BATTERY LID STORAGE SYSTEM

Abstract: This invention relates to battery lid storage systems. Thus a system (24) includes a base frame (28), a safety frame (30) and a carousel arrangement (32), which supports a number of lid cassette holders (34). Each lid cassette is made up of a stack of battery lids (12) held in alignment by means of two magazine rods (72) which pass through aligned bores (15 and 17) of the terminal posts (14 and 16).

Description: Battery Lid Storage System This invention relates to the storage of battery lids during the manufacture of accumulator batteries. It is common in the industry for a battery to be made by inserting the various plates, spacers etc. in a battery box, making the various interconnections between the cells, and then attaching to the top of the battery box, by heat sealing, a battery lid which has part-formed posts thereon which will form the terminals of the battery when complete. With the arrival of automated manufacturing systems such as that disclosed in our co-pending P.C.T. Application No. PCT/GB89/00085 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, it is necessary to be able to load, and unload, battery lids from the heat sealing machine as quickly as possible to maximise the output of the heat sealing machine. There is also a need for a stacking system which, allows the battery lids to be stacked in readinesss for insertion into a heat sealing machine-or other processing apparatus and which allows rapid changeover of stacks of lids of different sizes. Broadly stated, in one aspect the invention consists in a stack of battery lids, comprising a plurality of battery lids of similar form, each including an aperture therein, and an elongate member extending through each said aperture of said plurality of lids to maintain said lids in alignment. Preferably, each of said battery lids includes two apertures and the stack includes two elongate members which extend through respective ones of said apertures. Preferably, each battery lid includes two part-formed battery posts, each having a bore which defines a respective one of said apertures. Depending on the particular construction of the battery, the lid may also include a plurality of filling holes. Preferably, the or each elongate member is provided at one end with stop means for preventing passage of a battery lid. For storage and carrying purposes, the or each elongate member may be provided with releasable stop means at the other end thereof. Broadly stated, according to another aspect, the invention consists in storage apparatus for storing a stack of battery lids (as hereinbefore defined) , comprising a housing for supporting said stack, said housing including connection means for releasably connecting the or each elongate member to said housing. Preferably said housing includes release means or similar for locating and subsequently releasing successive battery lids from the bottom of a stack thereof; the release means may be in the form of the fingers illustrated - 3 - in our P.C.T. Application No. PCT/GB89/00085. , Conveniently, a trolley means is provided below said housing for receiving lids released therefrom. The trolley may be movable laterally of'the stack to deliver the lids to a further operation station. When generally beneath the stack, the trolley is preferably movable longitudinally with respect to the stack to and from a lid receiving position. Camming means are preferably engageable with said trolley for' causing said release means to release a battery lid onto said trolley as it moves towards the lid receiving position. Preferably, the housing includes guide means for guiding battery lids towards said release means. The connection means for connecting the or each elongate member to the housing preferably comprises releasable engagement means for releasably engaging the upper end of the or each elongate member. The releasable engagement means may comprise a spring biased latch plate having a respective abutment portion, e.g. a slot or similar, for engaging the upper end of the or each elongate member. Where the storage apparatus is to be used in conjunction with a machine which operates on two battery boxes simultaneously, the housing may be configured to support two stacks of lids side by side. Advantageously, a plurality of housings may be releasably secured to a rotatable carousel means, and• said storage apparatus may include indexing means for indexing said carousel means to bring successive housings to an operating station. Preferably, the storage apparatus includes location means for engaging and locating each of said housings in a preset location with respect to said trolley when it is at said operating station. Said location means may include peg means and a locating plate means defining a' complimentarily shaped aperture, with one of said peg means and plate means being provided on said housing and the other being provided on a fixed structure adjacent said carousel means, there being means to effect relative engagement movement of said peg means and said plate means when said housing is at said operating station. Advantageously, said housing is pivotally supported on said carousel means for movement between an operating position, e.g. maintaining the longitudinal axis of the stack of battery lids generally vertical, and a loading position. This pivotal movement preferably occurs about a generally horizontal pivotal axis. The housing may include two generally parallel locating rod means, one of which is supported by a support member on said carousel means to define said horizontal pivotal axis, and the other being releasably connectable to a spaced support means on said carousel means by means of a movable lock member. The lock member is conveniently capable of acting as a prop to prop said housing in its loading position. Where the storage apparatus includes a carousel means, it is preferred for the apparatus to include safety cage means for preventing access to said carousel means during operation thereof. Preferably, said safety cage means includes one or more sections openable adjacent a loading station to allow a stack of lids to be loaded. .In one arrangement, the safety cage means includes a part- cylindrical wall and a lower, end wall and a portion of said end wall is hingeable to allow access to the lower end of said housing when the housing is pivoted to its loading position. Although the invention has been defined above, it is to be understood that it includes any inventive combination of the features set out above or in the following description. The invention may be performed in various ways and a specific embodiment will now be described, by ' way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a lid sealing apparatus including a carousel lid storage system, with some parts removed for clarity; Figure 2 is a general perspective view of an accumulator battery; Figure 3 is a section view of the battery lid of the battery of Figure 2, taken on the transverse plane defined by the axes of the terminal posts; Figure 4 is a side view of a magazine rod for forming a stack of lids of the type shown in Figure 3; Figure 5 is a side view of a lid cassette holder used in the carousel lid storage system of Figure 1 ; Figure 6 is a end view of the lid cassette holder illustrated in Figure 5; Figure 7 is a detailed view of the attachment of the lid cassette holder of Figures 5 and 6 to the carousel member of the system of Figure 1 ; Figure 8 is a side view of the lid delivery trolley when in a collapsed position; Figure 9 is a side view of the lid delivery trolley when in a raised position, and Figure 10 is a top plan view of the safety cage for the carousel lid storage system of Figure 4. Referring initially to Figure 1 , there is illustrated a lid sealing apparatus of the general type disclosed in our co-pending P.C.T. Application No. PCT/GB89/00085, but with a carousel lid storage system and further modifications as to be described below. The lid sealing apparatus is designed for the manufacture of batteries of the type shown in Figure 2, in which a battery lid 10 is heat sealed to a battery box 12. The battery lid 10 is principally of moulded plastics material but includes two cast hollow terminal posts 14 and 16 each including a respective internal bore 15 and 17. The lid also may include a series of filling holes 18. Before assembly to the battery box 12, the battery lid 10 has the general form as shown in Figure 3. The lid sealing apparatus includes a box delivery system generally indicated at 20, a heat sealing system generally indicated at 22, a lid storage system 24, and a trolley arrangement 26 for 'moving lids delivered from the lid storage system 24 to the heat sealing system 22. The construction and operation of the box delivery system and heat sealing system are generally as described in our P.C.T. Application No. PCT/GB89/00085 and will not be described in detail here. The lid storage system 24 includes a base frame 28, a safety cage 30, and a carousel arrangement 32. The carousel arrangement 32 removably supports a number of lid cassette holders 34. For clarity, in Figures 1 and 7, the carousel arrangement is shown as being capable of supporting two lid cassette holders; in practice, the carousel arrangement may be, capable of supporting four, or possibly more, lid.cassette holders. The carousel arrangement comprises a hub assembly 36 which is rotatably mounted about a vertical shaft 38. Referring to Figure 7, the hub assembly comprises an upper plate 40 having a pair of diametrically opposed, parallel channels 42 of semi-circular section, each for receiving an upper bearing rod 44 of an associated lid cassette holder 34. Half way along each channel 42 there is provided a pip 46 which locates in a circumferential groove 47 in the upper bearing rod 44 of the associated lid cassette holder. A clamping arrangement is associated with each channel 42, comprising a clamp plate 48, a reaction pad 50, twin spaced pips 52 and a knurled clamping bolt 54. The pips 52 are located one to either side of the pip 46. A lower plate 56 is supported beneath the upper plate 40 by a collar 58. The lower plate includes a pair of diametrically opposed, parallel, open sided channels 60 which are disposed parallel to and vertically, below the channels 42 in the upper plate. An L-shaped lock member 62 is associated with each channel 60 and is pivotable between the position shown in the left hand side of Figure 7 and that shown in the right hand side by a pivotal arm 64. The channel 60 is designed to receive the lower support rod 66 of a lid cassette holder 34. When in the position shown in the left hand side of Figure 7, the locking plate 62 may act as a prop for the lower supporting rod 66 to support the lid cassette holder in a tilted, loading position. Referring now to Figures 4,5 and 6, each lid cassette holder 34 defines two"reservoirs 68,70 each for receiving a lid cassette. Each lid cassette is made up of a stack of battery lids 12 held in alignment by means of two magazine rods 72 of the form shown in Figure 4, which pass through the aligned bores 15 and 17 of the terminal posts 14 and 16. Each magazine rod 72 comprises a washer 74 welded to the upper end thereof and a sleeve 76 held against the washer by means of a clip 78. At the lower end of each magazine rod 72 there is provided a transverse bore 79 for receiving a movable clip 80. This arrangement makes to possible to assemble stacks of battery lids of similar form ready for insertion into the machine of Figure 1. Also , by using this regular stacking arrangement, it may be possible to reduce the storage space necessary. Turning again to Figures 5 and 6, each reservoir 68 and 70 includes four vertical corner guide elements 82 of angle section. The lower end of each corner element 82 is flared outwards as shown at 84. At the top of each reservoir 68,70, there is -provided a L-shaped latch plate 68 which is hinged at 88 to two of the corner elements 82. At its free end, each latch plate 86 includes an upturned lip 89 together with two open-ended slots 90. The spacing of the slots 90 on each latch plate 80 matches the spacing of the terminal posts 14 and 16 (and thus the magazine rods 72) of the lid cassette to be received in the lid cassette holder. The latch plate 86 is biased towards the position shown in Figure 6 by means of a spring 92. To load a reservoir 68 or 70, a stack of lids aligned by the magazine rods 72 and together forming a lid cassette is slid into the reservoir via its lower end until the washers 74 at the upper ends of the magazine rods 72 contact the locking plate 86. Further upward motion of the magazine rods 72 causes the locking plate 86 to deflect in a clockwise direction as seen in Figure 6 until the washers can pass the plate 86. The spring 92 then causes the locking plate 86 to flip back so that the walls of the slots 90 engage the sleeves 76 of the magazine rods and the rods are releasably engaged. The reservoirs 68 and 70 are held side-by-side by means of tie bars 94 and lower support brackets 96 provided one to either side of the lid cassette holder 34. Between the right hand ends of the lower support brackets 96 (as viewed in Figure 5) support between them an upper bearing rod 44 and a lower support rod 66 for connection to the carousel hub assembly 36 as discussed above. Each lower support bracket 96 also mounts a rotatable pick-up finger shaft 98 in bearing plates 100. Each pick-up finger shaft includes two spaced pairs of fingers 102 (one pair per reservoir), and a cam element 104. Each cam element biased by means of a spring 106 to urge the fingers 102 on opposed sides of the reservoir towards each other to restrain the bottom-most battery lid 10 of the lid cassette. The lid cassette holders 34 mounted on the carousel arrangement 32 may be indexed to a lid delivery position by an indexing mechanism 101 shown schematically in Figure 1. In Figure 1 , the single lid cassette holder is in the lid receiving position. Each lid cassette holder includes at its radially outer end a locating plate 103 defining a circular aperture. A complementarily shaped peg 105 is ' provided on the machine structure adjacent the lid delivery position and movable into engagement with the locating plate 103 securely to lock the lid cassette holder in its lid delivery position. When in this lid delivery position, the cam element 104 co-operates with a cam bar 108 which is slidably mounted on a fixed structural member (not shown) for movement in a vertical plane. When in its uppermost position, the cam bar engages the cam elements 104 and rotates them in opposite directions to urge the fingers 102 apart to release the bottom-most battery lid 10 of the lid cassette. Raising and lowering of the cam bar 108 is done by the trolley arrangement 26, as to be described below. Referring now to Figures 8 and 9, the trolley arrangement 26 includes a trolley 110 which carries on its upper surface a jig (not shown) configured to receive the battery lids. The trolley is suppported on parallel tubular guides 112 (one of which is shown) for movement between a position directly below the reservoirs 68 and 70, for receiving lids released therefrom, and a position adjacent the heat sealing system. The trolley 110 is made up of a base plate 114 connected to an intermediate frame 116 by means of parallel links 118, the intermediate frame supporting an upper frame 120 by means of parallel links 122. The intermediate and upper frames 116,120 are provided with a respective cam roller 124 and 126 respectively at opposite ends. As the trolley moves towards its lid receiving position, the intermediate roller 124 engages a generally C-shaped cam bracket 128 secured to the base frame 28 of the id storage system. When the trolley 110 approaches its lid receiving position, the upper and intermediate frames 120 and 116 are lifted as one towards the lower end of the reservoirs 68 and 70, as the roller 124 rides up the cam bracket 128. During this movement, the right hand end of the upper frame as viewed in Figure 9 engages and pushes up the cam bar 108. thus rotating the cam elements 104 to cause the fingers 102 to release the bottom-most battery lids of the stacks onto the jig (not shown) onto the trolley. .. ' hen the trolley moves away from its lid - receiving position, the upper and intermediate frames are lowered out of engagement with the cam bar 108. A further cam bracket (not shown) of similar form to cam bracket 128 is provided at the opposite end of the trolley run so that as the trolley approaches its heat sealing position the upper frame 120 is lifted away from the intermediate and lower frames to present the battery lids to the heat sealing system 22. It will be noted that, in contrast with the arrangement- disclosed in our earlier P.C.T. Application No. PCT/GB89/00085, the lid cassette holders 34 remain fixed vertically and the trolley raises and lowers to pick up the battery lids 10. Referring now to Figure 10, the safety cage 30 surrounding the lid storage system comprises a generally cylindrical wall 130 having a vertically hinged door 132 - - and a floor 134 having a horizontally hinged trapdoor 136. The safety cage is provided with catches 138 for holding the door 132 and trapdoor 136 in their closed positions. The door 132 and trapdoor 136 are disposed adjacent a lid cassette loading station of the carousel. A loading cycle will now be described. A lid cassette holder 34 of appropriate configuration is secured on the carousel hub assembly 36 by placing the upper bearing rod 34 of the lid cassette holder in the channel 42 with the pip 46 locating in the circumferential groove 47 of the upper bearing rod. The bearing rod is clamped in this position by tightening the clamp plate 48 using the clamping bolt 54. The lid cassette holder is capable of pivoting about-the upper bearing rod 44. For loading the reservoirs 68 and 70 with lid cassettes, the lid cassette holder is tilted with respect to the vertical and propped in this position by the outer end of the L-shaped lock member 62. The fingers 102 are then deflected apart by means of a suitable tool (not shown) . A pre-assemhled lid cassette comprising a stack of cassettes aligned by means of magazine rods 72 is then slid into the selected reservoir 68 or 70 and releasably supported therein by co-operation of theheads of the magazine rods 72 with the latch plate 86 at the top of the reservoir. The other reservoir is loaded with a lid cassette in a similar way. The fingers 102 are then released to return to their • * - 15 - retaining position and the clips 80 at the lower end of each of the magazine rods 72 are released to allow the stacks to move downwardly until the bottom-most battery lid engages the fingers 102. The lid cassette holder is then tilted slightly to allow the L-shaped plate 62 to be lifted and the cassette holder 34 is then returned and locked in a vertical position by means of the L-shaped plate 62. In due course, the carousel arrangement is indexed so that the lid cassette holder 34 is moved to the lid delivery position . The location peg 105 on the frame structure is then extended to engage the locking aperture in the locating plate 103 on the lid cassette holder so that the lid cassette holder is held in a precise reference position with respect to the trolley arrangement. A major advantage of this arrangement is that the lid storage system is capable of handling many different configurations of battery lid without requiring resetting of limit switches, cam surfaces etc. In a typical applicationtherefore, several different lid cassette holders 34 of different configurations will be provided, each having different spacing of the magazine rods 72, different cross-sectional shape of the reservoirs etc., with pre-set finger spacing, but which have a common interface with the carousel member and the cam bar 108. Thus the arrangement allows both the quick loading and unloading of battery lids of a given shape into and out of the lid cassette holder. Also, the apparatus may be rapidly changed to deal with battery lids of a different configuration.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A stack of battery lids, comprising a plurality of lids of similar form, each including an aperture therein, and an elongate member extending through each aperture of the plurality of lids to maintain the lids in a stack. 2. A stack as claimed in Claim 1 wherein each of the lids includes at least two apertures and wherein the stack includes an elongate member for each set of -apertures to extend therethrough to maintain the lids in alignment. 3. A stack as claimed in Claim 2 wherein each lid has two part-formed battery ports, each having a bore which defines a respective one of the apertures. 4. A stack as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the or each elongate member is provided at one end with stop means for preventing passage of a battery lid. 5. A stack as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the or each elongate member is provided with releasable stop means at the other end thereof. 6. Storage apparatus for storing a stack of battery lids as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising a housing for supporting the stack, the housing including connection means for releasably connecting the or each elongate member to the housing. 7. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 - 1 * - further including release means for locating and subsequently releasing successive battery lids from the bottom of the stack of lids. 8. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 7 further comprising trolley means for receiving the released lids and for delivering them to a further operation station. 9. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 8 further including means for moving the trolley • longitudinally, with respect to the stack, to and from a lid receiving position. 10. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 9 further comprising activating means for operating the release means in response to movement of the trolley into the lid receiving position. 11. Storage apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 7 to 10 wherein the housing includes guide means for guiding the battery lids towards the release means. 12. Storage apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 6 to 11 wherein the connection means comprises releasable engagement means for engaging one end of the or each elongate member. 13. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 12 wherein the releasable engagement means comprises a biased latch plate having a respective abutment portion for engaging the upper end of the or each elongate member. BKCD/MP - 17 - - 11 - 14. Storage apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 6 to 13 comprising a plurality of housings. 15. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 14 wherein the housings are releasably secured to a rotatable carousel means and index means for indexing the carousel means to being successive housings to an operating station. 16. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 15 further including location means for engaging and locating successive housings in a preset location with respect to the trolley when it is at said operating station. 17. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 16 wherein the location means includes peg means and locating means defining a complimentarily shaped aperture, one of the peg means and the locating means being provided in said housing and the other being provided on a fixed structure adjacent the carousel means, the apparatus further including means to effect relative engagement movement of the peg means and the locating means when a housing is at the operating station. 18. Storage apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 6 to 17 wherein the housing is pivotally supported for movement between an operating position and a loading position. 19. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 8 wherein the housing includes two generally parallel locating rod means, one of which is supported to define the pivot axis and other of which is releasably connectable to the apparatus by means of a movable lock member. 20. Storage apparatus as claimed in Claim 19 wherein the lock member is configured to prop said housing in its loading position. 21. Storage apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 18 to 20 further including a safety cage having an openable portion to allow access to the housing when the housing is pivoted to its loading position.

Inventors: HOPWOOD ROBERT TIMOTHY, HOPWOOD, ROBERT, TIMOTHY
Applicants: DRG UK LTD, DRG (UK) LIMITED
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B65G59
IPC codes: B29C65, B65G59, H01M2