onto said moving means at 5 a particular location along its length, comprising: sending means characterized by permitting the article to be easily slid towards said elongated moving means and substantially orthogonal thereto for positioning the 0 article to be advanced onto said moving means, a pusher adapted to advance an article from said sending means on to said moving means, said pusher extending upward from a 5 resting surface of said sending means and being pivotively mounted in a manner to be rotatable in a direction toward said moving means as an article is slid thereover but normally biased to extend upward, thereby permitting an article to be slid onto the sending means and positioned for advancement onto the moving means by said pusher, and means for moving said pusher in a direction toward and away from said moving means, whereby an article can be pushed from the sending means onto said moving means by the pusher when desired and the pusher returned to its normal rest position. 9. The combination according to Claim 8 wherein said sending means includes a plurality of rollers oriented with their axes of rotation substantially parallel to the direction of travel of said elongated moving means, whereby the article can easily be slid into position on the sending means. -16- 10. The combination according to Claim 8 wherein said sending means includes a plurality of rollers oriented with their axes of rotation substantially parallel with the direction of travel of said elongated 5 moving means, said rollers being oriented to provide a path substantially orthogonal to said elongated moving means direction of travel and intermediate of the ends of said rollers, said pusher being mounted to travel in said space between the rollers. 0 11. The combination according to Claim 10 wherein said pusher powering means includes an air driven rodless cylinder. 12. The combination according to Claim 8 which additionally comprises a sensor that detects the 5 presence of an article on said sending means, said sensor being connected to control said pusher powering means in a manner to enable operation of the pusher only when an article is in position on the sending means. 0 13. For a transport system wherein a belt moving in a direction along its length is provided for carrying thereon an article from at least one location therealong to at least a second location there along, an improved apparatus for moving an article onto and off of said 5 belt, comprising: a device located at said at least one location for moving an article onto the belt, comprising: sending means characterized by 0 permitting the article to be easily slid towards said belt and substantially orthogonal thereto for positioning the article to be advanced onto said belt. a pusher adapted to advance an article from said sending means onto said belt, said pusher extending upward from a resting surface of said sending 5 means and being pivotively mounted in a manner to be rotable in a direction toward said belt as an article is slid thereover but normally biased to extend upward, thereby permitting an article to 0 be slid onto the sending means and positioned for advancement onto the belt by said pusher, and means for moving said pusher in a direction toward and away from said 5 belt, whereby an article can be pushed from the sending means onto said belt by the pusher when desired and the pusher returned to its normal rest position; a device positioned at said at least a 0 second location for removing an article from the belt, comprising: a sweep arm structure including in plan view first and second substantially straight arms joined together substan- tially orthogonally at a vertex, means holding said arm structure with its vertex along side but off of said belt for permitting rotation of said arm structure about said point, and means providing rotating power to said arm structure for moving it between a rest position and an article capturing position, said rest position holding said arm structure with said first arm substantially parallel to said belt and -1S- the second arm extending away therefrom, said article capturing position being with said first arm extending across said belt to capture an article in an 5 acute angle made by said first arm and the length of said belt, said acute angle being in excess of 45 degrees, whereby an article being carried by the belt is stopped by said first arm and 0 slid by action of the belt there- along toward second arm, the article then being removable from the belt by rotating said arm structure from its article capturing position to its rest 5 position. 14. The combination according to Claim 13 wherein a plurality of work stations are provided along the length of said belt for performing different steps of work on articles that are transported along the belt, 0 said at least one location being at one of said work stations and said at least a second location being at another work station positioned a distance along the belt that is downstream from said at least one location. 15. The combination according to Claim 14 wherein 5 said sending means includes means for detecting a presence of the article on the sending means in position for ejection onto said belt, said sweep arm structure contains means for detecting the presence of an article abutting said one arm of the sweep arm structure, and 0 the combination additionally comprises means receiving signals from said detecting means for controlling the operation of said sweep arm structure rotating means and said pusher powering means. -1 q- 16. A transport system, comprising: a continuously moving belt, a plurality of work stations positioned along the length of said belt, each of said work stations having a work receiving area, a work completed area, and a work in process area, each of said work stations comprising: means operable when its work receiving area is vacant to remove an article from the belt as it is passing the work station, and means responsive to the existence of an article in the work completed area for pushing said article onto said belt. 17. The transport system according to Claim 16 wherein said means for removing an article from the belt comprises: a sweep arm structure including in plan view first and second substantially straight arms joined together substantially orthogonally at a vertex, means holding said arm structure with its vertex along side but off of said belt for permitting rotation of said arm structure about said point, and means providing rotating power to said arm structure for moving it between a rest position and an article capturing position, said rest position holding said arm structure with said first arm substantially parallel to said belt and the second arm extending away therefrom, said article capturing position being with said first arm extending across said belt to capture an article in an acute ^Tl£4_ OMPI l . ~ Y/IPO ^Λ'ATI angle made by said first arm and the length of said belt, said acute angle being in excess of 45 degrees, whereby an article being carried by the belt is stopped by said 5 first arm and slid by action of the belt therealong toward second arm, the article then being removable from the belt by rotating said arm structure from its article capturing position to its rest position. 0 18. The transport system accoring to Claim 16 wherein said article pushing means comprises: sending means characterized by permitting the article to be easily slid towards said belt and substantially orthogonal thereto for 5 positioning the article to be advanced onto said belt a pusher adapted to advance an article from said sending means onto said belt, said pusher extending upward from a resting 0 surface of said sending means and being pivotively mounted in a manner to be rotat- able in a direction toward said belt as an article is slid thereover but normally biased to extend upward, thereby permitting an 5 article to be slid onto the belt and positioned for advancement onto the belt by said pusher, and means for moving said pusher in a direction toward and away from said belt, 0 whereby an article can be pushed from the sending means onto said belt by the pusher when desired and the pusher returned to its normal rest position.

Inventors: MAYNES STANLEY L, WELDER WILLIAM C, MAYNES, STANLEY, L., WELDER, WILLIAM, C.
Applicants: WIEBE MFG CO, WIEBE MANUFACTURING, INC.
Application year: 1982
Main classification: B65G43
IPC codes: B23P21, B65G37, B65G43, B65G47