Winding apparatus

Abstract: A winding apparatus capable of improving productivity is provided. The wire winding apparatus of the present invention includes a plurality of sets of winding means each comprising a nozzle unit (35, 36) and a guide unit (59-62), and a plurality of holding means (74, 75) for holding respective ones of a plurality of bobbins in a predetermined posture so that the bobbins are wound with wires parallelly and simultaneously. Further, the nozzle units and the guide units of the plurality of winding means are arranged on the same guide rails (31, 32) and the supply and winding of the wires are synchronized with the rotation of the holding means (74, 75). Moreover, each of the bobbins (14) used in the winding apparatus is substantially funnel-shaped with the formation of a tapered outer peripheral surface having a projection so that the holding means (74, 75) can securely hold the bobbin while positioning the bobbin through this projection. The winding apparatus of the present invention is suitable for obtaining a saddlelike coil by winding a wire on a deflection yoke bobbin.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a winding apparatus and more particularly to apparatus of the type that winds a wire from a wire supply source around a bobbin using a nozzle unit and a guide unit. The apparatus is suitable for obtaining a saddlelike coil around a bobbin of a deflection yoke. A television receiver has a deflection yoke coil attached to the neck portion of the CRT (cathode ray tube) thereof. The deflection yoke coil comprises a saddlelike coil (that is, a coil having a shape like a saddle) formed of an insulating enamel-coated wire wound around a synthetic resin bobbin. In order to wind such a saddlelike coil to form a deflection yoke coil, conventional winding apparatus has been so constructed that the wire is wound along a winding groove inside the bobbin. This is achieved by a combination of a movement of a nozzle unit for guiding the wire in the direction of the axis of the bobbin and a movement of a guide for guiding the wire in the radial direction of the bobbin while rotating the bobbin, thereby forming a horizontal deflection yoke coil. The terminating end of the wire wound around the winding groove of the bobbin is hooked by a hooking pin embedded in the outer peripheral surface of the bobbin. EP-A-0 596 628 describes this type of coil-winding apparatus. In the winding apparatus for manufacturing such a conventional deflecting yoke coil, the winding of the wire around the bobbin is performed by a single spindle operation. Accordingly, when it is desired to increase productivity, it is necessary to provide a plurality of units of such apparatus. This results in an increase in the initial cost and gives rise to the problem of worsened efficiency in the usage of space. EP-A-0 510 226 describes apparatus for winding cylindrical coils for electrical or electronic apparatus. In this coil-winding apparatus, plural coils are wound simultaneously, through the use of plural flyers movable along the z-direction, and plural holding means movable along the x and y directions. The plural flyers are mounted on a common bar and the plural holding means are mounted on a common block. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve such problems and an object of the present invention is to provide a winding apparatus which is capable of obtaining productivity several times that of the conventional winding apparatus without using additional units of the apparatus. For achieving the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a winding apparatus of the type in which a wire paid out from a wire supply source is wound around a bobbin using a nozzle unit and a guide unit, the winding apparatus comprising: winding means comprising a nozzle unit and a guide unit and adapted to wind wires from a wire supply source on a bobbin; holding means corresponding to said winding means, and adapted to hold said bobbin in a predetermined posture; characterized in that a plurality of sets of winding means are provided, and a plurality of sets of holding means are provided each corresponding to a respective one of said sets of winding means, whereby to enable simultaneous winding of a plurality of bobbins in parallel with each other; and the nozzle units and the guide units of said winding means are arranged on the same guide rails such that said nozzle units are arranged on the side of the center of each of said bobbins and each of said guide units is arranged on the side of the outer periphery of each of said bobbins, whereby, in use, each wire is supplied by a respective nozzle and the supplied wire is held in engagement with a corresponding guide unit thereby to wind said wire on said each bobbin. For example, in order to wind wires from a wire supply source around the plurality of bobbins using the plurality of nozzle units, the winding apparatus provided with the plurality of guide units for guiding the wires and the plurality of holding means each provided with a wire clamping mechanism may, if required, be additionally provided with a wire hooking mechanism. Thereby the plurality of bobbins are wound with respective wires by the cooperative operation of the nozzles of the nozzle units, the wire clamping mechanisms and the holding means. Preferably, each of the winding means comprises a nozzle unit and a guide unit both of which are attached to respective drive units, the nozzle unit and the guide unit are arranged forward and rearward, respectively, and the supply and winding of the wires are performed in synchronism with the rotation of holding means for holding the bobbins, to thereby wind the wires around the bobbins simultaneously. According to a further aspect thereof, the present invention concerns a winding apparatus characterized in that the apparatus is provided with a pair of winding means each comprising a nozzle unit and a guide unit such that the nozzle units of the pair of winding means are supported, on a first movable body capable of coming close to, and retreating away from, the bobbins, in bilateral symmetry with respect to the moving direction of that body and the guide units of the pair of winding means are supported, on a second movable body capable of coming close to, and retreating away from, the bobbins, in bilateral symmetry with respect to the moving direction of the second body. According to said further aspect of the invention, the above-mentioned first and second movable bodies may be guided by common guide means so as to come close to, and retreat away from, each of the bobbins. According to a yet further aspect, the invention concerns a winding apparatus characterized in that the apparatus is provided with transfer means for carrying each of the bobbins to the above-mentioned holding means prior to winding and carrying it away from the holding means after winding. Preferably, the bobbins are supplied by a conveyer and are carried to their respective holding means by means of a robot and the rotation of the bobbins at the time of winding is effected by a single actuator. Further, the supply of wires is performed by synchronizing the plurality of nozzle units with the plurality of guide units thereby winding the wires around the plurality of bobbins and the wire-wound bobbins may be carried away to the conveyer. According to a still further aspect, the present invention concerns a winding apparatus characterized in that the above-mentioned transfer means clamps each of the bobbins by its chuck, carries the clamped bobbin to the holding means and afterwards carries away the wire-wound bobbin. According to a yet further aspect, the present invention concerns a winding apparatus characterized in that each of the bobbins is substantially funnel-shaped with the formation of a tapered outer peripheral surface having a projection and the holding means holds the bobbin by means of the projection. In this case, there may be provided a concave receiving jig for receiving the projection on the funnel-shaped tapered outer peripheral surface of the bobbin, and a bowlike holding jig for receiving the circular portion of the neck of the bobbin may be provided so as to maintain the bobbin holding accuracy. In the mechanism for carrying the workpiece (i.e. bobbin) to the wire winding section from the wire supply section and for discharging the bobbin from the wire winding section, a parallel chuck claw section for holding the projection on the bobbin may be made concave so that the bobbin is carried between the bobbin winding section and the bobbin discharging section. To enable such an operation to be performed, accuracy in bobbin holding may be achieved by the provision of the projection on the outer peripheral surface of the funnel-shaped bobbin. The winding apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a plurality of winding means each comprising a nozzle unit for winding and means for hooking the wire being supplied by clamping so that the wires from all the nozzle units are parallelly wound around the bobbins supplied to a plurality of bobbin holding means. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the entire structure of a winding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a basic portion of the winding apparatus of Fig. 1 showing particularly a nozzle unit and a guide unit forming part of the winding apparatus; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of another basic portion of the winding apparatus of Fig. 1 showing particularly how bobbin transfer means of the apparatus is constructed; Fig. 4 is a front view of a mechanism for holding a bobbin by means of a pallet; Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a relationship between a projection on the bobbin and a work receiving section of the pallet; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a parallel chuck; Fig. 7 is a front view of a mechanism for holding the projection on the bobbin by the parallel chuck; Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the bobbin; Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view of the bobbin to illustrate how a wire is wound around the bobbin; Fig. 10 is another vertical sectional view of the bobbin to illustrate how the wire is wound around the bobbin; Fig. 11 is an illustration of a wire winding operation according to the present invention; Fig. 12 is a block diagram of a control system suitable for the winding apparatus according to the Fig. 1 embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 13 is a plan view of a modification of the bobbin transfer device of Fig. 3; and Fig. 14 is an illustration of how a wire-wound bobbin is discharged. PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION One embodiment of a winding apparatus according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the entire structure of the winding apparatus provided with a plurality of winding units will be described by referring to Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 shows the entire structure of the winding apparatus for winding a coil for a deflection yoke of a CRT (cathode ray tube). The characteristic of this winding apparatus resides in that wires are wound around a plurality of workpieces (yokes) parallelly and simultaneously. A plurality of tensioners 26, 27 are provided for supplying wires under tension. The wires are supplied to a pair of nozzle units 35, 36, respectively. Further, as shown in Fig. 2, the winding apparatus further includes a motor 48, a pulley, a power transmission belt, wire clampers 52, 53 and actuators 54, 55 for opening and closing the wire clampers 52, 53, respectively. The nozzle units 35, 36 are mounted on a block 41 movable in the direction of the vertical axis Z and by the operation of an actuator 44 mounted on a table 40, the pair of the nozzle units 35, 36 move upward. The block 41 which supports the nozzle units 35, 36 while allowing them to move vertically is itself mounted on the table 40. Table 40 is movable forward and rearward, that is, along the X-axis. In order to wind the wires 10 supplied by the pair of nozzle units 35, 36, in cooperation with the latter, there are provided four guide units 59, 60, 61 and 62. That is, in Fig. 2, there are provided upper and lower guide units 59, 61 corresponding to the leftside nozzle unit 35 and there are also provided upper and lower guide units 60, 62 corresponding to the rightside nozzle unit 36. The guide units 59, 60 and 61, 62 are so supported that they can move upward in the direction of the Z-axis by the operation of an actuator 70 through a feed screw 69. Further, an actuator 67 is mounted at the back of a table 66 so that the guide units are made movable forward and rearward by an actuator 68 through use of a feed screw 69. Also, by the operation of the actuator 70, the guide units 59, 60, 61, 62 move vertically, that is, in the direction of the Z-axis. The table 40 on which the nozzle units 35, 36 are supported and the table 66 which supports the guide units 59, 60, 61, 62 are slidably supported on a pair of substantially parallel guide rails 31, 32, respectively, whereby the forward and rearward displacements of the guide units 59, 60, 61, 62 by the actuator 68 and the forward and rearward movements of the nozzle units 35, 36 are made along the same straight line. As will be clear from Figs. 1 and 2, the pair of nozzle units 35, 36 forming two winding means, respectively, are movably supported on a movable body comprising the table 40 movable by the pair of guide rails 31, 32. In this case, the nozzle units 35, 36 are supported, on a support member erected at an intermediate position between the guide rails 31, 32, symmetrically with each other. With such a structure, the nozzle units 35, 36 are rendered movable by a common actuator 42 and have the same level of rigidity. Further, the guide units 59, 61 on the first winding means side and the guide units 60, 62 on the second winding means side are supported on the table 66 movable on the guide rails 31, 32 with the guide units 59, 60 being supported symmetrically and the guide units 61, 62 being supported symmetrically. Accordingly, the guide units 59, 60 have the same level of rigidity and the guide units 61, 62 have the same level of rigidity. Further, it becomes possible to move the four guide units 59 to 62 by use of a common motor 68. Thus, it becomes possible with this structure to equalise the quality of windings made on workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75 (to be described later). As shown in Fig. 1, at the winding positions in front of the nozzle units 35, 36 and the guide units 59, 60, 61, 62, there are arranged the above-mentioned workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75, respectively. These workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75 are provided with actuators 78 by the operations of which the pedestals 74, 75 are rotated to allow the wires 10 to be wound. Next, a conveyer 89 for supplying bobbins to the winding apparatus and a mechanism relating thereto will be described. As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, in front of the winding apparatus the conveyer 89 extends in the lateral direction. By means of this conveyer 89, pallets 90, 91 for carrying bobbins are moved. As shown in Fig. 3, the pallets 90, 91 are each provided with concave workpiece-receivers 92, 93 (see Figs. 4 and 5) and a rounded guide 95 for receiving the neck portion of the bobbin. That is, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, a projection 22 of the bobbin is received into a recess of the receiver 93 of the pallet 90 so that the bobbin 14 is properly positioned. In particular, it becomes possible to properly position the bobbin 14 not only in the direction of its height but also in the rotational position thereof. Further, there are provided a pair of orthogonal robots 83 for moving the bobbins to their winding positions by removing them from the pallets 90, 91. Each of these robots 83 is formed of a rodless cylinder so as to carry the bobbins to the pair of work-receiving pedestals 74, 75 shown in Fig. 1 and, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, is provided with a parallel chuck 84 having at the ends thereof respective concave workpiece-receiving sections 85, 86. Thus, the bobbins are carried to and fro between the pallets 90, 91 and the workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75. Note that in Fig. 1, the carrying mechanism corresponding to the pedestal 75 is omitted. Next, the bobbin 14 around which a deflection yoke coil is to be wound by the above-mentioned winding apparatus will be described by referring to Fig. 8. The bobbin 14 is funnel-shaped having a large opening 15 at its upper portion, and a smaller opening 16 (see Fig. 9) at its lower portion. (It is to be understood that the terms "upper" and "lower" relate to the bobbin orientation shown in Fig. 8). The upper opening 15 is provided at the outer periphery thereof with an engaging claw 17 while the lower opening 16 is provided at the outer periphery thereof with an engaging claw 18. Further, on the outer peripheral surface of the bobbin 14 there is formed a peripheral groove 19 and at the base portion of the engaging claw 18 there is formed another peripheral groove 20. Still further, the bobbin 14 is provided on the inner peripheral surface thereof with a winding groove 21. Furthermore, the bobbin 14 is provided below the collar of the funnel-shaped portion with a plurality of projections 22 shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Two such bobbins can be carried to the work-receiving pedestals 74, 75 of the wire winding section and can be held by the work-receiving sections 85, 86 of the pallets 90, 91. Next, an example of a control system for the above-mentioned winding apparatus will be described by referring to Fig. 12. This control system is provided with a sequencer 100 and a controller 101 formed of a numerical value controller. Further, to the input side of the sequencer 100, there are connected a start/stop switch 103, a zero-point return switch 104, a reset switch 105, an emergency stop switch 106 and a workpiece chuck ON/OFF switch 107. On the other hand, controlled by the controller 101, there are: the actuator 42 for moving the nozzle unit forward and rearward, the actuator 44 for elevating the nozzle unit, the motor 48 for rotating the nozzle unit, the actuator 68 for moving the guide unit forward and rearward, the actuator 70 for elevating the guide unit and the motor 78 for rotating each bobbin. These actuators 42, 44, 48, 68, 70 and 78 are provided with respective encoders, and the output of each of these encoders is fed back to the controller 101. The orthogonal robots 83 and the parallel chuck 84 are directly controlled by the sequencer 100 without the intermediary of the controller 101. In particular, the winding operation in the above-described control system is performed by a combination of the six actuators 42, 44, 48, 68, 70 and 78 connected to the controller 101. By way of contrast, the orthogonal robots 83 and the parallel chuck 84 perform bobbin supplying and discharging operations. Next, the operation of the winding apparatus will be described. Wires 10 are supplied from wire bobbins (not shown). The wires 10 are applied with a proper tensile force by tensioners 26, 27, pass through the housings of the nozzle units 35, 36 and are held by the tip ends of the nozzles through the nozzle bodies, thereby completing the preparation for winding of the wires 10. The supply of the bobbins 14 is performed such that the projection 22 of each bobbin 14 (see Fig. 4) carried by the conveyer 89 and held by the concave bobbin-receivers 92, 93 of the pallet 90 is clamped by the concave bobbin-receivers 85, 86 of the parallel chuck 84 and at the same time, the collar of the bobbin 14 is pressed by springs 87 fixed to the bobbin mounting section (see Figs, 6 and 7). Next, the parallel chuck 84 moves up, then moves horizontally toward the bobbin-receiving pedestals 74, 75 and at a predetermined position, moves downward. Then, the parallel chuck 84 assumes a standby posture while it clamps the bobbin 14 at the work transfer position of the workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75. Then, the chuck (not shown) provided at the workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75 moves forward by the operation of the actuator 78 and holds the projection 22 of the bobbin 14 held by the bobbin receiver 85 of the parallel chuck 84 as shown in Fig. 7. At this point, the parallel chuck 84 moves the workpiece-receivers 85, 86 backward to release the bobbin 14 therefrom. After that, the parallel chuck 84 moves up and waits at its assigned position until the winding of the wire around the bobbin 14 is complete. Next, nozzle units 35, 36 have the tip ends of the wires clamped by the guide units 59, 60, respectively, and the wires 10 are advanced to the wire holding sections of the workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75 to thereby hold the terminating ends of the wires 10. The nozzle units 35, 36 have the tip ends thereof rotated by the actuator 48 shown in Fig. 2 and by the cooperative movements with the rotations of the bobbin-receiving pedestals 74, 75 effected by the actuator 78, a rotating drive pulley 79 and a belt, the wire is wound around the funnel-shaped section of the bobbin 14. After that, the nozzles 35, 36 are moved down within the respective bobbins 14 and lead the wires down to the necks of the bobbins. The winding of the wires at the necks of the bobbins is performed in such a manner that the lower guide units 61, 62 move forward to hold the respective wires and the wires are wound at the necks of the bobbins 14 by cooperative operations of the nozzles 35, 36, the workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75 and the guide units 61, 62. To describe the invention in more detail, each of the wires 10 having its terminating end hooked by a pin is wound around the winding groove 21 of a bobbin 14 as shown in Fig. 9. After that, the nozzle 35 is moved to the center of the upper opening 15 of the bobbin as shown in Fig. 9 and then moved downward as shown in Fig. 10 so that the wire 10 is wound along the curved winding groove 21 of the bobbin 14. Then, when the wire 10 reaches the lower opening 16, it is hooked by a guide tip of the lower guide unit 61 and is wound along a peripheral groove 20 formed on the outer side of the lower opening 16. In this case, the workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75 are rotated by an angle corresponding to the winding angle so that the bobbin 14 is rotated by a predetermined angle. At a predetermined circumferential position, the wire 10 is released by the lower guide unit 61 whereupon the nozzle 35 moves upward. As shown in Fig. 9, the wire 10 is then hooked around the upper guide unit 59 so as to wind the wire 10 by a predetermined angle along the peripheral groove 19 outside the upper opening 15 in cooperation with the rotation of the bobbin 14 following the rotation of the workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75. Then, at a predetermined angular position, the guide tip of the guide unit 59 releases the wire 10 again and the nozzle 35 moves down along the Z-axis. Such operation is conceptually shown in Fig. 11. Thus, by repeating this operation by a predetermined number of times, the wire 10 is wound along the winding groove 21 inside the bobbin 14 to thereby form a saddlelike coil. Upon completion of winding of the wire 10 with respect to the bobbin 14, the parallel chuck 84 which has been waiting at an assigned position above the winding position moves down and the workpiece-receivers 85, 86 move forward and upward while clamping the bobbin 14 therebetween and then carry the bobbin to the pallet 90. It is noted that since the above-described operation is performed with respect to two bobbins 14 supplied to the pair of workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75, two winding operations are performed parallelly. Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 13 and 14. This embodiment enables the supply and discharge of the bobbins 14 to be performed by using a slide table 111 and a placing plate 112 instead of conveyers. On the slide table 111 there are placed a pair of bobbins 14 so as to correspond to the workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75 and these bobbins 14 are supplied by the orthogonal robot 83. After that, the slide table 111 and the placing table 112 are moved from the position shown in Fig. 13 to the position shown in Fig. 14 and in this state, wire-wound bobbins 115 are transferred to the slide table 111 from the work-receiving pedestals 74, 75 by means of the orthogonal robot 83. These bobbins 115 are then manually placed on the placing table 112 by the operator. With the above structure, if the wire-wound bobbins 115 are transferred from the slide table 111 to placing table 112 during the winding operation at the workpiece-receiving pedestals 74, 75 while empty bobbins 14 are placed on the slide table 111, it is possible to exchange the bobbins without any loss of time and to perform the supply and discharge of the bobbins without using a conveyer. As described above, the present invention has the following various advantages. That is, (1) Since the winding apparatus of the present invention is provided with a plurality of sets of winding means for winding wires on a plurality of bobbins and a plurality of corresponding holding means for holding the bobbins in a predetermined posture, it becomes possible to wind the wires on a plurality of bobbins simultaneously and sharply improve productivity without purchasing a plurality of units of the apparatus. (2) In a preferred embodiment, each of the winding means of the apparatus has its nozzle unit and guide unit arranged on the same guide rails such that the nozzle unit is arranged in the vicinity of the center of the respective bobbin and the guide unit is arranged at the outer periphery of the bobbin whereby the wire is supplied by the nozzle unit and the supplied wire is held engaged with the guide unit thereby winding the wire on the bobbin. Accordingly, it becomes possible to wind wires on a plurality of bobbins simultaneously in synchronism with each other and to simultaneously process the wires using a simple structure. (3) The winding apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention is provided with a pair of winding means each comprising a nozzle unit and a guide unit and arranged such that the nozzle units are supported, in bilateral symmetry with respect to the moving direction thereof, on a first movable body capable of coming close to, and retreating from, the bobbins, while the guide units are supported, in bilateral symmetry with respect to the moving direction thereof, on a second movable body. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the number of actuators and further, since the nozzle units and the guide units of the pair of winding means can have the same rigidity, it is possible to obtain from the pair of winding means windings having the same quality, thereby rendering the quality of the output of the winding apparatus more uniform. (4) Using the arrangement of the above-mentioned first and second movable bodies so as to be guided by common guide means in order to come close to, and retreat from, each bobbin, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and to simplify the mechanism of the apparatus, thereby increasing productivity. (5) Since the winding apparatus of preferred embodiments of the present invention is provided with transfer means which carries each bobbin to the bobbin holding means and removes each wire-wound bobbin from the holding means, it is possible to automatically perform the supply of each empty bobbin to the winding position and the removal of each wire-wound bobbin. (6) Since, in preferred embodiments of the invention, the transfer section clamps the chuck section of each bobbin, carries the clamped bobbin to the holding means and removes the wire-wound bobbin from the holding means, it is possible to increase the bobbin-holding accuracy by the transfer means and to achieve a highly reliable bobbin transfer. (7) Since, in preferred embodiments of the invention, each bobbin is substantially funnel-shaped and has a projection on the outer peripheral surface thereof so as to allow the bobbin to be held while the bobbin is positioned by the holding means through use of the projection, it is possible to carry the funnel-shaped bobbin with a high degree of holding accuracy.

Claims: A winding apparatus of the type in which a wire paid out from a wire supply source is wound around a bobbin (14) using a nozzle unit and a guide unit, the winding apparatus comprising: winding means comprising a nozzle unit (35; 36) and a guide unit (59, 61; 60, 62) and adapted to wind wires from a wire supply source on a bobbin (14); holding means (74, 75) corresponding to said winding means, and adapted to hold said bobbin in a predetermined posture; characterized in that a plurality of sets of winding means are provided, and a plurality of sets of holding means are provided each corresponding to a respective one of said sets of winding means, whereby to enable simultaneous winding of a plurality of bobbins in parallel with each other; and the nozzle units and the guide units of said winding means are arranged on the same guide rails (31, 32) such that said nozzle units (35; 36) are arranged on the side of the center of each of said bobbins and each of said guide units (59, 61; 60, 62) is arranged on the side of the outer periphery of each of said bobbins, whereby, in use, each wire is supplied by a respective nozzle and the supplied wire is held in engagement with a corresponding guide unit thereby to wind said wire on said each bobbin. A winding apparatus according to claim 1, which apparatus is provided with a pair of winding means each comprising a nozzle unit (35; 36) and a guide unit (59, 61; 60, 62) and the nozzle units (35; 36) of said pair of winding means are supported, on a first movable body (40) capable of coming close to, and retreating away from, each of said bobbins, in bilateral symmetry in the moving direction of said first movable body, while the guide units (59-62) of said pair of winding means are supported, on a second movable body (66) capable of coming close to, and retreating away from, each of said bobbins, in bilateral symmetry in the moving direction of said second movable body. A winding apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said first and second movable members (40, 66) are guided by common guide means (31, 32) so as to come close to, and retreat away from, said each bobbin. A winding apparatus according to any previous claim, which apparatus is provided with transfer means (83, 84) which carries each said bobbin to the respective holding means (74, 75) and which removes said bobbin from said holding means (74, 75) after said bobbin has been wound with wire. A winding apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said transfer means has a chuck (84) to clamp a bobbin so that, in use, it clamps said bobbin by the chuck, transfers the clamped bobbin to a respective holding means (74, 75) and removes said bobbin after wire has been wound thereon. A winding apparatus according to any previous claim, wherein each bobbin (14) is substantially funnel-shaped with the formation of a tapered outer peripheral surface having a projection and said holding means (74, 75) is adapted to hold a bobbin by positioning said bobbin by means of said projection.

Inventors: KAWAURA HIDEAKI, TAKUBO HIROYUKI, KAWAURA, HIDEAKI, TAKUBO, HIROYUKI
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1996
Main classification: H01F41
IPC codes: H01F41